Uncomfortable in Your Leadership Role?

"It's hard to lead a cavalry charge if you think you look funny on a horse." - Adlai E. Stevenson II

The best leaders are not the people seeking to grow their power; they are the people seeking to empower growth.

Those who possess this quality often attract unexpected leadership opportunities into their lives...

despite their belief that they would “look funny on a horse”.

It’s okay if ‘leading’ is a role that doesn't come naturally to you.

You might be expecting me to launch into a “fake it ‘til you make it” speech.

Instead, my call to action is to just be yourself.

When you are leading a cavalry charge – a really big and important charge,  your best ally is you.

Your authenticity.

Your belief in the mission.

Stop putting so much stock in what other people think.

So what if you look funny on a horse?!

The best way to become a better rider is to saddle up and enjoy the ride!

Work Up the Nerve to Play

When did work and play become such epic rivals?

It’s not a competition.

Don’t get me wrong, working hard can be very rewarding! And playing hard is its own kind of fun...

It’s just not a matter of 'either/or'.

What am I playing at? I’m working up to it…

We can still be taken seriously without having to take ourselves so seriously.

How?

One small grammatical shift can allow a huge change to occur in our personal and professional lives.

Right now we treat both ‘work’ and ‘play’ like two verbs in competition for our actions.

However, in terms of the way we actually live our lives…work is a noun! It’s  a thing!…a very important  thing that we all want and deserve to enjoy!

Look at all the other things you love in your life: your children, your pets, your partner, your hobbies...

Don’t you enjoy them and show them your love by engaging in play?

Why would you approach work any differently?

Let the verb  act on the noun, and these epic rivals can finally become partners.

Finally, a play on words that actually…works.

How will you incorporate play into your work today?

Give Better Feedback

Enough with the 'attaboys'.

Help others know what they are good at with specific insight into what they do well.

Let your colleagues and friends know what talents bring exceptional value worth duplicating over and over.

Many people have no idea what they are good at.

Seriously!

Think about it... it’s rare that anyone truly tells us what our strengths are.

Sure, they say, ‘Good job Barry!’, and it's nice to hear...but what do we glean from that affirmation?

It’s just not clear.

Help them see the strengths you see.  Be on the lookout for the priceless qualities in others around you. Make it a habit.

Being able uncover greatness in others is a rare quality that will not go unnoticed.

So what does it look like when it’s done well?

It changes from:

“Good job Barry!”

to

“Barry, I was so impressed with the way you were able to quickly penetrate the specific challenges your client faced and build them a financial model that made it easy for them to make good decisions on a much faster timeline with a high degree of confidence. How empowering! ”

Who can you give better feedback to today?