Passionate Leadership

Great Leaders are the Chief Cheerleader of the Vision.
Great leaders keep a group focused on vision. Jesus understood the importance of vision when He said, "Can one blind person lead another? Won't they both fall into a ditch?” Leaders motivate others by sharing their enthusiasm for the vision.  The contagious nature of their enthusiasm raises everyone spirits as it spreads throughout the team. 

G.E.’s former head Jack Welch (who got his start working on the shop floor) has said, "Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion."

How Well Do You Listen?

Great Leaders are Highly Visible.
A great leader takes the time to get to know and listen to those for whom they are responsible.  This is more than having an open-door policy.  Great leaders circulate through their team several times a day encouraging, clarifying, and affirming them.

Sir Richard Branson has said, "Being a good listener is absolutely critical to being a good leader; you have to listen to the people who are on the front line." How well do you listen?

Resolved of Dissolved

What's Being Resolved Got To Do With It?
 
In the dark days of World War II all of Britain was hanging on the resolve of Sir Winston Churchill.  Churchill, however, was a damaged person no different that you and I.  Did you know that Churchill had to overcome many limitations, such as a serious speech impediment and an outright panic concerning public speaking?  Sounds like he had some resolving of his own to do, too.

Being resolved results from analyzing something complex into a simpler form.  In doing so we remove confusion.  Resolution begins with analyzing, understanding and then defining our position.  It is not good enough to take someone’s word for it.  To be resolved we must do the hard work of doing our own research and coming to our own conclusion.  Once we do this we own our belief and can hold our ground and not move from it.

Here is an example.  Which politician’s position on how to fix immigration do you believe?  I would suggest you believe none of them.  If you want to become resolved on what it will take to have a working and sensible immigration system you will have to do some serious reading and analysis.  Once you do, common threads will be revealed and you will achieve understanding.  At that point, you can define your belief and be resolved that you really know what needs to happen.  Then if someone challenges you, you will have the understanding and strength to stand resolved.

Yes, the 21^stcentury is a scary place.  Maybe you are facing something and you are scared just like the British were. Perhaps you are sensing that the equivalent of an invading force is about to be unleashed on you.  Here is the plan: 

• Be Courageous: Do the right thing no matter what.
• Be Cheerful: It will make you and others feel better.
• Be Resolute: Analyze, understand and define the matter and stand firm.

Like a lot of the things we worry about, the Germans never did invade England.  While they bombed her, and terrorized the British with randomly aimed buzz bombs, the courage, cheerfulness and resolve of the British (and the fact that America took their side in the fight) brought them through.  It will do the same for you and me no matter what we may be facing.

"Be sure to put your feet in the right place then stand firm." Abraham Lincoln

Good Morning Merry Sunshine

What is Being Cheerful All About?
 
Early American author William Fender is credited with the quote “Early morning cheerfulness can be extremely obnoxious,” however, I think he is missing the point.

When I was in the first grade our music teacher, Mrs. Holbrook, taught us some songs that we presented one night to our parents.  One song was called ”Good Morning Merry Sunshine”.  It went like this:

“Good morning merry sunshine, how did you wake so soon?  You scared the little stars away and shined away the moon.  I saw you to go to sleep last night before I ceased my playing.  How did you get way over there and where have you been staying?”

My father must have like the song because he proceeded to wake my brother and me up every morning for several years singing it at the top of his lungs.  While his early morning cheerfulness felt obnoxious at the time, it did teach a powerful lesson for starting the day with cheerfulness.

Just like you have to decide to be courageous, you have to decide to be cheerful too.  Do you think my dad felt cheerful every morning as he sang that song?  Of course not!  But I have learned that cheerfulness is contagious.  At several places where I have been employed I have been known to walk the halls singing the song made famous by Fred Rodgers of “Mr. Rogers Neighborhood” that goes “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood…” for the purpose of raising the spirit of my team.  They would at first look at me as if I was nuts but in a few moments their cheerful meters were pegging higher.

Author Joseph Addison puts it this way,” Cheerfulness is the best promoter of health and is as friendly to the mind as to the body."  That is what being cheerful is all about.