Leadership Lessons from Ms. Lopez and HONY

Leadership Lessons from Ms. Lopez and HONY

On January 19, HONY (Humans of New York – www.humansofnewyork.com) shared a photo of Vidal and this brief conversation:

“Who’s influenced you the most in your life?”
“My principal, Ms. Lopez.”
“How has she influenced you?”
“When we get in trouble, she doesn’t suspend us. She calls us to her office and explains to us how society was built down around us. And she tells us that each time somebody fails out of school, a new jail cell gets built. And one time she made every student stand up, one at a time, and she told each one of us that we matter.”

I was so moved by the love that Ms. Lopez clearly brings to her work as principal of the Mott Hall Bridges Academy in Brooklyn. My immediate thought was that I would love to do a Balanced Scorecard for her school. Brandon of HONY was also moved. He visited her school and embraced her vision and her plan to send each 6th the beginning of each year. According to Ms. Lopez: “I want my scholars to know that there is not a single place they don’t belong.”. HONY went into action to raise US$100,000.00 for the grade 6 class to visit Harvard each year for 3 years. Within 24 HOURS, they had raised $350,000.00!!!
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I draw many lessons from this, which we can apply to the way we lead our organizations. Here are three:

1. Compelling Vision – Ms. Lopez has a vision for her scholars. And it is a HUGE vision. Many would say it’s impossible, but not Ms. Lopez. As soon as you hear it, you are drawn in and want to be a part of it. Like HONY, I heard about it from Vidal. Yet so compelling is that vision, even “second hand” that I wanted to know more. HONY went to visit her and get involved. LESSON: A compelling vision has the power to excite, mobilize, focus and get people to act. What is the vision for your organization? Is it exciting and compelling to your team? I am speaking less about the “Vision Statement” that hangs on the wall and more about a vision that comes from the heart and speaks to the hearts of others.
2. Action aligned to vision – Ms. Lopez talks and acts in line with her vision. She understands the power of words, referring to her students as scholars. She understands the power of grade class on a field trip to Harvard at symbols – her school’s colour is purple, the colour of royalty. She knows the context in which her scholars live, but she is not deterred. She lets every one of them know that they are descendants of kings and queens. LESSON: Say whatever you will, but if your actions are not in integrity with your words, your credibility will be at risk. Actions really do speak much louder than words. Reflect on the actions you take at work – are they in alignment with your vision? If they are not, you are wasting energy. What words do you use to your team? Are they empowering? Do they build or tear down?
3. Network – HONY has over 11 million “likes” on Facebook and 221,000 followers on Twitter. In other words, HONY has a MASSIVE following built up over the last 4 years, one amazing post on a “human” at a time. So when HONY asked for support for Ms. Lopez’ vision, the network exploded. LESSON: We live in an interconnected world, made so much easier by Social Media and the Internet. There is so much power in the network, in the connections we make with people. Are you nurturing your network by bringing value to it? Do you grasp opportunities for your network to join in your vision and to help others? Are you attracting like minds and hearts?

Congratulations Ms. Lopez. I have no doubt that your scholars will succeed with you as their leader. Now – will YOUR team succeed with you as their leader? Let’s earn from Ms. Lopez.

TAKE ONE ACTION

At the end of the day, make a list of the tasks you carried out today. Beside each one indicate whether it was:

A – aligned to your vision and therefore moved you forward (even a bit)
F – of little/no consequence or impact

How much time did you spend on the “F”s and how much on the “A”s? Tomorrow, make sure you are spending most of your time on the latter.

INTERESTING LINKS

I am writing this on Friday. Could this be the last Friday I work? Or maybe I will take off Mondays? Or Wednesdays? Whatever – I love the idea of working fewer hours AND achieving greater productivity. Try it in your organization for 3 months as elMejorTrato did 5 years ago. And they never stopped.
– click to view article

Make sure you are NOT one of these people – your team, and everyone you come in contact with, will thank you for it. These behaviours will not just ruin your career, they really don’t make for a very happy life.
– click to view article

And perhaps you are irritated because you don’t get enough sleep. Sleep deprivation is emerging as the #1 cause of many challenges to our health, longevity and productivity.
If you feel you have no time to sleep, you might be in a vicious cycle of inadequate sleep = low productivity = working more hours to get things done = inadequate sleep. The only way to break the cycle is to get to bed early and sleep until you awaken naturally. Try it.
– click to view article