WoW Wednesday​

This week, let’s reflect on a powerful aspect of leadership: connecting everyday work to a larger meaning. I’m inspired by this insight, often attributed to leaders like Larry Fink:

“People want to know that their work matters. Great leaders connect the daily tasks to the larger purpose.”

Why does this resonate so deeply, especially today? 🤔

In a world seeking connection and impact, employees aren’t just fulfilling tasks; they desire to contribute to something bigger than themselves. Effective leadership bridges the gap between the daily grind and the organization’s mission. 🌉

The Relevance for Leaders:

• Boosts Motivation: Understanding the “why” fuels intrinsic motivation far more than just knowing the “what.”
• Increases Engagement: When people see their impact, they become more invested and engaged. 🤝
• Provides Context During Change: A clear purpose acts as a north star 🌟, helping teams navigate uncertainty.
• Fosters Loyalty: Feeling part of a meaningful mission builds stronger commitment.

How Leaders Can Do This (Examples):

• Regularly communicate the company’s vision and strategic goals, explicitly linking team projects to them.
• Share customer testimonials or data showing the real-world impact of the team’s efforts. 📈
• During 1-on-1s, discuss how an individual’s role contributes to the team’s and organization’s success.
• Celebrate milestones not just as task completions, but as steps towards the larger purpose. 🎉

Connecting these dots isn’t just a “nice-to-have”; it’s fundamental to building a high-performing, resilient, and purpose-driven team.

📚 Book Recommendation:

If this theme interests you, I highly recommend “Start With Why” by Simon Sinek. Sinek’s core message is that inspiring leaders and organizations think, act, and communicate from the inside out, starting with their fundamental purpose (their WHY). This perfectly complements Fink’s sentiment. To effectively connect daily tasks to a larger purpose, you first need to clearly understand and articulate that core purpose. “Start With Why” provides a compelling framework for doing just that. It’s essential reading for any leader wanting to make work truly matter.

In leadership, smooth seas are nice, but turbulence often defines our true capabilities. This week, let’s reflect on a powerful insight from the legendary Peter Drucker:

“The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence itself, but to act with yesterday’s logic.”

This quote is a critical reminder for every leader navigating uncertainty. The real risk isn’t just the external chaos; it’s clinging to outdated assumptions, strategies, and processes when the environment demands change. Effective leadership in turbulent times requires embracing today’s reality and anticipating tomorrow’s shifts.

Acting with “yesterday’s logic” can manifest in several ways. As leaders, we must actively guard against:

• ✅ Sticking rigidly to the old strategic plan: Assuming what worked before will work now, without reassessing the current landscape.
• ✅ Ignoring new data or dissenting voices: Relying solely on familiar sources or past successes, potentially missing crucial warning signs or opportunities.
• ✅ Maintaining inflexible processes: Resisting changes to workflows or structures that could offer needed agility and speed.
• ✅ Discouraging experimentation: Fearing failure so much that we shut down the innovative ideas needed to find new paths forward.
• ✅ Failing to challenge core assumptions: Not questioning why things are done a certain way, even when circumstances have fundamentally changed.

To thrive amidst turbulence, we need a different approach – one rooted in adaptability, learning, and foresight.

📚 Book Recommendation:

I highly recommend “The Lean Startup” by Eric Ries.

Why? While focused on startups, its core principles are incredibly relevant for established organizations facing uncertainty. Ries provides a practical framework for navigating ambiguity by emphasizing:

• Validated Learning: Moving away from assumptions (yesterday’s logic) towards real-world testing and data.
• Build-Measure-Learn Feedback Loop: A dynamic process for iterating and adapting quickly, rather than executing a fixed, potentially outdated plan.
• Pivoting: Making fundamental strategic changes based on learning – the exact opposite of sticking to yesterday’s logic when it fails.

It’s a playbook for acting with today’s information to build a resilient future.

This week, let’s reflect on a truly powerful piece of guidance from the incredible Maya Angelou:

“When you learn, teach. When you get, give.”

Such simple words, yet they hold a profound truth about growth, responsibility, and especially, leadership.

Think about it:

➡️ “When you learn, teach.” As leaders, we’re constantly learning – new skills, strategies, insights. This quote reminds us that knowledge isn’t meant to be hoarded. Our role includes sharing that wisdom, mentoring our teams, and illuminating the path for others.
➡️ “When you get, give.” Whether it’s recognition, resources, influence, or opportunity, leadership often means receiving more. The call here is clear: use what you “get” to uplift others. Share the credit, create pathways, open doors, and offer support.

This resonates so deeply with my own journey in the hospitality industry. I stand where I am today because leaders and mentors before me took the time to teach me invaluable skills and gave me opportunities to learn, grow, and prove myself. Just as importantly, they consciously chose to give opportunities – trusting me with new responsibilities, providing chances to lead projects, letting me learn from mistakes, and ultimately allowing me to grow and prove myself. Without that intentional sharing of knowledge and opportunity, individual growth can stall, and teams can stagnate. Their generosity truly paved the way for my career.

It’s a cycle I feel a strong duty to continue. As leaders, especially in hospitality where mentorship is key, we MUST consciously:

▪️Teach our teams what we know – share the secret sauce, the recipe for success, the techniques, the service standards.
▪️Give them chances to shine – delegate important tasks, provide constructive feedback, advocate for their growth.

Let this week’s wisdom guide our actions: How can we better embody this cycle? Let’s turn our learning into teaching, and our getting into giving. It’s how we build stronger teams, foster loyalty, and create a lasting positive impact.

Book Recommendation 📖
For anyone in leadership, particularly hospitality, I can’t recommend “Setting the Table” by Danny Meyer enough. It beautifully illustrates how prioritizing and investing in your team (teaching & giving!) creates exceptional guest experiences and business success. I had the privilege of working with Danny (and so many other great leaders) during my tenure at Shake Shack and saw firsthand the profound, positive impact living the principles from this book has on culture and success. It’s packed with real-world hospitality wisdom!

This week’s wisdom from Albert Einstein speaks volumes about leadership:

“Creativity is seeing what others see and thinking what no one else has ever thought.”

Great leaders don’t just see the same things everyone else does; they think differently about them, finding unique insights and possibilities within the familiar. 💭

How this creative thinking applies to leadership:

▪️ Problem Solving: Seeing recurring issues but devising truly unique solutions by challenging assumptions, not just applying standard fixes. 💡

▪️ Strategic Vision: Observing the same market landscape but synthesizing information differently to chart a distinct, innovative path forward. 🗺️

▪️ Innovation: Looking at existing processes or products and fundamentally reimagining how they could work, leading to breakthroughs beyond incremental improvements. ✨

▪️ Opportunity Spotting: Connecting seemingly disparate elements (team skills, market trends, feedback) to identify hidden possibilities others overlook. 🔭

▪️ Team Potential: Seeing current team capabilities but thinking beyond them to set groundbreaking goals that inspire unexpected achievements and growth. 🤝

📚 Book Recommendation:

Want to cultivate this kind of thinking? I recommend “Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World” by Adam Grant. It’s a fantastic exploration of how to champion novel ideas and effectively challenge the status quo – embodying Einstein’s quote. It offers great insights for leaders aiming to foster originality and drive meaningful change.

🎉 Website News! 🎉

Exciting update: All past WoW Wednesday posts are now archived on my new site, The WoW Wednesday! It’s your one-stop shop to easily find past quotes and leadership insights whenever you need them. Thanks to my friend Dan Bejmuk and his talented team at Dreambox for partnering with me on the creation of the website.

Check it out, subscribe, and bookmark: 👉 https://www.thewowwednesday.com/

#Leadership #Creativity #WordsOfWisdom #Innovation #Einstein #LeadershipDevelopment #WoWWednesday #SeeingDifferently #StrategicThinking

“April showers bring May flowers.” – English Proverb

Happy April everyone! This classic saying holds a powerful message for us as leaders. Think about it – those tough times, the challenges that feel like endless rain, they’re actually essential for the beautiful growth that follows. And hey, at least we’re not getting caught in the rain without a piña colada, right? 😉

In leadership, our “April showers” can take many forms:

• Navigating Change: Implementing a new strategy might feel disruptive and bring resistance initially. It’s like those April downpours – uncomfortable at the moment. But pushing through and guiding your team through the transition can lead to significant positive outcomes – your “May flowers” of improved efficiency and innovation. 🌱
• Addressing Setbacks: A project might face unexpected hurdles or a key initiative might not deliver the results you hoped for. These are your April showers. How you lead through these disappointments – learning from mistakes, adapting your approach, and keeping morale up – will determine the strength and resilience of your team in the long run, leading to future successes. 💪
• Difficult Conversations: Having tough conversations with team members about performance or making necessary but unpopular decisions can feel like a storm. But addressing these issues directly and with empathy can foster a stronger, more transparent, and ultimately more productive work environment – your May flowers of improved communication and trust.🗣️

Just like you can’t skip the rain and expect a vibrant garden, you can’t avoid challenges and expect significant growth in your leadership or your organization. It’s about embracing those difficult periods, learning from them, and continuing to nurture your team and your vision so you can blossom in the future.

Book Recommendation:

I highly recommend “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” by Carol S. Dweck. It dives deep into the power of a growth mindset – the belief that our abilities and intelligence can be developed. This perspective is crucial for leaders navigating those “April showers,” as it encourages resilience, learning from setbacks, and ultimately cultivating the “May flowers” of success. 📚

Let’s embrace the storms knowing they pave the way for growth!

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