Finding productivity in potential...

One of the greatest marks of leadership is the ability to focus on others before yourself. When I teach seminars, or even are just doing a one-on-one session with a leader I give this quick anecdote: if you and I were at a baseball game I would probably naturally not be thinking about what you needed. Meaning, if I was hungry and was going to go grab something to eat I might ask you if you wanted me to grab you a dog and a Coke. But it is always following the desires that I have for myself first.

Leadership is taking yourself out of the equation for needing anything and focusing on what your people need. It’s being able to think about something as small as whether or not they are hungry. On a deeper level though, it is being able to help them for the sake of helping them. When I get called into a company to help executives make their employees more productive I always turn the question around on the leadership. I asked them what they are doing to invest into their people to develop their potential. And as you might imagine, they look back at me like I just hit them over the head with a 2 x 4.

Great leaders develop others so that those people will be more productive personally. Only then do they ask those people to come alongside them and use those skills to make the company better. And although a lot of people would see that as being counterproductive, when you focus on the people first, the company mission will automatically have a better chance at being accomplished. Why, because people are more apt to want to work for somebody who is looking out for them. And that is the respect factor.

My question is: are you more worried about what your people can do for you, or have you made the shift to be “others focused” and help your people for the simple fact that it is you as a leader that owes them, and not the other way around? My prayer is that you look at each of the people you lead and find out what they are passionate about, and how you might make their lives better. And I can promise you this, their respect for you will go up and they will be more productive. Which of course, remember, is only a byproduct of really caring for your people and wanting them to be better for themselves first.

Praying for you,

MO

Sweeping the floors...

Everybody remembers John Wooden for being the great basketball coach that he was. He won so many championships and changed so many lives over his career that a lot of people forget to think about the beginning of his journey. Coach Wooden only had one losing season over his time as a coach, and that was his first season. From then on, he always finished the season with more wins than losses. There were many reasons for that, but one of the important key elements was his ability to gain respect.

Coach Wooden never thought of himself as anything great. In fact, in the many books that have been written about him and that he has written, he always said that he saw himself as a teacher of young people first, and that coaching was just the avenue he used to gain that platform. 

One of my favorite stories about his time at UCLA was before they had the big and illustrious Pauley Pavilion. Before that, they shared the gymnasium with the gymnastics team. And, because basketball practice followed directly after gymnastics practice, there was chalk all over the floor. Before his players would get to the gymnasium, Coach Wooden always swept the floor himself, which I have always seen as one of his great acts of selfless service. Of course, Coach Wooden wouldn’t see it that way at all, but more the expected duty of one who was called to serve his players.

Deborah was that kind of leader in the Bible. There is a verse that says:

“Village life ceased, it ceased in Israel, until I, Deborah, arose, arose a mother in Israel.”

~Judges 5:7

Although you might think this is a pompous statement when you first read it, it is anything but that. Deborah knew that nobody was going to stand up for the people of Israel, and so she had to take on that burden. And, because she would, from that time on, stand firm on her convictions, she gained the respect of all of the people of Israel. She would do the little things like giving them resources and guidance to prosper. She was the leader that the people needed to arise, for without her they would never experience success. In fact, because she was a prophetess and judge that got results, when she asked the people of Israel to fight, they were more apt to follow her. She had gained their respect by serving her people.

My question for you today is this: Are you willing to serve? Are you willing to stand up like Deborah did when nobody else would, to do what nobody else would have the courage to do? And furthermore, are you willing to sweep the floors as Coach Wooden did? There was never any task too small... and that is the mark of a great leader. My prayer for you is that you find a way to serve others today. When you do that, your little acts will multiply and you will begin to gain the respect of those around you. Only when you have the respect of others will you be able to influence them on a deeper level.

Praying for you,

MO