It's Tuesday at 2:00pm! (PST Time: I live and work from Southern California)
Greetings to you!
Each week I send out a short leadership blog that's called "Tuesday at 2:00pm". The purpose of this is simply to provide a brief thought on leadership that you can read and think about in just a few minutes. I send it out every week at 2:00pm (PST) and encourage you to make an appointment with yourself to pause and think about the thing I'm writing about.
Russ...
LEADERSHIP QUOTE:
"Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing." Albert Schweitzer
What does this stir up? Either write me HERE or comment at the end of the blog post HERE.
A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:
We're going to explore this word INFLUENCE over the next number of weeks. I'm hosting a Global Leadership Summit in Georgia in March with Leader Mundial, and the theme this year is The Influence of a Leader. While we have a number of topics, books and presentations to address this, I wanted to simply look at some quotes that explore this more.
When I read this quote, I'm reminded of another quote from a hero of mine, Jim Burns. He said this often when he was training me as a young youth pastor: "People won't remember what you say, but they will remember what you do."
He then went on to ask this question:
Name 10 of the greatest sermons you've ever heard: who preached it, what was it on... we always struggled with that question, and even though my dad was a pastor, I had to dig deep to identify 10 messages that I could remember. (Sorry Dad!)
He then asked this question:
Name 10 people who impacted your life: name them, how did they make you feel? 10 people were easy, and once I got thinking, I could keep going and going.
That's this quote. EXAMPLE is the only thing
We LISTEN to people all the time. We capture their message, we hear their words, we ponder their presentation.
We also WATCH people all the time. We watch close up and from a distance, we watch what is done and what's not done, we watch peoples reactions.
Bill Jones was a family friend who influenced my life in many ways. But in writing this, I remember how he taught me how to pull a water skier behind a boat. I was living with his family in Northern California, and they had a Boat House on Lake Shasta. We would head to the lake just about everyday after work, and it was some of the best skiing I've ever done.
Bill was the one who taught others to ski, who drove the boat, and who made everything happen, but often, he didn't get to ski because he didn't trust anyone to pull him the right way. Then I came along. He had me watch him drive the boat for weeks pulling skiers, then he had me take the boat out on my own just to get comfortable. He talked me through speeds, wind and the boats capabilities, and he then let me "practice" on his kids (what a great dad!) I did fine.
Then one day, he stopped the boat in the middle of the lake and jumped in. He said to me, "you're ready... Hit it!". I then became his personal driver, and spent the rest of that summer pulling people around Lake Shasta, and giving Bill some great time on the water.
That's example, and years later when we had our own ski boat, those lessons kept with me, and I passed them on to many other people.
"Things are CAUGHT not TAUGHT".
Bill led by example and modeled for me not only how to drive a ski boat, but how to live life fully.
Who has lived an EXAMPLE in front of your life, teaching you and molding you into who you are today?
DEEPER STILL:
INFLUENCE
I began to share 6 ways to influence people, then got distracted. Let's get back to that.
#2) MODEL INFLUENCE, DON'T FORCE IT
#3) BUILD TRUST BEFORE TRYING TO CHANGE ANYTHING
#4) LISTEN BEFORE YOU LEAD
Listening Well Increases Your Influence
We live at a pace that's it's difficult to "listen well", but people have a deep longing and desire to be "really heard". That's a problem, don't you think?
Classic listening advice from the archives:
First, LISTEN TO BE UNDERSTOOD, NOT TO RESPOND.
Covey says "seek first to understand, then to be understood".
Let the other person finish completely
Pause for a moment before responding
Focus on their body language and intent, not just on the words
Second, REFLECT BACK WHAT YOU HEARD.
Clarify by simply restating what you heard them say.
This confirms that you understood them correctly
This makes the speaker feel valued
This prevents misunderstandings
Third, ASK CURIOUS, OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS.
Draw them into conversation instead of shutting them down.
"How did this affect you?"
"What do you think the best solution might be?"
"How did this make you feel?"
Influence grows when people feel heard before they are led
Rate yourself as a listener on a scale of 1 - 10: 1 is you don't listen well, 10 is you do really good hearing other people? What can you do to improve that score?
Things I'm Reading, Listening To and Watching This Week:
Here's a great article by David Mathis called, "Six Lessons in Good Listening".
Speaking of listening, sometimes when I'm reading a book, I choose to "listen" to it as well. I'm doing that with a book called Gospel Patrons by John Rinehart. I've read it a couple of times, and now listening to it brings some new things to life! I use Audible and enjoy listening while walking the streets around my home!
We've discovered "Little People" thanks to our grand daughter Reese. A whole new word that this week included a New Convertible! We're just getting started!
OK, I'm becoming a "Bird Nerd" (Thanks Jonny) This free app, Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab has been really fun. I now how 41 birds that I've identified and I read that "Bird Watching Reduces Stress and Improves Mental Health". Find the birds that live around you!
Gina and I watched the Neil Diamond inspired movie with Kate Hudson & Hugh Jackman, Song Sung Blue. Based on a true story, filled with some great music!