When the Crowd Boos President Harry S. Truman readily took responsibility for his decisions, and he was famous for saying, “The buck stops here.” Though his approval ratings were only 20-30% for much of his presidency, Truman didn’t waver. “I know the public is against me,” he’d say, “but they’ll come around.”
Truman entered the election year of 1948 as a vulnerable incumbent. Yet rather than shying away from thorny issues, he made two bold moves that generated fierce criticism: he backed the creation of the state of Israel and desegregated the military. Despite trailing in nearly every pre-election poll, Truman maintained hope and campaigned tirelessly around the country. On Election Day, newspapers were so certain of the outcome that they published headlines reporting Truman’s defeat. However, when the votes were actually counted, Truman emerged victorious. Historians consider his re-election the greatest upset in the history of the presidency.
The price of leadership is criticism. No one pays much attention to last place finishers, but when you’re in front, everything gets noticed. Since leaders live with criticism it is important to learn to handle it constructively. The following four-step process has helped me, so I wanted to pass it on to you.
1) Know Yourself
“Criticism is something you can avoid easily—by saying nothing, doing nothing and being nothing.”
Over the years, people have tried to help me know myself. They often begin with the phrase, “I’m going to tell you something for your own good.” I’ve discovered that when they tell me something for my own good they never seem to have anything good to tell me! Yet, I have also realized that what I need to hear most is what I want to hear least. From those conversations I have learned much about myself.
• I am impatient.
• I am unrealistic about time and process.
• I don’t like to give a lot of effort to people’s emotional issues.
• I overestimate the ability of others.
• I assume too much.
• I want to delegate too quickly.
2) Change Yourself
Aldous Huxley said, “The truth that makes you free is for the most part, the truth we prefer not to hear.”
Here are the questions I ask to determine whether the criticism was constructive or destructive.
a) Who criticized me?
Criticism from a wise person is more valuable than the flattery of a fool.
b) How was the criticism given?
In my experience, the trustworthiest critics are those who give me the benefit of the doubt, attempting to see from my perspective before passing judgment.
c) Why was the criticism given?
This question helps me discern whether the criticism was given out of personal hurt or with the intention to help me grow.
Regardless of whether the criticism was legitimate or not, I have discovered that my attitude toward words I do not want to hear determines if I grow from criticism or groan beneath it. Therefore, I have determined to:
• Not be defensive when criticized
• Look for the morsel of truth within every criticism
• Make the necessary changes
• Take the high road.
3) Accept Yourself
“Real confidence comes from knowing and accepting yourself—your strengths and limitations—in contrast to depending on affirmation from others.”
~ Judith Bardwick
The opposite of courage isn’t fear; it’s conformity. The most exhausting and frustrating thing in life is to live trying to be someone else. If you worry about what people think of you, it’s because you have more confidence in their opinion than you have in your own.
4) Forget Yourself
“Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves. They shall never cease to be entertained.”
~ Chinese Proverb
While growing up, we spend a good deal of time worrying about what the world thinks of us. By the time we reach 60, we realize the world wasn’t paying much attention. Secure people forget themselves so they can focus on others. This allows them to be secure enough to take criticism and even to serve their critics.
Years ago I was invited to conduct a training seminar in a neighbouring city. I arrived at the pastor's house on the evening before the event was to begin and settled down for a good night's rest, but just before I fell asleep I saw a vision of a billboard alongside a highway. Standing in the grass beside the billboard was a little pink pig. I looked at the pig and asked the Lord, "What does that mean?" He did not answer me, so I began to think of all the verses in the Bible that mentioned pigs.
I thought maybe the Lord was trying to tell me that the people would be like the pigs that went back to wallow in the mud after they were cleansed; or that there would be demons in the meeting tomorrow, and that I was to cast them into pigs; or perhaps that I shouldn't even teach because it would be like casting my pearls before swine. I even thought maybe He was telling me not to look at any pretty girls who might be there because they could be like a gold ring in a pig's nose!
Obviously, I was being quite ridiculous in my efforts to solve this riddle. And despite my ardent efforts, I could not come up with anything that made sense out of this strange vision.
Finally I stopped and asked the Lord what He was trying to say to me. He said, "James, did you read the billboard?"
Ooops. I hadn't even thought about that. I couldn't recall the vision, so I was unable to say what had been on the billboard. I said, "Lord I'm sorry. I was so taken by the pig that I didn't even look at the billboard. What did it say?"
He showed me the vision again and I read the words that were written on the billboard: "Don't Be Distracted!"
I felt so foolish. The very thing that the Lord was trying to tell me not to do was exactly what I was doing! The Lord continued, "I am speaking to My people in billboards all of the time, but
they are so distracted by the little pigs that they seldom ever notice what I am saying."
"For God does speak—now one way, now another— though man may not perceive it." Job 33:14
The year was 1972 and fans packed Munich’s Olympic Stadium to witness the completion of the men’s marathon. By the time the race’s competitors reached the stadium, they would already have run 26 miles! Spectators waited in anticipation to see which contestant would arrive first and to cheer him to the finish line.
A roar from the crowd greeted the first runner to enter the stadium—German Norbert Sudhaus. Fans shouted encouragement and applauded wildly as he began the final, grueling lap of the race. However, cheers turned to gasps as, halfway around the track, Sudhaus was tackled by security guards. As it turns out, Norbert Sudhaus was an imposter. Wearing a blue track vest and yellow running shorts, he had snuck onto the race’s course just outside of Olympic Stadium and had tricked the crowd into thinking he was an actual contestant.
Moments later, when the real leader of the marathon (American Frank Shorter) ran into the stadium, he was dismayed to hear catcalls from the crowd. Shorter thought the boos were directed at him, oblivious that the spectators were still expressing outrage at Sudhaus’ hoax. Shorter would go on to win the marathon, and he remains the last American man to have won an Olympic gold medal in the event.
Players Versus Pretenders
If you’ve ever led people, then you’ve come across followers like Norbert Sudhaus, who would rather act the part than to put in the effort needed to become a champion. These people are pretenders, and while they can sometimes masquerade as players, a keen observer can tell the two apart. For a leader, it’s important to identify the pretenders within an organization before they disrupt the team’s momentum and damage its relationships.
Pretenders look the part and talk the part, but they fall short of fulfilling the part. Here are some of the ways to distinguish between who’s a real team player and who’s merely posturing for self-advancement.
1. Players have a servant’s mindset; pretenders have a selfish mindset.
Players do things for the benefit of others and the organization, while pretenders think only of benefitting themselves. A pretender is singly focused on outcomes that are in his or her best interest.
2. Players are mission-conscious; pretenders are position-conscious.
Players will give up a position to achieve a mission. Pretenders will give up a mission to achieve a position. For players, the progress of the mission is much more important than their own place within it, but a pretender will value his or her position more highly than just about anything else.
3. Players deliver the goods; pretenders only make promises.
A player is a team member who can be counted on to finish a task every time. The pretender will claim the ability to do so; but in the end, he or she does not consistently execute.
4. Players are job-happy; pretenders are job-hunters
Players love what they do and do it well. For them, work is fulfilling and meaningful, and they are devoted to carrying out their responsibilities with excellence. On the other hand, pretenders always see greener grass elsewhere. Since they’re constantly on the lookout to better their situation, they have no loyalty and will break commitments whenever doing so helps them to get ahead.
5. Players love to see others succeed; pretenders are only interested in their own success.
Rabbi Harold Kushner had a player’s mindset when he said, “The purpose of life is not to win. The purpose of life is to grow and to share. When you come to look back on all that you have done in life, you will get more satisfaction from the pleasure you have brought into other people’s lives than you will from the times that you outdid and defeated them.”
I think we all start out as competitors, but the goal is to grow past that mindset. In my adult life, I have evolved from competitor, to personal achiever, to team player, and on to team-builder. A player is happy when another member of the team succeeds because it benefits all. The pretender sees success as a win-lose proposition, and resents it when another person “wins.”
6. Players value integrity; pretenders value image.
In navigation, the rule is that what’s under the surface should be heavier than what is above the surface. Otherwise, the ship will capsize in a storm. Integrity is similar; what’s under the surface must be greater than what is in plain sight. A player can be counted on to do the right thing, even if nobody is looking.
Contrarily, pretenders do the right thing only when being watched, and they do whatever is expedient otherwise. Furthermore, since they focus on appearance rather than character, pretenders won’t admit fault when mistakes are made. They blame others for all of their problems instead of taking personal ownership of them.
7. Players make the hard choices; pretenders make the easy choices.
With a hard choice, the price is paid on the front end; the payoff only comes later. Such choices almost always include risk, and they usually involve the sacrifice of placing the organization above oneself too. Peter Drucker once said, “Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.” Players aren’t afraid to make those decisions.
8. Players finish well; pretenders fade out.
Some people start as players, but at some point they turn into pretenders. Why? I believe it’s because they overestimate the event and underestimate the process. They make the choice to begin, but they get tired of the work it takes to continue. Or they begin and proceed until they are confronted with the need to change. Unwilling to adjust, they begin pretending in order to get by. On the other hand, a player takes all tasks to completion.
Do you have a better idea of who the players and pretenders are within your team or organization? Remember that players will always ADD to the team’s efforts. But pretenders, at least in the long run, will COST the team. Knowing the difference between the two means that you’ll count on the right person to get the job done.
In the documentary film chronicling her journey to superstardom, performer Katy Perry advises her fans: “Believe in yourself and you can be anything.” However, if eleven seasons of American Idol have taught us anything, it’s that self-belief is not sufficient for success. At the beginning of each season of Idol, vocalists audition in front of the judges, and some are dreadfully tone-deaf and off-key. Amazingly, despite their obvious lack of talent, these musically-challenged contestants truly believe they are destined for celebrity. In fact, they’re genuinely shocked when the judges candidly provide them with negative feedback before dismissing them from the set.
Certainly, at many junctures in the leadership journey, you must be supremely self-assured to press forward through adversity. But while self-confidence factors into a person’s success in life, a number of other qualities come into play as well. Here are six questions to ask yourself to gauge whether or not you have what it takes to reach the pinnacle of your profession.
1) Does your dream align with your natural abilities?
Olympic sprinters spend countless hours learning how to accelerate out of the starting blocks and to perfect their stride. With years of practice, they’re able to shave off precious fractions of a second off of the time it takes them to complete a race. However, in actuality, every world-class sprinter began his or her athletic career with loads of inborn ability. Absent of God-given talent, the average person, even after years of disciplined training, could not hope to keep pace with these elite runners.
In my experience, a person can only improve about one or two notches above their natural talent in a given area. For example, if on a scale of 1-10 you happen to be a “3” as a singer, then taking voice lessons and music appreciation courses may lift you to a “4.” If you’re especially diligent in studying how to sing, you may even improve to a “5.” Even so, you’ve only improved from bad to average—and people don’t pay to hear an average singer. The formula for success is to build your career around skills in which you’re already a “7” or an “8” and to spend your time perfecting them.
Food for Thought: In what ways are you naturally gifted? That is, in what areas are you already a “7” or an “8”?
2) Can you handle stress?
A stress fracture occurs in the body, not from a single injury, but from repeatedly putting too much weight on a bone. In a like manner, leaders do not generally break down from an inability to handle a particularly busy stretch on the job. Rather, they crack as a result of taking on the stresses of work, day after day, without finding healthy release valves for the pressure. They let the demands of the office crowd out the joys of relationships with loved ones. Or, they allow the responsibilities of leadership prevent them from experiencing the beauty of nature or the healthfulness of exercise. Eventually, the repeated stress of work becomes too much, and they suffer a broken relationship, physical ailment, or mental illness.
Food for Thought: Which person in your life does the most to lift your spirits? How often do you spend time with him or her? Which outdoor recreational activity does the most to replenish your energy? How often do you get to participate in the activity?
3) Are you comfortable with risk?
I think it’s unfortunate that risk-taking has taken on the connotation of gambling or recklessness. Many times inaction, rather than action, is the most dangerous path. With a doubt, failure to innovate and adjust spells certain doom in today’s fast-paced world of evolving technologies.
Experience has shown me that taking risks has specific advantages. First, you learn things faster than the people who don’t take risks. Second, you have a broader range of experiences than those who stay safely within their comfort zone. Third, you bump into obstacles sooner than the people who play it safe, and fourth, you learn to improvise in order to get around those obstacles. Risk-takers are not smarter than the other guys; they just fail faster and thus get their education more quickly.
Food for Thought: What risks have you taken in your career? What have you learned from taking them?
4) Do you have strong people skills?
Our ability to build and maintain healthy relationships largely determines our enjoyment of life. Indeed, we usually can trace our successes and failures to our relationships. Consequently, getting along with people is virtually a precondition for effective leadership.
Leaders build business relationships in four stages. At the first level, people knowledge, understanding what others need aids a leader in building influence. In the second level, service skills—a leader’s ability to attend to people’s needs proactively—expand a leader’s influence. At the third level of business relationships, a leader’s reputation attracts customers. At this stage, a leader’s track record for treating others honestly and with respect pays significant dividends. Finally, at the fourth level, personal friendship with fellow influencers paves the way for tremendous synergies and opportunities for partnership.
Food for Thought: What prevents people from being aware of the effect they have on others?
5) Are you creative in problem solving?
A creative leader actually enjoys not knowing it all. Such a person realizes that though we seldom have all the answers; we always have the ability to generate solutions to whatever difficulties we encounter. In leadership, problems are unavoidable. However, the attitude a leader brings to those problems is optional. Creative leaders search for opportunities within the obstacles they face. Instead of complaining about challenges, they welcome them as catalysts for growth.
Food for Thought: Can a person intentionally become more creative? If so, how? If not, why?
6) Are you competitive?
If you always draw back when presented with a challenge, then you’ll never make it to the top. To develop as an influencer, you must revel in the chance to you're your strength as opposed to shrinking from challenges. Ideally, competition isn’t about separating winners and losers, but sharpening the skills of all competitors.
I like how Paul Lee Tan’s describes the benefits of competition:
“My competitors do more for me than my friends do. My friends are too polite to point out my weaknesses, but my competitors go to great expense to advertise them. My competitors are efficient, diligent and attentive. They force me to search for ways to improve my technique and my service. My competitors would take my customers away from me if they could. This keeps me alert to hold what I have. If I had no competitors, I might become complacent and inattentive. I need the discipline they force upon me.”
Food for Thought: At what point does competition become destructive rather than productive?
“Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.”
Below are seven action steps that can enable you to earn respect from those you lead.
Self-respect comes with understanding who you are - your personality and purpose. You may not always win, but when you routinely give outstanding effort and you will experience success. Do not take failure or criticism personally. After failing, never give yourself permission to self-identify as a failure.
Respect is a building block of meaningful relationships, and it comes about when we place value on other people. As Ari Kiev writes, “Everyone wants to feel that he/ she counts for something and is important to someone. Invariably, people will give their love, respect, and attention to the person who fills that need.” In other words, believing the best in people brings out the best in people.
2) Exceed the Expectations of Others
Begin by setting high personal standards for yourself. Get rid of the “get by” mentality and push yourself to work with excellence and not just adequacy. After that, learn the expectations others have of you—both your teammates and customers. Finally, fulfill those expectations and go beyond them.
3) Stand Firm on Your Convictions and Principles
Strong convictions precede great actions. As a leader it’s always tempting to make palatable decisions that promise safety instead of bold ones that involve risk.
4) Possess a Maturity Well-Beyond Your Years
One mark of maturity is the willingness to assume responsibility. As Ed Cole said, “Maturity doesn’t come with age; it comes with acceptance of responsibility.” Another sign of maturity is consistency—routinely delivering results. A third indication of maturity is character, or the willingness to do what’s right even when it’s costly. A fourth and final mark of maturity is confidence. People more readily follow leaders who exude faith in their abilities.
5) Experience Success in Your Family and Career
Neither success nor failure is a one-time event. Rather, both result from the accumulation of thousands of seemingly insignificant actions done day-by-day and week-by-week. Identify which activities, performed daily, will develop you into the type of leader you aspire to be and then be relentless about practicing them.
6) Contribute to the Success of Others
However you define success, it has to involve helping people. In the words of Alan Loy McGinnis: “There is no more noble occupation in the world than to assist another human being—to help someone succeed.”
7) Think Ahead of Others
Leaders gain respect because they think ahead of others and more deeply than others. They project their minds into the future, and they discipline themselves to put sustained thought into major issues facing their team.
Thought to Ponder
Arnold Glasow wrote that, “The respect of those you respect is worth more than the applause of the multitude.” Among the people you know, for whom do you have the greatest respect? Why?
At what age did you stop growing taller? The average age when the human body reaches its full height varies, but it’s generally between the ages of 15 and 21. I often wonder at what age most leaders quit growing. Unfortunately, judging from my observations, most people stop by the end of their 20s. Rarely will you find a person committed to a comprehensive personal growth plan into their 30s, 40s, or beyond.
Leaders never get to the point where their influence has maxed out; they always have unreached potential waiting to be fulfilled. In leadership, how far you go depends on how much you grow. Unlike your physical height, your growth as a leader is within your control; you can do something about it. You’ll grow the most when you know the most about how the process of personal development happens. In this lesson, I’d like to share three basic laws of personal growth to help you get started.
1) The Law of Intentionality: Growth Doesn’t Just Happen
Seldom do we lack access to information that can help us grow, but rarely do we apply the resources at our disposal. Put simply, knowing isn’t the same as growing. Old age may happen automatically, but growth doesn’t necessarily come with experience.
To grow to our potential, we have to discard the mistaken beliefs that prevent us from moving forward. Two such beliefs are 1) that failure is fatal and 2) that we don’t have time right now to pursue a growth plan. For starters, failing doesn’t mean that someone is a failure. Mistakes are an inescapable part of life, and failures often teach us lessons that we could never learn otherwise. Indeed, failures are steppingstones to success. With respect to time, the longer we intend to do something without taking action, the greater the odds that we will never do it. Time is the one resource we cannot recapture once it’s lost; there’s no way to make up for months and years of neglecting personal development.
2) The Law of Awareness: You Must Know Yourself to Grow Yourself
Personal growth isn’t a one-size-fits-all strategy for self-improvement. For personal growth to be beneficial, and not a waste of energy, it must be suited to your unique strengths and particular temperament. Not everyone shares the same learning style: what works for one person may be completely inappropriate for another. In addition, personal growth requires you to identify your purpose in life. Unless you’re clear where you’re headed, you won’t know which ways to grow. On the other hand, once you have a definite vision in mind, you can begin to develop the specific set of skills needed to accomplish it.
3) The Law of Consistency: Motivation Gets You Going, Discipline Keeps You Growing
Anyone who has successfully lost weight through regular exercise can tell you that there were days when they didn’t feel like going to the gym. All of the excitement about getting in shape dissipates at 5:00 am when the alarm clock rudely reminds you to get out of bed for a morning workout. To develop the discipline to keep growing, we must constantly remind ourselves why personal development means so much to us. For example, I desire to be physically fit because I want to have fun with my grandkids, enjoy life with my wife, and continue training leaders. Remembering my passion and purpose allows me to stay disciplined in those activities I do not enjoy (like running on a treadmill!).
To get where you want to go in life, personal growth cannot be overlooked, postponed, or taken for granted. Your development requires intentionality, focus and accountability. It also requires a plan. That’s why I’ve worked closely with my team to create the The Maxwell Plan for Personal Growth.
In 1804, Lewis and Clark faced the daunting task of finding their way across the vast wilderness of the American continent to reach its Pacific Coast. Their 33-member expedition included some of the most experienced navigators, scouts, woodsmen, and hunters in the United States. Yet despite their collective talents, the explorers would have died of starvation or from disorientation if they had relied solely on their own ingenuity. They were simply overmatched by the challenges of surviving in such unfamiliar terrain.
Realizing the perils of their situation, Lewis and Clark established relationships with indigenous Native American communities along their route to the Pacific. These local groups provided the expedition with guidance, supplies, and invaluable information about the surrounding environment. Benefiting from their help, Lewis and Clark were able to successfully complete their journey.
Five Qualities of a Leadership Guide
Regardless of your level of natural talent, you will not reach your potential in life without the guidance of others. It’s hard to grow with no one else to follow but yourself. To raise your level of influence, you need to link up with mentors and coaches who can model effective leadership. How do you identify these guides? I’d suggest looking for leaders with the following qualities.
1) A Passion for Personal Growth
When searching for a mentor or leadership model, ask yourself: Is he/she purposefully pursuing personal growth? People committed to a life of learning always have something to share. In perpetually seeking to develop themselves, they come across lessons that can be passed on to others. What are the telltale signs that someone is dedicated to personal growth?
(1) They ask questions.
(2) They read books or study the experts in their field.
(3) They’re unafraid to experiment (and fail).
2) A Trustworthy Example
Teaching is easy, but modeling is difficult. Anyone can spout out theories, but only a select few can consistently apply knowledge to deliver results. Likewise, anyone can write out an impressive list of personal values, but rare is the person who embodies them day after day amid the pressures of leading an organization. As industrialist Andrew Carnegie remarked, “As I grow older I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.”
3) Proven Experience
A Chinese proverb says, “To know the road ahead, ask those coming back.” Like a deep well holds nourishing water, a leader with proven experience houses a wealth of wisdom. Questions are the buckets from which we draw upon the experiences of others. When I meet someone who has clearly demonstrated the ability to lead at a high level, I ask the following questions in order to learn from him/her:
(1) What are the great lessons you have learned?
(2) How has failure shaped your life?
(3) What are your strengths?
(4) What is your passion?
(5) Who do you know that I should know?
(6) What have you read that I should read?
(7) What have you done that I should do?
4) Friendship & Support
The best guides listen and learn before they lead. They care about results, but more fundamentally, they care about people. In sharing his remembrances of management expert Peter Drucker, author Jim Collins spoke not of his theories but of his humanity.
“For me, Drucker’s most important lessons cannot be found in any text or lecture but in the complete example of his life. I made a personal pilgrimage to Claremont, California, in 1994 seeking wisdom from the greatest management thinker of our age, and I came away feeling that I’d met a compassionate and generous human being who, almost as a side benefit, was a prolific genius…Peter F. Drucker was driven not by the desire to say something but the desire to learn something from every student he met—and that is why he became one of the most influential teachers most of us have ever known.”
Perhaps the best question you can ask yourself about a potential guide is: “do they genuinely care about me?”
Leaders make things better for others; they add value in their relationships. As a leader or guide, I desire to help people…
(1) Prioritize their life
(2) See their value
(3) Develop their potential
Great guides leave a trail of positive influence wherever they have been. Even after the departing an organization, their legacy remains
Moving Past Our Myths About Creativity The following moral/ethical dilemma supposedly was included on an actual job application:
You are driving down the road at night during a torrential downpour, when you pass by a bus stop. Three people are waiting for the bus:
1) An elderly lady who looks as if she needs medical attention.
2) A longtime friend who once saved your life.
3) The man/woman of your dreams (assume you’re unmarried)
Which one would you offer a ride, knowing that only one additional passenger can fit in your tiny car? Explain your answer.
You could pick up the elderly lady, because she looks as if she needs to go to the hospital. However, you don’t know the lady, and this could be the perfect chance to pay back the friend who had saved your life. Then again, you may never be able to find the man/woman of your dreams again…
Allegedly, the candidate who eventually was hired gave the following answer:
"I would give the car keys to my friend and let him take the lady to the hospital while I stayed behind and waited for the bus with the woman of my dreams."
Breaking out of our entrenched patterns of thought can bring about tremendous gain. Yet, as much as we talk about “thinking outside of the box,” we seldom purposefully engage in creative thinking. Perhaps that’s because we’ve been deceived by common myths about creativity.
Myth #1: Creative thinkers produce original ideas.
We have a misconception that creativity equals originality. However, most creative advancements come by combining pre-existing ideas rather than by generating new ones. Indeed, inventive concepts don’t make a splash until someone grasps how to apply them and to advertise their benefits.
Myth #2 Creative thinking happens spontaneously.
Discipline and creativity are two words we wouldn’t normally associate with one another. Yet, they go hand in hand. Early on in my career, I realized that I could collect thoughts more easily than I could create them. Every day since, for more than four decades, I’ve read books and articles and filed away interesting quotes, illustrations, and stories from them. Now, whenever I write a lesson or prepare a manuscript, I have over forty years of organized material to draw upon.
Myth #3 Creative thinkers are solo geniuses.
One is the loneliest number, and it’s also the least creative. If I stayed within the cramped confines of my own imagination, my leadership often would be dull and uninspiring. Thankfully, I’ve had the good sense to go beyond the limitations of my own mind and to ask others to lend me their creative insights. Several of the ideas I’ve put into action haven’t been my brainchildren. In fact at one point, I had written six consecutive books without coming up with the concepts for any of them! Many times the people who we deem to be the most creative are simply those who are the most well-connected and willing to solicit ideas from their network.
I hope you’ll take this article as a challenge to be intentional about cultivating creativity. Here are a few practical questions to spark your creative thinking…
1) Who are the innovators in your industry and what are they doing differently than everyone else?
2) Which co-workers, customers, or partners could you recruit to help you think creatively? Specifically, what problems might they help you solve?
3) What daily habit, if started today, could add to your creativity a year from now
No one wants to feel invisible as they pass through life, yet we often get the impression that others see us as little more than a statistic. Our resume ends up in a pile, our performance reviews goes into a file, and like everyone else we get a raise every once in a while. We’re referred to as applicants, employees, or human resources, and we sense our individuality being somewhat buried.
Jack Welch called this feeling of anonymity “being in the pile,” and he recommended thinking as the means of escape. Most people go with the flow, doing what’s asked of them but not much more. In Welch’s estimation, the key to elevating yourself in business is to go above and beyond expectations whenever you’re asked a question or given an assignment. As he writes,
If you understand that the question is only the beginning, you will get out of the pile fast, because 99.9 percent of all employees are in the pile because they don't think. If you understand this principle, you will always be given more critical questions to answer. And in time, you will be the one giving out the questions to others!
In this lesson, I’d like to offer five practical steps to help you think your way to the top.
1. Find a place to think your thoughts.
Today’s work environments are incredibly fast-paced and fraught with pressing demands. Unless you’re intentional about getting away from the rattle and hum of day-to-day operations, you’ll be sucked into a vortex of thoughtless hyperactivity. The first step to getting out of the pile is giving yourself permission to disconnect. You have to get away from the daily barrage of information by retreating to a space free of interruptions. Initially, scheduling time to think will feel incredibly unproductive. However, you’ll quickly gain perspective which enables you to work smarter and more strategically.
2. Find a place to shape your thoughts.
In their infancy most ideas are fuzzy, flabby, and fanciful. Firstly, our thoughts initially are unclear. As a leader, challenge yourself to translate your gut intuitions or inklings into distinct ideas which you can plainly articulate to your team. Secondly, new ideas never come fully formed. They need a workout to tighten them up and to get them into shape. As a leader, your job is to submit ideas to a fitness test by asking a battery of questions. Does the idea proceed from reliable assumptions? Does the idea align with the values and vision of the organization? Does the idea make sense given the structure and strengths of the organization? Thirdly, thoughts spring into existence in the realm of possibility. However, to be useful they must undergo tests of practicality. For instance, how would the idea actually take shape in your organization? What would it cost to pursue? How long would it take to implement?
3. Find a place to stretch your thoughts.
Throughout my career, some of my best thinking has been done by others. Oftentimes my ideas start out small until my team gets ahold of them and finds ways to stretch them to their maximum potential. Isolated leaders never obtain as much influence as those who surround themselves with an inner circle of creative, intelligent advisors.
4. Find a place to land your thoughts.
Before an idea can make an impact, it must make the descent from your head to your hands. In other words, the thought must come out of thin air and take on a concrete existence. The number one question to ask when landing or implementing an idea is: Who will own it? That is, who will champion the idea and push it forward? In addition to the logistics of landing the idea, a leader relationally must prepare the way for the idea to touch down safely. Practically, this means winning the support of key decision-makers and communicating clearly with those most likely to be affected by the idea’s implementation.
5. Find a place to fly your thoughts.
If you wanted to fly an airplane, you would begin by taking lessons from a pilot. Likewise, to fly an idea, you first need to learn from a pilot or trial run. Testing your idea on a small scale exposes its weaknesses before a major launch. Sometimes the flaws are fixable, and the idea can be reworked. On rare occasions, you may even have an idea that tests out brilliantly on the first attempt. However, other ideas, though theoretically solid, are not feasible in real life and ought to be scrapped. A trial run confirms that an idea which sounds impressive can actually withstand the challenges of real-world application.