Centered Leaders and Beliefs

Do you know why you believe what you believe?

It's easy to take for granted that what we each belief is (of course) the truth. It's common to adopt a set of beliefs without giving them too much thought or analysis. That can make for a comfortable and confident lifestyle, but it can also lead to a flawed value system and unproductive behaviors.

Think of the person who grows up in an environment of distrust or abuse. To them, that may well seem normal, but to others that will not be welcome.

Or consider the person who grows up in a home where people are not valued as much as individual effort and success. Right or wrong, that person may struggle when placed in an environment where team work is valued over individual desire.

Centered leaders consider the needs of others as they work toward accomplishing noble goals. To do that, we must consider how we are filtering those needs through our own lens of perception. Do we even see what people want and need or do we see them as somehow only there to meet our own needs? What are our needs and how did we decide that they were important?

Centered leaders seek the clarity of knowing the source of their beliefs. Only then can we decide if they are valid for the context we are in. Only then can we assess whether they are truly needs or simply desires based on a flawed past or untested set of assumptions.

Centered leaders constantly test their assumptions. What can appear to us as facts may seem like fallacy to others. This is yet another reason why it's so important for leaders to feel comfortable at encouraging and creating much deeper conversations. It's important to create the places and times when people can talk about their feelings, their desires, their beliefs. If we give hidden agenda's no place to hide; if we shine a light on the stage of our beliefs, we can all benefit from better chances to reach shared meaning.

Shared meaning can lead to shared agreements, and shared agreements lead to success.

What part of your beliefs are you comfortable testing today?

How can you as a leader get more clarity around what you believe and why?

-- Douglas Brent Smith

http://frontrangeleadership.com

Comments

High Performance Leadership Combination

We can rationalize anything without making it justified. Leaders should always ask: who is this good for other than me? High performance leadership does NOT mean performance at any cost. It means performance that serves a noble cause while also benefiting people. High performance leadership is a combination. Results without relationships are shallow and temporary. Take care of both, and you'll be a high performance leader. -- doug smith

What You Need

Use what you've learned to become what you need. -- doug smith

New Ideas

New ideas won't break you but they can make you bigger. -- doug smith

Your Reputation

More authority means higher levels of responsibility. More power requires more service to others, not less. What you do with your power is who you will be known as. Also, how you use the power you have creates who people will remember you as. How do you want to be remembered? -- doug smith

Decide

What do you want? Are you getting what you want? Intention is direction. Decide. And, then go. -- doug smith

Start With Kindness

When you start with kindness you don't have to stay there, but you probably will. It works better for others. It works better for you. If you're human, you'll probably relapse. It does take practice to stay the course. The course starts by starting. When you start with kindness, it becomes more naturally the way. High performance leadership develops from the core leadership strengths of clarity, creativity, courage, and compassion. Build one of those strengths today thru some act of kindness and the others will get stronger as well. -- doug smith

Busy

What to do? High performance leaders prioritize based on mission, vision, values, and goals -- of course! And also, we prioritize based on what will just plain do some good. What's the point in leading unless it is to make a better world? There are enough needs in the world to keep everyone busy improving things. Keep going! -- doug smith

For example

Get good at something that won't obsolete itself. For example: emotional intelligence creating great conversations encouraging people leadership What would you add to the list? Which ones are you developing? -- doug smith

Show Integrity

The goals we seek bring a lot of pull to them. We get wrapped in them. It's useful and it's powerful when we care about our goals so much that they propel us forward and keep us working even when we're tired, beyond the boundaries of our usual limitations. But they should not take us beyond the boundaries of our usual values. They should not trick us into bending the rules just because the rules are in the way. Truly high performance leaders of character who are focused, and centered, and noble maintain integrity. No cheating is ever worth the outcome. Integrity is so rare that many people don't even recognize. If you do, be thankful. We need leaders like you. To truly understand integrity you've got to keep it. Even when it's hard. Even the lines are blurred. -- doug smith

Measures Matter

Some people measure quantify first and quality later. Some people measure money first and impact to the team later (not even second!). How you measure productivity might determine your character and your reputation. Put people first. -- doug smith

High Performance Leadership

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