Get Back Up When You're Down!

I'm happy to share this guest appearance from my good friend and fraternity brother, David Spiegel because it's a great article and well, he mentions me.

"Life is like a roll of toilet paper.The closer you get to the end,the faster it seems to go."

-John Maxwell

I love my song choice for my Sunday Song of the Day today, Corner of the Sky from Pippin.The song transports me back in time. Pippin may very well have been the first show I saw on Broadway.I had become involved in musical theater when I went to college. Growing up a stones throw away from the Big Apple, it seems strange that I had never seen a Broadway show until then.We had just struck set on our latest stage triumph,Celebration, a musical by the same gentlemen who brought us The Fantastiks.

For a college fraternity, we did an amazing job, assembling a cast and crew that to this day still fascinates me.The show has a magical quality about it. Those of us involved in this production all have fond memories of just how magical and transformative our production was.

Opening night soon became closing night as an outbreak of spinal meningitis shut down the campus at the then Trenton State College known today as The College of New Jersey today. Little did we know, as our leader, my friend, brother and mentor Doug Smith, his shaking hand holding a cigarette near his head literally lighting it on fire, announced that after months of planning, rehearsing,set building and all of the rest of that which goes into a production of this magnitude, that what seemed tragic to those of us involved in this, would be the stepping stone to greatness for a good many of us.

I remember leaving campus that night heading to our impromptu cast party.Spinal meningitis or not...we were going to have a cast party! It was a wet, blowy rainy night and the bill board announcing our yearly Fall production had been blown over. As my frat brother Rick and I drove past it, he stopped the car. We got out, stood the 4 x 8 hand painted plywood sign back up and set it proudly back up at the main entrance to the campus. As we headed away, he turned to me and said "well, there it is...life in a nutshell. Just like that sign, it's not about getting knocked down, it's all about getting back up!"

Booyah!

Fast forward a few short weeks later. Here I was sitting and waiting for the curtain to rise on my first Broadway show adventure. In the opening ensemble number, a young Ben Vereen pulled a handkerchief through his hand placed on the floor and magically the stage gave rise to scrims and a set that just blew me away. I literally fell from my seat to my knees.

I knew in that moment that magic was possible.

Soon, I was back on campus. The decision was made to start rebuilding what we had lost in the Fall fiasco with an unprecedented Spring production. Since Mr.'s Jones and Schmidt (the writers of Celebration) had been with us when this journey began, they might as well be our muse for the second act, so we chose The Fantastiks.

The rest is just so much more Phi Mu Alpha lore and legend. The following Fall we tackled Cabaret, a moment in my personal timeline that to this day sets the standard against which I measure any and all of my successes. Successes all born from what at that time felt like the end of the world.

Little did we know just how seminal an event like this could and would be.

It set me on my course to find my Corner of the Sky!

-- David Spiegel

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Now Means Now

How do you feel when someone says that they will do something right away, and then they don't? When I say "now!" I mean immediately, and without over-thinking. never under estimate the temptation to overthink (I think I just did!) When is now? How about now? -- Doug smith Looking for leadership training? That's what I do: doug smith training

Personally

Improving performance does require us to take our work seriously. But it does not require us to take ourselves too seriously. Taking things personally is a waste of self-esteem. -- doug smith

Get Going!

What goal are you working on? Maybe you don't spend every minute of every day working on your goals. I certainly don't. But when I do work on my goals they propel me forward. They get me going. Find your favorite goal. Work on it. Even if you start with the smallest task. Put one task after the other like little steps leading to a lofty elevation. Goals get us going. Because standing still goes nowhere. -- Doug Smith

Life Never Stops Teaching

Which learning curve are you climbing? The lessons keep coming. When we keep growing, our energy sparks with new creativity, new courage, new compassion, and new clarity. When we keep growing, life's adventure brings more smiles than troubles. High performance leaders make it a point to keep learning. That means taking on the tough assignments. That means listening to the needs of your team and building on their ideas. That means constantly debriefing, decoding, and deciding. There's a lesson in all of this somewhere. Centered leaders find the lesson and grow. Life never stops teaching. What have you learned today? -- Doug Smith

Promise and then Deliver

Be careful what you promise to gain a new customer. They are only new for a day. After that, expectations continue even if you forget your promise. Be careful what you promise. Do you have what you need to give your customers what they want? Because probably, what they want, is what you've promised. -- doug smith

It's Time

Who has time? Time presses on each of us. We need time to get things done. We need time to develop ourselves and our relationships. And we all have the same 24 hours each day. Time isn't waiting to see if we're paying attention. Time moves with or without us. What we do with that time matters. How will you use your time today? -- Doug Smith

Start With Decisions

Do you share leadership? The most powerful teams share leadership responsibilities AND attitude. When you develop a team where people feel empowered to take charge, take responsibility, and take ownership you then no longer need to do all the difficult work. Delegation becomes easier. Collaboration feels more natural. Start with decisions. It's fast and easy as a leader to make all of the big decisions, but when you include your team in the conversations it takes to gain mutually shared understandings and collaborative decisions, you no longer have to "sell" your decisions --- people simply know what you as a team have decided and act accordingly. No passive aggressive resistance, no passengers on your team "bus" -- just fully engaged team members. Start with collaborative decisions. The rest will be much easier. -- Doug Smith

Immediate Feedback

High performance leaders share more positive feedback than criticism, but provide corrective feedback immediately when it is needed. They provide more positive feedback simply because by encouraging others thru each success, the team builds momentum. They provide more positive feedback because they know that people respond to direction that reinforces their efforts. They provide more positive feedback because it works. Corrective feedback cannot be ignored. When people are veering away from the standards, when their habits are becoming unproductive, when they are missing their goals, when they are creating problems for others -- the feedback must be precise and immediate. How are you are providing necessary feedback? What percentage of your feedback providing is positive as compared to corrective? Why do you think that is? How can you increase the percentage of positive feedback that you provide? -- Douglas Brent Smith Learn more in the workshop:...

Focus on Process

Fix the situation and let people be who they are. As much as you might want to change them, that's not your business. They are doing what they think is right, even if it is horribly wrong. Turn around the situation and watch them rotate, too. -- doug smith

Don't Jump!

I do it. You've probably done it, too. It gets us into trouble misinterpreting and reaching false conclusions. Slow down. Ease up from that jump. Stop that jump to conclusions and you'll avoid many big falls. -- doug smith

High Performance Leadership

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