A young man was about to become an adult.
As the last step in his rite of passage, he went to meet with the council of elders.
The elders greeted him warmly and said:
“Today, as you become an adult, you will soon recognize that two animals reside in you. The first is the dog. It represents love, joy, positivity, happiness, kindness, and faith. The second is the wolf. It represents hate, pain, negativity, cruelty, and fear. Both the dog and the wolf will live inside you, and they are fighting each other.”
The young man, puzzled and frightened asked:
“Who is going to win?”
The elders took the young man’s hands and said, “Whichever one you choose to feed.”
Even while surrounded by trying times, we choose how we respond to situations around us. Let us be conscious and thoughtful about which animal we feed, the dog or the wolf.
All the best, and I trust you can find one or more ideas in this issue that bring abundance to your life, and your business.
Regards,
Dan
“Relevant & pragmatic ideas, tools and insights to play at your best.”
For You
Where do you meet your best ideas?
Not at work, for most people. While recruiting ads and employee communications are often sprinkled with “come create here” messages, the truth is that most of the workforce feels more pressure to be productive at work than to be creative.
Still, others won’t even let themselves think about where they meet their best ideas, because they self-edit, “I’m not the creative type” or let the clock suppress their imagination with self-limiting beliefs such as, “I don’t have time to be creative”.
I’m masterful at meeting my best ideas; because I know that most of the time, these gems drop out of my collective consciousness when I least expect them.
Here’s how I meet my best ideas:
- keep a pocket-sized moleskin notebook in the glove compartment, my gym bag, and my bike backpack.
- have a clipboard within arm’s reach during my morning stretches and exercises.
- place a pen near the bed so I can fill the margins and back book pages with ideas that I generate during evening reading.
- create a sideboard note section while attending conferences.
- record innovative ideas and creative threads on my iPhone while on walks.
And when all else fails, I simply head for the shower. Three out of four people say they get creative ideas in the shower, according to cognitive scientist, Scott Barry Kaufman, and coauthor of “Wired to Create”.
How do you ensure that you stay competitive and create value by meeting your best ideas?
For You & Your Team
“There’s no excitement in our team, people just come in, punch the imaginary time clock, and wait until they can go home in the evening”, a business leader shared with me recently.
Keep in mind that leadership is value and belief-driven behavior that inspires others to struggle and work together for uncommon achievements.
In uncertain times, some leaders think it’s clever to keep their heads down and play it safe, in other words, to use tactics so as not to lose.
Yet this contradicts the leader’s true role, beginning with the inspirational belief that there is a better way going forward, and through working (and struggling together), this becomes possible.
If there isn’t a possibility of failure or loss in the path you are on, and if you feel pretty safe, chances are you aren’t going to be successful, because without this risk, there is little chance of significant reward.
If you are missing excitement, ownership, and a healthy conviction that you and your team can truly design your future success; take a long look in the mirror and ask yourself how you are showing up as a leader, one who plays not to lose, or a leader who truly plays to win.
For You, Your Team & Your Business
What is your executive agenda?
Some executives think this is their strategy, others believe it’s the agenda for the upcoming executive meeting.
The executive agenda is not a plan. It is the collective output of your leadership team, as experienced by your key stakeholders. These stakeholders include shareholders, customers, employees, suppliers and yes, even competitors.
Your executive agenda enables you to craft a powerful leadership team purpose and explicitly describe the unique contribution your leadership team brings to the organization. This razor-sharp leadership team purpose comes to life when team members define and align their collaboration with explicit best practices, team rules, or standards of excellence that hold them accountable to each other and the organization.
Here’s how one leadership team stepped up and crafted a meaningful purpose and powerful practices that set an example for themselves and the entire organization, as described in this NORENBERG’S NINETY SECONDS.
People, Places & Technology
What role is Forwardism playing in your leadership culture? Forwardism is the joy of the seeing & feeling the future before it’s been created. This is an emphasis on embracing the possibilities of the future and involves actively seeking out new opportunities, being open to change, and having a positive outlook on what lies ahead. Here’s how BMW, the iconic mobility service provider, describes forwardism.
Thought for the Day
“I was brought here
to shake the tree.
That’s how you get
the sweetest apples.”
-Pharrell Williams