Week 9 - XLR8 The Passionate Leader

I’ve answered several questions this week about blogs. If you are a subscriber and want to comment, please click on “Wake Up the Passionate Leader” on the top of this e-mail you are reading. Once on the actual blog, scroll down to the bottom of this week’s post and click on “comments”. This week’s theme is Choice.

• Zig Ziglar’s Inspiration: 365 Days A Year
• My favorite quote for the week of March 2^nd – March 8^th: “You become as small as your controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration.” – James Allen
• A great example of living this was on CBS’s Sunday Morning today. Michele Obama’s brother was being interviewed. After graduating from Princeton, he took a job in finance making six figures. What he learned was: “if you take a job based on the pay, ultimately, you are not going to make enough money to put up with the mess.” He now coaches the Oregon State basketball team - going back to his first love - coaching and teaching.
• I’d recommend watching the video (10 minutes) which also includes Michele’s mother.
• That’s why discovering your inner guidance system: Passions; Unique Ability; Personal Mission & Values are the centerpiece of the Leadership Excellence process!

• The Best Year of Your Life: Get Debbie Ford's Kit
• Week Eight Assignment – Forgive
• How did it go? For me, it frees my energy for more productive uses.

• Week Nine Assignment – The Power of Choice
• Reflect on an area of your life where you’d like to create a different result. For those with your top five passions from The Passion Test, score your passions and use the one with the lowest score. Write down exactly what you’d like to change in this area. Allow yourself to see the choices you have made recently that have worked against this desire or passion.
• Identify two choices you can make this week that will move you closer to the result you desire.

• Creating a Culture of Leadership Development – Sharing Best Practices: Choosing to break down silos.
• I read a good book this week: Silos, Politics and Turf Wars by Patrick Lencioni. I think Patrick is a young Ken Blanchard – using fables to convey a message that everyone can identify with. Part of getting everyone on the same page and going in the same direction is developing a thematic goal – “a single qualitative focus that is shared by the entire leadership team – and ultimately the entire organization – and that only applies for a specific time period.”

• While this client wasn’t reading the book, he shared with me what I would describe as the thematic goal for his leadership team – “to create a culture of teamwork through relationship building and dedication to high standards”. The XLR8 Teams!!! process will be an integral part of executing this goal.

Please share your comments and experiences!!! To date, we have 123 subscribers. Invite a friend or colleague this week.