I’ve always said that the difference between history’s boldest accomplishments and its most staggering failures is often, simply, the degree of someone’s commitment.
It’s making the decision to go all in to achieve something important.
You know… jump in with both feet.
Go big or go home.
And a personal favorite: Burn the Boats.
I’ll explain.
Recently while completing a course sponsored by FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency), I read a section in the syllabus about setting goals. It is so simple and memorable that I decided to share it with my friends. The concept is built around the acronym “SMART”.
Here it is:
Developing a Goal Statement
Your goal statement expresses what you hope to achieve... [Effective] ...goals should be:
I have a friend who was recently promoted to a leadership position. He is now leading the same group where he was previously one of the team members; now he is the leader of the team.
The transition is a bit tricky - because through the course of time prior to his new appointment, he had become good friends with those he now leads. Whereas once he was part of the gang; now he is leader of the pack.
As happens so often, I had a fun and interesting meeting with a company recently. Those who were present in the meeting included the members of the company’s governing board and the senior management team. And, thankfully, this particular leadership team is truly a capable and gifted team.
Their question, “How can we increase sales?”
My response, “What is the nature of your mission in one sentence?”
Last week I focused on the idea that “…no leader needs to personally or inherently have all of the gifts needed to lead. Rather, they must have an ability to do an honest and accurate self-appraisal. And then, just as vital to their success, must be able to identify others who bring additional core talents to the team.”
Last week, in part two of this discussion, I focused on not only clarifying the meaning of the word “Discernment” (click here to read part one), but also postulated that while the leader does not need to personally be discerning, they do need to be discerning enough to locate and listen to someone who is (click here to read part two).
Last week, in part one of this discussion, I focused on clarifying the meaning of the word “Discernment” (click here to read).
As I concluded that discussion, I remarked that the skill-set of discernment is a precision capacity, and quoted the famous orator Charles Spurgeon who reminded his listeners,
Quoting from an earlier blog entitled The Essential Need for Discernment (written a year ago):
In order for leaders to lead effectively, the exercise of discernment is essential. We live in a day when anyone with charisma can attract a crowd – whether they are the real deal or a mere charmer with advanced personal communication skill.
I am amazed at the simplicity of the phrase, “Take Action.” In these two words we find a leadership principle that needs little explanation. That said, it is equally amazing how often we find ourselves tempted to drift toward “hesitation” in leadership.
But hesitation is not our friend. Not now. Not ever.
It is generally the case that one of the greatest risks in leadership is to “do nothing.” That is, unless doing nothing is a deliberate action step. Because timing is an important aspect of action taken.
