Diversity

#Beingaleader means you need to encourage diversity. Within your team. Within your life. Almost exactly one year ago, I wrote on the topic of "Different Than Me" (https://beingaleader.blog/2019/07/09/different-than-me/) where I focused on the types of advantages that can be had with the inclusion of those who think differently than me. It was not specifically about … Continue reading Diversity →

Brevity

Brevity is an important quality in #Beingaleader.

Discord or Discourse

#Beingaleader means you need to make a decision whether you will participate in discord or discourse. Too many leaders make the wrong decision. As a result, they use their influence to sow discord rather than encourage civil discourse. By discord, I mean creating an environment where opinion becomes fact and one's opinion is greater or … Continue reading Discord or Discourse →

Impact

#Beingaleader means you have impact. Known and unknown. Close and far reaching. Generational. To me it's sad that we often only hear of the impact someone had on another person's life at the funeral of the first person. Regardless, the impact was there. The person might not have even known that they had that impact … Continue reading Impact →

For Such a Time

#Beingaleader means you are in a leadership position for such a time as this. Are you prepared to handle the moment? This is the moment to rise up. To give direction. To lead. To figure out things that others cannot or will not figure out. To move into action while others are paralyzed. You have … Continue reading For Such a Time →

Clarity

#Beingaleader means you have to have clarity. Clarity of purpose. Clarity of mind. Clarity of communication. You need all three. Having only clarity of purpose or mind but not of communication makes it very difficult to achieve your goals. Each of us are better at one or two than the other and so we need … Continue reading Clarity →

Forgotten

#Beingaleader means that sometimes you feel forgotten. Alone. Left alone. On your own. Even worse: sometimes you actually are forgotten by others. And yet you continue to lead. Continue to pursue the goal. #Beingaleader means you often live there. In that moment when you are working hard, even accomplishing your goals, but nobody notices or … Continue reading Forgotten →

Unfinished

#Beingaleader means you are unfinished as a leader and will always be unfinished. You will never reach completion on this side of eternity. Always improving. Getting better. Content but not satisfied. If you don't know how to lead the way you want to today, you have an opportunity to continue to grow. Sometimes we can … Continue reading Unfinished →

Significance

#Beingaleader means you need to know where you significance comes from and where it does not come from. If it comes from the wrong place it will not last. It will not be real. Many leaders find their significance in their accomplishments. They seek glory from what they have done. They look upon what feat … Continue reading Significance →

Failure

#Beingaleader means you will fail. At some point in time. Likely at many points. It's just part of the journey you've been called to as a leader. Sometimes it's an actual failure. Sometimes it just feels like a failure. Either one can be devastating to you, to others or to the project. And it's unavoidable. … Continue reading Failure →

The Unknown

#Beingaleader means you have to deal with the unknown. Unknown events. Unknown circumstances. Unknown reactions. And possibly unknown people. How you respond to these unknown things, events and people will show a lot about who you are as a leader. Do you react in a knee-jerk manner causing confusion and concern among your team members? … Continue reading The Unknown →

Crisis

#Beingaleader means you have to deal with crisis. Yours and others. The actual crisis and the emotional impact that it brings. The ones that you created and the ones that just happen to you. How you deal with crisis will determine your leadership impact and potentially your longevity as a leader. At the current moment, … Continue reading Crisis →

Togetherness

#Beingaleader means you do things together with others. A group of people. A team. It usually presupposes some level of connection and proximity to others. Meetings. Gatherings. Impromptu check ins. For most of us it required physical presence for many of these tasks. Or at least we thought it did. There are different levels of … Continue reading Togetherness →

Alone

#Beingaleader means you are often alone. Even in a group or crowd. This can occur for numerous reasons. Often it is because you see things differently than others. Have different goals. Different motivations. You see life differently. You often have to inspire others while trying to motivate yourself in the same circumstances. While you may … Continue reading Alone →

Flexible

#Beingaleader means you have to be flexible. The level of flexibility depends on your level of leadership and the current status of your project or circumstances surrounding you. During the current Covid-19 pandemic, we have to learn to be flexible or show the level of flexibility we already have. Budgets change. Staffing changes. Timing changes. … Continue reading Flexible →

Continued Trust

#Beingaleader means you need to have the trust of your people. I have written about this before. See https://wordpress.com/block-editor/post/beingaleader.blog/133. However, it bears repeating in a time of crisis. Whether national, business or family. So many decisions that are made are either followed or scorned based upon the level of trust someone has in their leadership. … Continue reading Continued Trust →

Fear – Redux

#Beingaleader means you have to circle back to the same topics over and over. You don't just go through it once. You go through it. Learn. Apply. Go again. Learn. Apply. Repeat. Such as it is with blog topics. I have tried to not create content far in advance but instead deal with what is … Continue reading Fear – Redux →

Fear

#Beingaleader means you have to deal with fear. Yours. And others. And on the surface there seems to be a lot to be afraid of. Stock values go down. Supply chains get interrupted. Plans get canceled. Deadlines move and shift. People fail you. You cannot do much about things out of your control. But you … Continue reading Fear →

The Journey

#Beingaleader means you need to learn to enjoy the journey. That is hard for me as I am more of a destination guy. I want to accomplish. To complete. To achieve. To get there. I need to learn to enjoy the process. The moment. The things along the way. The journey. Most of your life … Continue reading The Journey →

Completion

#Beingaleader means you are trying to accomplish a goal. To complete a task. But there are some things bigger than that. Bigger questions to ask. What does completion of your life look like to you? What will you have accomplished? What do you want others to feel at the end? This is in fact the … Continue reading Completion →

Juggling

#Beingaleader means you have to juggle. A lot. Whether you are a parent, a coach, or a CEO, you have a lot to juggle. At one time. With competing priorities and timelines. Pressures from many different corners whether your boss, a project deadline or a screaming infant. Everyone thinks their stuff is the most important … Continue reading Juggling →

Age

#Beingaleader means you have to deal with a lot of different ages on your team. Young. Old. Experienced. Inexperienced. Wise. And maybe not so much. All age levels might be on your team and each might react differently to the same approach you take. You will have to deal with this no matter in what … Continue reading Age →

Hurry

#Beingaleader means you are sometimes in a hurry. Maybe most of the time. Hurry to get somewhere. Hurry to accomplish something. Hurry to make a decision. Deal with an employee. Finish a task. The speed of life can overtake you. This is not an article about slowing down your life. But you still need to … Continue reading Hurry →

Reflection

#Beingaleader means oftentimes you see your reflection in your team. They often exhibit your characteristics and tendencies. Your energy. Your drive. Your emotions. Even your priorities. Your team could be your children as well as your team members in a work environment. They usually take on the tenor of the leadership. Exceptions? Yes. But on … Continue reading Reflection →

#Beingaleader means you need not worry about being popular. You will be. Popular is formally defined as being liked or admired. I would view popularity more vainly than the official definition. When someone is popular it usually means they are superficially liked by people that don't know you. You see this with athletes, industrial leaders, … Continue reading Popular →

Struggle

#Beingaleader means you will struggle. With time pressure. Stress. People. Communication. Personal issues. Identity. Confidence. Maybe depression. With a lot of things. Most of the definitions I found of the word struggle were negative in connotation. But I think that struggle is part of fighting for what you want. Overcoming obstacles. Even striving to go … Continue reading Struggle →

New Day

#Beingaleader means you need to look at things with fresh eyes. A clean slate. Like it's a new day. The canvas of a new decade is before us. What do you see? Challenges? Victories? Sadness? Joy? How do you want to spend the next 10 years of your life? What do you want to look … Continue reading New Day →

Meditate

#Beingaleader means you need time to meditate. To reflect. To focus your attention on what has been accomplished. To rekindle the 'why' or the joy or whatever it was that pushed you in the direction you are going. It's what keeps you going. Keeps you from backtracking or detouring away from the goal. Course correction … Continue reading Meditate →

Service

#Beingaleader means that you are in the service business. To your team. To your customer. To those above you and to those below you. If you think #beingaleader is about you, you are mistaken. It is others-focused. What makes you successful is meeting the needs of others. I am defining service simply as helping others. … Continue reading Service →

Long Term Thinking

#Beingaleader means you need to have long term thinking. Not just in-the-moment thinking but about what long term strategic impact you want to have or see be accomplished. To give things up sometimes in the here and now for something greater coming later. That is often a difficult thing to do in one's personal life. … Continue reading Long Term Thinking →

Restlessness

#Beingaleader means that sometimes you live in a state of restlessness. I am defining restlessness as the state of mind you have between being content with what you have and believing that there is more out there for you. Contentment with the current state of affairs but not fully satisfied that this is all there … Continue reading Restlessness →

Timing

#Beingaleader means you need to understand something about timing. When is it best to start? To finish? To change course? To change personnel? How about location? All of these changes might be the right decision but if the timing is off your project or great idea might fail as a result. While God is never … Continue reading Timing →

Meaning

What brings you meaning? #Beingaleader, you must find meaning in what you do. Without meaning you will flounder in the tough times. And quite frankly, what's the point if you don't find meaning in what you do? Beyond just inspiration, meaning is the sense of purpose wrapped in a gut feel or heart sense that … Continue reading Meaning →

Patience

#Beingaleader means you know the old adage "never pray for patience." However, without patience, you will not succeed at #beingaleader. You will push people away, alienate team members, and likely, in the end, irreparably blow up your team or project. Patience is defined as "the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without … Continue reading Patience →

Buy-In

#Beingaleader means you have to understand the 80/20 rule and work hard at overcoming it. The 80/20 rule states that 80% of the work gets done by 20% of the people. We've all seen it. A few people doing most of the work. The rest are helping in some capacity but frankly, you're not sure … Continue reading Buy-In →

Encourage

#Beingaleader means it's your job to encourage others. To encourage is to give someone else the courage to keep going. To finish a task or to keep plugging along. To give them hope and strength. But how do you encourage someone? Here are three ways: tell someone that they can do it; that they have … Continue reading Encourage →

Subtlety

#Beingaleader means you need to understand subtlety. Subtlety is defined as a fine-drawn distinction. Nuance. Being able to see small things that could have big impact on you or your team. Without it you will miss many opportunities or will live with the consequences. Subtlety in circumstance. What circumstance do you find yourself in? Can … Continue reading Subtlety →

Work

#Beingaleader means you have to work. Hard. Strategically. Effectively. Continually. #Beingaleader is about working hard. There is no substitute for perspiration. There is no easy success. Success comes from hard work, even if unseen by others. Getting up. Doing your job, business, career etc. Repeating this process over and over. #Beingaleader is also about working … Continue reading Work →

Rest

#Beingaleader means you learn how to rest. It's a skill. You learn how. Sometimes a change is as good as a rest. But sometimes only rest can actually be rest. Rest is needed daily, weekly and annually. Too many people neglect rest. And they burn out. They get sick. They stop leading. They think they … Continue reading Rest →

Manners

Parenting is #beingaleader. In that leadership role, it is your responsibility to teach your child(ren) manners. I am not simply talking about not speaking when your mouth is full of food (although that can be an issue too and clearly many adults were not taught that). I am defining manners as someone "having respect" - … Continue reading Manners →

Next Generation

#Beingaleader means you need to think about being replaced. Succession. Carrying on the vision. And you are never too young to start thinking about or preparing for this. If your vision is important enough for you to spend your life on isn't it important enough to keep it going after you're gone (whether moving on, … Continue reading Next Generation →

SHIELD

I need to revisit a topic that I touched on earlier as it's a topic that people can debate on but it's also a critical test of your character that #beingaleader requires you to pass. #Beingaleader means you sometimes are a shield for your team. Shielding them from attack and criticism that would weigh them … Continue reading SHIELD →

Can-Do

#Beingaleader means you have a can-do attitude. The dictionary defines this as "being positive about your ability to achieve success." Positivity and confidence in your ability to achieve a goal or complete a task go a long way to making that a reality in your circumstance. Last time we talked about Belief Breakthrough (https://beingaleader.blog/2019/09/10/belief-breakthrough/) and … Continue reading Can-Do →

Belief Breakthrough

Belief breakthrough is crucial to #beingaleader. I am defining belief breakthrough as identifying and changing those things you believe about yourself or your situation that keep you from achieving what you want to achieve. You must constantly be challenging and re-evaluating the beliefs you have in order to make steps towards your goal. #Beingaleader means … Continue reading Belief Breakthrough →

Greatness

#Beingaleader means you can see the greatness in others. Usually before they do. It is a skill to work on and perfect. To practice on those around you. To call them out to be better then they currently are or to help them see what's already there. #Beingaleader means you are able to see this … Continue reading Greatness →

Purpose

#Beingaleader means you know your purpose. We will talk another time about finding the purpose for your team but today I wanted to touch on finding and knowing the purpose for you and what you are putting your time, energy and money into. Two recent activities/events in my life have merged to focus my attention … Continue reading Purpose →

Energy

#Beingaleader means you need to bring energy. Energy to yourself; to your team; to your goals. In order to bring energy you must have energy. So how does one get energy? I am seeing that we all have the energy we need within us. The issue is whether or not we are willing to have … Continue reading Energy →

Train

#Beingaleader means you have to do a lot of training of others. On a lot of subject matter. A lot of skills. Ways to communicate. How to manage stress. How to manage teams. Sometimes, even how to do a specific task. You're the leader. You cast your vision. Others have signed on and want to … Continue reading Train →

Think

Are you a doer or a thinker? That's an interesting question to me. One that needs to be pondered more often than it is. While we all would like to answer "both", I believe that most of us are doers by nature and thinkers only by learned discipline. We like to "accomplish" things and not … Continue reading Think →

Focus

#Beingaleader means you need to focus. Not just on the end prize of a project or task completion but on the specific step in front of you. Studies have shown over and over that we are not really as good as we think at multi-tasking. If we are trying to accomplish a task, it is … Continue reading Focus →