Money has
been a taboo topic in many circles and families. It is often an unspoken subject
for many while growing up, as a result many today give money a negative connotation.
Why is this? Is it the money that is evil, or what the holder intends to do
with the money that is evil?
In my opinion money is a
tool, nothing more nothing less. It can be used to do great works for better,
or squandered away and kept for selfish reasons. Money is a token, a token that
is used to show appreciated for value added. We no longer live in small isolated
villages, where a token of gratitude may be a simple good in exchange for a
service, but we currently live on a larger scale where we still contribute to
others just often never being in touch with the customer on a personal level
like we once were.
I believe money is an amplifier, if you are
a good person deep down you will continue that path and only increase the good
you are capable of with the more money you possess. I also know it is a huge
responsibility, before one takes the path to pursue riches they really need to
identify who they are deep down and their overarching why in their behavior and
goals.
Many say good
people do not need to be rich, but I would much rather see them with their
pockets full than the other side of the spectrum.
Decisions are one thing in this universe that can determine
and create totally opposite futures depending how they are called. The right
decision can vault you towards your goals and lock your bearing down towards what
you want to achieve, while a bad decision can take everything you hold dear and then drop you to the bottom. So the question is how do we make the best decision
possible while taking into account all the variables involved?
The Source of
Indecision, FEAR
There are many elements that go into a well-chosen decision
such as timing, manner, counsel and the list goes on and on. Without the right
perspective a leader may become overwhelmed and fall into the greatest decision
killer of them all, Fear. An indecisive leader is an oxymoron; there is not
such thing as a passive leader. Leaders must make decisions!
Decision-making
not only affects you, but every single person around you, and can continue far
into the future. That is why it is so important to use your assets wisely and
make the right decision the first time.
Why Loyalty is
Imperative For a Leader
Making a decision as a leader should not be a lonely process;
you should seek counsel from many around you. “One of us is never smarter than
all of us.” Now after you have talked it over with your peers and those who
work closest to the pulse of the problem, take the appropriate amount of time then
“Make The Call.” Even if it 180 degrees from what has been suggested from
everyone else, if you truly believe that is the right decision, Make The Call!
This is
where as a good leader you have a tool in your pouch so to speak, and it is
called loyalty. If you have done your job as a good leader, a good “ServantLeader,” you will have developed loyalty between you and those you lead. This
loyalty allows your team to know without a doubt you have the best interest for
them and the mission. Loyalty means you expect your team to tell you
exactly how they feel about a situation with true honesty, but after everything
has been said and a decision is made, Loyalty means everyone walks out of the room and embraces that decision made like it was their own.
Decision Making
Steps
1.Take time proportionate to the outcome of the decision
As Dave Ramsey would say, do not spend an hour
at the checkout trying to decide which pack of gum you want to purchase, make
the decision and move on! Now in the other hand, if you are deciding on
something that will effect your next 5 years you will want to take a lot more
time to come to a conclusion. A good rule of thumb is looking at your risk profile per the decision and gauging when it will increase, this will give you a good idea when a decision must be made.
2.Get
Good Input From Your Team
Bring in the best to talk about the decision, both Pro’s and Con’s. This is the point where you as a leader need to step up
and ask good questions. The goal is to encourage good debate among your
teams. The better the disagreement and debate the more information you get on the
subject and a better understanding.
3.Find
some quite space
Now that you have had plenty of time and
lots of great input on the decision, it is time to break away to find somewhere
you can truly be alone with your thoughts. This will allow you to really take
in everything you have learned on the subject and make a good call on the
decision. This is a very important step. Many great leaders find an activity to do, one that allows them solitude but keeps their hands busy, this allows their subconscious to really go into overdrive and for them to make a great decision.
4.Defeat
Indecision and procrastination.
Leaders may get stuck in analysis paralysis,
at this point after you have weighed all the inputs and spent the necessary
time thinking about the decision, put a day on the calendar down to the hour, this will signify the moment you must make the call. When that day and hour arrive do not push it back but
stick to your choice and pull the trigger!
Proper leadership requires power, but positional power should not be used often and for good reason, if a leader must rely on positional power
alone the organization can soon expect decreased output and possibly notice troubles
arise in the future. So the question remains what type of leadership is best? I believe the answer to that is servant
leadership which in my opinion is by far the most effective form of leadership out there, that is if your goal is to have an organization with a rich culture full of members that want to excel.
Does Servant
Leadership Mean a Weak Leader? NO!
Many may hear the term “Servant Leadership” and get confused
and picture a leader who is not strong, but the word they are actually thinking
of is subservient leader, and is not what I am referring to. A Servant Leader is by no means
a doormat.
Now the meaning of Servant Leadership stands
for a leader who cares about their team so much they want to serve them and
do everything possible so that they may succeed. This is not just a supportive
role, but also a teaching and disciplinary role as well. The leader does
what they need to do for the best interest of their members no matter how hard that may be.
Common leadership
misconceptions
Myth - You must be socially disconnected from your
team so they will respect you.
Truth – If you’re
the type of leader who hides away in his office and knows very
little about the team you lead you
may get compliance but will never have a team that wants to do more than the
status quo or minimal expectations for you.
Myth – Young employees need strict micromanaging
leadership to keep them inline.
Truth - If you
are the type of leader that embraces servant leadership even young
employees will form a bond with you
and will want to do great work; all they need is guidance and expectations for them
to achieve that. For instance at Chick-Fil-A they manage hundreds of teenage workers all of which are extremely well mannered, polite, and do an excellent job, compare that to other fast food restaurants you frequent, that is a testament of servant leadership and what it can accomplish.
Myth – Employees
need constant over watch and managing to stay on track and
mission.
Truth – This
causes huge a bottleneck for any organization, your job as a leader is to
set goals and explain the culture
and principals the organization stands for as
a guiding light. From their it is
important to allow your members to make
decisions and become more and more
self reliant. If you continue to be a micromanaging boss you will find your
days full of office drive-bys consisted of questions and scenarios your team is
more than capable of fixing but wont.
Great Leader Know Their People Matter
Our brain is an amazing machine, capable of much more than
we will ever realize. It can help or hurt us depending on how we use it. One
thing our brains do great is creating small programs to run tasks we do daily, this can be to our benefit but also lead us to our downfall let me
explain.
The first
time you ever drove a car it was likely nerve racking, and nothing like jumping in the car for
a drive today. You had to worry about checking your surroundings, checking
your mirrors, putting the key in the ignition, changing gears, pushing the gas
being ready to press the break… and the list goes on and on. So the question is
why is driving a vehicle today so easy? Well your brain actually created a
program called a TOTE, “Test Operate Test Exit” which in short puts your brain
on autopilot and allows you to focus on something else.
As a leader
a TOTE can be a huge hindrance, when you start categorizing talking to your tribe
under a single TOTE you take the authentic interaction between you and your
people out. So you need to concentrate on each interaction and focus on staying “in the
moment” and not allow yourself to go on autopilot, especially when meeting and
communicating with the workers that will make or break your company.
Question
Who was one of your best leaders in your life, what leadership type did they use?
-Remember to take care of others you must first take care of yourself, before you can become someone else's hero you must first become your own. Be your own Hero!
The key to focus can be found in keeping it simple. “No” can
be your greatest asset during the journey to a more focused life. Every “Yes”
you make must be defended by a thousand “No’s.” Without the ability to say no,
you will never allow yourself the focus and dedication needed to truly accomplish
great work. Always use deep thought before making any “Yes” commitments. Ask
yourself will this new commitment get me close to my ultimate goal?
Remember
great leaders follow through on the little things, if your day is full of saying
nothing but “Yes” you will be setting it up for failure.
No, the most under
used word in our vocabulary
Try this experiment, start the day with this objective in
mind. Count the number of times you say, “Yes” or agree to do something, be
very precise and write it down. Now count the amount of times you tell someone,
“No.” To a few of you this will be an eye opener and clearly one sided, though
I think most of us already realize we agree upon way to many things each day,
the worst part is we know deep down we will never be able to give each
agreement the time and focus needed to do great work. I don’t know about you
but I’m not striving to be an OK leader, I want to be a Great Leader. That
being said we will need to be great in the small things, this includes keeping
all of our promises.
The efficiency of
“No”
We all are given the same amount of hours each day, why is
it that some of us get so much done and others do not? The very successful
among us have found the efficiency that comes with the word “No”. Don’t get me
wrong walking around all day just saying no over and over is not the key to
success and most likely will ruin your social life. Before you can start to use
the power of “No” you must make a list of goals you want to achieve and make
them as clear as possible, you will need to be very specific while creating
this list, the more clearly you can see you goals the better. I suggest you
make this list early in the morning in a time of peace, and before others get
up. For suggestions on how to do that refer to my post “Great Leadership Begins with Great Focus.”
No can be an
important tool for refining Diligence, after you define your goals. “No” can
allow you to place your time where it is best spent, this will allow you to
achieve the most in return. Diligence is a major key to success in my mind, you
can find more on this subject in my post “Diligence They Key to Success?.”
The True Power of
Focus
What is the one thing you can do today that would make life
easier and help you get the results you want to achieve your goals? Ask you
brain this question everyday. The key here is to keep it simple!
Whatever aspect of your life you
want to improve, look and find the sweet spot or the target area that will give
you the most return on your time, by doing this you will see huge returns on
your efforts, so much so it will eventually bleed over into many other areas of
your life. In the beginning progress may seem small but over time you will be
amazed at what you can achieve. I recently read about the domino effect and I
believe it is a great illustration of this phenomenon, and gives you a way to
picture and realize your true potential.
I’m sure everyone has held a domino
in their life and can picture the size of one. A domino has the ability of
knocking over another domino 50% larger than itself, this may not seem
impressive at first, but when you think about it if you keep that up by the
time you reach the 23rd domino you will be knocking a domino over
the size of the Eiffel Tower! The 31st domino will reach the size
greater than Mount Everest, and the 53rd domino would be tall enough
to reach the moon. Now think about your effort and what it can do in the long
run, it should give you goose bumps!
Question of the
Day
What could you put more focus on to improve you life
tremendously? What steps will you take to ensure this happens?
This has been an ever-growing question of mine, how can I
use the majority of my day for good and stay focused on the tasks that will lead
to my goals. This has become harder to accomplish in the distraction-ridden
world we live in today. I have heard the average adult is distracted once every
three minutes; this was frightening to me as a self studied psychology nerd I
know we need around 15 minutes just to get into a flow state, a flow state
allows us the most focus and is necessary for us to do our best work. Hopefully
my insight along with a few tips and techniques will help you get more out of
your day.
Wake Up With A
Purpose
This idea is extremely simple yet tremendously effective.
Think about it like this, imagine you were walking in your city and were in a
residential area. Passing a construction site a team of workers is in the
beginning phase of building a house. You being interested if the new house
would stick to the older antique look the surrounding houses held or did the
owner’s request the build look more modern and up to date? Seeing the building
process was at a stand still you asked this question to the team lead. To your
astonishment he states, “We will worry about what the house looks like when we
are finishing up, right now we have the important job of getting this house built.
Please leave us alone we are in a hurry.”
I’m sure like me you would
automatically come to the conclusion that house is going to fail, the team has
no focus on the end goal, they do not see it clearly and without a clear
defined vision, they will just end up adding brick after brick aimlessly
until their walls fall over.
How To Wake Up
With A Purpose (action plan)
I ask that you give me 21 days of commitment on this next
action, many psychologist believe after 21 days a behavior turns into a habit
and if you can build the following habit you will see tremendous change in your
life for the better.
I am asking
you get up 45-60 minutes earlier than you normally do, so instead of waking up in
a hurry. The key is to not start the day running around juggling coffee, breakfast, and beginning
your day in frenzy. Try this instead, wake up with time to sit back and really think
about a handful of things that will make this day a success, for me I look at
my goals and say what things can I do today that will get me one step closer to
my goals. This time of quiet is also a great time to prepare for the manic rush
of the day, create a few actions you can use when distractions come up that draw you away from being focused. These
can be very simple but are always very powerful in the long run. For instance
if you are tethered to your cell phone, checking updates every 3 minutes make
it a point to only check you phone every half hour, after that becomes
tolerable extend it to 45 minutes and continue pushing that time until you find
the sweet spot that works for you.
You say you have trouble getting up
with energy? Give this a try, the moment your alarm goes off do not push the
snooze button but actually jump out of bed in a way that would startle your
spouse, it may sound a bit crazy but who wants to be normal anyway, not me! If
you still find yourself staying in bed try this last resort effort I promise
it will help you leave your warm comfy bed in a hurry, get about a mason jar worth of
marbles and put them in the freezer, ask your spouse or roommate to dump them
on your bed under your blankets in the morning you wish to get up, that nice
warm comfy bed will no longer be an option allowing you to get up and with a
bit of pep.
I could write so much more on this subject, I really believe
it is a key to sucess, and I will write more on this topic in the future. For
now I want to honor the teachings from Michael Hyatt and keep my post around
500 words even though I busted that a while ago, sorry Michael.
Question
What are some morning rituals you’ve used and seen
improvements in you life from? How do you feel about the ice-cold marble wake
up call? I promise your get out of bed energized!
Without trust societies are surely doomed for failure. The
Absence of trust means no matter how well educated, diverse, or prepared a team
may be, they will never achieve the quality of success a group made up of
members with fraction of the talent but would die for each other could get, I
know that’s a little extreme but you get my point.
How A Leader Gains
Trust
Great leaders are great not
because of their position but rather the fact people respect and trust them; it
has nothing to do with their power, actually when a leader must rely on his
power frequently it is often a sign they will not be in that position much
longer. There are a few traits a leader must show their tribe before they grant the respect and trust needed to become a great leader. I broke these down
in the following four traits.
·First Capability,
leaders must show their tribe they are capable of doing the job, this is easy
if the leader is truly aligned with the tribe’s vision. Knowledge and capability
are a byproduct of passion, when the leader is truly on fire and on board with
the organizations mission he will surely be capable or learn very quickly if not.
·Second is integrity,
does the leader follow through with their promises, do they walk the walk? Nothing
kills morale in a tribe more than a hypocritical leader.
·Third is Caring,
if a leader begins to treat their tribe members like interchangeable parts the
company will soon erode from the bottom out. Great leader know it is the
members that make the tribe great, no matter how loud they yell they will never
get the same results they could have from a tribe of inspired members. Take
care of your people and they will take care of you.
·Finally Reliability,
Great leaders know how important it is to keep the small promises, to often
leaders make the mistake of just paying attention to what they deem “is a big
deal” but after falling through on the small things time and time again they
soon lose credibility and are deemed no longer reliable. Even worse, whatever trait
a leader exhibits often spreads to the members of the tribe, soon you have an
organization of members who cannot follow through on the small stuff which will
also result in overall failure.
The Trust Killer!
A leader is the head of the tribe,
and the biggest mistake someone appointing a leader could do is place a leader
who is not 110% congruent to the tribes Why or Vision. Education, resume, or
any other qualification will not matter if the leader is not bought in and
believes what the tribe stands for. You cannot fake excitement or enthusiasm
and tribe members will catch on quickly and realize you are a non-sincere leader.
Question:
What are traits you notice in leaders that build and
breakdown your trust? Do you think a leader can do their job and get the
mission done with minimal trust from the people they lead?
