18 WESTERN PALLET
Speaker Program Highlights from the 2022 Annual Meeting
This is the first of a two-part series. In this segment, we report on the keynote presentation by Jim Mathis, and a Roundtable by WPA members on the Secrets to Overcoming Labor & Hiring Pitfalls. Stay tuned for more reports in upcoming issues of the magazine.
Leadership Wisdom and the Law of the Lid
Jim Mathis, an international Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) and bestselling author, set the tone for his presentation by asking attendees who they trusted the most, be it family members, personal friends, or work associates. Then he flipped the perspective by asking them if they asked their employees the same question, would their name make the list?
“Trust works both ways,” Mathis said, “and maybe we don't trust the people we work with because they don't trust us.
“Trust is a major leadership factor,” he continued. “If you don't have people's trust, you're starting off behind the eightball.” Citing author John Maxwell, he emphasized that true leadership is measured by influence. “It's not measured by your title. It's not measured by what's on your shirt, or your lapel. It's not measured by what's on your office door or what's on your parking space.” Bottom line, he noted, that if your employees don’t trust you, it is going to limit your influence and leadership.
He said that you can measure your success by looking at your daily agenda. For example, is your time eaten up by performing menial tasks that could be undertaken by others, rather than spending time doing things that could help you become a better leader?
“A Lot of us are not doing a lot of things that we could be doing to become better leaders,” he cautioned. The importance of improving leadership comes down to the Law of the Lid, according to Mathis. The Law of the Lid says that no organization in the history of mankind has ever outgrown the leadership lid of the leader, he noted. In other words, the growth of the organization will be limited by the leadership capabilities of its leaders. In order to grow and prosper, organizational leaders must continue to develop their leadership skills.