Leadership Challenge
 
Floyd Allen, director of The Covenant Group in Phoenix, AZ, offers this “tasty” contribution to the continuing series of appropriate words and phrases that begin with the letters of the word L-E-A-D-E-R-S-H-I-P.
  
LETTUCE: “Lettuce” not forget that a leader is only as great as he or she makes their followers feel.
EGGS: Sometimes scrambled and sometimes sunny-side up, your followers will have inconsistent days, but a good leader finds something to praise.
APPLE:  One a day keeps the doctor away, so if you want to keep your staff in good health, make sure they get at least one compliment a day from you.
DOUGHNUT: A good leader is always “around” and has his or her crew work as a “hole.”  
EGGPLANT: A good leader – unlike an eggplant – is the same inside and out. People need to know your “true colors” before they can allow themselves to trust you fully.
RAVIOLI:  Those who are led are often “stuffed” with good ideas. A true leader knows how to extract those ideas and get them implemented. 
SALAD:  Your staff may be a single unit, but it is made up of many individual parts. Recognize these individualities and allow them to thrive.
HONEY:  Many of your staff are naturally sweet – don’t do anything to sour them.
ICE CREAM: Your staff may be made up of many “flavors.” Be sure all are treated equally and with respect.   
PIZZA: There are many “toppings” you can serve as benefits to your staff, but the “crust” that holds everything together is respect. 
 
 From: Leadership…with a human touch, October 16, 2001, Pages 22-23 

“A person who is at the top is a person who has the habit of getting to the bottom.” - Joseph E. Rogers
 
How do you go about questioning what you don’t know or understand? 

“Mistakes are costly. The time to correct a mistake is before it is made. The causes of mistakes are, first, “I didn’t know”; second, “I didn’t think”; third, “I didn’t care.” - Henry H. Buckley
 
How do you limit mistakes in your life?

Harry Truman, 33rd president of the United States, was known as a fighter. Whether people agreed with Truman or not, they respected his straightforward way of looking at the facts and stating the truth - even when it hurt.
During the 1948 presidential campaign, the polls consistently showed him losing to Governor Thomas Dewey of New York. Asked about his apparently inevitable defeat, Truman went straight to the point and talked about an epitaph he'd seen in Arizona.
"Here lies Jack Williams. He done his damnest.' I think that is the greatest epitaph a man could have.  Whenever a man does the best he can, then that is all he can do."
Following up that attitude with some of the hardest campaigning seen in a presidential election, Truman won by two million covets.

Adapted from The Bully Pulpit and printed in Leadership...with a human touch, October 16, 2001, Page 24   

“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness.” - Desmond Tutu
 
How are you courageous in difficult times?

“Be miserable, or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.” - Wayne Dyer
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How are you motivating yourself for success?
 

“Hurt someone with the truth, but never make them happy with a lie.” - LaFleur
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What does your truth say about how you treat others?

“Time decides who you meet in life, your heart decides who you want in your life, and your behavior decides who stays in your life.” - Ziad K. Abdelnour
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What does your behavior say about the people in your life?
 

“Either I will find a way, or I will make a way.” - Philip Sidney
 
How will you overcome what is standing between you and your goals? 

The Seeker of Truth
 
 After years of searching, the seeker was told to go to a cave, in which he would find a well. 'Ask the well what is truth', he was advised, 'and the well will reveal it to you'. Having found the well, the seeker asked that most fundamental question. And from the depths came the answer, 'Go to the village crossroad: there you shall find what you are seeking'.
Full of hope and anticipation the man ran to the crossroad to find only three rather uninteresting shops. One shop was selling pieces of metal, another sold wood, and thin wires were for sale in the third. Nothing and no one there seemed to have much to do with the revelation of truth.
Disappointed, the seeker returned to the well to demand an explanation, but he was told only, 'You will understand in the future.' When the man protested, all he got in return were the echoes of his own shouts. Indignant for having been made a fool of - or so he thought at the time - the seeker continued his wanderings in search of truth. As years went by, the memory of his experience at the well gradually faded until one night, while he was walking in the moonlight, the sound of sitar music caught his attention. It was wonderful music and it was played with great mastery and inspiration.
Profoundly moved, the truth seeker felt drawn towards the player. He looked at the fingers dancing over the strings. He became aware of the sitar itself. And then suddenly he exploded in a cry of joyous recognition: the sitar was made out of wires and pieces of metal and wood just like those he had once seen in the three stores and had thought it to be without any particular significance.
At last he understood the message of the well: we have already been given everything we need: our task is to assemble and use it in the appropriate way. Nothing is meaningful so long as we perceive only separate fragments. But as soon as the fragments come together into a synthesis, a new entity emerges, whose nature we could not have foreseen by considering the fragments alone.
 
 
www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/stories.

“There are no secrets. There are no tricks. If anything, it’s the opposite. Whether you are a pro athlete, or a guy running a business, or driving a truck, or going to school, it’s simple…there are no shortcuts. It’s ultimately your mental focus and concentration that determines whether you succeed or fail.” - Tim Grover
 
How are you concentrating on being successful?
 

A wagon train of pioneers was headed across the western plains when a lookout spotted a cloud of dust in the distance moving toward them.
"Indians!" cried the leader of the pioneers. He ordered the wagons to form a circle behind a hill.
Soon, the Indians arrived, and the tall figure of an Indian Chief stood silhouetted against the sky. The leader of the pioneers decided to climb the hill, face the chief, and attempt to communicate.
From the start, it was evident that neither man could speak the other's language. After some give and take, the chief backed away and went quickly down the hill, and the leader of the pioneers returned to the wagon train.
"What happened?" the people asked.
"Well, as you saw, we couldn't speak each other's language. I drew a circle in the dust with my finger to show that we were all one country. He looked at the circle and drew a line through it. He meant, of course, that there are two nations - the white man's and the Indian's.  But I pointed my finger to the sky to indicate that we were all one under God. Then he reached into his loin skins and took out an onion, which he gave to me. Naturally, I understood that it indicated the multiple layers of understanding available to everyone. To show him, I understood his meaning; I ate the onion. Then I reached into my coat and offered him an egg to show our goodwill, but he was too proud to accept my gift. He just turned and walked away."
Meanwhile, the Indians were taking arrows out of their quivers and readying their bows. The only needed the command of their Chief to attack. But the Chief held up his hand and began to tell them  what had happened on the hilltop.
"When we came face-to-face," he said, "we immediately knew we did not speak the same tongue. That man then drew a circle in the dust. I knew he meant we were surrounded. I drew a line through the circle to show him that we would cut them in half. Then he raised his finger to the sky as if to say that he could take us on all by himself. Then I gave him an onion to tell him that he would soon taste the bitter tears of defeat and death. But he ate the onion in defiance! Then he showed me an egg to tell me how fragile our position is. Let's get out there!"
This is a case in which a disaster was averted through communication, but only because the communicators completely misunderstood each other. Dumb luck prevailed, and that's something none of us  can count on anywhere. It behooves everyone to become an effective communicator. If you don't, you better circle the wagons.   

From: Leadership...with a human touch, February 16, 1993, Pages 9-11      

“The quickest way may not necessarily be the best.” - Kalpana Chawla
 
When was the last time you stopped to think before you acted?

“Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.” - John F. Kennedy
 
What are you willing to do to achieve greatly?

“A leader is a person who can adapt principles to circumstances.” - General George S. Patton
 
How do you adapt your principles to your circumstances?