Lead a vivid life that does good
I wonder sometimes if I don’t over complicate leadership.
Maybe the most important, most necessary, most essential attributes of a leader could be summed up in these two ideas;
Communicating Stunningly
to
Implement the Future.
Maybe these two ideas are all that leadership is!
The problems arise when you try to explain what these ideas really mean. At this point you need a whole set of attributes for each of these ideas and lose the overarching ideas themselves.
A hundred years from now it will not matter
What your bank account was,
The sort of house you I lived in
Or the kind of car you drove
But the world may be different
Because you were important in the life of a child'– Anon
– What was our intent?
– What actually happened?
– Why did that happen?
– What can we learn from those events?
– What actions should we take now in prepartion for the future, similar events?
Extraordinary leader pg 218
I’m reading a book at the moment by an Author that I respect and who’s books I have enjoyed a lot in the past.
In this current book he takes about one paragraph to have a go at authors (generally) who promote routine feeding of babies and wraps it some psycho stuff about a baby needing love not enforced routine.
I immediately start to write off the author. I start to think, “what would he know”, “psychological rubbish”. I stop reading.
Stop hearing his message.
I don’t take it in.
All because of one paragraph in a book of 300 pages.
As I considered this tonight on slow drive home from Auckland Airport I realised this: I am writing him off because by attacking these authors, he is actually attacking me.
I stop listening because he has said something is wrong with something I have done.
Something that has worked for me.
Something I believe in.
Just 1 paragraph which is not the theme of the book, just his option, and he is written off (well almost).
Interestingly, I am sure I do this to people all the time in conversation. Have a dig at a world view that a someone they respect has communicated and by attacking the world view, I attack the person I am talking to.
I attack their belief.
They stop listening.
…
I am not sure I can stop having an opinion but it is worth thinking about.
There I was waiting. Killing time, hanging around for my appointed time at the doctors. Having parked myself on a padded bench seat not much more comfortable than an old church pew I search for something to read.
I flick through a readers Digest (June 2007) and discover an article about the most trust New Zealanders and Brands.
Top Brand is Cadbury, which is interesting because unlike Whitakers they don’t make “good honest chocolate”. In the bottom slot at number 25 was Palmolive. A couple brands of interest to me are New Zealand Post at #14 (a number I am sure they would like to improve), and Farmers at #24 (which actually really surprises me given their history).
Anyway the #1 most trusted person in NZ in June 2007 was …#1 Sir Ed (No surprise). He rates above Sir Peter Snell (#4), Queen Elizabeth (#19), Sam Morgan (#30), Helen Clarke (#58 ironically the most trust politician), Matthew Ridge (#71).
Now of the 75 people who were on the list, who do you think is at number #75? None other than Bishop Brian Tamaki.
Yip.
Want to say more but wont.
Makes you think a little about what it is that make people trust you or your brand.
I think words like consistent, authentic, connected, reliable and considerate would come to most people’s minds.
These are words that normal kiwi’s don’t associate with politicians or Palmolive or Brian Tamaki.
I am sure they all think they are trustworthy its just people don’t believe them.
If people don't believe your message. They dont trust you.
Initiative
You probably hear this word quite often in statements like “oh that person doesn’t show any initiative”. Often I find the term is used in relation to how a person thinks, but the word actually means to “initiate action”.
Dictionary.com describes it like this
–noun
1. an introductory act or step; leading action: to take the initiative in making friends.
2. readiness and ability in initiating action; enterprise: to lack initiative.
3. one's personal, responsible decision: to act on one's own initiative.
The more I think about it the more it makes sense. In most cases it is not that people do not know what to do, or what to try. They normally at least have an idea.
They just have no desire to take action. Or just do nothing.
They don't act!
So Take Action.
Today.
Show initiative.
Love, desire, motivation, inspiration, and passion are in the final analysis the greatest differences between good leaders and great leaders.
– The Extraordinary Leader pg 136
Sir Ed was a hero of mine and I don’t use that word lightly.
Obviously because he climbed Everest and was an amazing adventurer, and fiercely competitive.
Of course it was because of the work he did in Nepal, building schools, hospitals and medical centres.
But what made him a hero the most to me was his typical bloke authenticity. He had some really dark patches in his life and admitted them. He was open about how he lacked self confidence in his earlier years.
And finally he was a reminder that we can achieve our goals with a intense determination, team work, a bit of cunning and hard work.
Sir Ed is a man I have never met, but greatly admire. I shed a tear when I heard of his passing.
He will be missed by his family, country and the people he helped.
He was a true hero.
An Adventurer
Authentic.
A friend of mine has a new toy. It is a Lama V4 remote controlled Helicopter. He is seriously addicted and now so I am I.
I wish I had known about these before Christmas. I mean if I had a Lema V4 my life I think would be all but complete. Seriously, what more could I want. Really?
It is interesting to me that so many of our wants revolve around “if”.
If I just had …
If only …
If …
I am drawn to these toys, the same way I can be drawn to many other things. It is almost as though I have fondness to whatever the “if” is. As though by not having this thing, I miss out. I am deprived of some great pleasure.
In reality of course by not having a Lama V4 I miss out on little (Or a lot depending on your world view). But I actually have everything I need.
What I am really trying to say is this: “If” can be a dangerous word.
Footnote: I did $65 dollars damage to his Lama the first time I flew it. I could have flown to Tauranga in a real plane for that price.
Disclaimer: Nothing in this post should be read to indicate that I will never buy a RC Helicopter. As I said I am now addicted and that may be the theme for another post.
It was a beautiful evening and I left Auckland amongst the heavy Friday traffic and made a bee line for Tauranga. Well actually it wasn’t so much a bee line as a zigzag. Nevertheless I head south and choose my route carefully, using my local knowledge to the best of my advantage to reduce precious minutes from my driving time.
Everything was going well, traffic was busy but flowing and I soon found myself heading down the Kaimai’s into my home town and the picturesque Bay of Plenty. Suddenly the display on my dash popped up a message I had not seen before. It was a picture of a tree with a picnic table underneath it. Below the picture the words “Rest Reminder” appeared. A rest reminder built into a car. Handy.
I was thinking, sometimes it would be great if we could get those reminders in life. You know when you are moving at 100 mph, when even a good nights sleep doesn’t bring rest. Wouldn’t it be handy if a display popped up and said hey you need to rest.
Really REST.
Resting is more than having a sleep in or taking it easy for a day or not going to work.
You can do all these things and still have a million things or worries or uncertainties in your mind. You can take a rest physically and yet not rest mentally or spiritually.
What if really resting means something more than just having a break.
So if we have burdens and baggage, if we have been toiling and labouring hard, if we have a million thoughts and worries running around in our heads, if we have been trying hard on our own to be nice rather than naughty.
Jesus has something really profound to say to us who are like this.
He said “Come to me”, and
“I will give you rest”.
I know he means real rest. Rest mentally, spiritually even though you may not be physically resting. Rest for our souls.
After the reminder popped up on my dash, I pressed cancel and kept driving. Ironically for me physical rest leads to mental rest, leads to spiritual rest. Quite often I press cancel part way through this journey and just keep going.
So rest this Christmas. Rest physically. Rest mentally. Rest spiritually.
Rest!
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