Take One Brave Step

Where does courage come from? How do we as leaders develop the courage that we need to stand up to resistance, overcome injustice, and develop our people even when resources are low? It's not a pill that we can take, it's not anything that we can buy; we develop courage one step at a time.

One step toward correcting the mistakes that we make. One step toward confronting a wrong. One step toward practicing assertiveness, not aggressiveness, in stating what we want in a situation.

We make mistakes along the way. We become too assertive. We fail to speak up when we see someone being disrespected. We let our boss incorrectly criticize a team member. But, we can correct those mistakes. We can redirect our work in courage toward effective behavior.

Courage does not require perfection.

It requires steps in that direction. How do we get started on our path to courage? Take one brave step at a time.

What step toward courage can you take today?

Doug Smith

Front Range Leadership: Training Supervisors for Success

doug smith training: how to achieve your project goals

Comments

High Performance Leaders Combine Courage and Compassion

What do people look for in a leader? I believe that there are four key strengths that leaders must develop: clarity, courage, creativity, and compassion. As leaders we should develop these in connection with each other. I was thinking about this as I was leading a workshop on controlling chaos yesterday. When we are leading our way (and others' way) through difficult situations it is no time to be shy. It's not the time to sit back and wait for something to happen. It's not the time to get passive. High performance leaders make their expectations clear. They raise the bar. They look for people to give their best, speak up, and be assertive. It's easy to go over the edge, though. It's easy to fall into an extreme. Leaders do it frequently and are often portrayed in the media as strong and confident even though that occurs at the expense of other people's self-esteem and well being. Centered, high performance leaders do not lead and achieve at the expense ...

It's About The Cause

The art of leadership is keeping the ego out of the play. It's not about you. It's never about you. As a leader, it's about the cause. -- doug smith

Money Isn't Everything

The profit motive is a poor substitute for genuine value. Money isn't everything. It's not even the most important thing. Oh, sure it's incredibly important. As a person who has many times wondered if there would be enough cash to pay the bills, I have come to respect mightily the value of money. But money is transactional. People are more than transactions. What we value most is more than money can buy, is more than a transaction, is a character of depth and peacefulness, and yes, love that is earned, not bought. Think about that for a minute. -- doug smith

Nothing Left to Give?

Saying that we did the best we ould and actually DOING the best we could are NOT the same and does not fool anyone. You'll know for sure when you did the best you could when there is nothing left to give. -- doug smith

Monologue

When it sounds like I'm preaching I'm primarily talking to myself. -- doug smith

Work Your Way There

Big goals need little goals to build momentum. -- doug smith

How To Stay Patient

Are you a patient person? Do you ever lose patience with people because they are disappointing you or missing your expectations? I get impatient sometimes. Why can't people do the simple thing I asked, quickly? Why do I have to wait in line? Why don't they understand what I just said? Then I realize that the things I am most impatient about (miscommunication, incomplete service, broken expectations) are sometimes the very things that I am weakest at myself. My impatience comes from my own inner mistakes. I seem to have the least patience with those parts of people that are most like my own. That's sobering to consider and also liberating. It teaches me where my own areas for development appear. It helps me to breathe a bit and become somewhat more patient. It's valuable feedback. Here's how to stay patient: take impatience as early feedback on your own performance (not someone else's). Then work on that. It also helps to breathe, and smile. What ...

Find the Opposition

The art of leadership is understanding the opposition. -- doug smith

Feed Your Creativity

Are you filling up your creativity tank? Finding creative activities and appreciating the creative work of others influences how creative we feel and act. We need to recharge. We need to bring more creativity into our life. We need to fill up our creative tank. When you feed your life creativity, you have more to give. Not just more creativity, but more clarity, more courage, and more compassion, too. Creativity sparks development in many areas, keeps you fresh, and propels you forward. The arts are for more than artists. The arts keep us whole. The arts spark our thinking into new areas, new connections. Take in the arts this week - see a play, view some real art (not just pictures, actual paintings or sculptures), take some photos with an actual camera, dance! Experiencing art will rev you up, get you going, and feed your creative supply. From that creative supply you can get more and better ideas. You can solve problems faster. You can take your performance to the next l...

Begin Again

Have you ever had one of those days when you wished you were in a video game and could simply push reset? It's not so easy in real life. But we do have a reset button. We are not always trapped in unchangeable circumstances. We have choice. We have power. We have courage. Take that courage. Show that power. Each moment presents a new chance to begin again. Begin again. -- Douglas Brent Smith You can begin your quest again to achieve your goals. Get more info here . Are problems standing in the way? Check out our Centered Problem Solving Workshop.

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