Failure Is Not An Option
Tony Morgan. Never heard of him until a few months ago. A LinkedIn network update led me to a top ten article.
To read the top ten reasons why you and I will most likely fail at anything, click here.
Tony Morgan’s list isn’t anything new. Heck, there’s hardly anything that’s ever really new. However, one of the great, underrated keys to success is repetition.
Let me say that again, repetition. Ya with me?
“Fear not those who argue but those who dodge.” – Marie von Ebner Eschenbach
Early in my Fortune 100 career, there was a new assignment which required that I move and inherit an existing, high-performing team.
And even though they knew much more about how things ran, they still wanted me to help them improve. They brought dozens of creative ideas.
I was on a huge learning curve and loving every minute of it. However, you know what happened?
Nothing.
Being insanely busy, and blindly disorganized, none of their ideas moved forward. I was overwhelmed and didn’t even know it.
Crazy thing though, I thought things were actually getting better, because their ideas started to dwindle, but not because things got better.
Even crazier, they thought, “Don’t go to Jeff, he won’t do anything.”
Wished they would have argued with me, “Why aren’t you helping us?” Instead, they dodged.
And who could blame them?
Cybrarian. Never heard of this person, probably. No worries. I had never heard of it until this month.
Librarian. Everyone’s heard of this person, probably. The librarian is in charge of the library – the place where books are kept.
How many of you can see it coming? The day when books will be relics on display in museums. It may not happen in the next 10-20 years, but it will happen. And it may even happen sooner.
The music industry never saw it coming. They should have led the revolution, instead, they were victims of it.
Free music file sharing over the Internet. Preposterous! Exactly.
Cybrarians can see it coming. Amazon’s Kindle is the first ripple of the cybrarian tsunami.
Surf’s up, dude. Catch a (digital) wave.
Leadership priorities. Probably the single most important “to do” on a great leader’s list. Right?
At the top for me is a compelling vision. Then acting with integrity. And thirdly, building trust.
But these aren’t the priorities I’m talking about.
I’m referring to personal, moral priorities.
A few months ago, I had the privilege to hear a Fortune 100 President give a speech. To my surprise he listed his as:
Didn’t see that one coming. Career was third. As a Fortune 100 President. Wow.
Live authentically, serve humbly, live to make other’s dreams come true.
Not a Blogger? Click Here (and then click upper right, “skip this ad”) for 11 payoffs if you blog, or if you ever want to start blogging.
Blogging won’t ever be important to you, if you won’t ever make blogging important.
Creating a great blog won’t ever be important to you, if being great isn’t important to you.
Same with exercise.
Exercise won’t ever be important to you, if you don’t ever make your health a top priority.
The list goes on and on. But will you? Go on and on, I mean. To do the hard work that has to be done to be great.
Only the mediocre are at their best every day.
“If you’re not going to come into the office on Thanksgiving Day, don’t even bother coming in on Christmas day”, the overworked, underpaid leader stated to the others on her team.
The Beatles got it right, didn’t they – “Eight Days A Week”.
This is a good time to be working harder than you ever have before. I know firsthand, and some think I’m crazy, but I work seven days a week. And have for a long time.
Ain’t braggin’. Just stating the facts. And sometimes I wish the week had eight days. But mostly, an extra day just to sleep.
Hope you have an extraordinary week of hard work. We reap what we sow. This is the time to be out-working your competition. When others are ready to give up, it’ll be your opportunity to shine.
Last night, sort of by chance, I watched ten minutes of ABC’s new show, Glee. Those ten minutes changed my mind about something.
And also yesterday, while changing a security question, one choice was, “What’s the name of your favorite song?” Led Zeppelin immediately came to mind.
The rendition on Glee last night, and the inspiring lyrics to John Lennon’s “Imagine”, made me rethink the whole favorite song thing.
Yes, definitely, “Imagine”.
“You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.”
jungle jeff, Daily reflections on Excellence, has an overarching theme. Money.
As I teach our son about life’s four big quadrants, jungle jeff’s blog is focused on only one. Money.
Money is not the root of all evil. It is the love of money that is the root.
Whatever you believe, I’m teaching our son that every human should contribute to society in some way. In return, society pays you with money, generally speaking.
With money, you can buy food, shelter, insurance, transportation, and even use money to help others.
And one more thing I’m trying to teach him, “He is rich who owes nothing.” — Hungarian Proverb
Please listen carefully. This simple fact about public speaking may be the key to becoming a more effective leader.
But only if people listen very carefully, and not rush through this.
Here’s the truth about being a Professional Speaker:
Leaders hate to admit they sometimes stink are not highly effective. This makes them look bad and feel horrible. Who wants that?
But the simple truth is, if the people around you don’t seem passionate about their work, their mission, their customers, guess what?
PS. If your team is on fire with passion, mission, service, guess what?
Seth Godin announced his November Top Book picks. Click here.
Most people, like I was three months ago, are clueless who Seth Godin is.
If you are serious about your career, and committed to becoming better at your leadership performance, and especially your leadership thinking, you better should become familiar with Seth Godin.
I first read Purple Cow (about being remarkable) and now Tribes (about, well, stay tuned).
Seth Godin is also on You Tube and you can start to see how refreshingly different, and amazingly brilliant, his thinking is.
But wait. I almost forgot. Most humans (like 90%) are not proactively seeking change. Leaders say they embrace change, but how often do you see leaders transforming themselves and others?