Going Beyond Your Limits

There have been times in my life when I was asked what kind of a leader I am. I find those types of questions difficult because I do not like to highlight my characteristics. It seems that life has a tendency to change the way you do things. Naturally, we tend to rise up to the occasion. In this case, the way one leads may be different due to one's circumstances.

Leadership has many facets. Some say you must have followers to call yourself a leader. Some talk about how you conduct yourself. Some say to look at the outcome. Here's what Peter F. Drucker has to say, as that brings us to this week's quote...

Leadership is not magnetic personality — that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not ‘making friends and influencing people’ — that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to high sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.
~ Peter F. Drucker

I would paraphrase what Mr. Drucker is saying as, "Leadership is getting people to go beyond their limits." Whether that is the way they see things, a new vision, the way they do things, or practically anything that is something "new" to them.

Too often we like being comfortable. Comfortable is symbolized by getting settled in, like getting to that cozy spot and staying there for a while. It is comfortable and we like to stay there.

I don't know if you're at a position in life to feel what it is like to get up from a position and have your joints be a little stiff and painful. I have entered into such a phase the last few years. If I were to stay in the spot of comfort then I am fine, but to move is not fine.

Leaders are to cause people to see the next level from a visionary standpoint, to cause them to get out of their comfort levels, and to simply go beyond their limits.

Are you one who tends to lead or follow? There are advantages of both. Leaders need followers and followers need leaders. I challenge all the leaders out there to think about this charge!

Now it's your turn...What type of leadership style do you respond to the most.

Being Nice to Your N—uh—Me

You have to be phonetical with the last word…it is “enemy.” I just needed it to start with “n.”

A few days ago I had a friend who was having a difficult time due to some “negative nellys” where he works. It isn’t the most fun to be in a leadership position. It seems that some times people are only in your life to torment you. They may not even realize that they are doing that. It may just be in their nature. 

Things have since calmed down, for now. However, there is always a possibility that things may flare up again…something leadership never looks forward to!

One of the things he did, which they didn’t like, was to be kind to them. This brings us to this week’s quote, dedicated to one of my best friends…

Love your enemies, they hate it.  ~ Unknown quote, reference is from Matthew 5:44

I have been the one who did this. It is almost fun to do. People do not like you in one area or another, or you’ve just made them upset for something. Either way, your kindness just aggravates them to the point that they just hate your “love” and “kindness.

As one similar philosophy that I’ve lived by for years says, “Kill ‘em with kindness.” When someone is doing things to you which is causing friction, just be overly nice to them and set them go down with good news!
May we all be nice to our enemies! If they’re going to go down, make sure it is with good news, not with put downs!

Where Are You When Your People Go Into Battle?

Everyone has their own leadership style, from no leadership abilities to an extreme I can't even describe.  Most will meet in the middle somewhere.  The view of a leader usually takes us back to elementary school when we think of the person who was the "line leader".  Where were they at...the front.  Where was the teacher at making sure that all their students were in line and ready to go...at the front.  Where is the table of the leaders at a banquet...at the front.  


The front is where we normally think of the position of leaders.  However, there can only be one front.  Just like there can only be one "first place", all others are non-winners.  If you are competing for the front spot you may be disappointed.  Sometimes leaders are often viewed as a hero, when they have done something significant.  That brings us to this week's quote...

It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle.  It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle. 
~ General Norman Schwarzkopf

It could be very easy to lead from the porch.  To dictate one's landscaping project, and then to take all the credit for it when an award came.  It is easy to not lift a finger, but it is much more difficult to actually get into the project and work. 


I have developed a "lead by example" leadership style.  If I am going to expect others to do something, then I had better do it myself.  If I was going to suggest something to someone, I had better be doing that same thing or something comparable.  I also listen very similarly.  If someone were to suggest for me to do something, I look to see how they are coming at it, by example or by dictating?  I think the first is much more effective.


So, the next time you are thinking of sending someone into battle, make sure that you are right there beside them and not on the porch!