
This course, Leadership with urgency, is the final in a series of six courses. Tom explains here why he created the course series in its entirety.
Welcome to Leadership with Urgency! Be sure to download the Course Guidebook here so that you can follow along and take notes on your next action items.
Anxious to get started and don't want to peruse the full guidebook? This doc is a quick overview of how this course is structured.
Tom talks about the importance of enjoying leading. You will learn that if the “people thing” is not your thing, you are going to need some heavy-duty support and coaching.
Tom discusses leadership attitude and the Rule of Zero. You'll learn to take nothing for granted every day.
Tom talks ROIR, Return On Investment in Relationships. You will learn to create an investment plan for relationships.
Tom continues discusses the importance of intentional relationship building. You'll learn to treat each lunch as a relationship development opportunity.
Tom discusses speed in business, technological development, and leadership. You will learn that when building relationships, you must slow down.
Tom talks about unscheduling your time. You'll learn to avoid busy-ness and free up your time to focus on what really matters.
Tom discusses time management. You will learn to view your calendar as a reflection of your priorities.
Tom talks about finding and developing allies and friends. You'll learn that you should have allies of every size, every shape, in every nook and every cranny of the organization.
Tom continues discussing allies. You will learn that having allies below your position is more valuable to getting things done than having allies in positions above you.
Tom discusses the messiness of implementation. You'll learn that it is crucial to revel in the mess.
Tom talks about the Rule of 5. You will learn to be a life-long student of communication.
Tom discusses reading. You'll learn that reading is the number one defense against falling behind and the number one offense strategy for staying ahead of things.
Tom talks about self-management. You will learn the importance of leaders having self-awareness and knowing how you affect others.
Tom continues discussing leader's self-awareness. You'll see that most people struggle with self-perception and why leaders need an honest confidant to help.
Tom presents an extraordinary set of data on women as leaders. You will learn that anything less than a 50-50 gender
balance in leadership is a strategic mistake.
Tom talks about women in tech companies. You'll learn that changing the underrepresentation of women in the technology sector is a big opportunity.
Tom continues presenting evidence of women's strength in various leadership positions. You will learn the value of supporting women-owned business.
Tom talks about the strengths of female investors and negotiators. You will learn differences in how men and women invest and negotiate.
Tom discusses his bottom line on gender balance. You'll learn that a gender balance of 50/50 is the winning formula for business effectiveness.
Tom tells us that it is a leader's job to ensure effective communication on their team. You will learn that every communication failure is your fault.
Tom reminds you that leadership is a helping profession if done right, well, with care, concern, passion, and compassion. You will be a value to the world. Good luck and have fun!
A final thank you and invitation to visit Tom's website.
“Avoid busy-ness, free up your time, stay focused on what really matters. Let me put it bluntly: Every leader should routinely keep a substantial portion of his or her time—I would say as much as 50 percent—unscheduled...Only when you have substantial ‘slop’ in your schedule—unscheduled time—will you have the space to reflect on what you are doing, learn from experience, and recover from your inevitable mistakes. . . . It takes an enormous effort on the part of the leader to keep free time for the truly important things.” (emphasis added)
—Dov Frohman, Leadership the Hard Way: Why Leadership Can’t Be Taught—And How You Can Learn It Anyway
High-Tech superstar Dov Frohman lays down an outrageous law: Fifty-percent unscheduled time. Frankly, I don’t think many of us could pull this off—could even pull off 25 percent free time. Nonetheless, Frohman’s credentials from Intel and from reshaping Israel’s high-tech sector are impeccable. My goal is to have you reflect on the likes of Frohman’s outrageous command. I don’t think I could do it—but upon personal reflection I think he is absolutely positively on the money. Typically frenzied leadership is not leadership at all. How many of us have had a boss who is late to four out of every five meetings because he’s over-scheduled? Well count me as one who’s experienced it—and lost all respect for the boss as a result thereof. The late boss is disrespectful—and, I’d bet, an awful decision-maker. You can’t do “frenzy” and “thoughtful” at the same time—I’d bet his decision-making is as half-assed as his on-time record.
The goal of this course is to lay down some formidable leadership challenges. It’s meant to get you thinking and trying several of these ideas out. I’m going to push you, for instance, on your communications skills. I’m going to tell you that each of the 15 people who report to you is very different from the other fourteen. Which means you need 15 dramatically different communication strategies in order to move forward effectively—every top football coach knows that and so does every superior third-grade teacher; but damn few bosses seem to get it. They blame a miscommunication on the recipient—when in fact it is the boss’ fault. 100 percent of the time!
Twenty challenges are forthcoming. I hope they help you down the path to leadership excellence.
Good luck.