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Trust

SA Leadership Podcast Episode #189

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 16:29 — 15.1MB) | Embed

Edward Marshall stated “…speed happens when people…truly trust each other.

Jack Welch stated if you are not fast, you’re dead.

So what is trust? Simply stated, trust is confidence. The opposite is suspicion. When you distrust people you are suspicious of their integrity, agenda, capabilities, and their track record. It’s that simple!

In recent studies we see that organizational trust has eroded. Consider…

  • Only 51% of employees trust senior management
  • Only 35% of employees believe their leaders act with honesty and integrity
  • Over the past 12 months 76% of employees have observed illegal/unethical conduct which if exposed would public trust.

The Economics of Trust

The Covey Institute suggests that if Trust has eroded this equals slow speed of the team which equals costs that drive upward. Trust is the one item that turns around the equation to faster speed of the team and lower cost ratios.

↓ TRUST = ↓ SPEED ↑COSTS

 

↑TRUST = ↑SPEED  ↓COSTS

Consider what Stephen Covey calls the five waves of trust.

Trust has a ripple effect starting with yourself and then moving out to society. The key is to understand the inter-relatedness of all five waves.

Self Trust

We have confidence in ourselves to achieve goals, keep commitments, to walk the walk.We possess the ability for high competence in credibility, judgment, and influence.

Relational Trust

We are consistent in our behaviors. The key here is the ability to generate trust within all contributors of the team enhancing relationships.

Organizational Trust

This level is where leaders can generate trust. The key here is alignment which has to do with structures, systems and symbols of organizations. This is to stop organizational tax that so quickly infiltrates.

Market Trust

The key here is reputation. This has everything to do with your brand corporately and personally. The trustworthiness of your brand determines public buy-in to your goods and services

Societal Trust

The key focus is contribution. How are you giving back into the community that you exist. This inspires others to give back as well.

LINKS

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on iTunes – SUBSCRIBE

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on Stitcher – SUBSCRIBE

FREE GIFT – “The Art of Balancing Candor With Care” – Click on the icon at the bottom of the page

Executive Coaching Service– Private message me for details on this customizable service

Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!

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100 Second Workout For Your Mind

Improve Your Mental Toughness

Jason Selk is one of the world’s leading peak performance and mental toughness coaches. He won a World Series ring as the director of mental training for the St. Louis Cardinals and he’s written a number of great books we’ve covered including Executive Toughness and 10-Minute Toughness.

In Organize Tomorrow Today he tells us that our MIND needs to be trained just like our bodies. And, just as our physical fitness begins to deteriorate within seventy-two hours of our last workout, so does our mental toughness. Therefore, he says, we need to make sure we never miss more than two days of training our bodies OR our minds.

He offers a super-quick and equally powerful 5-step, 100-second mental toughness workout. Here’s a quick look.

1. Take a nice, deep Centering Breath. In for 6. Hold for 2. Out for 7. Ahhhh… A strong mind is a calm mind and there’s no (!) better way to calm down than through a centering breath like this.

2. Silently say your Identity Statement. Come up with a simple mantra that captures who you aspire to be. A pro athlete’s example he shares: “I am more mentally and physically prepared than the competition. I am a dominant Major League pitcher.” (A version I like to use? “I am making a difference with people who make a difference.”Or “I am turning PRO Today and leaving the Amateur Life Behind.”)

3. Walk thru your Personal Highlight Reel. Quickly replay three things that were awesome over the last twenty-four hours and see three things that WILL be awesome over the next twenty-four (in about thirty seconds total).

4. Repeat your Identity Statement.

5. Take another nice Centering Breath.

Voilà! You’re mentally tougher.

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Discipline

SA Leadership Podcast Episode #188

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 15:39 — 14.3MB) | Embed

I want to give you 6 practices for a disciplined life.

Know what is important

Do you know what is important? If you have not thought this question through mentally and in written form, it is likely that you lack self-discipline that will come from the answer to the question.Knowing what is important is the single greatest touchstone in your life.

Getting rid of excuses

If discipline is the highway that takes you where you want to go in life, then excuses are the exit ramps on that highway. There are a lot of exits on this highway. Here are some examples you may be familiar with…

  • I’ll get started in the New Year
  • I do not want to work alone
  • I would do this if I had the energy
  • I am too busy
  • When I retire, I will start
  • I am afraid of failing
  • I do not know how

The way to know if you are using an excuse is to answer the question this way; “Will this stop me from  doing something that I love. If YES, then get rid of it!

Take action before you feel like it

You cannot always wait until inspiration hits you. Sometimes you act regardless of how you feel. Here three insights that might help.

  • Think about the consequences of not acting.
  • Focus on doing the right thing just for today.
  • Make yourself accountable to someone for your weak areas.

Don’t let distractions distract you

Author Brian Tracy wrote, “Successful men and women are those who work almost all of the time on high value tasks. Unsuccessful men and women are those who waste their time by wasting minutes and hours each day on low value activities.”

Be aware of time

Every self-disciplined person that I know is aware of time. Success breads time consciousness. Successful people know how to spend the time they have and they understand that every minute counts. If you want to maximize the time you have then do these two things continually….

  1. Set Expectations Up Front – start setting expectations for yourself and others up front. This allows you to compress the time you have so that your focus is optimal.
  2. Set External Deadlines – So much of what we do in life has no deadlines, therefore the task is pushed off. When hard deadlines are set it is amazing at the work gets accomplished.

Follow through, even when it hurts

Self-discipline is the fuel that keeps us going. The willingness to hold on in spite of the problems, the power to endure, is a winner’s quality. Say to yourself each day, “This day is not over until I complete each task that I have assigned myself.” Stay true to your commitments with yourself. You cannot manage your life if you do not manage yourself!

LINKS

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on iTunes – SUBSCRIBE

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on Stitcher – SUBSCRIBE

FREE GIFT – “The Art of Balancing Candor With Care” – Click on the icon at the bottom of the page

Executive Coaching Service– Private message me for details on this customizable service

Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!

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Steps For Success

Crushing Your Daily Goals

Last week we looked at the W.O.O.P. process to crush your goals daily. This week I want to examine Ray Dailio’s Five Steps To Success. Examine these thoughts against your daily habits to see if there is room for improvement.

Ray Dalio is one of the most successful people alive. Time magazine says he’s one of the 100 most influential people on the planet while Fortune magazine says his company (Bridgewater Associates) is the fifth most important private company in the U.S. and Forbes tells us he’s one of the 100 wealthiest people alive. In his book, Principles: Life, Dailio discusses his five-step process of obtaining your goals in life. Let’s see how we are doing in crushing our work daily.

Step 1. We need Goals. What do you want? Get clear. Visualize it. Know your why.

Step 2. Identify the Problems you’re facing that are preventing you from reaching your goal. Most (unsuccessful) people (with a fixed mindset) like to pretend that they’ll be able to achieve their goals without hiccups. The best among us, Dalio tells us, KNOW they will face obstacles and use them as fuel to evolve.

Step 3. Diagnose the problem. What’s at the root of your problems? Get clear.

Step 4. Design a solution to the problem. What do you need to do to solve the riddle? As Dalio would put it, build a “machine” that will solve your problem.

Step 5. Get to work Doing what needs to be done.

So, again. Goals. Problems. Diagnosis. Design. Doing.

Dailio’s five step process is a great tool when  we process this through the lens of scripture. After all it is our guiding foundational document by which our decisions are made. Let’s crush today and everyday – impacting our world with the most needed message of hope!

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Abundance Vs. Scarcity

Episode #187 SA Leadership Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:42 — 20.8MB) | Embed

Basically a scarcity mindset lives on the other side of “NO,” meaning that people tend to stay where it is safe, while abundance living stays on the other side of “YES” meaning everything is new and there are new things to attempt.

What does it look like on the other side of NO?

  • It is limiting – you are directed away from opportunities.
  • It is easy – when you say no you do not have to do anything or go anywhere.
  • It is comforting – familiarity feels good. Many people are more excited about keeping what they have versus gaining something new.
  • It is deceiving – it appears safe when actually it is not!
  • It is crowded – this is where average people hang. It will always be crowded.

What does it look like on the other side of yes?

  • It is exciting – you need creativity to help you figure things out when they are new.
  • It is enlarging – abundance creates more abundance which leads to more potential.
  • It is challenging – new pathways are not easy to tread.
  • It is rewarding – YES is the key word on the other side of no!

So that we are clear NO is not always a bad thing and YES is not always a good thing. People with high potential views of life simply believe in the power of YES. I want to take a look at three aspects of high capacity people that hopefully will challenge you to stretch from your current position.

Abundance People Possess High Belief

Why are people who embrace abundance able to say YES so freely? They possess a high belief in many arenas of life. For example….

  • They actually believe in themselves – “There is more to me than what people actually see!”
  • Belief drives behavior. A lack of belief is a chief characteristic of scarcity. We hesitate not because we are unable to do something, but because we have confidence in ourselves.
  • They believe in others – “There is more to others than what I can see.” When you believe in your team you will want the best for them. Since belief drives behavior, bless your team! Blessing is simply projecting goodness on others.
  • They believe in their tomorrows – they declare that my yesterday’s do not define my tomorrows!

Abundance People Understand the Power of Perspective

Our perspective is not determined by what we see. It is determined by how we see something and that comes from who we are. It is always interesting at how people looking at the same thing can declare different reports. Scarcity people will look at something and declare there is no way. Abundance people will look at the same thing and declare there has to be a better way. This is the level of thinking that opens the door of innovation and positive change form yourself and others around you.

Abundance People Are Generous to Others

Giving to charities are not the only way to measure generosity. Be generous and give people a chance, give them the benefit of the doubt, and give them a reason to desire working for you. You can be generous with you resources, give others opportunities, give them resources to do their job better, give them credit when they succeed.

Abundance people do not run out because they give away – the opposite is true. Move away from a scarcity mindset and embrace possibility living!

LINKS

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on iTunes – SUBSCRIBE

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on Stitcher – SUBSCRIBE

FREE GIFT – “The Art of Balancing Candor With Care” – Click on the icon at the bottom of the page

Executive Coaching Service– Private message me for details on this customizable service

Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!

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iPhone Effect

Digital Addictions

Have you ever heard of “The iPhone Effect”?

Get this: Imagine bringing people into a lab. Split them into two groups. One group sits down and chats with someone they’ve never met while a smartphone is visible on the table next to them. The other group sits down and chats with someone they’ve never met while a notebook is visible rather than the smartphone.

Guess what?

The group with the smartphone in sight reports a significantly diminished quality of interaction vs. the group that didn’t have the smartphone in sight.

Now, the phone wasn’t blowing up. And, it wasn’t even THEIR phone. The MERE PRESENCE of that smartphone diminished the quality of their interactions.

Enter: The iPhone Effect.

(Think about that for a moment. That’s CRAZY!!!)

The next time you’re spending time with someone, remember The iPhone Effect!! Put your phone out of sight—and, ideally, in airplane mode so you’re not feeling any vibrations that will distract you.

But…

Only if you want to enhance the quality of your interactions.

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The Distraction Addiction

SA Leadership Podcast Episode #186

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 17:58 — 16.5MB) | Embed

Describing the everyday, undisciplined, jittery mind as a “Monkey Mind,” is the description of mental restlessness that Tibetan Teachers use to reference a mind set that is constantly moving in the shallows and never going deep on much of anything. The first step in conquering  this condition is the cessation of the noise within. The biblical discipline of Silence and Solitude are excellent tools to silence and calm a mind that dances continually.

Email Apnea

Linda Stone a technology consultant, writer, and former Apple and Microsoft Executive coined the phrase “Continuous Partial Attention.” This describes the way a person divides focus among multiple devices while never giving any single one full attention.

She discovered in her research that she along with many others would hold their breath at various intervals while checking their emails. The phrase email apnea is a play on sleep apnea. A full and complete study has not been done, but consider that roughly 2 billion people in the world have access to the web which is more than twice who have a mobile phone. It would seem that email apnea could be pervasive.

Also consider that computer users spend an average of 43 minutes daily/5 hours weekly/11 days annually waiting on computers to boot, load software, open files and connect to the web. This would be a good place to re-insert the disciplines of Silence and Solitude.

Our best work comes from moments in which our minds are focused and stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile. When you add the numerous phone calls, emails, text messages, and people who have a quick question that demands an answer, your ability to focus is eroded along with your identity and worth.

Task Switching

Imagine that you are listening to a conversation on one subject while writing and email about another, or trying to participate in a meeting while scanning the headlines. Better yet don’t imagine it, just remember the last time you did this. Research has demonstrated that every time that you move from one screen to the next screen on your device costs you time, mental energy, and sets you up for the biggest mistakes that you will make. Thinking that you are effectively moving from emails to text messages to checking news feeds all while listening to a conference call or participating in a seminar is easy and effective. The truth that we deny is we are actually ineffective. To accomplish any task, mental energy is required. Depending on who you read, you literally lose hours weekly.

HUGE IDEA

Perhaps it is time that we take a technology sabbath. Unplug from all devices and allow your mind to take a break from the myriad of tasks. In these quiet moments we reconnect with the old adage; Pain is inevitable, but suffering is a choice!”

LINKS

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on iTunes – SUBSCRIBE

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on Stitcher – SUBSCRIBE

FREE GIFT – “The Art of Balancing Candor With Care” – Click on the icon at the bottom of the page

Executive Coaching Service– Private message me for details on this customizable service

Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!

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Supercharged Hope

Goals + Willpower + Waypower + Supercharged Hope

Rick Snyder was the founder of research into the science of hope. And, he was one of the pioneers of the positive psychology movement. In fact, he literally wrote the textbook on “Positive Psychology.”

He documented just how important hope is to our overall well-being and tells us that there are three primary components to having high hope: Goals + Willpower + Waypower.

It all starts with a Goal. Happy people have projects. And, happy, hopeful people have GOALS! They have a future they’re excited about.

Then we have what Rick calls “Willpower.” In this context, Rick tells us that Willpower is that spark of determination that says, “We’ve got this!!” It needs to be there in the beginning AND it needs be there after you get knocked down a few times. (Rick’s protege Shane Lopez described this as “Agency” — a sense of personal power that we have what it takes to make our dreams a reality.)

Then we have what Rick calls “Waypower.” Waypower is all about mapping out the plans for how you will attain your goal along with the wisdom to know that your first plan probably won’t work out perfectly — requiring you to continue optimizing your strategy while pursuing different routes to your goal. (Shane Lopez called this “Pathways.”)

However, we are overlooking one significant element to these thoughts about Hope! The Biblical perspective states, “If I have HOPE only in this life, I am among all people most miserable.” This is not an indictment against our human dreams and hopes that we all have. However, it is to say that our hopes and dreams when infused with an eternal perspective as a Christ-follower, you SUPER-CHARGE your hopes and dreams with purposefulness beyond self-aggrandizement. That is called LEGACY LIVING!

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The Rise of Addictive Technology

SA Leadership Podcast Episode #185

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:28 — 20.6MB) | Embed

We have to embrace the notion that technocrates are heavily involved in the science of keeping you logged into technology of all forms and platforms. However, when you dig deep enough, you will learn that Steve Jobs refused to allow his children to use the iPad and Bill Gates limited computer usage to school assignments only. Also you will find that the former editor of Wired Magazine to the founder of Blogger, Twitter, and Medium all had similar restrictions in their homes.

I don’t know about you, but it raises the question of  WHY? As you ponder this ageless question, you might come to the notion that you should never become high on your own supply! You must embrace the science that addicts are not just weaker specimens. They are also impacted by environment as well. Relapsing occurs many time when recovering addicts visit places and people that remind them of their former habits.

What little thing can you do today to Optimize your environment today? Author Adam Alter states that people spend 1-4 hours on their phones daily. Research suggests that one hour/day is sufficient! If this is true then 88% of users are overusing! If you play this scenario out over the course of an average life span, you will  realize that 11 years of your life is spent chasing the latest chirp, tweet, chime, stock-market, and news feed. Can I just state the obvious – THAT IS NUTS!!!

In Roman times the word ADDICTION meant something very different than today. If you owed someone money and could not repay the debt, a judge would sentence you to addiction. You would be forced into slavery until you repaid the debt. The history of etymology shows that us this word came to mean any bond that was hard to break.

The most significant phrase that I can give you to challenge your technology addictions is this: You cannot unpickle a pickle! Said another way, It is impossible to escape the after effects of addiction.

Our society has become synonymous with shallow thinking. We have lost in great part an ability to think critically. Meaning that we have lost the ability to think ahead by evaluating decisions with possible resulting consequences. Since we have and are in the process of losing critical thinking skills, the question becomes, Who and by what means will we go deep into our work? Why is this important? Innovation will suffer? Who will create? Where will the inventors come from?

In closing there are three fundamental areas that are of great value in overcoming this modern addiction. Here they are:

  1. Empowering people through investing in them (Autonomy)
  2. People desire to feel connected socially as friends and family (Relatedness)
  3. People want to feel effective in the face of a changing external environment (Competence)

LINKS

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on iTunes – SUBSCRIBE

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on Stitcher – SUBSCRIBE

FREE GIFT – “The Art of Balancing Candor With Care” – Click on the icon at the bottom of the page

Executive Coaching Service– Private message me for details on this customizable service

Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!

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Masterpiece Checklist Day

Reduce Your Masterpiece Day Mortality by 47%

There are three reasons why we err: necessary fallibility (we’re not omniscient and some things are outside of our human capacity; therefore, we err), ignorance (we may not know what to do; therefore, we err), and ineptitude (we know what to do but we don’t do it; therefore we err).

Atul Gawande’s The Checklist Manifesto is a powerful read. Atul is a world-class surgeon and public health researcher. In his book, he walks us through the astonishing power of astonishingly simple checklists. Teresa Amabile, a researcher at Harvard and author of Progress Principle states that she measured Gawande’s research in a three-month experiment. In this three-month experiment in eight different hospitals around the world, the rate of serious complications for surgical patients fell by 36 percent after introduction of the checklist, and deaths fell by 47 percent. Even Gawande himself, a highly trained surgeon with years of operating experience, found that his own performance improved notably after he started using the checklist. His point is that surgery, like any complex task, requires a regular check of all the fundamentals—to liberate the team to focus on the work and any unexpected circumstances that may arise.”

That surgical checklist was crazy simple. So simple that many surgeons (who have trained for decades to do what they do) thought it was laughably useless. It included very basic things like each member of the surgical team introducing themselves and confirming which side of the body the surgery would be performed on.

But the results from that super simple checklist were astonishing. Mortality fell by 47%.

FORTY-SEVEN PERCENT!!!

SO…how does this apply to you and I. First of all a checklist should be extremely simple. I have my “Daily Five,”(1.Read, 2. Write, 3. Reflective Thinking, 4. Who Can I impact Today, and 5. Exercise). Next, once you develop your list practice it everyday. YES, you heard me correctly – EVERYDAY! This is not a someday-maybe idea. This is an everyday idea so that I give myself the chance to make everyday a Masterpiece day!