Conversations around returning to the office or continuing to work from home are increasing. To help in the decision-making, codify your work between the Redwork of getting things done and the Bluework, which is about decision-making and collaboration. Use the way you have codified the work to help you think about where you would like...
Intent statements are operational decisions that we can enact ourselves. Stating intent for another person or team is telling people what to do. You can’t intend for somebody else to do something. The engineer would never say, “Hey, I intend for the weapons officer to load torpedoes” and the weapons officer wouldn’t say “I intend...
To influence up the chain of command, make things safe for your boss. Use the Ladder of Leadership, step by step, to earn the right to be heard and the right to have influence over decisions. One of the most common questions I get is how do I move myself up with my boss, where...
With intent, we announce our decision prior to the decision actually being implemented. This offers an opportunity for discussion and alignment while still allowing ownership and autonomy. I’m going to tell you how you can get both organizational alignment and a sense of autonomy and ownership in the organization. Now, normally we think about these...
Small changes in language can have huge impacts on how people feel and how they act. How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk is one of the best leadership books for dealing with people (of any age) I’ve ever read. One of the things that I learned was how...
In a meeting, if a leader expresses their opinion first, what they’re doing is anchoring the discussion to their own perspective. Instead, leaders speak last. They share their opinions once they’ve heard from other people to hear more diverse perspectives. I’m in Alloa in Scotland, where this anchor is a reminder of the history of...
You can’t fix people. They don’t need fixing. What you can do is create the environment where it makes it easy for people to do the behavior that you’re looking for. Hey, David Marquet here. I want to talk about Principle 5 of Intent-Based Leadership, which is Leaders Fix the Environment, Not People. Now, here’s how this...
I used to think I was pretty good at asking questions until I read Wendy Sullivan’s and Judy Rees’ book Clean Language: Revealing Metaphors and Opening Minds. Asking questions in a more neutral, open way is something we can all practice more. I used to think I was pretty good at asking questions until I...
The purpose of emotions is to cause a physical response. Think of emotion as “E – Motion,” where the “E” stands for “Evoke” – Evoke-Motion. The next time you’re kind of stewing on something, go do something physical. Evoke motion from your emotions. I think we’ve forgotten that the purpose of emotions was to cause...
Here’s an interesting story about how a human brain works and how it can cause us to be confidently wrong. So I ended up in the emergency room recently. And it’s an interesting story about how our brain works and how it causes us to be confidently wrong. So here’s what happened. My left calf has been bothering...
