Jorge Giraldo

I write about leadership, exploring strategies for achieving what we want in our lives and work. Executive coach. Ex-Google.

Letters:

[Jorge Giraldo @jorgir]

This 1 simple technique leaders can use to minimize distractions, and focus on what matters most.

Everyone needs something from a top leader.

Therefore, assume that all your communication platforms will have new unread message at all times.

In order to focus on what matters to you without distractions do this:

1. Pick two or three times a day to check for new messages.
2. Pick one way of communication to be the "urgent" way to get a hold of you for immediate response.
3. Turn off the alarms and warnings for all the rest.

Let the relevant parties know about this.

- You won't be distracted as much anymore.
- Your stakeholders will always find you when they truly need you.

[Jorge Giraldo @jorgir]

Do this every morning to become an unforgettable leader.

Remember who you want to be.

It will clarify what you need to do.
And how to do it.

[Jorge Giraldo @jorgir]

Leadership is a creative act.

So you can create with your people.
Or you can create by yourself.

But in both cases, you need vision, clarity, and a destination.

* You need to know WHAT you are creating.
* You need to know HOW you are going to create it.
* You need to know WHY you are creating it.

If you have the answers to what, how, and why and can communicate them clearly to your team, you will have an easier time enrolling them in your vision and moving past the rough spots when they come up.

They will be engaged.
They will be committed.
They will be driven.

They will be happy to have you as their leader.

[Jorge Giraldo @jorgir]

Optimizing for impact is a life strategy that can transform your leadership.

Are you willing to try?

Briefly review the areas of your life that matter most to you. Give each one a score between 1 and 10.

Some of the most common are:

Personal growth
Family & friends
Physical space
Entertainment
Relationships
Finances
Career
Health

How are you doing?

→ What’s your reaction when you see your scores?
→ Do you feel compelled to change any of the scores?
→ Are you inclined to improve the low-scoring areas or amplify your highest scores?

You can do this using the perspective of your own life.

You could also consider each area an opportunity to impact and contribute to those around you positively.

Pick one area and brainstorm a little:

→ How can you amplify your impact on others in this area?
→ What are you going to do about it?
→ Commit to one action to move you in the right direction.

This is what I call optimizing for impact.
If you take it seriously, your life will change.

Radically.

[Jorge Giraldo @jorgir]

Since finding work-life balance seems like an impossible task, here is 1 TED-X talk that will help you cultivate work-life quality.

It’s about “Power-Pausing,” a tool created by my friend, keynote speaker, and author Jeanette Bronée to integrate self-care while at work, in the moment.

Power-pausing is about taking a break in the middle of the grind when we are reactive, fearful, confused, or anxious.

To stop the hamster wheel of our mind and from a place of peace, ask questions like:

→ What am I trying to achieve here?
→ Why does it matter to me?
→ What do I need so I can do that?

Power-pausing lets us face our fears to move forward with clarity and confidence.

It allows us to become more intentional, regaining our agency through the power of choice.

https://t.co/yGDBw9hkAx via @YouTube

[Jorge Giraldo @jorgir]

If you like this thread, please follow me at:
@jorgir

And share it!
https://t.co/LtbxFFwktO

[Jorge Giraldo @jorgir]

Here are 4 powerful questions to ask yourself if you are confused, lack direction, feel stuck, or seek perspective.

Answering them will help you move forward.

Coaching is about asking questions, not about giving advice. However, access to someone with coaching skills is not always possible.

Here are four questions that can help you do some introspection to solve complex issues on your own:

[Jorge Giraldo @jorgir]

Here are 4 powerful questions to ask yourself if you are confused, lack direction, feel stuck, or seek perspective.

Answering them will help you move forward.

Coaching is about asking questions, not about giving advice. However, access to someone with coaching skills is not always possible.

Here are four questions that can help you do some introspection to solve complex issues on your own:

[Jorge Giraldo @jorgir]

4. What advice would I give someone else in my situation?
You are immersed in the forest, confused, and don’t know what to do.

Answer this question by coldly stating the facts of the circumstances. Avoid anything that is a story, an assumption, or an interpretation. You’ll find clarity by emotionally distancing yourself from the problem and approaching it as if it were someone else’s.

Seeking perspective and distance from our problems is an incredible way to connect with reality and what is true.

One of the best ways to calm down in times of trouble and confusion is to journal, preferably in silence. These questions are great journaling prompts to help you find some clarity.

[Jorge Giraldo @jorgir]

Without knowing it, Thich Nhat Hanh gave us the prescription to achieve great teamwork.

In his book How to Connect, he wrote:

“When we cultivate peace inside us, we begin to see things as they really are. When we’re able to see clearly, understanding and compassion arise, and anger and jealousy fade away. We accept ourselves as we are, we accept others as they are…”

So much of workplace drama comes from our inability to see things and accept people as they are.

We create stories, judge, hold on to our truth with righteousness, and isolate ourselves.

Just as we should strive to run organizations sustainably to protect our resources and our environment, companies should seek to create cultures of respect, collaboration, and sustainable high performance in which their employees can thrive.

I know this works.
I’ve seen it work.

[Jorge Giraldo @jorgir]

Here is some contrarian and practical advice for leaders who complain about not having enough time to do everything they have to do.

Throw away your time management books.
Focus on your leadership skills instead.

Here are some of the most critical areas leaders must master to be effective. Weaknesses on any of these may point to the root cause of your issue with time scarcity and contribute to feeling overworked, overwhelmed, or burned out.

→ Boundary setting (yes, that also includes your boss)
→ Unwillingness to say “no” (in reality, it is fear of rejection)
→ Lack of clarity about your responsibilities (look at how your performance will be evaluated)
→ Disengagement with your work (procrastination alert)
→ Shiny object syndrome (disguised as a love of learning)
→ Avoidance of difficult conversations (while the problems get worse)
→ Resistance to delegate (micromanagers, let go of your fear and your need for control)
→ Resistance to asking for help (no one will think you are incapable)
→ Lack of trust (learn to collaborate)

Do any of these resonate with you?

[Jorge Giraldo @jorgir]

Never hire a coach to maximize your potential.
Drop the idea of maximizing anything about yourself.

Why would you hire a coach, then?
The answer lies within you.

If you thought or felt, even briefly, that you could benefit from having a coach, listen carefully. It means that something is missing, and there is a gap between where you are now and where you want to be.

That’s where coaching comes in.

You are like the Golden Buddha in Thailand, covered with mud for hundreds of years. You want to shine again, let your inner self come through, reclaim your true nature, and access all the power you already have.

A good transformational coach can help you do that.

And once you do it, anything becomes possible for you.
Like when you were a small child.

You can believe again.

[Jorge Giraldo @jorgir]

Unless you integrate this 1 truth, your leadership will be tepid at best, and you will not develop to your full potential.

Certainty is an illusion.

We often choose to remain within our comfort zone to minimize risk and unpleasant surprises.

We try to maintain control instead of facing our fear of moving into unknown territory.

This means accepting the status quo, which is unpleasant as it may be.

We get stuck.
We freeze.

But leadership implies movement toward a vision.

By accepting that certainty is an illusion, we can move again. We can let go of our need to be right, to play it safe.

We choose, we decide.

And there is a way to do it, in small steps, safely.

We get curious, we try things, we ask questions, and run experiments.

We fail and learn along the way.

We learn.
We move.
We grow.

[Jorge Giraldo @jorgir]

This is required reading if you are a successful leader who suddenly feels stuck in your career.

Unless you let go of your past, you won’t be able to step up to the next level.

Here is why.

If you are reading this, it is likely that…

You are a leader.
You are a hard worker.
You are a top performer.
You are a high achiever.
You have high standards.
You appreciate excellence.

How does it feel to hear this?

Now, let’s play a little:

Imagine these admirable characteristics as objects, put them all in a backpack, and label them with a big sign: “My Expectations.”

Visualize what it feels like to carry this pack everywhere. You must be able to show its contents to anyone at any time. Stay with this for a while.

How do you feel now?
Burdened, maybe?

It’s a heavy load to carry with you at all times.

Here is the paradox of being so successful:
Your glorious past may be limiting your full development and your future success.

You risk judging everything you do and say based on the expectations you carry with you. You are probably your toughest critic.

Your high expectations are limiting your capacity to…

Try things.
Be daring.
Move fast.
Take risks.
Be original.
Adapt quickly.
Fail gracefully.
Be innovative.
Make mistakes.
Question the status quo.

You have too much to lose.

As your career progresses, whether in the corporate world or as a founder, you will acquire more responsibilities, get busier, and your world will become much more complicated.

In that journey, you will have to get used to dealing with uncertainty and the fact that you may not know what to do or how to do it.

And unless you let go of your heavy backpack, you’ll be paralyzed by its weight.

So let it go, be nimble.
Travel light, go far.
Seek help.

–-
Please don’t hesitate to message me if this post resonates and you want to discuss it. Coaching is how the heavy load gets lightened, and all the best leaders have a coach by their side!

[Jorge Giraldo @jorgir]

Sometimes, we complain about not having enough freedom.

So we seek to escape, to take the easy way out.

It’s common to hear, “I want freedom from… my job, my manager, my clients, my quota, my partner, my rent, my marketing, my business…”

Instead, we should say, “I want the freedom to…”

It's easier to run away from something than to run toward something.

The risk of running away is that we may be tempted to settle for whatever shows up. We choose while still looking at the past we want to leave behind instead of the future we want to create.

On the other hand, running toward something, although harder, is about creativity, productivity, potential, and growth.

It is intentional and generative.

And that is what freedom should be for.

[Jorge Giraldo @jorgir]

Do you want to be powerful at work?
Begin with yourself.

Power is generally difficult to obtain because a complex web of external factors—all out of our control—is at play.

But one type of power is always within reach and completely ours to develop:

Personal power.
Having the freedom to try something that scares us.

Developing and owning our personal power is within our control because fear is a mental construct. It’s a remnant of past experiences.

And we can learn to let go of those.

With strong personal power, everything falls into place.
Genuine leadership becomes possible.

[Jorge Giraldo @jorgir]

If you feel your past is holding you back from creating the future you want, know this:

If you can change your stories, you will change your life.

We hear stories, we create them, we believe them, we inherit them, we imagine them.

We love stories.
But stories are not facts.
Stories are made up.

Trouble arises when we fail to distinguish between stories and facts.

The workplace is full of stories.

Stories may give rise to anxiety, gossip, blame, fear, stress, praise, pride, peace, and joy.

So hold stories lightly, be open to other perspectives, be curious, and ask questions.

Be willing to change your story, as all stories eventually do, becoming free to create what you want.

[Jorge Giraldo @jorgir]

Your value as a manager lies in your ability to create a safe environment where your team members can develop and grow into self-reliant, resourceful, and resilient individuals.

Your value does not lie in your knowledge and experience.

Be a coach first, a consultant second.