I rarely live the end of my day without some sort of stoic resolution or enlightened epiphany that I can use tomorrow. Much of us live life without motion. I don't mean lack of energy or physical endurance -- rather lack of intellectual motion. Many live in the same routines... wake up, shower, have a cup of coffee and off to work. I'd venture to say, a vast majority of us aren't looking for these intellectual snippets to make today a little bit wiser than yesterday.
If you close your eyes and think about all of those you would consider great... perhaps Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa, John F. Kennedy, Winston Churchill, Socrates, and the list could go on and on. I often ask myself "What allows these greats to stand out among the billions (maybe even trillions) of nameless people who have walked this planet?" Even those who have risen to enormous amounts of money and fame, seem to be forgotten in a few weeks at best.
Yet in literary works -- academic papers, books, and articles, these greats live time and time again. Their lives, words, and actions truly live beyond the spectrum of time. These greats transcend time because they led a life in the aisles of afterthoughts. They possessed a knowledge and understanding for reality far beyond average comprehension. These people didn't live a life of routine; they consistently pushed the boundaries of human imagination... some even died for their convictions.
Tonight, I will close my eyes in a relaxed slumber and rise tomorrow a captor of reflection.
"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." - Winston Churchill
Monday, April 26, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
The Pillars of Success
Dale Carnegie asserted "Success is a journey not a destination."
This idea suggests a moving target. Even those on top of the world still seem to be reaching for success. I view success as being gendered by four key ideas.
Lead - Leadership expert John C. Maxwell can be most commonly quoted "Everything rises and falls on leadership." You can trace the rise and demise of every country, company and civilization to leadership. Being able to connect, inspire, motivate and lead people is the most important pillar of success. I've often challenged audiences to name someone of great success who did so alone. This idea is impossible. Success is a collective effort influenced by great leaders.
Engage - Gone are the ways where leaders can sit in their corner office and effectively lead. In order for a leader to be successful, they must engage with those around them. Autocratic leadership styles lead to resentment, missed leadership opportunities, and degradation of morale. Engagement is a leader’s number one responsibility.
Advise - Ponder a world where the most astute minds kept knowledge to themselves. When you advise others, you are transcending time by passing knowledge from one generation to the next. In the world of infinite technological connections, we often see the world as "fire and forget." E-mail has possibly been the biggest degrader of personable leadership. We hire and fire, propagate, delegate and communicate, through e-mail more now than ever. The movie Up in the Air is a great assessment of how we've lost the human touch.
Delegate - One of the most powerful tools of success. From my observation, many managers, executives, even CEOs don't know how to delegate properly. In a dog eat dog world, our economy has caused our minds to enter a dementia of self preservation. Many are willing to do whatever it takes to keep their jobs, status quo, and personal priorities in check. And many are not willing to put work in the hands of others. Some are even willing to trade their personal integrity to manipulate perception. Understanding the importance of delegation is an entire blog in itself.
The pillars of success, Lead, Engage, Advise, and Delegate can be easily remembered by the acronym LEAD. Ironically, leadership is the most important aspect of success. In order to succeed, master the four pillars of success. Always remember, success is a journey not a destination.
This idea suggests a moving target. Even those on top of the world still seem to be reaching for success. I view success as being gendered by four key ideas.
Lead - Leadership expert John C. Maxwell can be most commonly quoted "Everything rises and falls on leadership." You can trace the rise and demise of every country, company and civilization to leadership. Being able to connect, inspire, motivate and lead people is the most important pillar of success. I've often challenged audiences to name someone of great success who did so alone. This idea is impossible. Success is a collective effort influenced by great leaders.
Engage - Gone are the ways where leaders can sit in their corner office and effectively lead. In order for a leader to be successful, they must engage with those around them. Autocratic leadership styles lead to resentment, missed leadership opportunities, and degradation of morale. Engagement is a leader’s number one responsibility.
Advise - Ponder a world where the most astute minds kept knowledge to themselves. When you advise others, you are transcending time by passing knowledge from one generation to the next. In the world of infinite technological connections, we often see the world as "fire and forget." E-mail has possibly been the biggest degrader of personable leadership. We hire and fire, propagate, delegate and communicate, through e-mail more now than ever. The movie Up in the Air is a great assessment of how we've lost the human touch.
Delegate - One of the most powerful tools of success. From my observation, many managers, executives, even CEOs don't know how to delegate properly. In a dog eat dog world, our economy has caused our minds to enter a dementia of self preservation. Many are willing to do whatever it takes to keep their jobs, status quo, and personal priorities in check. And many are not willing to put work in the hands of others. Some are even willing to trade their personal integrity to manipulate perception. Understanding the importance of delegation is an entire blog in itself.
The pillars of success, Lead, Engage, Advise, and Delegate can be easily remembered by the acronym LEAD. Ironically, leadership is the most important aspect of success. In order to succeed, master the four pillars of success. Always remember, success is a journey not a destination.
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