"Everything worthwhile is uphill," John Maxwell, the leadership guru said at a recent global leadership summit. "Yet our behaviors and habits are downhill." Think "Easy Button" (sorry, Staples). Downhill thinking includes self-centeredness (what's in for me? the leader asks) and contentedness--which includes blaming others for poor results. (Think about all of the recent bad business news being blamed on the election. NFL viewership is down, restaurant revenues are down, etc. 'course English football viewership is down but can't blame that on the US election--they'll find their own scapegoat.) Uphill hopes, downhill habits: That's a big disconnect, according to Maxwell, and it's detrimental to our leadership and horribly impacts our organizations.
The solution he says are found in five "intentions":
- Value people--even the ones you don't with whom you don't like connecting or correcting
- Think of ways to add value to people
- Look for ways to add value to people
- Add value
- Encourage others to do the previous four intentions
It wasn't unlike the message Alan Mullaley, former Ford chief, had at the same leadership summit: people first and include everyone. He gave an example of having corporate teams collaborate with dealers.
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