JOINT MEETING WITH PLANNING COMMISSION 03272017

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commitment, personally and organizationally, to the process of learning. As much as there is a demand for leadership answers, we need to realize that more critical is that we have the right questions, and that we are asking those questions of our organizations. Heifetz, in the final sentence of his book, says, in closing, “Sometimes you can lead with nothing but a good question in hand.” In fact, sometimes breakthrough leadership, particularly in tough times, comes from getting the question right, and keeping the organization’s attention focused on it. These times require a level of clear communication that would dazzle the best of us. We need to over-communicate by a large factor, and yet that communication needs to have three crucial qualities: a) a rich simplicity, clarity, images that people can hold onto. b) a transparency about all dimensions of our collective lives—the finances, and the feelings; the threats and the thinking. And a transparency about who we are. All of us, so that we can bring all of us to the challenges of the moment. c) and finally, a brilliant honest powerful framing of our circumstances. It is the leader who creates a frame around the realities and the possibilities. The way we choose to characterize our circumstances can create or dissipate energy and motivation; it can open or close possibilities; it can tap commitment or sharpen fears. The ability to frame, and reframe, or circumstances is crucial to our organization’s ability to move forward. An attention to assets rather than liabilities, toward possibilities rather than problems. The ability to see the alive but small sprouts of the new and hopeful. Many of you know of the leadership orientation that goes by the term “appreciate Inquiry” and you practice it. Many of you know the fine work on asset based development that is at the heart of the xxxxx and the writing of Marcus Buckingham. What all these have in common is a relentless search for what is working. A favorite example of mine of this kind of leadership is evident in the movie “Apollo 13” after the famous line, “Houston we have a problem,” and the mission commander in Houston is trying to figure out what has happened. His folks are shouting out all the things that are going wrong and he says, “People, people, one at a time……what have we got on the space ship that’s working?” A powerful, reframing question. The last three rules have to do with taking care of yourself and your people; of staying alive and vital in the midst of huge challenges. The first, #10 is simple: Make time for celebration, joy, play and laughter. These are the practices that help us connect as human beings, that help us keep things in perspective, and lift our spirits. Shackleton, in the midst of months of hardship, kept his people engaged in games, dancing, music, toasts to those back home. All of us know the research on the