The 4 Essentials of Effective Leadership

I read this article written Mark Raciappa, ActionCOACH and I totally agree. His communication is clear, concise and it resonated with me. Mark says;

I remember a bumper sticker: “Either Lead or Follow—But Get Out of the Way!”

Interestingly, in my company, I say something similar and it goes like this "If you can lead, lead. If you can't lead, follow. If you cannot lead or follow, get out of my way!

Mark continued to write that, when our role calls for the former, here are 4 important things to keep in mind:

1. Great leaders communicate. Realizing that good communication is a 2-way street, we must be responsible for our part. That being said, true communication is the response that you get. Whatever form you choose (verbal, mail, e-mail, etc), if you don’t get the outcome you seek (from a “willing” recipient), the responsibility lies with the sender. Great leaders confirm, gain commitment, and solicit feedback to improve the process.

2. Great leaders make decisions. Far too often, those in positions of authority delay choosing a course because they have to keep gathering more information. We call this: the paralysis of analysis. If you’re the Leader, rest assured that the followers are well aware of this handicap. If you are received as indecisive, this severely hampers your ability to lead the Team. How many opportunities have slipped away because the leader took to long to make a move? One more thing: great leaders admit when they make a mistake, take corrective action, and move on. This will do wonders to build respect from Team members.

3. Great leaders delegate. Once the decision has been made, it’s time to share the workload. Great leaders don’t try to do everything themselves, realizing that dividing the work multiplies the results. This also demonstrates trust in the Team and fosters individual growth. When the communication works (see #1 above), distributing responsibility contributes to great results. As a side note, a great leader shares the credit with those responsible when those great results come in.

4. Great leaders hold others accountable. Leaders do what they say they will do and expect the same from others. One of my mentors used to say: “You expect what you inspect.” Great leaders follow up and follow through. Those who study the human condition have found that “behavior that is recognized is behavior that gets repeated”. The Team knows what the Leader, historically, has paid attention to and what has been “overlooked”. As the Leader, change your behavior and you change your results.

It starts with you, it starts today. From Gandhi: “Be the change you want to see in the world”.

Stay driven!
Moonshi

How Do YOU Know What You Said You Know?

I just received a newsletter article by Jim Cathcart dated 23/6/2010.

In the article, Jim shared that there is an organization called The Institute of Noetic Science founded by astronaut Edgar Mitchell. They study what it means to "know" something and how we know what we know.

Sounds like some high minded stuff eh? It's fascinating. For example: take something you know to be true. Then examine, how do you know it? Are you sure about it?

Jim says, here are some ways we conclude that we "Know":

• Personal experience - we saw it ourselves
• Expert testimony - we heard it from an authority
  
• Scientific method - we tested it and proved it
• Intuition - we know it on an unconscious level
• Feelings - our gut tells us it is so
• Reason - we used logic to figure it out
  

None of these is a perfect source, all could be wrong. But the more we respect each way of "knowing" the more likely we are to reach a reliable conclusion.

So, the next time someone says "I know this to be true", ask them specifically, "HOW do you know?"

Thank you for sharing this Jim. It is a grreeaaatttt article.

What "Avatar the Movie", "The Shift of Consciousness" and "Conversations with God" has in common?

I originally posted this article on Facebook Notes on Monday, 11 January 2010 at 08:44am. Since I have yet to integrate my Blog to Facebook, I am re-posting the content here.

After I watched Avatar the movie, on the afternoon of 10-Jan-2010, something inside me was awaken. I shifted, and resonated with the movie so much that I had tears of gratitude, tears of love and tears of awakening - that something needs to be done.

The movie moved me emotionally - deeply. The plot, the graphics, the story line, the main character- John Sully and the entire rendering of planet Pandora, the way of living, the interconnectivity of all life forms. I was awed by it and I immediately know that life on Mother Earth is just the same. We are all connected with all the life forms that exists today and the ones that have ceased to exist due to man's own doing.

After the movie, while having toast and tea, I discussed the plot of the movie with my wife and what James Cameron had visualized 15-years ago and the state of Mother Earth today based on the behavior, attitude and plundering activities of man and we both had a deep awakening. Something in me shifted. I got a thought - there are only 6+ billion people on Mother Earth. If every one of us, help 6 others to get this shift of consciousness in a cluster of 6, we can make it! It's like having a MasterMind group with 6 members in a team in a global scale!

That same night, at about 12.30am (this morning, prior to sleeping), I continued to read Conversations with God, Book II and on page 172, and I was shocked and awed to read the following:

God says:
I have told you before, all attack is a call for help. No one truly desires to hurt another. Those who do it - including your own governments, by the way - do it out of a misplaced idea that it is the only way to get something they want.

I've already outlined in this book, the higher solution to this problem. Simply want nothing. Have preferences but no needs.

Yet, this is a very high state of Being; it is the place of Masters.

In terms of geopolitics, why not work together as a world to meet the most basic needs of everyone?

Neale Donald Walsch says:
We are doing that - or trying.

God says:
After all these years of human history, that's the most you can say?

The fact is, you have barely evolved at all. You still operate from a primitive "every man for himself" mentality. You plunder the Earth, rape her of her resources, exploit her people, and systematically disenfranchise those who disagree with you for doing all of this, calling them the "radicals".

You do all this for your own selfish purposes, because you have developed a lifestyle that you cannot maintain any other way.

You must cut down millions of acres of trees each year or you won't be able to have your Sunday paper. You must destroy miles of protective ozone layer which covers your planet, or you cannot have your hair-spray. You must pollute your rivers and streams beyond repair or you cannot have your industries to give you Bigger, Better and More. And you must exploit the least among you - the least advantage, the east educated, the least aware - or you cannot live at the top of human scale in unheard-of (and unnecessary) luxury. Finally, you must deny that you are doing this, or you cannot live with yourself.

You cannot find in your heart to "live simply, so that others may simply live". That bumper sticker wisdom is too simple for you. It is too much to ask. Too much to give. After all, you have worked so hard for what you've got! You ain't giving up none of it!. And if the rest of the human race - to say nothing of your children's children - have to suffer for it, tough bananas, right? You did what you had to do to survive, to "make it" - they can do the same! After all, it is every man for himself, is it not?

Neale Donald Walsch asks:
Is there any way out this mess?

God says:
Yes. Shall I say it again? A shift of consciousness.

....to get the rest of the content of this book, please read it, just too much for me to share the copyrighted material..... and do visit the website at http://www.cwg.org/ for more details.

Basically, what I feel like saying is that, while I was pondering, focusing, feeling and thinking about what can I do, to start this shift of consciousness, starting from I, interestingly, I got some answers and guidance from this book, which was published in 1997! Wow!!! Thank you Universe... thank you...thank you...thank you...

Friends, this book has shifted me many times over from Book I. The level of awareness I had, has grown over and over again.

If we ALL want to live, continue our journey on Mother Earth, have families and leave a legacy, live a loving life of happiness filled with abundance with no scarcity, to love and care for one another and to treat each other with love & respect as we also would like to be love and respected, then why are we ALL not giving it our all? Why are we not taking actions yet? Why are we not taking responsibilities? Why are we still allowing our governments and industries to do everything that we do not want to happen to our own self and family?

I welcome your thoughts and feelings about the passage that I have just shared. Do leave your comments.

With love, light and passion,
Moonshi Mohsenruddin