Why Good Is The New Bad For Business Leaders
Terry Starbucker
AUGUST 6, 2019
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Terry Starbucker
MAY 21, 2019
Dear First-Time Leader: Congratulations! You’ve just been given a fantastic opportunity. But before you dive in, I’d like to pass along a little sage advice. I remember my first day as a leader, 35 years ago. I was not long out of college and I thought what I had learned in the classroom and my first few years in the working world would be enough.
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Terry Starbucker
OCTOBER 14, 2018
To become great leaders, there is a point where we must realize that there are some rules of the road that we cannot change, no matter how hard we try. I call them “ the immutable laws of leadership “, the backbone of any successful foray into this honorable vocation. Once we decide to live by them, build on them, and lead by them, we give ourselves a fabulous chance for great success.
Terry Starbucker
AUGUST 5, 2018
This is the 3rd and final part of my journey (in three parts in 3 weeks) to what I consider to be the heart of great More Human leadership – the success trifecta: A successful company, A happy team, And a fulfilled YOU. If you haven’t read Parts 1 & 2, check Part 1 out HERE , and Part 2 HERE , and then come on back. Along the way there were lessons that became teachings, and then blog posts , and then, eventually a manifesto – my 8 Principles of More Human Leadership.
Terry Starbucker
JUNE 15, 2018
Picture this… You are a researcher, looking over one of the most comprehensive long-term studies of human behavior. You spend 42 years with nearly 270 men, studying their lives. While the human mystery generates 270 different stories that, on the surface, defy any explanation, one fundamental truth comes out – relationships are absolutely critical to happiness.
Terry Starbucker
FEBRUARY 25, 2018
Over the course of a long leadership journey you occasionally get to experience one of those extraordinary days that you remember, and draw on as a valuable lesson, for the rest of your business life. This is the story of one of those days. Back in 2009 when I was SVP of Operations with Bresnan Communications, I was in Butte, Montana for a morning staff meeting with the front office staff and field technicians.
Terry Starbucker
JANUARY 28, 2018
As I enter my 31st (!) year as a business leader, there are just a handful of leadership lessons come back to the forefront for me, time after time (after time). This one always bubbles back up to the top of the list. Leaders HAVE to stay out of the Comfortable Middle, and practice Full Spectrum Management, to have any real chance to reach for greatness.
Terry Starbucker
SEPTEMBER 24, 2017
Yesterday, while looking for inspiration for this week’s post, I went into my post vault and found this absolute gem from something I posted back in February of 2006. In that post I wrote about a review in the NY Times of the book “Why Should Anyone Be Led by You?” by Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones. There were some quotes from that book that were noted in the review, and when I re-read them yesterday I was struck by their absolutely spot on description of More Human Leadership.
Terry Starbucker
AUGUST 27, 2017
While there is no question that having a high level of accountability in the workplace is a good thing, the trick is getting your teammates to that point of clarity without tipping the scale over into a perilous danger zone. That is, how do you avoid what I call the “ accountability trap “, where teammates are so focused on what happens if they run afoul of their responsibilities that they go into a paralysis, unwilling to take any risks to drive the company forward.
Terry Starbucker
JULY 30, 2017
The foundation of my More Human leadership practice and philosophy comes from what I call “ half-fullism ” – dealing with the literal world in a favorable way. In fact, the original title of this blog was “Ramblings From a Glass Half-Full” In my very first post back on December 25, 2005, I noted, Call me an eternal optimist, call me a fool, but I find it’s the best way to live one’s life with the least amount of angst.
Terry Starbucker
JULY 16, 2017
I’m pleased to present another chapter from my “More Human” book manuscript. It’s a personal memoir that traces the discovery and development of my More Human Leadership philosophy, a practice guided by 8 core principles. One of them is “Finding and Teaching More Human Leaders” , and this chapter is the story behind that bullet point – it’s how I made the transition from a “boss who managed” to a “leader who teaches and shows the way”
Terry Starbucker
JUNE 18, 2017
Building a great team is one of those leadership skills that can make or break you. It’s one thing to get all the “ right people on the bus ” (to steal a Jim Collins phrase from his indispensable book “Good to Great” ), but it’s quite another to get the team to create an unstoppable collective force that can achieve greatness. Unfortunately, sometimes it’s just a bus going to nowhere.
Terry Starbucker
MARCH 12, 2017
As a long-time student of more human leadership I love to chat with other leadership and business thought leaders and teachers, because there’s always something new to learn that can make a difference. Recently I was introduced to Andrea Garfield by a mutual friend, and our subsequent conversation was so interesting and valuable that I just had to get it on tape and share it with you.
Terry Starbucker
JANUARY 15, 2017
I’ve had this infatuation with being a wordsmith for many, many (many) years. The fact is, I like words – all kinds of words. I guess you could say I’m infatuated with the English language, so much so that one of my favorite books of all-time is Webster’s Dictionary. And it still gives me great pleasure to have my friends reach for the dictionary when I ask them to quit acting insouciantly.
Terry Starbucker
DECEMBER 18, 2016
There is a great benefit to the 365-day calendar – the fact that it restarts at January 1, without fail. It’s an annual window of opportunity for recycling, renewal, rebirth, rejuvenation, rejiggering, retooling, rebooting, and whatever other “re-something” you can think of. I call it the “ January Effect “, and as leaders we need to take full advantage of it.
Terry Starbucker
DECEMBER 11, 2016
I recently chatted with Jamie Newman on his “Your Best Manager” podcast – in it, I talk about (among a few other things): My best mentor (and why). My biggest people management challenge. Why leaders should be more human. The 5 lessons everyone should know before they start leading. And my 3 favorite business books. Check it out! Then visit Jamie’s podcast page for more links and info related to our chat.
Terry Starbucker
NOVEMBER 6, 2016
The teaching element of leadership is so often overlooked and overshadowed by more glamorous things like vision, strategy and execution. But in the end, it is probably the most gratifying part of leadership, because when you do connect with someone this way, and they get it, they thrive and grow, and even surpass you, the resulting feeling of satisfaction is unlike anything else.
Terry Starbucker
OCTOBER 9, 2016
Respect is a much-talked and much-written about cornerstone of effective leadership, particularly the more human kind. Yes, leaders need to be respected because it leads to a bond of trust that enables a culture of accountability and success. But it’s not all about YOU getting respect. It’s just as much about them being respected too. It’s about the people you lead.
Terry Starbucker
SEPTEMBER 11, 2016
Great leadership lessons are the ones that stand the test of time because they become a part of who you are, and how you lead, every hour of every day. In my 34 years in the business world, I’ve been fortunate to have had a chance to observe and work with great (and not so great) leaders, to read many excellent (and not so excellent) books about leadership, and gain many years of experience as a leader (and now entrepreneur, startup investor, and business consultant) myself, through both success
Terry Starbucker
JULY 31, 2016
“Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”. ~Mary Oliver. I was one of the lucky people who got to know and work with Dr. Kathy Cramer, who passed away on July 13th, 2016 due to complications from a cancer she fought with great bravery and tenacity. I reached out to her in 2014 after I read an interview she had done with the Washington Post.
Terry Starbucker
JULY 3, 2016
Washington Crossing The Delaware by Emanuel Leutze, MMA-NYC, 1851. “Perseverance and spirit have done wonders in all ages” – George Washington. I was never a great student of American History and the Revolutionary War when I was younger, only learning the most basic details of what occurred 240 years ago to secure the Independence of the United States of America.
Terry Starbucker
JUNE 5, 2016
“It can’t be done”. “You can’t do that”. How many times have you heard these words? Plenty of times, I bet. And, how many times have you said those words? Stop and think about that for a second, and then consider this: “Can’t” is a big, fat, stop sign designed to sabotage a dream. Perhaps a better question we should ask ourselves is this – why are we hearing and saying that word in the first place?
Terry Starbucker
MAY 8, 2016
All leaders need to get good and consistent verbal feedback from their teammates, but there are 10 pieces of feedback in particular that ratify our more human effectiveness and eventually lead to leadership greatness. They are rich with meaning as to the kind of leader you are, and are destined to become. Every time I heard one of these sentences, I knew I was on the right track, and it spurred me on to keep reaching for greatness. 1.
Terry Starbucker
APRIL 10, 2016
Six years ago I published a little free ebook, “ Leadership From a Glass Half-Full: The 5 Lessons You Need To Learn Before You Jump Into The Pool” It was a way for me, as I wrote at the time, to “share my hard-earned lessons with leaders of all stripes, but particularly new and emerging ones – ones looking for the kind of guidance that I didn’t get” 14, 338 downloads later (thank you!
Terry Starbucker
APRIL 3, 2016
In 2007, while SVP of Operations for Bresnan Communications, a cable TV company with 300,000 customers in 4 Rocky Mountain states, I was searching for a solution to a problem that had been eluding me for many years – a simple way to connect the 1,100 employees I was responsible for around a higher cause that went beyond profit. Fortunately, late that year a dedicated field technician in Grand Junction, Colorado and my faulty memory during a morning shower in Billings, Montana were the catalysts
Terry Starbucker
MARCH 6, 2016
On paper, and in your head, you have the best team in the world – and yet, things are not clicking. You feel like you have the “ right people on the bus “, but right now, it’s just a bus going to nowhere. What to do? First off, you are not alone – this is a classic dilemma that has spawned a ton of books, studies, white papers, seminars, webinars and head scratching that have attempted to discern the core issues and solutions.
Terry Starbucker
FEBRUARY 7, 2016
Can a company really “measure its heart”? As more human leaders, we instinctively know that there’s a strong correlation between a caring, connected and happy team and successful financial performance, but we also know that finding a way to measure and confirm that correlation is an essential part of sustaining (and even tightening) it over the long haul.
Terry Starbucker
NOVEMBER 29, 2015
“Terry my boy, what do you think?”. There it was, finally, the question I was waiting for from my brilliant but mercurial multi-multi-millionaire boss. I had been pondering the answer for several weeks. We were working on an important project in the fall of 1990, and there was a problem, one demanding some out-of-the-box thinking. As the Project Manager, I had many hours of meetings with all the key players involved, and diligently forged a consensus on a proposed course of action – so we could
Terry Starbucker
NOVEMBER 1, 2015
An open letter to all who are thinking about being a leader, are about to be a leader, or are already been given the responsibility of a leader and are trying to figure out how the heck it all works: . Dear Prospective, Pending, or Current Leader: I understand you are trying to be a leader. First off, that’s fantastic – leadership is a great calling that can bring you great success and satisfaction on so many levels, both personally and professionally.
Terry Starbucker
SEPTEMBER 20, 2015
Since I moved to Portland in 2010 I’ve become fascinated with a particular kind of business person – Oregon entrepreneurs. So much so, that last year I started to write nearly as much about them as I did about my first love, leadership. Those stories have appeared here, and in the online magazine we launched in late 2014, Built Oregon. What was it about these people that could have possibly pulled me away from my true north, my quest to find the best of More Human leadership?
Terry Starbucker
AUGUST 23, 2015
On December 25, 2005, it started this way : Hello blogland, starbucker here – I figured that Christmas Day was the best time as ever to start doing this. Yes, I always tend to look at the glass as “half full” – call me an eternal optimist, call me a fool, but I find it’s the best way to live one’s life with the least amount of angst. I hate angst. Now I wish I could always see the bright side of everything, but hey, that’s why I need to blog – to share perspectives and learn from other experienc
Terry Starbucker
JULY 26, 2015
I always thought it was strange how great leadership was always thought to be vitally important to a businesses success, but yet it was quite often the least discussed thing in the meeting rooms, and the budget money allocated to “leadership training” was always limited (or the first thing to get cut back). Why is this the case? It’s a question that has banged around in my head for a long time.
Terry Starbucker
JULY 19, 2015
Note: This is the 4rd installment of excerpts from my book manuscript of “More Human: A Journey To The Heart Of Great Leadership”. . Today’s story is about how I found my leadership secret weapon – an operational metric that could play a key role in our march to greatness, and provide a critical link between great customer service and profit.
Terry Starbucker
JUNE 21, 2015
I remember the day I knew I really wanted to be a leader. Funny thing was, it was 5 years after I “accidentally” became one. I started my career as an accountant, right out of college. I obtained my CPA certificate, rose quickly through the ranks and within 5 years I was a Manager on the fast track to partner. Then, I got a phone call that would change my life.
Terry Starbucker
JUNE 14, 2015
Note: Here’s another preview excerpt from my book manuscript of “More Human: A Journey To The Heart Of Great Leadership” It’s a true story of a road trip that proved to me that making personal connections to build trust and respect is a necessary part of being a More Human leader. . “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller.
Terry Starbucker
MAY 24, 2015
A current look at my (now closed) elementary school in Cudahy, Wisconsin – with my childhood playground in the foreground. This holiday weekend I’m visiting my hometown of Cudahy, Wisconsin to spend some time with my family. Cruising around the old neighborhoods, and past my old elementary school and playground, brought back some childhood memories that played a huge role in putting me on the path to business success.
Terry Starbucker
MAY 17, 2015
Now that you’ve absorbed the 8 basic principles of More Human Leadership , learned the 10 immutable laws that go with them, and truly know the difference between a boss and a leader , it’s now time to dig a little deeper. Let’s get beyond those basics and into a little leadership fine-tuning – those refinements and adjustments that keep that wheel of success turning without too much friction.
Terry Starbucker
APRIL 5, 2015
'This morning I was reading the business section of the Oregonian and I saw these survey statistics – 86 percent of employees trust their leadership less today than they did 5 years ago, and 70 percent of people say they are “disengaged at work” What’s going on? As usual for me, a song played in my head as I digested that information.
Terry Starbucker
MARCH 29, 2015
'Jack Kent Cooke, my boss back in 1987, when I had my first leadership job. “Terry, my boy… ” When I heard those words from Jack Kent Cooke back in 1987, I knew he was about to teach me something. I had a lot to learn, since he had plucked me from the accounting ranks to be the COO of a cable company at the ripe young age of 27. What was amazing at the time was how little I really knew about leadership.
Terry Starbucker
MARCH 22, 2015
'Kjell van Zoen and his wife, Kim. Kjell van Zoen isn’t looking for unicorns. The founder and CEO of Portland company Plywerk , Kjell has been fighting the good startup fight for nearly 8 years, handcrafting beautiful wood photo displays with his crew in a warehouse on the east side of the city. It is a classic startup story. When Kjell’s wife Kim, a photographer, needed to mount a photo, she simply took some wood glue to the photo and pasted it on a piece of wood.
Terry Starbucker
MARCH 15, 2015
'One of the keys to being a good leader is the ability to leverage a basic human trait that exists in every workplace. That is, unless you destroy it by how you lead. Among those who serve the customers, or make the widgets, or support those who do either of these things, is a strong desire to do their jobs to the best of their abilities. It’s called pride.
Terry Starbucker
MARCH 8, 2015
'Love isn’t a new concept when it comes to great leadership- after all, in one of the oldest leadership books out there, The Art of War (it goes back to the 6th Century BC), Sun Tzu said “He treats them as his own beloved sons and they will stand by him until death”. However, it is not a concept well suited to the typically rough and tumble world of business.
Terry Starbucker
MARCH 1, 2015
'There are days when I can get in serious “auto-pilot” mode – the state of being where things are happening so fast and furiously that all I do is react, instead of think. It’s during those times that my leadership suffers. Because I’m “ not all there “. I become a mile wide and an inch deep. My teammates don’t get the benefit of any fully developed and reasoned thought and analysis.
Terry Starbucker
DECEMBER 21, 2014
'9 years ago this week, I started this blog with a declaration (of sorts): Yes, I always tend to look at the glass as “half full” – call me an eternal optimist, call me a fool, but I find it’s the best way to live one’s life with the least amount of angst. 965 posts later, I find myself sitting in front of my computer thinking about all that has happened after I drew that line in the sand.
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