Someone forward this exceptional article to me recently… “Mandela at 90 – His 8 Lessons of Leadership”

I’m not even going to attempt to add anything to the wisdom of a man who has truly impacted the world for good. This is priceless, the distilled insight of a truly inspirational human being and world leader.

It’s a lengthy article, but worth every minute to reinvigorate your passion for leadership

Enjoy…

Mandela On Leadership

I’ve decided to write a dictionary. Words are power. Words communicate meaning. Words have the potential to hurt or heal, build or destroy, enlarge or shrink, help or hinder.

Human beings are meaning making machines. We interpret the world around us as we experience it and we attach meaning to things as a result. Sadly we often fail to challenge those meanings as we move through life. They become assumptions as though they were immovable laws of reality. As a coach I talk to people every week who for the first time come face to face with the meanings they have created, the beliefs they formed as a result, and the patterns of behaviour they therefore lived by (often for decades) on the assumption “this means that”. But what if it doesn’t?

I want to write a dictionary, for my personal reference. A dictionary of success. What are the meanings I need to attach to events, moments, strengths, weaknesses, people, words…

If words define my world, then as a self appointed Dictionary Author, I must redefine the things that define me

On the hit list for redefining – Failure, Fear, Unlucky, Impossible, Success, Giving, Freedom, Opportunity, Values

OK, I dare you. Take five minutes right now and write list- “What words need redefining in your life?” Challenge your limiting beliefs. Give yourself permission to enlarge the map of your life. Your language is shaping your future.

I had lunch the other week with Don, a friend who always has a fascinating story. He met a guy recently who was a futurist who described his job as “helping people look around corners”. He had recently worked with a major multinational on a project and happened to ask what else they had coming up. The CEO and his team mentioned a $50m asset purchase they were about to make after many months of discussions.

Then the futurist asked a simple question that left them floored… “In all of those meetings did anyone ever ask the question ‘Is there another way?’”. The CEO had someone pull the files with reams of minutes from no less than 76 meetings they had held. They pored over the minutes but it just wasn’t there. Not once had anyone asked the simple and yet profound leadership question… “Is there another way?”

With that, the futurist went on to suggest another way, an alternative technology, and saved the company tens of millions of dollars… with those four words…

Who knows what had transpired in those 76 meetings, but if they were like many I’ve attended over the years it’s likely they missed the mark on creativity and thought leadership. Perhaps people simply did their “due diligence” rather than their personal best. Perhaps all that activity was simply gathering data to support a decision they had already made at the outset. All we know is that, yes, there was another way. A much cheaper yet more effective way.

So here’s a thought for you this week… Use those four words…
• In your meetings,
• Before making decisions
• Rather than settling for mediocrity

IS THERE ANOTHER WAY?

There’s a great deal of research out there now on the effectiveness of Executive Coaching. The bottom line is that coaching produces exceptional results and a multiplied return on investment.

Here are a few articles that people have found helpful (and feel free to post comments with links to others if you find other research of value)

Maximising the Impact of Executive Coaching.pdf

Coaching Effectiveness Press Release.pdf

Executive Coaching Yields Up To 6x ROI.pdf

Return on Investment (Dr Hilary Armstrong).pdf

Benefits of Coaching.pdf