Tag: leadership development

The Case For Moving On To Breakthroughs

Are you stuck?

Are you in pain?

Are you frustrated?

I had a conversation with my chiropractic practitioner (his services are a part of my overall health plan) a couple of weeks ago that really stuck with me.  If you're ever in my neck of the woods you should pay him a visit.

We got to talking about people in pain and the refusal to move on to healing/progress.  His point was something like this:

You're in pain now and getting to your breakthrough means pain too.  Sadly, most people are comfortable with the existing pain/state.  This comfort paralyzes them from experiencing the pain associated with breakthroughs.

As a guide, I couldn't agree with him more.

Here are some simple acid tests to use as you move from talking about finding a breakthrough to acting on the solutions/cures:

  1. Make sure the person or organization offering you a solution is interested in you first and not what's in you bank account.  I'm not saying that your solutions/cures should be free, I'm just talking about the order of things.  If you're not sure what questions are best for finding out the motivation behind the marketing, then send me an email or comment through this post.
  2. Get settled about the pain that will be associated with moving on to breakthrough.  Do this in front of a mirror-real or imagined.
  3. Remember, every breakthrough should lead to a new life habit.  Life habits should stick.

It’s Almost Never About You

We're self-preservationists at heart.  This works well if shipwrecked or lost in the jungle.  In general, though, it's a dangerous mindset.

Where this really shows up is when we are trying use clients to get us to where we want to go, which is unethical.  But it also shows up when we're honestly trying to help.  Either way you need to stop and realize what's number one.  As in, your client.  No talking points, no radio spots, just authentic love.

If you've built your career/business model around "you first," then it will be painful to change.  You may have already tuned me off if that last sentence applies.

The following outlines some ideas to consider as you seek to get it right with existing clients, and prospective one's too:

  1. Just like God, a client's time-frame may not be the same as yours.  And if you're in the "service" business (we all are), then you don't get to make this call.  You can be polite in persistence, but ultimately you're a servant.
  2. Stop marketing that you care, when your actions communicate something different.  Washington, D.C. may have made us think that everyone has a price, but most clients desire authenticity.
  3. Be willing to risk loss.  Those who have lost, even though they did there best, change the world and are wildly successful.
  4. Stand your ground in the face of critics and conformists.  If memory serves, the word is courage.
  5. Your work is truly a motion picture.  Make it the kind that people want to see over and over again.

Yesterday Follows, As I Learn

Leadership means everything…ask Churchill, King, Jr., Jobs, Graham, Teresa. 

I usually write with strong opinion and certainty.  Not wavering here, but I hope those leaders mentioned would agree that yesterday's lessons only took root when they "learned."  And isn't learning a vital part of influence?

It's a mysterious thing walking into a future.  We need yesterday to be a follower.  We need yesterday to be the threads of a tapestry called life. 

If it doesn't matter, then why the smile and the pursuit.  Certainly, we were made for more.  Now I know that everything does matter…every dance, every embrace, every sip, every beautiful melody.

Bear with me as I try to understand what I have become.

"I'm crossing that bridge with lessons I've learned."

– Seal

The Roots Of Greatness

How well do you execute on the following:

  • Returning the client's call-same day.
  • Slowing down to admire a fresh snowfall or beautiful sunrise.
  • Seeing people as a source of connection.
  • Trusting those who work for and with you (this is a big one for those "in-charge".)
  • Involving yourself in something bigger than yourself.

The answers to the above will reveal two things:

Your true values (the type you would deny or hide)

Opportunities for growth

I don't recommend seeking greatness if your motives are suspect.  But if you are aligned with motivations around changing the world, it can be a good thing…just make sure you have people around you that aren't impressed-by you.  I firmly believe that most people want to leave a mark before the clock runs out.

In the end, the roots of greatness are nestled in doing the small well.  It's the stuff of obscurity, humility and authentic love/care.  If those situations disappoint, you may have issues with self-worth or identity.  Needing the applause of others is a dead-end road.  Eventually, the "crowd" moves onto another show.  Believe me, I know.

So start working on doing the small well.  Slow down, be ok with coming in second, let someone else have the last piece of cake (figuratively speaking), find someone to love/care for.

Here's the secret:

    If you won't do the small things well, you'll never be able to do the great things well.

Emotional Control

Regardless of the business you're in, or a owner of, it's vital that you control your emotions.  Specifcially, around how you treat your customers.  Way too many organizations are led and operated by those who allow emotions to rule the day.

For example, if you're a retailer and a customer returns a shirt because the quality and fit are not up to their expectations, don't frown with disgust because their at the return desk/department.  It's an opportunity to grow the relationship.  Maybe there's a problem with QC at the factory where the shirts are sourced.  Don't wait until there's three boxes of returned shirts to get clued into a problem.  Customers do want to engage about your product-if you let them.

Sadly, most employees forget (if their thinking about the customer at all) that the customer comes in expecting to be treated…less than warm.  When you or an employee confirm that expectation, the customer convinces themselves that another store is there better option.  If the employee taking the return would have been prepared (or been trained/developed) in the art of restraint and vision, the result might be radically different.  Controlling our emotional urges requires practice.

A friend once told me that you'll know how much a service/product provider really cares about you when a problem arises.

Maybe you should start a program around training/developing emotional control (EC).  Yes, your manager/leaders will have to engage with the staff.  But that's what they should be doing anyway.  Think of what you might discover?  Your customers might discover something remarkable in a landscape full of the "unremarkable."

So Many Masks, So Little Time

I've written and taught about wearing masks before, but this post (The Joy of Quitting) from Seth got me thinking.  What if we burned our masks (the type that suck away our authenticity) in some great fire?

Politicians tend to be prone to mask wearing.  Ironic as that may be, since they really are supposed to be servants of the citizenry.  This is soberly played out in the video clip link of President Nixon in Seth's post.  The pre-speech interaction and honesty is worth the view.

When you wear masks to "project" or to deceive, you are taking a poison pill.  A pill that takes life very slowly…over time.  Most would agree that it's not worth the cost. 

Have you come to that conclusion?

Here are a some stakeholders who stand to benefit when the masks are discarded:

  1. Your family.  Believe me, they are longing for you to show up.
  2. Your career.  Are you really doing what is consistent with your wiring?
  3. Your next entrepreneur venture.  The potential benefactors of your ideas are worn out from empty ideas by mask-wearers.
  4. Your customers.  Too much coming at them-everyday-for you to be anything less than authentic.
  5. Your organization.  They may see potential in you that you're afraid to face.

The Calling-Red Pill Versus Blue Pill

Came across this post (via Dan Schawbel on Twitter) from Yahoo Hot Jobs and felt inspired to include the video clip above.  It's from the Matrix.  The classic scene between Morbius and Neo, where a pill of blue and a pill of red are offered to Neo.  Essentially, stay dead with the blue or wake up with the red.

My intention here is to alert you to #5 on the list from Yahoo.  I totally disagree with the writer's assertion that not everyone is called to something.  Granted, some may not know, some might have forgotten or some may be trying to kill it.  But everyone has a calling.

Sadly, we live in a culture that stands in opposition to your calling.

God weaved the vision in you and I.  The crux is what we allow "the Matrix" to take away or kill.  Every story is hinged on this conflict.