FAITH

Dec

2022

Faith: A Leader’s Ally

During the holiday season we hear words like faith, hope, and love. Last post I shared how hope helps us in our leadership. Today I want to look at faith. Before going any further allow me to share two definitions of faith I found:

“Belief and trust in and loyalty to God” or “firm belief in something for which there is no proof, trust”¹

I’ll address the first definition at the end. What I want to explore is how the second definition affects our leadership and those we lead.

Grows Confidence

“You can’t follow someone who isn’t credible, who doesn’t truly believe in what they’re doing – and how their doing it.”

Gayle Hamilton, Pacific Gas and Electric

Have you ever had to sell an idea you didn’t really believe in? Maybe it was passed down the “ladder” and you had to share it. How did your team receive it?

On the other hand, think of a time when you were passionate about the idea you were proposing. How did that impact your team? I bet they were energized from your enthusiasm and faith that the plan would work. This enthusiasm and faith build the initial energy to move forward. As the idea becomes reality people’s faith grows and your credibility with them.

Credibility is the foundation for confidence. Imagine weighing 300 pounds and trying to sell someone on the idea of weight loss. They will not be as confident in you as they would in an athlete selling this idea. When we have proven ourselves to come through in the past people have faith in us and increased confidence which helps the team move forward.

Solidifies Buy In

“People buy into the leader, then into the vision.” John C. Maxwell

When we first assume a leadership position one of the major tools we have is faith. People may not know us, or we have not proven our leadership so we have to demonstrate we can be trusted. As the leader you paint a picture of a possible future and have faith that can become reality.

At first you may be the only one who believes the project can be completed on time. You set small goals with deadlines and the team hits these goals. Their faith increases. They start to trust the process and you. As they trust that you are integrous and can get results their faith increases and so does their buy-in. As the entire team buys in the goals are reached more rapidly.

Provides Peace

You can skip this section if you want, but I want to explore the first definition. As a person of faith that believes in God, it makes it easier to lead. Stress increases if everything depends on me to accomplish the vision. I have limited awareness.

As a person of faith, I know there is someone in control of everything and even in the bad moments He is still in control. Bad moments have occurred in my life and business, but when I have acted with good faith and good intentions often I have seen good ultimately come out of it. Maybe you are not a person of faith and that is ok. Consider this: if there were someone bigger than you in control would you have more peace? Take the next best step and have faith that even a mistake is not fatal because someone bigger than you is still in charge. This mindset gives me peace and maybe it will help you as well.

This week what do you need to do to increase the confidence and faith of yourself and those you lead? Who can help you in this? If I can help you, let me know. Lead Well!

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/faith retreived 12/11/22

Dec

2021

PS5 and Leadership Success

Last year about this time I walked in the house from my early morning workout and there was my thirteen-year-old son smiling ear to ear. He also had an important question for me: “can you pick up the PS5 I just bought?”

If you don’t have kids at this stage of life or like me have definitely outgrown the video game stage of life let me explain. These could not be found last year! Unknown to my wife and I my son had created a Twitter account for the sole purpose of watching when PS5 orders had been dropped. He was on the lookout daily and that was where he learned one was available.

After picking up his PS5 at Target I reflected on a few leadership lessons any leader or entrepreneur could gain from his approach.

Discipline

For about three weeks my son was obsessed with getting a PS5. He had saved up the hundreds of dollars he needed to purchase it. Each day he demonstrated the discipline to check his social sources, online, and even call some stores.

In the classic book Think and Grow Rich Napoleon Hill had studied the lives of many successful people of his time. He tells the story of a man who desired to work with Thomas Edison. Hill concludes:

“He stood by his desire until it became the dominating obsession of his life and finally a fact.”

My son was obsessed with getting this PS5 to the point it became a dominating obsession. (As Dad I must confess I was getting a little concerned.) As leaders we must have the type of desire that gives us the discipline to accomplish the vision.

Faith

I am going to suggest for this conversation faith is the ability to see something we do not have and know we will have it. This could be an object, vision, relationship, or something else. If you have ever pursued something you wanted and refused to quit then you know it required faith.

At times my son got really frustrated, but he continued his discipline, maintained his desire, and believed he would get it. This was even amidst reports only a few were available at a time. As leaders we must cling to faith that the vision we have will come to pass.

Self-Control and Persistence

Allow me to remind you this was my thirteen-year-old son. You can look up the cost of a PS5 and you will see it required self-control for him to save all that money. Like most of us there are plenty of other things he likes to spend his money on, but he desired this so much that he controlled himself to save. Of all that my son did the greatest leadership less is what he combined this self-control with: persistence.

Napoleon Hill states in Think and Grow Rich:

“Lack of persistence is one of the major causes of failure.”

Like I mentioned earlier, my son checked daily. He checked often and was persistent about asking my wife and I to take him to various stores to see if they had one. He had the discipline, faith, self-control, and persistence to get up first thing in the morning and see the tweet three minutes after it was made so he could purchase it immediately.

What about you? With the burning vision you have for what you are leading do you have the discipline, self-control, faith and persistence my son demonstrated? If not, which of these areas do you need to grow in? Maybe your desire is waning. What will reignite you? Go out in the next week and reignite your desire. Maybe you simply need to keep persisting with faith that you will get the breakthrough.

Do not give up on your vision my friend. Keep climbing the hill knowing your vision is worthwhile. Need someone to think into your vision with? Contact me for a thirty-minute thinking partner session at no cost to you. Lead Well.