High Performance Leadership

As a leader, are you often confronted with injustice? Do you witness actions and events that are simply unfair? Anyone who lives long enough will be frequently faced with injustice -- whether it's felt personally or witnessed effecting other people. Many people ignore and walk away from injustice. It's too hard of a battle, it's not my fight, it's not the right time...any number of rationalizations can stop us from doing what in our hearts we know we should do: confront evil. Did I say evil? Yes, injustice is a kind of evil. It may not even be intentional, but it must not be permitted to stand, because it gains strength and credibility the longer that it does. When we have come to permit and then accept injustice it becomes an institutionalized part of our lives. After thousands of years of injustice, it's easy to think that it's already too late, that we're all really institutionalized to injustice until it is practically an invisible part of our value syst...

What is a noble goal? A noble goal leads you, and others, to produce work that makes life better. A noble goal does no harm in the process of doing much good. You know that one of your goals is noble when you are not the main beneficiary of its success. Noble goals make you feel good, but they are not really about you at all. It is in service to others that we find our most profound joy. While we can achieve anything we set our hearts, minds, and souls on, it is our duty to focus on noble goals. What noble goal will you work on today? -- Douglas Brent Smith

Goals change. We can get part way to the end of our goal and realize that it no longer makes sense. Our boss can change our agenda, nullifying a goal we had been working on. Even our mission can shift when our company is bought by another company. Goals change. But genuine values persist. What matters to you as an individual, the values that you live by, tend to last for a very long time. Do you know your values? Have you written down the values that drive your actions, that steer your course? It's the one single act that will most help you make important decisions: formalizing and expressing your true values. High performance leaders operate with clearly defined and articulated values. They express what they believe. Why not do that right now? -- Douglas Brent Smith Solving Problems | Achieving your goals

Supervisors often bring strong technical skills to the job. When they have worked in technical jobs prior to becoming a supervisor, they were often the best at what they do. They know the ground level part of their business well enough to solve problems and deal with day to day issues. Leading is all that and more. High performance leadership requires attention to detail AND a constant view of the big picture: where is your team, your market, and your customer base headed? What does the future hold? Strong supervisors learn to add strategic and communication skills to their technical ability. What are you doing today to develop your sense of the big picture? -- Douglas Brent Smith

Do you appreciate what you have, who you know, and how you've gotten where you are? Does your experience give you time to appreciate the joy found in that experience? Gratitude is a kind of fuel for centered leaders. Appreciating the good in what is gives us new ways to move forward toward more good. See it, and more is sure to follow. A grateful leader fears no shortfall, because there is always more good to come. Just look at all the good that has already found its way to you... -- Douglas Brent Smith

What does kindness have to do with leadership? Only a truly centered leader can co-create the kind of organization that makes a positive difference in the world, that sustains the most life-affirming values, and that binds people together in mutually beneficial ways. Centered leaders focus on positive acts of kindness. It is amazing how many of our problems relate to unexpressed kindness, or the lack of kindness. So much of what we endure is unnecessary. So much of our potential is within our kindness. What little acts of kindness can you as a leader perform today -- for your people, for your customers, for your world? This can take the form of: - kind words - anonymous gifts - skillful coaching - forgiveness - help - smiling - playfulness - a generous sense of humor What other acts of kindness can you think of? -- Douglas Brent Smith

How do you know when your vision has crossed the line into your ego? Is what you want part of a noble plan or a symptom of a simple pain? Centered leaders test their vision against their values to separate character from ambition. They do this by: - Asking people they trust to give them very honest feedback - Checking in on their values: are they living them or just aspiring to them? - Comparing their actions to their values - Comparing their vision to the character they want to be remembered for Centered leaders know the difference between their mission and their ego. How will you stay centered in your quest for success today? -- Douglas Brent Smith Solving Problems. Achieving Your Goals