LEADERSHIP IS NOT ABOUT BEING IN CHARGE

Good afternoon!

I hope you enjoyed your weekend and found some time to simply relax and be mindful of the beauty that surrounds us in the Fall.

We have an interesting week ahead of us. On Wednesday morning we will wake-up to a new President-elect. Unfortunately, the path to this election has been one of the most divisive ever witnessed in our history. Perhaps our greatest challenge will be to look beyond the election, embrace it as a sign of a truly democratic country, and move ahead together. With that in mind I want to give you give you something to think about and something to do!

Something to Think About: “Leadership is not about being in charge. Leadership is about taking care of those in your charge!” – Simon Senek

In 2009 Simon Senek made a 20 minute presentation to an audience of 50 people at TEDxPugentSound. It quickly became the second most watched talk on TED.com The author of several books, two of which I recommend highly, Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to take Action and Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t; Senek proposes that we each have a biological need to be part of an altruistic organization. He was interviewed this past June by Marie Forleo. In the interview he shares his thoughts on the creation of environments within which each of us can have a positive influence that “naturally and automatically motivates others to do their best work and pull together in the face of challenge.” http://www.marieforleo.com/2016/06/simon-sinek. We certainly will face challenging times following this election.
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Something to Do: “I can live for two months on a good compliment” – Mark Twain

Sometimes we forget the immense power we have to make someone’s day special with one simple act, a compliment. I was reminded of this the other evening as I read Josh Becker’s post, “A Life-Changing Challenge: Add One Compliment”. Through his writing, he illustrates the importance of taking the time to provide someone with a compliment. As thought-provoking as the article was, the comments left by readers illustrated the power of a compliment and its ability to bring people together.

So your challenge for the week? Try the experiment! Attempt to include a compliment in every conversation you have. Who knows, someone may look at you and say, “Thank you, I really needed to hear that today.”

Embrace the Challenge,

Rick