21 For The Last 18 Yrs, Back in PA

Listening is one of the most underrated gifts we can offer another person. In a world saturated with noise and constant distraction, truly hearing someone - without planning your next response or glancing at your phone — is a rare and powerful act.

Sometimes it will appear that I have no sense of urgency, when really I'm just projecting calmness. It's okay to ask me to check in with status updates to reassure you that I'm still on the case.

Put me in my critic's line of fire. Make me stand up for/defend my ideas to the people who are impacted by them. I need this reality check.

Challenge me to present more of my work, listen to and then react to the response, make improvements to the work, and then present it again.

I have an agenda, and I'm transparent about it. Challenge me to tie it to a mission, a purpose, a set of values, a better future, something that is bigger than me, that includes everyone. Challenge me to paint the picture and make it genuine.

I'm not discouraged or disillusioned by ideas that don't quite work. But when I present my ideas, ask me to describe in detail what could be learned even from the worst-case scenario outcome.

Ensure that my agenda is attached to a greater mission. Force me to make the connection. Push me to aspire to something greater than my or my team's immediate outcomes.

Yes, I can be competitive. And, no, I'm not a good loser. (Why would I ever want to get good at that?) Help me take this competitive spirit beyond a mere win/lose framework, into an outcome where both parties feel that they've won. Help me stop, for a long moment, to consider the world through your eyes, or someone else's, so that we can get to these win/win outcomes.

If you'd like to grab my attention, tell me that my ideas could be better thought through.

Sometimes I can gain the reputation for being the chief "defender of the idea" -- the person from whom one always gets the same answer, the person whose creative back is up against the wall, who has closed my mind to new information. I don't want to be this person. Despite my strongly held views and insights, I am always open to new data, new evidence, and new patterns of understanding.

When we succeed, I sometimes forget to be deliberate in thanking people for their help, so that they don't feel like they are merely instruments in my plan of action. Feel free to remind me to acknowledge the contributions of others.

I am an impatient person who thrills to a fast-paced, action-oriented situation. I don't want to be slowed down -- but I don't want to leave you behind, either. Help me understand your perspective, your world.

Put my strengths to use in creating something. Ask for a tangible output that calls on the best of me.

Share your challenges with me and ask for my help. I like to get the inside scoop and be entrusted with critical information.

I am instinctively impatient. Use this to your benefit. Ask me to tackle the roadblock that's getting in everyone's way. I'll make the call and make the ask.

Throw me in the deep end (only now and then!) and help me recognize my ability to discern patterns quickly. The pressure can produce some of my best thinking.

Ask me, "Why did this happen this way?" or better yet, "Why does this keep happening this way?" I love to find patterns: set me to it.

I learn by imitation. Help me watch someone excellent in action. Then ask me to describe the ideas or concepts that explain this excellence.

Encourage me to experiment in uncharted territory. Give me a project outside of my area of expertise.

Include me in the planning of upcoming projects. Engaging me in the process early ensures that I get the ideal amount of information to generate quality ideas.

Charge me with the responsibility to create win-win outcomes. Push me to seek ways to ensure that even our competitors benefit from the power of my influence.

Have me lead an important project from start to finish. The final 10% of the project is where I'll struggle. Keep me accountable.

Ask me to make sense of and explain something complex.

Measure my impact on others. Keeping tabs on the quality of my relationships with direct reports, peers and managers ensures that I pay attention to my interactions.

I always take the time to discover the root cause of your need -- I won't just provide you with the pat answer.

I try to discipline myself to uncover patterns, because although you can't force "pattern-recognition," you can accelerate it.

In my view, ideas are for something; they are not valuable in and of themselves. I love to use concepts to persuade people to do something they hadn't intended to do.

Because I need explanations, I like concepts. My world is full of concepts that I've derived from my observations of the world.

It helps me to deliberately forge a relationship with people who see things very differently from me. By exposing myself to them, I will prevent myself from becoming complacent.

I am a good listener, but I listen with a purpose -- to get you to make a decision. Listening, for me, is a precursor to action.

I am creative, but I don't conjure things out of thin air. I break things down into their component elements, which enables me to reconfigure them in new and different ways. I am always watching and observing so I can identify these elements.

I begin by asking, "How can I move you to act?" In virtually every situation, my eye goes to the outcome. Why? Partly because I see where things will lead if the other person doesn't act, and partly because I am instinctively aware of momentum and so become frustrated when I bump into someone who slows my momentum down.

I engage people directly and convince them to act. My power is my persuasion.

I like to make sense of the world by pulling it apart, seeing a better configuration, and creating it.

My strength comes from making sense of things.

I'm more decisive than most people. And more impatient. I like to move fast.

If a team is stuck, I can unglue them. If they're reluctant, I can paint the compelling picture that prompts them to move.

In any situation I set my sights on action. "What can we do?" This is my question.

I love theories and concepts. People often come to me when they want someone to explain why things are playing out the way they are.

I'm at my best when I'm challenged to persuade people to do something they didn't necessarily intend to do.

When I'm on a new team or project, once I have the confidence that I've decoded the patterns that matter, I will use my understanding of these patterns to present a better way of doing things to my colleagues.

I sort all information by "relevance to action." I will do something only if I think it will help get a decision made, or position me in such a way that I can make an outcome happen.

I hate playing politics. I'm a very up front person and don't function well in a world with a lot of backroom action.

I am driven by the feeling of progress, and am acutely sensitive to momentum. I sense when it's building. When it's peaking. And when it's gone.

I read a lot, because it keeps my mind full of ideas.

In my case, creativity comes only to the prepared mind. So I read, study, and ask questions to make sure that my mind is prepared.

I read to stay current on new trends, research or practices within my chosen field.

I am prone to flashes of insight into a better way of doing things, or presenting things. It's hard for me to explain where these flashes come from, but once I've seen them, the need to make them real propels me forward.

Play out what would happen if you didn't make a change, and then what would happen if you did. Show me the consequences.

I am, in general, impatient; but I am especially impatient when I know that a decision should be made. I see what will happen if we don't act. I see around the corner, and so it pains me to think about what inaction will cause.

To get me excited about change, explain that the current way of doing things doesn't make good sense. Present the change as a more intelligent, more coherent way to get things done.

I want to be seen as open to new ideas - but for me, "open" means "inquisitive." It does not mean "immediately accepting of."

My world is thrown off when I don't understand what is going on. When presented with an unfamiliar situation, I need time; time to process, to observe, to ask my questions, and think things through. Don't ask me to make snap judgments; I need to gather my thoughts.

I don't like surprises. I don't like making things up as I go along. When I make things -- and I do like to make things -- I do it only after I've had time to percolate and process.

When faced with evidence that contradicts what I've come to believe, I will become more articulate in explaining my point of view, discredit the contradictory evidence, or expand my view to incorporate this evidence. To me, each of these is, in its own way, a positive outcome.