“Be proactive, get it done, just do it, move forward, vision cast, make progress and look ahead!” These words all resonate with a leader, don’t they? It’s that one foot in front of the other mindset that keeps leaders moving forward. However, should we ever take a moment to think about the don’ts? How about this, should we ever think about the don’ts that we should we be doing? Here is a list of 5 to think about.
1. Don’t Be Afraid of Bad News - Embrace It
Bad news can bring us down especially when the bad news is somewhat aimed in our our general direction. I like what the Bible says in Psalms 112:7, “Bad news won’t bother them; they have decided to trust the LORD.” Allow that difficult news to transform our leadership into something great. Embrace it.
2. Don’t Allow Others to Discourage You - Ignore It
If you call the shots you will most certainly receive some from time to time. Unfortunately the shots the leader receives are often in the back. Because leaders are usually out front leading there is no other place for those shots to originate from other than from the back of the group. Most leaders try not to show discouragement outwardly and I certainly understand why. However, that doesn’t mean we don’t get discouraged from time to time. Ignore it and move on.
3. Don’t Allow Budget to Stifle Your Dream - Do It
According to dictionary.com the verb “sti·fle” means “to curb, repress, or prevent the development of something. (1)” Some start with a budget and say, “What can we do with what we got?” Leaders start with a dream and say, “What will we do with what we get?” Don’t allow your budget to stifle your dreams of something more. I have observed meetings where budget has defined a leaders vision when it should have been the other way around.
4. Don’t Think You Know It All - Learn It
Someone once said, “A chip on the shoulder indicates wood higher up.” I’ve had several pine tree moments over the years as a leader. Continuing to learn as a leader is what separates good from great. It’s what you learn after you know it all that really counts. Keep learning and you will keep leading. Stop learning and you will stop leading.
5. Don’t Spend Your Time - Invest It
How would you respond if you received an email that said, “Each day for the next seven days you will receive $86,400?” What would you do? Pay some bills? Buy a new car? Down payment on a house? New computer? Invest it? Tough decision, right? What if we converted that cash into time? Each of us are given 86,400 seconds each day. What will we do with it? Spend it or invest it? Once we spend our time we can’t get it back so it makes sense for the leader to take advantage of the investment opportunity. Who will you invest your time in today?
Leadership is often made of doing and today is no exception however, if we could take a moment to look at these don’ts perhaps there is at least on in here for us to be doing today? What do you think?
Question:
Do you have a leadership don’t worth doing? Please share it. We would love to hear about it!
(1) Encarta® World English Dictionary © 1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
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