Who is your purpose?
It’s frustrating to wonder what your purpose is, and it’s not just kids wondering what they’re going to be when they grow up, either. Many adults are searching for their purpose too, asking, “Why am I here?”
I think we should look at this differently. I don’t think our purpose is a “thing.” I don’t think my purpose is a business, a task, or a project. When we worry about our purpose we are lessening our faith in God’s work, and frankly I’m not sure God has only one purpose for each of us.
Let’s consider thinking about our purpose with a twist. Instead of wondering “What am I here for?”, ask, “Who am I here for?” (more…)
You don’t always get to choose who you’ll lead. In fact, more often than not we do not get to choose our colleagues or our fellow volunteers. We rarely have much, if any, say in who’ll be our boss. Yet once we start working together, we often see areas where these teammates or fellow volunteers or yes, even our boss, need to grow.
The funny thing is, as much as we love developing people we choose to develop, the thought of having to teach and coach and guide people who are thrust upon us can be, well, irritating. (more…)
Adversity… the space where God does amazing things in and through us. It’s motivating to me that the word “adversity” starts with “ad.” It makes me realize that when adversity hits us we become an ad, an advertisement, a commercial. What message are we sending when adversity hits us? Are we advertising something others will want to read, want to follow or want to buy into? Or is our message driving others away?
You know that job you have now? You won’t have it forever. Someday, you’ll accept another offer that seems like a better fit. You’ll accept a more demanding job for better pay. You’ll accept a less demanding job to have more time with your family. You’ll change professionals as your industry revolves. Your employer will reorganize or downsize or move out of state or get bought out. Even if you’re a “lifer” at your current employer, you’ll eventually retire. (more…)
If you want to be a good leader you have to realize that it is all about the numbers. Producing the numbers is more important than anything else in business. Most of my clients will be astonished with this point of view. Let me be clear: A leader who cannot produce the numbers will not be successful taking a company into the future. (more…)
Charisma. Is it about self-assurance, or swagger? Is it about how you present yourself, or how you interact with others? How do you view charisma, and is charisma an important characteristic in a leader?
Several of my teammates and I have been discussing the idea of “charisma” over the past few weeks in regards to what we think it is, what it looks like, and how leaders live it out. A few colleagues who say they struggle with exhibiting charisma wanted me to share what charisma means to me and some ways that I intentionally try to convey it. Connecting with all kinds of people is something that comes rather easily to me, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t purposefully make an effort at it.
Here are some ways that my teammates define charisma:
- The ability to lighten a room or situation. A charismatic leader can think on her feet and see the positive in every situation.
- When things get tense, charisma allows a leader to turn a situation into a positive, often with humor.
- Appearing confident without coming across as arrogant.
- Making other people feel validated so that they’re glad they offered their input or perspective.
- Lowering others’ defenses and making people feel comfortable in your presence and that you are “for” them. (more…)