The two skills that every leader needs for success can be practiced, refined, and honed.  I’d like to assume that because you’ve found me and this precious space of Wednesdays With Wayne that you’re probably already pretty good at one of them.

The first is the place from which you build trust.  It is only when you say what you intend and then congruently take action that you show true credibility.  Are you living authentically or are you one person in one situation and someone else with different values and goals in another?  Certainly, our behavior and demeanor might change situationally.  Personal values and integrity do not change however.  What this means is that though you might behave on a range of behavior whether you’re at the grocery store or in a board meeting, your values will come through.  If you value people, you won’t be condescending to a clerk and professionally poised in front of your work-group....

Busy is NOT something to boast about.  Though it may feel good to work through lists or chug through your day, imagine an alternative answer to the question, “Hey how’re you doing?”

1. Oh, dang, I’ve been really busy – things are really busy here
2. I’m feeling really great, so grounded after taking some time for myself

We’re all so busy, especially right now.  We’re in the midst of preparing and planning, closing out the year, shopping, and holding it all together.

We ARE holding it all together, right?  

Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it.  There are so many details to track and hold onto.  They’re in your head, in your calendar, and on your phone.  There are so many people that depend on you for so many things.  No wonder it’s easy to answer the “how’re you doing” question with, “…busy!”

In all of the noise, it’s essential to plan (yes PLAN)...

It’s possible that last week, you said a word of thanks before diving into your large, over-mounded Thanksgiving Day plate.  It’s likely that you ate, and then ate that bit more.  And then with a sigh, you muttered your resolutions for the rest of the year, knowing that more indulgence just might be headed your way.  As Black-Friday and then Cyber-Monday came and went, that giving of thanks from just a week ago seems to have faded away.  

Are we not still thankful?

We all fall down sometimes, we get off track, and it’s what we learn as we correct that, getting back up that sets our course for the future.

Today I stepped on the scale before heading out for yet another flight across the country.  The numbers that revealed themselves to me opened my eyes to a problem that we all face.  Focus.

I Lost Focus

I was doing so well.  Over the past year I shed 50 pounds and cinched my belt up eight inches.  And in the last few weeks ...

Jessica, a flight attendant, shared with me how three of her closest friends were taken in a freak boating accident.  She was cheerful and told me that she chose to be.  She said that the alternative was untenable.  In Choosing Your Power, I note:  to be able to look at what you have and marvel at the wonder of it’s being there! When you start each day from a place of true gratitude for the gifts in your life, No matter what those gifts are, your perspective changes.

It’s easy to look at problems. It’s easy to look at how much you don’t have. The battle to keep positive can only be one by keeping a positive. Here, energy gets energy.  Focusing on doing something positive builds more positivity.

What positive attitude will you have this long weekend?  How will you carry it forward?

To those in the U.S., Happy Thanksgiving!  For you, my dear reader, I am grateful.

Be sure to check into www.DynamicLeader.com for resources you...

The past several posts have been concepts taken from my #1 Best Selling Book, The Significance Factor.

How you live your life matters.

What you believe about yourself, about others, about the way the world operates… that all matters too.  Because, ultimately, that shapes who you become in the world.

If you want your circumstances to change – to really improve – so you can be more you and ultimately experience more freedom, then you need to take steps to make that happen.  Sometimes they’re small steps.  Sometimes, they’re relatively big.  Really, it’s all relative.  What is a “big step” for you might come quite easily for someone else and vice-versa.

Start with your values.  

Do you know what they are, explicitly?

Look at how you gauge success.  

Are you still seeking the goals you thought you wanted a few years back?  Are they what you want right now or are you on the path of “supposed...

Your candidate won… or didn’t…  either way, you’re in a position to help someone who could really use your presence right now.  

It’s time.

Reach out…  Now more than ever, we need each other. Certainly, one of the key factors in true leadership that is also foundational to ultimate success comes down to this one thing:  how you help.  

To whom did you offer a helping hand today, yesterday, last month, or in this past year?  Are you present at home, at work, in your community, or across the globe?  What are you doing to better others for which you don’t actually need applause or a parade?  In this time of “look at me” and “me too,” it’s really important to seek those who could use your unique gift.  Be there.  Help someone get just a little bit better today because of what you have to offer.

In The Significance Factor, I discuss how important it is to give back...

I’m a father, a husband, a son, a cousin, a kick-ass High-Performance advisor, a senior consultant, a director of organization development, a neighbor, a customer, an author, a speaker, and on… and on… and on….

Each of these roles is in relation to another.  To you, the reader, I’m the author and perhaps your advisor.  To my wife, I’m her husband.  To my kids, I’m the papa.  Each person I encounter wants or needs something different from me.  At my core I don’t change.  Yet for each person, I’m different.  

We all are.  We’re different people to each person we encounter.  Never was that more clear than when I was a pre-school teacher.  Each little being had their own way of encountering the world and interacting with those around him/her.  Each had his/her own level of wonder.  And each needed something different.  As the teacher, I had to be different in...

Oh sure, you’re successful.  Aren’t you?  

Success means so many different things to every person.  The thing is, most of us headed down the path of “supposed to” and ended up not feeling very successful once we arrived.  

So the concept of what success really means begs for a redefinition on a regular basis.  That is, when was the last time you really evaluated or re-evaluated your life’s trajectory?  We chase after that feeling of “I’ve got this” or “I made it!” and our journey teaches us something… There’s More!

We ache for more!

Feeling dissatisfied with where you are isn’t a bad thing.  And, that said, being grateful for what you have is a really good thing.  So where’s the balance?

The balance is in recognizing that you can be happy with what you have and still ache to have more, be more, serve more, do more.  You can be dissatisfied and grateful at...

Which way do YOU tilt?

We each have preferences.  When I bring my hands together and interlace my fingers, I prefer my left thumb on top.  (Now you try!)  I don’t happen to like chicken on my pizza.  And I lean toward being more inspirational than operational when I lead.

You’re reading this because you’re a leader.  Whether you’re a parent, someone on a team, or in front of an organization, you’ve got people who look to you.  You’re a role model – directly or indirectly – and that makes you a leader.  

So the question is this – what is your preferred leadership style?  The spectrum runs essentially from someone who thinks more tactically and operationally through to someone who thinks strategically and serves inspirationally.  Do you find yourself developing lists for the sake of getting things done?  Or maybe you’re the person who likes lists to keep you organized and...

It gets better!  It really does.  You don’t need to ever feel condemned to the sense that this is a series of moments to simply endure.  In fact, what you bring to every moment is the key to what the next moment holds.  

In The Significance Factor, the very first chapter delves into the beginning steps for what it takes to set out on a journey of transforming your life to make it truly matter.   Here, you look at what you truly value and what you bring to any situation.  

Only by staying in congruence with your own true values can you make a difference to anyone else.  If you placate, give in, go along to get along, or engage in activities that you wouldn’t want to have done to you, then your congruence is lost and you end up living a life out of balance.

Whether at home or at the office, whether on the soccer field as a participant or as a parent in the stands, whether at the grocery store or in a restaurant, you know what you...