Randy Cantrell

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I remember sitting in a college history class, The History Of Western Civilization and thinking about these ancient characters of the past. Here I am surrounded by hundreds of my not-so-close college friends, sitting in a class that should be anything but boring (why are so many college history professors boring?) wondering how many kids around the planet are being taught these same things. And how can history be somewhat united – more so than in real time – in judging why historical figures thought what they thought and did what they did?

What I love about history is, well…history. But I also love how we approach it.

Empathy is best summed up in a word: UNDERSTANDING.

Empathy toward others means we understand how they feel. We get it.

The real-time approach to discernment is heavy on judgment. Mostly, I think because it is in real-time. There’s little or no distance between the action and our judgment of it. In short, we judge it based on the facts, assumptions or opinions at hand. It’s the context easily at our disposal.

The historical approach to discernment is fairly low in judgment, even in a liberally-minded college campus. Mostly, because it’s not in real-time. There are often great distances between the action and our current judgment about whatever happened. In short, we judge it based on more facts, fewer assumptions, and more open-minded opinions. The context is filled with more information.

Last Friday morning during a conversation I mentioned this difference. Not sure where it came from, but as they say, “Even a blind pig can find one every now and again.” What I found was a way to communicate the value and benefit of applying a different viewpoint when we look at others. Particularly when we’re drawn to make a judgment that is mostly critical. One where we’re tempted to think (or even say), “I wouldn’t do that” or “I wouldn’t do it that way.”

History is history. It is what it is. There’s no changing it. No going back to fix whatever happened. Well, unless you believe in things like the Outlander.

This means our investment in it is primarily based in the desire to simply know. And understand. We want to figure out what happened and why. Why did those people do what they did? What prompted them to make the choices they made? History is largely based on answering those two questions: What and Why. What did they do. And why.

In real time, we often feel no need to ask either of those questions. I see what you did. I know what you did. And I know why you did it. And I completely disagree with it. You’re an idiot. In real time, we keep it neat and tidy. We also keep our dignity in knowing how much better we are. After all, we would have never done what you just did.

Perspective matters.

Claire and Jamie of Outlander fame prove a point. They find Jamie’s aunt in America. She owns a plantation with over 150 slaves. Claire, who has traveled in time back from the modern world is appalled at the mere notion of slavery. The aunt names Jamie the overseer of the estate and has decided to bestow it all to him. But Claire is unable to resolve the fact that in the 1800’s on places just like this plantation, slavery was real. She’s come from the future and has a context that isn’t congruent with the time in which she now finds herself. At Claire’s urging, Jamie refuses to make a life with Claire running the plantation. Never mind that the aunt was a fair person, treating the slaves more favorably than those around her. Never mind that Claire and Jamie may have been able to provide an even more fair situation for the slaves of the plantation. Freedom for slaves wasn’t easy or even probable at the time.

Claire’s knowledge and experience of the future disabled her to make what could have been a wiser decision. It would have certainly made her life with her husband easier. All proving the point that our context and the context of what we seek to understand — it matters. Claire believed slavery to be wrong and perhaps in real-time her judgment couldn’t be helped. The rest of society mostly accepted slavery as a way of life, even if they disagreed with it.

The founding fathers of our country aren’t judged based on real-time scrutiny. Do we make allowances for them? Of course, we do. Should we? Of course, we should.

I’ve got 5 grandkids. Ranging in age from 3 to almost 12. Do I make allowances for the 3-year-old that I won’t give to the almost-12-year-old? You bet. And I must. I should. They’re at different spots on the timeline of life. One knows infinitely more than the other. One has the emotional tools of a person four times the age of the other. Those are major differences. So it goes with an historical perspective.

However…

What about UNDERSTANDING? That’s at the heart of empathy. How can this factor in to helping us increase our empathy and leverage it in our leadership?

Two words. One a verb. One a noun.

SEEK.

CURIOSITY.

The verb is “seek.”

The noun is “curiosity.”

Put them together in a 2-word sentence. Seek curiosity.

Split them apart.

Seek understanding.

Be curious enough to seek understanding.

The thing about the historical perspective is that the further away we are from the event and the people involved, the less judgmental we tend to be about it all. The more we lean into trying to figure out why they did what they did. We simply seek to understand because we’re curious. Various things might fuel our curiosity, but the value is high. Are we seeking understanding so we can learn something about them…or about ourselves? I’m not sure the motive behind the understanding is as crucial as the act of trying to understand…trumped only by the success to understand.

Can we employ a historical perspective even when there’s very little time distance? Meaning, if the event just happened can we approach it as though it happened 100 years ago? Of course, we can. We’re humans with an incredible ability to project ourselves into situations and circumstances we’ve not experienced before. Our imaginations can serve us if we just exercise them more and more toward helping us understand.

Our biases destroy our ability. We all have bigotry about something or somebody. Blind spots caused by our opinions, assumptions, and viewpoints. Those fade as we look at things beyond the context of the present. That’s why we’re able to read, study and learn from our founding fathers without judging them too harshly, even if they were slave owners. It certainly isn’t because we’re willing to believe slavery is right, or that it was even right at that time. We’re able to view the people and events in the time, considering the circumstances of their lives – not ours. And that’s the key to understanding. Stop considering the context of your life. Instead, consider the context of the lives of the people you’re trying to understand.

Is it easy? Not in real-time. Engage your imagination and tack 100 years onto it, then give it a try. Remove yourself from the process. Stop being self-centered. It’s hampering your empathy, serving nobody!

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

RC

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The line came from a bit of dialogue in a 2009 movie featuring George Clooney, The Men Who Stare At Goats. Clooney plays Lyn Cassady. Bob is a reporter friend inquiring about Lyn’s life.

Lyn Cassady: Once you understand the linkage between observation and reality then you begin to dance with invisibility.
Bob Wilton: Like camouflage.
Lyn Cassady: No, it’s not like camouflage.

Lyn was part of a secret military psychological and paranormal unit. He claimed to be a Jedi, a superpower soldier with extraordinary mental capabilities. It wasn’t that great a movie, but it did have a few laugh out loud moments.

Lyn uttered the line in reference to his ability to become invisible. This would clearly be a good thing. A positive tool for any soldier.

I’m using the line in reference to our ability to not be noticed. To be virtually – not literally – invisible. Nobody notices. Especially during times when we could most use some noticing. Times when we could use some help. I’m using it as something negative. Something to be avoided or remedied.

My two-word solution is, “Get involved.” But that’s not deep enough. It’s just a headline to render a quick meaning to “do something about your loneliness or invisibility.”

The burdens of leadership are lonely. And I don’t mean power, authority or being in charge. People become intoxicated with those things. Nobody (at least intentionally) gets drunk on loneliness. They might go mad, but drunk? Doubtful. Loneliness can put the best of us in a quick funk.

The loneliness of true leadership – the constant serving of others (which is the name of the game) – is a side disadvantage. To be fair, the advantages of serving others is vast, broad and deep…filled with tons of rewards found nowhere else for the person bent to do the work. The focus is always on somebody else. At least when leadership is done well. It’s selfless. Intentionally so.

The leader is not invisible. Rather, she’s in the forefront when others need help. She’s first in line to get the call or text because others trust her. They’re comfortable leaning on her.

The leader isn’t invisible because he’s top of mind during trouble. When people find themselves in unchartered water they quickly contact the person with whom they feel most safe and able to help.

Genuine leadership derives energy from service. Concentrating on others is the work and leaders would have it no other way.

But…

To whom does the leader go? When he’s in need, who does she text or call?

To whom can the leader shell it all down with and feel safe? To whom can the leader confide without fear of judgment or betrayal?

Who can relate to the leader’s plight of invisibility – those times when the leader needs to focus a bit more on himself?

So few leaders have an intentional plan for such occasions. Mostly because they have nobody to whom they can safely go. And if safety isn’t the issue (like a close friend or family member), then relatability is the issue. It’s why husbands or wives in leadership often find it tough to connect and communicate with their spouse about work-related issues. Context and language matter…and it’s a hard thing to accomplish with people who have little or no idea what we may be up against.

One solution is to surround yourself with people to whom you’ll never be invisible. People who will be involved with you and people to whom you can be involved. Peers.

According to research done by my friend Leo Bottary (co-author of the book, The Power Of Peers), there are 5 factors that bring about the peer advantage.

Select The Right Peers

• A peer group is smarter than any one individual.
• Leaders benefit from insightful questions and the impartial advice of their peers.
• People prefer to implement their own solutions, rather than be told what to do and how to do it.
• Success is the most effective means of driving positive behavior changes.
• Leaders, regardless of industry sector, share common aspirations and challenges.
• Leaders benefit from learning about industry practices not common to their own business.
• Peer accountability is a powerful force.

Create A Safe Environment

• Being vulnerable is liberating.
• When you can share anything, knowing you won’t be judged, it’s a powerful force to help you grow.
• A healthy respect for confidentiality is mandatory. What happens in a group, stays in the group. It’s not negotiable.
• Vulnerability is seen as a strength, not a weakness.
• Creativity and change are fueled by our willingness to be open.

Utilize A Smart Guide

• True smart guides lead with the hand of a servant.
• They listen, ask good questions, build camaraderie, consider themselves as coaches rather than consultants and wear their passion for the role on their sleeve.
• The smart guide is part of the group and every member of the group has their back.
• They reinforce group norms, create an atmosphere of learning and have fun – all at the same time.

Foster Valuable Interaction

• Confidentiality is key. That safe environment fosters more open interactions.
• Skilled, repeated interactions create close bonds among group members who share in the joys of repeated successes.
• The use of a highly strategic and structured approach fosters more skilled discussions.
• It involves properly framing the issue, asking questions informed by experience and leveraging the power of a collection of successful business owners.
• It provides an unparalleled opportunity for personal and professional development of every member.

Be Accountable

• Accountability is where peer advantage comes to life.
• It’s where the outcomes and takeaways each business owner realizes manifest themselves both personally and professionally.
• It’s the whole point — to grow. To improve. To be more effective.
• The difference between peer influence and peer advantage is that peer influence is an individual pursuit while peer advantage is a group endeavor powered by greater selectivity, targeted strategies for achieving goals and structured engagement that inspires lasting results.

These 5 factors are part of The Peer Advantage by Bula Network. This is my solution to help you avoid the dance with invisibility. It’s just one answer for 7 U.S.-based entrepreneurs. I’m currently accepting applications at ThePeerAdvantage.com.

This life-changing opportunity will provide 7 small business owners the opportunity to fix their loneliness once and for all. To surround themselves with other owners who will help them learn, understand and grow. I invite you to complete the application today. It’ll only take you a few minutes. Once I get your application, I’ll reach out so we can schedule a phone call. That phone call isn’t a sales pitch of any kind. Rather, it’s a time for me to learn more about you and your business – and an opportunity for you to learn whatever you’d like about me and The Peer Advantage by Bula Network.

We’ve just completed week 1 of Q2. Don’t put it off. It’s time to leverage the power you can gain in surrounding yourself with people fully capable of helping you grow your business, your leadership and your life. Go to ThePeerAdvantage.com right now and complete the application.

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

RC

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On February 20th I lost a man who had been a lifelong mentor. His name was Barney. Whenever people would ask about my relationship with him, I’d always say the same thing, “a lifelong friend, confidant, and mentor.” Barney was about a decade and a half further up the trail, which gave me valuable benefits of his perspective.

His death hit me hard, but I was happy that just days before he passed we’d been able to spend some extended time in a phone call where we were able to express our love for each other. Neither of us expected it to be our last talk. Fact is, we were anticipating seeing one another in just a couple of months.

Since his death, I’ve thought quite a lot about mentors, trusted advisors, and confidants. I have no proof, but intuition tells me most people have very few such people to serve them in life…which makes no sense to me at all, given the high value they can provide. Barney knew me my entire life. That context helped both of us. Provided a comfort zone for us both, too.

Trust. That’s the thing.

Without it, you have nothing. With it, much is possible, if not probable.

I trusted Barney. More than any other older advisor I’ve lost thus far. And more than most other older men in my life – they’re the ones who have provided the lion’s share of value in my life – Barney unhesitatingly challenged me. And with very few words, but with a directness nobody else could or would provide.

He was raised in Kentucky. When he was a boy the family moved up to the Cinncinati area, just across the Ohio border. He was unashamed of being a hillbilly, talking of his family emerging from the hollers of Kentucky.

During one visit where I gathered my son and a few other young men to learn from his wisdom, Barney recounted the family’s move. My son asked, “Did you ever go back to Kentucky to visit.” Barney replied, “Sure. We’d hop on a bus with a sack of sandwiches and take the ride back home to show off.” 😀

We all chuckled at the sight of a bunch of transplanted Kentucky hillbillies leaving the big city on a Greyhound bus with a sack of sandwiches to go back to the hills and show off how citified they now were. But that’s the kind of man he was.

When Barney died a lifetime of knowledge and wisdom went with him except for the vast amount of it he passed on. And he did pass it on. Or try to. I hope I was a good student. I tried to be.

Giving.

It’s likely counter-intuitive to start with us being the giver. That is, with OUR being the mentor, trusted advisor, and confidant. But it’s only right for us to give before we expect to get.

Whether giving or receiving, the factors are likely the same. A few key things to consider for today.

Trust is found only in safety and confidentiality. Without it, all else is lost.

Many people are prone to share whatever they know. Others are prone to judge. Still others to tell you what you ought to do. Can you commit – will you commit – to keeping private things private? Can others trust you to not divulge the expressions of their heart they choose to share with you?

It’s a tall order that not everybody can keep. Fact is, most won’t. Which makes this service rarer.

Should you decide to join the ranks of mentors, trusted advisors and confidants then you’ll need to make sure you’re prepared for this basic, but most important task. Some find it hard. Others of us, not so much. For me, it’s second nature because I’m thankfully not prone to harsh judgment. Truth is, I don’t feel as though I’m better than people I serve. Mostly, I’m not likely as good. So that makes it easier for me. I’m lucky like that.

Asking great questions. Once trust is deeply embedded, then asking deep questions is possible. These are the tools for service, designed to help a person think through their possibilities and figure out for themselves what course may be best.

Through the years Barney would utter one critical phrase in our conversations. It would be a two-word command that would begin many, many discussions. “Think about…” Or he might even say, “What do you think about…?” Every single time it would provoke thoughts…and questions I’d ask him. He knew I was desperate to benefit from his study, experience and knowledge. He, on the other hand, was desperate to help me figure it out for myself.

Encouragement. I’m growing increasingly fascinated with this topic. I talk about it frequently over at my passion project, LeaningTowardWisdom.com. I even registered the URL Craving Encouragement dot com.

Barney would encourage me constantly. To study. To read. To think. To pray. Sometimes it took the form of challenge. Firm, but loving. I never ever doubted his care for me. He wasn’t the recipient of the service. I was. There’s another lesson as a giver. Don’t make it about you. It’s always about them – those you’re working to serve.

To express belief in another is a powerful gift we don’t often enough provide. Shame on us. Especially if we feel it, but neglect to express it.

These are vital factors to mentorship, being a trusted advisor and being a confidant. This is on my mind today, but another older gentleman in my life turns 83 today. His name is Ronny. Lord willing, I’ll see him next month. But I confess to you that I wrote him a letter and emailed it yesterday – the day before his birthday. The subject line said: “Happy Birthday (a day early…because I know we have today and I’m uncertain about tomorrow)”

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

RC

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“It was just what I needed,” she told me.

She wasn’t talking about a scolding. She was talking about being called into the sales manager’s office where her work was soundly praised.

She was an account executive with an aviation parts manufacturer. At the time she confesses how fearful she was. “You’re called into the office. For me it was a text – ‘Drop by my office when you get in today. Thanks.’ My mind went into a million different directions trying to think, ‘What have I done wrong?'”

She walked into the office where the manager asked her to have a seat, directly in front of his desk. He didn’t close the door so she thought, “Good sign, maybe.”

He opened a notebook where she noticed a few scribbled notes in his own writing, but she was too nervous to try to read it upside down.

He then spent a couple of minutes extolling the contributions she’d made over the last quarter. And it wasn’t just performance stuff. It was broader and deeper than that. He talked about how he valued everybody and he praised the entire team. Today, he wanted to make sure she understood the value of her contributions to the team and the company.

She was embarrassed. This hadn’t happened to her before. Not at this level. Not anything this serious. This wasn’t a pat on the back. It was deeply thoughtful, well thought out and quite purposeful. When he was finished praising her she thanked him. They both stood, shook hands and he said, “Marcy, I trust you. I’m devoted to your success.” She believed him. And she trusted him, too.

It all lasted less than 8 minutes. Eight minutes!

She floated on a cushion of self-confidence as she exited his office. Later that day, during 2 sales calls she recalls having two of the best sales calls of her life. “My confidence was apparent to the client. You could feel it,” she said.

Success fosters success. But praise fuels confidence and without confidence, success is elusive.

Eight minutes. Eight intentional minutes. Marcy has no idea how to quantify what confidence may do for her sales performance, but she has high goals. Higher than she had before. She didn’t go in and alter the official forecast, but she did secretly create a new forecast. Her personal goals. They were now higher than the official numbers. I ask her why she did that. “Because I looked at the forecast numbers and thought, ‘That’s not nearly good enough.'”

Marcy expected more from herself than she ever had before. Some limiting beliefs and lack of confidence (she was no simp before, but she was now Hulk-like in confidence) had magically vanished over the span of just 8 minutes. Truth is, it didn’t take the full 8 minutes. Within the first few seconds, when she realized praise was the purpose of the meeting…her mind instantly made a shift into a new gear she didn’t even know she had.

We talk about her. What she says to herself. The power of others expressing belief in us. The power of praise. The need to find the inner fuel necessary when external fuel is lacking. The need to summon up resources on command when she’s alone in the field and the sales call doesn’t go so well.

Mostly, we dwell on the magic of what happened and why. How our minds can change so quickly with some positive affirmation from people who matter – in this case, her boss. She’s young. I encourage her to learn a leadership lesson from it. To grow as a teammate. To focus on looking for things to praise in others, including clients. To show more deeply her appreciation for what others bring to the table. All things she admits weren’t so clear before but now are in 20/20 view.

Clarity is a great thing. So is confidence. Find ways to offer genuine, sincere praise and watch the confidence (and performance) soar.

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

RC

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I first heard the phrase “learning organization” in Peter Senge’s 1990 book, The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. Well, to be fair, at that point in my career I noticed the term. Perhaps it was around long before that, but since I was steeped in small business and not global enterprise-level work…maybe I was late to the game. No matter, as always I was in hot pursuit of the practical application of brainiacs like professor Senge. After all, he earned a PhD from MIT over 3 decades ago.

High performing teams and organizations were more phrases that erupted from enterprise level operations. Makes sense that we should all want that. Sure beats low performing teams and organizations. However, it has spawned a bit of dialogue about performance versus growth.

The practical man that I am, I’ve learned that performance-based cultures may not always work well over the long haul. We likely need to define the phrase though. I mean a culture where performance is prized above most else, or all else. A culture where the measurements matter most. I might describe it as a head culture over a heart culture. Performance-based cultures don’t fret about how people feel, or what they may think. The priority is on what have you done. Measurable accomplishments are the order of the day.

Nobody is slamming a focus on performance. Our organizations must perform or we cease to exist. We certainly can’t thrive if we don’t perform, and at a high level. So I find no fault in working to become or maintain our status as a “high performing company” or “team.” But we might be high performing no matter what culture we have. I’ve known high performing teams within companies where the culture was terribly unhealthy. By any measurement. I’ve known other companies that appeared to have fairly idyllic cultures, but performance was never very high.

It makes me wonder if it’s a cart before the horse notion. We look for organizations that are performing at a high level and we may incorrectly conclude that their culture is partially, or mostly responsible. Maybe. Maybe not.

What’s the sustained performance over time? What’s the growth of the company, organization or team? Are things improving, getting better? What does the consistency of the performance look like?

Two words capture my imagination and attention: purposeful and intentional. How purposeful and intentional is your team or company in developing a culture that will foster whatever it is you’re chasing?

Culture is a living thing. It can and does change over time. Reason being…culture is largely a collection of the beliefs and values that drive the behavior of the people who make up the culture. Teams and organizations tend to take on or push against, the beliefs and values of the leader (or leaders). That’s why I focus so frequently on congruency – the congruency of these values and beliefs within the collective. For example, if honesty is a primary driver value for the leader, but the top salesperson is constantly pushing against that with questionable tactics that aren’t as honest as they could be…there’s a disconnect. That disconnect damages the culture because there is incongruency.

Performance can happen without growth. Growth tends to foster higher performance. It’s a matter of what you value the most – performance or growth?

I’m nudging you to focus on growth as a means toward higher performance. It’s the ideal pathway to have your cake and ability to eat it, too. Some high performance comes at the expense of making the culture toxic. Not worth it in my opinion. You can decide for yourself.

The things needed to build a growth culture are the same qualities necessary to build a growth-focused life, a growth-oriented family, a growth-intensive group or a growth-focused team. See if you don’t find these qualities suitable for higher human performance in your leadership and higher performance among your teammates.

Let’s keep Peter Senge’s phrase in mind, “learning organization.” Any learning organization will be fixated on growth over performance.

Make it safe.

Your role, as a leader, is to provide an environment that feels safe for all your people. It means you and your entire leadership team must live and behave as role models where shortcomings, mistakes and all other errors are owned, not shoved off in a blame game. Finger pointing is out in the growth-focused company. It destroys safety and fosters excuse making.

Learn.

Early in my career I took on the role of buying merchandise for a retail company. Buyers have much better real-time data today than I had when I started. Data was very hard to come by, but I was analytical in wanting to see how well merchandise was performing. It was laborious and cumbersome, but as they say, “The numbers don’t lie.”

Well, anybody who has ever been in charge of purchasing has made mistakes. We do it in our personal lives, too. Ever bought something stupid and wish you hadn’t? Of course!

Stories were circulated in retailing circles about buyers at various elephantine companies where a buyer issued a really big purchase order for a product that performed poorly. I suspected many of these stories were myths, but they often illustrated something about the company, the subject of the story. If the company had a terrible reputation the story would go something like this.

A buyer placed a million dollar P.O. for some merchandise. The company took repeated markdowns (discounts) making multiple efforts to recover their cost. When the dust settled the company lost hundreds of thousands and the buyer was fired.

If the company had a stellar reputation the story went quite differently. Something like this.

A buyer placed a million dollar P.O. for some merchandise. The company took repeated markdowns (discounts) making multiple efforts to recover their cost. When the dust settled the company lost hundreds of thousands. The CEO made sure the buyer wasn’t fired or punished. Instead, the CEO led the parade for the buyer’s leadership team to foster her growth, and figure out what they could all learn together from the experience. As the CEO put it, “Why would I fire her? We spent a million bucks to learn that lesson.”

Growth cultures concentrate on learning. They’re curious. They seek to find out and figure out what they don’t yet know. They also seek a deeper understanding.

Try it. You may like it. Or love it.

The other day I watched a YouTube car reviewer review the 2020 Kia Soul, a quirky compact car. The reviewer gave high marks to Kia for first introducing the vehicle and even higher marks for pushing the quirkiness even higher. Yes, they take some shots from other car snobs about it, but it shows they’re willing to experiment and try things.

Companies intent on having a high growth culture put value – high value – on trying things. They don’t play it safe. They’re willing to test assumptions, ask tough questions and find out if something will work. Or not.

In short, high growth cultures are innovative. Being innovative means a willingness to try things.

Constant feedback.

Some people deride the term, feedback. For me, it’s much ado about nothing. They think feedback signifies being critical. I don’t agree. Instead, I view feedback like I do when driving a car. All the input I get while behind the wheel of my car is feedback that alerts me on things critical to my safety and my progress. Do I have enough fuel? The fuel gauge provides feedback so I know whether or not I need to make a pit stop. Am I in the right gear? I drive a 6-speed manual. The tach and the sound provide feedback telling me I need to advance to a new gear. All this may be critical in the sense that I need it, but it’s not critical in that it’s negative.

In our organizations, we need feedback from all corners. Do we share the desire to improve and grow? Then we owe it to each other to serve each other. Feedback enables us to help each other know our progress or lack of it. And it also enables us to eliminate our blind spots, reduce or eliminate our limiting beliefs, challenge assumptions and so much more.

The five C’s that are my focus may help you, as you work to build the culture you want. It begins with compassion. Without the ability to feel and exhibit compassion for one another, we’re stuck. Nothing advances until that occurs.

Once we embrace compassion we can communicate. Effective communication may not come easily, but we can pull it off. We say what we mean and we mean what we say. We bear responsibility for making sure the recipient of our communication understand properly what we intend to convey.

Next comes connection. Without the first two, this is impossible. People will never connect with you if they don’t think you care about them. And if you don’t care about them, what you communicate doesn’t much matter because they don’t want to listen to you anyway. Isn’t that how you roll?

After connection comes collaboration. That doesn’t have to mean direct collaboration or partnering, but it could mean that. It means we work together. At a more basic level, it means we’re willing to help each other.

All of that combines to give us culture. Culture can be our inner culture, our set of beliefs and values that drive our behavior and choices. It can be a culture that’s established with others – a group or team.

Pursue growth and you’ll likely find higher performance.

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

RC

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Jimmy Hoffa Jr. supposed said it. He the radical attorney son of an infamous mobster boss.

There is no “I” in team. So they say. But there’s no “we” in there either.

As for leadership, you either take it or you don’t get it. Because the word for today does begin with an “i.” IMPOSE.

Impose your will on others or you’ll never get the power you want. Hoffa knows a lot more about it than you do. His daddy taught him well. You use the most inflammatory speech you can. You vilify opponents at every opportunity. In fact, if you’re a true leader you’ll create as many of those opportunities as possible.

The ability to boss other people around is worth the price of your decency, a highly overrated and useless trait. Real leaders don’t bother with nice-sities or being liked. There’s no time for that because true leaders are on a mission to get things done.

Getting things done means getting your way. Because there is no other way. Not unless you want to let the idiots win by voicing opinions. Again, such nonsense is a waste of time. Why in the world would you want to give ear to anybody lesser than you? You wouldn’t. So don’t tolerate it. Shut it down by any means necessary.

IMPOSE. That’s the only way to lead. Impose your will. Impose your agenda. Impose your opinions. At every turn, impose.

Fuel this within yourself by making sure you keep your desires high. What you want must be paramount, especially when compared to the lesser humans around you.

Armed with high expectations for every outcome, knowing that each outcome must be directly favorable toward you, then it’s paramount that you paint others in the least favorable light possible. In fact, it’s best if you’re able to characterize them in ways to make yourself look best, even if those characterizations aren’t quite true. It’s all a means to an end. And the end is you being in charge or maintaining power…so it’s worth it.

Lest you fear that you can overdo imposing your will, pay close attention to people. They’ll shrink and say nothing. Mostly because they just want the moment to pass. Leverage that to further your agenda. After all, you know what’s best. You realize these people are nothing without you. It’s up to you to impose on them long enough so they come to the same wise conclusion you have.

Deploy the style of Yoda. Present yourself as the holder of all wisdom and know-how. You can accelerate this dramatically if you’ll pay attention to the words you use. Use words like “should” often when telling people what to do. Don’t make suggestions or recommendations. Give orders. Issue warnings. Give directives.

Consistency will pay. The longer you impose the more power you’ll gain. Besides, practice makes perfect, but make the practice perfect by imposing all the time. Be relentless in your pursuit of power and authority. Ignore naysayer who call it “tyranny.” Keep remembering that these people are ninnies without a clue how to get things done. Remind yourself – this isn’t hard – that you’re the smartest person…no matter what room you occupy. It’s true. But it’s up to you to display it often enough so you can destroy any power your adversaries may seem to garner.

Think big. Pursue big. And always, always, always be big enough to take whatever you want by any means necessary. If you don’t, the idiots may win and we just can’t let that happen.

Happy April 1st.

Be well. Do good. Grow great. Take what you want!

RC

P.S. I credit the likes of James H. Boren and Stanley Bing for this episode. We’ll be serious tomorrow! 😉