21/12/2020

Dear Leaders,

This is the 29th leader’s letter of the year. Thank you for reading every week.

You have likely had your remote or virtual (zoom based) Christmas (or seasonal, festive or end of year) party, you have likely written and read your speech to your department or to your company and you have hopefully signed off the budget and the action plan for 2021.

The end of the year is something we all look forward to, there is something about finishing up for the year and being able to rest, recharge and come back fresh, with renewed fight and optimism.

The time between Christmas and New Year is often a quieter time and ‘admin time’ for those who continue to work.
For others, it is ‘returns session’ after what was likely the busiest online Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas period for your company.
However, for most, it is the time you truly know how your end of year numbers came out and I hope you can celebrate with momentum into the new year.

Looking Back Leader: For certain leaders, they like to look back, recap and celebrate the achievements, with a thank you for your work, dedication and flexibility for 2020.
Next year is the next fight but needs a refresher mind and clarity of thought on the 4th of January to rally the troops.

Looking Forward Leader: For others, they like to only look forward, driving forward with more energy, more intensity. The rallying cry is for more, for better, for bigger.

Neither is wrong, but being able to say thank you and know your plan for 2021 is set and going to provide many different possibilities and avenues is something to look forward to and gather around.
Sharing that one-page strategy plan between Christmas and New Years might just be the difference between a flat first few weeks back and a joined-up company ready to stand together and win 2021.

2020 is the year that will stand out for all of us, the year we didn’t know the answers, we were unsure of what the next week looked like and the year we learnt so much about our friends, colleagues, managers and bosses.

2020 was the year of some good, some bad and a lot of ugly.

2021 Rally Cry

2021 has the opportunity to be brighter, an opportunity to challenge the status quo, to build something new, something different or even build something yourself.
2021 has to be the year you own, you lead, you empower and a little challenge, where you can; seize the day as many times as possible. You shake up your management teams and implement management pods.

Set up mentorship, set up coaching sessions, entrust givers not takers, set yourself up for success by performing your personal and professional SWOT and find your hidden leaders embrace them and empower them to take your company up another level, optimise your meetings, help people become smarter not harder and commit to communicating clearly, lastly do not forget to listen to your future seers. Why not action 21 for 2021.

Thanks for reading and supporting leaders letters this year, go and have a great Christmas break.

My own personal rally cry and the north star of the focus manifesto:
I will fix the broken world of work.

Yours sincerely,

Danny Denhard

PS if you agree, give this newsletter a share on Linkedin or to your leadership team on Teams or Slack.