Success is a reflection of your commitment to excellence. And this is certainly the kind of year for reflection.
As the young lion looks at his reflection in the river, a rumbling voice from the heavens bellows, "Look inside yourself, Simba. You are more than you have become." It is the voice of Mufasa talking to his son in The Lion King. Remember that?
Just as water reflects your image as you gaze into it, when you look inside yourself, you see who you really are – personal reflection is an internal mirror.
As I reflected on the life of our family dog, Sparky, I was struck by his gold standard of reliability.
Before Sparky went to doggy Heaven, he greeted me at home every time I walked in the door for 14 years. To put that into perspective, that’s 20,000+ times without failure! The same greeting, the same panting with excitement, the same wagging tail. He was as reliable as, well, a dog.
So, it made me think about my own human reliability:
How do I motivate my team, my kids, my spouse, my anyone?
It’s an age-old question with a myriad of different answers... too many to even summarize here.
So, in our information overloaded world, let me boil it down to this. If you want to motivate, then appreciate. We do more for those who appreciate us.
The two most powerful words for any leader, parent, teacher or colleague are "Thank You!" We added the exclamation point to make sure we really mean it when we say it.
Life is a game of inches - the six inches between your ears. You must get your mind right before you get your team right.
Leadership is an inside job. It starts with your personal leadership which is the awareness and intentional use of your thoughts, words and actions to get the best from yourself and others.
Equip and encourage your team to build a positive mindset and actions in times like these.
We have all experienced the limiting effects of this pandemic on buinesses, schools, recreational activities, entertainment, and social gatherings. As a result, we have lost many daily human interactions and connections.
We are social animals. Connecting with and helping one another is wired deeply in our brains.
Leadership is an inside job. We must lead ourselves to a higher level before we can inspire extraordinary results from our team. We cannot lead where we dare not go. We cannot credibly ask others to pursue team excellence if we do not pursue personal excellence.
Great leadership requires skill and character. Our character is, at the core, personal leadership. Personal leadership is awareness and intentional use of our mindset, emotions, priorities, values and self-talk to have a positive impact on others.
