Patti Cotton

Executive Coach & Career Strategist

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Are You Sure You Want to Be a Leader?

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Are You Sure You Want to Be a Leader?
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3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Commit

What do you need in order to become a leader? And are you sure you really want to be one?

If you are reading this, I imagine you’ve already weighed the pros and cons, and the argument for at least considering the possibility has won.

As an executive coach, I work with decision-makers who lead. These people quite often have substantial areas of responsibility, and they work with me to become even more effective as they seek to do great things.

As we begin our work, I explain to my clients that our work will be 3-pronged. In other words, there are three things we need work with in order to accomplish their goals. You see, the human being is an intricate system, and the major parts of this system must work together closely to accomplish any significant change.

So, if you and I were having coffee together right now, and you told me that your goal was to become a leader, or a more effective one, I would tell you that we are going to assess the following three parts of you to identify what you need to shift in order to get there:

  1. Your mindset
  2. Your actions
  3. Your behaviors

Allow me to set the stage by giving an definition of these three, even though they appear self-explanatory (thanks for indulging me!).

Mindset is not how your physical brain works – it’s how you use your brain to formulate thoughts, synthesize information, define your beliefs, your attitude, and thus, your approach to the world. Mindset drives your desires, your motivation, and your picture of “what’s possible.”

Example: Sonni has managed people for many years, and she believes she can lead the company. She desires to do so, and decides to take the steps necessary to move up this career path. She has weighed her desire against her safety and decided that she won’t get fired or other disastrous consequences. So far, so good. Sonni has asked herself, “What’s possible?”

Actions are those movements, that energetic activity you undertake, once decide to “do something.” These are driven by your desires and your motivation. Your actions are confined to what you believe is possible, what is comfortable, and what is safe (thus dictated by mindset). Even if your mindset says that something is possible, your behaviors may thwart the success of your actions.

Example: Back to Sonni…because of her desire to move up into leadership, she decides to take the action of asking her CEO to be considered for the leadership succession plan. It has taken a lot of courage to get to this point, but her mindset has opened the gate for her to ask. So far, so good. Sonni has taken the action she needs in order to register her desire and be considered.

Behaviors are how you react to internal or external stimuli in various circumstances. These behaviors are exhibited after your mind assesses your desires versus your safety. Safety always wins.

Example: Sonni’s CEO tells her she has a lot of work to do if she wants to be considered for the leadership succession plan. Frankly, her CEO shares, Sonni isn’t seen as CEO material and this comment comes as a surprise. The CEO explains that Sonni doesn’t show the kinds of behaviors needed for leadership – collaboration, building trust, strong presence, influence. And a few other things. Sonni retreats to her desk. She now has a choice – to tell herself she really doesn’t have what it takes (that dastardly doubt that mindset brings when negative emotions threaten its safety) – or to ask herself “What’s possible?” while remaining safe, to shift the necessary behaviors in order to be considered for higher leadership in the company’s succession planning.

Now back to you, and those three questions to ask yourself before you commit.

  1. Does your mindset need to explore what else is possible, or to strengthen belief in your own abilities and potential?
  2. Do your actions tell the world that you are actually showing up as a leader?
  3. Do your behaviors reflect who you want to become?

Which of these three areas do you need to shift in order to become a leader – or a better one?

What impact are you having in life and business?
Click below to take the complimentary Impact Assessment.

TAKE THE IMPACT ASSESSMENThttp://inspireinfluenceimpactquiz.com/

How to Bring a Dream to Fruition in 3 Critical Steps

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Last week, I shared how my father lost one million dollars and was forced to bankrupt his corporation – all due to the absence of one critical conversation.

If you haven’t seen that part of the story, click here.

Of course, that chapter is a just a snippet of a much larger success story, because the devastation of the loss of funds and ensuing fire sale of Dan Cotton’s business is not the end of this tale.

In fact, my father has always a knack not only for landing on his feet (sometimes literally!), but also for creating abundance that has made a significant impact in the world.

At age 32, he developed the beginnings of a healthcare empire by applying three critical components to create the system that thrives, today.

Most people apply one or two to generate some success, but rarely does someone pull off all three to actually create a legacy of great impact.

Vision, strategy, and execution.

Sound simple? Think, again.

Vision

Dan Cotton started with a vision. He envisioned a retirement and convalescent home that would provide not only healthcare, but the love and warm feeling of family. He had always appreciated and respected the elderly, and saw an opportunity to support them with dignity and care.

It is here that a majority of professionals in leadership positions fall short. In fact, many company CEOs do not lead; they are secretly glorified project managers. Their focus is inward and they get stuck in minutia – a state which is ultimately fatal to business health. Leaders, on the other hand, are outward-thinking. They watch for trends, anticipating needs and making powerful connections in order to keep the business vibrant and sustainable. Yet, keeping the vision in front while managing the daily requisites of business is no small feat.

What is your vision for your business? How does your healthy, thriving business make an impact and contribute to the world?

Strategy

Try to get funding at age 32 to develop such a healthcare complex – to manage builders and permits, recruit physicians and staff, market for clients, learn about compliance, and about a million other things!  Dad had been a university theology professor prior to this endeavor. So he had to perform diligent research, lay out all the pieces and assemble them into some kind of plan, network, exert influence to get things done, and find funding without a firm business track record.

At any point, the enormity of this project could have pressured him to fold and return to the university, where his future was safe and sound. But my father is a calculated risk-taker and full of drive. Combined with his strategic eye, he hung in there; and because of this, he met with success – and it paid off.

How is your “strategy quotient?”

This is your ability to see all the pieces that need to come into place, and how to place them so the plan works. Are you relying on others to come up with strategies and direction? What needs to change?

Execution

Here is where the rubber meets the road. Many business leaders are stuck in visioning and planning, and successful execution eludes them. Dad knew how to orchestrate the complex pieces that were required to develop and operate the healthcare system. There were many nights when he dragged home wearily, yet he would continue to work in his study before falling to sleep for a short time, only to do it, again. Perseverance, tenacity, grit – this was him. And it paid off. In a world where most new businesses fail, he pushed through. And succeeded on a major scale.

How high is your “execution quotient?”

This is your ability to get things done. Are you making effective decisions and taking timely actions? Is any part of your business lagging or waiting on you, due to inaction on your part? What needs to change?

In sum, there are just three simple steps to creating a legacy of impact: vision, strategy, and execution.

Where are you in this process?

And what do you need next in order to succeed?

Patti Cotton helps executives optimize their effectiveness in leading self, others, and the enterprise. Her areas of focus include confidence, leadership style, executive presence, effective communication, succession planning, and masterful execution. With over 25 years of leadership experience, both stateside and abroad, Patti works with individuals, teams, and organizations across industries, providing executive coaching, leadership development, succession planning, change, and conflict management. She is also a Fortune 500 speaker. For more information on how Patti Cotton can help you and your organization, click here.

Why it is Hard to Leave When You Have Been in Charge

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Why it is Hard to Leave When You Have Been in Charge

My grandfather was a multi-millionaire in the 1920s. With nothing but a third-grade education and a keen mind for coming up with new solutions to problems, he was the consummate inventor, investor, and innovator.

He also lost quite a bit, all part of the entrepreneurial journey. But he always landed on his feet, and eventually, he and my grandmother built a convalescent home empire that saw them and countless families through the Great Recession and beyond.

Years later, my father decided to take a break from his university teaching to carry the entrepreneurial legacy forward. He developed his own successful healthcare system. But a strange thing happened. My grandfather resurfaced, and seemed to appear at the most inopportune times – during meetings, negotiations, and other sensitive situations.

One day, my father had to ask him to leave the premises.

Why did it come to this?

It seemed that even though my grandfather had left his business ventures behind, he hadn’t learned how to let go.

This dynamic is more common than you may realize. Whether you are leading a family-owned business, or hold a corporate CEO position, it’s just hard to let go.

What makes it so difficult for the chief in charge who is preparing to move on?

A fly on the wall might hear this:

1. I built the baby. Who will take care of this business after I’m gone so that it continues to thrive?

I have put my blood, sweat and tears into this and it works well. It’s a matter of pride – I’m leaving a legacy, here.

2. Will the business take care of me?

Have I put the leadership and strategies in place so that the business will continue to provide me with a return? I have invested in it, and want to make sure it supports me well in my next chapter.

3. Who am I without my CEO hat?

What will I do with myself after I step away? What will the next chapter look like for me? I’m not sure who I am without this position, and I want to look ahead with excitement and anticipation to my new role, whatever that may be.

Are you in a decision-making position and thinking about releasing the reins? What holds you back?

Patti Cotton helps executives optimize their effectiveness in leading self, others, and enterprises. Her areas of focus include confidence, leadership style, executive presence, effective communication, and masterful execution. With over 25 years of leadership experience, both stateside and abroad, Patti works with individuals, teams, and organizations across industries, providing executive coaching, leadership development, change, and conflict management. She is also a Fortune 500 speaker. For more information on how Patti Cotton can help you and your organization, click here.

3 Things a Leader in a New Role Needs to Know

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3 Things a Leader in a New Role Needs to Know

Congratulations!  You did it. You got the position, the title, and the salary telling you that you have arrived.

They gave you the team and the commission to change the world.

But did they tell you that you aren’t really in control?

That your hard-earned expertise is now for naught?

What do you do, now?

If you’ve done your research, you will have put together a game plan, and you are working on your “first 100 days” in office. You will be gathering and triaging information, building your new tribe, identifying short-term wins and long-term wins – the whole enchilada.

And this is absolutely necessary for so many reasons – you’ll be closely watched by those who chose you for the job. The two times they look most closely are during the first three months of your tenure, and at the end of your first year. A lot of judgment is going on. For you, these days are also critical – you need to quickly build trust with your team, identify and forge your operational network, and above all, avoid political landmines…

But – here are three things that you may not hear, and that you need to know right now:

1. What got you here won’t get you there.

You have been recognized for your success to this point. You were in charge of a certain area of responsibility, and that landscape has now changed. By extension, it’s important to know that your present knowledge base may no longer be useful – that the reasons for which they promoted you are not necessarily the reasons that will help you succeed, now. Your operational network – the network that helps you to get the job done – will now change. And even if you are highly skilled at spinning multiple plates, you will now need to develop the ability to manage the new, different pieces that this promotion brings. In short: ask yourself what the new pieces are – which are “need to manage,” “nice to manage,” and simply “nice to know.”  Keep it streamlined.

2. You aren’t in control – but you are in charge and therefore accountable.

It’s a changing world, and therefore a lot of external factors exist that you cannot control, both in the marketplace, and inside your company. Strategies and tactics will come and go as the company attempts to keep up and remain viable. To be successful so that you do your part to help the enterprise remain profitable and sustainable, you will need to re-examine your own beliefs and how you manage your environment. Why? Because at the end of the day, you can blame the externals for failure, but you are still accountable for what you did to help your area succeed. In short: don’t make any assumptions. Ask questions, stay abreast of trends and what is required to meet this – and ask yourself how this affects you, your team, and the company.

3. Your best game is only as accountable as your weakest link.

Get to know your team, its strategies and ways of operating, and be candid in asking them what has worked in the past, what has not worked, what could be better. Ask them where the team as a whole hesitates – what team behavior holds them back from their best envisioned performance. Ask them what tools and support they need to do their best work. Many team action plans are stuffed away in drawers, unused, because of counterproductive behaviors that keep these from reaching set goals. And many of these counterproductive behaviors are due to not having the resources and tools to do their best job. In short: find out what they feel they need to excel.

Here’s to a successful next professional chapter for you!

Patti Cotton helps executives optimize their effectiveness in leading self, others, and enterprises. Her areas of focus include confidence, leadership style, executive presence, effective communication, and masterful execution. With over 25 years of leadership experience, both stateside and abroad, Patti works with individuals, teams, and organizations across industries, providing executive coaching, leadership development, change, and conflict management. She is also a Fortune 500 speaker. For more information on how Patti Cotton can help you and your organization, click here.

Five Best Leadership Lessons I Learned in Kindergarten

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Five Best Leadership Lessons I Learned in Kindergarten

I addressed a group of young leaders last week, and they asked me to share my leadership experience and lessons learned.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about lessons, it’s that the biggest lessons are those that are the most simple. So simple, in fact, that they should already be acquired in kindergarten.

See what you think.

1. Be yourself.

I am left-handed, and as a small schoolgirl, my teacher tried to make me shift to the right hand for writing. You can guess the result, and it was indeed disastrous. My homework took longer, letters were difficult to pen, and the stress and frustration were overwhelming. Fortunately, my mother caught wind of this “experiment,” and told the teacher to cease and desist. When I took the pen in my left hand, again, things flowed easily, and I didn’t struggle with process. The outcomes were so different – and much better.

Are you leading from your top strengths, or are you trying to copy the way your mentor leads? If the latter, you will find, sooner or later, that the toll it takes on your mental energy and ability to execute are significant.

2. Harness distractors to focus on what counts.

There was a boy named Jerry who wiggled all day long in school. The problem was, I sat next to him. And almost every time the teacher called on me, Jerry would whisper my name loudly, get me to look, and make a face. Or he’d pull on my hair when I was turned away. It became so upsetting that I burst into tears one day and ran to the teacher. Of course, when the teacher investigated, she promptly dealt with Jerry and as a result, my new seatmate was a very quiet and studious boy named Mike.

My ability to concentrate and stay on task suddenly blossomed, and I wish I had asked the teacher for help much earlier. When you are the boss, you have no one to run to but yourself. But the fact is, you can harness and eliminate most distractors simply by dealing with them differently.

Do you need closed-door time? Delegation of repetitive, but non-essential tasks that keep coming your way? Something else? Take charge. Make the change that will keep distractors from ruling your life.

3. If you are going to do it, do it well.

Marcia couldn’t wait for recess, so she would scribble quick answers on her papers, or use big and sloppy strokes when she colored. She wanted to be done so she could go outside. I’m not sure why she didn’t catch on, but teacher always made her do her papers over.

“Take some pride in your work,” she would say to Marcia, and Marcia would sigh, grab another paper, and start over.

Of course, this took longer than it would, had she done the right thing the first time and used care in completing her first iteration. And we all had to wait until Marcia completed her second go-around before we were released for recess.

It’s like that in the workplace. There are parts of our workload that are not as exciting as others. Yet, if we take pride in doing a good job of these mundane items, it will not only make the process more enjoyable, but it will also make it much more pleasant for those around you. People are watching, just like we watched Marcia.

4. Use your influence to make positive change.

It was always a tense time when we lined up to be picked for softball. You could count on it – the best hitters and runners were selected first, and by the time it got down to the last couple of kids, there was an awkward air around who would be picked next, and who would be left last as the booby prize. It was painful.

One day, one of the most popular kids did an amazing thing – Andrea picked the guy who was always last, and she picked him, first. The other kids groaned. And then they got quiet…because Andrea was glaring at them. She was the queen of influence in grade school.

Something changed that day. It got a little kinder around recess. The big kids didn’t make fun of the little ones so much, anymore. There was a little more food sharing at lunchtime. The culture had shifted.

You can shift culture simply by using your influence. Where will you start?

5. If you want people to follow, you’d better know where you are going.

“Come on!” some of the kids used to shout as we ran outside to play.

We’d tear off running, following whoever took the lead. Pretty soon, the kid in front started circling back, or zigzagging, because he or she had frankly just started out running just for the joy of it, but with no definite destination in mind. When the circling started, the other kids felt the waffling in direction, and started slowing down. They started colliding into each other, and then stopping to peel off in little groups, or walking over to play hopscotch.

“Come on!” the kid who had led the pack would cry, trying to get everyone to start running, again.

But no one was interested. If they weren’t going somewhere together in the same direction with a destination in mind, they weren’t going to participate.

I think you get the picture. Leading to feel like the head of the pack is fruitless and you will lose your followers quickly. Have an idea of where you are going and know how to share it so that everyone comes along.

What’s your best leadership lesson?