“EPA estimated 14.5 million tons of plastic containers and packaging were generated in 2018.”
“22.73 million Americans used 6 or more containers of disposable food storage containers in 2020.”
We think you might know by now that VIM Executive Coaching is never beyond starting posts where the reader says, “Huh?” Please accept that as you read this, we are between the Thanksgiving and New Year period, a time span in which millions of tons of leftovers are forced upon hundreds of millions of guests. We suppose disposable food storage easily comes to mind.
We choose our words with care…and that’s not stuffing.
Certain things in life make delicious leftovers or do-overs or beautiful refurbishing projects, e.g. your sweet potato pie, an antique car found in a barn, a famous novelist rediscovering and re-writing her unfinished manuscript. “We” can take the contents of those various “containers” and transform them for the good in many ways.
However, some things do not travel well no matter how they are redesigned and re-packaged; for example, a stained, re-gifted necktie, dreadful piece of meatloaf or a rediscovered used car that was always “a lemon.” No matter how lovely the container, some things cannot be improved by offering a change of scenery or an insincere attitude or an inauthentic and/or poor approach.
This container-talk leads us into the important world of executive leadership. We cannot convey the number of times we have heard the following variant:
“They were an ineffective and poor leader at their last company, and they ‘came over here’ and repeated the pattern.”
Why would we be surprised at such a frequent observation?
Every year (and sadly, we have experienced this first-hand) managers who have failed to meet expectations in one organization, and take (dare we say, repackaged?) their approach, management style, attitude and inauthentic leadership styles to new organizations. They invariably convince hiring managers that the old situation was never a good fit.
We must acknowledge that in some cases they are right. “Poor fits” much like faulty lids and containers happen. Most times, they don’t. Most times, the “new manager” exhibits all of the poor traits they exhibited in the old situation. It may take a month of two for the poor style to manifest itself, but it is a given it will happen again.
Why this occurs
An executive who is not taught mindfulness, authenticity, compassion and similar values, will be just as unmindful, in authentic and uncompassionate in the new situation as in the old. Overnight transformations usually do not take place, no more than that “shoe-leather-like” turkey will taste delicious when left on the counter.
VIM Executive Coaching offers personalized, one-on-one business coaching that gets to the heart of the matter. The personal discovery toward greater mindfulness and authenticity is not a cookie-cutter approach. We could offer re-packaged types of executive leadership solutions, and quick-fix coursework. We are too ethical to force an executive leader into such a going-nowhere journey.
We work in partnership with our clients to bring about meaningful change, so that the same outcomes do not occur with the change of jobs. The word “partnership” is important, and separates what we do from many of the typical canned courses.
While canned cranberry or pumpkin can be good, canned anything does not work to enhance management leadership skills. Mindfulness and authenticity are skills that come to us in many ways. We each have our own styles and approaches, but when all is said and done a mindful manager is themselves and effective because of their journey toward self-discovery. Good leadership is a matter of encountering and understanding, response and reflection.