Inspire Noble Goals

How would your team describe your goals? Ambitious? Lofty? Aggressive? Self-serving? Noble?

What is a noble goal?

I think a goal that is noble intends no harm. It drives action toward making things better for others. Noble goals create a better world, without creating any losers.

Great leaders inspire noble goals. They focus on aligning their actions with accomplishing their mission -- a mission that simply makes things better.

It's too easy to be self-serving. It's too easy to check the box on goals that highlight our strengths. The growth occurs in noble goals. Solving difficult problems. Creating opportunities for others. Living large without bloating the ego.

Noble goals are tougher. That's why they lead to better results.

Kick your own high performance leadership into gear today. Talk to someone about how noble your shared goals are. You might just inspire someone.

-- Doug Smith

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A Promise or A Plan?

Which would you rather have -- a promise, or a plan? I love promises. When some people make a promise to me I know that it is as good as done. They are reliable, trustworthy, hard-working creative people who keep their promises. I'll take a promise from them any day. Promises can be problematic sometimes, though. Some people are not so skilled or willing to keep their promises. They may make a promise to move forward in the conversation (possibly because the conversation is deep enough to cause some discomfort) and yet have no intention of keeping that promise. That's not helpful. That's not what centered leaders are looking for. That's not how centered problem solvers operate. Promises are great and I'm also interested in the plan. What exactly are they promising to do and when will they do it? What's the plan? Picking a promise over a plan is a risky way to solve a problem. Problems respond better to the actions completed in a careful and thorough...

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More On Learning

Even brilliant minds sometimes fall behind. Keep learning. I say it a lot, and yet can't say it enough: keep learning. That's a note to self as well as anyone else. What have you learned today? -- doug smith

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One Generation Behind

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Nothing Left to Give?

Saying that we did the best we ould and actually DOING the best we could are NOT the same and does not fool anyone. You'll know for sure when you did the best you could when there is nothing left to give. -- doug smith

Focus First

Ambition without vision consumes everything around it. -- doug smith

High Performance Leaders and Emotions

Are you an emotional leader? I had a boss once who put his fist thru a wall. He got lucky. If he hits a stud, it's a broken hand, at least. But he hit pure dry wall and his fist went right thru. He was making a point. I don't remember what his point was, but it was obvious that he was angry. He was also out of control. Leaders can't afford to look out of control. Scare your team and they'll lose productivity faster than you can say "update the resume." I've lost my temper, too -- but never put my fist thru a wall (at work. I did once in college in the apartment where I lived, but that's another story. Oh, yes I did fix the hole.) Sure, leaders can have emotions. But if our emotions get out of control they get in our way. Our teams panic. Our customers walk. Our families cringe. I'm not advocating any kind of flat line robotics here. Enjoy your emotions. Cry. Laugh. Cuss if you need to. Enjoy the joy that's there in lif...

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Are You In The Mood for Problem Solving?

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