Noticing IS Leading
by Miki SaxonMonday Steve Roesler wrote a terrific post briefly recapping a Peter Drucker article in the Harvard Business Review called “Managing Oneself” (Steve included a link to the full article).
A part of that article is The Act of Noticing and it really resonated with me.
“While everyone is blogging, Twittering or tweeting, linking in, booking their faces, and coming up with other digital ways to “connect”, it would be good to ask: “Am I too busy to notice?”
I bookmarked an article last week that included solid research about the bulk of the population preferring to buy goods and services through face-to-face contact. Now I can’t find it because I was so darned connected online I didn’t actually pay attention to the title or where I filed it.
This leads into the video below. I was reminded of Emotional Intelligence pioneer Daniel Goleman’s TED talk a couple of years ago. If you want to know the connectedness between emotions, business, and “noticing”, this will be time very well spent. Close your door. Now. Tell you’re boss you are doing professional development. You are.”
I recently wrote that “No one is expecting you to solve the problems, but you can reach out and touch just one life. If everyone over 21 did that we would be well on the way to change.”
All I can add is that we better start noticing before all the lights are turned off for good.
Now go see your friends and tell them; have a ‘noticing’ contest together with a ‘doing’ contest.
Before you can practice random acts of kindness you need to notice.
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Image credit: TED
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July 24th, 2009 at 7:48 am
It’s pretty easy to put your networking on “auto-pilot”, but it just doesn’t work that way. People can tell if you’re being authentic or if you’re just going through the motions to suit your needs. It seems that the easier communication gets, the more deliberate you must be to avoid sounding automated. But in these economic waters, ‘noticing’ is one of the key advantages that small businesses have over larger competitors.
July 24th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Hi Brock, what you say is so true, but I see noticing in a larger space.
It’s the difference between a constant focus on ‘me’ and what noticing will get ‘me’ vs. looking outward to see what you can add to the world.
I’m not talking selfless altruism, which I don’t believe in, but participation in a world larger than yourself.
July 25th, 2009 at 7:15 am
[...] Leadership is about noticing what’s everything. Great post and video. [...]
July 30th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Great post. I couldn’t agree more. So often leader’s inability to notice affects not only the people around them but themselves.
It takes energy and dedication to notice and when it is mastered it can be an epiphany.
July 30th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Hi Beth, it’s not that I disagree with what you say, but I’d hate to see ‘noticing’ relegated to “leaders.”
I think that it’s a skill for all and not that difficult once one stops focusing on ‘me’.