Are you Leading your Life with 'Intention?'

By the way, did you ever watch this video clip by Jim Carey?

Let me remind you what 'intention' means... Definition of INTENTION (from Merriam-Webster Dictionary) -

1: a determination to act in a certain way : resolve

2: import, significance

3: what one intends to do or bring about

If you are an intentional leader in life, you will never know your strength as a leader until you have weathered the storms. You will never know what you are made of and how far your roots go down until adversity strikes and you are put through the test.

How are you when the unexpected happens?

When someone attacks your character? 

When you have lost what is most important to you? 

How do you respond? 

How we react is based on how strong our foundation is.

How we respond reflects the very character of who we are.

Character comes in being rooted firmly in who you are and knowing what you can and cannot do. If it is your integrity that has been attacked, are you quick to set the record straight or can you rest, knowing that truth is all that matters? If the unexpected happens, do you accept it with grace, knowing that God is in control or do you fall apart?

Maybe you haven’t thought about the foundation of your life, because you have never had to.  Living as an intentional leader means living everyday using all that has been given to us to the fullest.

It means thinking ahead.

It means being ready for the storms.

It means being strong.

It means knowing who you are.

It is living everyday a life of intention, a life that makes a difference.

When helping others is your life purpose

I hope you and yours have been well. It's been nearly 4 months since I took a leave of absence from writing here on my weekly eMBC Blog due to some very personal reasons including an unexpected death in the family. I realize that we are in an increased time of change... You too may be feeling a lot of movement or experiencing a lot of movement in your relationships, careers and life. As is the nature of change, it brings in exactly the energies necessary for us to move toward the Golden Age of empowerment, but it will require you to LET GO of all things not serving you... your misaligned patterns, behaviors, beliefs, relationships and habits. Don't fight it... instead, surrender so you may move with the waters of change. I promise they will take you exactly where you need to go.

While I was away, I did a lot of introspection on my purpose of doing this, writing blog articles, talking on the internet radio shows; hoping that this will somehow make a difference in the lives of other people either reading or listening in or am I crazy?

When helping others is your life purpose

I BELIEVE THAT EACH PERSON has a personal mission in life—something that you agreed to learn during this lifetime. It could be patience, forgiveness, compassion, balance, self-care, integrity, and so forth. Everyone is working on a soul-growth lesson.

In addition to their personal missions, some individuals agreed to take on “global missions,” which involve helping people, animals, the environment, or a cause other than themselves. Not everyone has a global mission. Some people on Earth are only living for their own personal growth.

Those who have global missions are known as lightworkers. This is a name I am using that encompasses similar terms such as Indigo, Crystal, and Earth Angel. You know you are a lightworker if you feel compelled to help others, and deeply care about the world. You attract people who need help, and you are sensitive to the needs of those around you. In fact, you sometimes feel that you are a bit too sensitive, as you absorb energies from others’ moods.

As a lightworker, you have always felt a sense of purpose, as if there is something important that you are destined to do in this lifetime. You may not know what this destiny entails, but you can feel it. All lightworkers do.

There is even a sense of time urgency associated with this, like an alarm clock ringing in the pit of your gut, urging you to go, go, go and make a positive difference in the world. These feelings are universal among lightworkers.

The great news is that, as a lightworker, you have been making a positive difference your entire life. You radiate healing energy that soothes others and brings peace wherever you go. That’s because your main global purpose is to love, which is something you do naturally. You care about people; and you wish that everyone could be happy, healthy, and well provided for. You are a giver.

So, the form that your mission takes is secondary as long as you extend Divine love. In other words, when you think about a career as a spiritual healer or teacher, the type of work you do isn’t important. Whether you teach or practice Reiki, Angel Therapy, medium-ship, or some other modality... if it’s done from a place of loving service, everything else is details.

With that in mind, there is a practical consideration when deciding on or forming a long-term relationship with your chosen field. Please make sure it is an area that truly excites and interests you. It is not smart to select one just because you have seen another person gain material success by that avenue.

Whatever type field you choose, please be certain that you love it. I have watched people create career goals with their heads, using business plans and projections, only to meet with one obstacle after another because their hearts weren’t in the work. And while planning and projecting can be helpful and prudent starting points for new business ventures, make sure that you are leading with your heart.

In spiritually based careers, your feelings and intuition are your road map. Your head is second in charge, as the employee of your heart.

So what topic—even if it seems illogical—really excites you? Let’s ask your higher self:

Take a moment to relax in a quiet place, either lying down or sitting. Close your eyes if possible, and give yourself full permission to dream about your ideal career. Then notice what images, thoughts, and feelings come to you:

§     Are you working alone, with a co-worker, or with several co-workers?

§     Do you operate from home, out of a healing center, or where?

§     What type of clients or students are you involved with?

§     How do you feel about this work?

As you allow yourself to imagine your ideal career, notice how warm and fulfilled you feel. These feelings are the ultimate paycheck, the greatest reward. And as you feel satisfied, your material benefits are drawn to you by the universal Divine Energy.

Your dream of having a full-time career as a ______ (fill in the blank) is much more than a dream. It’s a sign. If you continually imagine yourself having a meaningful career that supports you and your family financially, emotionally, and spiritually, then this is a sign that your life purpose involves this type of work.

Lightworkers are, by definition, sensitive. They are receptive to the energies in any room they walk into. They are attuned to other people’s moods and feelings and to environmental factors such as chemicals, pollution, or noise. They are conscious of the presence of angels.

And they are also sensitive to other people’s opinions. This sensitivity is both a gift and a lifesaving instinct. You see, your overall personality remains fairly constant throughout lifetimes. Once a lightworker, always a lightworker. Remember: Doesn't matter what field you have chosen... You already are a spiritual teacher and healer. You were born one, and you have been practicing your art for lifetimes.

Quantum Physics of Belief – Insightful Instincts

For the past few weeks, I was writing about quantum physics and business research to explore the correlation between the science of consciousness and patterns in the business world, to suggest innovative ways of using this wisdom to lead and succeed in a business environment that is constantly evolving at a rapid pace. It’s generally considered good business practice to make decisions based on data rather than on our instincts. People usually believe that information holds the key to an objective and therefore superior answer, whereas our instincts introduce a subjective and therefore inferior perspective. However, we habitually believe this only because we have not learned to use our instincts with accuracy. Among other things, they are useful in choosing our teammates and partners.

We were all born with natural instinct. We cried when we were hungry; babies were not taught to cry, but it was an instinctive response to their physical need. Emotion calls on instinct too. The flight or fight response to fear is one most of us have experienced and, with the adrenaline pounding through us, we know the reaction was not the result of a calculated decision-making process.

Our natural instinct is used most in sports, drama, music and other non-academic activities. It tends to be suppressed as we mature. Instinct, or intuition, remains in us as adults, but is usually underdeveloped and under-recognized. You have surely had the experience of meeting someone new in both personal and professional situations - and having a "gut feeling" about them; or when walking into a room and sensing the "vibes" - good or bad. This is your instinct piping up, giving you a chance to "trust your gut" and "listen to the vibes."

Instinct is insight based not on reason, but on awareness. When we allow it back into our consciousness, we can become more effective in many areas of life, including our role as a leader. Allowing it back calls for a heightened sense of openness to our self and others.

"He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened." ~ Tao Te Ching

Using your instinct in your role as leader means developing a keen awareness of your team, colleagues, and clients as individuals, and recognizing that not only is each person different, but they are different from you. It means understanding what they go through on a day-to-day basis and yields insight into their strengths and weaknesses. Using your instinct, you are able to walk into a meeting and be aware of how others are feeling and reacting around you.

An effective leader blends strong leadership skills with this empathetic awareness, guiding others to meet challenges and opportunities for their own benefit and the benefit of the organization. When such a leader takes the time and effort to know all employees personally on this level, the results in employee morale, empowerment, performance, and retention are excellent.

Your staff and colleagues define you as a leader by what they see you do. Your actions are based on your decisions and your decisions can be influenced favorably by your instinct. As a good leader, you can use instinct in making decisions that align your personal and organizational values and lead to your desired outcomes.

Quantum Physics of Belief – Thought Energy Manifesting into Events

In the past few weeks, I was writing on how scientific and business research shows that human thoughts and beliefs have an effect on the physical world, with no intermediary action. In other words, thoughts and beliefs directly impact the unfolding of events. There seems to be some confusion among some readers who have asked for clarification on how this occurs. Let me share an overview of what my research is revealing here.

In running a business, even if the business model is well designed and perfectly suited for the market, we would all recognize that success and high profitability are not guaranteed. We realize that there are many elements we can’t completely control, such as the capabilities of the competition, the decisions that customers will make, and the countless choices made by employees each day. It would be impossible for a business to design these elements in a manner that would guarantee success.

My experience tells me that chance is not as random as we believe, and the way to reduce the uncertainty in business is through shaping the beliefs and intentions, or thought energy, of the business organization. When a business organization has a particular, positive thought energy, events are more likely to occur in a manner that is fortuitous for the business. This doesn’t mean that action is not required, because it definitely is. It simply means that the elements that can’t be controlled through action tend to unfold more frequently in favor of the business.

I don’t think it would be possible for anyone to ‘prove’ that an organization’s thought energy directly impacts how events unfold. The important thing to note is that we never even try to architect the unfolding of such events. These kinds of things happen consistently in businesses, which had very positive thought energy.

Did you see the movie Apollo 13? Do you remember Tom Hanks, Ed Harris and Ron Howard who directed the movie from 1995? It was a true story of how NASA got the crippled Apollo 13 space craft back to earth after the oxygen/power supply failed half way through the flight mission. It was a testament to the teamwork, leadership, problem solving and human synergistics.

In that movie, I distinctly remember the Flight Director Eugene Kranz (played by Ed Harris) saying two powerful things: “Failure is NOT anOption.” And “I will not allow that [negative] thought to exist in this space” (even if it was only a thought by a crew member!)

Kranz knew either consciously or subconsciously the power of thought; The power of, how we frame an event and how the framing of the event has a massive impact on the outcome of that event; That a thought in an environment has real power… real impact; Even if it is not verbalized.

Napoleon Hill in his book ‘Think and Grow Rich’ wrote, ‘Thoughts are Real Forces’; as have many other gurus and teachers of metaphysics for hundreds of years. I am quoting scenes from Apollo 13 movie into this blog to illustrate the power of managing group thought and group energy. The words are really about ‘integrity of thought’ or ‘aligned thought’. Kranz had every brain in that NASA teamed, aligned and focused; pushed almost to the limits of human creativity and ingenuity, all focused on getting those 3 astronauts back alive.

What negative thoughts are there in your business you need to clear out?

What plans are all your brains aligned on with the laser like focus of the NASA Apollo 13 mission?

Take a look at the movie clips and ask how you can use that energy and focus in your business.

The economic space and the economic environment we are in right now will either swallow you up or be a time of massive opportunity for all of us.

Harness the thought, energy and focus to make it a massive opportunity.

Failure is NOT an option.

Quantum Physics of Belief – Effects of Universal Consciousness

As promised, the next few weeks, I am going to use quantum physics and business research to explore the correlation between the science of consciousness and patterns in the business world, to suggest innovative ways of using this wisdom to lead and succeed in a business environment that is constantly evolving at a rapid pace. [I hope you will stay tuned to these series of articles and provide any feedback via email or in the comments section below on this blog. I’d greatly appreciate your comments / suggestions and your experiences with any of this.]

The role of physics has always been to teach us how this physical world works. We now know our conventional understanding is not the whole story. It seems the very word “physics” takes us in the wrong direction, as it implies physical as opposed to the realm of the mind (and spirit, by extension). But, I hope, by the end of this series (it will take a few months to cover all the areas that I have researched so far); you will understand that the two realms cannot be separated.

Let’s first, consider the nature of matter. As I studied physics thru my graduate courses, I have learned that Einstein’s special theory of relativity, E=MC², is key to understanding the nature of this world. Like many of you, I have known of this equation for years, but never fully considered its profound implications. Literally it means that all matter is a form of energy, not a substance. The fact that matter is fundamentally energy means that objects are not static, but rather are dynamic and changeable. Furthermore, experimentation at the sub-atomic level has revealed that human beliefs influence how matter manifests.

Here is a classic physics experiment: The Double Slit Experiment shows us that the form of matter follows what we believe about the matter. The experiment streams a bunch of photons into two boxes, and then they come out of slits on the other side of the boxes to project a pattern onto a screen. Here is the interesting part: if an observer is expecting to see waves and so looks at the pattern on the screen, the observer sees the waves and the pattern persists, but if the observer expects to see particles and looks in one of the boxes, the observer will find particles in the box. In other words, the observer’s expectations, or beliefs, determine whether the photon is a wave or a particle. This same concept extends into the world of larger objects.

The book Quantum Enigma (Physics Encounters Consciousness) written by Profs Bruce Rosenblum and Fred Kuttner of the University of California in Santa Cruz in 2006 offers credible information to show that there is no avoiding the fact that our consciousness has a physical effect on our world. This means that the events occurring external to us are being influenced by the contents of our thoughts and beliefs. Let’s look at how this phenomenon shows itself in the real world.

Intention is a projection of awareness toward a particular result with the belief that the outcome can be influenced. Scientific experimentation has overwhelmingly proven that human intentions significantly influence events so that they are more likely to occur in the direction of the intentions. Some of the most prominent experiments have shown that human intentions have the ability to alter the output of a REG, Random Event Generator machine.

REG machines generate a random sequence of heads and tails, and without the interference of intentions, they produce roughly fifty percent heads and fifty percent tails. Experiments have proven that humans can “will” the machines to create more heads (or tails) impulses by focusing their thoughts on the machine’s output. These REG experiments have been extensively carried out, using rigorous scientific study methods, and have included thousands of participants and millions of trials. The odds of the results occurring by chance are less than one in a billion, and the U.S. National Research Council has verified the results. Other experiments have provided solid evidence that groups can change the pH (acidity) level of bodies of water and biological systems in insects through specific intentions.

Before quantum physics, people knew that human beings were conscious. We knew that animals were conscious. Some of the ancient traditions, particularly some of the Hindu traditions, or the Vedic traditions of ancient Indian origin, speak in terms of everything being conscious. They speak about consciousness pervading everything. But, in this twenty first century and with quantum physics, we begin to see what might be called a new role for consciousness - something that we know happens, but remained inexplicable until we began to realize that what we were talking about was the action of consciousness.

What is a fundamental act of consciousness? It's an action in which something is perceived. Now, in ordinary physics, or in ordinary physiology, or in most of the classical realms of science, perception is something which is taken to be outside the realm of physicality. In other words, if you perceive something, you know that you see something. Light will strike your retina; you'll get an idea, or something will pop off in your brain, or something of that sort. But we never got the notion that somehow the act of seeing something was affecting what you were seeing or what you were looking at. But, in quantum physics, we have learned that when you are looking at very small objects, subatomic particles for example, the very action of looking at them disturbs them to such an extent that we never really get a complete picture as to what they actually are. Now, this has led me to think that consciousness may be at the core of this problem as to how perception can affect and change reality, and that maybe what we are doing when we are thinking or feeling or sensing or even listening to a conversation is using this action of consciousness, this fundamental act, which sort of what flips the switch - that suddenly alters the physical reality of, the human being.

Several theoretical studies provide an explanation of how our belief systems are impacting our experience of reality. String Theory says that all matter and energy is composed of oscillating strings, and it hypothesizes that there are at least ten spatial dimensions. The Many Worlds Theory proposes that these dimensions translate into parallel states of reality that simultaneously exists with what we perceive as our current reality, and a person’s belief system largely determines which single sequence of events they experience. These theories are work in progress, but they are at least the beginnings of an explanation.

Before you write off parallel universes as nonsense, consider the following. Multiple parallel realities would seem to imply that there are multiple versions of our physical world, and that doesn’t match our experience. However, remember that science says the physical world is fundamentally energy, so the existence of parallel universes doesn’t imply the duplication of substance, but rather implies that there are multiple fields of energy. Plus, it sounds like nonsense to say that we exist in multiple realities, whereas in our day-to-day reality, we experience that there is only one sequence of events occurring. The Many Worlds Theory explains this by saying that our brains are designed to perceive only one thread of experience through the parallel realities. This, in my opinion, brings parallel realities into the realm of reason.

Now, let’s talk about some practical implications. In science, our life experience is similar to a video game, where we are choosing which path through the game we are going to experience. Instead of making that choice through actions and selections on a video game console, we are making it based on our beliefs or our experiences. Let me illustrate with a real world example of a friend of mine.

Sandra is a wife and mother of three children, and they once lived in Chicago for several years. When Sandra tells stories about her experience in Chicago, they are all positive accounts about how she met the nicest and most helpful people. One of her favorite stories is about a time when she stepped off the EL (the elevated train; apologies to those who are not familiar with the Chicago Transit system) with some heavy packages and a strange young man offered to carry them home for her. She didn’t hesitate to accept his offer of help, and he did indeed carry the packages to her front door.

Sandra’s family gapes at her in disbelief when she tells these stories of a “friendly” Chicago, because they had an entirely different experience, and they never would have given their packages to a strange young man. Sandra walked the same streets and rode the same ELs as the rest of her family, yet she had an entirely different experience.

Sandra drew different experiences into her reality. She didn’t do anything different than the rest of her family, and she didn’t just put a positive façade on negative experiences. She went to the same places as the rest of her family, yet she encountered friendly and helpful people, whereas her family encountered rude and harmful people. Sandra was not just luckier than the rest of her family, but rather her beliefs and intentions brought her different experiences.

We conventionally believe that the physical world operates objectively and is not influenced by us unless we take some physical action. We think our beliefs are formed based on how we experience the world. This scientific research tells us quite the opposite: our experience is formed based on what we believe about the world. We can use this knowledge to increase the likelihood that matter, and therefore events (which are interactions of matter) will unfold more frequently in the form that we prefer.

[You may be wondering at this point what this has all got to do with any business environment. However, I need to lay down the fundamentals and set the stage to explore the correlation between the science of consciousness and patterns in the business world. In this article, having explored how our experiences are formed based on what we believe about the world; I’ll write more next week on turning around business practices using quantum physics of beliefs. See you next week…]

Is Your Best Yet To Come in 2012!?

Have you spent any time thinking about the future, in say 2012? Your future?

Sometimes the demands placed upon us daily take up so much of our time; it's hard to find even a moment to consider the future.

But whether you are ready, or not... 2012 is coming... and fast.

And you are the one who is charged with determining exactly what that future will look like for you.

You live in a fast-paced culture in which everything is in motion. And there are no signs of turning back. Standing still doesn't work, either. At least, not for very long.

So how do we make sure that our rapidly-accelerating lives don't pass us by like a furious flash of un-fulfilling nothingness?

I'd like to suggest some tips that can help, but before you read on, I want you to recognize and remember this...

Your current results or circumstances (that you faced in 2011) are in no way a reflection of what is possible for you in the future.

Your potential is unlimited. And the thoughts, ideas, and plans that you focus upon from this day forward will ultimately shape and direct your future.

Here are some ideas to consider...

1) Stop- First, you need to pause... kind of like how you'd approach a "STOP" sign at an intersection. A brief stop, long enough to look in each direction before proceeding. While paused, take a moment to consider WHAT is MOST IMPORTANT to you at this point in your life. Is it your family? Your career? Your relationships? What brings you joy? What are you so passionate about?

2) Consider some Editing- Then, take a moment to consider, what are some things that DO NOT bring you joy? How could you begin to "edit" them out of your day? Maybe there are some activities or behaviors that are not supporting the vision you have of your highest self? Maybe there are some relationships that you need to extricate yourself from?

3) Commit to Carving- Now think about HOW would you spend more time, TODAY and TOMORROW, doing more of what it is that you want to do? Don't worry about next week or next month. Just consider today, YES! Starting today. No need for any New Year resolutions. Figure out how to carve out a small segment in the next 24 hours. Maybe you could wake up 30 minutes earlier in the morning? Or perhaps go to bed 30 minutes later tonight?

Small, incremental commitments of time, directed toward doing what makes you happy, will have a beneficial effect in all areas of your life. Spending time in this frame of mind will become a habit that will replace older, out-dated, less productive habits.

But you have to get started. You need to actively and intentionally plan the way you want your future to look, in 2012. If you passively stand by, you can be sure that your tomorrow, next week, next month, and 2012 will just become a more distressed and less fulfilling version of the past.

You have the opportunity to shape your future. I don't know exactly what you are facing or what you are going through, but I do know that if you will work at it, and take an active role in determining how it will unfold, certainly, your best is yet to come!

Be creative, as 2012 unwinds in just a few more days!

Happy New Year, 2012.

Thanks-[for]-Giving

How a simple shift in gratitude can make a world of difference?

Here in America, we celebrated our Thanksgiving Holiday last week. The holiday symbolizes the end of the harvest season and is a day of celebration and thanks for the abundance and good fortune we have in our lives, no matter how meager or scarce.

This Thanksgiving, I invite you to take a look at how a simple shift to being grateful for what you have been able to give may be more powerful, creative, and worthy of celebration than merely being grateful for what you have received. In fact, you might even start a revolution that truly brings greater abundance and good fortune to both your life and the world.

I don’t believe that we are automatically entitled to abundance, nor that abundance is something that we can simply wish or believe into existence. It’s been my experience that the world works on a give and then receive basis and that true abundance is something we create and we create abundance by generating value.

Generating value is not rearranging, accumulating, reallocating, or exchanging one value for another. It’s not about taking value away from anyone. To generate value means to create or add new value; value and goodness that did not previously exist. For instance, when you smile at someone or hold a door for them you create new value. When you help someone to learn, to grow, or to unleash their potential you create new value. When you ease suffering or bring a measure of joy without taking anything away from anyone else, including yourself, you generate new value.

Creating value is like creating a new source of renewable energy; once created it can perpetuate and build upon itself. This is the basic principle behind the “pay it forward” and “random acts of kindness” concepts.

This Thanksgiving, and from this day forth, try first being grateful for the opportunities you had to generate value; to make a difference and to give of yourself. Then, and only then, celebrate gratitude for the value and goodness that has come back to you as result of your generosity. If you don’t have anything to be grateful for, go create it!

Just keep asking yourself The Central Question – “What choice can I make and action can I take, in this moment, to create the greatest net value?”

What you may notice is that the more value you generate in the world, the more abundance you experience for yourself.

Imagine if you shared this notion with just one other person and they began to think of gratitude this way. Who knows what might happen. If people practiced this form of gratitude and began to see the powerful connection between the value we create and the value we are blessed to receive as a result, people would be creating value like crazy. I mean, think about it: if you shared it with just two or three people a day, I say just two or three people, and then they shared it with two or three people and everybody started creating greater value. Well, that would make YOU the instigator of immeasurable new value.

Can you imagine if a hundred, or a thousand, or a million, or one hundred million people all around the world were giving thanks for the value they’ve been able to create that day! And friends, that’s what it is. It’s the start of the Gen-V 2020 Revolution. It could create a global paradigm shift from a self-centric mindset to a value-centric mindset and put an end to conflict, suffering and scarcity! And all you need to do to join is to start thinking more value-centrically: asking yourself “The Central Question” and giving thanks FOR giving and only then for the blessings of true abundance that come as a result.

Five Key Qualities of Great Leadership

Good Leadership Is Both What You Do and What You Don’t Do

As you work with others in your leadership role, you will find that they face decisions, challenges and problems as often as you do. A good leader resists solving other people’s problems, but rather works alongside them to help them recognize opportunities and resolve difficulties for themselves.

It is critical for a leader to create an open environment that supports experimentation and discovery—key ingredients for both mistakes and successes. An open environment also includes time set aside for reflection, analysis and discussion about what is going well and what needs to be improved.

Key Quality I: Interpersonal Skills

This skill set reflects your ability to interact with others in a positive manner. Good interpersonal skills are vital to leadership development success. A leader who is empathetic, compassionate, fair, and encouraging will generate the personal trust and respect needed for leadership effectiveness.

Key Quality II: Self-Management Skills

Self-Management is the ability to prioritize and complete tasks in order to deliver desired out comes within allotted time frames. It is also the ability to control one’s emotions in challenging “pressure” situations. It requires self-awareness, valuing feedback, making decisions, and being willing to change. A leader who cannot effectively manage him/herself will have great difficulty in managing others. Leaders who have mastered self-management are more effective role models for everyone around them.

Key Quality III: Personal Accountability

This is a measure of your capacity to be answerable for your personal actions. Personal account-ability is leadership by example. A leader who has mastered personal accountability will inspire his/her protégé and team to exhibit the same behaviors and encourage leadership development within the team.

Key Quality IV: Influencing Others

The most critical key to leadership success is your ability to personally affect others’ actions, decisions, opinions, or thinking. Today’s leaders are in a position of influence, rather than power. To achieve results, you must be able to influence others to bring out the best in themselves as well as to do what you want them to do.

Key Quality V: Goal Achievement

An effective leader is one with the overall ability to set, pursue, and attain achievable goals regardless of obstacles or circumstances. This applies to the leader’s personal goals, as well as the protégé’s individual goals and team goals. Individual and team goals must be complementary to achieve the highest level of success.

Everyone has these skills to some degree. Some of these skill sets will develop a good administrator, but a good administrator is not automatically a good leader. It is the complete mastery of all the skill sets that creates the true leader.

Why Are These Skills So Important?

Your leadership effectiveness is measured through the results achieved by your team. Your role is to inspire and motivate them in ways that values their contributions while guiding them in a cohesive direction takes strong leadership skills. Effective leadership at any level demands that you be able to gain the trust of others, both one-on-one and in groups. They depend on you, their leader, to have a vision, see possibilities and work with them to create and achieve mutual goals. This is the cornerstone of the “art” of leadership!

Poor Leadership Skills Can Create Many Difficulties

A leader who has not developed good leadership skills can’t solve problems effectively. He/she may not have the empathy, self-confidence or motivation skills necessary to establish and meet goals or communicate them effectively.

 A true leader:

• Communicates a vision and a belief in its value

• Inspires others to peak performance

• Sets appropriate examples for others to follow

• Instills a sense of order, direction, and focus

• Responds to adversity without faltering

• Clearly communicates the “what”, “why”, and “when” behind every “how”

Leadership Skills Can Be Developed … They Must Not Be Left To Chance

An aspiring leader must create a personal development plan and pursue it at all times.

 As a leader you must learn to:

• Lead based on the foundation of your values, beliefs, and experience

• Share information with others; don’t hide news, feedback, critiques, or praise

• Support people when they make mistakes and help them learn from the situation

• Choose your battles wisely

• Be decisive

• Not make decisions for others

• Listen to others problems and help them define solutions

• Be persistent

• Encourage others to take initiative; reward them for independent decisions

• Not procrastinate

• Build teams and empower them to address problems

• Recognize the value of others contributions

The Best Leader Is The Most Effective Manager

A good leader inspires his/her team to constant improvement. A good leader recognizes that his/her own ongoing power and influence come from empowering others around them. A good leader nurtures leadership qualities within the team to complement his/her own development.

Is Analysis Paralysis Stopping You From Taking Action?

Analysis Paralysis is where you can’t make any forward progress because you bog yourself down in details, tweaking, brainstorming, research, and… anything but just getting on with it. Sound familiar?

It’s something I struggled with. Partly out of fear of failure, partly because I love the idea-generation phase of projects, mostly because I am an analysis geek on occasion.

There is hope though, even for chronic cases.

It’s not actually about setting your sights low, or dropping your personal standards. What you have to do is identify those things you have to get right from the get-go, those items that do need analysis, and what can be fixed later.

While it is perfectly natural to want to spend time thinking about a project, especially one with an element of risk, there comes a point where any more thinking is counter-productive and you need to start making some progress.

1.     What do you absolutely have to do for the project to be a success?

2.     What tasks can absolutely not be put off while later?

3.     What are the most painful items to change post launch?

4.     What could realistically go wrong?

With procrastination it always comes down to just doing it but discovering the reasons why you aren’t (other than being a lazy geek making excuses!) can be very helpful in getting your sorry behind working. Analysis Paralysis often comes from learned behavior over several years. Either it has proven beneficial, so you do a little more thinking and planning each time, or not enough planning has caused problems so each occasion you get a little more cautious.

It never fails to surprise me how different the world seems when my analysis faces reality. We all get some things right while other things seem to come from outer-space and no amount of thinking would have predicted it. Thinking on your feet is often as important as any amount of analysis.

7 Tips to Help Overcome Analysis Paralysis

1.     Plan

You still need a plan no matter what, but this time round, over planning is not allowed. Think of what are the things that you need to know before you start and get a grasp of it. Brain storm for what would be the most painful thing to change and get more information and make a wiser decision. Be sure to know, what are the things that could possibly go wrong and try to prevent them. Be proactive rather than reactive.

2.     Set a Deadline for Your Planning Session

Allocate a deadline for your planning session and be strict with yourself and only spend that certain amount of time for planning. When we have a specific time slot for planning, we will have a lesser tendency to over plan.

3.     Just Start

When you finished your planning session, stop asking yourself “what if” questions. Just start doing it and learn everything that you do not know along the way.

4.     Forgo Perfection

I know there is a Mr (or Ms) Perfection inside you and you want to get everything perfect on the get go but it is highly not possible that everything will turn out the way you want to be in the first place. Just forget about perfection and start taking action.

5.     Momentum

Once you start your project, do not stop and think too much again. Just have a list of to-do items, regardless whether it is big or small and keep on completing the task.

6.     Learn To Make Decision

This is an important skill that can help to overcome analysis paralysis. By knowing how to make a faster and wiser decision, we can take action faster and get more things done. Practice your decision making skills by setting a 5 seconds rule to make your daily decision. (Ex: What beverage am I going to have? Coke or lemon tea.)

7.     Find an Action Taker

Find someone who is able to take action easily. Whenever you are stuck with analysis paralysis, find them and talk to them about your problem. Most likely you will get a positive reply and get the momentum you need to get going.

 

Parting Words

These tips worked fine for me in helping me to take action and also to achieve results. Analysis without action does not help you to have any kind of positive results. Now, you have the tips to help you overcome analysis paralysis, why don’t you go start something that will help to enhance your life today?

Finally, Stop thinking about it and start doing something.

Dangers in using Fear to Motivate People

When you present a “burning platform” story to spur your people into action, there are inherent risks. People may jump into action, but will it be the right action? Will it be purposeful?

Most of the big problems we encounter in businesses and/or society are ambiguous and evolving. They don’t look like burning-platform situations. Yet, we still want people to buckle down and execute a hard, well-defined game plan.

Yoda was right. Fear creates anxiety and anger. And this leads to frenetic activity that is more distracting than useful.

When people are driven to act by fear rather than desire – the action isn’t motivated by any personal determination to move in a direction to win. It’s not action designed to create real results for long term success. It’s simply action, frenetic action, designed to diminish the fear and anxiety.

There is no question that negative emotions are motivating. But they are also constricting. They narrow our focus. Fear will get us to take fast specific action designed to reduce the feelings of fear and anxiety.

Negative emotions will help us avoid risks and confront problems. But the quest to take your business to the next level, that is, to execute a brilliant strategy, design quality customer experiences, and to improve team performance and the bottom line… well, that requires more than avoiding risks and problem solving.

These situations require creativity and flexibility and ingenuity. A burning platform won’t get you there. Negative emotions have a narrowing effect on our thoughts. We become focused on getting the stone out of our shoe, so to speak.

Positive feelings, on the other hand, broaden and build our repertoire of responses to a situation. Joy, for example, makes us want to play with new ideas and possibilities. We want to explore new ways of doing things, experiment and explore. In this way, we require positive emotions to fuel our creativity and curiosity.

What are you doing in your life/business to use positive emotions to inspire change?

The next time someone suggests lighting a fire under your people’s feet, consider these differences. Fear and negativity will, indeed, spark people into action. But only for specific action, and not necessarily purposefully directed.

An atmosphere of positivity, on the other hand, will give people the enthusiasm to create new solutions to broaden and build resources for innovation.

To solve bigger more ambiguous problems, those we are currently facing every day, we need to encourage open minds, creativity and hope.

Are you an Empathic Listener?

In a TV interview sometime ago, Stephen Covey described his The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People as guiding principles that "…encourage people to take a mindful approach to life - not letting trivial urgencies of day-to-day life get in the way of the most important things."

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is indeed a seven-part model for effective performance in business and personal life. Its philosophy is that human beings can take control of their own destinies by how they react to life and external factors, and that they will achieve happiness, success and spiritual fulfillment if they adopt the seven habits Covey advocates.

In this article, I am only going to focus on the listening habits. Covey says that "most people listen with the intent to reply, not to understand." Because we are so eager to get our own point of view across, we tend not to listen properly to what the other person is saying. If we can first understand what the speaker's point of view is, it will be easier for us to respond in a positive and mutually beneficial way.

Covey recommends taking the time to listen to yourself (habits 1-3) in order to identify your own core values and goals. This step makes it possible for you to behave exactly as you believe the person you wish to be would behave, because it allows you to consult your own values and goals before acting. Thus, you act only in ways that are consistent with those values and goals. This step should be repeated regularly as time passes and circumstances change.

Covey then recommends listening to others (habits 4-6) in order to become aware of the values and goals of others. This enables you to find common ground and thus maintain productive relationships with them.

Covey also recommends regularly seeking to improve (habit 7) and reinforce yourself in ways that are important to you.

According to Covey, when we are speaking to anyone we are usually in one of the five “Listening States” -

1.           Ignoring: – Not Listening

2.           Pretend Listening: – We have all done this, saying “yeah”, “uh-huh”

3.           Selective Listening: – Listening strictly to parts of the conversations and strictly from our point of view.

4.           Attentive Listening: – Focusing and paying attention to the words

5.           Empathetic Listening: – Listening from the other persons point of view, and seeing the world from the others persons perspective.

Most people think that Empathic Listening takes too much time; I have found that with time it becomes natural and you start to automatically do it. It all begins with practice and the dividends you will receive for this are enormous.

Empathic Listening is essential to effective communication. Covey emphasizes the importance, the power, and in some situations the necessity of not merely going through the mechanical responses that might be required for ordinary listening, but opening oneself to the talker to the point where one can actually feel what they are feeling. Covey, as others, believes that the only way to establish communication in some professional and personal situations is by becoming, in small part, the person you are listening to. He uses the words "sensing" (others call it "intuition") to describe the information a listener can perceive through deep, empathic listening. The experience Covey describes, standing for a moment in another's shoes and listening to the world through their ears is something everyone is capable of, but most of us rarely (if ever) deliberately do. It takes time to listen empathically and practice to become adept at it, but the reward is a whole new level of communication and problem solving because a person acquires the ability to see a situation simultaneously from multiple points of view.

Most people take the advice to “Listen” literally and are confused when the conversation dies or does not go anywhere. This is because “Listening” is a means to an end, not an end. Listening allows you to absorb information about the following:

a.           What is important to the other person and

b.           What the other person wants to talk about

At the end of the day, remember – listening is one of the most important parts of possessing excellent Social Skills. However, it is a means to an end and the end is to find out what the other person wants to talk about and what is important to the other person. Listen > Find out what these things are > Let them talk about it > Put yourself in their shoes (Empathic Listening) and talk about what you would do or answer the question from your own point of view (Selective Listening) and create a meaningful conversation.

Listening is essential to effectiveness as a speaker. Covey also points out that to be an effective speaker one has to absorb feedback from (listen to) one's audience and adjust one's presentations according to what works most effectively for them.

So, next time, when you are engaging in a conversation, practice empathetic listening; it will get you far in life.