Leadership | It's About Learning

Quality time is spelled “TIME”

Dwayne Harapnuik — September 4, 2012 — 4 Comments

Study: Spending time with Dad good for teen self-esteem – CNN.com

I have always believed that after my responsibility of being a good husband to my wife, my other number one responsibility is to help my boys grow into strong men of character who can contribute to society. This is a responsibility that I have to take seriously and over the years most of the choices that I have made with respect to where we live, the work I do, and how I spend my time have focused on ensuring that I am available for my family. James Dobson of Focus on the Family stated that:

morality, values and beliefs are not taught rather they are caught

and it is very difficult to catch these foundational traits if there is no one around for children to catch them from.

It is reassuring to have one’s beliefs confirmed by thorough research. The CNN article points to a recent Penn State study that found”

The more time spent alone with their fathers, the higher their self-esteem; the more time with their dads in a group setting, the better their social skills.

The study also reported that one-on-one time with Dads started to drop at age 15 and that

Dads get in just over an hour of one-on-one time with first and second-born kids each week.

This is very sobering but it is also very useful to know that your children need you as much if not more as they move into their teens. With my recent change in my employment status and the exploration of opportunities, I have been considering the wisdom of NOT moving back into an executive suite position. My two boys are 14 and 16 and I am realizing that my boys need me now as much as they needed me when they were younger, then it may be wise to make sure that my next position or project doesn’t take me away from my boys when they need me the most.

It may also be wise to make sure that over the next 3 years, I create the best learning environment for my family and boys and ensure that they have as much time with me as they need to grow into men of character.

In Leadership character, Learning, time

Great Leaders are Idealists…are Optimists

Dwayne Harapnuik — August 21, 2012 — Leave a comment

Simon Sinek puts out a quote each day and today’s quote is one that I hope to live up to and I would also hope that all leaders live by:

Great leaders are idealists. They are optimists. They overestimate what we are capable of and inspire us to believe the same. Sinek August 16, 2012

In Leadership

Dare to disagree: Good conflict equates progress

Dwayne Harapnuik — August 20, 2012 — 4 Comments

Most people instinctively avoid conflict, but as Margaret Heffernan shows us, good disagreement is central to progress. She illustrates (sometimes counterintuitively) how the best partners aren’t echo chambers — and how great research teams, relationships and businesses allow people to deeply disagree.

Unfortunately, most organizations will go out their way to avoid conflict and essentially stop thinking and stop progress. Why? Heffernan points out that it takes a significant amount of courage, effort and work:

to seek out people with different backgrounds, different disciplines, different ways of thinking and different experience, and find ways to engage with them.

It is not that organization don’t want to embrace and engage with these divergent and disruptive thinkers it is that they can’t. And as Heffernan points out, organizations limit their thinking and progress:

because the people inside of them are too afraid of conflict.

Fortunately, Heffernan doesn’t leave us hanging without a solution to this problem. The challenge is that the solution is an age old human shortcoming of not facing the hard truth or reality that circumstance demand. Perhaps Heffernan’s closing challenge needs repeating:

But truth won’t set us free until we develop the skills and the habit and the talent and the moral courage to use it.

In Leadership conflict, disagree, disruption, progress, truth

Leadership Begins At Home

Dwayne Harapnuik — March 16, 2012 — Leave a comment

http://michaelhyatt.com/how-leadership-at-home-affects-the-rest-of-life.html

How Leadership at Home Affects the Rest of Life | Michael Hyatt via kwout

In his guest post on Michael Hyatt’s blog, John G. Miller, author of QBQ! The Question Behind the Question makes some very strong statements about the responsibility of parenting, that some may disagree with or even be offered by, but that we all need to hear.

These are “no excuses” parents. They don’t blame the famous for the “poor example that they set” and would never employ the grand parental excuse: “My child didn’t turn out as I’d hoped, because he got in with the wrong crowd.”

Leadership at home is captured in this statement: My child is a product of my parenting. Any other view of parenting is irresponsible folly. Excuse-making is never part of a leader’s world.

Miller has caused me to wonder if I am modeling, false entitlement, procrastination, finger pointing or any other poor example for my boys and those around me. While Miller does not acknowledge that there are some aspects to child rearing that we cannot influence through our environment we may need to temper his message and recognize that there are a few instances when even the right modeling won’t make the difference. Even though we should acknowledge that there is a balance of nature and nurture that contribute the development of our children I warn anyone from dismissing Miller’s argument because of a few exceptions. Perhaps he covers those exceptions in his book.

Read the full blog post…

In Leadership parenting