At any given time, we all see
a news story about some person of note passing away. Sometimes their deaths or
unexpected and sudden while others are after a long life. Inevitably pundits or
just history weigh in on the impacts of their lives. The prevailing themes are
either positive or negative and sometimes a little of both but never
neutral You never hear a commentator state the he or she was just an OK person
who led their lives straight down the middle! Either he or she had a positive
impact or they did not. This has me thinking out loud that there is no such
thing as a neutral life!
As leaders, I believe this is
even more so and no one is waiting until you are put on permanent waivers to
tally your stats! Your impact is being evaluated right here and now by more
people than you can possibly imagine. Now this may be a little tough to hear in
a modern society that more and more does not want to acknowledge that there are
“absolutes” such as good and evil, right and wrong, pizza and tacos. Trust me,
there still is and the fact that some want to convince us otherwise is my case
in point. Besides, such thinking goes against even the natural laws of the
universe. Electrons eventually are either positive or negatively charged. I am
simply proposing the same works for our leadership. At any given moment in
time, we are either adding value or we are not, we are either helping or
hurting, we are either part of the problem or an element of the solution. There
is no time or room for middle ground for leaders.
Obviously, it is my hope and
intention to ensure my leadership stays on the positive trend line and I hope
yours does to but, hey, you do you! So how do we make sure our leadership is
not stuck in neutral and is in drive? I believe some of the encouragements
below may be of help.
Understand Your Orbit! I
recently heard author and pastor Byron Peters share that we need to consider
the orbit of the people in our lives. Think about it this way and do some quick
math with me. First, count the number of people that you lead (this could
include family, friends, colleagues, clients, as well as direct reports). Take
the example of the number of people that eventually report to you. Let’s say
that is 50 people. Multiply that number by the average number of hours you could
interact with them in a given week (assume a 40 hour work week), multiply that
by the number of weeks of interaction in a given year (assume 50 active work
weeks a year) and this equals over 100,000 hours of potential influence a year!
So, the big question is, what are you actually doing with
that influence? Think about this, consider the fact that the average person has
around 338 Facebook connections and around 300 on LinkedIn, what can
you do with that kind of influence and orbit?
Establish Your Intention. Author and leadership expert John Maxwell
often share that people who detract from others often do so without malicious intention.
They are just not paying attention and thus commit errors of omission. However,
leaders who do add value to those around them do so with purpose and deliberate
decisions to do so. They actively pay attention to the people around them and consider
how they can add value in a very customized and individualized way. This is not
easy by any means. It requires a renewed commitment each day to do this. Have
you made such a decision? Could tomorrow morning be the day you change the
trajectory of your leadership? I always share that where you end up is much
more important to than where you started. Even if to this point you have not
been as focused on your orbit as you could be, it does not matter. I have often
heard it said it may take some time to alter the destination of our journey,
but we can change direction at any given moment.
Challenge Others to Commit.
Leadership never happens in isolation which is another reason why there is no
possible way to lead a neutral life. There are just too many people around us influencing
and being influenced by us. I once read the greatest gift you can give someone
is your positive example. As my previous example above demonstrates, you have
more influence than you thought. Use that influence to encourage others to
understand the impact of their lives and leadership. Help them get unstuck and
lead in the light! Make it part of your meeting agendas to celebrate positive
leadership wins. Ask followers commit to adding value to just one-person next
week but in a very individual manner.
We do not leave a legacy;
we live it day in and day out. We have the ability (and I would add, the
responsibility) to improve the lives of those around us. Don’t waste these
moments and opportunities to do so. It does not even have to be some grand
gesture. I have heard story after story by my students and clients over the
years about how just one high impact person provided just one simple encouragement
which launched a lifetime of achievement and success. Sometimes that’s just all
we can give, but often that is more than enough!
As always if I can help you and
the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I invite
you to contact me.
Yours in leadership,
Bill Faulkner
Independent Coach, Speaker,
and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team TM
Email
= bill@outloudinc.com
For more information on the
John Maxwell Team, please visit
No comments:
Post a Comment