When I was in my 20’s and 30’s, I was the queen of willpower. I have always thrived on achieving big goals. My downfall was using a “white knuckle” approach to achieving those goals.
Willpower Exhaustion
Because of my exertion-exhaustion approach, my world came crashing down with life threatening illnesses that cost me everything in my life. While I wished I had learned the lesson in a less traumatic way, there was a gift in that experience.
It catalyzed me to seek mindset tools and technologies to create results with ease and less effort. It motivated me to learn how the brain works and its impact on our thoughts, emotions and behaviors.
Overwhelmed by an overload of demands, not knowing what to respond to first?
Continually fighting for certainty, paralyzed by fear of the unknown?
Blind sighted by unforseen events that jeopardize your company’s stability and bottomline?
I’m guessing what you really want is to stop your perpetual busyness. You want to focus on the critical few. You want to navigate your company, amidst constant change, to its ultimate destination.
In my decades of working with leaders, I have found that the above are symptoms that a leader lacks the capacity to think strategically.
Building leadership courage is not as mysterious as it sounds.
The 90 second video below is worth it’s weight in gold about moving forward with courage … even amidst fear and panic. You can hear the panic and anxiety in this 4th grader (and also notice her feet).
And you may even notice your own anxiety getting triggered and wondering why she would put herself through such an ordeal. Yet, in the end, she not only overcomes her fear. Notice what she says to herself once landing at the bottom.
As a leader, what can you learn from this 4th grader?
In July of this past year, I had the honor of meeting Mike Gustafsen, CEO, Virident Systems Technology with seasoned experience in growth driven companies/divsions at the C-level. His story as part of a panel discussion at a networking event – The Path to the C-Level – left such a strong impression that I asked him for an interview to share his secrets.
In my view, Mike embodies the essence of a great leader – a visionary, strategist, big thinker, leader of leaders, great team and culture builder, global thinker yet down to earth, authentic and the list goes on.
It’s that time of the year! Most business leaders are preparing for an executive off-site to define their company’s future direction for the new year.
Yet, in my 30 years experience of working with leadership teams and companies, the terms “vision,” “mission” and “values” are THE most overused, misunderstood and abused words in the business community today.
Vision statements, mission statements and strategic plans in many companies reduce to mere academic exercises with no real value in driving an organization forward. Why? Let’s take a look.
Why Most Company Visions Get an “F”: The Big 3
Your company’s vision lacks the necessary specificity and inspiration to pull your company forward.
With the new year coming, I asked myself … what wisdom could I provide to help leaders change their game in 2014?
Most leaders’ looming questions during this time are …
• Where do we go from here?
• What can we do to get to the next level?
• What are we not being that we need to be?
• What are we not doing that we need to do?
While there are many classic leadership books that are still relevant today – like Good to Great and 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – and a flooded market of other business books, I wanted to share ….
This past week I have been preparing for a business trip in which I will be working with their leadership team on 4 core areas to drive their compelling future: purpose, vision, identity and culture.
Purpose — different than a company’s mission — is the single most important factor driving intrinsic motivation in companies. When your employees understand and align with THE reason why your business exists … your rallying cause … your contribution to the world that — above all else including salary, bonuses and perks — will catalyze top performance.
One of the best exercises I have seen for uncovering purpose, comes from Daniel Pink’s book, “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us,” called “What’s Your One Sentence?” Watch this 2 minute video from Daniel Pink himself, offering sample “one sentence” purpose statements from grammar school kids to adults.
• Continually searches for an edge in personal performance?
• Gets diminishing returns from your efforts?
• Is fired up totake things to the next level, but doesn’t know how?
For a moment, put aside the stresses of your day and shift your focus from what is to what can be. It’s time to enter a world of new possibilities for yourself and your future. It’s time to play a new Leadership Game.
Imagine …
Photo Credit: David Niblack
• You could be at the top of your mental game with volition
• Instantly elevate yourself into a peak emotional and mental state within minutes
• Fuel your confidence, passion and motivation on a daily basis that moves you to action
What would that do to your leadership performance, success and results in the future?
