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Volume 7, Issue 3 - March, 2008 • You won’t be until you are.This sounds like either a really dumb title or it might be something really deep. You are going to have to be the one to decide. It is a statement with wide applicability and yet the meaning has haunted me for years and always implied some deeper meaning. The first time I remember hearing it was from my father when he told me, “you won’t be happy until you are happy.” My response at the time was, “Huh?” As I grew older, I learned about the “Law of Attraction” which can be summed up by Proverbs 23:7, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” It was then that I understood what my father had been telling me. The second time I heard it was when I was writing a chapter for “Masterpieces in Health Care Leadership” a text book for the Health Care Industry. My interviewee was Mike Visniesky, the Director of Environmental Services at Fairview Hospital. Mike was talking to his people and he told them that, “you won’t be a leader until you are one.” Mike’s statement reminded me of an earlier time in my career when I watched another person get a promotion I thought I deserved. I was bright, had a college degree, all I needed was a chance. Later I looked back on that time and realized the subsequent promotions I received had come after I demonstrated my leadership ability in the very role I had been promoted to. I wasn’t given the official title until I had demonstrated that I really was the leader. Eventually I started my own business because I wanted to be successful. As I talked to my sister about my plan for the new business, she said to me that I had a very successful corporate career and she was certain I would be successful in this endeavor. It was then I realized that what appeared to be successful to others didn’t feel successful to me. It was then I started to ask the questions, who am I? Why am I here? I went back and looked at Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Certainly the basics have been well taken care of and I had achieved some higher levels of the hierarchy, but it still felt like something was missing. This raised new questions, questions I will ask of you. Are we our things? Are we our clothes, our cars or our homes? I don’t think so. Are we our bodies? I certainly hope not. Are we our minds? I don’t think so as we recognize that we can change our minds, so there must be another level. Are we our Souls, Spirits or Inner Beings? There is the real question. Rodd Wagner & James K Harter, PH.D wrote the book “12” based on some ten million workplace interviews. In the 1990 survey 98% of the respondents said that believing life has meaning or purpose was important to them. Only 2% didn’t believe that live has a meaning or purpose and that is incredible when you consider that according to the Fox News/ Opinion Dynamics poll of 2002, “about 19% of Americans believe that Elvis is either alive or that there is a chance he is still alive.” Success isn’t about clothes, cars or fancy houses. Success is about connecting with our Spirit or Soul and finding the purpose or meaning for our life. You won’t be successful until you are successful!
• Why Based Leadership Training Vacuum Tubers and You Tubers approach work very differently and the old Command and Control style leadership just doesn’t work across generations. Bob offers his “Why Based Leadership” program to organizations to provide a working alternative. This program, for groups of up to 20, is designed to teach supervisors and managers how to lead and motivate employees of all ages. To learn more about how this one day program can enhance the performance of your organization, contact Bob Cannon toll free at (866) 598-8450. If you have a subject that you would like to see covered in future issues of “Taking Aim,” please send me an email at aim@CannonAdvantage.com.
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Robert E. Cannon "Best Practice" Sales Force Development Change Management Customer Service Assessment for ISO Requirements Smart Thoughts from Smart People “Leader presumes follower. Follower presumes choice. One who is coerced to the purposes, objectives, or preferences of another is not a follower in any true sense of the word, but an object of manipulation. True leading and following presume perpetual liberty of both leader and follower to sever the relationship and pursue another path. Leader and follower imply the freedom and independent judgment of both.” Dee Hock "Government is like a baby: An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other." Ronald Reagan Taking Aim © 2007 Bob Cannon, The Cannon Advantage Newsletter. All Rights Reserved. The Cannon Advantage visual branding by Zarney Creative. For contact information, click “Resources.” |
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