Tag: leadership development

Leadership Minute: Happy Trails to You

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Some of the best views are found at the end of the most challenging trails. – Mark Sanborn

The trails for leaders are seldom easy. They can be hard and treacherous. Sometimes you will walk alone when others take the path of least resistance. After all, if being a leader was so easy everyone would be one. But if you will stay focused, committed, and disciplined you will reap the rewards others only dream about. Don’t worry when the trail seems too hard or too long. You are not where you are by accident. Have faith that you are the right person, in the right place, doing exactly what you were destined to do. At the end of the trail your view will be uniquely yours and all of the sacrifices made along the way will be worth it. Happy trails!

Five Signs You Might Be a Jealous Leader

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The jealous are troublesome to others and a torment to themselves. – William Penn

From Moody’s Anecdotes comes a fable of an eagle which could out fly another, and the other didn’t like it. The latter saw a sportsman one day and said to him, “I wish you would bring down that eagle.”

The sportsman replied that he would if he only had some feathers to put into the arrow. So the eagle pulled one out of his wing. The arrow was shot, but it didn’t quite reach the rival eagle; it was flying too high. The envious eagle pulled out more feathers, and kept pulling them out until he lost so many that he couldn’t fly, and the sportsman turned around and killed him.

The moral of the story is not lost on good leaders and it serves as a good reminder about being a good sport. How you interact with your colleagues in your place of business or organization is essential to your success.

John D. Rockefeller said, “Good leadership consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people.” It’s also showing that you can celebrate the successes and hard work of those around you without being jealous. Are you a jealous leader? It’s time for some honest soul searching. Here are five signs that might indicate you have a jealous streak.

You can’t be happy for someone else’s success.

When you find it hard to celebrate a colleague’s success this could be a red flag for you. It could be that you are resentful that they achieved a particular success that you haven’t or they attained it sooner than you did. It would be good to try and identify the root cause of these feelings and see if you can come clean about why you feel this way. A good leader should be out front celebrating the successes of his team because when one wins the whole team wins.

You have misplaced fears about your colleagues.

Jealousy has a way of elevating fears and suspicions. It causes you to buy in to the notion that everyone is against you and it causes you to question other people’s motives. This is a horrible posture for a leader. It renders your leadership ineffective and will ultimately cause more harm than good. Morale will be undercut. As a leader it is imperative to lead from a position of trust and loyalty. Misplaced fears will destroy both. The answer here is to step up communication and build solid relationships.

You are vindictive and a gossip.

Personal jealousy is one thing but professional jealousy can be devastating. Unfortunately, office politics is an issue that far too many have to contend with. A vindictive leader who uses his or her position to undermine the efforts, work, or reputation of another is certainly behaving like a jealous leader. To keep this type of jealousy from taking root is to put forth a shared vision and by exploiting the skills, talents, and resources of every team member. When a leader is elevating team members instead of tearing them down everyone wins.

You resent other people’s popularity.

This strikes a chord on a personal level for many leaders. After all, who doesn’t like to be liked? So when a colleague happens to stand out because of their magnetic personality it can touch a nerve with a jealous leader. A jealous leader wants to be the center of attention and is resentful of the competition and having to share the limelight. But leadership is not a popularity contest and shouldn’t be made one. A smart leader is content to let others shine and can appreciate all personalities that comprise his team.

You are possessive of information and resources others need to succeed.

The ultimate act of jealousy in your workplace or organization is exhibited by the leader who acts in vindictive ways against his or her people. It’s done by omission as much as it’s done by commission. It’s done by withholding information and resources that can cause them to move ahead and succeed. It’s the pulling out of the feathers like the jealous eagle and in the long run is a self-inflicting wound from which there is no recovery.

Be the type of leader that rises above jealousy to celebrate the achievements of those around you. Build a culture of trust and respect. Be comfortable in your own skin and delight in the success of your people. Life is too short to be so little.

What do you say?

 

© 2014 Doug Dickerson

I invite your feedback!

1. How have you seen the effects of jealousy in your place of work?

2. Have you identified any hot buttons of jealousy you need to work on?

3. What are some first steps you can take to keep jealousy from hurting your influence as a leader?

Leadership Minute: Positive Influences

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I believe that you should gravitate to people who are doing productive and positive things with their lives. – Nadia Comaneci

Your rise as a leader as well as your influence as a leader is largely determined by your ability to surround yourself with positive people and choosing to have a positive disposition. It’s nearly impossible to go forward and achieve your dreams and goals if you are surrounded by negative people. The drag and pull they generate will be a great hindrance to you if you don’t shake them off. It’s as you choose a positive and productive path forward and your ability to surround yourself with like-minded people that you will succeed. Gravitate toward people show share your positive outlook and energy and draw from it. A positive attitude will give you the energy you need to be the productive leader you wish to become.

Leadership Minute: Your Big Opportunity

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Your big opportunity may be right where you are now. – Napoleon Hill

One of the pitfalls for many aspiring leaders is the temptation to look for greener pastures and not appreciating where he or she is at the moment.  Having a desire to improve and move up is certainly not a bad thing, but there is something to be said for excelling right where you are. While it is true that leadership is not about your position the same can be true about your location. Why not make it a practice to bloom where you are planted and make the best of your present situation. Why not learn all you can, do the best you can, and become the best you can – right where you are? Your next big opportunity will come, but don’t neglect your present one.

 

Leadership Minute: What’s Your Risk Factor?

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If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary. – Jim Rohn

Your growth as a leader involves many variables. Primarily it’s hard work. There’s just no way to avoid it to get where you want to go. Other variables will include some good breaks, making the right contacts, and just a relentless pursuit of your dream with passion. But there is one other factor you must not forget about; risk. Many people don’t have a high tolerance for risk. They had rather play it safe and choose predictable paths. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that approach but sometimes you have to take steps of faith not knowing where the path might lead. Let me encourage you today to follow your dreams and when necessary be willing to take a risk on your future. Be confident in your abilities and trust your instincts.

Leadership Minute: What Makes You Different?

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What makes you different is not what you have in your head; it is what you have in your heart. – Charlie “Tremendous” Jones

As a leader, head knowledge is important. Your rise as a leader is precipitated by you willingness and eagerness to learn and draw from a wide range of experiences. Some will be good while others not so good. Learning is essential to your growth as a leader. But make no mistake; what makes you different as a leader is not what you have in your head but what’s in your heart. The heart of a leader; the sum total of all that is good, decent, kind, caring and intuitive will serve you better and longer than any amount of head knowledge. But what a powerful leader you can be when you learn to blend the two in a positive way. What makes you different?

Leadership Minute: Guard Your Thoughts

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Our life always expresses the result of our dominant thoughts. – Soren Kierkegaard

Your thoughts as a leader are important. What you allow to enter and dominate your thought processes greatly influences the direction your life will take. Guarding your thoughts and dwelling on the positive can be challenging when so many things around you can be negative. Being able to rise above the negative is not a matter of avoiding life around you as you know it; it’s about guarding your thoughts and heart and not being corrupted by it. Just as others choose to be negative so too must you choose to be positive. Set the course of your life by things that inspire, uplift, encourage, and motivate. You will be a better leader for it.

Leadership Minute: Have Fun

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Fun is good. – Dr. Seuss

For all of the important and serious things that occupy a leaders day one thing worth mentioning is the need for fun. The price of leadership is great responsibility. And yet your temperament as a leader is important. It’s important not just for those around you but for yourself. Are you wound too tight? Would your colleagues agree? The decisions you make are serious but try not to take yourself too serious. Don’t forget to laugh. Remember that the troubles you have today are preparing you for better things tomorrow. Your ability to have fun along the way is just as necessary as any other decision you make. At the end of the day, whether good or bad, let it be said that you find it all most rewarding and fun. Life is just too short for you to be miserable as a leader. Lighten up!

Leadership Minute: Take Your Stand

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You cannot run away from weakness; you must sometime fight it out or perish; and if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?” –Robert Louis Stevenson

As leaders we know this to be true; some days are just tough. It’s called life. But like most obstacles we face, a great deal of the struggle is with our attitudes. We struggle to say optimistic. Optimism does not prevent difficulties or make you immune from them. It does, however, empower you to face difficulties with a confidence that gives you an advantage in overcoming them. Now is the time to rise up with courage and fight the good fight. Your circumstances do not define you as a leader. Your struggles are not meant to overtake you. Stand up. Be strong. Lead with courage!

Taking ‘No’ Out of Your Playbook and Why it Matters

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Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome – Samuel Johnson

Leaders understand that obstacles are a part of the landscape on the road to success. But how many leaders are self-aware enough to realize that some of the obstacles blocking their desired success are self-inflicted?

When what stands between your employees or volunteers and potential success is a constant drum beat of no or the good ole standby of, “We’ve never done it this way before,” then you are capping your talent and are hindering your chances of success.

In his book, It’s Not About the Coffee, past Starbucks International president Howard Behar writes of the necessity of taking ‘no’ out of your playbook. His thought was that we can grow so accustomed to saying no to our customers or employees that soon these roadblocks take on a life of their own and become the unspoken rules, the No Book, that stands between you and your potential success.

One example Behar shared about Starbucks turning an everyday no into a yes was by opening the door early in the morning. Customers would come by ten minutes before the store opened and they were routinely turned away. The message the prospective customer would get was, “No, we’re not open yet.” When they realized they could say yes they began to open ten minutes before the posted opening to serve their customers.

To be sure, not every yes will guarantee success and not every no will deny it. But what you must realize is that until you release the power of possibilities in your people they will never have a chance to find out. Taking no out of your playbook will unlock their potential and give them much needed freedom to grow. That is critical to your success. Here is why taking no out of your playbook matters to you as a leader.

It empowers your people.

There is no better way to empower your people than to release their creative ingenuity with a yes attitude. It signals that you believe in them and want them to reach their full potential. Empowered people are driven people and are more invested in the product and outcomes. When you remove no from the playbook and replace it with a yes then you elevate everyone to a new level.

It puts the focus where it belongs.

When no is replaced with a yes then the playbook becomes a different document. The paradigm shifts. You go from paying defense to playing offense. Now instead of an inward focus it’s an outward one. Where once it was all about you, now it’s about those you serve. When your purpose revolves around a “yes we can” mentality then there is no room for “no we can’t” detractors. When your people are free to focus on what they can do instead of what they can’t do it will make a world of difference.

It creates momentum.

Some leaders exert a lot of energy and waste a lot of time trying to figure out the secret to creating a culture of momentum. Sadly what some do not realize is that they are the reason why it’s lacking. Why? They haven’t taken no out of their playbooks and consequently their much needed momentum lies dormant.

What would it take to motivate you? Former Miami Dolphin’s great Bob Kuechenberg shares how he got his. He tells the story of his father and uncle who were human cannonballs in carnivals. His father told him, “go to college or be a cannonball,” said Kuechenberg. Then one day his uncle came out of the cannon and missed the net and hit the Ferris wheel. It was then that Kuechenberg decided to go to college.

As a leader you can either take no out of your playbook and put in a resounding yes, or you can be shot out of a cannon. Why not release the potential of your people, focus on those you serve, and generate the momentum you need? Say yes!

 

© 2014 Doug Dickerson

I invite your feedback!

1. What “no’s” are the most demoralizing for you or your office?

2. In what practical ways can you learn to say yes and empower others?

3. How would your office or organization benefit by taking no out of the playbook and replacing it with a yes?