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Brookings Executive Education (BEE) has invited Paul Paese, of PMC, to teach open enrollment and outreach courses on conflict resolution in 2018. BEE is a partnership of the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC and Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis. The Brookings Institution and Washington University share a common benefactor and visionary in Robert S. Brookings. The mission of BEE is to deliver on Robert Brookings’ desire to “teach the art of handling problems rather than simply impart accumulated knowledge” to those in and engaged with government. Paul will be teaching “Strategies for Conflict Resolution” as an open enrollment offering this month at the Brookings facility in DC.

Leaders need strength to be successful. While this obvious truth is widely recognized, opinions differ on what constitutes “strength.” In the eyes of many, strength means standing firm, winning your position, exuding confidence, and minimizing vulnerability. At PMC, our clients are often surprised to hear that we see vulnerability as a key source of leadership strength. Which is stronger, a leader who advocates a position and stands firm until others bend? Or a leader who advocates a position while remaining open to different views, even inviting challenge from others? Leaders who take the path of openness will naturally feel vulnerable. Paradoxically, this vulnerability is not a sign of weakness, but rather a clear indication of leadership strength.

This month Paul Paese, of PMC, represented the Rotary Club of Kirkwood, Missouri at the Show Me Rotary Leadership Institute. Held annually in Jefferson City, Missouri, the Institute provides training and development for leaders of 160 Rotary clubs across the state. Starting in July, Paul will serve as the 2018-19 President of the Rotary Club of Kirkwood. The Kirkwood Club was founded in 1925 and currently has about 100 active, senior, and honorary members. Paul will serve as the club’s 94th president.

This month Paul Paese, of PMC, is an invited speaker at the 2018 Metals Service Center Institute annual Carbon Conference, to be held this year in Phoenix. MSCI provides networking, education, and research opportunities to leaders in the metals industry. Paul’s talk, entitled “Making Better Decisions: How to Boost Confidence and Credibility,” will focus on the ingredients needed for better assessments of people and wiser decisions. Special attention will be given to the information gathering and discussion processes that enhance confidence, credibility, and buy-in.

The clients we work with at PMC often ask for advice on how to get more buy-in from those they lead. Almost all of these leaders believe buy-in is obtained through personal qualities such persuasiveness, passion, intelligence, charisma, and so on. Important as these qualities are for any leader, they’re secondary when it comes to garnering commitment. The primary source of commitment is choice. That is, in order to truly commit to a course of action, those from whom commitment is sought must be given some choice about whether, or how, they will carry out the action. Think about it. If you have no choice in what you do or how you go about doing it, how will you feel? If you’re like most people, your natural response will be to feel as though you don’t really own your actions.  It’s human nature. Ownership and commitment go hand in hand, so a lack of felt ownership almost always diminishes the commitment we would have – or at least could have – if we were given some choice in the matter. So, if you’re not getting the commitment you’d like from those you lead, consider the possibility that you may be constraining their choices too much. The more willing and able you are to let them choose (or at least influence) their own path, the more you will get their commitment. To be precise, you won’t be “getting them” to commit. Rather, to the extent they step up and make the choices you’re offering them, they will commit a result of their own choice-making.

As 2017 draws to close, we would like to thank the many clients, colleagues, and partners who played a part in the continued success of Paese Management Consulting over the past year. It’s been our best year ever at PMC, and we know our continued success will depend as much as ever on the relationships we’ve built and the creative possibilities that arise through partnership and collaboration. Wishing you the happiest of holidays and all the best in 2018!