What DOES Success Look Like?

Recently I read the blog of a colleague who had the attached picture as a visual to his written word. The picture and his message gave me pause to ponder, which lead to me laughing at myself. As leaders it’s important to remind those around us that success does not come easily, that rarely, if ever, is it simply linear. We all have experienced taking two steps forward, a step back, and a step to the side as we try to navigate to our ultimate goal. 

As leaders, we also take on the roles of mentor and coach to those with whom we work. It’s important for them to realize, that although at times we “make it look easy” that we too struggle and that success takes hard work, diligence, determination, and a bit of luck along the way. 

As my dad would remind me…”Success comes before work…only in the dictionary.”

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Be good to yourself!

(This will be my last Quip for a few months as I begin to enjoy a respite and try to gather a few new ideas for additional Quips beginning sometime in late August...if your email changes and you'd like to continue receiving your weekly Quip, send me your new email address and I'll make the necessary changes. If you wish to no longer receive these weekly messages, simply email me and request to be deleted from the distribution list...may you all have a wonderful summer...)

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Talkin To Yourself??? Not a Bad Idea!

Do you ever find yourself arguing…with yourself? Not only do I engage in this exercise, but I encourage others to do the same. I find that it helps clarify a particular belief or value, it forces me to acknowledge a different point of view, and typically the “argument” leads to other questions which need resolution and the cycle begins anew.

Sometimes the arguments are short and sweet, other times they linger for years as some issues are more difficult to sort, not everything we encounter is black or white. In fact, I’d dare say that the “either/or” debates are easier to solve than those which offer various paths to follow.

As leaders, we all feel the need to be decisive. Our followers expect that we have all the answers. There are times that we drive ourselves to the brink of insanity because we weigh too many options. For those of you who believe that you MUST make a decision on everything…consider…to decide not to decide is to decide…

So…go ahead…make the decision not to decide and have a good ol’ fashioned argument…with yourself! You may find that you grow from the discussion, you may find that there is no “right” answer, or that “and and both” is better than “either/or.” Whatever you decide is probably better than any decision that you didn’t really discuss...with yourself…just sayin…

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Mom and Leadership

As we prepare for Mother’s Day, memories of my mother swirl about my head. While reminiscing, it occurred to me that my mother was perhaps my first real example of leadership. Consider…

1. A leader never loses sight of their vision – I think, universally; mothers are the true inventors of “multi-tasking.” Not only are they doing 10 things at once, but the unexpected happens routinely. Mothers calmly (ok sometimes was calmer than other times) resolve the issues and keep to the task(s) at hand.

2. A leader demonstrates patience in waiting for the desired outcome – I can only speak from personal experience here, but trust me…my mother was EXTREMELY patient with me, always believing in me, trying to instill patience in me when I wanted to quit, give up, and move on.

 3. A leader encourages their team to be self-sufficient - Although the general definition of a leader is someone others follow, the fact is to be a true leader means developing your team members so that over time, they will no longer need your direct support in order to achieve growth and success.

4. A leader knows how to inspire others – Mother’s have multiple tools in their tool chest to help motivate and inspire each of us to be more than we ever imagined. And it appears that when analyzed and dissected the inspiration came directly from the heart…not from the rod…

So this Mother’s Day, celebrate your mom and learn from her…never lose sight of your vision, be patient, encourage those around you to lead and be self-sufficient…and always…always lead from the heart…

Be good to yourself…

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Wadda Think???

Recently I read an article revolving around the strategies and habits that make “thinkers,” which got me to think…what do great leaders do?

Thinking is defined as, “the process of using one's mind to consider or reason about something. To have a particular opinion, belief, or idea about someone or something.”

Certainly great leaders exhibit most, if not all the examples presented in the article, but the real question is what is it they expect from their followers?  Do the leaders of great organizations develop, nurture, and foster thinking throughout the entire company, or do they inspire and value the thinking of only a few?  Is it healthy for the whole to think, question, and debate, or more practical to restrict that behavior to a select few while the remainder simply go about completing the tasks which were designed by “the thinkers?”

What if I were to ask those in your company what it was you perpetuated as the leader, how do you think they’d respond? Do you embrace, value, and trust the thinking for all or only a select few?  At what point in time, if any, does the thinking have to stop and the “doing” begin? Can they go on simultaneously in tandem, or must they be separated from each other as not to bog down the process? So many questions…so many various possibilities…what do you think???

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