Creating your opportunity

I had lunch with an informal mentor yesterday who shared his personal success story.  It was inspiring. This gentleman was transferred here from Detroit and eventually his role was removed.  He was apartment shopping and realized that many of the local apartments were poorly managed.  He felt that he could be of help to the property owners who were in need of someone to oversee the property managers.

He went on to tell me that he wrote a letter to one the property owners indicating that he had the skill set and desire to help clean up the properties and would like the chance to interview for a position.  Little did he realize that his future boss had a meeting earlier that week stating that they had a huge need for this type of position.

The rest is history.  30+ years later this gentlemen completed a very successful career.  He learned about philanthropy, customer service and community involvement.  He shared that he was given the opportunity. I think in many ways he created his own.

Not Making Mistakes Is Not The Goal...

The outcome of pursuing the goal of not making mistakes can lead to great unhappiness and a lack of purpose. If you seek the safety of doing the easy you may experience the following:

* A lack of joy in the adventure of trying something new
* A potential missed opportunity of trying something new and it turning into gold
* Overanalyzing each decision, which leads to indecisiveness
* Fun
* Attachment to certain outcomes that you cannot control
* The opportunity for greater impact in those around you

Perhaps the goal could be to take more risks and watch the results unfold.

5 Ways To Find Your Cause

It is not easy to track down your cause.  I thought it time to share a few ideas that helped me gain some clarity.

1) List out the moments in your life where you felt like you were in the zone.  The moments where you were engaged, enthused and most importantly brought about positive results.  This will help you identify the places where you have been and what you might need to explore.

2) Talk to those who you consider people of cause. It is inspiring.  Ask them "Why they get up in the morning?"

3) Read everything you possible can by the people who write good stuff and by people you see who have cause.

4) Have you ever done a "Waving the Magic Wand Exercise?" Simply put, find a quiet place, focus  your energy and write down everything you want out of your personal life and your work life.  Pick the top three and create a plan to obtain.  For example: You wanna go to Europe?  Price it out. Cut out pictures and visualize yourself in Europe.  Even better set a date and a budget so you can go!

5) Look in your current environment for ways to contribute in areas of interest.

Good luck!

Off and running...

It has been fantastic to sit across the people I have linked arms with for the past five years and be able to move toward more intentional conversations.  The challenge I have been faced with has been this idea of what I can control and what I cannot control.  I can control how much time and thought I do to prepare for each meeting.  I cannot control their response to the suggestions and feedback I have for them.  I can control how well I listen to them and how well grounded I am before each conversation.  I cannot control how they feel about me after it is over.

I am still in search of some good training in this area.  The folks at Hogan have been great to this point, but it is time to go a bit deeper.  I have that on my next 30 days agenda.

Great quote...

On my very first exploratory interview, I asked the following question, "Do you have any suggestions for me as I start this project?"  She replied, "I simply thought about where I felt that I could make the greatest contribution in life and go there."

This sounds to me like leverage.  How do you most greatly leverage your interests,skills, relationships for the good or purpose?

Caused leaders...

The statistics are staggering.  One study I read recently by the folks at Hogan, indicated that 65% managers will fail.  Said another way, these leaders who are leading corporate America will fail.  Hogan indicates that you must have a strong ability to build a team, to be a strong leader.  In my past experience, the key to successful team building includes the following:

* Clear vision of what the team wants to accomplish, so people can plug in.
* Strong set of goals for the team to accomplish
* Team norms, which allow folks to feel safe and secure.  Norms like fierce conversations, vulenerability, trust and dependence.
* Team denotes everyone is a contributor, everyone on the team needs to know how they contribute.

These are significant steps toward building strong leadership in your organization.

Revisiting the Magic Wand exercise...

A few monthts ago, I wrote about waving the magic wand.  The exercise was about listing off everything I wanted in my job and life.  I went back through the document I put together and realized that my new role has the potential to hit everything on my list.  It is testimony of the importance of documenting goals and revisiting goals.  In reality, this is really a life vision and a vision for work.

If you do not risk dreaming about a preferred future, you greatly reduce the chance to reach that vision.  If you are adrift in the daily activities with no clear picture of the future, you slowly find yourself backed into a corner or in a ditch.  I am thrilled about the picture of the future.  There is five year potential for advancement, for linchpin like realities, to excel and to really be engaged in my work. 

My challenge is to revisit this magic wand exercise every month to see how things are coming along.