Often I see leaders who are just going through the motions, Sheepwalking, following the well-worn cow paths, not making the choice to lead. In a nutshell many leaders lack passion for a vision. Consider the lesson in the following poem…

The Lesson of the Moth

By Don Marquis, Archy and Methitabel

I was talking to a moth

The other evening

He was trying to break into

An electric light bulb

An fry himself on the wires

Why do you fellows

Pull this stunt I asked him

Because it is the conventional

Thing for moths or why

If that had been an uncovered

Candle instead of an electric

Light bulb you would

Now be a small unsightly cinder

Have you no sense

Plenty of it he answered

But at times we get tired

Of using it

We get bored with the routine

And crave beauty

And excitement

Fire is beautiful

And we know that if we get

Too close it will kill us

What does that matter

It is better to be happy

For a moment

And be burned with beauty

Than live a long time

And be bored all the while

So we wad all our life up

Into one little role

And then we shoot the roll

That what life is for

It is better to be part of beauty

For one instant then cease to

Exist than to exist forever

And never be a part of beauty

Our attitude toward life

Is come easy and go easy

We are like human beings

Used to be before they became

Too civilised to enjoy themselves

And before I could argue him

Out of his philosophy

On a patent cigar lighter

I do not agree with him

Myself I would rather have

Half the happiness and twice

The longevity

But at the same time I wish

There was something I wanted

As badly as he wanted to fry himself

 

Great leaders are always ignited by great passion.

• What is your passion?
• What are you striving to achieve?
• How badly do you want it?

No related posts.

I just finished watching a great YouTube video of Steve Job’s Stanford Commencement Speech, discussing some of his life experience, as well as some of his personal life lessons.

Two of the life lessons from Steve Jobs speech that I found interesting were….

Love What You Do

“…sometimes life is going to hit you in the head with a brick, don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied, is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking, and don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know it when you find it. And like any great relationship it just get’s better and better, as the years roll on. So keep looking. Don’t settle.”

You cannot underestimate the power of passion in life and in successful leadership. All successful people are passionate about what they do. I have yet to find a successful leader that does not love what they are doing with their life. Do you love what you do? Is it a passion?

Live Each Day Like it’s Your Last

“When I was seventeen I read a quote that went something like, ‘if you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right’. It made an impression on me, and since then for the past thirty three years, I’ve looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ Whenever the answer has been ‘NO’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”

The question “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” is a good way to test if we are doing what really matters… How would you answer this question?

Related posts:

1. Steve Jobs and his leadership

@N08/4291413264/" target="_blank">Photo by h.koppdelaney

“Time is limited, so I better wake up every morning fresh and know that I have just one chance to live this particular day right, and to string my days together into a life of action, and purpose.” – Lance Armstrong

The survey of nearly 1,200 managers and directors by the UK-based Chartered Management Institute has found more than eight out of 10 struggle to prioritise their work, with conflicting demands pulling them in all directions. Effective time management begins with vision and purpose….

It’s astonishing how many leaders fail to use their time effectively. Research by Heike Bruch and Sumantra Ghoshal discussed in the Harvard Business Review article “Beware the Busy Manager” found that “a mere 10% of managers spend their time in a committed, purposeful and reflective manner” . In their article they research found that focus and energy  are critical elements required for purposeful action. They describe these two elements as follows:

“Think of focus as concentrated attention – the ability to zero in on a goal and see the task through to completion. Focused managers aren’t in reactive mode; they choose not to respond immediately to every issue that comes their way or get sidetracked from their goals by distractions like e-mail, meetings, setbacks, and unforeseen demands. Because they have a clear understanding of what they want to accomplish, they carefully weigh their options before selecting a course of action….. Think of the second characteristic – energy – as the vigor that is fueled by intense personal commitment. Energy is what pushes managers to go the extra mile when tackling heavy workloads and meeting tight deadlines.”

Effective managers and leaders have high levels of focus and energy which the article refers to as purposeful managers. As illustrated in the energy – focus matrix illustrated below, describing the four types of managers.

• How focused are you? Do you have a clear vision and goal?
• How much energy do you have? Have you made a personal commitment to the goal?
• Where are you located on the energy – focus matrix?
• Are you making effective use of your time…..?

Related posts:

1. Where Are You Spending Your Time and Energy?
2. Steve Jobs: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life”!
3. Leader as the facilitators of meaning and purpose

I recently posted on Seth Godin’s insight into persistence, following up on that the Mavericks at Work blog has an interesting post titled Talent Trumps Resume, Persistence Trumps Talent which quotes the following from Dan Pink on persistence…

“There are massive returns to doggedness, the people who achieve the most are often the ones who stick with it when others don’t. . . They show up. They practice and practice and practice some more…  …The world is littered with talented people who didn’t persist, who didn’t put in the hours, who gave up too early, who thought they could ride on talent alone.”

And, according to the post, where does such ‘doggedness’ and this persistence come from…?

“There’s a certain paradoxical psychology behind the pursuit of success: if you’re pursuing success for its own sake (for the reward, the promotion, the fame), you’re less likely to succeed than if you’re pursuing something deeper, following a genuine passion, doing something you like (or even love). As Dan puts it, ‘the more intrinsic motivation you have, the more likely you are to persist. The more you persist, the more likely you are to succeed.’”

Persistence trumps talent and passion provides the staying power which results in success…..! How passionate and persistent are you in achieving your goals?

Technorati Tags: Persistence, Passion, Success, Talent, Leadership, Management, Business

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1. Persistence: The key to the Achievement of Meaningful Goals
2. Talent is Never Enough

@N02/4408694488/" target="_blank">Photo by archer10 (Dennis) (BUSY)

I have highlighted previously the importance of employee engagement and meaning.  A new study by Philadelphia-based consultants PeopleMetrics, supports the previous posts, highlighting the importance of engagement and meaning in driving corporate profits. The study surveyed more than 5,095 workers, across the United States and found that Fortune 500 companies in the lowest quartile in company profitability had 50% fewer engaged employees compared to those in the top quartile. The research found…

“…that creating emotional connections to employees is what truly matters because this is where organizations can dramatically boost employee productivity and business outcomes….. Building an emotional bond with employees, … requires organizations to create a ‘sense of meaning and purpose’ among employees by connecting them to the ‘higher vision and purpose’ of the organization…. Equally, organizations need to build trust and confidence through regular dialogue with managers and senior leadership as well as celebrating successes, having fun and showing individual appreciation.”

How engaged are people in your team? Engagement is the real measure of effective leadership…….. How do you measure up?

Related posts:

1. Managment Plays a Crucial Role in Employee Engagement
2. The Ten C’s of Employee Engagement
3. Job Satisfaction and Engagement of the American Workforce