Week 48 - XLR8 The Passionate Leader

One of the folks I follow - Steve Roberts of “Cool Minds, Warm Hearts” - sent me this. “Stopped for speeding in L.A. The macho cop slowly swaggers up to my window and says in a somewhat 'gotcha' tone, 'I’ve been waitin’ for you all day.' To which I replied, ‘Gosh officer, I got here as fast as I could.’ He let me off.” I laughed.

Did you find this humorous? Why? I laughed not just because I am a reformed speeder (my radar detector got stolen from my car after two speeding tickets years ago). I laughed because it reminds me that we are in a hurry to get “here” or worse “there.” But how many of us are in a hurry to get to a clearer understanding about how our life matters? Take a look at the Simple Truth’s latest book/DVD – The Butterfly Effect (click). These are the “here” & “there” worth contemplating.

· Zig Ziglar’s Inspiration: 365 Days a Year

o My favorite quote for the week of November 22^nd – 28^th: “To love what you do and feel that it matters – how could anything be more fun?” Katherine Graham

§ Like many of you, I spent a dozen hours in the car this Thanksgiving weekend. I was listening to a CD of “TED – Ideas Worth Spreading” presentations. One CD in particular, by Sir Ken Robinson, entitled: Do Schools Kill Creativity? (click) was one of my favorites. While he was extremely humorous, his message was not. Schools are so obsessed with academic excellence that it overlooks most of our “genius”. If our parents are on that bandwagon, that’s two strikes against us. I hope you have found someone to help you or the right time to discover yours, and then find out how to make a living at it.

· The Best Year of Your Life: Get Debbie Ford's Kit

oWeek Forty-Seven: Count Your Blessings

§ I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving. I am very grateful to you for subscribing to this blog. It has been very inspiring - something I didn’t expect. I am already looking forward to next year as I use the weekly discipline to focus on writing our book.

oWeek Forty-Eight: Love Your Imperfections

§ We make mistakes; we’re works in progress. My personal mission is to help the degree to which we are able to love and accept ourselves in spite of our imperfections. One way to reframe this is to say: “I’m worthy of my own love and acceptance even though I ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­__________."

§ Since many of our clients are too tough on themselves, one of their first reading/listening assignments is: Learning to Avoid the Gap by Dan Sullivan. The idea is to celebrate the progress we are making always knowing we can continue to strive to get better … or not. It’s your choice.

• Creating a Culture of Leadership Development – A Drop for Your Bucket!!! Send an electronic drop or comment by going to the blog (click on this blog’s heading – Wake Up the Passionate Leader above) and click on the “comment” icon at the end of this week’s posting.

o While it was a short work week, I had the opportunity to meet a couple of new clients for the first time. They have begun the XLR8 YOU!!! “Leadership Excellence” process and will attend the sold-out March 2010 kick-off week. Our first hour is to get to know each other and for them to share their story. I really love this part! I am always fascinated with how they got to this moment in time and am extremely grateful to be a part of their continuing personal and professional journey.