Matthew Scott over at The Life’s Work Group posted this piece last week. Matthew’s challenge (see the video in his post) provides a great example of how to move from talking, to taking action.
Enjoy!
Friday’s Epic Living Hour with Larcel McGhee
Friday’s Epic Living Hourwill feature a conversation with Larcel McGhee of The Flippen Group. Larcel is the Director of Human Capital Development for Flippen and will discuss the importance of performance in leadership.
Hope you can tune-in.
Going for the Big, While Missing the Small
Regardless of your endeavor, you probably have at one time or another thought about hitting it big. Natural as the air you breathe it seems. In many respects big is a good thing-if it is a part of your destiny. For example, Nelson Mandela was meant to have worldwide notoriety and focus. He was the right man for the journey South Africa was in. It's also quite a statement how he released power, while some of his contemporaries held (and are still holding) on. See Robert Mugabe and Zimbabwe on this. In an ironic way leadership plays out like this everyday in organizations across the globe.
So as we hear the music playing our tune, it's easy to embrace the big.
I've been asked about Oprah, about fame, about money, about feeling the love. But rarely am I asked about the input, the mission, or the pain. Maybe there's no surprise here, since we are enamored with the output. If I were not careful, I could easily miss the small while going for the big. Thankfully, humility is now in my blood work. Wasn't always this way.
Here's why the small is important:
- Hitting the big is very temporal. Hitting the small refines your soul.
- The small people are the biggest people.
- Those who are only fascinated by the big will leave you in a heartbeat when the party is over.
- The small allows you to serve from a perspective of reality and measurable outcome.
- The small will stay with you come good or bad. The small knows dedication.
- The small will pave a way for greatness.
- The small reminds you (daily) that life truly is a moment by moment game.
- The small will not detour you from your destiny.
- Customers are always found and served in the small.
How Do You Hire Talent?
I found this at one of Guy Kawasaki’s Twitter posts. It’s Malcolm Gladwell speaking at the New
Yorker’s Stories from the Near Future conference back in May. His speech revolves around our antiquated approach to hiring talent. You can view the speech here. Mr. Gladwell makes some great points, but I will allow you to glean that on your own.
Here are my thoughts on the matter:
- Organizations have spent too much time and money on removing all doubt.
- Organizations don’t use leadership to “size” talent up.
- Organizations don’t know what system they’re built on (thank you Michelle).
- Organizations need to teach and hold managers accountable for evaluating talent.
- Organizations need to decide what value they place on people-really.
I know you may be thinking that the above has been said before. And you would be right. Nothing new under the sun as once been said. But here’s something to consider:
A friend once asked me, during a time of great struggle/learning, how I knew if the lessons learned would stick. I told him that sometimes God has to orchestrate such winds upon our life-tree that our roots go so deep that we never turn back. I’m living proof of this. Maybe this applies to organizations too.
We’re not short on data that tells us to change, but short on character and courage to move forward in change.
Remembering Who We Are, From the Beginning
John Moore of Brand Autopsy fame gives a great object lesson in the form of Starbucks, in his post Starbucks Suffering from Brand Amnesia.
Have you forgotten what your brand (business and personal) really is?
Don’t let the market confuse, it was meant to be your slave.
Interview on Total Picture Radio
I had the pleasure of doing an interview with Peter Clayton over at Total Picture Radio some weeks ago. Peter is a great talent in many forms of media and I’m pleased that I could be a part of his program.
If you feel so inclined, both Peter and I would appreciate you spreading the word through Digg, Del.icio.us!, Reddit! or Technorati!. You”ll find those links at the bottom of the Total Picture page that corresponds with the interview.
You can listen to the interview here.
Thoughts on Freedom
Happy Independence Day to those in America. For those who are in other spots around the globe, I hope you’re drinking from the cup of freedom:
Here are some of my thoughts on freedom:
- Freedom is never free.
- Freedom is a gift that should never be taken for granted.
- Freedom cancels out excuses.
- Freedom should create humility, not arrogance.
- Freedom should be protected and defended.
- Freedom is one part of hope.
- Freedom is not guaranteed.
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