Leadership and Empowerment
"Empowerment is all about Letting Go so that others can Get Going". - Ken Blanchard
The other day I was reading one of Ken Blanchard's many books that he has out on the market about leadership and came across this quote is his book called, "The One Minute Manager Builds High Performing Teams". For some reason this quote really stuck out to me and got my mind thinking about a great deal of things. When it was all said and done I asked myself these two questions, 1. In my leadership style, is this something that I can see coming to fruition in the lives of those that I am leading and 2. How does this apply to my own life.
Too many times in my life I have seen leaders that feel they need to keep a tight grip on every area around them because they feel entitled due to their position or title. This is why we call a micro-manager. All though some micro managers may do this for good cause, I don't always think that they realize how much of a hinderance that they are creating. These types of leaders feel that they are creating "accountability" within their workplace when in reality, all they are doing is creating more restrictions and hindering their teams creativity. When those below us who we are leading, rise to the occasion and achieve great success, it should not pose a threat to us as the leader. As a leader we should take pride in the accomplishments of those we oversee. Too many times this is where pride comes into play and as leaders we feel threatened by those below us and feel a need to smother them with tedious tasks. That is why I am a huge advocate of Blanchard's quote at the beginning of this post. When we as leaders empower people to achieve their dreams and goals, the possibilities are endless.
This takes me into my second question. How would our personal lives differ if we were able to let go of what was personally holding us back to get things going? Too many times we find ourselves holding on to the different things in our lives which hold us back from reaching that next step in life. All of us have the great opportunity to achieve great things in this lifetime but we find ourselves holding on to the different crutches in our life.
So wether you are a leader or someone is being led, imagine what your life would look life if you started to let go so that others could get going! What would your life and team look like as a leader if you exercised humility and gave others the chance to experience greatness? As leaders we don't always have to take all the credit. Enjoy the success of the team and release people their own strengths and creativity and see what doors begin to open for all involved!
What are some ways that you have seen this take place throughout your own personal experience.
Popularity: 5% [?]
Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye
It is late on Thursday night and nothing really came to mind as to what to put on my blog today. I decided tonight to pop in one of my favorite movies, Transformers! I love this movie for a lot of different reasons. I think mainly because it brought me back to my childhood. Also, I think Michael Bay did a great job when it came to taking the popular cartoon and putting it on the big screen.
About a month ago I was in Colorado and had a chance to watch the sequel to the movie. Now most people that saw the movie seemed to not really be a big fan but overall all I thought it was pretty entertaining. Sure, it had a few slow parts, but nothing that made the movie horrible in my eyes. I don't think its ever an easy to follow up a blockbuster movie with an equally powerful sequel. It has been done but it seems to be a rare occasion.
When its all said and done, our human nature to criticize seems to come out and poke its ugly head. Now when it comes to movies it's not too big of a deal but unfortunately it never seems to stop with movies. Criticism comes in all shapes and sizes and normally doesn't bring any good because criticism these days is hardly constructive. What is it in your own life that brings out your critical nature? Where does that critical spirit stem from? Being an opinionated person, this is something that plagues me a lot and I have to make a conscious effort to not bring people down with my harsh criticism. So lets all make an attempt to make humanity a better place and lay off the destructive criticism. If you don't like a movie or a person's weird quirks, keep it to yourself. Try it for a day and see how it affects your community!
Popularity: 47% [?]
Discover what’s been there all along…
It was about 3 years ago when I was first introduced book called Strengths Finders 2.0. This was a short book that came with a test that each reader was suppose to take. Through the way you answered the multiple questions, the end would reveal a list of 5 top strengths that the test taker would receive. These strengths are something that helped put language to certain things that I already knew was inside of me. You see for most of my life I only focused on certain aspects of my life that I wasn't good at and spent most of my time trying to fix those negatives. For some reason I failed to take the things that I excelled in and allowed them to go to waste. Since then I have changed the way I allow my strengths to play out in my life. I no longer choose to put those strengths on the back burner and focus on my weaknesses, rather I choose to focus on those strengths which ultimately has been a lot more gratifying. You see, when you act out of the purpose in which you were created, you feel a sense of excitement and become alive inside. This is something that I believe is missing in most humans. They are too busy living out the things in which they were not created to do and become stagnant in life and their souls are left unsatisfied. Now this book does not help you find your main purpose in life and explain why you were created, but it will help you discover some of the strengths that dwell inside of you and help you to magnify those strengths. When this takes place, I almost guarantee that will start to feel more alive than you ever had when you are able to exercise these natural strengths that dwell within you! So if you are aspiring to be a great leader or are in charge of a team of some sorts, check out the book and take the Strengths Finders test and discover what's been inside of you all along! Check out www.strengthfinders.com to learn more what this is all about.
Below are my top 5 strengths in no specific order.
Activator
People strong in the Activator theme can make things happen by turning thoughts into action. They are often impatient.
Adaptability
People strong in the Adaptability theme prefer to “go with the flow.” They tend to be “now” people who take things as they come and discover the future one day at a time.
Command
People strong in the Command theme have presence. They can take control of a situation and make decisions.
Ideation
People strong in the Ideation theme are fascinated by ideas. They are able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena.
Strategic
People strong in the Strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.
Popularity: 22% [?]
