Leadership Mind Tricks

It’s #Halloween weekend and #TrickorTreat is on the mind. Speaking of tricks:

I've been working on my leadership. (When I say this to myself, I do so to the tune of Lizzo’s workin’ on my fitness.)

But really, I have.

And here's what I’ve found recently: it takes some brutal self-honesty to break through mind tricks and become a better version of oneself.

One way I’ve done this is to tap into the multiple “inner critics” in my head. I’ve learned there are several, and it behooves you to get to know them.

I have three - each has its own significance and I’ll write about each in future posts.

But some of them are sneaky.

I think it's safe to say I'm a strong, genuine leader most of the time. But brutal honesty shows me that sometimes, I'm overpromising, overcommitting, and then (gulp) creating a scheme to be sure we reach the goal.

Now that I know this about myself, I can catch it in action and circumvent it.

Which brings us to a little section I'll call:

"Scheming...doo da doo”

I caught myself scheming last night.

I was doing some planning and came to an idea that I really want to implement teamwide. I thought, "I could bring this to the team in next week’s brainstorm!"

Then my inner critic whispered persuasively: "Or, you could have your admin take it to the team without you there and pretend it was her idea so she can try to gather everything quickly. That way, if it ends up not happening, it won’t look like my failure."

Oof. That’s some stinky thinky right there.

Now, quick like a flash: There’s a split second to decide if I will let my inner critic scheme for me…

-BUT-

In that moment, I decided to pull in a wonderfully effective strategy from two great meditation teachers, Jeff Warren and Sharon Salzberg, who have taught me (through lots of practice) to "make my inner critic silly.” This way I can easily smile and move on/simply begin again.

So I did this:

I immediately brought to mind the classic scene from Singin’ In The Rain where the incomparable (and wildly likeable) Gene Kelly is tip-tapping and foot-splashing through puddles.

I sang to myself: "Scheee-ming, Do Da Doo….”

I even did a little dance as I repeated it, “I’m Scheeee-ming, Do Da Doo!”

And I smiled.

And I knew: yea, I'm not going to scheme.

As my longtime business partner and dear friend always told me, “just tell people the truth. It works every time.”

So, next week, I’ll bring my not-yet-fleshed-out idea to my team and I’ll ask two questions:

What is a realistic timeframe?

How can I empower you to make this happen?

And I'll keep paying attention. The next time I catch a “scheme,” I’ll sing my little ditty, splash some mental puddles beside Gene Kelly, then smile and move toward honesty.

It really is the best policy.

Happy Halloween, ya’ll!