Not too long ago in our home my three boys had become infatuated with Corvettes. My oldest is creating plans in his mind on how he is going to save up for his corvette.
While listening to my sons talk frequently about these cars, they also pointed them out while we are driving. It seems like there has been a sudden increase of corvettes around where I live. Also I have noticed a sudden increase in silver Honda Odyssey vans like what we have. . . . or has there been an increase?
As we drove around town I noticed another Corvette recently and it struck me that people are not buying more, but I am more aware and tuned into their presence. I wonder what would happen if I were more aware in my leadership. What does this look like?
As leaders we have many stress points. Many people want attention or have questions, there are administrative duties that need attention, and decisions that must be made which impact multiple lives. These are just a few and do not account for the stress various personal stressors. You may be aware of all these stresses and responsibilities . . . or not.
Where is your awareness?
Awareness is a greater perception or knowledge of a fact. For example, if you have never heard of moose tracks ice cream you may not have noticed it at the ice cream shop or store before, but now that I have mentioned it you are going to be more aware of it. Maybe you will even buy it.
In your business what are you tuned into? Are you only focused on the urgent demands and emergency situations? Is the most important item on your agenda the urgent item? Emergencies occur and our plans are interrupted in life and work, but are we maintaining awareness of the important needs in our lives. Are we only aware of our families when an emergency occurs and at all other times work takes precedence?
Daniel Goleman helped people more clearly understand the idea of self-awareness in his book Emotional Intelligence. This is when we are tuned into our emotional state enough that we can adjust our emotions and prevent ourselves from saying and doing what may hurt others and ourselves.
What does all this have to do with leadership? When we are aware of our environment, ourselves, and others it helps us lead more effectively. The question is, do we know what takes most of our attention? Are we allowing the urgent needs to consume our mental space to push out important leadership thinking time? Do you need help in increasing your personal awareness to think at a higher level as a leader? If so, contact me for a no cost thirty-minute coaching experience so I can help you think into your results and achieve breakthroughs in your leadership.
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