#cgthink

Big Ten Network interview’s RTLI co-founder Linda Lindquist-Bishop

| CGT

The Big Ten Network recently asked University of Illinois alumni Linda Lindquist-Bishop why she calls the leadership institute she co-founded ‘Rising Tide?’

Linda racing with team Delta
Linda racing with team Delta

 

“To add more women leaders to the equation we can’t just inspire and equip – we also have to change the acceptance for what women can achieve, with those who can provide or prevent access for women at the leadership table.”

Competing on the high-tech, high-performance sailing, aviation and motor sports platforms equips women for leadership, creates acceptance for their abilities at the leadership table, and inspires other women to step up and lean in to leadership opportunities.
Read more at: Big Ten Network

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What is your Gold Standard?

Olympic Gold Medal, 2014 Sochi
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Getting the best results from your team requires a consistent process that measures performance tied to a specific standard.

In a recent Fast Company article, Michael Phelps’ coach Bob Bowman has a few things to say about getting the most performance out of people. Coaching 22 gold medals from one athlete gives him a lot of authority to speak as to the level of standards that need to be set in order to achieve consistent excellence:

sochi-2014-olympic-medal_large_verge_medium_landscapeDETERMINE YOUR GOLD STANDARD.
“Each business has a gold standard,” Bowman says. It’s up to the leadership to decide what that standard is and how the organization gets there. Once the gold standard is set, everyone on the team needs to buy into it, he says. “We (the staff and athletes at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club where Bowman is CEO) try to be very process-oriented, performing up to a certain standard every day,” Bowman says, “(You can only) control what you can control.”

‘Disruption’ and ‘innovation’ are now the norm in our daily work flow. It is more critical than ever to determine what we CAN control and create process which will consistently delivery our high standards in regardless of the unforeseen yet inevitable challenges. We make our day to day business decisions based on what we perceive as standards for success. If these standards are not clearly articulated AND agreed upon by the entire organization – we will waste resources and experience failure. And if we want to achieve sustainable success, then we must create consistent process which deliver these standards or we will experience inconsistent results.

What is your organization’s standard for excellence?
and HOW do you consistently achieve this Gold Standard?

Would I do this for another?

Tracy and Lanny Barnes, 2014 Olympics, Sochi
| CGT

The story of the Barnes twin sisters has been ricocheting around the world. WHY?

It’s a story of:   • Sisterly bond    • Selfless love    • Standing for someone else’s greatness
and as Guinness claims, ‘The choices we make reveal the true nature of our character.’

BUT even of more importance, this is a shatteringly compelling story because it challenges us to ask ourselves the profoundly difficult question – Would I do this for another?  Watch Guinness video 1:04.

Tracy & Lanny

While we most likely will never have to wrestle with giving up our earned Olympic berth or even a coveted job to someone whom we are deeply connected – this question can provide us a great gift into our own self awareness. It forces the follow on questions of:
• What is most important to me?
• What opportunity might I create for another?
• What opportunity should and must I fully own as it is uniquely mine to celebrate in the world?

This is NOT the story of whether Tracy did the right or wrong thing by giving her sister Lanny the spot Tracy had earned on the U.S. Olympic biathlon team. This IS a story about someone who did something very good out of self-less love for another.

Old, and don’t miss Lanny and Tracy in Sochi.