The Value of Exercise

I am a big believer in exercise, and here is an article that tells how it can help me think better.  "Why Do I Think Better After I Exercise?"by Justin Rhodes appeared in Scientific American.  Check out the article for a scientific answer to the question.

Leaders have to be at the top of their thinking games, and exercise can help.  I exercise every morning before I come to work, and I try to take a walk during the noon hour if I can get away.  Some staff in my department are using standing desks now to get away from sitting down so much.  Whenever I walk around campus, I try hard to take the stairs whenever possible.  Sometimes I go out of my way to include extra stairs.  Every little bit helps.

If you need to rev up your thinking engine, get up and move around.

Confidence and Leadership

Good leaders must be confident, or else those who should follow will lose their belief in the leader.  On the other hand, a good leader must be sure not to overstep into arrogance or rely too much on the power to mandate decisions.  When a leader does encounter significant opposition, it can be difficult to retain confidence, but that's often when you need it the most.

Amy Jen Su and Muriel Maignan Wilkins wrote, "To Strengthen Your Confidence, Look to Your Past," in the Harvard Business Review Blog.  Check out their article for some great ideas on retaining confidence in adversity.

Here are some tips that have worked for me.

• Beware of imposter syndrome.  This is the feeling that someone made a mistake in hiring you for the job you are in.  Think about the skills you bring to the job, and remind yourself what those people who hired you saw in you.  
• Think about a different path.  If you are getting considerable opposition to your plan or strategy, think of another way to describe it or a different way to get there. 
• Describe what or where but not how.  Tell your team what you want to accomplish or where you want to end up, but involve them in developing how to get there.  Have confidence in the end goal but give a little on the details.

Confidence is a critical skill for leaders to develop.  Like many skills, practice leads to improvement.  Practice being confident, even if you don't feel that way at the moment.  Over time, you'll feel that way more and more.

Learning About Social Justice

This week I attended a two-day training session led by Dr. Kathy Obear from the Alliance for Change Consulting.  This is the second time Kathy has been to our campus, and both sessions were inspiring.  I came back with two pages of action plans. 

Here is a definition of social justice that Dr. Obear provided:
Adams, Bell and Griffin (2007) define social justice as both a process and a goal. "The goal of social justice education is full and equal participation of all groups in a society that is mutually shaped to meet their needs. Social justice includes a vision of society that is equitable and all members are physically and psychologically safe and secure."
Adams, M., Bell, L. A., & Griffin, P. (Eds.). (2007). Teaching for diversity and social justice: A sourcebook (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

As a leader, I believe I am committed to social justice, but I don't always know how to advance my beliefs.  This is what makes training so valuable.  Now I know what steps to try next.  Probably not all will work well, but I believe that some positive change will happen as a result. 

My other leadership challenge is how to engage people who are either indifferent or opposed to social justice, not that there are any of these folks in my department.  This problem exists with all kinds of leadership challenges, not just this one.  I have found that a combination of listening and articulating new approaches works best in most cases.  I also need to accept that not all of my audience will agree with my ideas, but I can hope that they may be somewhat influenced by them.

Finally, I know that I need to work hard to advance my own learning in this area.  I have had many experiences that have shaped my beliefs and attitudes, but I have more to learn.  I am committed to finding the time to work on myself.