On the 4th of July, I spent my holiday doing what I enjoy most – watching a winning manager lead an immensely talented team. Let’s look at 5 “best practices” demonstrated by this young manager in his first year on the job.
When is the last time you studied a sign and thought, “Nah, I’m not going there.” By definition, road signs exist to direct us. Detour. No Left Turn. One Way. Do Not Enter. Road Closed. Under Construction. Human beings, by definition, make their own decisions. We read the sign, evaluate our options, predict some sort of future outcome (correct or incorrect), and off we go. I faced that situation recently, and when it was all over, I was glad I followed the sign.
How do you respond under pressure? It’s the ultimate self-leadership metric. Consider this quote about Maria Sharapova, tweeted by the mother of tennis star Andy Murray. “Sharapova is like a tea bag. Put her into hot water and (you will) find out how strong she is.” Here are 5 tips to help YOU succeed when YOU are the teabag in hot water!
What’s happening in your head right now? Are you chastising yourself for a mistake made yesterday – or six years ago? Are you dreaming about dessert? Are you wondering what your boss thinks of you, or wishing death upon the mean girl at the office, or evaluating when you can quit and do what you really were put on this earth to do? What is that conversation like, and who is in charge? What if that same mental chatter was happening between you and a REAL PERSON – with them doing all the talking. Would it change things? Would you smile, press their hand gently, and say, “Shhh… take a deep breath! It will all be okay.” Or would you say, “Shut up, you neurotic nimrod! Get outta my house! You’re driving me crazy!”
Last week we spoke about “steering our canoe on the river of life.” There were some excellent comments (have a look if you didn’t already). We talked about avoiding other crazy canoe drivers, obstacles, pulling your canoe out to rest, and even switching rivers. After reading a series of interesting newspaper articles over lunch Friday, I realized that we missed one important personal navigation tool: Integrity.
