Started having lunch with top performers this week. Went three to four levels down and had lunch with two people who recently received top box performance reviews. Sat down and said “I’ve read your review. You’re doing amazing stuff. Can you tell me about it?” They opened up and told me everything. Great fun. They were obviously pleased by the recognition and I learned about how things are really working from some of our top performers.
The balance of the week was spent listening and learning – to marketing people, sales people, product development people and the like. Honestly, this is getting tough. I’m finding it harder and harder to keep my opinions to myself. But I know I need to do that before the imperative workshop. It may be “Our time!” but it’s not my time yet.
Reflections
This week is about more early impressions in my early days. It’s important to listen and do no harm. Very tough for new leaders to keep the discipline of just listening for this long, but it makes a huge difference. As one of the PrimeGenesis partners, Mark Hubbard used to say, “No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” Listening is a sign of caring.
The New Leader’s Journal is a fictional exercise illustrating the prescriptions and tools in the 3rd edition of The New Leader’s 100-Day Action Plan. Click here to request an executive summary of the book. Click here to pre-order/order a copy.
