Leadership Tips – Page 6 – Doug Dickerson on Leadership

Leadership Minute: The Power of Your Influence

Posted August 1, 2014
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Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other peoples’ interests first. – Bob Burg, The Go-Giver

Influence is a by-product of your leadership. It’s also the blessing of your leadership and it comes with a powerful responsibility. Every day you have the opportunity to make an impact in the lives of people around you. You are not in your place of leadership just to occupy space or for it to be self-serving. You are there to serve and help others. When you use your influence with abundance it tends to have a reciprocal effect. When you are generous with your influence – be it as a mentor, helping someone make an important connection, being involved with a charity in your community, etc. it all comes back around on you in positive ways. The measure of your leadership will be determined in part by what you did with your influence. When you use your influence to lift others up you are raising the level of your leadership. Give generously.

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Leadership Minute: The Right Path

Posted July 31, 2014
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Sometimes the right path is not the easiest one. – Grandmother Willow, Pocahontas

Not all of your decisions as a leader will be easy. Sometimes in making the right decision you are making the harder one. The unintended consequences of the right decision can cause you to question if it was the right choice. Understand this; while there is great fulfillment in leadership it often comes at a price. Doing the right thing is the result of living the right way. When choosing which path to take don’t always look for the easy one. Not every path will be hard and not every choice will be difficult. In the end, what matters is that you are willing to make that choice. At the end of the day the question is not whether you made the hard choice or the easy choice but whether you made the right choice. Regardless of the outcome let the decisions you make and the paths you walk be driven by what’s right; not what’s easy.

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Leadership Minute: Are You Listening?

Posted July 30, 2014
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The best way to listen is with your mouth shut. If you’re talking, you’re not listening. – Jesse Lyn Stoner

One of the most essential leadership skills you will ever develop and always use is the skill of listening. Are you hearing me? By listening you know what the other person is thinking, feeling, processing, and wrestling with. This skill is perfected when you are totally engaged and committed to hearing what the other person has to say. Listening can be rather casual at times. One tends to get the feeling you are not listening when you are glancing at your smart phone every two minutes or if you keep interrupting them. The art of listening and hearing the other person is saying happens when you give yourself fully, for however long, to the other person without interruption. Never underestimate the power of listening and for the value that it adds to your leadership. You not only are doing a service to the other person involved but you are growing your skills in the process. So do yourself a favor and listen up!

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Leadership Minute: Make Peace With Your Past

Posted July 29, 2014
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Oh yes, the past can hurt. But from the way I see it, you can either run from it, or…learn from it. – Rafiki, Lion King

One of the greatest hindrances to your leadership today and that of your future can be things from your past. While you can’t go back change it you can adapt new ways of dealing with it. Perhaps you did some things that you are not proud of or someone hurt you and you are holding on to resentments. It could be a failed relationship or business that has turned your attitude the wrong way and it is affecting your leadership today. While you can’t go back and have a do-over, you can embrace new behaviors and attitudes today that can help you. The past is the past. You can learn from it but it is a choice you have to make. When you let go of the past; forgive, forget, and move on- you can experience the freedom that comes from a fresh new outlook on life. Make peace with your past.

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Leadership Minute: Venture Out

Posted July 28, 2014
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Venture outside your comfort zone. The rewards are worth it. – Rapunzel, Tangled

Living your leadership to the fullest begins when you step outside your comfort zone. It can be quite tempting to stay in your comfortable place where things are predictable and safe. But your growth comes when you dare to shed the comfortable surroundings and venture out. You can do this by setting new and more demanding goals, making new friends, or by reading new books that stretch your beliefs. When you venture out you will meet new and exciting people who are exploring just like you. You will soon discover that the reasons you were afraid to venture out were not as bad as you thought they were. In fact you will wish you had done it sooner. So what are you waiting for? Go ahead; venture out, get uncomfortable with being comfortable and grow a little. The rewards of new growth will do you good.

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Leadership Minute: Opportunity Awaits

Posted July 25, 2014
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At times leadership boils down to this simple challenge: Will we rise to the opportunity placed before us? – Hans Finzel

Leadership is about seeing and seizing opportunities. The catch is being able to recognize it when you see it. Your opportunities won’t always look like what you might expect. It could come disguised to as opportunities to serve. It could look a lot like more work; and usually will be. Your opportunity could be found in mentoring a young person or coaching Little League. Don’t make the mistake in believing that the opportunity that awaits you is about you. Seize opportunities to empower others, meet needs, and let the expressions of your leadership be those that will outlast you. There will never shortages of opportunities to make a difference with your leadership. When you take the focus off yourself and place it on others you will see more opportunities than you will know what to do with. Will you rise to your opportunity?

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Leadership Minute: Learning Curves

Posted July 24, 2014
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The illiterate of the 21^st century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” – Alvin Toffler

The impact and longevity of your leadership will in large part hinge on this principle. Leaders by nature are learners. But can you go the extra mile with your learning? Can you unlearn and relearn? As we grow and mature as leaders we accumulate a lot of information and knowledge by which our leadership style is shaped. It’s not so much your learning capacity that is at issue here as it is your relevance going forward. Being able to unlearn and relearn is smart leadership and demonstrates your capacity to grow and stay current. Never are we talking about compromising your values or principles that keep you connected and grounded. But as you strive to be the best leader possible you show that sometimes it’s not what you know that matters but what you can unlearn and relearn that makes the difference.

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Leadership Minute: Defining What’s Possible

Posted July 23, 2014
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The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man’s determination. – Tommy Lasorda

The secret formula for the success that one achieves over the impossible is found in determination. Great skills and talents are wonderful assets but are of little value to the person who has no motivation or determination. A keen mind combined with a unique business savvy is enough to make anyone envious but is of no value if you quit at the first sign of difficulty. Possessing a charismatic personality that people want to follow puts you at a considerable advantage but not if you don’t possess a long-term commitment to succeed. Determined leaders are a special breed of leaders who are not fazed by external circumstances but rather have their eyes on the goal and a steady hand at the wheel. These are the leaders who are used to hearing “impossible” but forge ahead anyway. The secret ingredient of this leader and their success is not really a mystery. It can be summed up in that one powerful word: determination.

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Leadership Minute: Be Grateful

Posted July 22, 2014
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Be grateful for what you have and stop complaining- it bores everybody else, does you no good, and doesn’t solve any problems. – Zig Ziglar

What are you grateful for? It’s really all about your perspective. You can spend your time and energy finding things to complain about. You can be one of “those” people who aren’t happy unless you’re unhappy and in the process make everyone around you miserable. But life is too short for that. We all have our share of troubles, but more importantly we all have many things to be thankful for. The thoughts that dominate your mind tend to set the tone for your outlook and life and the happiness you experience. If you are living the life of a complainer then your focus is wrong. The expressions of a grateful heart are realized when you choose to see the good, find ways to serve others, and life your life with a greater purpose. You are blessed more than you realize. Be grateful.

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Leadership Minute: What Motivates You?

Posted July 21, 2014
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I’ve never believed that titles motivate. Seeing possibilities motivates. Results motivate. Making a difference motivates. – Howard Behar

It is important to know and understand what motivates you as a leader. Forget about titles for a moment and try to identify what is it that keeps you up at night and gets you up early in the morning? When you know what that is you have found the source of your motivation. When you can see past the insufficiency of a title and see the possibilities before you then you will be motivated. When you see positive results that are the by-product of your hard work then you are motivated. When you see the lives you impact and the difference you make then your motivation has a purpose. What should motivate you as a leader is not another title or position, but a life that is lived for something that will outlast it. What is the source of your motivation?

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