Who You Are Is Who You Attract

The Law of Magnetism

Definition of the Law

Effective leaders are always on the look for good people. In fact, even when they’re not actively hiring, most leaders carry around a mental list of skills, personality traits, character qualities, and attributes that they would like future hires to possess. Once you know who you want, how do you go about finding that kind of person? How do you attract good candidates? The answer to these questions are obvious. If you want awesome team members around you, then you have to become awesome yourself. You must demonstrate the qualities that you are seeking! There are many things that we could write out on our wish-list of qualities that we are seeking in our team members. Here are a few of the more important qualities that start with you as the team leader.

Positive Attitude – Rarely have I ever seen positive people being attracted to a negative work environment. People who view life as a series of opportunities and exciting challenges do not want to work for leaders who talk about how bad things are all of the time. The good news is that attitude is a choice! When you as a leader choose to focus on the growth potential of your own environment, you create a culture that positive people want to be part of. YUES, everything rises and falls on leadership.

Trustworthiness – This attribute is perhaps a little more subtle. Most of us do not consider ourselves to be untrustworthy. Trustworthiness is more than just not lying. To be worthy of trust, as a leader you must be willing to tell the WHOLE TRUTH, keep you commitments, and acknowledge reality.. If you want to attract followers who are trustworthy stay real, stay grounded. Only make commitments that you fully ae able to keep. Do not ignore troublesome issues.

Work Ethic – Do you want team members who are willing to work hard – then work hard! Do not expect punctuality and promptness when you are late and do your job half-hearted. Hard workers look for an environment where everyone is pulling their own weight.

Trust Is the Foundation of Leadership

The Law of Solid Ground

Definition of The Law

How important is trust for a leader? It is the most important thing! Trust is the foundation of leadership.It is the glue that holds an organization together. Whenever you lead people they essentially consent to take a journey with you.They will only agree to the journey of tney trust the leader. And they will only  continue to follow if they continue to trust. Trust makes leadership possible. That is the law of Solid Ground.

How does a leader build trust? By demonstrating competence, connection, and above all character. People will forgive occasional mistakes in execution, especially if they can see that you are still growing as a leader. They will also give a leader some time to connect. But they won’t trust someone who has lapses in character.

Good Character is the most important factor in building trust. You need…..

Consistency – Leaders without character cannot be counted on day after day because their ability to perform is unreliable.If your people don’t know what to expect from you as a leader, at some point the will not look to you for leadership.

Potential – Weak character limits potential. Who do you think has the greater potential to achieve dreams and have a positive impact on others; someone who is honest, disciplined, and hardworking, or someone who is deceitful, impulsive and lazy?

Respect – When you do not have character within, you can’t earn respect without. Respect demands trust. It grows when leaders make sound decisions, admit mistakes, and put what is best for their followers and the organization ahead of their personal agenda.

King Solomon’s Wisdom – Read the Bible, Proverbs 16:8-18

Character Develops From the Inside Out – Read the Bible, Matthew 23:1-7, 25–28

Leadership Reflection

What specific action will you take this week to correct where you are undermining your trust?

Do you need to apologize to someone?

Do you need to make something right?

What are your specific actions steps this week?

What is the exact day that you will act?

It Worked For Me (New York: Harper Perennial, 2012)

The 13 Rules of Life from General Powell is worth the price of the book, especially the chapter on “Perpetual Optimism Is A Force Multiplier.” Here is a quick listing of the General Powell’s 13 rules…….

1. IT AIN’T AS BAD AS YOU THINK. IT WILL LOOK BETTER IN THE MORNING.

2. GET MAD, THEN GET OVER IT.

3. AVOID HAVING YOUR EGO SO CLOSE TO YOUR POSITION THAT WHEN YOUR POSITION FALLS, YOUR EGO GOES WITH IT.

4. IT CAN BE DONE.

5. BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU CHOOSE. YOU MAY GET IT.

6. DON’T LET ADVERSE FACTS STAND IN THE WAY OF A GOOD DECISION.

7. YOU CAN’T MAKE SOMEONE ELSE’S DECISIONS. YOU SHOULDN’T LET SOMEONE ELSE MAKE YOURS.

8. CHECK SMALL THINGS.

9. SHARE CREDIT.

10. REMAIN CALM. BE KIND.

11. HAVE A VISION. BE DEMANDING.

12. DON’T TAKE COUNSEL OF YOUR FEARS OR NAYSAYERS.

13. PERPETUAL OPTIMISM IS A FORCE MULTIPLIER.

Leadership Tune Up – Leaders Are Readers

It is time for a TUNE UP!

All engines need a tune-up at regular intervals. It does not matter if we are talking about a lawn-mower engine, Cadillac, or Lear Jet – engines need to be serviced. Without it they will not perform at their best. This blog is about considering reflective questions that will assist you in tuning up your leadership capabilities.

Stephen Covey stated once there is no better way to inform and expand your mind on a regular basis than to get into the habit of reading good literature.

Set aside time and a journal and respond to the following 10 reflection questions.

  1. All growing leaders are readers, so am I allocating adequate time each week to read and think?
  2. Am I willing to cut back on some of my leisure time activities in order to devote more time to solitude and reading and reflection?
  3. What is the value of pondering and reflecting on the ideas I have encountered during my reading time?
  4. What is the benefit of rereading a book or relistening to an audio teaching?
  5. Why is it important to be life learners of the business that I am involved in?
  6. Am I reading too fast? Am I going through books too quickly that I am not absorbing the principles that I am reading?
  7. What three new principles will i share with my team this week?
  8. What are the top leaders of my industry reading presently?
  9. What action am I delaying today?
  10. Would it be great to have Peter Drucker, Jim Collins, Stephen Covey and others as mentors? You can, they have all wrote books!

Leadership Tune-Up

Time For A Tune Up!

All engines need a tune-up at regular intervals. It does not matter if we are talking about a lawn-mower engine, Cadillac, or Lear Jet – engines need to be serviced. Without it they will not perform at their best.

This blog is about considering reflective questions that will assist you in tuning up your leadership capabilities. Peter Drucker stated that leadership is not about making speeches or being liked. Leadership is defined by results not attributes. Great leadership is about combining your skills and talents to produce results.

Set aside time and a journal and respond to the following 10 reflection questions.

  1. What will I do today that will stretch my team to reach their potential?
  2. On a scale of 1-10 how would my team rate me as a leader that achieves results?
  3. Am I distinguishing between “busywork” and “accomplishments?” DO I encourage my team to do the same?
  4. How does my sense of self-worth and self-confidence impact my daily performance?
  5. What does a “High Performance” day look like for me personally? For my Team?
  6. Have I sought feedback from my peers?
  7. Do I plan my day early in the morning or evening for the next day? Which works best and why?
  8. How are you maximizing your time today?
  9. What are the three (3) most pressing things that I must focus on? What is my action plan?
  10. Can I write out my personal growth plans for the next twelve (12) months?

Leadership Addition

Leaders Add Value by Serving Others

The interaction of every leader and follower is a relationship and all relationships either add or subtract from a person’s life. One thing I know as a leader, I am either having a positive or negative impact on another person’s life. The critical question to ask is……

“Am I making things better for the people who follow me?”

There it is! One single question that demands an answer. If we cannot say without hesitating say YES and give some evidence that backs it up, then we are most likely a SUBTRACTOR! Most leaders do not realize they are subtracting from others – it is unintentional! However, leaders who add value to others do so intentionally. Many previous Nobel Prize Winners offer us examples of what adding value really looks like – Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, Bishop Desmond Tutu to name a few. There focus seems to be more on impacting others. They worked tirelessly to make life better for others with little thought about their own creature comforts.

To start any discussion about adding value to other people begins with actually valuing people. As a leader you see worth and value in another person that you attempt to enhance and strengthen their capabilities. Simply stated, you value the things that another person values.

Most importantly, leaders must add value to the things that God values. God desires for us to not only treat people with respect, but to also actively reach out to them and serve them. When you strive to lift up your followers, help them advance, and make them part of something bigger than themselves, you are adding value to them.

Case Study – A New Definition of Leadership

Jesus’ Example Mark 10: 35-45 The Bible

Study Questions

What was the motivation of James and John when they made their request to Jesus?

Why do you think the other 10 disciples became indignant with James and john?

Jesus suggested that someone become GREAT by becoming a servant. How is that possible?

Great Leaders Add Value

People who add value to others do so intentionally…Leaders must give of themselves. That rarely occurs by accident – John Maxwell

Leaders add value by serving others! The bottom line of leadership is not to see how far that you can go, but how far you can take others. The interaction between every leader and every follower is RELATIONSHIP! As a leader you are having either a positive or negative impact upon those you are attempting to lead. How can you tell?

Are you making things better for the people who follow you? That’s it! if you cannot answer this question with an unhesitating YES and provide evidence that backs it up, you may very well be a subtractor in your team’s life.

Great leaders get out of their comfort zone on a daily basis and unselfishly give of themselves for the benefit of their team. Leaders who subtract, divide their team daily by dividing their impact. History is filled with leaders who thought little about their position and thought more about others around them- – Mother Teresa, Desmond Tutu, Martin Luther King Jr to name a few.

Servant leadership permeates their mindset. Servant leading does not happen in front of an electronic devise, it happens literally when you walk with others. When you strive to lift others up, help them advance, make them part of something bigger than themselves, and assist them in becoming who they were made to be, you are now adding value to others!

CASE STUDY: Paul Encouraged Putting Others First – Philippians 2:1-11 (The Bible)

Questions

Jesus had position and power as God, yet he humbled himself and made himself nothing. Why did he do that?

The passage says that Jesus took on the form of a servant. What differences are there between someone who serves others and someone who takes on the very nature of a servant?

Leadership Influence

Walk SLOWLY Through The Crowd

What is leadership? Many people believe it is position. If you watch closely the dynamics that occur between people in just about every aspect of daily life, you will see some people leading and others are following. The one thing you notice is that position and title have little to do with is really in charge. At times those who have the title often assume this gives them responsibility. Position has little to do with who is in charge. Those who often have no title feel they cannot lead because of this fact. Both groups are wrong!

True leadership cannot be awarded, appointed, or assigned. It comes only from influence and that cannot be mandated. It must be earned. The only that title can buy is a little time – either to increase your level of influence with others or to undermine it.

Another misconception is that leading and managing are one in the same thing. The main difference the two is that leadership is about influencing people to follow, while management focuses on maintaining systems and processing. Systems and processes can only do so much. To move people in a new direction, you need influence.

What about entrepreneurs? Most people assume they are natural leaders.They so see needs and opportunities faster than the average person and they go after them. But some entrepreneurs are not good with people. They will many times partner with someone who has people skills to let them do all of the upfront people work.

In today’s society we tend to believe that expertise equals leadership. Again another misconception. Neither IQ or Education equals leadership.

Finally, anyone who out in front of the crowd is a leader. Again, another misconception that being first or ahead of the crowd is not the same as leading. Yes you need to be in the front, but intentional at the same time to see others following after you. Being a trendsetter is not the same as leading.

The old adage is true; “He who thinks he is leading, but no one is following, is only taking a walk. It is simple, if you cannot influence people they will not follow you. If people will not follow you, you are not a leader. No matter what others say remember that leadership is influence, nothing more and nothing less.

CASE STUDY: Rahab’s Influence Joshua 2:1-24

Study Questions

  • What kind of leadership role do you think a prostitute like Rahab might have had in Jericho?
  • Why did the spies chose Rahab to help them? Why did thy trust her?
  • How were the spies influenced by her? How were Joshua and the nation of Israel influenced by her?

Leadership Lid

Invest in yourself – you are worth it!

Success is within reach of every person! While every person cannot receive a 10 rating on a scale of 1-10, most people are capable of achieving some level of success in their lives. Everyone will confront a “LID” in their leadership ability. The higher the leadership ability, the greater your potential. The lower your ability the lower your impact will be.

For illustration purposes, let’s say that your leadership ability is a “6” out of 10. That is pretty good! But like most people you want to grow your ability to a higher level. You have 2 choices; You can focus all of your energy on increasing your personal effectiveness. You work harder and longer. With all of the dedication you can invest, you might grow some. Eventually what will happen is that you fill your life and schedule up with personal growth and you exhaust yourself. A more effective and fulfilling use of your time and energy would be to focus on growing as a leader.

When you raise your leadership ability, you increase your success potential a great deal. When you raise the lid your influence will grow as a result. More people will follow and want to work with you to achieve a goal.

More people devoted to the vision, the more time and energy devoted to its success. The more people you lead the more positive influence you have on them, the more you will achieve.

Leadership ability is a lid to any organization’s effectiveness. If an organization’s leadership is strong then its lid is high. If not, the organization is limited. This why in difficult days and economies, people look for strong leaders! When a sports team is losing, they look for a new coach. When companies lose money, they look for a new CEO. When church’s struggle, they will look for a new pastor.

The more that you want to achieve, the more you need leadership. The greater the impact that you want to make, the greater your influence must become. Whatever you will accomplish is always restricted by your ability to lead people. If you will exercise growth as a leader you will multiply your –  and your organizations – success. Leadership ability determines a person’s level of success. This is the Law of the Lid!

CASE STUDY: Aaron and Moses Exodus 32:1-25 – The Bible

Study Questions

  • At the beginning of this story, who had the greater influence on the other; Aaron of the people? EXPLAIN.
  • What does this say about Aaron’s leadership? How did he handle his responsibilities? For what purpose did he use his influence?
  • How did Moses influence God in this passage? What did he say, and what was the outcome?
  • Describe Moses’ responsibilities as a leader related to…..
    • God
    • Aaron
    • Joshua
    • The People
  • For what purpose did he use his influence? How successful was he? What was the outcome?

4 Laws of Behavior

We have started out our year by looking at the power of consistent tiny habits that compound over time. In this blog lets study the 4 Laws of Behavior. Here they are…..

  • CUE
    • CREATE GOOD HABITS –Make it obvious
    • BREAK BAD HABITS –Make it invisible
  • CRAVING
    • CREATE GOOD HABITS –Make it attractive
    • BREAK BAD HABITS –Make it unattractive
  • RESPONSE
    • CREATE GOOD HABITS – Make it easy
    • BREAK BAD HABITS –Make it difficult
  • REWARD
    • CREATE GOOD HABITS –Make it satisfying
    • BREAK BAD HABITS – Make it unsatisfying

Keep in mind with this simple chart that what gets immediately rewarded is repeated. What is immediately punished is avoided. The key is to think super-tiny baby step actions. Excellence is the fascination of doing the same thing over and over again. It is OK to fall in love with boredom!