Week 30 - XLR8 The Passionate Leader

What made your week special this week? Here’s what made mine ~ I got a note from someone who was going through the DISC Success Discovery Process with one of her direct reports. She was thanking me for being able to help and seeing someone say Ahaaa! That ahaaa goes both ways!!!

• Zig Ziglar’s Inspiration: 365 Days A Year
• My favorite quote for the week of July 26^th – August 1^st: “Husbands, if you treat your wife like a thoroughbred, chances are good you won’t end up with a nag. Wives, if you treat your husband like a champ, chances are even better that you won’t end up with a chump.” – Zig Ziglar
• The first Family First weekend @ Bristol Harbour is tentatively scheduled for November 14^th & 15^th. We have been asked by numerous Leadership Week attendees to schedule a couples DISC relationship-building weekend. We will be getting more specific information out to people soon, so SAVE THE DATE. We decided to schedule it and see who shows up! What’s the worst that could happen; Elaine and I have a romantic weekend together!!!

• The Best Year of Your Life: Get Debbie Ford's Kit
• Week Twenty-Nine Assignment – Bless Your Body
• Anybody besides me who is taking the National Weight Control Registry’s advice? Have you exercised on home equipment, eaten breakfast, and weighed yourself every day this week? Let us know the results?
• Week Thirty – Nurture the Child Within You
• Saturday was my granddaughter’s second birthday party. I was moved by her innocence, beauty and open heart. We all were that way once. Find a picture of yourself when you were under the age of five. Gaze into your eyes, acknowledge and praise your many gifts. Appreciate how they are still a vital party of your life today.

• 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.
• Building on last week’s acceptance of total responsibility, several people were complaining about their people not meeting their expectations.
• Upon further questioning, they admitted that they may have a different perception of what success looks like. Once we determined what that was in their eyes, their assignment was to make sure the party in question understood it as well. Then, it is our job to pay attention to when progress is being made and show our support and appreciation.
• Ken Blanchard has a new book that helps with this entitled: Helping People Win at Work – “A Business Philosophy called Don’t Mark My Paper, Help Me Get an A”. I’d suggest this as the next book your team reads together.

To date, we have 202 subscribers. My goal is 1,000 by year end. We need your help!!! Invite a friend, colleague or sign up your team this week.

Week 29 - XLR8 The Passionate Leader

Nobody wants to hear this, but the food most of us are eating is slowly killing us or at least doing us more harm than good. Not because there are not healthy choices out there, but because we choose so many unhealthy foods. Most of us are not aware of the “dangers” that were well chronicled in “Food, Inc.” - a documentary I watched over the weekend. Watch the Trailer Since most of the readers of this blog are in the food business, we should be informed so we can make the choice to do the right thing for ourselves and our customers.

• Zig Ziglar’s Inspiration: 365 Days A Year
• My favorite quote for the week of July 19^th – 25^th: “Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they’ve never failed to imitate them.” – James Baldwin
• What was most alarming in the film, for a grandfather like me, is that one out of three Americans born after 2000 will contract early onset diabetes; among minorities, the rate will be one in two. It scares me just to think about what my granddaughter eats now. I will be having a conversation with my daughter about this movie.
• So what can you do for yourself and your family? Clink on this link: 10 simple things you can do. For those of you who attended our Leadership Week, remember the Jamie Oliver video – “Living with Change”, where they changed the school lunches? Most compelling was the positive health and behavioral changes that occurred.

• The Best Year of Your Life: Get Debbie Ford's Kit
• Week Twenty-Eight Assignment – Purify
• How about adopting some of the 10 simple things described above? An old computer quote is “garbage in – garbage out.” The same is true for the food we eat.
• Week Twenty-Nine Assignment – Bless Your Body
• It’s so easy to take our physical self for granted. It’s easy to forget that our bodies are a delicate gift – a temporary home for our souls. If you are overweight or don’t get enough exercise, you are paying a psychological price as well.
• How can you start to bless your body? There are three vital behaviors you can do every day – exercise on home equipment, eat breakfast, and weigh yourself daily. The National Weight Control Registry identified these vital behaviors for weight loss - tracking people who lost 30 pounds and kept it off for a minimum of six years.
• Since I have lost and gained back 30 pounds at least 10 times in my life, I thought I’d give it a try. I began last October and have lost 26 pounds - four to go. Pretty soon, the hard part will start – keeping it off.

• 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 This week, I had several conversations about two fundamental principles many of us more fully realize during our XLR8 YOU!! Leadership Excellence experience.

o First, until you accept total responsibility – no matter what – you will not be able to fully live your passions.

o Second, transitioning to leadership that will bring us fulfillment requires that you make different decisions. They are different because they are not made for our self interest, but for the common good. Not just the good of the company, but for our communities and the planet.

To date, we have 202 subscribers. My goal is 1,000 by year end. We need your help!!! Invite a friend, colleague or sign up your team this week.

Week 28 - XLR8 The Passionate Leader

Celebrity. We are obsessed with it. Michael Jackson was consumed by it. His life, like Elvis, was shortened by drug addiction trying to deal with it. He never learned to lead his own life according to the lyrics most of us have heard “I’m starting with the man in the mirror. I’m asking him to change his ways.” He could not deal with his dark side or “shadow” as Debbie Ford calls it. I just ordered her new DVD The Shadow Effect to more fully understand how to deal with it within myself and those I coach.

• Zig Ziglar’s Inspiration: 365 Days A Year
• My favorite quote for the week of July 13^th – 18^th: “It is not what happens to me, it’s what happens in me. It’s not the size of the problem, but how I handle the problem when I fall.” – Greg Horn
• I don’t know about you, but before MJ died, I was sick and tired of hearing about him. So my initial reaction to his death was to tune out all the publicity. I know I should have been more empathetic of a fellow substance abuser, but sometimes those of us who are recovering become self-righteous. We have dealt with our “shadow” and are impatient with those who have not or cannot deal with theirs.
• So as the universe does, one of my “shadows” paid a visit the other night quite unexpectedly. It reminded me of how powerful it was in the past, and I was grateful that it didn’t have the same power over me that it once had. But it is still there and needs to be addressed from time to time.

• The Best Year of Your Life: Get Debbie Ford's Kit
• Week Twenty-Seven Assignment – Lighten Your Load
• I hope you made progress, don’t slip back!
• Week Twenty-Eight Assignment – Purify
• Many of us engage in activities or substances on a regular basis that we know aren’t good for us. Whether it’s watching too much TV, overdoing it on food, sugar or caffeine, or using drugs or alcohol as an escape, these behaviors take a huge toll on our self-esteem, not to mention our health.
• For this week, I challenge you to give up or substantially reduce one activity or substance that you know is detrimental to your well-being. Before you give it up, think of things you can do to replace this behavior.

• 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 Elaine caught up to a couple of her June Leadership Week participants and was gratified that the bosses had gone over their “In Search for Adventure Plan” on a road trip. What a great way to make the time in the car more productive. Message to all you bosses out there – this means a great deal to your folks. Never underestimate the impact this has on those returning from Leadership Week.

To date, we have 202 subscribers. My goal is 1,000 by year end. We need your help!!! Invite a friend, colleague or sign up your team this week.

Week 27 - XLR8 The Passionate Leader

I hope everyone enjoyed their 4^th of July. Over the holiday, we enjoy our town’s festival that is part of our family tradition. We had considered skipping some of it since the kids had other plans for some of it, but I’m glad we didn’t. We just found a different reason to enjoy ourselves. I suppose it’s all part of becoming true “empty nesters”, which we will be next summer, since Andrew graduates from college next May.

• Zig Ziglar’s Inspiration: 365 Days A Year
• My favorite quote for the week of July 6^th – 12^th: “The highest point in achievement yesterday is the starting point of today.” – Motto of Paulist Fathers
• Is that what Andy Roddick is thinking today? He played the tennis match of his life on Sunday at Wimbledon only to lose a grand slam championship for the fourth time to Roger Federer. This was by far his best match. I believe that he will use it to motivate himself. Is this what you would do after the biggest disappointment in your professional career? Please share your story if you have one.
• I can’t say that I have had to deal with such a devastating professional “loss” myself. I came close, however, just before I got sober. I was the founding Executive Director of a chemical dependency treatment organization for five years before I realized that I wasn’t just the child of an alcoholic, but I was one!!! By asking for help, I dodged a huge bullet that would have been humiliating for sure as well as possibly having serious career consequences. Is it time for you to take personal accountability for your life?

• The Best Year of Your Life: Get Debbie Ford's Kit
• Week Twenty-Six Assignment – Take the Week Off
• Time to get back to making this the best year of your life. You tell me . . . how is it going so far?
• Week Twenty-Seven Assignment – Lighten Your Load
• It’s difficult to clearly see what needs to be done when you are burdened with half-completed projects, unfinished to-do lists, house clutter, or other things that don’t serve any purpose.
• One person who recently became clear about his top five passions found it easier to get focused on how to “lighten his load”. He either didn’t do or tossed out those things that no longer served to help him live a passionate life. I have always loved the saying that “if you don’t know where you are going, you are sure to get there!”

• 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 I have now seen all six of the folks from the June 2009 Leadership Week that I am coaching. As a group, they are off to a terrific start. One of the things I am most excited about is helping them put together their “happiness list.” This list is generated from their “In Search for Adventure” plan: defining success worksheet; top five passions; inner guidance system (unique ability/personal mission & values); and/or your leadership learning action plan. At a minimum, they will look at them every morning and the last thing before going to sleep. Even better is going over it with someone every day. The statements can be in the form of a question - to be answered by you daily - or in the form of an action that describes what you want. I use mine as my daily affirmation.

o Number one on my list is: “I weigh myself, eat a healthy breakfast and exercise at home today and it motivates me.” I began this in October and have lost 25 lbs. I have another five to go, which is the easier part. Not gaining it back for the umpteenth time is the harder part. I believe it will be much harder to gain back if I keep this #1 on my “happiness list!!!”

To date, we have 198 subscribers. My goal is 1,000 by year end. We need your help!!! Invite a friend, colleague or sign up your team this week.

Week 26 - XLR8 The Passionate Leader

THANKS to everyone who has taken the time to follow this blog. It’s been six months and I haven’t missed a week. YEAH BABY!!! I started this blog out for two reasons:

1. To get in the discipline of writing – why? – because I often don’t demonstrate a lot of personal discipline and I had convinced myself that not only wasn’t I a very good writer, but I didn’t like to do it.

2. I had hoped that this disciplined approach to writing would provide the “habits” necessary to go from a chapter in the Wake Up Live the Life You Love – EMPOWERED book, to a full fledged book about leading a PASSIONATE LIFE.

But what I found is that # 1 was an excuse and # 2 isn’t about a habit, but whether further writing about the wonderful, often transformational, experiences we have shared together in our leadership journeys is truly my PASSION. I have actually enjoyed the experience immensely. Go figure!!!

• Zig Ziglar’s Inspiration: 365 Days A Year
• My favorite quote for the week of June 29^th – July 5^th: “Too often the opportunity knocks, but by the time you disengage the chain, push back the bolt, unhook the two locks and shut off the burglar alarms, it’s too late.” – Rita Coolidge
• As I mentioned in # 1 above, after reading, listening and viewing Wayne Dyer’s latest program Excuses Begone everything was part of my “excuse catalogue” for thinking small. So my BHAG (Big Harry Audacious Goal) is to fulfill my passion by writing the book!

• The Best Year of Your Life: Get Debbie Ford's Kit
• Week Twenty Five Assignment – Lavish Love
• I went to Elaine’s aunt’s Golden Jubilee for 50 years being a nun. She and her co-jubilarians know something about lavishing love. WOW! I am an amateur.
• Week Twenty Six Assignment – Take the Week Off
• Acknowledge all the great work you have done so far and luxuriate in your extra free time. Have fun!

• 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 I saw a “graduate” this week that I haven’t seen in some time because he worked with Elaine. He asked me why we have been hovering just below 200 subscribers for so long. I was impressed that he even knew that – he must actually read them! For that I am sending him a complimentary copy of Wake Up…Live the Life You Love – EMPOWERED, along with a sincere thanks for making my day.

o How would you answer his question? Give me some feedforward. We are all trying to “Be the Best for the World” through our leadership. We are on the same team.

To date, we have 197 subscribers. My goal is 1,000 by year end. We need your help!!! Invite a friend, colleague or sign up your team this week.