XLR8 The Passionate Leader

Weekly Inspiration: You Can Do It! (click) Affirmation by Louise Hay from her 2010 calendar:

· “I am in touch with my inner guides, who help me at every turn.” The last four weeks, I have stated my passions and how I plan to outwardly realize them this year. Our passions are our most primal, inborn motivators to become fully expressed and inspired to fulfill our soul’s mission on earth.

· I spoke with Wayne Dyer this week at his premier of “Wishes Fulfilled” at a local theater here on Maui (It is being repeated on Feb 4^th – check your local theaters.). I gave him a copy of: Wake-Up Live the Life You Love – Empowered, that he also co-authored and asked him to autograph one for me. I’m hoping he reads my chapter, since his teachings are such an important part of my inner guidance system.

A Life on Fire – Living Your Life With Passion, Balance and Abundance

I recently downloaded the above-titled book. You can, too @ Free Passion Test Book/CD (click). For our clients who have their passion cards or have given them the 2010 update as I have, here’s what I’d like you to do:

1. Label them as “I” for an inner passion and “O” for outer passion
2. Score on a basis of 1 – 10
3. Pick one inner and one outer passion to put your primary focus on
4. Include aspects of them on your happiness list; update your vision board

XLR8 The Passionate Leader: The New Formula for Business – G + L + F = JOY!!! (This is the last excerpt from Chapter 1 - XLR8 YOU!!!)

Our Vision – For all of us to awaken to the magnificence of our limitless possibilities

Like most things in this book, I didn’t invent XLR8. My oldest sister’s stepson, Kirk, had a band in the 70’s named XLR8. I always thought it was a cleaver name - one that would be remembered once your heard it - and did the three times fast exercise to interpret it.

I was visiting my sister in Philadelphia right before I decided to leave my real job and continue to follow my purpose somewhere in late 1995. Since I visit infrequently, she often invites my nieces and nephews to dinner to keep the family connected. I really appreciate that she does that and they take time to come. It makes me feel special!

Kirk was there and as I talked about my intention, I mentioned that I needed a name for my company. When I looked at Kirk, I knew that XLR8 was it. I asked him if it would be okay with him to use the name and, of course, he was pleased with my choice. So “XLR8!!! Teamwork” was born - changed later on to “The XLR8 Team, Inc.”

What makes the connection to Kirk special was that he was experiencing his own transformation at the time. Unfortunately, it was cut short by sinus cancer. The treatment deformed his face, but his spirit soared. He used it in service of his church as a counselor. When we went to his service, the church was filled with over 500 people speaking of a man that made a huge impact in his 40 short years. Thanks, Kirk!!!

So XLR8 was imagined. Coaching wasn’t all that well known or accepted at the time. However, I thought the connection between hiring a coach to help you get where you want to go and XLR8!!!...was a memorable one.

Next chapter: Why Is Change So Difficult? Can it be more effortless … In Search of Adventure?

XLR8 The Passionate Leader: (G + L + F = JOY!!!)

Weekly Inspiration: You Can Do It! (click) Affirmation by Louise Hay from her 2010 calendar:

• “The child in me knows how to love and sing and dance and heal. I honor and cherish myself.” For those who have attended the kick-off week for XLR8 YOU!!! “Leadership Excellence”, you may remember that I show my kindergarten graduation picture during my opening comments. Read more below in my excerpt from my first chapter.
• I had a wonderful compliment this week from a client that speaks to this story. He stated that we provided a visual picture of this journey of rediscovery that he had already begun. He didn’t know he needed it but sure was glad he was presented with the opportunity to participate.

2010 Passion Review/Marker Update:

An essential part of being all you can be is developing a discipline of periodically reviewing and revising your passions and markers. Below is my #4 “Passion” and my 2010 “Markers”. (Make a comment on the blog and share yours, then others can steal shamelessly - just give credit where credit is due.)

• My #4 Passion: Traveling around the world for business and pleasure
• Vacationing with Elaine in Aruba and Hawaii
• Having a family week together on Cayuga Lake during Andrew’s graduation from Cornell
• Participating in the Values Centre Worldwide conference in Asheville in September
• Go to China on a Rochester Business Alliance trip in October

XLR8 The Passionate Leader: The New Formula for Business – G + L + F = JOY!!! (This is the first excerpt from Chapter 1 - XLR8 YOU!!!)

Our Vision – For all of us to awaken to the magnificence of our limitless possibilities

I remember when we came up with this in the kitchen. Just like any organization’s vision, this has kept us inspired for the last 15 years.

So, let’s start with you are “here” and you want to get “there”. How will you get “there”? Where is “there” anyway? I believe “there” is not a predetermined place. Many of my spiritual teachers over the years have stated the following in one way or another: “Who you are and what you know when you are born is everything that you need to know to thrive. You are born with a sense of self and a sense of loving self to feel good and the mechanisms to bring it about.”

Unfortunately, most often our memory is erased by life itself, but fortunately it can be rediscovered. A case in point is that several years ago, I came across a picture taken for my kindergarten graduation. I’m dressed in a white shirt with a bow tie, with a brush cut and a smirk on my face. The picture mesmerized me when I looked into my eyes because I believe I knew everything then that I am still trying to figure out today. It reaffirmed a study that I site that speaks of the genius level creativity of children ages 3 – 5 being at 98%. By 20, that had been reduced to 2%!

Who or what is responsible for that – life itself! I knew then that my work must be centered on helping myself and others to find the courage to “awaken to the magnificence of our limitless possibilities”. Rediscovering our genius, if you will, and putting it to work to serve others . . . or putting it my favorite way: “doing what you love in service of those who love what you do”.³

So, how do we do that . . . by first admitting that YOU must take responsibility for your own development – personally and professionally. By the way, it isn’t an either / or.

And second, by asking for help. I think it was Earl Nightingale, my first audio mentor, who said “five years from now, you will become the person you will become from the books you read and the people you meet.” If at least one of those people is an excellent coach, then you will get there faster – XLR8!!! (Say it three times fast – accelerate).

Put those together and you get XLR8 YOU!!!

Be part of the book. Each chapter will feature a real life story or two pertaining to the content of the chapter. While I have some folks in mind, I’d love to hear from you! I wouldn’t be writing this book in the first place if you had not come into my life. Don’t be shy – yours may be THE story that inspires someone.

XLR8 The Passionate Leader: (G + L + F = JOY!!!)

Weekly Inspiration: You Can Do It! (Click) Affirmation by Louise Hay from her 2010 calendar:

• “I feel as young or old as I choose to feel”. For me, an important part of this is how I look and feel physically. Starting October 2008, I began losing the 25 lbs. I have gained (and more), for the “umpteenth” time. While losing the weight is the easier part (I didn’t say easy), maintaining my desired weight, and more importantly, my physical conditioning is the harder part. Is that true for any of you?
• So what do I have to do differently this time?
• First, it is an important marker for my #1 Passion - Bring peace and happiness to myself and those I love.
• Second, I have a picture of Dr. Life, a man in his 70’s with a chiseled physique, on my Facebook and home vision board.
• Third, I have incorporated it into my “Happiness List”: “I weigh myself, eat a healthy breakfast and exercise at home daily and it motivates me.” This came directly from the book: Influencer: The Power to Change Anything (click) by Kerry Patterson (Crucial Conversations & Crucial Confrontations co-author).
• Lastly, I joined a gym over the holiday. My son is a gym rat, so he was my coach over the Christmas break. Now I’m set up with 5 routines for a total body workout.
• So I pulled out all the stops. What are you willing to pull out all the stops for?!!

2010 Passion Review/Marker Update

An essential part of being all you can be is developing a discipline of periodically reviewing and revising your passions and markers. Below is my #3 “Passion” and my 2010 “Markers”. (Make a comment on the blog and share yours, then others can steal shamelessly - just give credit where credit is due.)

• My #3 Passion: Living Life with Abundance
• This was my Angel Card for 2010 – which is the universe telling me that “abundance” is particularly significant this year. If you didn’t while reading last week’s blog, here’s another chance. Go to www.innerlinks.com (click) and pick your own. I put it and the accompanying quote on business-size cardstock and display them where I’m sure to see it several times a day.
• Offer scholarships to the XLR8 YOU!!! Leadership Excellence process
• Continue to write my weekly blog
• Create “huddle groups” with XLR8 YOU!!! participants as a catalyst for them to share their leadership development progress and “steal shamelessly”.

XLR8 The Passion Leader: The New Formula for Business – G + L + F = JOY!!! (This is the last excerpt from the introduction.)

Anyone in a leadership capacity who is searching for deeper meaning and fulfillment in their life should read this. Said another way - turning success into significance for themselves and their organizations. In my experience, many of the leaders we have coached at The XLR8 Team, Inc. have figured out the “external” factors of success. They know their business and have sufficient people skills to advance their careers. Occasionally, the latter may need some attention but rarely is it a career stopper.

What we do see, and actually have a self assessment that validates this, is their “internal” factors are under developed. They consist of self-esteem, role awareness and self direction. While there are a variety of reasons for this, both situational and causal, by and large these hard driving people have spent a disproportionate amount of time “making a living”, not “making a life”. It is manifested in a misguided sense of self importance that often has them working too many hours at the expense of their families or keeps them managing instead of leading.

These are not always recognized when we get started. While most say with some conviction that they are willing to change, I believe the most effective way is to begin to focus on the inside (character) as well as getting a snapshot of how they are doing on the outside (competence). XLR8 The Passionate Leader combines a pragmatic as well as a “spiritual” approach to leadership development.

Few people in their lifetimes fully discover their “inner guidance system” - passions, unique abilities, personal mission and values, the “G” of the formula. With the power of clarity and focus, you are more fully awakened to “L”oving yourself for who you are and choosing to make a living and build an organization by “L”oving what you do in service of people who “L”ove what you do. Not only will life be more “F”un, you’ll find out if those you are leading are having “F”un in your presence. Put it all together and you get G + L + F = JOY!!! I hope this book XLR8’s your leadership journey.

Be part of the book. Each chapter will feature a real life story or two pertaining to the content of the chapter. While I have some folks in mind, I’d love to hear from you! I wouldn’t be writing this book in the first place if you had not come into my life. Don’t be shy – yours may be THE story that inspires someone.

XLR8 The Passionate Leader: (G + L + F = JOY!!!)

Weekly Inspiration: You Can Do It! (Click) Affirmation by Louise Hay from her 2010 calendar

• “I am free to be all that I can be”. The overwhelming majority of people reading this blog are certainly “free” to choose. But are we all we can be? Check out Wayne Dyer’s Excuses Begone! (click) or Debbie Ford’s The Shadow Effect (click) if you’d like more information about your self-imposed limiters. I know mine for years has been that I wasn’t good enough (see below – I still get a visit occasionally). Thankfully, I have changed that story.
• Speaking of a great story about all you can be, thanks to the Buffalo Division of Wegmans that passed along Steve Jobs' inaugural address @ Stanford in 2005 - "How to Live Before You Die." (click) It will be the most inspiring 15 minutes of your week! I love the final story that leaves you with this message - stay hungry…stay foolish. What great advice to live by.

An essential part of being all you can be is developing a discipline of periodically reviewing and revising your passions and markers. Below is my #2 “Passion” and my 2010 “Markers”. (Make a comment on the blog and share yours, then others can steal shamelessly - just give credit where credit is due.)

• My #2 Passion: Coaching Leaders who are passionate about personal and cultural transformation
• Implement a succession process at Wegmans that integrates the XLR8 YOU!!! Leadership Excellence process into Wegmans Leadership University after we retire in three years.
• Work with two new CEO’s implementing the “Building a Values Driven Organization” process.
• Identify a successor for The XLR8 Team, Inc., and begin preparing them to take over the business in 2012.
• Complete a Coaching Feedback Values Assessment – create a “Learning Action Plan”.

XLR8 The Passion Leader: The New Formula for Business – G + L + F = JOY!!! (This is the second excerpt from the introduction.)

The latest opportunity I had to write was available over the summer of 2007, but my demons of inadequacy got the best of me. Then, a few of the people I had spoken to about the book, asked me how it was going. I started out saying that I wasn’t going to do it and that really deflated me. As soon as I realized that I had no choice in order to lead a passionate life, other positive signs started to happen.

One of my most important teachers is Wayne Dyer. I know that he often does his writing on Maui in January and February, so I decided to get started in January 2008 during our vacation on Maui. My wife and coaching partner, Elaine, and I were sunning along the walk in Kaanapali when Wayne walked by. He looked our way for a moment, as I think he heard me say his name to Elaine. He kept walking and I watched him disappear around the bend. I didn’t want to chase after him, so shortly thereafter, I took a walk in the opposite direction.

I walked quite a distance and on my way back, I thought I saw Elaine and Wayne hugging each other for a photograph. By the time I got closer, Wayne was walking towards me, so this time I extended my hand and said hello. He knew I was the husband Elaine had just mentioned that would be crushed after missing this opportunity to meet him. We exchanged pleasantries and when I said how important his work is for me personally and with my clients, he stated: “Well, I guess we are on the same team, aren’t we!” Indeed we are, and this is how I knew I must write my book. I have that picture of Wayne and Elaine hugging on my laptop background and on my vision board as well.

The signs don’t stop there either. I set aside a week to continue writing in my spiritual home, the Adirondack Mountains, in April 2008. On the eve of my trip, I was invited to submit a story to be included in Wake Up Live the Live You Love - Empowered, along with a contribution by Wayne Dyer, which was published in January 2009 (if you would like a copy – e-mail me for a complimentary copy). When you put your passions out in the world, the world responds.

Be part of the book. Each chapter will feature a real life story or two pertaining to the content of the chapter. While I have some folks in mind, I’d love to hear from you! I wouldn’t be writing this book in the first place if you had not come into my life. Don’t be shy – yours may be THE story that inspires someone.