Thursday, June 19, 2008

What keeps you up at night boss?


Hello Contagious leaders!

Usually sales people ask the "what keeps you up at night?" question of a leader who has decision making authority. The unfortunate answer is that most leaders don't know what keeps them up at night, but they know what all the little things are that keep them from leading all day long.

It's a common question... with an uncommon and widely varied answer. This question was mentioned to me again this week and I thought I would share my two cents with you. It isn't what keeps a leader up at night that is so important, it is more than that. It is what keeps a leader from doing what their true role is that's the problem. It is the management stuff, the day to day fire drills, the time in the day that never seems to be enough and the coaching that should happen but doesn't seem to. Those are the problems that could be solved and would benefit both employees and leaders if they were solved.
Stay Contagious!
Monica


Maybe in our quest to become a Contagious Leader... one who provides real remedies for real people... we could work less on what "keeps up at night" and more on what keeps us from being a better leader all day long.

Leadership Begins With You!

When we talk about leadership, we usually are talking about leading others, however, the truth of the matter is that if we are unable to lead ourselves, we have no business leading other people.

Leading yourself, for Contagious Leaders, means the following:
1. Believe for yourself what you are saying to others
2. Apply to yourself those skill sets and mind sets that you are asking others to follow or use
3. Moderate your own self talk
4. Watch the ratio of those things you take professionally versus those you take personally
5. Be as fascinated by your own mistakes as the mistakes of others sometimes frustrate you

And now for the moment of truth, being a Contagious Leader isn't about just giving advice, giving direction, or sharing wisdom for the purpose of helping others be better... it is about taking your own advice, giving yourself good direction and regularly gaining more wisdom.

Sometimes we have to focus as much or more on ourselves in order to be there for those that we lead, when they need us...

Stay Contagious!
Monica