Consistently Others Focused

My car has a fancy display screen. It shows an image of my car, along with the lane lines it’s driving between (along with other objects I pass like garbage cans or construction cones.) Although I’ve never tried it, I’ve wondered how far I’d be able to drive if I relied solely on the image on the display, even though it only shows me what’s immediately around me. However, sometimes the lane lines on the image disappear or wobble back and forth a little if they aren’t well defined on the road itself. If I really tried to navigate the car based only on the limited information on the screen, the inconsistency of the lane lines would make it impossible for me to drive the car safely.

The Principle

When we focus inward, mostly worried about our own interests and what’s going on immediately around us, our leadership or influence can be a little hit and miss. Sometimes we’ll be in our lane and other times we may veer off course due to missing information or a lack of understanding. The most effective leaders are consistent in their leadership. While none of them is perfect, one thing that contributes to their consistency is that they look outside themselves. They maintain a bias toward the interest of others. Who they are being is shaped by their desire to look beyond themselves and consider others.?

The Practice

Here are a couple of ideas that can help you look outside yourself and focus outward on the interests of others:

1. Ask more questions during conversations. Foster a genuine curiosity about the people you interact with. The more you learn about them, the more you’ll understand what they care about, what they hope to achieve and how you may be able to contribute.
2. Build an awareness of when you behave selfishly at the expense of others. How might you do better next time to help yourself and others as well?

What other simple things might you do to focus on the interest of others?

Till next time,

dm