Dorrier Underwood

As I took the trash out this morning in the dawn mist, I noticed it starting to rain. My first thought, “Great, it’s raining, well isn’t this the perfect way to start the Trump era.” But then I thought, “Hmm, isn't that interesting how I have an automatic view of a rainy day just like I have an automatic view of a Trump presidency.” First that rainy days are bad, even though without them my grass dies and there is no food to eat. And my first thoughts about a Trump presidency are not that optimistic either. He wasn't my choice. And yet, the role of a leader, if I want to be a leader, is not to go with whatever my automatic view is, just grousing and complaining about how things “are”, like a critic talking about a movie that he did not like. Rather, the role of a leader is to be the director of what happens, to start to think about how I can direct the conversations I have with others to have something emerge in the conversations. Something to which I am com...

On Tuesday Doug and I led the half day follow-up for one of the Transforming Leadership Intensives we have led this year to an operations team in the health sector. Many of the participants are hourly workers whose positions have them experience themselves as somewhat “less than.” This group was lively, engaged and very much in the conversation to impact their own leadership and to contribute to the company. For example, one man in the group has definite opinions that he willingly expresses about their supervisor and he saw, in the two day, that there were different possible interpretations he could have, even in the face of a lot of agreement for their point of view. On Tuesday he shared that he has been different with the supervisor, and he has seen a difference in how the supervisor is being with him. At one point during the afternoon he caught himself slipping back into his   old way –   he has an expressive face with includes a well-developed eye-roll – and...

It may seem like a small thing to many people, but it’s a miracle that I’ve finally discovered how to get Arial to be my default font, which saves me at least three key strokes (and a heavy groan) on every new Word document. There are things that I cannot change, such as my birthday odometer clicking over another number once a year, and there are things I can--like getting someone to repair the hole in my kitchen ceiling (done) or getting rid of that bloody Cambria font (done). I am just waking up to the number of things I put up with--either because it is “so unfair” that I have to fix it (someone side-swiped my car while it was parked at BWI so the left mirror is hanging there like a broken wrist) or because it’s so much trouble in my mind to fix it or pay to have someone else fix it. I have been carrying 10 old paint cans in my trunk for almost a year because I don’t want to take the time to go to the junkyard.  Every time I go over a speed bump I hear them make a ha...

Doug McVadon (speaker, R) and Mike Watson speaking on Succession Planning at the American Institute for Architects Young Architects Forum in Charlotte, NC on October 12, 2016. Straight-talk about succession planning and leadership transition was on the docket at the American Institute for Architects (AIA) Young Architects Forum event last week in Charlotte, NC and the room was packed. Associates in their 20s and 30s as well as more tenured firm principals were keen to know: What does it take to be “picked” as a possible owner of a firm? And how do current leaders lead that process well, for the people involved and the long term health of the company? It’s not just a topic relegated to architecture. Healthy organizations across industries and around the world know that succession doesn’t happen accidentally, at least not succession that ensures the strongest future. For two hours, Michael Watson (principal, Watson Tate Savory architecture) and Doug McVadon (p...

We talk  a lot about the definition of integrity, practices for integrity and restoring integrity. One thing became clear for me this week: integrity is nothing more than workability. It doesn’t have to exist in any specialized language. We all know whether something works, or not--a conversation, a meeting, a paragraph--and we all know when, instead, it falls flat, misses the mark, fails to communicate. Fred said he would call me, and we had scheduled the call for 5pm, weeks in advance.  It was in our calendars. I turned down two other requests from people: “Sorry, I have a call right at five.” It was to be an important conversation, so I was trying to get clear in my own mind what I wanted to discuss, what I would listen for in his voice, what I might ask about, or ask to hear more about. What would Nancy and Jane ask me later that I would regret not finding out? My day was organized around this last business appointment, which might take me until 6 pm....

What is left of us when we leave the room, leave the call, leave the house, leave the party, and, of course, leave ultimately?  Perhaps our conversations--what we talked about and what we listened to. Plain and simple. What were we building on those empty lots of time? The weather was too hot and the traffic too much and parking places too hard to find. Were those worth the real estate they occupied? We have this moment, this precious moment, so tell me what you love about your life, what you love about your work, and what matters to you. Tell me about Billy Collins or Bruce Springsteen or Maya Angelou, who said, People don’t remember what you said; they remember who they were in your presence . Do people get bigger and brighter or smaller and duller around you? Make a list: Whom do you talk to and what you talk about? That’s the baseline. Make a second list: What could you talk about with them that you aren’t now? And what could you a...

When my friend Carla and I visited a friend in New Jersey for the first time, we walked into her apartment and immediately began emptying ashtrays, collecting trash and cleaning the cat box, even while chatting amiably. We were so taken over by the sensory assault that we never paused to consider how our efforts might occur to our hostess. We’ve all been there. Something triggers us, and we dive into action without even thinking about the impact. Trouble is, that kind of knee-jerk action can kick off a whole host of relationship issues: hurt feelings, confusion, disconnection, defensiveness, blame, smoldering resentment, gossip, and on it goes. And in the workplace, when there are big goals to accomplish through people and collaboration, those are road blocks we can’t afford to let block our way. There are myriad ways to work on not letting our first impulse be the one that gets to come out and play. One of those is what we call “being in another’s world.” What does ...