Leadership Metaphors | John Gallagher

Archive for the ‘Leadership metaphors’ Category

Leadership lessons – “It’s a rock”

August 4th, 2010 by John Gallagher No Comments

A Bug’s Life. Rock or Seed? @ Yahoo! Video

I love this scene in Bug’s Life where Flick uses a ‘prop’ (a rock) to describe a concept (seed growing into a tree), but his student (Dot) doesn’t get him. I live this regularly when I share new ideas with my best friend, leadership student, and wife of 16 years, Chris. After I share a thought and she doesn’t get me (notice I say me and not it. Generally, it is a failure on my part to communicate), she will respond with “It’s a rock.” Then, I shake my head and chuckle thinking of this scene.

I like to use props to tell stories about leadership, but not all people learn the same way. Be flexible. Use different types of ‘props’ to get your teaching point across such as: video, props, stories about your life, books or articles you have read, or sometimes just an arm around the shoulder and a quiet lesson in their ear… Not all of your props as a leader will work with all audiences.

Who are you communicating with and they respond to you with the proverbial “It’s a rock”? How are you learning from this response?

Posted in Leadership, Leadership metaphors, Relationships | No Comments »

Building the Perfect Sandwich…I mean…Presentation

March 31st, 2010 by John Gallagher 2 Comments

I have often marveled at the ability and patience my 13-year old son Brendan has to put together a perfect sandwich. He layers it perfectly and the order of ‘construction’ is very important.

Today, I will share with you my son’s ability and some great advice from my coach, Raymond Gleason, to show you how to “Build the perfect presentation (sandwich) in 6 steps:

1) Tell them a story.

2) Tell them what you are going to tell them

3) Tell them

4) Tell them what you told them

5) Call them to action

6) Bonus!

1) Tell them a story is like the first piece of bread. You need to set up the next step with a relevant experience or story. If you are not a comedian, be careful not to try to be too funny and risk losing your audience, but a little humor to wake them up is nice.

2) Tell them what you are going to tell them is the first condiment like lettuce or a slice of cheese. Let them know the points you are going to review

3) Tell them – now that you have told them what you are going to tell them, put the main ingredient (the meat!) on the sandwich. Summarize after a few points.

4) Tell them what you told them – Time to add the dressing. Summarize at the end the main points. It will help them to remember what you just presented

5) Call them to action – Last slice of bread on top. Holds it all together and makes it worthwhile. If you are in a large group, challenge them to go out and make something happen. If in a smaller group, actually work with them to write down what they are doing, but don’t let them leave without making a commitment to what they heard.

6) Bonus – This is the olive on the toothpick that decorates the sandwich (and yes, Brendan even adds this most of the time!). If you have time, a Q&A session to clarify even further your points can be a great addition.

What presentation have you been stumped on how to get started? Write down these 6 steps as an outline and fill in the blanks next to them. It will help.

Posted in Continuous Improvement, Leadership metaphors | 2 Comments »

Leaders can't compartmentalize their Character

March 2nd, 2010 by John Gallagher 4 Comments

This week, I was reminded of a verse in Hebrews 11:3 that says: “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.”

Not sure why, but it brought a visual to my mind of an armoire in my home office. The armoire has many drawers. Each of these drawers has a piece of my current life inside:

1) Business files

2) Office supplies

3) Electronics equipment (digital camera, cords, ipod, etc.)

4) CD’s, etc.

The picture reminded me of a leader and our character. You see, inside of the armoire are just the nuts and bolts (‘stuff’) of our life, but the furniture piece that is visible (our character) can be a beautiful piece. Our lives tend to be compartmentalized, but our character is what people see and hear on the outside.

Character, to me, can be defined as what you do when others are not around. In any event, it is visible (like the outside of the armoire) and we can’t compartmentalize our lives.

You see, as leaders:

1) Our lives are made up of many ‘drawers’

2) Not everyone gets to see what is inside those drawers…but they usually know.

3) BUT, folks always see the outside…our behaviors…our attitude…our consistency. We can’t hide that inside a drawer. It is a piece of furniture that is visible to everyone.

So, what can people see of your character (armoire)? Do you have a little ‘polishing’ to do on the outside? Do you have any drawers in your life that need cleaned out?

Posted in Leadership, Leadership metaphors | 4 Comments »

Leadership and 'Re-fueling Pit Stops'

February 19th, 2010 by John Gallagher 2 Comments

In a Nascar race, an average efficient pit stop that consists of the changing of all four tires and a full tank of fuel can take anywhere between 13 and 15 seconds. The amount of pit stops during a race vary because of numerous factors — race length, caution flags, fuel mileage, tire wear and pit strategy to name a few.

In Leadership, it is necessary to take regular ‘pit stops’ so that you can keep your engine running. In today’s economy, it sometimes can feel so important to continue to run around the track at 200 miles an hour and not have time for a ‘pit stop’. We all know that if we don’t come in and ‘re-fuel’, replace the tires, and adjust the suspension, we will not be able to cross the finish line.

Recently, I completed an overnight ‘pit stop’ where my wife, Chris, and I were able to get away for an evening…just the two of us…to re-fuel and prepare to get back out on the track again. This opportunity was refreshing and got me thinking how important it is to take time away to refuel. You see, re-fueling doesn’t mean to shut it down completely, but rather, a brief moment to ensure all the systems are ‘go’. And, it isn’t enough just to do this for a vacation annually. It has to be planned as daily, weekly, quarterly, and annual down time to recharge. Mark Sanborn tweeted recently a post that touched me completely about the need for weekly ‘down time’. He asked if Sunday was a ‘day of rest, or a day to catch-up’. Too often, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week is seen as the norm, and I don’t want to allow myself to fall into that trap.

So, I am committing to the following ‘pit-stop’ schedule for myself.

Daily – 1 hour (reading an inspirational book or listening to a podcast)
Weekly – One day (Tuesdays. In real estate, Sunday is a ‘normal’ work day. Even for church leaders, Sunday is a work day!)
Quarterly – One weekend
Semi-annually – One week

During this time, I will take my foot off the gas and re-fuel the engine. I know it will benefit me. It is important to set boundaries around this time as well. No email…No PDA…Minimize the distractions. My wife needs this time, too. Rarely do stay-at-home moms get the benefit of pit stops and I need to honor her time.

So, are you taking ‘pit stops’ to re-fuel? What do you need to do to ensure that your motor is running at the end of the race and that your down time is rest time and not catch-up time?

Tags: Discipline, Mark Sanborn, Relationships
Posted in Discipline, Leadership metaphors, Relationships | 2 Comments »

Leadership and Shoveling Snow

February 11th, 2010 by John Gallagher No Comments

In the midst of one of the historic winters in Roanoke, VA, (with regards to snowfall) it has been a CHALLENGE to manage my attitude each time I have to go out and shovel the snow off of our driveway. Perspective is important. So, as I was shoveling our driveway for the 3rd time in a 24-hour period just the other day, I found myself thinking about how this could POSSIBLY relate to leadership and it actually was relatively easy.

Continuous improvement – I am always trying to find the ‘least waste way’ to do things and shoveling a 3,000 square foot driveway is no different. How can I improve upon my methods to reduce the time that it takes? Probably one of the many things that drives Chris crazy about me, but it is just how I am wired. (No comments from the Peanut gallery about buying a snow blower. That is another story in itself!)
Relationships – I was able invest time with Chris as we talked about a future vacation, sitting on the beach, and being WARM! We had about 3 hours of time with no TV, no distractions, except for the scraping of the shovel over the asphalt. It was almost peaceful.
Discipline- It was a great workout. Not a whole lot better core workout than shoveling about 4,5000 cubic feet(yes, I calculated it!) of heavy wet snow. Great cardio, too. Thus, I did not have to go to the gym (could not have gotten there, anyway!)
Attitude – Rather than it being WORK, it is time to reflect, think, be grateful…Grateful for the time with Chris, for the beauty of the snow falling, etc.

So, next time you get frustrated or angry with the shoveling of the snow (or some other project), view it as a time to grow personally….make a game out of it…consider it your exercise…It really helps to reduce the stress of it. (this DOESN’T mean that I am hoping for several more inches of show )