What enables leaders to be great?

What enables great leaders to better manage stress,
create sound work-life balance and
more fully enjoy their career and their lives? 

Which personality trait is most important to inspire others to act?  

Which style of leadership will enable you to be most successful?

Join me in January for the 1st session of the Think BIG! Book Club. We will answer these questions in our discussions about our first featured book, Energy Leadership by Bruce D Schneider.

The Think BIG! Book Club is an ongoing study of various business and key issue books that enables the participant to more effectively meet current needs and gain expertise in areas of interest.  The registration cost of $49 for this first session includes a minimum of 3 -60 minute review calls with other club members; the book "Energy Leadership"; plus study questions, key forms and other related materials to make the learning experience vital and also fun.

Click here to Learn More and Register

A story is told of a father and his son who went fishing. The father spent the first 30 minutes rigging the lines and baiting the hooks. By the time he was ready to begin fishing, his son had put down his pole and started munching on doughnuts as he played in the water.   

Rather than taking time to rig his own pole, the father picked up his son’s and began casting. Time passed when suddenly the father had a strike. It was the biggest small-mouth bass he’d ever hooked. When they calmed down after netting the prize, they measured the fish at 21 inches and 6 pounds. The son yelled, “Dad, how come you catch all the fish?”  “Well,” the father replied, “I guess because I keep my line in the water. You can’t catch fish eating doughnuts!”

This story is a great lesson for anyone. Success is 90% hanging in there when others decide to “…go eat doughnuts.”  Just as billionaire businessman H. Ross Perot once said, “Most people give up just when they’re about to achieve success, they give up at the last minute of the game, one foot from a winning touchdown.”  Maintaining that persistence will certainly pay off in the long run.  

How do you avoid falling into the “doughnut trap”?  Here are 3 quick keys to help you maintain your perseverance and gain a win in the long run:

1. Have a clear objective in mind.  When you pack the car with what you need for the week and load up the family for the annual vacation, you have a clear objective in mind. The objective is to enjoy the week and the location you have chosen and to build that family bonding so vital for lifelong support. You know where you are going, what you will most likely have to pay and quite possibly activities you will be doing.  You don’t do all the packing and load up the family and just start driving away with no where to go and nothing to do. The latter is certain to prove disastrous. Clear objectives enable you to endure the 20 bathroom stops, the untimely smell of fast food from the back seat, the 6 sibling disagreements and the countless less than courteous drivers you will encounter on your journey. In essence, those clear objectives will make the trip ultimately worthwhile.
2. Take the time to keep your saw sharp. When you have home projects that demand building some item or altering another, it is very important that your saws be sharp. It takes so much longer to cut a board with a dull saw than it does when the saw has been sharpened so that it is at its pinnacle in providing cutting value.  Thus being at the best you can be and insuring any and all accessories you may need are also at their best will enable you to have your mental and physical assets working for your maximum benefit. Whether that “best” be a command of patience, accepting responsibility, having the proper tools or even building an effective support team, making time to have each item or avenue up-to-date can be the difference between success or setback.
3. Take action. There is an old saying which conveys, “I will listen to what you say, but watch what you do.”  It is true that actions do speak louder than words. You can have the clearest of objectives and the most up-to-date tools and knowledge possible; but, if you do not take action and utilize what you have available, it is all wasted. Hoping does not make things happen and as automobile pioneer Henry Ford once said, “You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.”  So, you have to sit the doughnuts down and “cast your line in the water” so that you might have the opportunity to gain the catch you need. Initiating action is what will get you closer to your goal.  

It was said that “Rome was not built in a day.”  Its development demanded clear objectives; keen preparation; and, unbridled action coupled with patience, persistence, accountability and focus. To catch a record fish or to accomplish a challenging objective, you have to remain resolved in your effort. That means you must lay aside the doughnuts, the impatience and other distractions and remain relentless in your quest to achieve the results you desire.  In doing so, you leave nothing to chance and will place yourself in a better position to “…catch all the fish."