Our future success will depend on how we respond to the new opportunities that the turbulent world presents. The playing field is wide open for WOW. The former ground rules are gone. And the leaders who are playing to win know it. We can now use their Smartphones to deposit checks using photos. Consumers can pay for products at Apple stores via "floating" checkout clerks. Ford drivers just "say the word" to activate a menu of sophisticated features on their in-car system. Today leadership is about impact. Imagination. Innovation. It's about a commitment to influence.
People want enriching experiences. They want their lives revolutionized through innovation and creativity. People want remarkable. They crave connection. Delivering to the people is no longer reserved for those in the corner office. The old exclusive world having only two clubs - giver and receiver of orders - has been rebooted. The reboot has created a new opening - Leading Without a Title. Success,keeping the game in your hands, is knowing how to Lead Where You Are Planted.
Five Actionable Insights to help you Lead Where You Are Planted:
1. Personal Philanthropy
Winning in life today depends on the value you contribute. Bureaucracy is no longer the decision maker on what you contribute, or when, or to whom you make that contribution. The size of your paycheck isn't the dictator either. Today it's your call. You have free license to be a philanthropist of your personal gifts. You can add value at any opportunity by applying your talents: your ingenuity, mastery, and imagination. The new world has given you the green light to give your greatness.
2. Don't Accept the Death Sentence
Many people will decide that leadership is not for them. They are more comfortable following than leading. That's just fine. But remember what others do is not necessarily for you. Those that resist greatness will try to hold you back. Don't let anyone tell you taking a leadership role is bigger than your position. Don't let anyone set the limits on your life. Get yourself around believers and other leaders: the commanders of cutting-edge and the non-conformists. Talk with the risk takers. Refuse to accept the death sentence of cynicism.
3. Get out of your League
You were not born for smallness. Your life did not come with a pre-set ceiling of success. Sometimes people fall into and stay in a certain league. Going beyond the wins of yesterday doesn't seem possible. Going beyond previous levels of achievements doesn't occur to them. Get out of your league. No one is keeping you there. Go beyond yourself. Your habits. Your standards. Challenge your limiting beliefs. Challenge your personal status quo. Find a way to do more today than you did yesterday.
4. Compose your Leadership MO
We cannot be all things to all people. We want our influence to be potent. To make a powerful impact we must first understand our influence and then act on it. Are you the symphony conductor or the musical genius on the piano? Are you the solutions guy or the innovative magician? Are you the song writer or the singer? Compose your leadership MO and act on it daily.
5. Refuse the Dead End System of Status Quo
I have yet to see mediocrity lead to magnificence. There is only so far you can go with the status quo. Yet so many people get seduced by this dead end system. Unknowingly they've subscribed to the belief I don't have a title therefore I cannot make a difference.
We've all got a choice to make. We can either continue to buy into the status quo or set it on fire. To Lead Where You are Planted you must get off that burning ship. Stand up for your opportunity for awesome - it's your birthright.
Leadership Quotes
"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." - Picasso
"The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were." - John F. Kennedy
"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well."
- Martin Luther King Jr.
- Martin Luther King Jr.
Powerful Leadership Tactics
Tactic #1 Engineer Experiences
In a world where connectivity and technology have turned the foreign into the familiar and people can choose from an endless selection at every corner, leaders have to bring more to the table. One way to bring more is to be an engineer of experiences. Turn everyday occurrences into memorable moments. Take the ordinary and make it extraordinary. Use your resources to build out and build up situations. Add on extra at every angle. Move away from a generic approach and customize and personalize the everyday. Make it your mission to engineer adventures, moments, and memoirs.
In a world where connectivity and technology have turned the foreign into the familiar and people can choose from an endless selection at every corner, leaders have to bring more to the table. One way to bring more is to be an engineer of experiences. Turn everyday occurrences into memorable moments. Take the ordinary and make it extraordinary. Use your resources to build out and build up situations. Add on extra at every angle. Move away from a generic approach and customize and personalize the everyday. Make it your mission to engineer adventures, moments, and memoirs.
Tactic #2 Fire Up your Innovator
"Innovation." It's the word on the street. Innovating, inventing and creating are the rising stars.
"Innovation." It's the word on the street. Innovating, inventing and creating are the rising stars.
Successful leaders have fantastic analytical minds. It's one of their vital attributes. They must be able to problem solve. However, sometimes problem solving is a direct barrier to innovating. When innovation is called for, moving out of a problem solving mindset into an innovative mindset starts with how you proposition yourself. Rather than asking "what's the problem or what's the solution?" try asking yourself, "what do I want to create here?"
Tactic #3 Leaders Go First
If there is a deficiency in your personal or professional life the best way to have more is to initiate more. If you are disappointed by the lack of human connection, initiate more connection. If there is a lack of imagination, invite imagination by modeling it. If you want more understanding, be more understanding. If team camaraderie is falling short, initiate acts of good-fellowship. Leaders go first. They don't wait. They take the lead and initiate.
If there is a deficiency in your personal or professional life the best way to have more is to initiate more. If you are disappointed by the lack of human connection, initiate more connection. If there is a lack of imagination, invite imagination by modeling it. If you want more understanding, be more understanding. If team camaraderie is falling short, initiate acts of good-fellowship. Leaders go first. They don't wait. They take the lead and initiate.
Tactic #4 Comic Relief. It's serious business
A study conducted at Canadian financial institutions reported that top performing organizations had managers who employed humor. Harvard Business Review featured an article called "Transforming A Conservative Company - One Laugh at a Time," by Katherine Hudson, the president and CEO of Brady Corporation. The article describes how Brady "has made fun an integral part of its corporate culture, not as an end in itself, but for serious business reasons." Scientific research shows that laughter increases productivity, those who laugh out loud are more creative at problem solving, and those who laugh are healthier and miss work less often.
A study conducted at Canadian financial institutions reported that top performing organizations had managers who employed humor. Harvard Business Review featured an article called "Transforming A Conservative Company - One Laugh at a Time," by Katherine Hudson, the president and CEO of Brady Corporation. The article describes how Brady "has made fun an integral part of its corporate culture, not as an end in itself, but for serious business reasons." Scientific research shows that laughter increases productivity, those who laugh out loud are more creative at problem solving, and those who laugh are healthier and miss work less often.
Consider your work culture. Would you say serious business is balanced with light heartedness and fun? Is laughter a part of progress? What can you do to lighten and liven things up? Seriously.
Courtesy: Robin Sharma
B. Nagaraj
Email: nagrajajay@gmail.com
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