Author Archives: Meredith Nieuwsma

The Great Eight: Common Goals

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Arrow by cogdogblog

(This post was originally shared at Leading by DESIGN, where I’m a team member. It is written for our LEAD 365 alumni, although all are welcome to read it.)

Imagine you are running a race. All the runners gather together, stretching muscles, bouncing on the balls of their feet to warm up, drinking a last few sips of water, popping in their earbuds. The loudspeaker fires up to give the final warning, the starting gun goes off, and all the runners take off.

But in this race, there is no marked course. The race officials believe that the course the runners should take is obvious. Why mark it? They emailed the course to the runners a few months ago. The runners all do their best, but as the race continues, different people turn off on different roads, each one sure they are following the correct course.

The race officials are baffled as few runners trickle into the finish line, some right away, some hours later, and a whole lot not at all. Didn’t the runners read that email outlining the course?

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The Great Eight: An Introduction

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Jazz Band by TheodoreWLee

(This post was originally shared at Leading by DESIGN, where I’m a team member. It is written for our LEAD 365 alumni, although all are welcome to read it.)

Throughout our year together in LEAD 365, we focused on three “buckets” of leadership—three areas that great leaders need to focus on:

  • Being a person worth following
  • Creating clarity around purpose/mission, vision, and values
  • Building a great team

In our building a great team sessions, we introduced you to a list of eight characteristics of great teams. Remember the details? No? The eight characteristics are what we believe the very best teams have, and what are necessary to build an amazing team. Here they are again to jog your memory:Continue reading→

Soul Food

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Peace by aotaro
(This post was originally published on the Leading by DESIGN blog.)

This month I’m doing quite a bit of teaching around Leading Yourself, what we used to call Personal Management in LEAD 365. We work with a lot of successful, growing leaders, some of whom have great boundaries and limits, and some of whom struggle to do anything but work. I tend to fall into the second camp. I like to achieve—to a fault—so even if I’m not working toward something in my career, you can be sure that I’m working toward something, even if that something is simply all the laundry washed, dried, and put away.

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Scarcity, Choice Paralysis, and Time

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Parched by quinn.anya

(This post was originally shared at Leading by DESIGN, where I’m a team member. It is written for ourLEAD 365 alumni, although all are welcome to read it.)

I’m reading a book right now about scarcity (appropriately titled Scarcity.) Actually, I’m listening to it as an audiobook because I have so many projects to do around the house, but I feel behind in my reading for work, so two birds, one stone.

The book intrigued me partly because I almost always feel like time is my scarcest resource, and I’m not naturally good at prioritizing what is most important versus what feels most urgent. I imagine that this is a familiar state for many of you. Continue reading→

The Collins “Stop Doing” List

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Stop by cobblucas

I love Jim Collins (who doesn’t?), and recently reread his great USA Today article “Best New Year’s Resolution? A ‘Stop Doing’ List” from way back in 2003. In it, Collins shares his story of discovering his purpose and changing careers so he could live into that purpose, partly by deciding what he needed to stop doing.

I’ve been thinking about purpose, vision, and values a lot lately. Continue reading→

One Step Further

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Crosswalk by Dani Law

This post was originally published on the Leading by DESIGN blog, Leadership Matters, which is written for alumni of LEAD 365.

Each LEAD 365 cohort goes on a retreat, and so far the feedback indicates that this retreat is a highlight for almost everyone. Honestly, it’s a highlight for Rodger, Jeff, and me as well. Last week, Rodger and I brought a cohort to our favorite retreat location (which shall remain unnamed to keep it a surprise for future cohorts). After a day of learning and experiencing, we shared our lifelines. Lifelines are always powerful, and as we debriefed with the group the next day about the power of their lifelines and how vulnerable they were, one of the participants thanked Rodger and me for setting the tone—for modeling honesty and vulnerability in sharing our own lifelines. I’m so glad that we do this kind of modeling, and, honestly, sometimes I hate it as well.Continue reading→

The Value of You

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your-life-is-too-valuable-to-live-like-everyone
I love the Becoming Minimalist blog. Although I would not describe myself as succeeding at minimalism (fourteen pairs of shoes at last count), I do value the principles of minimalism: learning to find happiness outside of material things, lowering our impact on the environment, focusing on what is truly important.Continue reading→

How I Stopped Multitasking and Started Getting Stuff Done

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Multitask by ryantron

(This post was originally published on the Leading by DESIGN Leadership Matters blog for alumni of LEAD 365.)

Have you seen the Pixar film Up? You know, the one about the old man (Carl) who inflates thousands of balloons to fly his house to the jungle, and accidentally gives a ride to an eager young Wilderness Explorer (Russell) who is trying to get his badge for helping the elderly. My favorite character in the movie is Dug, the friendly, enthusiastic dog that Carl and Russell meet partway through the movie. Dug is my favorite not just because I love dogs, but because he perfectly illustrates my view of multitasking. Take a look at this clip to see if you get what I’m implying about multitasking:Continue reading→

Meet the Timmy Brothers

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This made me laugh! Plus once you stop laughing, it gets you thinking about marketing. Do you know what you’re really selling? I’m doing a lot of teaching on business acumen this month, so this topic is very much on my mind.