Omar L. Harris's Blog, page 5

Are you Ready for the Three-Hour Challenge?

How much time has your manager or HR department invested in your personal development? Probably not nearly enough, right? And how much time are you dedicating to your own development? Same answer?

Unfortunately, this is the nature of the business world today. Too much busy work and not enough coaching and development. Sites like skillshare and services like LinkedIn learning fill some of the gaps but their offering is not personalized. It's not a development experience built for you and you alone.

Most people don't realize that there is a relatively straightforward answer to this conundrum. Coaching. Everyone needs a coach. Someone who strips away the artifice of salary, title, company, college pedigree, and sees the bleeding heart of the person before them. Someone truly invested in helping you succeed.

Throughout my career leading teams on four continents, I dedicated an inordinate amount of my time as a manager coaching up my people. As a positive psychology expert and Gallup certified strengths coach, I learned how to build people up by doubling down on what makes them unique, talented, and strong. And while writing my bestsellers Leader Board: The DNA of High Performance Teams and The Servant Leader's Manifesto - I developed a structured process that takes coaching to the next level.

What I offer is simple but not easy. You give me three hours and I will give you answers to the most crucial questions for the creation of higher engagement, meaning, and success in your professional and personal life. By the end of our session we will have developed a bridge taking you from your current state to your desired state with clear milestones and continual support from me. The clarity you will achieve in such a short period of time will astound you.

If you are serious about making a leap forward in your personal development this year, it takes investment. Invest in a yourself by hiring a coach like me who can guide you towards leveraging your areas of greatest talent to manifest the career and life you desire. Take the first step now by clicking this link and signing up today. Your future self will thank you!

Leadership Lessons from Wonder Woman 1984

Please note: this article contains spoilers.

After a year of environment crisis, social conflict, pandemic, and toxic politics comes a film that somehow encapsulates much of the chaos of what we experienced together with a needed catharsis. DC's revised model of focusing on making great standalone films with outstanding filmakers without focusing on extensive universe building is continuing to prove it's worth after Joker made a billion dollars at the box office and even without the benefit of a big cinema push, Wonder Woman 84 stands poised to do quite well financially and critically.

The synopsis of the film goes: Diana Prince lives quietly among mortals in the vibrant, sleek 1980s -- an era of excess driven by the pursuit of having it all. Though she's come into her full powers, she maintains a low profile by curating ancient artifacts, and only performing heroic acts incognito. But soon, Diana will have to muster all of her strength, wisdom and courage as she finds herself squaring off against Maxwell Lord and the Cheetah, a villainess who possesses superhuman strength and agility.

There are a lot of powerful themes covered in this movie from crass commercialism to wish fulfillment to recovering from loss. But this movie is also very much about maintaining your integrity despite what temptations others are succumbing to around you. In the words of Michele Obama:

We learned about honesty and integrity – that the truth matters… that you don’t take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules… and success doesn’t count unless you earn it fair and square.

With this thought in mind, allow me to present 5 key leadership lessons gleaned from this impactful feature.

Even heroes have wishes: When we meet Diana Prince (after a cool action sequence in a shopping mall where Wonder Woman saves the day), she is working at the Smithsonian and very lonely. Despite being an expert in her field and being an actual super hero, she has a hole in her heart from the love she lost in the first film. When asked what she would wish for if she only had a single wish - she inadvertently resurrects her flame Steve Trevor due to the power of the dreamstone in their possession. This wish due to her loneliness sets in motion Diana's character arc in the film. Leadership Lesson: Leading a team can be a lonely existence with no one to share experience with or vent to about your issues. This is why it is so essential for leaders to fill themselves up by pursuing their outside interests and passions, having fulfilling relationships with friends and family, and taking care of their health. The fuller you are you begin to realize that the work itself is fulfilling enough to overcome the bouts of loneliness.
Don't take the easy way: Max Lord, the antagonist of the film, has experienced a lot of failure in his pursuit of business success. He is the living example of faking it until making it by putting window dressing around a crumbling venture. When he discovers the existence of the Dreamstone, he makes it his mission to possess it so that he can manifest the success that has always eluded him. He tells himself he's doing this to make his son proud, but he wants success to heal his wounded ego from being born poor and being bullied as a child by other kids and his own father. Leadership Lesson: When the leader lacks integrity then whatever success they achieve via cutting corners comes with a significant psychological price. Winning via cheating isn't really winning at all - no matter the rewards that you receive. These feelings of illegitimacy and imposter syndrome that led to lying and cheating in the first place don't lesson on the other side of success - the fear of getting caught and watching your back rises in its place which leads to insecurity, anxiety, and intense regret. Real leaders know that it's better to do the hard things first than to take the easy way out.
Make your people feel seen: When we meet Barbara Minerva who evolves to become Wonder Woman's nemesis, Cheetah, she is a meek woman who goes through life without being truly appreciated. Even Barbara's boss doesn't recognize the person who she most recently hired. This invisibility drives Barbara's envy of Diana and her arc from intelligent, hard worker into a selfish villain. Leadership Lesson: Not everyone comes in the same package. There are introverts and extroverts, trendy folks and geeks. It is the leader's role to truly see the person in front of them and rather than attempt to make them something they are not - seek to understand their unique talents and help them use these to achieve their goals and overcome their challenges. When you compress the individuality of your people you make them feel less valued and this in turn leads to disengagement.
Challenge your strengths: The Wonder Woman we meet in this film is quite powerful but she learns that she has even more talents than she knew of such as turning a jet invisible, flying, and riding lightning bolts with her lasso of truth. Each time she does something she never knew she could the film rewards her with a magical moment of self-assurance and wonder that only comes when you truly begin to understand how powerful you actually are. Leadership Lesson: It is important to establish a culture where you develop people based on their strengths versus their areas of weakness. Just as steel sharpens steel, strength compounds strength. Challenging someone to deliver in an existing area of talent is the fastest way to discover new capabilities in your people, processes, or technology.
Be careful what you wish for: We learn in the film that the Dreamstone was forged by the Dolos, the god of lies, treachery, deception, and mischief. The stone grants a user their wish but exacts a toll, and the only way to reverse the exchange is by renouncing the wish or destroying the stone itself. Nothing in life is attained by simply wishing for it. The world is full of lottery winners who immediately went broke because they couldn't effectively deal with their newfound and easily gotten gains. When your intent for something is selfish or ego-driven then it comes at a price which is that the boost you receive from attaining it is short-lived forcing you to seek more and more of the same feeling versus working toward more sustainable sources of happiness. Leadership Lesson: Many people long to become leaders because of the increased financial rewards and power they get to wield over others. But the ego boost that comes from dominating others is temporary and doesn't distract from the emptiness you feel because you haven't truly found your positive guiding purpose that fulfills you. When your wish deals with improving conditions for others, the roles you seek and the work you do becomes so much more valueable.

Overall, Wonder Woman 84 improved upon the original and was a powerful allegory for integrity. (5 out of 5 stars from me).

What other leadership lessons did you glean from the film? Let us know in the comments below. And please give the article a thumbs up if you enjoyed and got anything out of it.

Omar L. Harris is the managing partner at Intent Consulting , a firm dedicated to improving employee experience and organizational performance and author of Leader Board: The DNA of High-Performance Teams and The Servant Leader's Manifesto available for purchase in ebook or print on Amazon.com . Please follow him Instagram , Twitter , and/or Linkedin for more information and engagement.

5 Keys to Effective Virtual Offsite Meetings in the Time of COVID

Here we are in late November and most of us have still yet to return to the office and normalcy. The drumbeat of business pounds on, however, which means it's time to get geared up and ready for another year as this one gradually winds down. Even though our lives have devolved into a never ending litany of virtual calls - there is still one very important moment to prioritize before the year ends - your virtual offsite meeting.

Offsite meetings are an important moment for teams. This is the opportunity to zoom out from the minutiae of day to day progress tracking and truly make time for learning, reflection, and future state defining. If new team members have joined and others have exited, it's the moment to recalibrate the group's DNA and re-align toward shared norms and goals. And it is the ideal moment for reward and recognition of the efforts of the current period in order to inspire future perserverance and performance.

Because these meetings can be extensive and without the benefit of being in a shared space there are some important things to consider in order to execute an effective meeting. What follows are Intent Consulting's 5 keys for executing effective offsite meetings:

Pulse the Agenda: Normally an offsite meeting lasts anywhere from 1 to 3 days where each day has a specific theme and focus. If you want to keep the team fully engaged, it is highly recommended to spread the meeting out over 4-5 days with 4 hour blocks each day - 2 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. In this way you can get to clear outcomes in focused work periods while still not overwhelming or overloading your participants.
Prioritize Team Dynamics: Before getting down to the business of evaluating progress and performance in 2020 and planning for 2021, it's crucial that you create space for the team to re-bond. Don't assume just because everyone has been working hard together that the team dynamics are optimal. Talk about your use of collective team talents; reconfim collective values, trust builders and trust breakers; and recontract around effective team norms and dynamics. Also, don't forget fun! Consider a virtual team activity with an outside facilitator such as a virtual cooking class.
Focus on Failures: Most teams are so driven to achieve that they fail to take the time to collectively learn from what didn't go well. Offsite's are the perfect moment to zoom into these areas and identify what can be taken forward to improve performance going forward. Importantly, the objective here is not blaming or shaming individuals involved in what went wrong, simply an open transparent diagnosis of the situation, target, and how and why the target was missed and what to should this type of situation occur in the future. This is how you build the collective muscle memory of your team and accelerate response times to known situations.
Inspect Insights: These offsite moments also provide time and space to discuss another type of learning which comes as a result of insights derived from activities during the year. Most especially you should prioritize insights gained from interactions with customers, because this will allow you to recalibrate the steps to achieve the overarching mission which should always be articulated in terms of creating and enhancing value to customers. Conducting a stop, start, continue dynamic as a result of prioritized actions related to key insights will document the needed changes as a result of these learnings.
Recognize Key Wins: Last, but certainly not least, it is important to shine a light on key moments where the team's collective and individual efforts led to important results. Remember that the how the result was achieved is as or more important as what was achieved because how's reinforce values and norms for others in the team to emulate. The nominations for high performance should also come from the group and not just from the team leader because this encouraged everyone to be involved in each other's success. And get creative about the award itself - you can send an actual trophy for team members to receive and show on camera to the others; send certificates digitally that can be printed and displayed to the group; or some other trinket of value within company policy.

As you can see from this list, it's not so different from a normal offsite meeting with the important exception of facilitation. Try to give facilitation roles to as many people on the team as possible to keep the dynamic fresh. Define key meeting roles like energizer, scriber, rabbit hole monitor, break herder, and observer to get more people actively involved in each section of the meeting. Leverage interactive technology in the form of polling, breakout groups, and idea boxes to ensure everyone has a say in the proceedings of the meeting. And if you feel like conducting such a meeting is outside of your capability set - get help!

What other considerations do you think are important for effective virtual offsite meetings? Let's discuss in the comments below! If you liked this article please give it a thumbs up and share with your network!

Omar L. Harris is the managing partner at ,Intent Consulting , a firm dedicated to improving employee experience and organizational performance and author of ,Leader Board: The DNA of High-Performance Teams and ,The Servant Leader's Manifesto available for purchase in ebook or print on ,Amazon.com . Please follow him ,Instagram , ,Twitter , and/or ,Linkedin for more information and engagement.

Why Do We Expect So Little of Our Leaders?

We are one week away from the U.S. election on November 3, 2020, and I wonder how much “real” leadership expectations will play into the ultimate results. One candidate wants us to take him at his word, ignore his track record of lies and deception (especially in handling a pandemic with almost 230K American lives lost, and current spike in COVID-19 cases in 40+ U.S. states), and trust that he alone can fix the issues ailing the nation and economy. The other candidate is running on the notion of returning decency to the office of the Presidency, listening to scientists to get the pandemic under control, supporting inclusion, building back relationships with our global allies, and fighting for what he calls the "soul of the nation".

I’ve had several conversations with friends voting for the incumbent. And in our discussions about his performance over the past 4 years, “decency”, “setting a positive example”, and “being a good leader” have taken a back seat to a perception that the sitting President, as abhorrent as he may be as a person, has reduced U.S. participation in armed conflicts around the world and had a decent track record on the economy prior to COVID-19. They were more concerned with the other candidate's pledge to raise taxes on corporations and the wealthy making over $400,000/year, “which might reduce job opportunities and negatively impact the economy, as well as a return to policies of drone attacks on regimes around the world.”

Nothing else really mattered to them in the selection process, which brought up the question to me: When did our bar for leadership sink so low?

When did the “What” become more acceptable than the “How”? When did real leadership stop mattering. Courageous leadership such as the kind demonstrated by Abraham Lincoln when he freed the slaves. Inspirational leadership like that exhibited by John F. Kennedy during the space race. Or soulful leadership embodied by Martin Luther King during the fight for Civil Rights. Maybe the fact that I have to go back so far for real examples provides a clue into the issue - we just don't make "real" leaders like this anymore.

Unfortunately, toxic leadership practices and behaviors have taught us that the “How” only matters when you get caught doing something really bad. Or in the case of #45, your ability to continuously flip the script on your accusers and actually garner sympathy for your incompetence. When we begin to accept a leader's excuses for not doing their job, then we become a part of the problem. Every leadership guru in the world preaches that leaders must walk the talk so where is the disconnect occurring?

I refuse to use racism, faith, or greed as valid justifications for accepting terrible leaders. Racists need a real solution to COVID-19 just as much as anti-racists do. People of a certain faith don't want to see their communities torn apart by social strife any more than atheists do. Both rich and poor alike should be able to agree that by eliminating a healthcare act that will take coverage away from 20 million Americans and impact over 100 million with pre-existing conditions - just because it was implemented by a Black man - is nonsensical if you are failing to offer up a valid alternative.

Some things are just basic. Real leadership is not complex. Leaders take accountability for failings that happen on their watch. Leaders embody the values they expect others to emulate. Leaders build progressive cultures. Leaders take the oath of protecting those in their charge with the utmost seriousness. Leaders look in the mirror when accepting blame and out the window when offering praise. Leaders are humble in the face of challenge, exert tremendous will to influence positive outcomes, and are capable of tremendous empathy for those in their care.

Still, what do you do when leaders of all stripes continuously disappoint the people?

Do you make up excuses when Catholic priests take advantage of young boys; when CEO's steal the pensions of thousands of employees; when a President philanders with women, lies about the need to go to war, and justifies drone strikes; when superstar athletes admit to cheating on a massive scale; when parents divorce due to infidelity or abuse; or when authorities murder indiscriminately instead of protecting and serving?

Until leaders start getting into these positions for the right reasons, exhibiting the highest standard of behavior, and influencing in the right direction, we will continuously accept these failings as normal. Even, unfortunately, in the highest office in the land.

The Democratic candidate has stated that the reason he decided to run for President was what he witnessed in Charlottesville, Virginia, when a white supremacist drove his car into a crowd and sadly killed an innocent young woman protesting. Instead of being complacent like the current incumbent, this candidate saw what division was doing to this nation that he so loved, and decided at that moment to step into the fray and provide an alternative to the brand of leadership corrupting the opposing party. He vows to heal the nation and be a leader for “ALL Americans”.

Let's see if the majority of Americans want a leader who wants to heal all of us or more toxic leadership at all costs.

Omar L. Harris is the managing partner at ,Intent Consulting , a firm dedicated to improving employee experience and organizational performance and author of ,Leader Board: The DNA of High-Performance Teams and ,The Servant Leader's Manifesto available for purchase in ebook or print on ,Amazon.com . Please follow him ,,Instagram , ,,Twitter , and/or his ,website for more information and engagement.

Leadership Lessons from the 2020 NBA Finals

Lebron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are once again on top of the basketball universe! Ten years after Kobe Bryant delivered his masterpiece over the Boston Celtics, Lakers nation has tied Boston for the most titles in NBA history and cements the franchise legacy as the most dominant franchise in modern history. They did so by conquering a global pandemic that threatened to shutdown the sport and social unrest that became more important than merely entertaining the populace. This championship, asterisk or not will go down as the most difficult to attain in NBA history.

The argument will now be where Lebron James sits in NBA history. With his fourth title and third NBA Finals MVP with three different teams, he is demanding his respect and seat at the table with the greats. James' consistency is a marvel in modern sports only rivaled by Tom Brady in the NFL. He's never missed a playoff game in his seventeen year career and owns almost every meaningful postseason record with the exception of finals wins, finals win percentage, and finals MVPs for now. I have spoken at length about Lebron's leadership acumen in a previous article, but four years removed from that discussion, he continues to raise the bar for excellence.

Lebron serves his teams and organizations better than any athlete in history. With that in mind, let's review five key lessons from this year's NBA Finals:

First who, then what: After his groin injury during the 2018/19 season, Lebron James knew he needed more talent on his team to accelerate the Lakers return to prominence. Therefore, he strongly advocated for a franchise redefining trade to acquire superstar big man Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans. Once the trade was finally executed, Lebron made it his mission not only to embrace AD but to also let him know that the team would only go as far as he took them. Leadership Lesson: Many leaders make the mistake of defining a vision or mission for their organization before they have the requisite people in place to deliver on this mission. It usually doesn't work out until the right people are identified, attracted, and onboarded into the organization. A successful leader recognizes this and prioritizes filling in key team gaps before advancing toward goal setting and prioritization.
Envy is an enemy of high performance: Michael Jordan defined the ego-driven superstar archetype for a generation and became the symbol of hero ball. Kobe Bryant evolved from the Jordan model to more of a team first steward by the time he won his 5th ring. Lebron James was always team first. In a post game conference after a pivotal game 4 win, Lebron was asked what made his and Anthony Davis's relationship so productive on and off the court. His simple answer was that neither he nor AD envied each other and that winning was more important than credit. This lack of professional and personal jealousy allowed them to push each other to be the best version of themselves. Leadership Lesson: Not everyone has the maturity to overcome jealousy. It is key as a leader to identify these potential conflicts and address them as early as possible. Also, hiring for maturity as a crucial behavioral competency will minimize the chance of envy destroying your team.
Fail forward: The Lakers organization dealt with injury setbacks in 2018/19, the suspension of the 2019/20 season due to COVID, and a gut wrenching game 5 loss in the 2020 NBA finals. From the opening tip of game 6, however, it was clear that the team was locked in and not going to allow a game 7. Credit to Coach Vogel for making the key adjustments and setting the tone for his team. Leadership Lesson: Failure is only final if you fail to learn from losing. Fear of failure is a weakness that can stop any team from progressing. It is crucial that your team knows that failure is normal and expected but what is not acceptable is allowing losing to cripple confidence and forward progress.
Rise to the occasion: The Lakers had a number of also rans and cast-offs as role players. Key among them were Rajon Rondo and Dwight Howard both of whom had crucial moments during the playoffs to deliver wins for their teams. Rondo's game 6 performance will go down as one of the greatest off the bench contributions in a series clincher. On the Miami Heat side, we watched Duncan Robinson step up in game 5 to come through in the clutch. Leadership Lesson: You never know when you will be called upon to be great. Your job as a leader is to keep everyone ready and energized for their moment. Then when it comes, reinforce their talents and fill them with positive reinforcement and watch them fly!
You can do well by doing good: Adam Silver, the NBPA, and key advertisers did not have to embrace the cause of social unrest due to the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breyonna Taylor, George Floyd, and countless others over the years due to systemic racism in America, but they went all in. The level of awareness and activation to augment voter registration and participation in peaceful protest was significantly boosted by this alliance. That in addition to creating a template for returning to normalcy in the midst of a global pandemic. 6,500 employees were a part of the NBA bubble and their were zero COVID cases from mid July to early October! Leadership Lesson: It is not enough to focus merely on sales and profits for businesses anymore. The key stakeholders now include employees, customers, communities, the environment, and of course investors. Today's leaders have a higher bar than ever to clear in terms of performance and are evolving to meet these new challenges.

When the season was suspended on March 11, no one was certain how things would play out. But after three months of highly competitive and safe basketball we were able to crown a champion and that is why this season will always be remembered! I'm also so proud that the Lakers were able to deliver a title for Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna post their tragic deaths in January.

Omar L. Harris is Associate Vice-President and Country Manager for Allergan PLC in Brazil. He is the author of Leader Board: The DNA of High-Performance Teams and The Servant Leader's Manifesto available for purchase in ebook or print on Amazon.com. Please follow him on instagram, twitter, and/or his website for more information and engagement.

5 Servant Leadership Principles NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is Successfully Leveraging

Something unprecedented happened on Wednesday afternoon, August 26, when I turned on ESPN to watch game 5 of the NBA Playoffs series between the Milwaukee Bucks and Orlando Magic. The Orlando Magic players were on the court warming up for the game when they learned that the Bucks would not be playing in the wake of the tragic shooting of Jacob Blake - an unarmed black man in Kenosha, Wisconsin - shot 7 times mere feet away from his three children in their SUV. Shockwaves from their boycott in turn led other sports leagues in baseball and soccer to cancel the days slate of games as well.

After a spring of protests provoked by the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police, NBA players stepped up and led protests around the country in spite of the dangerous pandemic. Social injustice fatigue had reached its peak in the midst of a year of economic, health, and racial strife. Rather than resting on their laurels as wealthy and privileged young athletes, these valiant players chose to leverage their substantial platforms to raise awareness of the Black Lives Matter movement that first surged into existence in 2013 after the acquittal for Trayvon Martin's murder at the hands of George Zimmerman.

While other sports leagues cracked down on peaceful protests such as those led by Colin Kaepernick in the NFL when he began kneeling during the American National Anthem; the NBA took a very different approach under the leadership of Commissioner Adam Silver.

Silver has long been known as a player's commissioner, meaning someone who understood that his role was to grow the popularity of the game of basketball worldwide by remaining engaged and fully supportive of the players without whom the sport would not be possible. With this attribute of proactive engagement, humility, and will to lead, it's also not a coincidence that the NBA was the first league to postpone the regular season and playoffs once evidence of the emerging threat of the coronavirus was apparent.

Leaders are truly made or broken by crisis. The twin crises of a global pandemic and social injustice would be enough to overwhelm even the most seasoned of executives. However, Adam Silver rose to the challenge and successfully navigated his league through the pandemic postponement and protests. Moving all NBA games to the bubble of Orlando, Florida, this season, there had been zero cases of the virus during the first eight weeks. This in an environment within Florida where at the same time cases were spreading like wildfire.

And then came the pre-game hours on August 26th, when the Milwaukee Bucks walk off spurred a full cancellation of the slate of games for three days.

To some, the action of the players to cancel the playoff games on Wednesday seemed to be a slap in the face of a league which by all accounts had wholeheartedly embraced the cause of social injustice. From the Black Lives Matter messages emblazoned on the courts to the powerful phrases on the back of player's jersey's to the continued focus across the board on amplifying the voices, the NBA supported its players taking a stand. But as any servant leader knows, consistency is the true key to service, not a singular action. And Adam Silver's response demonstrates this understanding in spades.

Read Adam Silver's response to the stoppage of play here:

With this powerful response let's examine 5 ways Adam Silver has successfully leveraged servant leadership principles to respond to both the pandemic and the protests.

Empathy: Re-read this line from Silver's letter - While I don't walk in the same shoes as Black men and women, I can see the trauma and fear that racialized violence causes and how it continues the painful legacy of racial inequity that persists in our country. Servant Leadership Principle 1: Servant Leaders understand and wield the power of empathy to foster connection with their stakeholders. This connection allows them to build trust and trust allows them to create alignment towards shared goals.
Humility: Mr. Silver has never presented himself as someone having all the answers to the emerging crises faced by the NBA and the players. He had no fear saying "I don't know" and reflecting on his process for joint decision making. Servant Leadership Principle 2: Remaining humble in the face of challenge does not make a leader passive. It is only the leaders recognition that there are brutal facts and root causes that must be addressed before progress can resume. Know-it-all ego-driven leaders rarely act on root causes, which is why problems are not resolved under their leadership.
Openness: Due to his humble approach to the issues at hand, Silver and his league were open to a variety of approaches to restarting basketball despite the overwhelming odds against them. It was this openness that led to the correct strategy employed in the bubble that not only protected the players and staff, but also maintained the goal of keeping the spotlight on the social injustice concerns. Servant Leadership Principle 3: Humility and openness truly go hand-in-hand because once you recognize that you don't have all the answers, you surround yourself with a team of the right voices and knowledge to identify solutions together by leveraging the wisdom of the crowd.
Engagement: You can tell the degree of respect Silver garners from the NBA owners, managers, and players when you listen to their comments about the commissioner. This is largely due to his style of engagement. Chris Paul, the NBA Players Association President, and Silver are in lock step. He speaks with Lebron James as needed and regularly keeps his fingers on the pulse of all key stakeholders around the league. Servant Leadership Principle 4: Servant leaders were among the first to transition from shareholder capitalism to stakeholder capitalism, meaning that rather than respond to only the "owners" (as Roger Goodell NFL commissioner is guilty of doing during the Kaepernick protests), they respond to the owners, managers, customers, community, and environment. Remaining engaged with the entire realm of stakeholders ensures a clearer picture about the situation and how to effectively navigate it versus only working with those motivated by monetary concerns.
Trustworthiness: Adam Silver leverages the "give to get" model of trust building. You can tell the way players feel empowered to act and speak up, and this is a direct result of their environment. They feel safe and secure as a consequence of this powerful culture, and know they have a voice at the table. Servant Leadership Principle 5: Toxic leaders withhold trust from their employees, who must earn it and can lose it at the slightest slip. This ego-driven approach does not lead to empowerment or right actions. In comparison, Servant Leaders, give trust freely and treat their constituents as equal partners in decision making. If mistakes are made, they are made together. And when praise arrives, it is given to the group, not the individual leader.

As result of Adam Silver’s Servant Leadership, I've been tremendously impressed by his poise under fire this year. And my fandom of the league has grown one-hundred fold as a result. I am certain that under his leadership, the NBA will continue to be a large part of the solution to help heal the nation and bring important issues to light.

Omar L. Harris is the managing partner at Intent Consulting , a firm dedicated to improving employee experience and organizational performance and author of Leader Board: The DNA of High-Performance Teams and The Servant Leader's Manifesto available for purchase in ebook or print on Amazon.com . Please follow him Instagram , Twitter , and/or his website for more information and engagement.

Regaining Trust in the Wake of a Toxic Leader

After watching the Democratic and Republican National Conventions over the past 2 weeks, I returned again and again to the same leadership conundrum. Should Joe Biden win the 2020 Presidential Election, how will his administration repair the damage done by the toxic leadership brand of Donald J. Trump? In order to address this, we first must clearly understand the differences between toxic leadership and servant leadership.

Toxic Leadership Defined:

As John C. Maxwell states in ,The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership - leadership is influence. And influence means activating people into motion to achieve some purpose or cause. How you go about influencing is where the rubber meets the road. Toxic leaders influence via power. They leverage their position to get what they want and usually what they want is accolades, praise, and rewards for themselves at the expense of others. They don't consider the impact of their actions and decisions on the people doing their bidding and value blind loyalty over honesty. The only reality that matters is the reality in which they are winning.

Servant Leadership Defined:

In contrast, servant leaders influence via authority. Their authority stems from the trust they've gained from others due to the quality, intention, and integrity of their actions and decisions. They are guided by their connection to the needs of their people as it relates to the purpose or mission they have defined. They weigh the potential consequences of their decisions by the negative impact on those in their charge, but maintain a bias toward action because progress is their ultimate measure of success - not winning arbitrary praise or accolades for themselves.

It's not a coincidence that today August 28, 2020 is the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington and people are ,,gathered in Washington D.C. to continue the work of the Civil Rights Movement against social injustice and toxic leadership policies that still haunt this country.

The Legacy of Toxic Leadership:

Like a hurricane achieving landfall at category 4 or 5 levels hitting a city and refusing to move on, toxic leaders decimate all norms of decency and morality in their path. They beat down any structures of resistance and reorder the culture until everything is impacted by winds, rain, despair, and irreparable damage. It can be a dizzying task to reorient a population accustomed to living under a culture of toxic leadership. The reorientation challenge is because of the filter through which the toxic leaders in question define success.

Just as the abused ultimately can come to justify their own abuse as deserved - those led by toxic leaders come to the point where they cease to complain about the ego-driven policies of those in charge. They don't speak up for themselves, act in their own best interest, or even consider the negative implications of the orders they've been given. Their only hope is that a small fragment of the recognition and rewards typically reserved for higher ups will trickle down to them.

Lack of trust, accountability, and shared commitment, as well as false invulnerability are some of the behaviors left in the wake of a toxic leader. Or in the case of the current U.S. administration - a nation left more divided than ever along racial, political, environmental, educational, and even basic health and wellness lines. We don't know who to trust anymore and this is by design. The country has been weakened and lacks a polar north for reasonable people to rally behind. The only people succeeding in this environment are those who have submissively adhered themselves to the current leadership in the hopes that the new status quo will be maintained.

Regaining the Trust:

How often would you emerge from the relative security of your home if you knew there were 150 mph winds gusting outside? Well consider the fragile populace of America post these three and half years of dishonesty, division, and disdain for standards of ethics and morality demonstrated on a daily basis by this administration. People are at their most sensitive and seeking sincerity and support from their leaders. And this is where the servant leadership approach can rebuild trust and belief in the system.

Servant leaders start the healing by connecting with everyone impacted. Connecting implies listening, empathizing, valuing, and seeking to understand the various viewpoints. A leader must lead 100% of the people, not only those who like them, so this step is crucial.

After establishing a solid connection, the servant leader must work to establish a unifying vision that the majority of people can get behind, regardless of their affiliation. This requires clearly identifying and tapping into shared values, needs, motivators, and expectations. And then the servant leader gets to work leading from the front and galvanizing everyone into action by constantly removing barriers to progress, remaining humble in the face of uncertainty, and demonstrating trust building behaviors at all times.

Repairing trust is hard work. Ask anyone who has ever tried to glue a shattered mirror back together or rebuild a city in the wake of a major storm. But without the adhesive of trust, progress is difficult to achieve. Servant leaders don't abdicate this responsibility. They roll up their sleeves and get down to business.

A new administration has its work cut out for it, but as long as they stay committed to the challenging task of trust building across party and ethnic lines, they can ultimately repair the damage inflicted by a season of toxic leadership.

Omar L. Harris is the managing partner at ,Intent Consulting, a firm dedicated to improving employee experience and organizational performance and author of ,Leader Board: The DNA of High-Performance Teams and ,The Servant Leader's Manifesto available for purchase in ebook or print on ,Amazon.com. Please follow him ,,,Instagram, ,,,Twitter, and/or his ,website for more information and engagement.

Taking a Stand Against Toxic Leadership During the 2020 Election

I can vividly remember a time in my career before the advent of the "speak-up" culture movement. This was a time when organizational bad actors went unpunished and anyone who dared to confront a toxic work presence was denigrated and denied future opportunities. People's voices were suppressed and this led to senior leaders who maintained their deniability regarding these bad behaviors until they were forced back in line by regulators fining them for disobeying the rules.

There isn't an ethics and compliance presentation today that doesn't contain the huge financial implications of toxic work cultures. From GSK paying the Chinese government $489 million in 2013 to Wells Fargo in 2016 having to gut their leadership ranks, pay over $2 billion in fines, and suffer the loss of thousands of customers - there are myriad examples of what happens when good people don't highlight negative actions. Compliance officers use these examples to attempt to scare employees and managers straight. But oftentimes the issue doesn't lie at these levels of the organization. The problem rests at the top of the house - where orders to do the wrong thing are issued and then permeate the rest of the organization.

We are facing such a situation today in the United States during this 2020 Election Year. The President of the United States is withholding funding to the USPS in order to make it more difficult for mail in votes to be issued, collected, and counted in time for election day. In his own words, “They need that money in order to make the post office work, so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots” come November, Trump said. “If they don’t get those two items, that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting because they’re not equipped.”

Nevermind that this terrible action negatively impacts both Republican and Democrat voters alike. The USPS is an organization of over 633,000 employees - good people who have a crucial role in the day-to-day lives of all Americans and most especially during elections - more critically so in 2020 due to the pandemic and fears of voter suppression at the polls.

There are many external movements popping up to protest this attempt to hijack the election; but what of the employees, managers, and leaders within the USPS? How should they be dealing with orders that run contrary to their organizations values, mission, and purpose? An organization who’s stated mission is that "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."

What lessons can we apply from the speak up culture movement now embedded in nearly every corporation and apply them to this situation?

The first issue is making sure that USPS employees feel safe and secure to protest this action from within the organization. Safety implies that if employees choose to join external protests such as those happening around the country or directed at the Post Master General, they should be permitted to do so without fear of backlash or losing their jobs.

The next issue to address is the respect for hierarchy that may result in employees scared to challenge their managers. If you've read my work on servant leadership, you already know where I stand on this issue - managers should be the first people reacting to a negative implication on their people's performance and leveraging their influence to ensure that these prohibitive orders are not carried out.

Lastly, USPS employees need to reject apathy and the feeling that nothing they do matters. We have seen the societal power of speaking up during this year's social justice movement, and how the recent #metoo movement inspired needed changes. This is not the time to sit on the sidelines. We need to ensure that employees are being activated to resist participating in any action that will fundamentally undermine our democracy.

Managers play a pivotal role in this process. They create the safety to voice concerns and the freedom to protest. They can collect employee issues and take them to the top of the house so that no one can say they were unaware of the implications of orders on employee morale and productivity. And they can actually inspire and activate their employees to resist any directions that go against the values, mission, and purpose of the organization.

Taking a stand against these dysfunctions is much bigger than any party affiliation. These issues challenge the underpinnings of our collective democracy. This is the moment for true leaders to rise and confront toxic leaders and their ego-driven policies. We each have a role in ensuring the right things are done. And our greater good will come by supporting the good people of the USPS who only want to complete their mission in the best way possible. Let's ensure that they know that they are not alone, and that we will not stand for the defrauding of our election system either before or behind the curtain.

Omar L. Harris is the managing partner at Intent Consulting , a firm dedicated to improving employee experience and organizational performance and author of  Leader Board: The DNA of High-Performance Teams  and  The Servant Leader's Manifesto  available for purchase in ebook or print on  Amazon.com . Please follow him on  instagram ,  twitter , and/or his  website  for more information and engagement.

Becoming an Advocate for Black Talent in the Workplace

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I attended college at a historically black university (HBCU) - #FloridaA&MUniversity (FAMU) and earned my MBA there as well. As a graduate of the world-renowned

In 2020, we find ourselves at a watershed moment where many people are begining to recognize and account for the detrimental impacts of

I have come to the conclusion that it is a combination of my own adaptation and track record that has made me successful where so many have failed. But the fact that I had to make the adaptation at all in a so-called modern society is where the true fault lies. At FAMU, most of my esteemed classmates grew up as the only black person in mostly white environments because that was deemed as the path to success. And over time, little by little, you begin to give up your cultural identity and essence to fit in with your corporate peers. Whereas, in many instances, my white counterparts have been permitted to become more of who they actually are - we have to become less. This is the essence of whitewashing - assimilating in order to succeed.

Unfortunately, none of my previous employers in the healthcare industry have fully capitalized on my unique perspectives related to race and cultural identity that could have added significant value - whether it be in clinical study design for African-American populations, product branding, marketing campaigns, patient support programs, and/or physician targeting and outreach. And ultimately who suffered from this whitewashing were the patients who might have come into the funnel more rapidly and avidly had messages been tailored to their needs.

It has been a significant pleasure for me over my corporate career to mentor young black talents in various stages of their corporate matriculation. I have also had the distinct opportunity to return to my university and speak to the student body about how to remain competitive and successful in the evolving workplace. Still, all my efforts have not put a dent in the status quo. That's why I am pleading for my like-minded white colleagues to heed this message and join me in the effort to attract, onboard, develop, and promote black talent.

Diversity and inclusion is more than a nice buzzword of the moment. It is truly good business.

Purposely attract black talent:
Are you going to where black talent exists en mass? Are you attending the annual Black MBA conference or recruiting at the top HBCU's? Is it an organizational or departmental imperative to evaluate and include these talents in the recruiting process? In order to transform your teams and organizations you have to go seek the talent, not the other way around. And if the talent is limited in your space - create developmental programs to attract black students to pursue these career paths. Often times, we are less exposed to the opportunities in these spaces like coding etc and therefore don't see chances down these paths.

Leverage their voice:
Race is usually an electrified third rail in business. No one wants to touch it with a ten-foot poll. And as a black professional, I don't want to feel like I was hired specifically because I'm black. However, there are ways to engage your black talents that are complementary and don't create awkward situations. Simply ask for their perspective on different issues or ask them to study a problem from a demographic angle in order to enhance the ultimate solution. This is especially needed in marketing and advertising functions but it can apply in a myriad of situations.

Find them black mentors and coaches:
As black talent develops it is important to have advocates, mentors, and coaches that represent them within and outside of the organization. Understand that there are aspects of being black in the workforce that you will ultimately never fully appreciate but you can demonstrate empathy and compassion for your colleague by helping them find voices that can connect with their challenges in a more direct manner.

Empower them:
Black talent requires empowerment even more so than other nationalities because in many cases we have been taught to play it safe and not stand out in order to succeed. One of the most important moments in my career came when I was sent overseas on a stretch assignment and the senior vice president told me that no matter what happened while on assignment he had my back. That level of empowerment and belief transformed my own self-confidence and allowed me to give my all to the assignment. Don't assume your black colleague knows and understands how much free reign they have in order to overcome challenges and achieve goals.
,Don't be surprised if they have a perfectionism complex borne from having to be far better than their white colleagues to be seen and appreciated.
Be vocal with them on this and remain supportive so they don't feel abandoned either.

Push them:
It's not so long ago that African-Americans could not participate in higher order jobs like medicine and law. As a people, we have been conditioned to play it safe as it relates to employment and opportunities for advancement. Consider this, if a white colleague has a certain fear of failure, amplify this by a magnitude of 1,000 to understand the vantage point of a black person in the same position. So if you manage a black talent, you need to understand this perspective and work to continuously push your colleage outside of their comfort zone. Whether that be via international assignments or matriculating through different departments in the organization, exposure is something we desperately need. Be a strong advocate for diverse experiences and also a parachute if things don't work out.

This was not meant to be an exahustive list by any means, but it can be a starting point for anyone seeking to increase their allyship during these turbulent times. We need your support, understanding, and positive action now more than ever. Please pass this article through your organization to get the conversation started!

,Omar L. Harris is the managing partner at Intent Consulting LLC a firm dedicated to improving employee experience and organizational performance and author of 

Leadership Lessons from The Last Dance documentary

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I'm sure I'm not alone in being grateful to

The synopsis of the documentary goes: In the fall of 1997, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls allowed a film crew to follow them as they went for their sixth NBA title in eight seasons. That resulted in a stunning portrait of one of the sport's most iconic athletes and a celebrated team. "The Last Dance" follows the Bulls' 1997-98 season from start to finish, while also covering the rest of the chapters in Jordan's remarkable career. The 10-part docuseries follows the Jordan timeline from when he was an emerging star on his high school team to becoming a worldwide marketing force and cultural figure. The series takes its name from a phrase coined by then-Bulls coach Phil Jackson, who knew that the season would likely be the final run for the core members of that 1990s Bulls dynasty.

As Bruce Tuckman detailed in his landmark publication on teams - people come together and pass through at least

“One is too small a number to achieve greatness.”

With this thought in mind, allow me to present six leadership lessons (one for each championship) gleaned from this deeply compelling documentary.

Success is a process:
The Chicago Bulls organization that drafted Michael Jordan in 1984 was highly dysfunctional and disappointingly terrible. They had the extreme good fortune that the Portland Trailblazers already had an explosive shooting guard on their roster in the form of Clyde "The Glide" Drexler which led them to draft Sam Bowie instead of Jordan with the number two pick in the draft. But with the infusion of one key piece the Bulls went from also-rans to perennial playoff contenders for the following fourteen years. But as clearly documented during the series, Jordan's talents alone were not enough to elevate his team to level of NBA champion. It took a combination of individual talent, a dynamic system (Tex Winter's triangle offense), great role players (Pippen, Kerr, Rodman, Kukoc, Paxon, Hodges, Armstrong, Cartwright, Pippen, Burrell, Wennington, Longley, King, etc), an expert coach, the right mindset and reinforcing habits, extreme challenge (in the form of first the Boston Celtics and later the Detroit Pistons), and savvy management; all working in concert to deliver the wave of success Chicago enjoyed during their championship seasons.
Leadership Lesson: A team leader needs focus, optimism, and patience to lead a team to success. Acknowledging that success takes time and not skipping steps is essential. Even though corporations are driven by short term returns, in reality it doesn't happen that easily. You have to have the internal fortitude to commit to the process of making improvement daily versus making knee-jerk decisions based on the current state that may derail all the investments previously made.

Culture supercedes talent:
We see it time and time again in sports that a generational talent is identified like Jordan, Kobe, Shaq, Lebron, Giannis; and then that talent is tested by adversity. This documentary really cements that fact by demonstrating the pain of the Bulls climb up the ladder from 1984 to 1991. Along the way, Jordan faced a season-ending injury, a host of difficult playoff exits, and coaches who simply rode his talents to the promise land without providing him with a system that would leverage the talents of the entire team. Tex Winter and Phil Jackson's triangle offense together with Jordan's tough love became the culture that built a perennial champion. 
Leadership Lesson: To build a high performance culture is to combine the right talent, the right mission, and the right discipline creating norms. This is the minimum necessary to align a group of people toward a big hairy audacious goal. The right culture is also necessary to get new joiners to quickly align to the norms and the mission. Servant leaders create cultures that drive high performance norms.

Reject credit:
 Jerry Krause unfortunately comes off as the bad guy throughout the documentary despite the fact that he drafted Scottie Pippen and Tony Kukoc, orchestrated the coaching change to Phil Jackson, hired Tex Winter, and traded for Dennis Rodman. The reason why he is largely villainized is because of his actions to dismantle a championship team prematurely due to financial concerns. He also complained that Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan got too much credit for the Bulls success leaving he and Jerry Reinsdorf as footnotes.
Leadership Lesson: Leaders should not be in their position to boost their ego. They are paid to support the organization and do the work that no one else can do. Credit should be issued by leaders and blame should be shouldered by leaders and this is because leaders should be humble and secure enough to take it.

Support those who support you:
One of the things I liked the most about the documentary was the glimpse into Michael Jordan's relationship with his security guard Gus Lett. It was clear that there was tremendous love and respect between them and learning how Jordan was there for his family when he was diagnosed with cancer showed a much softer and human side of the icon.
Leadership Lesson: Support is definitely a two-way street. Servant leaders receive a lot from operating in a position of support to their teams. The dipper and bucket analogy is true - the more positivity you give the more you receive and the more full your reservoir of energy, resilience, and positivity becomes.

Connect with each team member individually: 
Phil Jackson was the perfect coach for Dennis Rodman once he became a celebrity. Jackson worked to deeply understand what drove and motivated his mercurial defensive specialist. Jackson never judged Rodman despite his erratic and attention seeking behavior. And this understanding was the key to Rodman giving his best despite a few notable exits from the team.
Leadership Lesson: The theory that "managing" people is punitive is 100% flawed. As Patrick Lencioni says in The Motive - if the world's best athletes and performers need coaches why would executives not need this relationship. To manage someone means to deeply understand their unique talents, weaknesses, derailers, motivators, and praise preferences. Spending time to get to know your people on a deeply personal level is as or more important than designing strategy or doing business development deals.

Everything ends:
Due to Jerry Krause's pronouncement at the outset of the 1998 season that Phil Jackson could go 82-0 and still not be welcomed back as a head coach, Phil Jackson pronounced the season as the Last Dance for the team. He did this because he understood the need for teams to have closure once the mission is completed. It lead to greater acceptance and greater cohesion around the ultimate objective of completing another three-peat. Still, Michael Jordan has a lot of bitterness that the team didn't get to leave on their own terms. And this is a natural feeling in the adjourning phase. Had Jerry Krause purposefully designed a more effective exit strategy built on the talents of Tony Kukoc and Scottie Pippen while trading for emerging talent the rebuild might have been more successful. As it is, the Bulls peaked in 1998 and haven't sniffed the NBA Finals in twenty-two years.
Leadership Lesson:

The team will always look to the leader to signpost where they are on the journey. A servant leader serves team continuity and longevity by developing emerging talent and creating succession throughout the organization. The ensures that the chase for the mission never ends whether the leader remains there or not. The mission is always bigger than one single individual.

The Last Dance was a fantastic documentary and I really enjoyed this blast from the past. (5 out of 5 stars).

What other leadership lessons did you glean from the documentary? Let us know in the comments below. And please give the article a thumbs up and share with your network if you enjoyed and got anything out of it.

Omar L. Harris is the author of