How do you extend your reach?
Borrow One Idea: Write
“Every man has two deaths, when he is buried in the ground and the last time someone says his name. In some ways men can be immortal.” - Ernest Hemingway (probably / maybe)
The same is true professionally. There is the day you depart a job (voluntarily or not) and the last day your name is referenced within that company, organization, or team (positively or not).
I’m not sure the day Walt Shill left Accenture, it was nearly a decade ago I’d guess, but he is nowhere close to his second Accenture death (he’s also very much alive as a human being).
Inevitably, whenever there are large leadership meetings, you’ll hear Walt’s name mentioned. Sometimes he comes up when Managing Directors are speaking with each other. Occasionally he’ll be held up as an example in a team room conversation. His name is heard.
Not invoked; he was senior but not of that stature. Not in reverence; he was well liked but his persona was approachable, near folksy. Rather in fond memory; an individual as well as a representation of an era in the organization’s history that is remembered kindly.
Walt had decades of experience, so a lot of people knew (and still know) him on a personal level. Walt was a senior leader, so people who did not know him personally might know his name. Neither accounts for the longevity and breadth of his name being spoken at the firm.
The reason everyone remembers and talks about Walt, years after he departed the firm, is his Friday Thoughts.
Walt was a story teller. One of his mediums was writing. On Fridays, obviously, he would publish Friday Thoughts, combining a business story with light coaching or reflections. Most were good, but there were a few home-runs that have lived in the corporation’s Outlook servers in perpetuity. People kept them.
He wrote about personal mistakes and lessons learned the hard way. He wrote about how to best be in service to others, as a consultant and as a human. People remember their favorite stories.
“Always free and worth every penny” was the tagline for Friday Thoughts. There never appeared to be any editing. Walt uses ellipses like he’s paid by the period. People recall how the writing changed how they thought and acted.
Walt restarted Friday Thoughts a few years ago, beyond corporate confines, though without the addition of historical archives (alas). The reestablishing of Friday Thoughts triggered numerous emails and pings throughout Accenture. It’s still available, though has been quiet in more recent times.
Walt’s name has not died at Accenture because Walt’s reach exceeded his personal interactions. Leading at a time before video calls, for most people in Accenture’s expansive organization, Walt would have only existed as a voice who spoke on conference calls.
Except that he personalized and personified himself and his values in his writing. You knew Walt, even if you did not know Walt.
6-12. Leaders read about, write about, and practice their profession.
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6-47. Leaders should also take the opportunity to write about their experiences, sharing their insights with others in professional journals or books.
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10-17. Strategic leaders rely on writing and public speaking to reinforce their central messages.ADP 6-22, PDF pages 80, 87 and 117
Writing is an excellent way to extend your reach. Writing requires focused time and introspection, things we benefit from in increased quantities. Writing helps us evaluate (and record) our own memories. Writing helps connect people who learn in connect in ways that are less auditory and verbal. Writing can travel beyond the immediate audience. Writing is an excellent way to extend your reach.
So write.
This week, borrow with pride and write about a professional experience that has impacted how you think or act. What feelings do your reflections provoke? Who else can learn from your experience? How do people discover who you are and what you believe when they have not met you personally? How do you extend your reach?
Get Familiar With: Indirect Leadership
9-5. Given the increased size of their organizations, organizational leaders influence indirectly more often than directly. Soldiers and subordinate leaders look to their organizational leaders to set achievable standards, to provide clear intent, and to provide the necessary resources. Decisions and actions by organizational leaders have greater consequences for more people over a longer time than those of direct leaders. Since the connections between action and effect are sometimes more remote and difficult to see, organizational leaders spend more time than direct leaders coordinating, thinking, and reflecting about what they are doing and how they are doing it.
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10-9. While direct and organizational leaders have a more near- and mid-term focus, strategic leaders must concentrate on the future. They spend much of their time looking toward long-term goals and positioning for long-term success as they contend with mid-term and immediate issues.ADP 6-22, PDF pages 108 and 116
How do you extend your reach? What is required of indirect leaders to be truly impactful? Does the idea of having the title of strategic leader appeal more than the ambiguity of being a strategic leader? What are your techniques to influence teams you do not directly lead? How do indirect leaders know when they are being effective?
The Guided Discovery for this week will examine the application of the US Army’s ten leadership competencies to organizational and strategic levels of leadership and what is required and expected for individuals to be successful at upper echelons of organizations.
Learn More: Suggested Reading
ADP 6-22, Army Leadership and the Profession
Pages 9-1 through 10-8 based on printed document (PDF pages 107-122)
Applying the US Army’s ten competencies of leadership to organizational and strategic leaders
These materials will be the focus of Thursday’s Guided Discovery
Catch Up: Last Week’s Content
Study: Train Your Replacement
Guided Discovery: Prioritizing Development
Always be asking:
1. What is the connection with my leadership development?
2. How does this change my thinking on management?
3. How does this influence planning for life?
4. What can I borrow with pride to use this week?