Lee Ellis's Blog, page 285
January 14, 2016
New Infographic: Find and Balance Your Leadership Tilt to Achieve Your Goals
Award-winning author and leadership consultant, Lee Ellis, surveyed hundreds of leaders about their greatest leader, the most important natural behaviors beyond character and hard worker were Results and Relationships.
Leaders must get results to accomplish the mission, stay in business and be competitive, but they also must build relationships because it’s people (with motivations and emotions) who do the work.
This infographic from Leading with Honor helps you find your natural leadership tilt between results and relationships, and then you’ll discover how to better balance your behavior to become a more honorable, successful leader.
January 13, 2016
Wrestling with a Personal Goal This Year? Remember This Important Point…
If you’re wrestling with a personal goal this year, the reality is that sacrifices will need to be made to achieve it. Period. On the positive side, though, giving up an old mindset or behavior can actually lighten the load mentally, emotionally, and physically! And it’s a great way to authentically lead others.
Years after my mom’s passing, she is still a legendary schoolteacher and leadership example in the community where I grew up. One of her students made her a sign that hung on a wall in her class and ultimately in our home. It said – “The elevator to success is not working. You’ll have to take the stairs.”
That sign made a great point, and seeing it often sealed in my mind the principle that success is usually a series of steps that require diligent, hard work for any profession. Keep pressing towards your goal in life and leadership—you can do it!
Read the full article on this topic, and please share your comments –
January 12, 2016
Twelve ways to live like a Navy SEAL in 2016 – What’s the Most Important One?
Retired U.S. Navy SEAL, Chris Sajnog, shares his “” below. Which one is the most important one for you this year? Please check them out and share your comments!
Confident — A warrior is sure of himself and has no uncertainty about his own abilities.
Decisive — Displaying no hesitation in battle is vital to survival.
Strong — You need to have a determined will in all that you do. A strong mind can make up for a weak body, but not the other way around.
Skillful — Having the right mindset is vital, but you need a skill set to match.
Active — You need to be moving, doing, or functioning at all times. Ideas and theories are great, but action gets things done.
Aggressive — Being forceful, bold, and energetic — not a pit bull with a bad owner.
Disciplined — Once you have a plan and are confident that you can fulfill it, you must have the discipline required to stick with it.
Vigilant — You never know when danger is going to come knocking, and you need to be prepared to react appropriately.
Patient — Having patience means bearing pains or trials calmly or without complaint.
Brave — Brave doesn’t mean you aren’t afraid. It means YOU ARE, but you continue in spite of your fears.
Loyal — A warrior needs direction, and that comes from being faithful to a cause, ideal or institution. Loyalty will keep you guided along your path.
Loving — A warrior has confronted death and understands the value of life. Warriors whose lives are in balance are peaceful, unselfish and compassionate of others. The love of family gives the warrior his energy to constantly train for battle and the strength to survive once he’s there.
Read the entire article here.
January 11, 2016
Ways to Inspire Your Team to Lead with Honor – See Inside
Inspire your team to lead with honor in 2016! Leaders love our smaller items like wristbands, courage challenge cards, and reminder cards for their team or staff.
Check them out in the Leading with Honor Online Store. If you’re already using them, please share!
January 10, 2016
On This Day in Leadership History, January 10, 2016
Time Warner Center, New York City
On this day in leadership history in 1990, Time Inc. and Warner Communications Inc. completed a $14 billion merger. The new company, Time Warner, was the world’s largest entertainment company.
When you’re in ongoing competition with another colleague, leader, or company, sometimes it makes sense to join forces rather than expend energy competing against them. As a leader, take a look at merging opportunities!
Time Warner – Wikipedia
January 9, 2016
Video Clip for the New Year – Stuart R. Levine’s “Six Fundamentals of Success”
Lee Ellis and Leading with Honor loves Stuart R Levine’s book, “The Six Fundamentals of Success”. In this brief interview from the Today Show, Stuart shares about these fundamentals that will help anyone get results in the new year. Please watch and share your comments too –
January 8, 2016
Leading with Honor Wisdom for Today, January 8, 2016
“Wisdom is knowing what to do next; virtue is doing it.” – David Starr Jordan
January 7, 2016
Fill-in-the-Blank – “When I look back at 2015…”
Fill-in-the-Blank – “When I look back at 2015, the one thing that I want to change or grow in 2016 is_______________________.”
January 5, 2016
3 Sacrificial Ways to Conquer This Year’s Goals…or Not
By Lee Ellis | Tweet this Article
If you’re feeling some anxiety or struggle about goals for the New Year, here’s my advice for relieving that pressure: fail fast and avoid the drama. Just avoid making goals altogether. Seriously, you say?
I remember my parents’ generation making New Year’s resolutions, but they rarely stuck to them for a full year. Today, I believe that’s why making resolutions is less trendy because people realize how hard they are to keep.
The concept of stretch goals for personal and professional growth can be inspiring and hopeful, but the reality is that they’re very difficult because it requires us to do something different, to break old habits, and adopt new behaviors. Reprogramming our brain is counter to human nature, which likes to follow the old paths.
Creating goals requires some measure of worthy sacrifice. [Tweet this quote]
Sacrificial Decisions
Think of a time in your life when you made a worthy sacrifice. The arrival of a new baby in a family is a great example. Babies inconvenience everyone around them, and yet couples quickly make drastic changes in their mindset and behaviors. This type of sacrifice is obviously a willing investment with a valuable payoff!
Just thinking of the word sacrifice can be painful, but if the goal is strong enough, then it’s worth it.
Ironically for worthy goals, giving up an old mindset or behavior can actually lighten the load mentally, emotionally, and physically! And it’s an authentic and inspiring example in leading others, too.
The Elevator Isn’t Working
Years after my mom’s passing, she is still a legendary schoolteacher and leadership example in the community where I grew up. One of her students made her a sign that hung on a wall in her class and ultimately in our home. It said* –
“The elevator to success is not working. You’ll have to take the stairs.” [Tweet this quote]
That sign made a great point, and seeing it often sealed in my mind the principle that success is usually a series of steps that require diligent, hard work for any profession. Michael Jordan would shoot baskets for hours. Pro golfers typically hit hundreds of balls a day. Business owners and senior leaders typically work long hours to cover all their responsibilities. In all of these examples, the sacrifice was ultimately worth the cost because these leaders passionately believed in their goals.
As I related in Leading with Honor, our senior POW leaders sacrificed regularly in order to set a high standard of resistance to the enemy for the rest of us. We all had to sacrifice to achieve our goal statement to “Return with Honor.” The sacrificial cost was worth the goal in this life-and-death example, and it still dramatically affects my personal and professional life today.
<<Watch this month’s Leading with Honor Coaching on this topic – Sign Up for instant access >>>
3 Helpful Goal-Setting Tips
Here are three tips that will help us achieve our goals this year –
Remember how you have sacrificed in the past and the reward that came from your suffering.
When you have eaten nothing in a Vietnam POW camp but a bowl of thin soup and a piece of bread or cup of rice twice a day for weeks, months, years, you know you can eat almost anything and survive well on a lot less than the typical American diet. What seemed like sacrifice became the accepted way of life because it was the only way to achieve our goals. You also have examples where you’ve paid the price—reflect on them.
Use determination and discipline to overcome your fears.
When you sacrifice (and even suffer) to achieve an important goal, it’s fear that you have to combat. As a writer, I have to fight off the “fear of failure” voices in my head telling me “this is no good” and “who would read this?” We must fight back, knowing that once we kick fear out of the way, we’ll find that sacrifice helps us reach beyond ourselves and find success. Lean into the pain of your doubts and fears and do what’s needed to achieve your worthy goal.
Make your goal public and enlist a support team to encourage you along the way.
The wisdom of the ages is that you should never fight alone. In the POW camps, we would risk our lives to reach out to isolated teammates. Victory is usually a team effort and especially when you’re fighting discouragement.
Who will encourage and support you when things get tough, and help you stay the course?
My Sacrificial Goal for 2016
One of my goals for this year is to finish a new book. I’ve been thinking about how I’ll alter my schedule to write more; how I’ll have to say no to some good things I want to do; how I’ll have to stay focused and just sit down at the computer and write. To stay accountable, I’ll give you public updates each quarter on my progress. It’s a worthy goal, and thankfully I have a great team to help me.
So what’s your decision? Are you willing to sacrifice this year to grow, change, achieve, and reach a higher level? Please respond and make your commitment public right here.
LE
FREE OFFER! Aligning you and your team with a set of common values is essential for achieving your goals. Download a free copy of the Honor Code, and share with your team!
*The source of this quote is usually attributed to salesman, Joe Girard.
Lee Interview on Healthy Accountability, the Forgotten War in Afghanistan, and More
Lee Ellis was a recent guest on AM 560 WIND FOX News Radio in Chicago, discussing his expertise on the topic of healthy accountability regarding the ongoing Bowe Bergdahl trial, the forgotten war in Afghanistan, and more.
See if you agree with Lee’s candid answers, and share your comments too –
