Week 23.36 Back Again

Another problem with my back was a reminder that growth is an ongoing process. It's not simply something you fix and then move on. Although we frequently take it for granted, a healthy back is one of the keys to whole-body health. It is critical in our ability to move correctly and to maintain our overall health and function. When I think back to years when I either overused or neglected my back, I wish I had known what I am learning now. Good back health is neither complex nor a secret. It is obvious and yet requires attention and intention. The same things I have learned about better caring for my back also apply to how leaders take care of their companies and those they love and lead. I bring these to your attention so that whatever age or stage you are in right now, you can benefit from my experience and avoid a problem in the future. The four keys are strength, endurance, flexibility, and balance.

In my rehab journey, I have learned that the back is a unified system rather than discrete parts, and that the back is strength relies on the harmonious function of various muscles both large and small. Just as in leadership, overlooking some of the smaller or seemingly less significant parts can weaken the entire system. So the strength of the team lies in the collective efforts, everyone doing their part appropriately with no part overworking to compensate for others. So today, I am focusing on the parts I think of less often, strengthening them so that I can create a supportive and strong system that thrives together.

It's not enough to have strong muscles; they also have to last, so endurance is another key. Each muscle in the system needs to have resilience and stamina to be effective over time. We build endurance through a variety of challenges and exercises. When I walk on an incline as opposed to flat ground, I feel various muscles become engaged in different ways. I’m working on creating endurance in my team similarly, finding ways that we can sustainably support ourselves and one another through various challenges that life and business present. This allows us to bounce back quicker and stronger, continuing to make progress on our common goals.

I never thought much about flexibility and balance; they just seemed to happen by themselves. One of the marvelous traits of our body is that when it is functioning correctly, we are barely aware of it. We each spent childhood leading to maintain our balance under normal circumstances so that it happens without conscious awareness. Similarly, most of us have the flexibility to do most of our everyday tasks, like picking up something we have dropped or reaching an item on the top shelf. But both can be improved with just a little attention and small investments of time. As leaders, we can ensure that there is balance among our team members, preventing burnout and promoting productivity. As leaders, we must be flexible to changing environments, and we can help our teams do the same by fostering values like innovation and creativity. Much like a flexible back allows for graceful movement, a balanced and flexible approach to leadership permits a team to navigate challenges with agility and poise.

This back system informs our life and leadership. Certainly, we need a strong spine to keep us in line and the core strength to hold us together. We need endurance to maintain our intentions over the long run, not simply for the quick win. We need flexibility to adjust to the changes that will inevitably test our strength and balance to be able to resist moving reactively in one direction or another. My back is currently my great teacher, and my recent problem is a reminder of the importance of paying attention to the seemingly smaller elements and the underlying structures that keep me moving and healthy. I look forward to applying these lessons to maintaining a healthy back, business, and personal relationships. I am fortunate that my back problems of last year are resolved and that my recent problems are manageable and will serve as a lifelong reminder to pay attention to all elements of the system. I hope that my experience can inform you and that you will consider making the change to stay strong, build endurance, and maintain flexibility and balance in your life and leadership.

BOOK RELEASE: Right Kind of Wrong by Amy Edmondson

When I met Amy earlier in the year, we talked about her book, and I am thrilled that it has finally launched. In it, she talks about how we used to think of failure as the opposite of success. Now, we’re often torn between two “failure cultures”: one that says to avoid failure at all costs, the other that says fail fast, fail often. The trouble is that both approaches lack the crucial distinctions to help us separate good failure from bad. As a result, we miss the opportunity to fail well. After decades of award-winning research, Amy is here to upend our understanding of failure and make it work for us.

In Right Kind of Wrong, she provides the framework to think, discuss, and practice failure wisely. Outlining the three archetypes of failure—basic, complex, and intelligent—Amy showcases how to minimize unproductive failure while maximizing what we gain from flubs of all stripes. She illustrates how we and our organizations can embrace our human fallibility, learn exactly when failure is our friend, and prevent most of it when it is not. This is the key to pursuing smart risks and preventing avoidable harm.

The Challenges of Networking as an Executive by Herminia Ibarra and Zbigniew "Spish" Rurak

Look online at any of the thousands of articles available on the challenges of networking for a job, and you’ll find that 100% of them give advice on how relatively junior professionals can network “up.” But surprisingly little advice is available for senior executives, who experience a different but equally challenging set of networking hurdles. That’s a problem, because knowing how to reap networking’s full benefits is crucial for people at the top of the pyramid, especially a time when CEO turnover is at a record high. The authors have decades of experience working with and studying senior executives who are making career changes. In this article, they’ll identify six common hurdles they often struggle with when it comes to career networking, and we’ll provide some guidance on how to overcome them.

From Bully To Olympian: The Redemption Story Of Peter Paltchik by Ruth Gotian, Ed.D., M.S.

Life weaves a tapestry of moments, stories, and invaluable lessons. As grown-ups, we're challenged to reflect upon our experiences, but it's in translating those reflections into action that true enlightenment flourishes. Olympic judoka Peter Paltchik personifies this paradigm. Representing Israel on the international judo stage, with his sights set on the 2024 Olympics in Paris, Paltchik's journey has been anything but smooth.

Initiated into judo by his grandfather at the tender age of four, Paltchik was taught to fight for what truly matters, all while nurturing values and character. He was tempted to quit at the outset, but the unyielding resolve of his grandfather refused to let him, ultimately empowering him to rule the mat today. Amidst his trilingual existence under a multi-generational roof, his grandfather steered and anchored him in the right direction. Judo changed Paltchik’s life. It made him softer where it mattered and taught him to challenge his frustration. He learned status is a fleeing phenomenon and certainly not worth putting people down for. He changed for the better.

With love, gratitude and wonder. Scott