Call to Arms

Well, it has been too long since Empower U has created an article for our graduates.

To those of you that e-mailed or commented that you miss the articles and would like us to do some more...thank you. To those of you that have been patiently waiting, please accept our apologies. Thanks to our graduates, Empower U is in very high demand all over North America.

Empower U is discussing an agreement with the Army National Guard where our Recruiting and Retention NCO's would receive the most powerful Leadership Training available as part of their standardized training. Things are still in the talking stages, we will keep you abreast on the incredible possibilities.

I had the opportunity to work with some outstanding leaders when I was in Camp Robinson, Arkansas a few weeks back. We have been working with the Guard to increase Recruiting and Retention and to make those in the Guard the "Best of the Best"...Hooaah! While doing some brainstorming with these outstanding gentlemen, it hit me...This sense of urgency...a call to arms...The time is NOW...Sound the battle stations....

A reporter once asked George Bernard Shaw, "If you could live your life over and you could be anybody you wanted to be...Who would you be?"

After thinking about it for a moment, Mr. Shaw responded, "If I could be ANYBODY I wanted to be...I would be the George Bernard Shaw that I could have been." In other words, he wanted to be the person that he was intended to be, the "Best Possible Him." He wanted to be himself living to 100% of his potential. Not better than Ms. Jones or as good as Mr. Sanchez, and not as bad as Mr. Berry...the George Bernard Shaw that HE COULD HAVE BEEN. Each day this is a question that we must answer - not always at the conscious level - yet on a daily basis. What more can we ask of our leaders than this simple concept?

This is the true call to arms. This is at the root of what I mean as Leadership, when it gets stripped down to the core... This is our purpose at Empower U, to instill this value, this belief system in as many people as possible. So many of us get caught up in all these technical, left-brain, analytical evaluations of what is Leadership?...How do we lead?... It's okay to Keep It Simple Scott!

In Leadership Awakening, our graduates get to live the Leadership Experience. People get the chance to ponder life-changing questions and get the opportunity to emotionally experience the delicious, intoxicating treasures of living life as if it really did matter.

Realizing they have been doing a "Good 'Nuff" job, up until now, and they leave committed to do even better with their families and team members. There is an old saying, "Set yourself on fire with enthusiasm and people will come from miles to watch you burn". They leave "On Fire" for their lives. They leave with a sense of critical importance, a sense of urgency and yet a calm. This sense of urgency they leave with? A desire to be better.... Better bosses, better CEO's, better team members, spouses, parents.... What's the hurry you ask? Why this sense of urgency?

Dr. Victor Frankl understands the sense of urgency. At the end of his best selling book, Man's Search for Meaning, he leaves us with the following "Call to Arms":

What is at stake?...How about our futures, our families, our churches, our LIVES.

What I hear Dr. Frankl saying is the world is dependent upon us taking charge and being incredible leaders. Leaders who challenge themselves and others to be the "Best of the Best." To be Leaders who are always "Under Construction." Leaders who are committed to making a positive impact on society. To be Leaders who never accept 'Good 'Nuff', and are committed to do even better. To become the "George Bernard Shaws" that we could have been. We must have a sense of urgency, or it becomes something we can do 'tomorrow,' and as we know...tomorrow never comes.

To quote the great communicator President Ronald Reagan:

It would not be fair of me to get you all stirred up and then leave you. I am sure that if you are reading this article, your feelings are probably not too different than mine on this subject. You might be saying, "But Mr. Black, how can we do this? I believe like you, but how? I know the 'Why', what about the 'How'? I believe the 'how' is as common sense as the 'why'. For whatever reason, common sense is not so common any more.

At Empower U, we believe that the tool, the vehicle, the concept that will help us become the Leaders that we want to be is found in the 4 C's of Leadership. When we focus on these 4 key pieces of the foundation, the structure we build will be solid to withstand many battles, and many storms. Let's consider these four key elements.

Commitment is about trust. If your team members can't trust you...will they follow you? Leaders have to push through tough situations. Most people pull back when they hit resistance. True Leaders push through the wall. Even when others call you the fool, when others jump ship, even when ridicule and humility become the consequence of our commitment.

People will follow someone who is committed. There could be a lot of things you are doing wrong. You might occasionally get emotionally hi-jacked with one of your teammates...You might occasionally fall short of your expectations...You might occasionally be seen as the flawed human being that you really are...When there is real commitment- Heart, Body & Soul - your team will see your commitment and that will help fuel their own fires of commitment and dedication. Commitment can have the same effect, in some respects, as love. Commitment can cover many Leadership "Sins" - It doesn't okay them, it just gives your team reasons to focus on more than those weaknesses. A good example of what a leader must sometimes endure is in the following parable of a farmer who owned an old mule:

he mule fell into the farmer's well. The farmer heard the mule 'braying' - or whatever mules do when they fall into wells. After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together and told them what had happened...and enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery. (I am sure some of you can empathize with the mules plight).

Initially, the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back...a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back...HE SHOULD SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP! This he did, blow after blow.

"Shake it off and step up...shake it off and step up...shake it off and step up!" - he repeated to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows, or distressing the situation seemed the old mule fought "panic" and just kept right on SHAKING IT OFF AND STEPPING UP.

You're right! It wasn't long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, STEPPED TRIUMPHANTLY OVER THE WALL OF THAT WELL! What seemed like it would bury him, actually blessed him...all because of the manner in which he handled his adversity.

That's commitment! The mule was committed to handle any adversity and stay committed to his purpose of LIVING! In order to be that committed you must know what you want, you must have a clear vision and you must be constantly communicating it to yourself and others. The next time you feel things piling up on your back, just remind yourself, "Shake it off and Step up." The commitment that you demonstrate will inspire your team to "trust the process." Commitment can compensate for many short falls as you are growing to be the "YOU" you want to be.

Whenever we talk about communication we must always consider the 2 types:

1. The communication we have with others.
2. The communication we have with ourselves.

Communication is the foundation for all relationships, both business and personal. Thus, when you enhance your communication, you enhance your relationships. What good is a mission, vision, values and beliefs if they are not communicated? You cannot be an effective leader if you can't effectively communicate.

No matter what we do in life...CEO of our company or CEO of our family...we all have to communicate with other people. Year after year, Senior Executives are surveyed to determine which business skill is most important, most desirable. Year after year - despite new trends, despite the concept-du-jour, communication is at the top of the list.

Do you ever think about your thinking? One of our EQ: Communicating w/Power grads, John Hughes, put it best. John said he was most excited about, "Thinking about thinking"...think about that. To be aware of all the self talk, all the conscious and unconscious anchors and all the other B.S. When I say B.S., I do not mean the stuff you step in as you're walking in pastures...I mean Belief Systems. Some of us have a CD playing in our heads that doesn't support us to be the "Best of the Best." It is time to scratch that CD and start doing some of our own editing. For some it might be a record, LP, or even an eight-track tape...either way it is time to be the Steven Spielbergs of our lives and "leave some stuff on the cutting room floor!"

One thing we must realize is that we all work perfectly. I didn't say we were perfect, that is an impossible feat. What I said is that we all work perfectly, you are getting the results that you have programmed yourself to get. If you don't like the results, change the approach, as you change the approach you change the results. The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results...That would be crazy! We can do all the cosmetic, left-brain surface 'fixes.' It will be for naught in the long run if you don't think about what your thinking. In the Bible, we are called to focus only on those things that are good and pure. It is time to make sure our internal conversations are supporting us in our effort to be "The Best Possible Me."

The great basketball coach and player John Wooden, in his book "Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflection On and Off the Court," says that he believes one of his greatest strengths is his ability to keep negative thoughts out. He didn't say his greatest strength was his players, UCLA, his coaches...it was his attitude! Here is the only college basketball person to be inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player, as well as a coach...he might know a little of what he is talking about.

There are 3 questions leaders continually ask themselves.

1. Where are we now?
2. Where are we going?
3. What will it take to get there and how long?

Leaders have BHAG'S - Big Hairy Audacious Goals. Leaders want to play big, to shoot for the moon. Dreams are free, so feel free to dream big. You can't create in real life what you can't create in your mind's eye, in your imagination.

Leaders have a vision, they are dreamers. Leaders discover the hidden chasm between where things are and where things would better be. They are the "MacGyvers." They string up a makeshift bridge to traverse the chasm. They use whatever resources they have...chewing gum, shoelaces, and foil wrappers to make it happen... From the other side, they guide those who dare to cross this rickety traverse, as the team is putting it all together. Sometimes you have to move on even when you would prefer to wait for all the right pieces to be in place, till all the moons are aligned just right. Without a vision, that would be impossible, there would be nothing that you are moving towards.

Did you see, hear and feel the clear vision of John Schaar in that powerful quote? Once you have commitment, once your communication is congruent and once you have your clear vision established, it is now time to solidify your team.

Consensus is a method of gaining agreement in groups, for problem-solving and decision making, by which everyone discusses the issues and reaches a decision all can support. It incorporates the knowledge and experience, ideas and feelings of all members of a group.

Consensus is about gaining agreement, about getting your team members to buy in. It is not dictating, it is not negotiating. It is taking the time to get your people to buy in, even when it is not necessarily something you want to do. Consensus is almost impossible without the other 3 C's: Commitment, Communication and Clear Vision.

As leaders we can dictate direction to our team. As leaders we can mandate and order...but does that get you what you want? If you want to be the boss, then it might get you what you want. If you want people to be committed to the team, to the cause, then the ability to build consensus can help you get what you want.

The 4 C's of Leadership can help you get what you want and help others get what they want to. Zig Ziglar says, "You can have anything in life you want, if you just help enough people get what they want". Commitment, Clear Vision, Communication and Consensus are the 4 pillars that can help you build a life that honors who you are and what you do. When you do that, people will flock to you to be on your team. Are you ready to answer the call?

In closing consider these words...

In other words people want to know that they matter and as their leader they want you to be concerned with them. You can go out and consciously work to apply the 4 C's of Leadership and if you forget what your most important asset is, it is all for naught. The most important asset you have is the hearts and minds of your people.

Remember the 4 C's and remember that there are three things you must do to be your dreams: Want it. Create it. Live it. Most importantly, always remember...

"People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care!"

Enthusiastically Yours

Scott V. Black
The Empower U Leadership Team
June 2000

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