Greetings Leaders!

This is obviously a very odd title for a leadership blog, as we should all strive to become better leaders. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that we should make that our goal. Why not? As I read other blogs or posts on leadership, everyone has a different opinion on what good leadership looks like. So let me ask you, if you are striving to become a good leader, what does that mean? How do you translate this into meaningful goals that are measurable and achievable.

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Greetings Leaders!

This was what I got in my fortune cookie today at lunch. Enjoy what you have today, and hope for what you want tomorrow. Well I’m not sure if Confucius would agree with all of this. We must certainly enjoy what we have today. However, I think hope is for the helpless. Hope relinquishes control over to something else. Fate, Serendipity, God, the Cosmos, the Force or the alignment of the planets and stars. Hope is what you do with a lottery ticket. Not your life. You better be “working” of what you want tomorrow, instead of hoping for a ship that may never come in, or worse yet, a ship that never set sail.

Enjoy what you have today…

WORK for what you want tomorrow.

All the best!
All the time!
JT

Greetings Leaders!

My wife and I were hanging out this morning at one of our favorite places in Roseville called The Fountains, an upscale outdoor mall not too far from where we live. We love sitting in the outdoor air, watching young families with their kids admire the main fountain which moves in synchronization to catchy music blaring over loudspeakers. Inevitably, the young children begin to bounce and jiggle and dance to the music. The older kids and the adults have smiles on their faces as they watch the often hilarious, joyous and free moves of the children. I think that we were created to dance, but over the years something happens. We begin to be conscious of ourselves and soon learn that it’s fun to watch, but not ok, to dance. When was the last time you danced?

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Greetings Leaders!

Are you worried about your financial future? If you aren’t, you should be. As Bob Dylan said, These times they are a changing. If you put national pride, ego and heritage aside, it is fairly easy to see that the world is changing around us… fast, and that the US is losing ground in many areas. While it is changing, you only have to fear this if you are unprepared. If you see the change coming and prepare for it, you can not only survive, but you can prosper.

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Greetings Leaders!

I read a great article by Tom Schulte at Linked2Leadership called Pray For Your Organization. I thought it was a great article but as usual, it got me thinking about a quote from an unknown source that say:

Pray like it depends on God, but work as if it depends on you

I am Christian, but understand that almost all other religions pray so this is good advice for anyone. Instead of just praying, why don’t we all start living our faith. I don’t mean trying to convert people. I’m talking about something that Islam, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu and Jewish faiths all have in common; Compassion, Tolerance, Love, Service, Diligence, and Honor.

So, have a problem at work? A team that is fighting? Someone who needs counseling? A loner? Bad leadership? Well… praying might help… but perhaps YOU are the answer. So… go DO something.

Live Your Faith…

JT

For those readers who are Christian, please read the book of James where he admonishes those who will pray for the poor, but not help them get their needs met.

Greetings Leaders!

Over the weekend I read an entry in my journal that I wrote in 2006 and was mildly surprised when I realized that not much has changed in my life. I did accomplish a few things, but hadn’t even come close to achieving all that I had hoped to. This was a great wake up call for me as I realized that I have grown complacent. It is easy to do.

Comfort can be a great enemy of Excellence

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Greetings Leaders!

As a leader, it is important that you understand this one thing. Everyone searches for significance. A leader, helps others in this quest. We can talk all we want about profits, excellence and efficiencies, but when you get right down to it, these are just side notes that distract us from what we all want. To matter. To know that what we do matters. If you help others in this quest, you cannot help but succeed in whatever you are doing.

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Greetings Leaders!

I’m currently reading a book called The Little Book of Behavioral Investing: How not to be your own worst enemy (Little Book, Big Profits) by James Montier. While the book centers around investing, the premises in the book are very applicable to leadership and life in general.

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Greetings Leaders!

I’ve been doing a lot of self-reflecting lately, a hazard of being 52 I suppose. There are lots of ups and of course some downs. I was chatting with a friend at work yesterday, and while we’re both happy and certainly blessed, we just aren’t where we thought we would be at this point in our lives.

I started to ponder how to go about making changes going forward and realized that my life today was a result of choices and decisions I made along life’s journey. While that is pretty obvious, sometimes we for forget that we are where we are… for a reason. If you want to make a change in your life, you need to change the things that got you to where you are.

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Greetings Leaders!

I often ask myself several questions, “Can I really change?”, “Can I help someone else change?”, and “Can someone really change if they want to?” If you’re asking yourself the same things the answer is yes. So take heart, because there is hope. How do I know the answer is yes? Because others have changed. If just one person can change, then hypothetically, anyone can change. This would include both you and I. The real question becomes, HOW can we bring about change?

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