ARTICLES BY DR. ANDY NEILLIE, CSP

I Can’t Understand Cricket

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of doing leadership development work around the globe.  Many years ago, during one of my engagements with a team of leaders from India, I remember having a lengthy conversation about cricket.  At the end of the conversation with one of these leaders from India, I realized I had no better understanding than I did when we started. Wickets, Overs, Stumps, Bowler, Pitch, Twenty20, a game that can go on for up to five days (!) etc.…

There is a better way to learn

Recently I was at a board meeting for a network of international schools. One of the presentations was from a language teacher who is finding good success with an innovative approach to foreign language learning. This approach, called the Growing Participator Approach, does away with much of the traditional rote memory work on vocabulary, nouns and verb tenses, cognates and idioms.  

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Whew! What a week.  Day-long meetings.  Travel between cities.  Issues and conflicts.  Financial challenges and people challenges. Very few of the things on my “ToDo” list for the week got done.  Leadership accomplishments for the week?  Nill.  And a sinking feeling that next week may be the same.

Leader, do you ever have the same type of week as me?  I suspect we all do.

I want to work in a mattress store

Several of our businesses are located in centers where there is also a mattress store.  

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What kind of questions are you asking yourself?

I had a conversation recently with one of our managers. She has been recognized as a high-potential performer since her very first job. And in the past 2+ years, it has been my great pleasure to see her go from being a “Hi-Po” individual contributor to an increasingly effective manager and leader.

We recently talked about growing our leadership influence both with direct reports and with peer leaders.

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I’ve been able to do 24 workouts in the past eight weeks; an average of three per week.  Not quite as many as I had hoped for, but better by far that the last couple of years.  I’m more committed to physical fitness than I’ve been in a while, and it feels good for this old strength coach to get back into the gym.  Doing a variety of exercises is also reminding me of the need for leaders to practice their own version of development: “Leadership Cross-Training”

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As a multiple-territory franchisee, my wife and I have opened four separate facilities in the past six years.  Today these facilities will do more than $2 million in top-line revenue, with bottom-line net revenues that are growing each year.  I wish I could tell you this was all part of our grand leadership strategy to grow the market.  But it wasn’t

Do you need a leadership strategy?

We didn’t plan on opening any of our current facilities.

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Four ways to think about your activities

I’ve got too much stuff to do.  Not only my stuff, but my team’s stuff.  And the 100+ emails I get every day.  And the unexpected activities that pop onto my schedule at the last minute. etc. etc. etc.

I suspect your days are a lot like mine. Time management for a leader is critical to our impact.

President Eisenhower’s 4-box Time Management Matrix

President Eisenhower had a simple four-box time-management matrix that he used for personal decision making,

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