More Information or More Change?

I have choose where to spend my time in August. The biggest conference in agile is coming up, as well as the most impacting leadership conference. Was I going to spend time learning more about agile, or was I going to spend time at the conference that had changed my life more than any other? The latter is The Leadership Summit - where I first heard Marcus Buckingham, who's work on strengths was the catalyst for change in what I was doing as a manager. It was where I heard Ken Blanchard, and then hunted up a copy of The One Minute Manager. I heard Colin Powell, Colleen Barrett (previous President of Southwest Airlines), USC President Steven Sample, as well spiritual leaders Erwin McManus and Bill Hybels.

While there's a lot that I've learned about agile principles and practices at conferences, more importantly I've been changed by The Leadership Summit. A parallel is that much of my coaching comes from a mix of business and faith-based (not agile) books I've read. As Seth Godin (speaking this year at The Leadership Summit) recently wrote, there is no such thing as business ethics, only personal ethics. I find myself at a loss when talking about Scrum values such as Courage, Openness, Respect, Commitment when there is no agile book or talk that I know of that coaches people on how to grow in these areas. Even getting agreement on what it means to coach at all is subjective.

I feel a responsibility to let others know that each of us needs to know where our roots are in these areas, and with conviction and confidence that goes beyond opinions and trends but can stand up to the challenges we have and will encounter when trying to introduce change in the jungle of the business world. In the end, I decided that I needed to fill up the personal leadership tank, and decided to leave the Agile 2011 conference early so as to not miss any of The Leadership Summit.