Craig Lomax, Caring: The Core of Great Leadership – InnovaBuzz 533
Craig Lomax
Our guest in this episode is business and leadership coach, Craig Lomax. Prior to his career as a coach, he co-founded and directed Rock-N-Water, an adventure camp in California, for thirty years. Craig coaches high performers who want the results with less anxiety and more life.
In our conversation Craig talked to me about
- The core of great leadership is really caring about the people you are serving.
- Why comparison to others may lead to insecurity or arrogance.
- Celebrating small wins is important to health and well-being, to growing and developing.
Arliss Dudley-Cash in episode 452 introduced us to Craig.
Listen to the podcast to find out more.
Listen to the Podcast
The core of great leadership is really caring about the people you are serving. Craig Lomax on #InnovaBuzz podcast Share on XShow Notes from this episode with Craig Lomax
Key points and takeaways from this episode include:
- The core of great leadership is really caring about the people you are serving.
- We need to balance our task orientation and relationship orientation and learn to switch back and forth in any given situation.
- When customers know you really care about them, they are more likely to be forgiving and stay loyal when things don’t go to plan.
- We have thoughts in response to what we consider facts of a situation – those thoughts are driven by our motivation and they lead to emotions. Emotions drive the actions and outcomes. If we can pause and consider our motivation, we’ll have a better, more considered response.
- Our brains are wired for comparison. That’s good for survival, however when we compare ourselves to others, that can lead to insecurity or arrogance.
- If we can track our emotions back to the triggers and understand our motivations, it opens opportunities for learning and growth.
- So many things happen that are productive and important to our organizations when we can separate ourselves from our egos.
- The way to get away from the things we don’t want to do, is to do something else and that something else is often caring about other people.
- Self-care is a critical part of leadership – eating correctly, sufficient sleep and exercise and relationships – investing in people as well as letting them care for you.
- Celebrating small wins is important to health and well-being, to growing and developing.
The Buzz – Our Innovation Round
Here are Craig’s answers to the questions of our innovation round. Listen to the conversation to get the full scoop.
- #1 thing to be more innovative – Really care for others and listen actively by asking good questions. Listen also to self.
- Best thing for new ideas – Persistence and working with highly creative people.
- Favourite tool for innovation – Leaning in to pause and caring about people.
- Keep project/client on track – Regular check-ins – what are we caring about and who are we caring about? Why are we caring?
- Differentiate – Stop trying to BE like other people and lean in to who you really are and your core values. Stand on the shoulders of others.
Action
The step to caring more about others is to allow yourself to be receptive to care from others. It gives you more capacity to care for others. Practice appreciation.
Reach Out
You can reach out and thank Craig via email.
Suggested Guest
Craig suggested we have a conversation with Luke Fox, founder and CEO of White Fox Defence on a future InnovaBuzz Podcast episode.
Links
- Website – Craig Lomax
- Rock N Water Christian Camps
Cool Things About Craig
- Craig is a mental health advocate and suicide prevention trainer.
- Craig is an Accredited Practitioner of Integrative Enneagram Solutions.
- During college, Craig had a photography business.