Significant Leadership

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Studies show that the only thing people fear more than death is, public speaking.  Seinfeld says that people would rather be in the coffin than delivering the eulogy.  However, it is my belief that what people really fear is insignificance. Fear that when one reaches the end of their life, they will look back on unmet goals, unfulfilled ambitions, and regrets. Fear, that their life has not mattered, or made a difference, to anyone or anything.  

It is from this fear that I have implemented seven strategies into my life to ensure that no goal goes unmet, or ambition is unfulfilled.  That I will look back and see and life lived without regret and that has impacted the world around me.  

It is these seven principals that I lead my team with, in order to ensure that we are making a lasting difference in our company, our clients, and our personal lives.

Strategy #1:  Take Action

Start now, start where you are.  Do not wait until you are great to begin.  Untold numbers of people never start because they are afraid they cannot make it go.  Others never start because they do not see ahead to the reward, and others never get started because they are waiting to be compensated for their services.

To succeed is but the natural way to live.  To fail is contrary to nature.

If you don't start, you can't fail.  It sounds ridiculous when you say it that way.  But of course, it is ridiculous.  It's (quite possibly) the reason you're stalling.  On the other hand, there's no doubt that, "If you don't start, you will fail."  Not starting and failing lead to precisely the same outcome, with different names.  - Seth Godin

Strategy #2: Define Success

What does success look like for your organization/client/self?  

Success means much more than pure profit; it means that you have conquered; you have self-satisfaction; you know that you have a place in the world.  Success means a greater personality, a greater usefulness, the realization of one's homes, and a legacy to leave to the world which will encourage future generations. 

It is important to have a clear definition of success so that you can adequately determine your priorities, and envision the reward at the end of the journey.

Strategy #3:  Always Be Producing

Leave no time wasted.  We are given eight hours for work, eight hours for sleep, and eight hours for recreation, the improvement or our minds, and the social amenities of life.  How many are there who can put their finger on the last eight hours and tell where they have gone?  The man who has wasted the precious hours of life's seed-time finds that he cannot reap a harvest in life's autumn.  

I prioritize and utilize my work time in these three ways: (1) What can I do that will be most beneficial for my team and organization?  (2) What can I do that will be most beneficial for my customer/client?  (3) What can I do that will be most beneficial for my own professional growth?

Anything outside of these does not need to occupy my work day.

Strategy #4:  Stay the Course

Once you have defined what success means for you, your organization, and your clients, and have charted a course to get there, do not deviate.  Many distractions will come, but only acknowledge the things that move you closer to your destination (this means sometimes saying, 'no' to seemingly good opportunities).

Strategy #5:  Make Decisions

Do not be paralyzed by indecisiveness.  Lack of making decisions can derail an organization, a team, a life, faster than almost anything else.  Refusal to make a decision is a decision.  It is a decision to be taken wherever others want to go.  This will derail you from your goals and defined success path.  

If you are a leader, you are paid to make decisions.  Do the job you are expected to do.

Strategy #6:  Focus on Others

Pour yourself into the lives of your team.  Help them achieve their goals, and you will achieve yours.  Cultivate the art of seeing possibilities in others.  We live by radiation, not absorption.

Strategy #7:  Seek Results

The men who make history are the men who get what they go after - the men who get results.  To get the results you need and expect requires initiative, it requires doing the extra work, it requires resolve.  Initiative to do the thing that must be done.  Doing the extra work to achieve the results that only you can.  Resolve to see the project through to completion.

Stop Stealing Dreams

Powerful! From Seth Godin.

What is school for?

The economy has changed, probably forever.

School hasn't.

School was invented to create a constant stream of compliant factory workers to the growing businesses of the 1900s. It continues to do an excellent job at achieving this goal, but it's
not a goal we need to achieve any longer.


In this 30,000 word manifesto, I imagine a different set of goals and start (I hope) a discussion about how we can reach them. One thing is certain: if we keep doing what we've been doing, we're going to keep getting what we've been getting.


Our kids are too important to sacrifice to the status quo.




You can get your copy for free




Here are four versions of the manifesto. Pick the one that you need, and feel free to share. To download a file, you'll probably need the option key or the right click button on your mouse... ask a teenager if you get stuck.


The On Screen version
Use this one to read it on a computer or similar device. Feel free to email to the teachers, parents and administrators in your life.


The Printable edition
This is the same document, but formatted for your laser printer or the local copy shop. You are welcome to make copies, but please don't charge for it or edit it.


Here's the Kindle edition
You'll need to download it and then plug in your Kindle via a USB cable. Drag the file to the Documents folder on your Kindle and boom, you're done.


The ePub edition
This should work with other types of ebook readers, but I haven't tested it. Your mileage may vary, and if it doesn't work, the PDF should.


The manifesto in HTML on the web
Useful for cutting and pasting, I guess. The PDFs are easier to read.


How I built the manifesto, plus back up links
If any of the links above don't work, you'll find back up PDF downloads here, as well as a long-ish essay about how I built them.
 





Get more at StopStealingDreams.com.

Unreasonable Demands

We all have those business owners/politicians/citizens in our community that are often times hard to deal with, or constantly have unreasonable demands.  If these were our customers in a private industry we could "fire" them, or refuse to offer them service. However, being public servants we do not have the luxury of choosing our customers.

Seth Godin, recently published a blog article addressing the unreasonable customer.  His insight to how and why to handle these people, proves valuable even to the fire service/fire prevention.

Reasons to tolerate the customer/citizen with unreasonable demands:

• You promised you would - as employees in the fire service our main job description is that of public servant.  By taking this job, and choosing this career, we have promised to take care of and meet the needs of these citizens. It is our duty. It is our responsibility



• She helps you raise your game -  the citizen with seemingly unreasonable demands, make us better, and causes our level of service to rise.  The customer that request something outside of our normal operations, or above and beyond our perceived capacity, stretches us.  In attempting to accomplish the unreasonable task we realize that it actually is possible, and sometimes this unreasonable task, becomes a new normal operating procedure.

• Her word of mouth is very powerful - Perception is reality.  In these economic times (for every community), when the powers that be are looking for places to make cuts,  the unreasonable citizen is of a high value.  The negative perceptions of the fire department, can be quickly wahsed over by the positive word-of-mouth of the citizen whose unreasonable demand was met in a timely and excellent fashion.

There are, however, unreasonable customers that should not be tolerated.  We all have those contractors/business owners/citizens that constantly have the same issues, same demands, and time and time again we bend over backwards to help them, but they never quite get it.   These customers/citizens should be ones we spend less of our time being involved with.  Godin says, these customers prevent your employees from doing their best work in the long run,  their word of mouth can't be changed (or their word of mouth just doesn't matter),  and they distract us from delighting the reasonable customers.

In fire prevention we must consistently be going above and beyond for our custom

ers/citizens, even the ones with unreasonable demands.