Great Advice for Leaders in Two Words
Bad advice is dangerous when it sounds smart. Take, ‘get over it’, for example.
‘Get over it’, isn’t great advice. It’s absurd and destructive.
Don’t get over it. Become better because of it. Learn from it or you’ll repeat it.
Great advice is, ‘grow through it’.
Great advice in two words.
#1. Be yourself.
I’ll never forget the underwhelming advice of Jim Parker, the CEO of Southwest Airlines during 9-11. He told me, “Be yourself.”
You’re pulled in a million directions if you don’t know who you are.
#2. Be honest.
Fear of speaking the truth increases destructive stress.
Just say it. Be kind. Turn toward the future. But just speak the truth.
#3. Show gratitude.
“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.” Willie Nelson
It’s not enough for leaders to be grateful. Show it.
Great advice in four words: Choose your hole carefully.
Cornhole isn’t fun without a hole. Take away the hole and you’re an idiot tossing corn-bags.
The hole makes cornhole fun.
Determine your aim before you toss a corn-bag.
Aim at something. Don’t mindlessly do the next urgent thing. Aimless leaders run around with their hair on fire.
What is your aim today? Improve a leadership skill. Aim to maximize other people’s strengths. Choose how to show up. Make work fun. Aim at something.
When you’re lost in the jungle, survival is a good aim. But you aren’t lost. What is your aim beyond day-to-day responsibilities?
You feel aimless when you live without aim.
The power of aim:
- Vitality. Without aim drudgery and futility take over.
- Improvement. You can’t improve until you aim at something and miss.
- Meaning. Aimless work isn’t important.
- Focus. An aimless life lacks focus. Life feels aimless when you aim at everything.
What great advice do you like to give?
What great advice have you received?
Nothing is more important than authenticity except perhaps awareness, but being yourself is of paramount importance – great advice!
Thanks Jay. I was underwhelmed when Jim Parker said, “Be Yourself.” It took me awhile to appreciate his wisdom. Sometimes great advice sounds too simple or obvious.
Sometimes mindless (aimless) work allows me to focus (think) about where to place my aim. Sometimes doing something is better then sitting and thinking.
Thanks Rob. Good point. Aimless activity can be useful. As a lifestyle aimless living is futility. But, taking a shower or mowing the grass can be productive mindlessness.
Thanks Dan. Living with a purpose and thinking with a purpose or something many people overlook are never grasp. Thanks for the reminders.
Thanks Thomas. It’s easy to get lost in busyness and live aimlessly. Chasing everything is as bad as chasing nothing.