S04E02 Moose Heads and Fertilizer with Alejandro Garcia Machuca

The Leader Learner Podcast

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SPOTLIGHTED BOOK: Moose Heads on the Table by Karin Tenelius and Lisa Gill
GUEST READER : Alejandro Garcia Machuca
CONVERSATION TOPICS:

• Leadership is something you step in and out of. It's too heavy to be a leadership all the time.
• Self managed organizations don't have managers - they distribute the power and authority among the employees
• When people take ownership for their work, they don't need managers
• Manager as the person who clears the way for others to do their work
• 3 Big Lessons From the Book - a coaching mindset and way of being, a focus on a working climate, a culture of mandate and involvement
• Having the power to give the power away
• Power will always emerge
• People require sensing and adapting
• Most of the underlying issues are unsaid
• Moose Heads on the Table = Elephant In the Room
• Advice being toxic as it disempowers employees
• Leaders NOT being the hero.
• Managing others means not doing the job
• When being "helpful" erodes trust with the team
• Legitimacy comes from trust.
• There is no such thing as objectivity. There is intersubjectivity and agreement.
• We all have blind spots. Be humble.
• Managing and leading aren't the same thing.
• The "Listening Gym" - If we honored listening most, there would be a listening gym on very corner
• Leaders are listeners
• Light fades away, but gravity holds it all together. We wouldn't have stars without gravity, but we only see the light.
• Be like gravity - hold it all together without being seen.
• People won't be silent if they feel empowered
• Passivity and patience aren't the same thing.
• There is a lot of activity in listening.
• Lau Tzu Quote: Go to the people. Live with them. Learn from them. Love them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have. But with the best leaders, when the work is done, they task accomplished, the people will say, "We have done this ourselves."
• People gifted to speak and people gifted to listen.
• Leadership not as a ladder, but as pendulum.
• When the belief of arriving somewhere keeps us stuck.
• Can't have true power without listening
• Power is an emergent property of groups.
• You know when things are working when people are engaged - people taking charge of their meetings, claiming their own power, focus
• Information when shared regains its purpose - it's the same with power.
• Power is like fertilizer. Concentrated it poisons. Spread around it nourishes.

BOOKS MENTIONED/OTHER RESOURCES:

• The Advice Trap, by Michael Bungay Stanier
• No Rule Rules, Erin Meyer and Reed Hastings
• Unlearning Silence, by Elaine Lin Hering
• Good to Great, by Jim Collins
• The Power of Giving Away Power, by Matthew

GUEST BIO AND LINKS:
Alejandro is currently navigating the muddy waters of fully remote work environments and the ever constant shift of focus and responsibilities within his job as a Software Consultant.
In a nutshell, his responsibility is to design and deliver transformational programs aimed at improving collaboration, all of it underlining the wonders of visual collaboration technology.
Beyond all the above verbiage, he's passionate about anything that's deeply moving, highly thoughtful, and unmistakably authentic. He takes conversations, vulnerability and presence very seriously.
Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/alejandrogarciamachuca/

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