I trust this message finds you well and you are progressing as you intend, and enjoying life as you deserve.
Regeneration and rejuvenation are essential stages of life and of leadership, and I wanted to let you know that I will be taking a sabbatical for the rest of the year. There’s no need for panic or concern, this decision isn’t because of burnout or stress, but instead something I have been thinking about for many months, and now the time seems right.
Stepping back will help me step back into the new year with renewed energy and creativity, which will directly benefit the quality of my work and the innovative solutions I can offer you.
This space will allow me to explore novel learning experiences, enabling me to bring fresh insights and advanced skills to the work of helping leaders learn and lead with more intention and impact.
Thank you for your continued support for this communique, I deeply appreciate your comments and ideas that help me create news that you can use.
See you at the start of 2025!
Regards,
Dan
PS-If you start craving a news2use while I’m away, feel free to browse through some previous issues here.
“Relevant & pragmatic ideas, tools and insights to play at your best.”
For You
We are not always able to take a sabbatical when we feel it’s time, as professional and family commitments may take priority, yet that shouldn’t stop anyone from creating a personal plan for regeneration and renewal. Here are five insights that have served me well in the past:
- Set priorities, this reinforces that you are the captain of your ship, and of your life, and use nowhere needed to preserve these priorities.
- Practice expressing gratitude, wherever possible. It simply makes life sweeter. Take a look and my friend and colleague, Chester Elton, who I call the apostle of gratitude, for ideas on this subject.
- Read something (not on your phone or computer) and take a walk every day; and, where possible in nature rather than on a busy street.
- Treat yourself to seven to eight hours of sleep every night.
- Enjoy the moment, feel the now.
For You & Your Team
How many outside-in perspectives have you provided for your team in the first half of 2024?
I returned recently from, Pinghu, just south of Shanghai, where I supported the iwis mobility systems leadership team. The purpose of this visit and leadership meeting was to align their global mobility ambitions, ensuring that business regions in the USA, China, India, and Europe continued to collaborate effectively. The leadership team also met with leading electro-mobility suppliers, market experts, and visited e-mobility retail outlets.
This was an effective week of experiences, which this iwis mobility systems organization will profit from for months and years to come.
How are you using outside-in perspectives to help your leadership team and your organization play at their best?
Outside-in perspectives help you develop:
- Fresh insights and innovative ideas that you might not have considered. This can be particularly valuable to help you see your wicked problems in a different light and learn how others moved beyond challenges that you struggle with.
- A new and refreshing look at your current and future customers, enabling you to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, as the organization becomes more attuned to what customers truly want and need.
- Sharp and relevant benchmarking and best practices that you can adapt for your business.
You don’t have to take your leadership team to China to profit from outside-in perspectives, as there are many, many ways you can create outside-in perspectives for and with your leadership team. (I plan on spending a good amount of time in the library during my sabbatical, this is a powerful outside-in experience for me.) One thing I can promise you, outside-in perspectives can and will make your organization more innovative, customer-focused, and resilient in the face of change.
For You, Your Team & Your Business
Last week’s business trip to China was a real eye-opener. I’ve worked in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Japan, yet this China trip with the iwis mobility systems leadership team gave me a lot of takeaways, specifically the team dining experience.
All the leadership teams I work with dine together, at one point or another, yet in China, it starts differently, with the dining table itself. As we were a larger group, sometimes 20-23 people, we sat together at one large, round table that had a second revolving table in the middle so that the dishes could be shared easily with all.
The round table setting makes it easy to see and converse with everyone. The round tables signify unity and harmony, helpful to any leadership team. In terms of Feng Shui, the round circle nature of the dining table is associated with unity, perfection, and completeness.
The community nature of sharing food, sharing ideas, and sharing experiences at the round table boosted team spirit, helped team members connect with one another, and contributed to a positive team outcome.
Perhaps such a round table, located somewhere in your organization, could be set up and reserved for such team dinners where unity and harmony are important.
People, Places & Technology
Taking extended time off the job can be a boost for your career and personal well-being. In this TEDx talk, entrepreneur Dennis DiDonna (DJ) speaks about his sabbatical and discusses his research on how sabbaticals can play a transformational role in how we think about ourselves and the future of work itself. DiDonna founded The Sabbatical Project to explore when and why sabbaticals lead to positive outcomes for working professionals. The Sabbatical Project is now exploring the role and effects of companies in making sabbatical policies mainstream.
Thought for the Day
I give thanks for what is, this inner light.
Through moments still, and breaths anew,
I feel renewal, and my spirits grew.
A chance to pause, reflect, and see,
The boundless potential of what can be.
In every heartbeat, a world to explore,
Personal renewal, now and forevermore.