Name: Mike Mowery

Title: President of Organizational Development

Organisation: SGR

Dr. Mike Mowery, SGR’s President of Organizational Development, has been with SGR since 2011. Before joining SGR, Mike was a full-time pastor for 20 years, having served churches in Washington, Colorado, and Texas. His doctoral project was developing a collaborative approach to strategic planning, and this has formed the foundation for the Council Retreats that SGR leads every year in cities and counties across the nation. Mike is passionate about the importance of servant leadership because he believes it provides a way for a future in which everyone has the chance to flourish. Although he has not worked for any municipalities, he has led over 500 Leadership Workshops for local governments.

When it comes to leadership, Mike’s favorite saying is, “Leaders are readers, and readers are leaders.” He believes reading a well-written book is like having an in-depth conversation with an expert on a particular topic, and there’s no better way to learn than having those kinds of experiences. Mike and his wife, Mary Beth, both graduated from Baylor University (Sic ‘em Bears!). They have been married for over 40 years and have three children and eight grandchildren. In addition to his formal education, Mike has completed certifications through IOPT, Wave Changers, Friday Night at the ER, Institute of Cultural Affairs, and the Greenleaf Best Test.

Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Leadership!

I hope Mike's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. What have you found most challenging as a leader?

The most challenging thing as a leader (and a coach for leaders) is to keep the team focused on achieving a small set of shared goals without becoming distracted by other things.

2. How did you become a leader? Can you please briefly tell the story?

I became a student of leadership after I graduated from seminary and became a pastor. About a year after starting, I realized that my church was not any different than it was when I arrived. I started to ask myself the question, "How do you get an organization to move forward?" That led me to start reading widely from a variety of sources, and as I started to put things that I read into practice, I started to see changes taking place. I've been on this journey now for almost 35 years, and I am still learning, and I constantly come back to this same question, "How do you do it (Now)?" I have changed a lot of my beliefs and practices surrounding that question, and I am sure that I will continue to change in the future because circumstances, people, and organizations are constantly changing.

3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?

My most productive time is in the early morning. I wake up at 5:30 every day. I read for about 2 hours in the morning, starting with the Bible. I am a servant of Jesus Christ first and foremost, so I begin my day with worshipping Him as the Lord. I also read a handful of blog posts, mostly related to leadership or coaching leaders, and then I read some from my current reading list of cutting-edge leadership/management books. After breakfast, I begin my "official" work with my company.

I work from home, so I have a routine that helps me "cross the line" of being at home to "I am now in my office at my desk" starting my workday. I like to spend my mornings preparing for any classes or seminars that I will be teaching in the upcoming days. I try to limit my meetings in the morning to no more than two meetings, and if possible, I always limit meetings to 30 minutes or less. In the afternoons, I meet with colleagues and clients. This is also the time when I will work on any internal projects related to my goals. I close the day by writing some notes to people and emails to colleagues and clients.

I like to use an email scheduler so that they receive those emails at 8 am the next day. At the end of the workday, I go to a local gym and exercise for about 45 minutes four or five days a week. I spend the evening reading more casually while visiting with my wife- sometimes watching a football or basketball game. I check my calendar for the next day before I go to sleep to make sure I know what's coming up. I am in bed almost every night at 10:30.

4. What's a recent leadership lesson you've learned for the first time or been reminded of?

Recently, I have been focused on the importance of three things as a leader that I find to be both exhilarating and challenging. (1) The importance of alignment- not just alignment of goals, but also of resources. If you have goals that are not in alignment with the allocation of resources, reaching those goals is an exercise in futility, but I am amazed by how many organizations close their eyes to this. However, there must also be alignment with leadership structures. In my opinion, the most important relationship in an organization is between the leader and the number two leader. (CEO and COO, for example, or in local governements, between the Mayor and the City Manager.) If there is not an alignment there- the lack of alignment there- it will impact everything else in the organization. (2) Identifying obstacles to achieving desired outcomes and developing a plan to address those obstacles is the single most overlooked part of strategic planning. In fact, most organizations seem to think that simply setting a goal and articulating KPI's is enough.

However, this reminds me of a football team running a play in practice when there is no defense on the field. Of course, it works in those circumstances! However, in any endeavor, there is always more than one obstacle, and unless you have a plan to overcome the obstacles, you don't have a strategic plan. You have a dream. (3) The importance of culture. Everyone talks about the importance of culture, but I think successful leaders have to carefully reflect on each decision and every communication and ask themselves, "How will this impact the culture that we want to build and protect?" That doesn't mean the leader is destined to "never rock the boat" because part of leadership is leading the organization to accomplish something important. However, the dance between achievement and culture is a tricky one. Great leaders never ignore the fundamentals of the steps to that dance.

5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so

far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?

The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner. I read this book at the beginning of my leadership journey back in 1991, and I have read every new edition since then. I love his book because regardless of your situation, you can apply these 5 practices and you will either be able to diagnose what's wrong (or what's right) in the situation, and you will know what to focus on next as a leader. Other books dive deeper into various nuances of the leadership task, but I have not come across a more reliable book that addresses the real scope of work for leaders than this book.

6. If you could only give one piece of advice to a young leader, what would you say to them?

I heard this quote at the Global Leaders Summit, and I think it sums up what I would say. "With enough humility, leaders can learn something from anyone." So my advice would be to adopt a posture of humility, and learn everything you can from everyone you can, and put it into practice. If you "learn it" but don't do it, you didn't learn it. So, become a student of leadership. See how others do it, what they write about, and what they talk about. Study it. Reflect on it. Practice it. That's how you will learn how to lead well.

7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a leader, so far? This is a story about resilience. Tom Landry was a famous football coach of the Dallas Cowboys. His team had been the underdogs in championship games in the mid-60s, so the fact that they lost them both was disappointing but expected. But in 1968 (I think that was the right year), they were playing Cleveland in a championship, and the Cowboys were supposed to win. They didn't. And on the flight home, players said they observed Landry crying at the front of the plane, and shoulders slumped...Not only had the team lost, it seemed as if their coach was defeated.

But then, some hours later when the team plane landed in Dallas, Tom Landry, threw his shoulders back, held his head up, and walked down onto the tarmac, with a new resolve that was evident to everyone. He would go on to win multiple championships as their head coach, and the Dallas Cowboys became one of the great NFL Dynasties under his leadership. I love that story because while leadership is about leading others, first you have to lead yourself. And that means that you have to develop resilience- internal resilience. You can't rely or depend on others to motivate you.

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, the true leader finds the courage and the calling to fuel their resilience. When I feel discouraged over disappointing outcomes, I think about the mental picture of Tom Landry walking down those steps, and I resolve to throw my shoulders back, hold my head up, and walk forward because I feel called to lead people and organizations to do great things.