Omar L. Harris's Blog, page 5

The Crucial Link Between Juneteenth and J.E.D.I. Leadership

Today, June 17th, 2021, President Joe Biden signed into law a new federal holiday recognizing Juneteenth, or the day celebrated by African-Americans throughout America of the pivotal moment in 1865 when Union Army Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger declared the states' 250,000 enslaved peoples free in accordance with Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation two years earlier.

This new holiday is significant because it accomplishes two things - 1) it federally recognizes a crucial moment linked to the evils of slavery (currently under attack by some hard line conservatives as they attempt to rewrite history and soften the blow of slavery for the modern age) and 2) it reminds us of the real heroes whose efforts ultimately influenced Lincoln's hand - the early abolitionists like Frederick Douglass who fought the political fight for freedom, the revolutionaries like Nat Turner and Harriett Tubman who revolted against the established order and innovated paths out of slavery like the Underground Railroad, and the thousands of Black soldiers who took up arms during the Civil War to fight and die for their right to be considered free and equally human as white Americans.

What this holiday does not do is enhance equity for African-Americans. It doesn't come with reparations for slavery or more economic opportunities or less racial bias or better schools or safer communities. It also doesn't heal old wounds or the nation. Healing requires time, tinderness, and tested tonics to do the trick - none of which can be accomplished by a holiday or celebration. It does, however, create the opportunity to ask the fundamental question plaguing society and business today - what are the injustices - racial and otherwise (like those that Juneteenth recognizes) that are happening in my own community, city, state, business today that we need to acknowledge and actively work to eradicate.

For injustice without purposeful action to eradicate it at the source will only proliferate and further denigrate those most impacted.

It is time for those calling themselves leaders in business to step up and meet this moment. Not just because it is the humane, morale, and right thing to do for people, but because it also makes for good business in the climate where the actions and inactions of companies are more transparently available than ever before. Leaders should heed the lessons of companies that have paid the steep price for not eradicating internal racial bias and discrimination and understand that inaction equals high business risk. Stepping up requires a somewhat painful examination of injust and inequitable policies that have been allowed to pervade and permeate the very fabric of a company's DNA. Focus less on extrinsic factors and far more on the internal work that must be done for employees that will ultimately lead to positive externalities for a variety of key stakeholders beyond shareholders.

J.E.D.I. leadership is about leveraging positional power, authority, trust, and influence to continuously eradicate these internal injustices, eliminate inequities, expand diversity, and enhance inclusion for employees in order to drive greater value for customers, communities, the environment, and shareholders. It is aiming the tremendous value generation machinery of the enteprise at itself in the effort to root out toxic policies, behavior, and (if necessary) people who are not aligned with the elevated goals of stakeholder capitalism. It is doing this because to not do it would significantly minimize an organization's effectiveness by being unattractive to qualified talents, unable to innovate due to lack of diversity, and at constant risk of negative financial events such as law suits, fines, penalties, and sanctions.

Just as publically recognizing Juneteenth can set the stage for significant future progress, so can business leaders do the same internally by recognizing that there most certainly are injustices and inequities inherent in the policies of the company and/or how they are carried out. And if leaders want a quick win today, follow President Biden's lead and not only give all your employees Friday June 19th off in accordance with the federal holiday, but more importantly, explain why taking this day off is meaningful for your business.

If you want to learn more about the intersection between business leadership and corporate social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion - take a few minutes and preview my new book Be a J.E.D.I. Leader, Not a Boss: Leadership in the Era of Corporate Social Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion below and click the link to pre-order your copy today!

Omar L. Harris is the managing partner at Intent Consulting, a firm dedicated to improving employee experience and organizational performance via implementation of J.E.D.I. leadership principles and author of Leader Board: The DNA of High-Performance Teams, The Servant Leader's Manifesto, and Be a J.E.D.I. Leader, Not a Boss: Leadership in the Era of Corporate Social Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion available for purchase in ebook or print on Amazon.com. Please follow him Instagram, Twitter, and/or LinkedIn for more information and engagement.

The End of the Boss

Donald Trump was the ultimate boss. He was a flamboyant figure who bought and sold big properties with aplomb. He built a global brand out of his bluster, bravado, PR mastery, and love of gold. On The Apprentice (2004-2015), he put regular folks and celebrities alike through the paces and grew his celebrity by firing folks on national television. His supersized brand was only matched by his ego and ambition. And when embarrassed quite publicly during the 2011 National Correspondents Dinner after Barack Obama spent several minutes roasting him from the dais – his fragile ego was triggered to run for President, again, with the full backing of conservative media.

Many people thought he was joking, but Trump, as with most bosses - once ego gets into the equation - would have no limits to repair his frail dignity. On the campaign trail in 2015, ,he denigrated Mexicans and Africans as rapists and coming from shithole countries respectively. He bullied and berated his fellow Republican candidates in debates and on Twitter - to the point where most GOP lawmakers became afraid to cross him. He promised to bring “law and order” back to America by cracking down on illegal immigration and building a wall to prevent southern border crossings. He derided the mainstream media as "fake news" and invented the term "alternative facts". He was basically unhinged.

And when we learned that he was ,being prosecuted for fraud for his Trump University debacle, resulting in a $25 million settlement with students who said they were “duped”, we ignored it. And when he spoke of ,sexually assaulting women on a hot mic, it was deemed "locker room talk" - even after ,over 26 women alleged sexual misconduct by him. And when he actually won the election and ,lied about the size of his crowds at his inauguration - we joked about the fragility of his ego, but not the danger that this ego might present. And when soon thereafter he issued ,a Muslim ban on people from countries deemed dangerous to American interests - we didn't mark it as the beginning of a serious trend. And when he continued to lie and lie and lie over and over again, many became numb. When the media went on 24 hour Trump watch presenting his every word and action to the public and spinning it either positively (in the case of Fox News) or negatively in the case of everyone else, we got triggered almost daily, but mostly went about our lives. And when he called white supremacists in Charlottesville ,"very fine people". we didn't call for his resignation right then and there. And when and when and when and when....

What we know is this - if Trump truly was a corporate CEO displaying even 10% of the negative attributes he flaunted as President - he would have been terminated for cause without severance.

Standards in corporations on CEO behavior are higher than ever, yet many of these same ,CEO's invested heavily in Trump and his campaigns. Was this party loyalty, values blindness, or something more insidious like white supremacy and racism? It is true that ,89% of the Fortune 500 CEO's are white men, so they probably relate to and even admire Trump in some ways - his freedom to say whatever he wants, his brashness in the face of unending criticism, his utter lack of conscience. Trump is like the fantasy version of what many of these men wish they could be.

But under his watch as the 45th President of the United States for the past four years, the country has become more divided than ever. Whereas in previous administrations our concern was rooting out global terrorism, under Trump - domestic terrorism has become emboldened. Despite being personally responsible for ,more than 371,000 deaths due to r,ipping up the pandemic playbook left for him by the Obama administration and making wearing a mask political versus a safety measure, he actually gained 11 million more votes in the 2020 election cycle versus in 2016 - despite clear evidence that his brand of authoritariansm was making the US weaker in every aspect.

Bossdom, which had been on the decline in the 2010's due to increased transparency, scrutiny, and expectations - under Trump gained a major and unexpected boost.

Bossdom can be defined as the pursuit of power at any and all costs. This need for power can directly be attributed to a toxic ego driven by a clear lack of love and a sense of belonging, self-esteem, and empathy. But power can never replace the holes left in someone who didn't get enough love or who's self-esteem is helplessly fragile. People with the boss affliction actually crave adulation and affection. They require examples of success and will lie and spin to create the perception of winning even if there is none. They demand absolute fealty and loyalty from their supporters and cannot deal with brutal truths. They cling to power or the perception of power as it is their only meager source of esteem.

So when the “ultimate Boss” leaves office on January 20, 2021, we should agree to retire Bossdom for good in our society. We have seen for ourselves what Bossdom on its highest level begets - toxic discourse, toxic environments, and toxic behaviors.

The ,,assault on democracy seen on January 6th should burn in our minds as the living example of what we get when we value Bossdom over true leadership traits - humility, will, and empathy.

Whether Republican or Democrat, we should uphold the highest standards for our President and corporate leaders. Because if we allow Bossdom to persist, it may just be the end of our democracy and life as we know 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.

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.