Leadership Minute: Discover Your Limits

limit

One finds limits by pushing them. – Herbert Simon

Your limits as a leader are going to be tested. It’s as you continually strive to grow personally and professionally that you can look back and see how far you have come. The challenges and obstacles you faced five years ago are not the same ones you have today as you push yourself to new limits. What limits to your growth are you testing today? Let me encourage you to discover new limits and expand your borders by pushing them. Don’t get so comfortable that you settle for where you are today without a vivid curiosity for what tomorrow holds. Dare to discover just how far you can go and what you can accomplish by pushing your limits in new and positive ways. You can create new borders and possibilities by removing any self- imposed limitations. Don’t limit yourself or your future; live it without limits.

Please follow and like us:

Leadership Minute: Lead Yourself

Lead-Yourself

You can have no dominion greater or less than that over yourself – Leonardo da Vinci

It’s the first rule of leadership that yields to no one. If you wish to lead others you first must lead yourself. After all, the hardest person you will ever lead is not the jerk down the hall that drives you nuts it’s most likely the one in the mirror. Pay attention to the people that get on your nerves. What irritates you the most about them could be your struggle as well. You see, it’s easy and convenient for us to point out the flaws and weaknesses in others but overlook that same weakness in ourselves- or worse yet, justify them. An authentic leader will develop his or her disciplines, be held to a higher standard, be held accountable, and lead by example. Before leading others, lead yourself.

Please follow and like us:

Leadership Minute: Hang in There

perseverance

Perseverance, secret of all triumphs. – Victor Hugo

Perseverance is not one of the more glamorous leadership traits. In fact; it can be downright brutal. As leaders we are taught to take Frost’ advice and journey down the road less traveled. But what happens when the road less traveled is traveled less and less by those who are supposed to be leading the way? While perseverance may not be pretty it is a necessity. We need leaders today who have a stick-with-it attitude. We need leaders who are not afraid to put it all on the line and stay the course. The power of perseverance will see you through the good times and bad, but in the end you will be rewarded with a level of success others only dream about. Today you might be tempted to throw in the towel and give up. Don’t. Your leadership can go to a new level but only as you persevere.

Please follow and like us:

Three Ways to Push Back Against Negative People

negative

The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That’s the day we truly grow up. – John C. Maxwell

The noted English architect Sir Christopher Wren was supervising the construction of a magnificent cathedral in London. A journalist thought it would be interesting to interview some of the workers, so he chose three and asked them this question: “What are you doing?”

The first replied, “I’m cutting stone for 10 shillings a day.” The next answered, “I’m putting in 10 hours a day on this job.” But the third said, “I’m helping Sir Christopher Wren construct one of London’s greatest cathedrals.”

As a leader it is important to understand how important your attitude is as it relates to your success. How high and how far you go often has less to do with your talent or skills and has more to do with the attitude you have in navigating those skills. Attitudes can lift you or ground you. It’s a choice we all make.

While you may be fine with that scenario you may have more of an issue with other people and their negative attitudes. How do you handle those perpetually negative or toxic people in your office who always see the glass half empty and usually have something negative to say about most everything?

How can you push back against negative people in your life? Is it really possible? For starters, here are three tips to help you learn how.

Hit your personal reset button.

Hitting your reset button is about recalibrating your own set of personal standards. Consider for a moment the type of people whom you have tolerated or have entertained in the past. How many of those were the negative or toxic types? The reason they were around, excluding professional necessity, is because you chose to have them around. Hitting the reset button is about choosing whom you keep and who you cut loose. I will have more to say about that in a moment. Suffice to say; in order to push back against negative people you have to reset your standards and this means making some really important choices going forward.

Choose your inner circle more carefully.

The reason this is so important is that we tend to become like those we most closely associate with. If you want high standards for yourself then you will have to be more selective about those you keep close. That’s not to say you can’t be cordial to all, but you must be more selective with the few you keep close. Your standards are reflected in your associations. Negative people tend to attract negative people in the same way positive people tend to attract positive people. The good thing is that those closest to you will tend to be of the same mindset and attitude. Be careful about who you keep close because they can be the lifters in your life or the ones who drag you down.

Stay above the fray.

Simply put, there are times when you cannot escape the reach of negative people. They are in your office, they sit at the same conference table as you, and they share the same break room. Sharing the same space is not the same as sharing the same mindset. Your positive attitude can make the difference and give hope to those who share your same beliefs. Stay above the fray by staying true to your values. Staying above the fray means that others will have to come up to your level and not the other way around.  When you stay above the fray you are setting a higher standard for everyone.

These three tips all have one thing in common. Did you figure it out? They are not tips on how to change the other person. They are all about the things you can do to improve your own attitude. You can’t change the other person, but you can be a good example to them. Pushing back against negative people is about improving yourself.

What do you say?

 

© 2014 Doug Dickerson

Please follow and like us:

Guard Your Attitude

Both the hummingbird and the vulture fly over our nation’s deserts. All vultures see is rotting meat, because that is what they look for. They thrive on that diet. But hummingbirds ignore the smelly flesh of dead animals. Instead, they look for the colorful blossoms of desert plants. The vultures live on what was. They live on the past. They fill themselves with what is dead and gone. But hummingbirds live on what is. They seek new life. They fill themselves with freshness and life. Each bird finds what it is looking for. We all do.

Your attitude, like that of the respective birds, formulates the way in which you see things. How you see things shapes the way in which you react, the decisions you make, and ultimately the leadership style that defines you.

Guard your attitude. Winston Churchill said, “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” He’s right. Your viewpoint is the product of your attitude. How is your view?

© Doug Dickerson

 

Follow Doug at www.twitter.com/managemntmoment

Doug’s new book, Great Leaders Wanted! is now available. Visit www.dougsmanagementmoment.blogspot.com to order your copy today!

Please follow and like us: