Tanaka in Three: Recent Episodes
Lance Tanaka
Welcome to Tanaka in 3 where I bring to you my thoughts on life and leadership focused down to 3 practical points in under 3 minutes
Most leaders don’t burn out. They bore out.
There’s a difference — and it’s costing you more than you think.
Dame Evelyn Glennie is profoundly deaf and one of the world’s greatest percussionists. She doesn’t just hear music; she feels it. Her secret isn’t discipline alone. It’s that she never stopped playing.
Here are 3 lessons leaders can steal from her
We all face fear at some time in our life. As leaders, we get into the trap of believing we need to be strong…at all times. And thus repressing our fear. Dismissing our feelings of fear, limits us from the important datapoint emotion brings to us.
Don’t run away from your current undesirable situation. Instead, start identifying better options, then run to them
Don’t accept criticism from those whom you don’t want their advice. When they don’t don’t know you, they don’t know your situation or the circumstances that surround you.
don’t waste your energy concerning yourself with their negativity.
Life is unfair, embrace it
The rules are stacked against you. Others have an advantage. Life is unfair… and it will always be.
Successful people overcome odds. Listen to “Life is unfair, embrace it” to get insight on how.
There’s nothing like encouragement. We all like to hear words of encouragement. As a leader you need to raise the bar and push people to greater performance and achievement, but you also need to lift people up, inspire them.
Allowing a stop button is a powerful tool for leaders.
It gives people the opportunity to question you. That is certainly a stop button. But if you don’t, you may be making an inferior decision on limited viewpoints. It also empowers people to express their POV and to provide a new idea to improve anything, even if it ain’t broke. Challenge old standards/systems. These are just a few reasons why leaders should consider giving their people access to a stop button.
Listen to "Tanaka in Three: Install that stop button" to learn how Toyota implemented a stop button with great success.
Tanaka in 3 where I bring to you my thoughts on life and leadership focused down to 3 practical points in under 3 minutes.
Focus and finish to turn clarity into progress. That’s the approach to helping people find their life story.
Everything you want is on the other side of hard
Anything worth having is hard. Things taste sweeter when you have to work for it. Failure is tough, but not bad, if you can learn from it and then get beyond it. Take ownership, take control and take action.
In their April 5, 2021 article Help Your Employees find purpose or watch them leave, McKinsey shares eye popping stats that demonstrates it does matter, a lot.
So how do some of the more progressive organizations address this?
In my June 21 st Tanaka in 3 episode, purpose at work matters, alot, I show results from a
McKinsey study that 70% of employees surveyed said that their sense of purpose is largely
defined by work.
Our destiny chooses us! In the movie Rounders, actor Martin Landau is telling a story to Matt Damon about his choice of a career in law. His parents wanted him to be a Rabbi, but he chose to be a lawyer, explaining to Damon, "We can't run from who we are. Our destiny chooses us."
We’ve all heard about the rule of 10,000. Some feel that doing 10,000 of something can make you an expert or a master. Well, think again.
I subscribe to the idea that we need to put ourselves in a position to be lucky. However, there is such a thing as “dumb luck”.
You want to quickly and effectively establish a new win-win relationship? Leverage the awesome power of questions.
There are many programs on how to give feedback.
But it is also critical that we learn how when receiving feedback to embrace it.
I’m sorry, I’m going to revisit a blog I did 1 year ago. What reminded me of the blog was the TV show, Ted Lasso.
You want to win the inner game, go play with your kids or grandkids and learn from the Masters of learning.
The Peter Principle: People rise to their level of incompetence and tend to stay there.
Now that I’m up in the years, and can hear myself yelling at Whatsapp, “Get out of my yard”. Or in this case “get out of my phone, pad and computer!”
Why don’t employees just do what I need them to do? This is a common frustration across many managers.
Many of us feel as if we have no control over our schedule. We have too many things to do and not enough time to do them. We are time impoverished.
When we try to develop new habits like getting on a diet or an exercise regimen we tend to take an “out” approach. Instead, we should take the “down” approach.
I rushed over to a local shop to get a haircut. Typically I would expect my stylist to have an “I’m only here because I need a job” attitude. But in this case, Victoria was quite engaging. What was different? She seemed to be enjoying herself.
Have you ever had a song, especially a stupid one enter your brain and you just couldn’t get it out of your head?
On Feb 11, 2020, I published a podcast, “Do fad diets work. They do but hold on.”
At the end I said I would update you on the results of my intermittent fasting that I started on Jan 1st.
It’s amazing how many people I meet who want to do what I do. Be their own person. Make their own hours. But let me tell you, it’s not for everyone.
Contagion is on everyone’s minds these days. Dr. Laurie Santos in the Happiness Lab, explains the power of emotional contagion and how it effects an organization.
There is a famous western saying, “Curiosity killed the cat.” In truth it’s more like “curiosity builds the leader.”
Here’s another rule for the number 3. The 3 minute rule: an effective sales pitch needs to presented in less than 3 minutes.
You spend the most time of your life on your job. The only other high hour activity is sleep (at least for most of you). Therefore, shouldn’t you enjoy what you’re doing? At least not dread it.
Anonymity in social media may be good. It allows people to freely express their views without repercussion. However, in relationships, anonymity is deficient.
I’m sitting here in the US watching the disturbing presidential election. However, what is more disturbing is how we treat each other.
Silence is Golden, the power of pause. Learn to not only being comfortable with silence, learn to embrace it.
According to Gallup research, more than 70% of the American workforce is disengaged. This is an epidemic with disastrous consequences. I would venture to guess, this may be an issue with workers all over the globe.
Sleep deprivation not only stifles creativity, it impairs judgment, makes you forgetful, dumbs you down and can lead to serious health issues. One of the biggest improvements you can make in your life is in your control, sleep
Changing minds. Change is hard. We tend to push and push: persuading and pressuring to no avail.
Do you get what you want, when you want it, in the way you want it?
If not, you may be part of the problem, enabling your people’s lack of delivering.
I met an inspiring leader, Peter Williams. He wrote a book, Productive Accidents where he tells stories about how he grew by accepting invitations and taking the “hell yeah” mindset about doing things outside of his comfort zone.
I know many people who are unhappy in their current career. They’re in a tiring, unsatisfying job, led by an uninspiring boss. But they don’t take actions to rectify it? Why?
I’ve had a lot of time to watch TV series and movies. It seems that show after show has parents keeping valuable from their kids, information such as we are going to get divorced or I have a serious health affliction.
Not surprisingly our average attention span from 2000 to 2015 has dropped from 12 to 8.25 seconds. However, researchers in Canada found that our attention spans have now been surpassed by that highly intelligent animal, the goldfish (9 seconds).
When I work with executives, we find that they are good at “what”. This is what we will do. Here is what I want you to achieve.
But as we gather feedback from leader’s subordinates, we find they want to know “why”.
I attended a seminar run by The Bank Of New York, Mellon where they explained the 3 reasons why people give to charity. 1. Tax break, 2. Recognition 3. People are happy when they give.
A war is raging inside each and everyone of us. It is certainly a battle and its significance in our lives is powerful.
The 21st century is the age of information where thought is the most of valuable assets. As leaders in this age, we need to establish an environment where people feel the freedom
to think
to challenge
and are encouraged to express themselves, even in cultures and nations that tend to be more authoritative.
But if you think about it, ignorance really has a greater value beyond bliss.
It has a valuable place in leadership, management and communication.
Don't stare into your rear view mirror. Look out at what's in front of you. What's next.
My point, learn how to be a part of the problem while at the same time being part of the solution.
Whenever there is a void of information, with certainty, it will be filled in with… rumors, some true, some wildly false.
If you think about it, a core foundation to true friendships is that both parties have an interest in the other and help each other in their friend’s needs.
Both benefit.
It's the same in business
You want to be average, fix your weaknesses. If you want to be distinctive, you need to identify your strengths and leverage them by focusing on developing them even further.
Here is a fairly unknown and certainly underutilized law that when consistently used can give you back that control over your life.