Monthly Archives: December 2014

When is the right time for Leadership?

past to futureFuture, Present, Past. When it comes to leadership they’re all important. Let me tell you why I say focus first the future, then the present, then the past.

When you are leading a team the first question they will have is, “If we follow you where will be going?” Your team views the future possibilities with you as their leader.

The second question they have is, “Now that we are following you do we like where we are going?” Your team views the impact of you as their leader in the present.

Their last question is “Now that we have followed you, do we like where we have ended up?” Your team views the past and what they learned that helped them become what they are today.

Future

Think of being a new leader on an existing team or leading a new team as a job interview. Your new team already has expectations of what they want in a leader. Each team member will have their own particular requirements specific to their circumstances, but in the end they all want to be successful.   How are you going to do that?

The first thing you do when you start leading a team is to share stories about your past experience and success in accomplishing similar goals in similar situations. This is so the team can be comforted that you fit their requirements of a leader – you have the experience to lead them to future success.

 The past is where you learned the lesson, the future is where you apply the lesson

 

Present

Now that your new team trusts that you can lead them to future success, they need to see it in action in the present. There are two ways that you will serve your team:

You first help your team succeed by demonstrating how to accomplish each goal; you are their model for success. Then you serve them by providing your guidance, teaching, and resources so they can accomplish the goals on their own.

The future is created by what you do today, not tomorrow.

Past  

This last view of a leader comes when your team members are all successful on their own. They can look back with gratitude at all you have poured into them. But the view of the past is only for a moment as they now prepare for their own team’s views of them – future, present and past.

“Winners learn from the past and enjoy working in the present towards the future.” – Denis Waitly

The Three Cs of Leadership Success

Leadership successHow can you achieve leadership success? Bill Walsh, former head coach of the San Francisco 49ers said, “The score will take care of itself.” His teams were known for focusing on the basics and not the score. This advice coming from one of the winningest NFL head coaches in history.

You too can achieve Leadership Success by following these three C’s:

 

CLARITY Why are you in that position, at that company, at this time? What is your purpose? What are you going to accomplish? How are you going to get there?

Have it-You have to know what you are supposed to do. Without clarity of purpose you cannot lead.

“More important than the quest for certainty is the quest for clarity”- Francois Gautier

Write it-A dream remains a dream until it is written down into a goal. You aren’t really committed until you put pen to paper.

“Your mind, while blessed with permanent memory, is cursed with lousy recall. Written goals provide clarity. By documenting your dreams, you must think about the process of achieving them.” – Gary Ryan Blair

Speak it-A leader has to lead other people to achieve their goals. Unless you can communicate your purpose you will lack followers.

“Take advantage of every opportunity to practice your communication skills so that when important occasions arise, you will have the gift, the style, the sharpness, the clarity, and the emotions to affect other people.”- Jim Rohn

COURAGE We all have fears that can keep us from moving forward. What is your fear? What has been holding you back? Move forward.

Admit it-Fear is a normal emotion. You can’t deal with it unless you admit it’s there.

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear” – Mark Twain

Face it-The more you think about fear the stronger it gets. Stop thinking and start doing.

“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” – Dale Carnegie

Conquer it-All your fears won’t disappear, but you can succeed anyway.

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” – Nelson Mandela

CONSISTENCY Find something that works and do it right – over and over.

Try It-Success comes from consistently trying. Don’t just take my word for it, test it out yourself.

“For the novice runner, I’d say to give yourself at least 2 months of consistently running several times a week at a conversational pace before deciding if you want to stick with it. Consistence is the most important aspect of training…” – Frank Shorter

Do it-Once you see the positive results, keep doing what got you there.

“Success is more a function of consistent common sense than it is of genius. “An Wang, the founder of Wang Laboratories

 Achieve it-Like Bill Walsh said, “Let the score take care of itself.”

“In baseball, my theory is to strive for consistency, not to worry about the numbers. If you dwell on statistics you get shortsighted, if you aim for consistency, the numbers will be there at the end.” – Tom Seaver

It takes two to persevere

Charlie Davies PerseveranceCharlie Davies scored both goals in the New England Revolution’s 2-2 draw vs. New York to win the 2014 Eastern Conference MLS Championship on aggregate, 4-3 this Saturday.

Davies started the Conference semifinal series off for New England by scoring 2 goals against Columbus in his MLS playoff debut. He became the first player in New England’s history to score twice in a postseason game. With two more on Saturday, Davies moved into third place all-time on the New England’s playoff scoring list.

This weekend’s performance by Charlie Davies was remarkable for any professional soccer player. But as Davies said about his performance, “For me, personally, it’s unimaginable really,”

In 2009, Charlie Davies would have thought he was destined for this type of performance. That is until October 2009, when after helping the US National soccer team qualify for the World Cup, he was involved in a car accident that left him with severe injuries. According to reports at the time, Davies sustained injuries to his, “fibula, tibia and femur of his right leg (stabilizing the limb required insertion of two titanium rods); tore a ligament in his left knee; fractured his left elbow, eye socket and nose; suffered serious head trauma; and lacerated his bladder.”

Thoughts after the accident were more about if he would walk again. No one was thinking that he would play soccer again. No one that is except Charlie Davies himself.

Charlie Davies chose to persevere. He would do whatever it would take to play soccer at the professional level again. It was later as he was able to regain his strength and begin the long process of re-training, that he said:

“I appreciate how hard this game is now. You can rebuild your body, but you must also rediscover your form, rhythm, confidence and consistency.”

Persevering through a major setback like this isn’t easy. Davies discovered that he could train to rebuild his abilities, but what would take more time is rebuilding his confidence and consistent performance. To do this he needed to continue training until it all came back. He also discovered that he needed people other than himself to help – he needed a coach and a team of players who wanted to see him succeed.

Let’s see how Confidence, Consistent Performance, and Continued Training along with people who want to see you succeed can help you persevere though your setbacks:

What you have to do to persevere

First you have to decide that you want to comeback. Decide what your vision of success is. Decide that you have the passion to succeed. Decide that you have the drive to see it through. Then go.

Rebuild your Confidence – Coming back from a setback works best if you celebrate the small steps that show a glimmer of your former self. Your confidence will return one small success at a time.

“I can feel my old self come out more and more in trainings.” – Charlie Davies

Achieve Consistent Performance – Remember what it was like when you first started the climb to your former glory. You began to string together a few success, than more and more until it became normal for you to succeed every time. Consistent performance comes in steps. First you have to think and succeed, than you succeed without thinking.

“The old me was there, just not often.” – Charlie Davies

Continue Training until it all comes back – Once you decide to comeback from a setback, realize that you will have more setbacks on your road to the comeback. The advice on this one is pretty simple: Just Keep Going.

“Through it all I just continued to fight and stay with it and things have turned out for the best.” – Charlie Davies

What others have to do to help you persevere

Coming back from a setback is no more something you can do on your own than when you achieved success the first time. We all achieve success with other people, and through other people. This is no different.

Rebuild your Confidence – You need others around you to remind you of what you were and what you can become when you persevere.

“They’ve really seen the potential that I have and they want me to succeed and that goes a long way. That’s why I’m playing the way I am now.” – Charlie Davies

Achieve Consistent Performance – You need others around you to provide a consistent, stable environment for you to try and fail so you can try and succeed.

“We gave him a stable environment, but he was fighting for his position every day, from when his injury happened to the entire 2014.” – Jay Heaps, Head Coach New England Revolution

Continue Training until it all comes back – You need others around you to push you to Just Keep Going.

“I think what’s really important, the guys in this locker room have pushed me since I’ve been here.” – Charlie Davies

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