George Washington Carver Archives - denisgmclaughlin.com

Leadership is the life you live.

Mar 06

A life of leadership is focused on helping others grow so they can achieve their maximum potential. That sure sounds altruistic. Well it’s more than that. Read on to find out how living a life of leadership will bring your personal success.

Living a life of leadership brings simplicity.

“Life is complicated.” Have you ever had someone use that as an explanation for why some things just aren’t working out in their life? Or worse, has someone used it to dodge responsibility for something they did in your life? It’s true, life can be complicated; so un-complicate it.

Living a life of leadership lets you live a life of simplicity. I take a very simple approach to life. I view the world through one lens. I don’t have family glasses, work glasses, and faith glasses. I have one prescription which brings my entire life into focus. For me, there is no such thing as work-life balance, there is just your life and you have to balance everything. I look at every aspect of my life through a leadership lens.

John Maxwell wrote a book titled There’s no such thing as business ethics. He follows that up with the statement, “There’s just ethics.” It’s much simpler to know what to do when your actions don’t depend on your activity.

Albert Einstein had three rules of work. The first of these is “… Out of clutter find simplicity…”

Living a life of leadership brings focus.

My goal every day for a life of leadership is just this simple as I said above: helping others grow so they can achieve their maximum potential. I would like to claim responsibility for this simple statement, but many successful people discovered this long before I did.

“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” – Jackie Robinson

“Only a life lived for others is a life worth living.” – Albert Einstein

“Life’s most urgent question is: What are you doing for others?” – Martin Luther King Jr.

These three historic figures who maintained a single minded focus on leadership were powerful forces for change. While scattered light brings warmth into a room, the power of light focused on a single point through a laser can bring together wounds, or separate metal. A life of leadership will bring the power that comes from focusing all of your energy on that one goal.

Living a life of leadership brings success.

A life of leadership has simple goals, and simple goals are easier to attain than complicated goals. When you achieve your goals each day, you live a satisfied life.

“A well-spent day brings happy sleep.” – Leonardo da Vinci

Helping others succeed is easier than many people think, but is not something that is easy to find. People take notice of those that notice them.

“When you can do the common things of life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.” – George Washington Carver

If you want to be known for something, there is nothing better than to be known as someone who helped others become the best they can be.

“Build your reputation by helping others build theirs.” – Anthony J. D’Angelo

Leaders: All the world’s a stage. And all the men and women are merely players.

Sep 16

The title of this blog post is borrowed from William Shakespeare’s play As You Like It. Leaders can learn a lot from the works of William Shakespeare. Their comments on society, then and now, are full of insight. This particular quote is an introduction to a scene where the character bemoans the futility of life when he goes on to say, “and all the men and women are merely players…”

Let’s take a closer look at what wisdom leaders can obtain from Shakespeare’s words; “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women are merely players.”

In the theater there are three main players: the writer, the director, and the actors and crew. Each of these three players is integral to the successful outcome of the play. The writer is the visionary who sees the end before the beginning begins. The director implements the vision and seeks to make it a reality. The actors and crew bring the play to life.

Shakespeare’s words might have been meant to say that any one player, if only focused on their part, would see themselves as merely players – not connected and not integral to the bigger stage of the world. The job of leaders is to make sure that all players know their roles and that all players know the importance of their roles in the success of the entire team.

Here are some tips for leaders on the importance of each of the three player’s roles in any successful venture:

The depth of your foundation, determines the height of your success.

Aug 06

Nature has a way of teaching us many lessons if we are careful to observe. George Washington Carver said, “Reading about nature is fine, but if a person walks in the woods and listens carefully, he can learn more than what is in books.” Walking in the woods you can see many sizes of trees. The various sizes are due in part to the type of tree, but also to the availability of soil and nutrients for the tree’s roots to spread and form a stable foundation. Trees will not outgrow their capacity to withstand external stress through the strong foundation of their roots.

Leadership isn’t something you do; it’s the life you live.

Jul 10

A life of leadership is focused on helping others grow so they can achieve their maximum potential. That sure sounds altruistic. Well it’s more than that. Read on to find out how living a life of leadership will bring your personal success.

What is the best way to learn about the challenges you will be facing in new surroundings?

Oct 25

Achieving higher learning through the use of computers. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This won’t be news to anyone: We live in an information society. In my family there are three laptops, two ipads, four smartphones, and many books in our library (the books are mostly mine – I haven’t completely given in yet).

I think we are pretty average for a family with two Millennial children and parents who have the daily news pushed to our iphones and ipads. This is the way information is shared today; online and at your fingertips anytime you need it or want it.

As you can tell I love information, and I love how we can access it anywhere anytime. But, and this is a big one, I believe you learn the most from being around people and learning first-hand what challenges exist in new surroundings.

George Washington Carver said, “Reading about nature is fine, but if a person walks in the woods and listens carefully, he can learn more than what is in books.”

Navy Commander Michael Abrashoff had a saying by which he led: “The most important thing that a commander can do is to see the ship from the eyes of the crew.”

Do you agree that studying on the internet and from books is great, but without living with the issues you won’t know what’s really going on?