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Leaders that Open Doors are Treasure Hunters

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leaders-open-doors-blog-tour-square-300x300This post is part of the Leadership Opportunity Fest Blog Tour, hosted by Bill Treasurer.  Watch the Leadership Opportunity Fest webinar here, find his book on Amazon, and then join us for the blog tour on August 13th as we celebrate leaders who open doors.

The title of the book came from a lesson Bill learned from his pre-school aged son Ian, when he proudly proclaimed he had been the leader for the day. When Bill asked what that meant, Ian proudly shared, “I got to open doors for people.”

The purpose of the Leadership Opportunity Fest Blog Tour is to celebrate leaders that opened doors for others.  My story  first appeared on SmartBlog for Leadership titled Diamonds in the Rough:  How to recognize Star Employees…

Many years ago, a customer wrote a letter about me to my regional manager. To this day, I don’t know what prompted him to write the letter, and I don’t remember everything that it said, but I do remember that he called me “a diamond in the rough.”

While he saw potential, my focus was on all of my rough edges. I had recently transitioned from nonprofits and small businesses to my first job in corporate America. The processes, the language, the attire, the politics and the overall environment were so different so that, as thrilled as I was to be there, I was also intimidated and afraid that my knowledge and ideas were too simple and too child-like to be worthy.

What is interesting to me today is that the customer who wrote the note was an incredibly successful and busy CEO. In spite of his schedule, he intentionally chose to invest his time in both me and in the organization I worked for by writing that note.

The reason I share this story is that since then, I’ve frequently asked executives and hiring managers what their biggest challenge is. At least 90% of the time I get the same answer: “People.” That comment is quickly followed by an explanation about how hard it is to find enough qualified and caring people to do the work.

So here’s the challenge, if polished gems don’t grow on trees: How and where do you find them? Taking a lesson from Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffma’s Strengths Finder Research, and the CEO I mentioned earlier, you invest your time and mine for them.

Consider these true stories.

A vibrant, outgoing skilled woman has a position doing routine clerical work. Her people skills are not challenged; her ability to problem solve is not challenged, and her desire to have fun at work is not understood. She is undervalued and treated like an ugly duckling. When she is transferred to another department where her natural strengths are unleashed, she increases customer satisfaction and key metrics by several percentage points. She is suddenly a swan!

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What’s Driving You: Fear or Wisdom?

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[Tweet “What’s Driving Me?  Is it Fear or Wisdom?”]

This is a question I frequently ask myself as I make decisions. 

Because – I believe that fear is the greatest when I become consumed with ME. 

  • My comfort, my past pain, my unknowns, what others think of me, of my job security, my physical security etc…

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I also believe that wisdom is rooted in prayer, considering my purpose, the needs of the people and the organizations I serve.

In the summer of 2013 I was a brand new expat with a whopping 3 months of experience living in a foreign country and came face to face with some assumptions I’d always made about how things work when you live outside of the land you call home…  (Yes – I had believed what I saw in the movies and had always assumed that if you were in a foreign country and needed a safe-haven you would find it at your country’s embassy or consulate.)  What I’ve learned since is that there is some truth in that assumption, however, it is NOT the primary purpose of those facilities.

Because of the mass closures of those “safe-havens” that summer –  I kept wondering…  “What’s driving the decision – Is it Fear or Wisdom?”

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As I pondered that question I reached out on Social Media and asked others to weigh in.

What advice would you give leaders to help them make wise decisions instead of fear-based decisions?

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Seriously? You develop leaders by throwing them in?

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Last week we started a 3 part series titled, “The single best way to develop leaders…  Throw them in,” based on the quote below and announced that three extraordinary women would be sharing their stories during this series. To kick the series off former FBI Agent LaRae Quy and the author of “Secrets of a Strong Mind” shared a personal story about how that quote resonated with her. Image 8 As soon as the story posted, we received these two questions on one of the social media channels: “And three examples prove a theory?”  

  • My response, “Great point! I don’t believe three examples will prove a theory… It does paint a picture that success is possible in the midst of very challenging circumstances. I prefer to give people a balance of direction and support.  However, the reality is that at some point in our lives we will all face a time where we are in over our head. It is helpful to have a vision of the good that can come out of those times!”

“Sure but what happens if they fail?”  

  • My response, “I deeply believe that there is growth and life and miracles outside of our comfort zones and that people frequently miss out on life because they cling to what is familiar. Check this out: To laugh is to risk appearing the fool. To weep is to risk appearing sentimental. To reach out for another is to risk involvement. To expose feeling is to risk exposing your true self. To place your ideas, your dreams before the crowd, is to risk their loss.To love is to risk not being loved in return. To live is to risk dying. To hope is to risk despair. To try is to risk failure.  But risk MUST be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, and is nothing.”

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HodaMaaloufThis week Dr. Hoda Maalouf a civil war survivor, a professor and department head at Notre Dame University in Lebanon and the mother of twins shares her story.  

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The single best way to develop leaders: Throw them in!

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I read the book The Dream Giver  years ago.  And like most of my books it is underlined, highlighted, corners bent back, and notes filling the margins.

The quote below comes from that book and is one of the quotes that I frequently refer to:

  • Partially because I want people to feel nurtured and supported and I struggled with the idea of just throwing people in over their head.
  • And partially because the quote inspires me to think of what is possible each time someone is in over their head!

…And then one day this quote fit every part of my life, personally and professionally.  In that setting, this quote gave me hope and encouragement in the midst of a very confusing, lonely, painful, scary, and growth-filled time!

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Earlier this week I shared this quote with three women that I knew this would resonate with.