People

 

The world is comprised of three types of people…

 

1. Those who make things happen.
2. Those who watch and/or follow what happens.
3. Those who ask what happened.

 

Hopefully we are not always #3!  However, in certain aspects of our life, we likely are the ones who ask, “what happened?”. It is hard to be #1 or #2 regarding every area of our lives, much less to be #1 all the time.  To me the key is which one of these are we regarding things that really matter?  For instance, family, marriage, faith, parenting, or whatever may be of absolute importance to us. What are we in those roles?  It is okay to be #3 about entertainment, sports, fashion, or even current events.  It is not okay to be #3 regarding things of significance. 

 

When it comes to the things that really matter, we all should strive to be one of those who make things happen!

Presidents’ Day

 

As we celebrate Presidents’ Day, I find myself thinking about the role of the President as a leader. The President of the United States is the official leader of our country and the ultimate leader of our military. He is also referred to as the leader of the free world.  Those roles are true and fitting. Responsibilities and power come with his elected position. He is a leader by title. However, holding a position in title does not make one a great leader of people.  Regardless of your political affiliation, I think that most will agree that we have had presidents from both parties who were in fact great leaders.  Furthermore, we have had even more who were leaders in title and never mastered the art of truly leading people. Never confuse a title with true quality leadership. Many title holders are great leaders, some are not. On the other hand, many great leaders have no title at all.

 

Happy Presidents’ Day!

Leadership

Many of you know that leadership is one of my favorite discussion topics.  Here is another interesting quote regarding the challenge of leadership.

He who thinks he leads but has no followers is only taking a walk.

That statement places leadership in a little different perspective to me.  Leadership is not leadership without followers.  What is a leader without followers?  Well, they likely are not a leader at all.  In our different leadership roles, we should think about “Being a person that others will want to follow.”   We are not leaders in all the roles in our lives, we are followers in some and leaders in others.  The key is that when we are in our leadership roles to not forget the viewpoint of the follower.  I don’t know about you, but I would like to think that I am here for more than just a walk!

Fill in the Blank!

I am a good ______________.

What comes to mind when you consider how to complete the above sentence?  Are your first thoughts about your career?  Maybe they are about a hobby or a sport.  I believe that we are all basically good.  It is important for us to remind ourselves of that, and to remind ourselves to strive to be good in the different roles in our life.  What if you had to complete the sentence and it could not be about your profession, a sport or hobby?  Think introspectively about yourself as a person.  What about things like friend, listener, and advocate?   Or what about family roles like parent, daughter or sibling?  What does it mean to you to be good in these roles?  What about just using the word person?  Think about it.  Fill in the blank about yourself and strive to live out that statement!