The next chapter in our look at Commodus should be ready for posting later this week. But for now, I want to throw something out there: Do you struggle a bit on these rainy days? Surely I'm not the only one who wakes up to the alarm-clock, looks outside to see the gloomy weather, fights the soupy sea of glowing red brake lights (extra half-hour of commuting for me this a.m.), and seems to be lost in the gray...all...day... long. If this is you, then you will agree with me that, while it stinks, we must not let it influence our effectiveness as leaders.
Me? Honestly? I'm on my third cup of coffee and I still can't shake it.
Perhaps it's just the way I'm wired, but on rainy, gloomy days like this I tend to be overly reflective, internalizing things even more than normal. I frequently glance at the clock, and even the most menial of tasks seem to take a Herculean amount of effort to accomplish. I'm not proud of it, but hey, I'm simply being authentic and transparent, here - two critical qualities every good leader should possess. Right? : ^)
All of this reminds me of the Thoreau quote, "From a good beginning all else flows". Let's see... woke up on-time, had a healthy breakfast, read a little from my bible, checked the headlines, scratched the dog behind the ears, kissed the wife and kids goodbye... It sure seemed like a good beginning, but today feels more like a drip-drop than a flow.
So, then, is it simply the wet weather that makes us feel more like followers than leaders today? Is it just an off-day (everyone has them)? Perhaps it all boils down to our failure to find contentment in every circumstance. If that's true, I'm doomed, because I've had ants in my pants since 1982. Maybe that's not a terrible thing, as I suppose it keeps me from growing stagnant. But I digress...
Let me ask you this (and fracture some sentence-structure rules in the process): Whether your funky-foggy mindset is weather related or not, how - as leaders - do we fight through cobwebs and effectively lead our people? After all, people do what people see, especially when it comes to leadership. They will follow your lead for better or worse. Why? Because, as a leader, your talk talks and your walk talks - but your walk talks more than your talk talks. I suppose I could have simply said "actions speak louder than words", but it's not nearly as fun to say it three-times-fast.
I look forward to reading your thoughts comments on this, if you're so inclined to post them. In the mean time, I think I'll have some more coffee...
J.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Commodus, Part I
The popular movie Gladiator told the story of Maximus, a great Roman general who served the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. During the Emperor's last days, Maximus fought the barbarians to the north of the Roman Empire. But Maximus was betrayed by the Emperor's son, Commodus, a spoiled cowardly politician lately arrived at the frontier. Commodus, burning with envy and jealousy, murdered his father - becoming Emperor in his place - and sent Maximus to be executed. Maximus narrowly escaped death only to be sold into slavery and forced to live as a gladiator. As the movie builds to a climactic ending, Maximus ultimately gets his vengeance against Commodus on the Coliseum floor.
Though an utterly gripping story of courage and resolve, it is mostly fictional. And it's not nearly as remarkable as the story of the real Commodus. Let's take a look.
It's true that Commodus was Marcus Aurelius' son and heir. But unlike his fictional counterpart, he accompanied his father into battle for most of his early life. When his father died of plague (not strangulation-by-Commodus), Commodus became emperor at age nineteen. He quickly made peace with the empire's enemies on the border and returned to Rome.
Commodus entered the capitol as a hero, and he then tried to position himself as a man of the people. Much to the dismay of the ruling classes, Commodus soon began proving his courage and skill by performing in the Coliseum. He killed lions, rhinoceroses, and elephants. A skilled bowman, he felled numerous other animals with single shots from his bow. In one encounter, he killed one hundred leopards using one hundred javelins. It's also worth noting that he had the lame suited to hide their deformations, and killed them in the arena, too. It's said that the rapport Commodus gained with the common people was remarkable.
At this point in the story, we clearly see that Commodus was quite impressed with himself. Next week we'll take a deeper dive into the severity of Commodus' character flaws, and conclude the story of his brief but tumultuous reign.
J.
Though an utterly gripping story of courage and resolve, it is mostly fictional. And it's not nearly as remarkable as the story of the real Commodus. Let's take a look.
It's true that Commodus was Marcus Aurelius' son and heir. But unlike his fictional counterpart, he accompanied his father into battle for most of his early life. When his father died of plague (not strangulation-by-Commodus), Commodus became emperor at age nineteen. He quickly made peace with the empire's enemies on the border and returned to Rome.
Commodus entered the capitol as a hero, and he then tried to position himself as a man of the people. Much to the dismay of the ruling classes, Commodus soon began proving his courage and skill by performing in the Coliseum. He killed lions, rhinoceroses, and elephants. A skilled bowman, he felled numerous other animals with single shots from his bow. In one encounter, he killed one hundred leopards using one hundred javelins. It's also worth noting that he had the lame suited to hide their deformations, and killed them in the arena, too. It's said that the rapport Commodus gained with the common people was remarkable.
At this point in the story, we clearly see that Commodus was quite impressed with himself. Next week we'll take a deeper dive into the severity of Commodus' character flaws, and conclude the story of his brief but tumultuous reign.
J.
Monday, April 13, 2009
How NOT to Lead
Leadership is such a fascinating and complex subject, isn't it? It seems there have been at least eleventy-billion books, brochures, and pamphlets written about leadership (I hope to soon add one more to the mix). A person could literally spend every moment of their life studying leaders and leadership. That's certainly not a bad thing - leadership affects every aspect of our lives. Not just good leadership, but bad leadership as well. In fact, I think we can sometimes learn more from studying the habits of a bad leader than we can by studying the habits of a good one. As they say, everything rises or falls on leadership, or a lack thereof.
With that in mind, I'd like you to think about something: In your experiences, what is the most common trait exhibited by the bad leaders you have known (no, body odor and bad breath don't count)? Rude? Unorganized? Uncaring? Mean-spirited? Whatever your answer may be, I'd be willing to bet lunch that we could boil it down to one thing: an attitude centered on self. One who is focused on himself and his own little world, by default, fails to properly lead his people. Even good, well-meaning leaders are in danger of falling into this trap. Bad leaders live in it. To make things worse, a leader who focuses on self is quite often more concerned with the spoils and/or power of his position - or the fear of losing it - than with the investment in and development of his people. Leaders, this is your chance to check yourselves. You may think you are doing fine in this area, and you may very well be, but I am convinced that this is a blind spot for many, many leaders. And it's a sure-fire way to short-circuit the realization of your vision.
In the weeks and months to come, we'll peel back the onion on this topic, beginning with a real-life example of a leader who was consumed with self. In fact, you may be familiar with his work: the Roman Emperor Commodus. Not the movie version we saw in "Gladiator", but the historical version. Spoiler warning: he was even worse in real-life than as portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix. Stay tuned...
J.
With that in mind, I'd like you to think about something: In your experiences, what is the most common trait exhibited by the bad leaders you have known (no, body odor and bad breath don't count)? Rude? Unorganized? Uncaring? Mean-spirited? Whatever your answer may be, I'd be willing to bet lunch that we could boil it down to one thing: an attitude centered on self. One who is focused on himself and his own little world, by default, fails to properly lead his people. Even good, well-meaning leaders are in danger of falling into this trap. Bad leaders live in it. To make things worse, a leader who focuses on self is quite often more concerned with the spoils and/or power of his position - or the fear of losing it - than with the investment in and development of his people. Leaders, this is your chance to check yourselves. You may think you are doing fine in this area, and you may very well be, but I am convinced that this is a blind spot for many, many leaders. And it's a sure-fire way to short-circuit the realization of your vision.
In the weeks and months to come, we'll peel back the onion on this topic, beginning with a real-life example of a leader who was consumed with self. In fact, you may be familiar with his work: the Roman Emperor Commodus. Not the movie version we saw in "Gladiator", but the historical version. Spoiler warning: he was even worse in real-life than as portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix. Stay tuned...
J.
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