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Posts Tagged ‘Communication’

Intentional Leadership Month 9 Wrap-up — Attitude

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 21, 2013| Leave a Comment »

As we get further along into this Intentional Leadership journey, it feels as if I am moving through the months faster and faster. I know, rationally, it isn’t real; each month has the same amount of time (give or take a day depending on which month we are in), but it seems as if we just started this month’s exploration into attitude, and now we are at the end!

I’d like to share this thought from inspirational author and speaker, Charles Swindoll:

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company…a church…a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you…we are in charge of our attitudes. As a leader, embrace the opportunities change gives and lead and grow through it.”

His ending sentiment about the 10 and 90 percents, falls right into line with the yoga program I’ve been doing these past three months. The founder of DDPYoga, Diamond Dallas Page (yes, I’m doing a yoga program developed by a former World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion! And, it’s making a huge difference in my life!), talks about living life at 90% — the 90% that is our choice of how we will react to the 10% of things that happen.

This is also a lesson I teach about being intentional in all areas of our life; mindfully giving consideration to the potential risks, benefits, implications, and consequences of any given action — whether it’s through written or spoken communication or action / behavior. When we are thoughtful about these things, we allow ourself the option of responding (thoughtfully and intentionally) rather than reacting, which is emotional and immediate, and often does not turn out as well as we would prefer.

This feeds right into attitude because, as Swindoll, and so many others before him have said, we get to choose our attitude. When things happen in life, they aren’t inherently good or bad until we assign meaning to them. According to the Law of Polarity, you can’t have a good without there being a bad…so we get to choose.

In closing, this is one of the principles I was fortunate to be asked to teach this week, on how “choosing your attitude” can make a huge difference in how your life experience happens.

The my closing question is, are you ready to take charge of your attitude and take charge of your life? Remember, it doesn’t affect only you…Attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching?

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Intentional Leadership — D5, W2, M9 — Attitude

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 6, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I don’t know about you, but this week seems to have gone by fairly quickly. Yes, I know, some of us had Monday off for the Labor Day holiday, so it makes sense, as the “work week” was shorter than usual…but my days felt as if they went by slowly, so how it’s Friday already is a bit of a mystery to me!

I did accomplish a lot, however; I am caught up with my Maxwell Growth Plan, and have finished re-reading The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth. It really is a great book; in fact, I think I’ll organize another Mastermind Group on this one soon, as there is much to be gained from it, if one is willing to do the work. In reviewing the 15 chapters, here is where I think I’m at:

Laws of Intentionality and Awareness — feeling pretty strong with these two, as they are the two key topics I teach on as the foundation for growth, leadership, better communication, building healthy teams, and greater success and satisfaction in whatever you choose to do with your life.

Law of the Mirror — I used to expect others to add value to, or invest in, me before I did so myself. This may seem like a good plan; in fact, we might think it’s someone else’s responsibility — like maybe our employer’s. Let me tell you, though, if you wait for someone else to value you, you may be waiting a long time. If you set a low price/value on yourself, you can’t expect others to raise it. So, now I am well aware of the value I bring to any situation and I am the first to invest in me.

Law of Reflection — surprisingly, I need to invest more time in this area. I do take time to think and reflect, but not often or long enough, of late. I’ve been feeling a little scattered and overwhelmed. I think it’s for good reason, at some level, as I have access to so much great content to teach, material to learn from (I have no fewer than 45 books on my bookshelf today that I’ve not read, yet, and am in the middle of four books right now), a talented and generous team of mentors and coaches to learn from. I need to spend some quality time in reflection and get myself back on a focused, purposeful path.

Law of Consistency — another area I am working on. I do many of the things I need to do to move myself forward, but not always as consistently as I know I can.

Law of Environment — I am blessed in this area. Being part of the John Maxwell Team, I am surrounded by approximately 2,700 coaches around the globe who share my passion, are also in growth-mode, and are at varying stages of progress in building businesses and serving clients.

Law of Design — another area I’m working on. I have some great systems in place in some areas of my business, but have opportunity to develop and implement a few more that will greatly benefit me.

Law of Pain — managing bad experiences for growth. Have had my share of these, to be sure, and my philosophy is this simple: If I’m still waking up every day, even after something happens that I may have thought was devastating, then clearly I have work to do, so I better learn the lesson and get back at it! I’m not saying it’s easy or painless, but I simply don’t know what else to do!

Law of the Ladder — this one is focused on building one’s character. I’m certainly not perfect. As John Maxwell often says, “Each of us is just one step away from stupid!” I’ve made a number of blunders throughout my life, and I’m sure I’ll make more. I strive to be a person of integrity, honor, and authenticity. I do my best to do it right (with increased self-awareness and intentionality!) the first time, and am quick to acknowledge and make amends for my goofs.

Law of the Rubber Band — I recognize that if I am in a place of no tension, then I am not growing. Rubber bands are useful only when they are stretched, and I am not growing if I am not stretched. I think I’m pretty well in this area.

Law of Trade-offs — one must give up to grow up! I do well here, as well. I’ve traded what many might consider “fun” time (camping, bar-b-ques, outings, etc…) to study, train, coach, teach, read, write, etc…I’ve also invested a lot of money into my growth, especially over the past couple of years, rather than spending it on material things, trips, or even putting it in savings. It’s an investment in me and my future, which I have full confidence will return great dividends over the course of my life.

Law of Curiosity — let’s just say that my level of inquisitiveness has been annoying to some! But I refuse to stop exploring, seeking truth and understanding, and, yes, continuing to ask “why?” until I understand something!

Law of Modeling — finding a model or mentor to learn from. Again, I have the faculty on the John Maxwell Team, John Maxwell, the other 2500 John Maxwell Coaches, a number of gifted authors, and others I actively learn from daily.

Law of Expansion — is about increasing one’s capacity for growth and, in turn, for serving others. This is my calling, my passion, my focus.

Law of Contribution — be a river (let what comes into your life flow thru you to serve others) rather than a reservoir (keeping everything that comes to you only for yourself). Again, my purpose, passion, calling…I seek opportunities daily to pour into others.

So, there’s my assessment of my progress and areas of focus within my growth plan at this point. That may be more than you are interested in, but there it is!

So, on this Friday, I will be meeting some new people whom I anticipate being able to add value to in the areas of communication, conflict resolution, and team-building. I have a coaching session in the afternoon. Then, I will be looking to the weekend. I plan to jump onto a conference call with a number of other coaches who are also teaching the Empowerment Mentoring lesson series to learn more about teaching through story-telling. I have some writing to do, will build in some reflection time, and have some family time.

Of course, there’s the need to look ahead, planning for the week, so I am set up for success when Monday morning comes, and I have a couple of workshops to plan for in the coming weeks.

What about you? How will you spend your weekend?

What and who need your attention?

What do you need to do to nurture yourself?

What could you be doing to prepare yourself for success next week and in the coming weeks?

However you choose to spend your weekend, I hope you make it intentional and with a positive attitude!

“See” you Monday!

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Intentional Leadership — D3, W1, M9 — Attitude

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , on August 28, 2013| 3 Comments »

Today, I encourage you to step outside yourself and spend some time with someone you know who demonstrates a consistently positive attitude. Ask them the following questions:

How has your attitude affected your success in life?

How do you prevent obstacles from discouraging you?

Have you always been so positive, or have you had specific experiences that shaped you into the person I see today?

When you have listened to the person’s responses, smile and thank him or her for taking the time to share with you. Then take some time to reflect on what they shared that might be of value to you as you move through your life.

Take some time with this exercise…jot down the highlights of your conversation, make note of the behaviors and actions you might apply in your life, and set forth a plan to do just that.

For a long time, I had a note on my daily calendar that said, simply: Choose your attitude! It was the first thing I saw every day, and after looking at it first thing in the morning, every day for several years, I no longer need the calendar reminder. This is not to say I am glowingly positive every second of every day, but that awareness is fresh in my mind, and I am much more mindful of the power I have to choose.

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Intentional Leadership — D3, W4, M8 — Change

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 21, 2013| Leave a Comment »

What is the change you need to bring to your team or organization?

What would the benefit be, if you can bring your vision to fruition?

Is it worth the work, investment, and sacrifice?

Spend some time with your team, or appropriate peers, today to cast your vision about the change and get their feedback. Be open to responding to questions, hearing their input, and be willing to fine-tune your vision based on what you receive. Together, create a strategy and implementation plan for moving forward.

Remember, casting a vision is big stuff, and getting all your peers / teammates on the same page may take some time and effort, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t get through it all in one meeting. But, if you don’t start today, when will you?

Write it out:

What change would you like to make?

How will it benefit your team/organization?

What steps do you think you need to make to implement your plan?

Schedule meetings with the people who will be affected and begin to communicate and promote the change. Be sure to let them know what role they will play, and how important they are to the success of your endeavor.

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Intentional Leadership — D1, W4, M8 — Change

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on August 19, 2013| Leave a Comment »

How strong is your self-confidence when it comes to changing the future?

The Steve Jobs movie has just been released. Have you seen it? I have not, yet. However, I think it’s safe to say Steve Jobs is well known as a game-changer in the computing industry to be sure. In fact, he has had tremendous influence over how we work and play…personal computing, iPod, iPad, iPhone, computer animation. Regardless of what some might say about his leadership style, the man had a vision and the drive to move it to reality. And, as a result, the way we live, connect, and interact with a variety of media has been forever changed.

When he was younger, he dreamed of a creating a home computer, but didn’t know how. He persuaded a friend to help him. Together, they created the first compact personal computer. Unfortunately, no one knew about it! They were unknowns, with almost no money and not reputation or credibility in their industry. Jobs sold his Volkswagen to finance Apple Computers. It wasn’t an overnight transformation, but it was a success, and I think most of us know  a lot of the rest of the story.

Are you aware that Jobs was inspired by a calligraphy course he took, and this is why, today, we have so many fonts to choose from with our Apple computers? He didn’t want people’s creativity to be limited to the old, boring, sans-serif fonts…and we benefited from that vision, as well.

Jobs and Wozniak were pioneers in their field. They envisioned change and made it happen. As they began to have some early successes, their confidence grew and they (eventually just Jobs) moved on to bigger challenges, enacting more and more change in how we compute, connect, listen to music, view other kinds of media, and create.

It’s my opinion that Steve Jobs will forever be remembered as a world-renowned leader.

Today, spend some time in reflection — think back to a time when you successfully brought about change. What gave you the courage to move forward?

What did you need to do to stay on track?

How did it give you confidence for other changes in your future?

What can you learn from the experience that will propel you even further in the days, months, and years ahead?

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Intentional Leadership — D3, W3, M8 — Change

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , on August 14, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Have you ever worked in a company that was failing in some way – production, safety, financially? If so, and if the company made it through that crisis, you were likely helped through the transformation by a change agent.

A change agent is someone who sees how things should be – especially in terms of human performance potential and organizational systems – and acts on behalf of the group/company to enact the changes that will make things better.

Sounds simple, right? Simple, yes. Easy, no!

Over the past 5 years, I’ve worked with two companies that were going through significant turn-around processes and both were helped along the way by change agents, although the styles and areas of focus of these individuals were amazingly different, both were effective – at least in the short-term – of turning the business around.

On a more personal level, I have been blessed to have connected with a number of change agents throughout the course of my life; mentors and teachers and coaches, who have offered me the benefit of their experience, wisdom, and insights, which have allowed me to develop a new perspective on my world, potential, and future.

Of course, those were the positive or enjoyable change agent experiences; I’ve had my share of the not-so-delightful ones, as well. But the point is, I’ve learned, stretched, changed, and grown because of them.

What has your experience with change agents been? Today, I encourage you to spend some time in reflection on a specific change agent from your past. What characteristics or qualities did they possess that made them a good change agent? What behaviors did they demonstrate?

Write down your observations in your journal and give some considerations to how you meet the criteria you’ve just outlined.

What are your strengths in this area?

What areas could you be working on to improve your effectiveness as a change agent?

After you’ve thought this through, and written down your thoughts, choose three characteristics and/or behaviors that you could model when you face change today. Write them down on something you can carry with you, and refer to them throughout the day.

At the end of the day, spend a few minutes in reflection with your journal, noting what happened, how you acted, reacted, or responded, and what the outcomes were.

How can you grow from this experience tomorrow?

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Intentional Leadership — D5, W2, M8 — Change

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 9, 2013| Leave a Comment »

So, here we are, at Friday, again, and what an amazing week! Got a lot of things done; isn’t that often the case when we are pressed for time and have a lot to do? I don’t know about you, but if I have only one thing to do in a day, it takes me all day to do it; however, if I have 20 things to do in a day, you can count on me to complete most of them, or at least get them moving in the right direction if it’s not possible to complete them in a day.

But I digress, already! Today, I am in Orlando, Florida, with the John Maxwell Team for a week of training. Not just training, but reconnecting with folks I know, connecting with new members of the team (there are ~2,800 of us, and counting, from 90 countries around the globe!), refreshing some skills, learning from the Masters in the areas of coaching, speaking, leadership, communication philosophy, and Masterminding…exchanging ideas, swapping stories, getting re-energized. It will be another life-changing experience with this amazing group of people. At the end of it, I will be emotionally and spiritually recharged and excited about the future, and most likely, physically exhausted – but in a good way!

So, my weekend is full of connecting, communicating, learning, and putting the principles into practice. I will stay connected with family via email, phone, and text. I will sleep less than normal, but am committed to continuing my yoga practice.

The good news for me, in prepping for next week, is that my agenda has been defined, in many ways, by the JMT with the schedule for our learning while here in Orlando. I will, however, still lead my Empowerment Mentoring class next Tuesday, on Authentic Journaling. I can’t believe we’ve gone through the first 12 weeks of this program already (well, actually 13, as we skipped a week while I was in Guatemala). I will also meet with others engaged in Empowerment Mentoring, and with The Deeper Path Team.

I will spend time with John Maxwell, the Mentors (Paul Martinelli, Scott Fay, Roddy Galbraith, Ed DeCosta, Christian Simpson, and Melissa West), and will meet Nick Vujicic (motivational speaker and author of Life Without Limits), and reconnect with the fabulous Les Brown. What a week!

What are you up to this weekend? What have you planned that will allow you to rest, get required stuff done, nurture relationships, have fun, and set yourself up for success on Monday and in the coming weeks?

As we are focused on Change this month, what changes might you need to make in how you approach and move through your weekends that will better position you to attain what you want in your life?

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Intentional Leadership — D3, W2, M8 — Change

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , on August 7, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Today, I encourage you to focus on change externally.

Who do you know who is facing a significant change in his/her personal or professional life?

What could you do to help this person? Sometimes, it’s as simple as spending time with them and listening; others, help requires taking action of some sort.

As you spend time with this person, and listen to his or her story, could you help them to see the situation from a different angle? As a coach, this is one of the things I do with my participants — help them to see another perspective that might allow them some new insight or ideas they may not have otherwise considered.

You might be able to help them come up with a couple of different solutions, and evaluate them…decide if they need to do something new, stop doing something they currently do that no longer serves them, or maybe even both (Yes! use the tool you learned yesterday — Know, Evaluate, Act/Change).

Who do you know who is facing change?

How much do you know about their situation?

What options are you aware of that they might want to consider when developing a solution or action plan?

Does the situation call for them to start something new, stop something in progress, or some combination of the two?

What is the best thing you could do for this person at this point in their life?

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Intentional Leadership — D3, W4, M7 –Legacy

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 24, 2013| 2 Comments »

You know what’s coming next, don’t you? Now that you have three people identified who share your values and may be capable of carrying on your legacy, it’s time to take action.

Today, meet with one of the people you’d like to invest in and begin to develop an action plan for intentionally developing him/her…think about relationship building, what training and mentoring they might need, what kinds of experiences do they need to have, and how you can instill your vision in them. What steps do you need to take to help them understand your vision and help prepare them to carry on your legacy?

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Intentional Leadership — D5, W1, M7 — Legacy

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , on July 5, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Good morning, and Happy 5th of July! Hope you all enjoyed a marvelous day yesterday, with family, friends, and celebration of all that’s great!

My day, yesterday, was a bit off-track. I had intended to get a lot of work done on my computer, but the internet wasn’t really working. All the signals said it was fine, but it wouldn’t fully load any pages until much later in the evening. Consequently, I got a lot of cleaning done and cut the grass (more like mowing hay!) in my back yard, finishing about 5 minutes before the rain began to come down! Guess it was meant to be how I should spend the day. Got some of the computer work done before bed last night (that’s right — I did not watch any fireworks, although I heard plenty in my neighborhood).

And here we are, at Friday, again!

I have a couple of coaching sessions today, and will have dinner with someone new looking for information about coaching and mentoring. And, I will indulge my love of handmade arts and crafts by attending what I understand to be a large Arts & Crafts fair (large — at least by West Virginia standards; the ones I used to attend in Washington would easily have 400 artisans in attendance, displaying their wares) this afternoon. Hopefully, the rain will hold off until I’m done!

As I typically do on weekends, I will study, write, and prepare the content for the next lesson in my Empowerment Mentoring program: “Attitude.” This is powerful content and I’m having fun with it. I have some errands to run, and some people I need to take the time to reconnect with. I will be meeting with a group of John Maxwell Team Coaches Monday evening, and am planning a trip to visit family later in the month. So, lots to do. And, still trying to catch up on my sleep.

What about you…what are you up to this weekend and in the weeks ahead?

As you know, I encourage those I work with to be intentional — thoughtful about how they spend their time and energy. I hope you are taking this to heart; it makes a tremendous difference in what you are able to accomplish and how you feel about yourself in the process.

I look forward to hearing the stories of what you are up to!

Have a great weekend, and I’ll “see” you Monday!

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