by Helena Escalante | Collaboration, Goals, Growth, Leadership, Mindset, Tools
Links to other parts of the miniseries:
Leadership: Debunking 5 myths
Leadership: Developing influence one step at a time: Position
Leadership: Developing influence one step at a time: Permission & Production
Leadership: Climbing the steps
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 46 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Leadership: Developing influence one step at a time: People Development and Personhood
— From Leadership 101: What Every Leader Needs to Know by John C. Maxwell
So far, we’ve debunked the myths of leadership and looked at the first three levels leadership. The author of Leadership 101, John C. Maxwell, makes a quick recap of the progression of these levels: “At level 2, the follower loves the leader; at level 3, the follower admires the leader; at level 4, the follower is loyal to the leader. Why? You win people’s hearts by helping them grow personally.”
This is getting way better, isn’t it? Let’s unpack this level!
Level 4: People Development—People follow because of what you have done for them. “A leader is great, not because of his or her power, but because of his or her ability to empower others. Success without a successor is failure. A worker’s main responsibility is developing others to do the work. The true leader can be recognized because somehow his people consistently demonstrate superior performances.”
At this level, Maxwell states that you should be surrounded by people whom you have helped develop in some way. However, a problem arises when new people—who don’t know you—simply view you as a position leader since you’ve had no contact with them. To counteract this, the author offers two suggestions:
- Walk slowly through the crowd. This means having some way of staying in touch with everyone.
- Develop key leaders. Meet and teach the influencers within the organization, and then let them pass on to others what they’ve learned.
This last point is very important: while you may not have time to help and develop everyone, by developing key leaders you will start a cascading effect that will, in turn, create more leaders. This way, your legacy and others’ loyalty to you will be passed on effectively. It’s the equivalent of lighting up many candles with your flame and then letting those candles light up many other ones with their flames. Soon you will have a full crowd lit up from the same source.
“Loyalty to the leader reaches its highest peak when the follower has personally grown through the mentorship of the leader.”
The characteristics to master at this level are:
Level 4: People Development/Reproduction
- Realize that people are your most valuable asset.
- Place a priority on developing people.
- Be a model for others to follow.
- Pour your leadership efforts into the top 20 percent of your people.
- Expose key leaders to growth opportunities.
- Attract other winners/producers to the common goal.
- Surround yourself with an inner core that complements your leadership.
And having reached level 4, is there still more? Yes, there is one more rung to this ladder.
Level 5: Personhood—People follow because of who you are and what you represent. Maxwell states that most of us have not yet arrived at this level. “This step is reserved for leaders who have spent years growing people and organizations. Few make it. Those who do are bigger than life. […] Only a lifetime of proven leadership will allow us to sit at level 5 and reap the rewards that are eternally satisfying.”
So, what are those rewards and characteristics that make a level 5 leader bigger than life?
Level 5: Personhood/Respect
- Your followers are loyal and sacrificial.
- You have spent years mentoring and molding leaders.
- You have become a statesman/consultant, and are sought out by others.
- Your greatest joy comes from watching others grow and develop.
- You transcend the organization.
And there you have it. These are the 5 levels of leadership that we can go through. It’s important to mention that at any given time you will be on different levels with different people, and it’s important to know what levels those are to be able to interact accordingly.
I want to close this miniseries with some food for thought from Maxwell:
“Everyone is a leader because everyone influences someone. Not everyone will become a great leader, but everyone can become a better leader. Are you willing to unleash your leadership potential? Will you use your leadership skills to better mankind?
ACTION
TODAY: Think about the various levels of leadership at which you are in life and business. How can you become a better leader? What types of leaders are you surrounded by?
FUTURE: As you decide to start a new project or adventure, keep in mind the levels of leadership that you can attain and the types of leaders you’ll be around. This will play an important part in helping you determine the viability (as well as your willingness) to move forward with it.
Know someone who wants to learn more about leadership? Please share this post and the upcoming ones in this miniseries, thank you! Email, Facebook or Twitter.
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Goals, Growth, Habits, Mindset, Planning, Tools
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 35 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Ask these questions to describe your successful, ideal life
— From No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline: 21 Ways to Achieve Happiness and Success by Brian Tracy
Each one of us has a different definition of success, yet we will all likely agree that no matter what our definition is, the pursuit and attainment of that success will bring us happiness. In his book No Excuses!, business guru Brian Tracy cites Aristotle as saying that the great question each of us must answer is, “How shall we live in order to be happy?”
He goes on to say, “Your ability to ask and answer that question correctly for yourself—and then to follow where your answer leads you—will largely determine whether you achieve your own happiness, and how soon.”
And to get there as soon as possible, we can start by defining what success looks like for each of us. Tracy suggests asking the following questions and answering them as if you could wave a magic wand and make your life perfect in every way.
If your business, work, and career were ideal in every way, what would they look like?
What would you be doing?
What sort of company would you work for?
What position would you have?
How much money would you earn?
What kind of people would you work with?
And, especially, what would you need to do more or less of to create your perfect career?
If your family life were perfect in every way, what would it look like?
Where would you live, and how would you be living?
What kind of a lifestyle would you have?
What sort of things would you want to have and do with the members of your family?
If you had no limitations and you could wave a magic wand, in what ways would you change your family life today?
If your health were perfect, how would you describe it?
How would you feel?
How much would you weigh?
How would your levels of health and fitness be different from what they are today?
Most of all, what steps could you take immediately to begin moving toward your ideal levels of health and energy?
If your financial situation were ideal, how much would you have in the bank?
How much would you be earning each month and each year from your investments?
If you had enough money that you never had to worry about finances again, how much would that be?
What steps could you take, starting today, to create your ideal financial life?
Why aren’t you already as successful as you would like to be, and what one discipline would help you the most to achieve all your goals?
What one skill could you develop that would help you to realize more of your goals?
If you could wave a magic wand and be completely disciplined in one area, which one discipline would have the greatest positive impact on your life?
As you begin to lay out your vision of success, pay attention to the very last question in each category (the things that you should be doing more or less of) and the very last three questions.
Self-discipline is the key to achieve what you want; however, it’s very important to lay out a plan first, so that you can then follow it with your self-discipline. For this, Tracy focuses on the Law of Cause and Effect, or sowing and reaping: “This law says that if you want to achieve success in any area, you must determine how success is achieved in that area and then practice those skills and activities repeatedly until you achieve the same results.”
Success guru Kop Kopmeyer aptly says that you must “learn from the experts [because] you will never live long enough to learn it all for yourself.” Remember that success leaves clues!
ACTION
TODAY: Set aside some time to answer the questions above and figure out what your ideal and successful life looks like. As you answer, a clear path will emerge and you will see what you need to do more or less of to head into the direction of your dreams.
FUTURE: Once you know what success looks like for you and what direction you need to go into, figure out who are the foremost, trusted experts in those fields, so that you can learn from them and follow in your footsteps.
Please share this post with someone who could benefit from answering all these questions to define their success, thanks! Email, Facebook or Twitter.
by Helena Escalante | Goals, Growth, Mindset, Tools
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 34 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Tenacity: 3 essential characteristics to keep going
— From Success 101: What Every Leader Needs to Know by John C. Maxwell
“Tenacity,” says John C. Maxwell, “is crucial to success.” He mentions that even people lacking talent and failing to have or cultivate other qualities of a team player are able to help the team succeed if they have a tenacious spirit.
But what does being tenacious mean?
According to the author, there are three essential characteristics that constitute tenacity and that help us keep going:
1. Giving all that you have, not more than you have. Some people lack tenacity because they think their project will require a superhuman effort to get done and they don’t believe they have what it takes to make it happen. Maxwell states, “Being tenacious requires that you give 100 percent—not more, but certainly not less. If you give your all, you afford yourself every opportunity possible for success.”
2. Working with determination, not waiting on destiny. “Tenacious people don’t rely on luck, fate, or destiny for their success. And when conditions become difficult, they keep working. They know that trying times are no time to quit trying. And that’s what makes the difference. For the thousands of people who give up, there is always someone like Thomas Edison, who remarked, ‘I start where the last man left off.’ ”
3. Quitting when the job is done, not when you’re tired. Maxwell cites the American actor Robert Strauss, who stated that “success is a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don’t quit when you’re tired—you quit when the gorilla is tired.” The author says that it’s not the first, but the last step that makes the difference, as that is where the race is won. “If you want your team to succeed, you have to keep pushing beyond what you think you can do and find out what you’re really capable of.”
So, how tenacious are you?
As food for thought, I’ll leave you with this quote from Napoleon Hill:
“Every successful person finds that great success lies just beyond the point when they’re convinced their idea is not going to work.”
ACTION
TODAY: Take a moment to think of an area in your life where you could succeed with more tenacity. What is that area? Which of the three above characteristics have you not applied there? Say, have you not given it your all and quit because you got tired, before the job was done? Simply take away a lesson from that and start again. Armed with that lesson and the determination to get it done, you will find the tenacity to get to that last step you need to win the race and achieve your goal.
FUTURE: When you’re stuck or about to quit, think about these three characteristics of tenacity. Why did you decide to start in the first place? Go back to that mental place and you’ll find the motivation and determination to continue giving it your all and not quit until the job is done.
Know someone who needs a bit of inspiration and tenacity right now? Please share this post via email, Facebook or Twitter, thanks!
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Goals, Growth, Leadership, Mindset, Opportunity, Planning, Tools
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes, 0 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: 3 Questions you must ask yourself to succeed in business
— From The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success by Brian Tracy.
In The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success, business guru Brian Tracy shares the Law of Critical Success Factors: “Every business has a number of key success factors that measure and determine its success or failure.”
Just as our bodies have indicators of vital functions that determine our health (heart rate, blood pressure, etc.), “companies have critical success factors, as well, which measure the health and vitality of an enterprise.”
Tracy says that many critical success factors are common to all businesses: “leadership, product quality, service, sales, marketing, manufacturing, distribution, and finance and accounting.” Excellent performance in each of these areas will bring about excellent results, whereas poor performance—or nonperformance—will seriously jeopardize the survival of the business.
Above and beyond these common critical success factors, some companies have their own factors that are specific to them. They are unique and they are what separates a particular company from the rest.
This last point brings about the first corollary of this law: “Each individual has personal critical success factors, the performance of which determines his or her business future.”
Tracy goes on to explain, “You have a set of key skills or core competencies that you use, like tools, to do your job. A weakness or failure in any of your key skills can undermine your overall effectiveness and weaken your ability to do your job effectively. To perform at your best, you must first identify the critical success factors of your work, measure your strengths in each one, and then develop a plan to become excellent in the areas that can help you the most.”
There are two questions that you must ask yourself in order to determine your personal critical success factors:
Why am I on the payroll? “What exactly have you been hired to accomplish? Why does the company pay you the money it does? Both you and your boss should be in complete agreement on this question. Whatever your answer is to this question, that is what you should be working on most of the time.” (Note: if it’s your own business, substitute the above with questions as if you were hiring someone to work in your position. It’s an eye-opening exercise, what exactly would this person work on most of the time?)
What can I, and only I, do that if done well will make a real difference to my company? “This is a task or responsibility that only you can do. If you don’t do it, it won’t get done. But if you do it and do it well, it can make a tremendous difference both to your company and to yourself.”
And these two questions bring about the second corollary to this law: “Your weakest critical success factor determines the height at which you can use other skills.”
What exactly does this mean?
“Your personal strengths and core competencies are what have brought you to where you are today. They are the foundations of your position and the determinants of your income. At the same time, your weaknesses form the ceiling on your ability to rise to even greater heights.”
To move ahead more rapidly, Tracy says, you must ask yourself—and be honest—about your weaknesses:
What are your weaknesses? “What one skill, if you developed and did it in an excellent fashion, would have the greatest positive impact on your career? Whatever the answer to this question, this is where you should begin to work on yourself. This is where you can get the biggest payoff in terms of increased competence.”
By asking these three questions, you will be able to determine where you currently stand and what you need to do to move forward to achieve your greatest business success.
ACTION
TODAY: Assess yourself. Tracy asks, “What are your personal critical success factors, and what is your plan to become absolutely excellent in the one area that can help you the most at this time?” Create a plan to start working on yourself in this area.
FUTURE: A great individual assessment and a book that can help you figure out your strengths is called Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath. Highly recommended. It will help you figure out your top 5 strengths so that you can build upon them. I’m happy to report that my biggest strength is learner (not that you hadn’t noticed…). A good outlet for expression for a learner is to share what he or she has learned, as a teacher, and this is another reason why this blog came to life, to be able to share what I learn. Check out the book and/or test and let me know in the comments here what your top strength is!
Know someone who needs to find his/her strengths? Please share this post via email, Facebook or Twitter, thanks!
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Goals, Growth, Habits, Mindset, Planning, Tools, Wellbeing, Willpower
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 7 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: The one characteristic that unites enemies and strengths
— From The Artist’s Journey: The Wake of the Hero’s Journey and the Lifelong Pursuit of Meaning from Steven Pressfield
I love Steven Pressfield’s books. He has a knack for brevity, clarity and great wordsmanship that I admire enormously (and secretly wish I had).
In his great book The Artist’s Journey, the author makes a point of sharing and comparing the modern-day enemies that (most of us) share and the strengths that we all strive to have. The conclusion? The one thing that unites both our enemies and strengths is that they are all mental.
Don’t believe it? Check this out:
ENEMIES: “None of these enemies are real… they are all products of the mind.”
Fear of failure.
Fear of success.
Fear of the new, of pain, of loneliness, of exertion, of intensity.
Need for external (third-party) validation.
Self-doubt.
Arrogance.
Impatience.
Inability to defer gratification.
Predisposition to distraction.
Shallowness of thought and purpose.
Conventionality.
Insularity.
The need to cling to the known.
The best part of this, says Pressfield, is that we “confront no foes that are not of [our] own creation.” Yes, a pouncing lion or a man with a gun may be real, but we’re not talking about those absolutely true, physical dangers in here (if you confront either one of them, please run!).
We’re referring to our every day, mentally domesticated and cultivated, enemies. We have within ourselves the ability to defeat them: we’ve created these enemies in our heads and we can overcome them the same way.
But how do we overcome them?
By developing and nurturing strengths within ourselves. They are also a product of our mind. And while Pressfield rightly points out that none of the strengths listed below are innate, the good thing is that “all may be acquired by effort and force of will.”
STRENGTHS:
Courage.
Honesty, particularly with oneself.
Self-confidence.
Humility.
Compassion for oneself and others.
The ability to receive criticism objectively.
Patience.
Curiosity, open-mindedness, receptivity to the new.
The ability to focus.
The ability to defer gratification.
Will.
Mental toughness.
The capacity to endure adversity, injustice, indifference.
In computer science, the term GIGO stands for “garbage in garbage out.” This means that if you put flawed data in (=garbage), you get flawed data out. It’s the science equivalent of the old saying you reap what you sow.
Our mind works the same way. Feed it with the enemies described above and it becomes a fearful, selfish mess. Feed it with the strengths above and you will attain the best version of yourself. We could even coin the term VIVO: virtue in virtue out, or value in value out. (I was not able to find the opposite of GIGO anywhere… if you have a better option let me know in the comments here.)
The wonderful thing about all this is that it is up to us: we’re not subject to anything or anyone to get started and to cultivate and reap the rewards of the VIVO habit. Let’s go!
“Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
ACTION
TODAY: Pick one of the enemies from the list above or one that you are battling within. Pick a strength to overcome it. Think of an instance in the past in which you let the enemy rule and ponder how you could have overcome it with the strength. Please don’t use this as a way to beat yourself up, but instead as an opportunity to learn directly how to react the next time. It’s all a matter of awareness: the quicker you realize when your enemy is creeping up, the quicker you’ll be able to defeat it by bringing out the virtue/value with which you want to substitute it.
FUTURE: Make VIVO a habit that will help you cultivate and reap the best version of you.
Know someone who could use the concept of VIVO? Please share this post! Email, Facebook, Twitter. Thank you!
by Helena Escalante | Goals, Growth, Habits, Leadership, Mindset, Miniseries, Planning, Tools
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 36 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: 3 Things all good listeners do – Part 4
— From What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful by Marshall Goldsmith
In this miniseries, we’ve learned that good listeners (1) think before they speak, (2) listen with respect, and (3) ask “Is it worth it?” before answering. This is all incredibly simple, yet you’ll likely agree with me that it’s not easy.
Marshall Goldsmith, author of What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, says, “The only difference between us and the super-successful among us—the near-great and the great—is that the great ones do this all the time. It’s automatic for them… there’s no on and off switch for caring and empathy and showing respect. It’s always on… They treat everybody equally—and everyone eventually notices.”
“The weird part here,” Goldsmith goes on, “is that all of us, at every level of success, already know this. […] We already believe it. The question is: Why don’t we do it? Answer: We forget. We get distracted. We don’t have the mental discipline to make it automatic.”
Since the majority of this skill involves listening, and listening requires discipline, Goldsmith developed a simple exercise to test listening skills. Try it for yourself. Close your eyes and count to 50 with one simple goal: you cannot let another thought intrude into your mind; you must concentrate on keeping the count.
More than half of Goldsmith’s clients can’t do this. Around 20 or 30 other thoughts start to invade. While this seems as an exercise in concentration, it’s really a test of listening. “After all,” Goldsmith points out, “if you can’t listen to yourself (someone you presumably like and respect) as you count to 50, how will you ever be able to listen to another person?”
Just as you get limber by stretching your muscles every day, the more you do this exercise, the more you’ll be able to count to 50 without being easily distracted. “This newfound power of concentration will make you a better listener. After that, you’re ready for a test drive.” So, go make your next interaction an exercise in making the person you’re with feel like the only one in the room, whether that’s your spouse, a colleague or a total stranger.
Goldsmith has put together this list of tactics as a cheat sheet—keep it handy!
- Don’t interrupt.
- Don’t finish the other person’s sentences.
- Don’t say “I knew that.”
- Don’t even agree with the other person (even if he praises you, just say “Thank you”).
- Don’t use the words “no,” “but,” and “however.”
- Don’t be distracted. Don’t let your eyes or attention wander elsewhere while the other person is talking.
- Maintain your end of the dialogue by asking intelligent questions that (a) show you’re paying attention, (b) move the conversation forward, and (c) require the other person to talk (while you listen).
- Eliminate any striving to impress the other person with how smart or funny you are. Your only aim is to let the other person feel that he or she is accomplishing that.
If you can do all of the above, Goldsmith says that you’ll uncover a glaring paradox: “The more you subsume your desire to shine, the more you will shine in the other person’s eyes.” And that is true because by fully listening, you’ll make people feel “like a million bucks in your presence, you’ll score a bulls-eye.”
The good thing to all this is that we already know how to listen and focus. Just think of when you go on a first date, or when you’re on a sales call, or in a meeting with your boss: very likely you will be focused and interested in what the other person is saying. The key, going forward, “[is] a matter of remembering to do it all the time.”
ACTION
TODAY: Do the 50-count test and see how far you can go. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t get far (I got to 27 and started wondering where my dog was…), the more you do it the better you’ll get.
FUTURE: Keep working on the 50-count exercise. Despite how far you go on it, review the cheat sheet and determine to apply as many of the concepts as possible until, as Goldsmith says, you remember to do it all the time.
Please share this post with someone who might be interested in refining his/her listening skills with this miniseries. Email, Facebook, Twitter. Thank you!
