Helping others "Get it"

"One of the marks of true greatness is the ability to develop greatness in others." - JC McCauley

Are you developing "Greatness" in those around you?

We have a tendency to roll our eyes when someone doesn't "get it," don't we?

Especially when it's at work.  After all, they are there because they have a job to do that requires a certain level of competency and commitment.

It's easy as a leader, whether as a supervisor, manager, or executive leader to have a tendency to "write off" your subordinates who don't seem to really get it as well as you do.  And you're right, they don't usually get it as well as you do, and many of them probably aren't working very hard at "getting it."

But, let me challenge you to look at your roll as leader a little different.  When did you get it?  You weren't born naked into this world "getting" it.  And you probably didn't "get it" on your own.  Someone showed you, circumstances brought it to your attention, a piece of inspiration, or friend lead up to the point when you finally got it.   Maybe, you worked really hard to get it.  None the less, you got it at some point.

I want to challenge you as a leader to view your position as a platform to help others "get it."  Can you bring the right circumstances?  The right attention?  The right inspiration?  the right culture of hard work?  So those around finally get it?   After all, if they get it, we can stop rolling our eyes and probably make a lot more money, have more fun, and find some new colleagues that operate at the level you wish they would.

A parent that helps their kids "get" the value of an education, the manager that helps their employees "get" the value of a smile or customer relationships, the CEO who helps his board "get" what this business is really all about, the Pastor that helps his congregation really "Get" what it means to be spiritual, these are truly great leaders.

Because greatness is not measured in the small boundaries of your inner world, but in your ability to develop greatness in those around you.

Make the next stage of your life one of "Greatness" that makes our life, business, and world a better place.

-Jon Bohm

"Make the next stage of your life a magnificent obsession, rather than a meaningless Odyssey."

Defeated is Temporary, don't make it Permanent

“Being defeated is often only a temporary condition.  Giving up is what makes it permanent.” – MARILYN VOS SAVANT – Recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records Hall of Fame for the highest recorded IQ.

Do you ever wake up and just feel “defeated?”

 We all have days that are “bad” days; we lose a deal, an employee or friend doesn’t make a crucial phone call, the bid goes to someone else, the news station says we will “never” recover,  your phone is on the fritz, you feel sick, find out bad news, or get chewed out by the boss. Etc. etc.

 This is the crucial moment where we have to make the decision to accept things the way they are at this moment and be “defeated.”  Or we take the other option which is to accept the responsibility to change our circumstances.

 In High School people would always tell me that I would never play in the NBA.  I accepted that as truth and just let that dream die.  As it turned out, 4 of the 5 of my High School starting team went on to play Division 1 college hoops and some went to the NBA.

I learned a valuable lesson, “don’t ever let someone, anyone, tell you what you can’t do.”  Sure the odds can be stacked against you, sure it may not seem possible, and it doesn’t matter.  You decide what you will accept as truth, you decide what you can and can’t do, you decide to accept responsibility for your life and circumstances and let everyone else “accept the way things are.”

You see, life is not made up out of whether bad things will happen or if bad days will come, because they will.  Life is made out of those situations when someone decides to either be temporarily defeated or permanently destroyed.  We kill our own dreams, nobody else can do that for us.  

As for me, I will guard and protect my dreams and own the responsibility for making them happen.  How about you?

-Jon Bohm