Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Consequences’

The Birthday Fight — a story of perseverance!

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , , on June 4, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Folks: As you know, this month I am writing about perseverance, and while updating my Facebook page today, I came across this story from my friend and accountant, Rebecca Dimit. It struck me immediately as a tale of perseverance in many aspects. I asked her for permission to share it with you, and she graciously agreed. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

“For the past few months, my three year old son, JJ, has been planning (on his own) a suprise birthday fight for my dad’s birthday. So we decided to make the party a suprise also. In April, JJ loaded up a bag of toy weapons and took them to my parents for the fight. He has been very persistant about it. He decided it would be boys against girls. He even planned out who would have what weapon.  He was so excited when the day had finally arrived!  Apparently, JJ had inherited some of Dad’s vision and ability to plan details and patiently wait for things to fall into place.

My sister from NC was here with her 3 babies (3 and under) and my brother and I and our families and several of dad’s closest friends and family where in attendance at the birthday party that evening. We grilled out on the grill Dad LOVED and ate dinner outside (something Dad enjoyed so much).  After the meal, JJ ran inside to get the small arsenal of weapons he had collected and began distributing them. Even my baby neice, Claire, (almost 2) had a small plastic dagger to hold while on my hip. My mom played Scotland the Brave on the bagpipes. I lead the girls team from around the house running and shouting “Charge.” Mom continued to play while we “fought” with toy guns, swords, bow and arrows, baseball bats, etc to the beautiful ancient war music.  It was the most fun and fabulous birthday fight I have ever seen. After the battle, we had a moment of silence, then mom played Amazing Grace for the wounded.  Dad thought it was hilarious. 🙂  We got some video and great pictures of Dad with the family.

Later that night, we got all the kids to go to sleep and my sibilings and I sat around the kitchen table talking and laughing.  Mom finally wore out and went upstairs to bed at midnight.  She passed Dad in the hallway, they kissed.  He patted her on the butt (as he often did).  Then he sat down at the computer and Mom went to bed.  A few minutes later he had the stroke.  The last thing he heard was the laughter of his children and the sweet silence of knowing that we were all there in the house safe, happy, and loved.

He died quickly and practically painlessly.  My Dad had amazing vision and planned out every detail of everything.  He couldn’t have arranged a more perfect time for death. God arranged every detail perfectly.  Dad never gave up a fight.  He taught me to fight with determination and faith.  He was one of my closest friends and valued advisors, when I wanted to complete my college degree in less than the traditional length of time, he showed me how to obtain special permission to take more credit hours than the college allowed (after being denied by a few school officials) by encouraging to me keep fighting it until I got what I wanted.  He never stopped encouraging me to take the CPA exam and in the 13 years of that journey, he was the only one who told me not to give up on my dream.  He knew I could do it and I never would have if it weren’t for my Dad.

I respect my Dad and am so proud of him and his life.  He was anxiously anticipating his retirement. He had accomplished almost everything he set out to do for his life and was finally ready to rest.  In my soul, I  know that Dad is enjoying the best retirement ever now.  He didn’t get to buy the sports car he always wanted, instead he can soar through the clouds.  He didn’t get to travel the world with mom, instead he got to see the moon and stars.  He didn’t get to build his dream house, instead he is living in a mansion far more perfect and wonderful than he could have ever imagined.  He didn’t get the state position he often mentioned he wanted, instead he is now in kahoots with the very top dog.  I know Dad is in Heaven anticipating the arrival of each of us.  If he could talk to us, he would encourage us to keep fighting and never give up.  II Timothy 4:7-8 says, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:  Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day…”  Wednesday, June 8’th, Dad finished his fight.  Even in his death he will be helping other people.  What more could a person ask for in death?

My six year old daughter, Lacey was sad at first, but yesterday she woke up and said with a big smile that she wasn’t sad anymore. She was so excited that Poppie was up in Heaven walking around with Jesus. 🙂  My neice Kylee had a similar reaction. Throughout their childhood, both the girls and JJ have been told often about how wonderful Heaven is with beautiful dresses, crowns, and castles. I wanted to nurture the beautiful image of Heaven and make it something they could anticipate in such an event as this.

I appreciate each of Dad’s friends and family so much and the love and support you have offered us during this time of grief. Thank you for your prayers, thoughts, and sympathy. We will need them over the years. We are a very close family so the pain is deep, but also, we have each other to lean on during this time and above all we have the comfort of knowing that Dad is finally getting the rest he has worked so hard for all his life.”

Thank you, Rebecca, for sharing your story with all of us!

Read Full Post »

Intentional Leadership — D2, W1, M6 — Perseverance

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , on June 4, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Story telling is a powerful way to teach lessons and learn from others. Think about some of your favorite movies…are there some on your list that are about people who persevered against sometimes unimaginable odds or the story of an athlete who overcame extreme difficulties to excel. Aren’t these the stories that grab at your heart strings and pull you in?

How about the story of Nick Vujicic? Born with a rare disorder characterized by the absence of all four limbs, Nick is an internationally known motivational speaker; clearly undaunted by what most of us would consider impossible odds.

When we see, hear, or read these stories, we cheer the people on and want them to succeed.

What story of perseverance comes to mind for you? Why do you remember it?

What makes stories of perseverance memorable?

Why do we find it hard to believe that we can succeed?

This question reminds me of a comment one of my mentors, Paul Martinelli, made last February during a teaching about reaching for our dreams. He said, “I believed it was possible for all of you…but not for me.” Why do we believe it’s possible for others to overcome the obstacles and beat the odds, but not for ourselves?

Describe a time when you persevered? What was the outcome? What was your reward?

I would love to hear your story!

Read Full Post »

Intentional Leadership — D1, W1, M6 — Perseverance

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , on June 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Are you familiar with the story of Theodor Geisel? He was a writer and illustrator. Many years ago, having written and illustrated what he thought was a very clever children’s book, he set off to find a publisher. Filled with enthusiasm, he went to the publishing houses to share his work, confident one of them would love it as much as he did and agree to publish it. One-by-one he went; and one-by-one, 27 publishing houses rejected the book — 27 rejections!

Feeling quite dejected, and understandably so, following his last publishing house rejection, Geisel bumped into a friend who happened to work for Vanguard Press. He explained to his friend what had happened. He even threatened to go home and burn the manuscript! We have no way of knowing what motivated his friend — pity or true support of Geisel’s work — to take up the cause of getting the book published, but he did get the book to press. Soon after, Geisel’s first children’s book, And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street, was published under the author’s pen name: Dr. Seuss!

By the time he passed in 1991, Geisel had written more than 60 books as Dr. Seuss; selling more than half a billion copies around the globe, his stories changed the way we thought about and measured children’s stories. Imagine what we would have missed, had Geisel not bumped into his friend that day…if he had gone home and burned the manuscript. What if he had given up after the first, tenth, or even 20th rejection?

His story is just one great example of perseverance and the rewards we may reap if we persist. As a leader, you will encounter multiple (and sometimes inexplicable!) sources of resistance to your initiatives and ideas. You will experience times when you doubt your abilities. You will be tempted to quit. But know this: If you press on and pick yourself up after you stumble and continue to press forward, your influence may extend farther than you ever dreamed.

For today, ask yourself this: What motivates me to keep going when I encounter obstacles?

Read Full Post »

Intentional Leadership — D4, W4, M5 — Passion

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 30, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Let’s look into the future. Imagine what your life will be like five years from today.

How old will you be? Where do you envision yourself? What will you be doing in your life? What kind of people will be around you?

Today, give some thought to what would happen if you actively pursued your passion — daily, starting today — for the next five years. How would that impact you, your life, and the lives of those around you?

Now, give some thought to what will happen if you allow your passion to dim and fade away. What will your life, and the lives of those around you, be like in five years?

Which scenario do you prefer?

Now, what will you do about it?

As they say, the best time to plant a shade tree is 50 years ago; the second best time is today. If you are truly passionate about something, don’t wait to get starting…time is slipping past and each minute that goes by will never come again!

Read Full Post »

Intentional Leadership — D1, W3, M5 — Passion

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »

How are you doing this month, with clarifying your passion?

I want to tell you a story. One you may already be familiar with, perhaps…but maybe not some of the details.

I daresay we are all familiar with Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook. He had a passion for connecting people, and his passion carried him down an unknown road, many years ago. He was studying at Harvard, but decided to end his college education to pursue his dream…a budding on-line social network. He moved to California, lived in dingy apartments with his friends/co-founders, and worked at engineering Facebook, essentially penniless!

As you know, the web site took off at full throttle and grew by leaps and bounds. Zuckerberg and his friends worked hard to keep up with its growth.

As Facebook blossomed, it began to attract attention; a lot of attention! In fact, Yahoo! offered Zuckerberg $1 Billion (yes, that’s a “B” not an “M”!) to buy his site, he said, “No.” To many of us, that response might seem inexplicable. What could he possibly be thinking? A billion dollars is an enormous amount of money; more than most people ever even dream of, let alone possess. So, why would he turn down the offer?

Simple…Passion. Mark Zuckerberg is passionate about connecting people; he believes when people connect something powerful happens and he wanted to continue to help facilitate those connections.

While one may argue over how Facebook is designed and operated, some in favor and some against, it’s hard to argue that the company hasn’t been successful. And it’s beyond reason, at least to me, that something could be that successful without some passionate person (or persons) driving it forward.

Passion is the driving force behind life’s fulfillment. Thus, passion must be exercised and nurtured. During the course of your leadership journey, will be tempted along the way — and probably more than once — to sell out for comfort or security (or a number of other reasons). I urge you to not settle for less than the full extent of your dreams.

Take a few minutes today to reflect on a time when you were tempted to give up on your dreams. What happened? What did you do to keep your dreams alive?

You see, I believe you did not succumb to the temptation; if you had, you wouldn’t be here, today, reading my blog or other blogs exploring similar topics.

Who supports you and cheers you on as you chase after the desires of your heart?

What else do you need to keep your passion alive?

Read Full Post »

Intentional Leadership — D4, W2, M5 — Passion

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , on May 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Spend some time with your journal today and write about the power of passion and how it could lead to trouble if it is not guided by principles.

What are the dangers?

How could something near to your heart hurt you and others?

How can you prevent this from happening?

Read Full Post »

Differences in Passion

Posted in Food for Thought, tagged , , , , , , , on May 15, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I spent some time reflecting on today’s blog post about a time when someone disagreed with something I am passionate about. I can say this has actually happened to me many times throughout the course of my career.

As you will have figured out by reading anything on my web site, any blog post, I am passionate about developing myself and others. I typically think of the impacts on people when I’m working with change, decision making, etc. And over the course of my career, working in the corporate world including many manufacturing companies, I was usually in the minority with respect to my focus and perspective. It put me in the position of often presenting an opposing view in an arena full of financial people, manufacturing/operations people, engineers, and production workers.

You see, I believe if we invest in people — take good care of them — they will take great care of our businesses. Engaged employees are more productive, more reliable, more creative, more loyal. But often times, companies don’t devise good measures for those attributes, can’t see how it impacts the bottom line.

In addition, I consider that in any endeavor, I am exchanging my time and life energy for something else, as are all the other people on this planet. For me, that exchange better be fulfilling, better be worth it. I know I make some people uncomfortable when I talk about it this way. A lot of people I am in contact with in work situations are just there for the paycheck, putting in their time, wanting to get out to get to their “real life.” I don’t want to live that way. I want meaning in my life, deep connections, the opportunity to add value and make a difference; I want my time and energy to matter.

I was once working with a group of people (not a “team” by my definition) who demonstrated a lot of behaviors I would consider unproductive, unhealthy, and in direct conflict with what they said they were there to do, which was work as a team. Communication was not flowing smoothly. Trust issues were evident and talked about frequently inside and outside the group — but never between the specific individuals involved in the situations being discussed. Processes weren’t followed consistently. They didn’t have a “lessons learned” process for evaluating job evolutions so they could learn from what went well and what didn’t and apply it to future work.

I offered to facilitate some team building for them; as my passion would direct me to, I wanted them to have a healthier environment to work in, better relationships with each other, the ability to have those uncomfortable, difficult, but necessary conversations, to perform at a higher level. I could envision a better culture, actual team work…They weren’t interested. Thought what I had to offer was fluff! In fact, they believed they had a healthy functional team and everything was fine.

I didn’t take it personally. I understand not everyone shares my perspective and my passion. Can I say it didn’t affect our working relationship? I don’t think so. Although, I will say I was less tolerant of listening to some of the issues they wanted to discuss about how others on their “team” were behaving. You see, if there’s an issue that’s disruptive enough to cause you to spend time thinking and talking (complaining) about it but you choose to not do anything to change it, that’s your choice.

My choice is to focus on what I can influence and effect positive change when I need it in my life, my team, my environment.

What about you?

Read Full Post »

Intentional Leadership — D3, W2, M5 — Passion

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 15, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Passion is powerful; we all know that. And it can be a force for good or a force for … well, not so good! The same passion that can make you the best in your field can also result in an insufferable ego! Often times, when we are really passionate about something, we can be easily offended when someone disagrees with us or offers a different perspective on the topic.

I can say, humbly — I hope, this has happened to me. I strive to be more self-aware, however, and understand that it’s ok for others to have another perspective and that they don’t necessarily share my passion.

Today, think of someone who may have offended you as they touched upon your passion. Starting today, take a step to repair that relationship. One of the most profound ways to keep passion grounded on principle is through humility.

Pick one of these options to start the healing / forgiveness process today:

1. Contact the person and begin reconnecting. Before you take this step, however, it’s important that you forgive them and approach the connection with an open heart.

2. Write the person a note and mail it today! Acknowledge your part in whatever happened and ask them for their forgiveness; tell them you value the relationship and want to repair it. As you drop the note into the outgoing mail box, tell yourself that you forgive them for their part. Truly let go of the conflict as you release the letter.

3. Speak with the person today. Let them know you need to ask their forgiveness for being upset with them. Let them know you may not have understood the full situation, allowed yourself to become upset and held it against them. End the conversation with this simple question: “Will you forgive me?”

Which one will you choose?

I can say from experience, there’s something very liberating in this process. It may not always end with the relationship repaired and things between you back the way they were…but you will feel better for owning your part, for making the move to begin the healing process, and for having some closure of the situation.

Read Full Post »

Intentional Leadership — D2, W2, M5 — Passion

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

Who have you encountered on your journey who was clearly passionate about something, but whose passion and success was ruined by lack of principles. Who was this person?

What was he/she passionate about?

What happened to them?

What other consequences were there associated with their lack of principle?

What do you think led to that person’s downfall?

Now, make a 180-degree turn, and consider someone who was passionate and succeeded because they lived their passion through principle. Who was this person?

What was he/she passionate about?

What principles did they use as their foundation?

What impact did they have because of their passion?

What factors do you think led them to be able to successfully live out their passion?

What consequences were there associated with their principled behaviors?

How do these insights apply to you and your behavior as a leader living out your passion?

Read Full Post »

Intentional Leadership — D1, W2, M5 — Passion

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , on May 13, 2013| Leave a Comment »

What happens when passion is incongruent with principles?

Surely, any of us could recount numerous tales of leaders passionate about what they did, but were unprincipled in how they pursued their passion.

Consider Benedict Arnold. He was a general in the Revolutionary Army, and a distinguished general, at that. He was bold, daring, and creative. He earned the admiration of his fellow soldiers and countrymen. At one time, he was clearly a hero…especially in consideration of his performance at the Battle of Saratoga, widely regarded as the turning point in the War of American Independence.

Unfortunately, his drive was not supported by strong values. He was an egomaniac, needing the admiration, attention, and recognition of others, he was more focused on personal gain that on the welfare of his country. When he began to feel under-appreciated by his peers, he turned his attention to the British and conspired against the Americans. He went so far as to develop a wretched plot to surrender a strategic fort at West Point to the enemy. Fortunately, the plot was foiled.

He fled to the British side and died unceremoniously in England, known as America’s most notorious traitor.

What is the motivation behind your passion?

What drives you to be a leader?

How strong are the values that form your foundation?

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »