Call to All Leaders: Be the Change You Wish to See.
Christopher Babson - Leadership and Peak Performance Training
UCLA Adjunct Leadership Professor. Leadership & Peak Performance Coach in Corporate Markets.
Highly driven people are confident. They are focused, passionate and determined.
Leaders, true leaders, not managers, are highly driven. They embody passion, purpose and mission.
There is at least one huge, potential impediment to leaders' effectiveness though: They are people. As such, they come packaged with many of the same foibles and weaknesses inherent to our species.
One of these foibles is the inclination for "believing we are right." (And, by default, that often other people are wrong.)
This weakness is not limited to opinions on politics, religion or best business practices. Whenever we want another person to change their behaviors, actions or results, we are, in effect, telling them that "I am right, and you are wrong."
I've heard some psychological sciences experts say they believe one of, perhaps "the," strongest human psychological drive is "TO BE RIGHT."
It make sense. Our brains evolved over hundreds of thousands or more years as "survival tools for the savannah." Historically, evolutionarily, "being right" meant you identified that bear, snake or cliff and lived another day, whereas "being wrong" meant you didn't... and you didn't, in that order. (ie, you didn't identify the threat and you didn't live another day.)
So it's not just ego at play here. It's also survival. It's hardwired into our brains.
So... leaders (and managers)...
Take the log out of your own eye before you take the speck out of your people's eyes.
Be the change you wish to see.
Practice what you preach.
And if you could quantify specific mindset, motivation, behavior and results you expect from your people (much of which you can and should--some of which you can't), and let's suppose you want a level 80% or better from your people. Then you must consistently deliver a level 90% or better.
Be the change you wish to see.
Your world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.
Please Like, Share and Comment. Post here what your biggest challenge is in "being the change." Or post any other positive, productive comment or question.
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Cheers friends.
UCLA Adjunct Leadership Professor. Leadership & Peak Performance Coach in Corporate Markets.
8 年Well... Not enough time to go deep and I understand where you are coming from, but to accept your argument means we should not identify God, atoms or electricity, because we cannot directly observe them. I worked for JACK Welch, a brilliant leader. I also worked for a few disasters and some mediocre leaders. Leaders are on fire with a brilliant vision of a better way for all. They know how to articulate, inspire and constantly communicate and energize that vision. They build smart systems and structures into their organization to further inspire, maintain people's focus on where it must be to actualize the vision and to reward constructive behavior and result and to penalize destructive. That's it for the time I have. Also, forgive any spelling or grammar errors as I type and do not check or edit here from my smart phone.
A great post You say "Leaders, true leaders, not managers..." which indicates a difference between leaders and true leaders. Do you think there is a difference, and if so, what determines the difference?
Stress Mastery, Change Management, Developing Human Capital and Emotional Intelligence, Cultural Diversity
8 年Very good analysis of what drives the "I am right" belief Christopher! And any belief can be "a log in our eyes" until it becomes such a liability that we are forced to examine it.
CEO at EQ Academy
8 年Another great post, Christopher. Thanks for sharing!