Leading While Naked Part 5: Can You Smell Courage?

January 17, 2012 2 Comments

This is fifth in a series of posts by Paul Shultz, General Manager of Slalom’s Dallas office, which he calls Leading While Naked, reflecting on leadership and the lessons found in Patrick Lencioni’s business fable Getting Naked and Charlene Li’s work Open Leadership. As Paul says: “Leading and managing a professional service firm in today’s connected times, with heartfelt attention to the absolute fact that people matter, proves to be a remarkable journey.”

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

Can you smell courage?

Paul Shultz, General Manager of Slalom Consulting's Dallas Office

Paul Shultz, General Manager of Slalom Consulting's Dallas office, has more than 30 years experience leading business and technology transformations.

Some would say it embarrassed the [fill in your expletive of choice] out of them and they would never do it again. Others recall the how painful and humbling an experience it was…and is. For me though, the smell of spring rain in the pines brings me back to that meeting–and I always pause with that smell and recollect how miserable, unimportant, and secondary I felt. And to let those emotions be ok with me and to act in a manner that generates them, well that is the smell of courage I believe. So, now that you are feeling dismal, read on. Read more of this post

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Leading While Naked Part 4: That’s a Dumb Question

April 21, 2011 6 Comments

This is fourth in a series of posts by Paul Shultz, General Manager of Slalom’s Dallas office, which he calls Leading While Naked, reflecting on leadership and the lessons found in Patrick Lencioni’s business fable Getting Naked and Charlene Li’s work Open Leadership. As Paul says: “Leading and managing a professional service firm in today’s connected times, with heartfelt attention to the absolute fact that people matter, proves to be a remarkable journey.”

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

Paul Shultz, General Manager of Slalom Consulting's Dallas Office

Paul Shultz, General Manager of Slalom Consulting's Dallas office, has more than 30 years experience leading business and technology transformations.

“Check your ego at the door!”—he told me—if I wanted to have a real conversation with a potential client. My ego: a bulldozer in the push/pull conversation running inside my head about how I want to be credited with great feats, while at the same time not wanting to appear, or act, superior to others. When I have the answer, or so I think, I can barely hold myself back from revealing it, in all my “subject matter expert/Mr. Cool” glory. At the same time, that little voice on the other side of my brain is beseeching me to hold my desire for applause long enough to let a colleague or “client-to-be” discover and bring forth the nugget of wisdom.

Oh yeah, and in not so few cases, I realize that my answer–though magnificent and shiny–was not the only and perhaps not the best answer.

I have had the pleasure of several learning experiences with Mahan Khalsa dating way back in my consulting career. Many of you know of him and have either read his stellar work Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play: Transforming the Buyer/Seller Relationship or perhaps attended one of his sales training sessions at FranklinCovey. Read more of this post

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Leading While Naked Part 3: Enter the Danger

December 31, 2010 7 Comments

This is third in a series of posts by Paul Shultz, General Manager of Slalom’s Dallas office, which he calls Leading While Naked, reflecting on leadership and the lessons found in Patrick Lencioni’s business fable Getting Naked and Charlene Li’s work Open Leadership. As Paul says: “Leading and managing a professional service firm in today’s connected times, with heartfelt attention to the absolute fact that people matter, proves to be a remarkable journey.”

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

Paul Shultz, General Manager of Slalom Consulting's Dallas Office

Paul Shultz, General Manager of Slalom Consulting's Dallas office, has more than 30 years experience leading business and technology transformations.

If you are like me, any time someone in a business setting uses the two words “step” and “fearlessly” in the same sentence, the hair on your neck stands up and your heart rate goes up. But Leading While Naked requires you to step right into the middle of uncomfortable situations and fearlessly deal with the issues everyone else is afraid to address. You know you’re going to feel that hair-raising feeling and you know how all the people in the room are going to react – they’re all going to be looking at you and thinking “I can’t believe he said that” and “he’s right, that is the real issue.”

In Getting Naked, Patrick Lencioni describes this exact moment as ENTERING THE DANGER and wow, is he right. It’s like the old adage of pointing out the elephant in the room, only this elephant is exceptionally large and very smelly. So large and so smelly that even though many can see it and smell it, no one has either pointed it out or acknowledged the smell. This is a distinctly crisp moment for the Naked consultant to step in with both feet and fearlessly pronounce “hey, does anyone smell that?” Uncomfortable situation? Are you kidding? High return on your emotional risk? You bet!

An old consulting friend (let’s call him Bob) tells the story of trying to help an organization navigate the rocky waters between Read more of this post

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Leading While Naked Part 2: Happy Thanksgiving–Or How Lincoln Led from the Heart

November 22, 2010 7 Comments

This is the second in a series of posts by Paul Shultz, General Manager of Slalom’s Dallas office, which he calls Leading While Naked, reflecting on leadership and the lessons found in Patrick Lencioni’s business fable Getting Naked and Charlene Li’s work Open Leadership. As Paul says: “Leading and managing a professional service firm in today’s connected times, with heartfelt attention to the absolute fact that people matter, proves to be a remarkable journey.”

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

Paul Shultz, General Manager of Slalom Consulting's Dallas Office

Paul Shultz, General Manager of Slalom Consulting's Dallas office, has more than 30 years experience leading business and technology transformations.

Vance Havner said, “We grow up taking things for granted and saving our flowers for the dead.  All along the way, countless hands minister to our good, but rarely do we acknowledge them.” I wonder why that is?  Why do we not stop, acknowledge the beauties of the day, and thank those who have helped us?  Or at least do all that more often?  And why don’t we send flowers every day to say “thank you”?

Ironically enough the Civil War, which started in 1861, gave rise to one of President Lincoln’s most interesting but least known acts: establishing Thanksgiving as a national holiday. For context, on November 19, 1863, Lincoln delivered the now famous Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  It was a mere four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the decisive Battle of Gettysburg.

His address, secondary to other presentations that day, came to be regarded as one of the greatest speeches in American history. In just over two minutes, Lincoln invoked the principles of human equality espoused by the Declaration of Independence and redefined the Civil War as Read more of this post

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Leading While Naked Part 1: “I Like the People and I Believe in the Mission”

November 9, 2010 6 Comments

This is the first in a series of posts by Paul Shultz, General Manager of Slalom’s Dallas office, which he calls Leading While Naked, reflecting on leadership and the lessons found in Patrick Lencioni’s business fable Getting Naked and Charlene Li’s work Open Leadership. As Paul says: “Leading and managing a professional service firm in today’s connected times, with heartfelt attention to the absolute fact that people matter, proves to be a remarkable journey.”

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

Paul Shultz, General Manager of Slalom Consulting's Dallas Office

Paul Shultz, General Manager of Slalom Consulting's Dallas office, has more than 30 years experience leading business and technology transformations.

At a meeting of the Baylor Business Network of Dallas this week I heard Tom Horton, CEO at American Airlines (and a BU grad, of course), talk about why he returned to American from AT&T where he was the CFO. Paraphrasing a bit, but not much, he said the reasons he returned were these: he likes the people, and he believes in the mission.

Could it really be that simple? I mean, really – I like the people I work with. In fact, I think they are the “A team” in town, fun to hang out with, and rich with integrity and caring for their fellow associates. And I truly believe in the mission of Slalom Consulting: to be the leading consulting organization that helps their clients win on their most strategic initiatives. Easy to believe in that mission and easy to like the people I work with. Is that it? Is that the sum of the real reasons I work here?

Tom also talked about the airline industry in general, the way American has approached managing its financial affairs (I DO like the emphasis they put on capitalism and operating in a free market economy), and what issues face the industry over the next few years. And some other really informative business discussion. But what really grabbed me … what really resounded … what was the great uniqueness Read more of this post

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