Falling Off the Leadership Wagon
Well, I’m not really falling off the wagon I don’t think. I am, however, noticing that some of the truths I subscribe to are challenging my thought processes of late. Which sends me to my thinking and deliberating space. In those moments, what I’m learning is that as a leader, I must be far more conscious about how long I’m hanging out in my thinking space. I can get so wrapped up in thinking about things, wondering, being curious, that my deliberate energy doesn’t translate into any action. When I don’t make the leap from thought to action, it looks as though I’m following rather than leading. Actually, it doesn’t even look like that; it looks like I’m just bopping along without any purpose whatsoever. I’m derailed, in a way.
Being deliberate absolutely means that I’ve given some thought to things. The question is, how much time do I spend in that thinking-space before I take whatever corresponding action is required of me? If I hang out in that “deliberation” space for too long, that actually keeps me off the leadership wagon, you know? Andrew Jackson has said the following: “Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.” This, when it comes right down to it, may be one of the biggest leadership challenges: knowing when to stop thinking and start doing.
When all is said and done good leaders definitely give some thought to things, they deliberate about the actions they will take. Great leaders, however, stop deliberating sooner rather than later, knowing that the time for action requires you to channel your deliberate thoughts into deliberate action for effective leadership results.
Bottom-line: To stay on the leadership wagon, stop thinking about things; go do them.
What deliberate action will you take today? How deliberate are you on a daily basis? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Post your comments here and let’s get a dialogue going about deliberate action! For additional resources and the opportunity to sign up for the weekly ezine, LAUNCH, visit www.stellarcc.com.
What Are You Willing to Risk?
Leadership inherently involves a certain amount of risk. There’s the risk involved in putting forth an idea, in challenging the status quo (if that’s what you’re up to), in inviting others to follow, in taking a stance — these are all leadership actions and they all require risk to a certain degree. The amount of risk you’re willing to engage in impacts the degree of success you’ll achieve.
When a problem arises — when you’re faced with a challenge — it behooves you to ask how much risk you’re willing to take on. More importantly, what exactly are you willing to risk? Are you willing to risk looking foolish? Are you willing to risk feeling someone’s anger? Are you willing to risk being wrong? Are you willing to risk losing a friendship, or a follower? Knowing what you’re willing to risk allows you to push the boundaries in order to achieve a specific outcome.
Similarly, knowing what you’re NOT willing to risk allows you to know when to pull back. When you are clear about your limit in terms of risk, you become clear on the actions you will and will not take and why you pull back when you do. This knowledge allows you to make your choices with no regrets. You may experience some frustration if you reach the limit of your risk-zone and change isn’t happening to your liking; and, at that point, you get to re-evaluate what you’re willing to risk and determine how much more energy you’re willing to expend for the cause, whatever it might be.
As a leader, whatever it is you’re striving to create, change or bring about in the world is made easier when you know what you’re willing to risk. So hold the question as you navigate your leadership and give it a voice. Know your risk-zone, know how much energy you’re willing to expend, re-evaluate from time to time, and make your choices accordingly.
Bottom-line: when you know what you’re willing to risk, you can confidently make choices to bring your leadership vision to reality.
Distinguishing Intuition from Fear
As a coach, one of the personal qualities that I rely on a fair bit is my intuition. Intuition is a quality which we all have access to; the question is whether or not you hone it and learn to work it, or whether you squash it and ignore it. Like anything else, the more you use it, the more skilled you become and the stronger it gets, rather like a muscle.
No matter how skilled you are at using your intuition, however, there is an inherent challenge. You see, intuition is about “inner knowing” — hearing that quiet voice that can be a fabulous guide when you learn to pay attention. The challenge is that everyone of us actually has two distinct inner voices, each of which strives to make itself heard. Intuition is one; fear is the other. And sometimes, the two can sounds awfully similar, particularly if the circumstance involved is new, unfamiliar, or unusual in some way. The question is, how do you tell the difference? Even those most skilled at using intuition can grapple with this one. And, there is a distinction that can be helpful. Emotional charge.
Years ago, I worked with a colleague who pointed out that genuine, intuitive knowing — regardless of the topic in question — rarely has an emotional charge to it. Instead, the voice of intuition generally expresses itself in a really grounded, emotion-free way. So even if your inner knowing is trying to warn you about something, there’s no fear-mongering involved; it simply draws your attention to what needs to be noticed, and lets you move along your merry way. The voice of fear, however, is emotionally-charged and then some. The voice of fear will have you spiral into the depths of certain death if you don’t follow whatever path it’s trying to steer you toward. This emotional distinction is what you can use to determine if you’re being guided by intuition or fear.
You might be asking, does this distinction matter? I would argue that it absolutely does. And I’m going to get really real with a personal example here to illustrate the point. I am currently grappling with a health concern. Months ago, I was faced with a medical test result that was scary to say the least. As is standard protocol, the test was repeated — and the result was negative, thankfully. So a follow-up appointment was scheduled for next year, but the concern was alleviated for the time being. Now here’s the thing. While my initial reaction at the second test result was pure exhilaration, I was aware at the time — and have been in the months ensuing — of a small voice in me saying that in actual fact, the second test was wrong, not the first one. The voice is small, relatively quiet, not at all pushy — and it’s there. There’s a second voice, however, (I swear, I am not talking about multiple personalities here) that’s louder and tends to swing on the emotional pendulum, vascilating between total “you are so going to die in the next 6 months” and “oh, for goodness sake, you’re fine, quit worrying, good grief already”. What I know for sure, when I choose to pay attention is that it’s the first voice I need to pay attention to. Not because I need to worry, not because it’s right, but rather because I need to get some facts — in a really grounded way. I actually want to be more certain that the second test was in fact the right result, and not the other way around. Now I could continue to notice and otherwise ignore both voices. Or I could ride the emotional roller-coaster of the voice of fear (that’s the 2nd voice). Or I could hear the concern of the first voice and get some answers — which is where I’m headed.
When it comes right down to it, no matter who you are, the voice of fear and the voice of intuition are both present, it’s the nature of the human experience. Both can provide some guidance for how you live your life. The voice of fear, however, is always rooted in emotion of some sort, and as such may not have the most grounded options for you. The voice of intuition, on the other hand, is much more gentle (even when it’s loud), providing some guidance, but never pushing. It’s grounded, leaving the ultimate choosing up to you. So what I want you to take away from this, particularly if you’re in any decision-making circumstance is this: acting from grounded intuition will always serve you better, than action taken from fear-based emotion. That’s the bottom-line.
Effective Leadership and The Secret
Several years ago, the movie “The Secret” was released and the self-help world hasn’t been the same since. Some loved the movie and the concepts it put forth; some hated it; very few were unaffected. I myself was resistant to watching the movie for the longest time, primarily because the title didn’t resonate with me. From all I had heard, it seemed like a misrepresentation — there was nothing secretive at all about the content, as far as I could tell. Packaging it as “The Secret”, however, was a brilliant marketing move. After all, who doesn’t want to be privy to a secret?
All that being said, I did eventually watch it. I’ll even admit that I bought a copy of the movie for my own periodic reference. And, having watched the movie several times, here’s something I want you to know: “The Secret” as presented is incomplete. That is what I find most frustrating about the package. A critical element has been left out, and as a result, many people are no further ahead in the manifestation and achievement of their dreams and goals. “Ask, Believe, Receive” is put forth as the general sequence required for one to bring dreams into reality; however, these three steps alone will not work without one critical piece — action.
“Asking” and “Believing”, when combined, can essentially be equated to visualization. Based on the sequence as presented in “The Secret”,once you ask and believe, receiving should come about naturally. There needs to be an element of action, however, that follows the asking and believing — simply visualizing is not enough. Dreams do not become reality as a result of staring at a picture. Period.
So, what are the implications for leadership? As a leader, you’ve got a vision, I guarantee it. There’s something you’ve got your heart set on creating, achieving, doing. Taking time each day to visualizing that thing, whatever it is — see it, imagine the details — is essential. And, equally essential is taking some action towards the achievement of that goal. The action doesn’t have to be monumental; it can in fact be small in comparison. But it does need to be taken. Examples of small, but definite actions include:
- share your dream with someone — tell people what you’re striving for
- do some research
- develop a plan (business plan, 3-year plan, building plan)
- connect with people who can support you
These are simple examples of small but concrete actions. Taking action that directly relates to whatever it is you’re striving to create is what will bring your dream to reality in the end.
Bottom-line: visualization is good. You need to visualize because you need to know what you’re striving for. So go ahead, ASK for something and BELIEVE that you’ll get it. Before you can actually RECEIVE what you’re asking for, however, you’re going to have to take some ACTION. Action always preceded the actual receiving. That, my friends, is the real secret.
It’s Time to Stop Dragging Your Heels
One of the things that I find myself facing from time-to-time, is the challenge of dealing with people who seem to be dragging their feet. You know the type. They say they want something, but they don’t seem to be willing to do a whole lot about it. In the context of the work I do with leaders, this often takes the form of wishing — “I wish my team would work more cohesively” or “I wish I could reach my objective of hosting five retreats this year”. Wishing is a way of dragging your feet — especially if all you’re doing is wishing.
You see, as a leader, wishing in and of itself isn’t a bad thing. Wishes carry the seeds of dreams. And dreams can and do fuel leadership visions. That being said, when you allow yourself to stay in “wishing mode” without taking action of some sort, things do not evolve and shift. Nothing changes. You’re dragging your heels. And that does not serve leadership, ever.
Dragging your heels isn’t about moving and acting slowly. Dragging your heels is about not taking action at all, sometimes disguising the fact by pencil pushing, acting on the trivial, and leaving the big stuff until later. The only problem is that “later” never seems to arrive. And so the wish stays a wish and doesn’t become a reality.
Whether your leadership vision is about busting through the glass financial ceiling, launching a new product, or starting a global movement is irrelevant. With all leadership visions, there comes a point when you’ve got to move from the place of wishing and dreaming and take action. Without action of some sort — even small, baby steps day-by-day — your vision cannot become reality.
Bottom-line: we’re over 1/2 way through 2010. Whatever your leadership vision — or even your personal vision, stop dealing with the small tasks, hold the big vision, and take at least one step towards major action. Small steps lead to big steps, big steps lead to vision becoming reality. Stop dragging your heels.
Yep, It Works (Being vs. Doing, that is)
Second post for today — feels necessary given the last rant. I’ll keep it brief.
I ended my last post by stating that I was choosing to be with my anger rather than try to do anything with it. Turned out that was the best thing I could’ve done (ironic, I know, given that I wasn’t really “doing” anything). You see, by choosing to simply be with the anger — feel it, let it bubble up, not ignore it or use it in any way, I was able to move through it fairly quickly. And once I was through the anger, clarity began to emerge.
What I’ve relearned through this experience today is that ultimately, there needs to be this balance between being and doing, and that many times the balance looks like more being than doing. Which can be a tricky concept in our “doing-based” society. What I know for sure is that when I let things be, myself included, the required doing naturally happens. What actually needs to get done is naturally illuminated. And then I can settle into that state of ease — the state that I know is my natural one.
Bottom-line: when it comes right down to it, when you don’t know what to do, just be. It’ll move you to gold everytime.
How Much of It is REALLY About You?
In his book “The Four Agreements”, Don Miguel Ruiz lists “Don’t Take Things Personally” as one of the cornerstones of healthy human interaction. Now I’ve got to admit, this is probably the agreement that I find most challenging to honour. What I’ve come to realize over the last several months is that I have a default pattern whereby I USUALLY take things personally — as in I often take a situation or happening and make it about me. And this pattern really ain’t working for me.
Has me wonder how many others do the same sort of thing — take things personally that really aren’t personal. What I’ve learned through playing with Ruiz’s Four Agreements is that very little is personal in this world, and even when something is personal, it’s actually better for everyone to operate as if it isn’t.
You see, when you take a situation — say your neighbor has a habit of intruding on your space — and focus on the impact their behaviour is having on you, you’re making the situation about you — and it’s not. One of the realizations I’ve had is that a person’s actions are about them, my reaction is about me. So, the fact that a neighbor intrudes on your space is about them – that’s their behaviour. How you respond (anger, frustration, angst, letting go, whatever) is about you.
When you separate a person’s actions from your reaction, when you realize that their action has NOTHING to do with you personally, you are liberated from the shackles that otherwise imprison you. You’re free to make choices that are otherwise unseen.
Bottom-line: next time you find yourself freaking out about someone else’s actions, ask yourself if your reaction is conveying a message about YOU that you’re really comfortable with.