Colleagues, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” -The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 1957 We live in a time when both corporations and individuals are rewarded for eliciting emotions. Emotions keep us engaged, so individuals seeking notoriety or trying to monetize their content, and corporations who make money every time we click a link, or every second we stay on a page, have strong motivations to keep our emotions engaged.
Unfortunately, the easiest emotions to tap into are fear and anger. In this environment, it can be hard to take a breath, to step back, and to remember that we all have common cause. We all want to feel safe, and yet have freedom to choose. We want to be able to feed and house our loved ones and ourselves. We want to see ourselves and our values reflected in the society we live in. And we want a better world for those who come after us. Obviously, there is much disagreement about how to achieve those things. If we can remain respectful… If we can listen… If we can see ourselves in the eyes of each other… Then we have a chance to find the path forward, and to get there together. One of the definitions of leadership is influence. As leaders, we have influence. The most marvelous thing is that we get to choose how we use that influence. My hope for each of us is that we can find the courage and faith to model a positive path forward. Happy Martin Luther King Day. Cheers! Frederick
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Colleagues, Yesterday we looked at identifying one word to help focus you on an area of growth. Several friends and colleagues of Pam and I have identified their one words and our talented friend Dr. Lisa Bloom has captured peoples words in the remarkable drawing below. Take a few minutes to study the drawing and reflect on each person’s word. What resonates with you? What questions do you have? Do you see yourself here? You have worked hard this week. Please take care of yourself this weekend. Slow down, breath, and laugh!
Cheers! Frederick Colleagues, Confession: this is my favorite one! Strategy 5: Use one word Even when we set goals and identify strategies, it can be hard to consistently focus. We get stuck in quadrants 1 and 3 and it’s hard to take time to move into Quadrant 2. What we need is a trigger, and that’s what one word is all about. Capturing our focus area in one word makes it stickier, easier to recall, and harder to forget. Here are a couple of examples: Your one word can be a literal reminder (succinct, lead) or a symbolic reminder (lighthouse).
With one word, you can capture your goal, your strategies, and even the emotion of your focus. One word becomes the trigger for your actions. So, what’s your one word? Cheers! Frederick Colleagues,
Strategy 4: Focus on improving one thing at a time We all have weaknesses, but it is difficult to focus on improving more than one thing at a time. Choosing just one thing can be challenging because most of us have multiple areas in which we can grow. However, trying to tackle more than one area often dilutes our efforts. Chances are that you have less than an hour a week to devote to your personal growth, so maximizing that time is essential. So, what to choose? Here are a couple of questions that can help:
Some examples:
Cheers! Frederick Colelagues,
Yesterday we looked at the third strategy for growing your leadership, being aware of your strengths and weaknesses. I suggested that a good way to do this was to list out the things that went well and didn’t go well, identify what you did that impacted them, and then identify the knowledge and skills that supported your actions. Today let’s look more specifically at a strength. Just as we all have weaknesses, we all have strengths. One fun way to think about strengths is to think about them as superpowers. Most leaders have at least one thing that they are really good at. That thing is your superpower. Most of us are guilty of focusing on our weaknesses, and we need to do better at leveraging our strengths. Thinking about your superpower makes it more likely that you will use it. Think about a couple of leaders that you really admire.
Now, turn these questions on yourself. You can pretend to be someone else, or you can actually ask someone else. Whichever way you go, you’ll come up with your leadership superpower. I’m really interested in what you come up with, so please consider sharing by clicking here. Cheers! Frederick |
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