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Leadership At a Glance... It is Not Always What You Think!
Volume II, Issue 8
Taken from my acceptance remarks at the 10th anniversary of the Executive Women in Business Achievement Awards on July 26. (See Style Weekly article.)
My journey on the success continuum is paved with support from individuals who provided nourishment for encouragement and growth. How you see me today, poised and polished, is not how I look at all times. Let me share a few examples of circumstances that emerge that affect this leader's outward appearance that I strive to reconcile to stay on track. First, there are those nights where I have cried myself to sleep because I wanted to help someone else and could not or I have made an unpopular decision. Additionally, there are times where I have just come off the tennis court, sweaty and in pain, with a win but weak from energy loss and burn out from strategically thinking on how to move ahead of the competition whose capability I underestimated.
There are too those long hours spent at the computer in my home office late at night or very early in the morning wearing my pajamas to finish a project(s). Atypical of my leadership style that many of you have observed is the occasional run through the neighborhood with my husband to catch our two huge dogs that have escaped from the backyard. (It is amazing that we can catch them as we are no longer part of the millennial class. Even more amazing and unknown to us that there were a few chickens cooped up nearby in neighbors backyard as we rushed by.
Now that you understand how my outward appearance changes from time to time, I want to focus on consistent drivers that I use to keep me "movin" on the leadership and success trails. Take a look below at a few of the drivers and consider using one or more:
1. Embrace persistence as a friend
2. Align actions against a vision (mine is the sky is the limit)
3. Stand on a platform of values
4. Learn something new everyday
5. Leverage knowledge, skills and technology
6. Turn negatives into positives whenever possible
7. Don't burn bridges
8. Think strategically and surround yourself with individuals who are different than you
9. Tune up periodically your leadership. This was the focus of M4 last week
10. Use humor to break the ice or relieve stress
11. Find ways to reinvent yourself if in a slump-I became a digital artist
12. Extend often a thank you to express appreciation for support that you receive from others or for an acknowledgement of an accomplishment(s)
It is now a good time to take my seat and to say thank you to all who are responsible for this award or in this case to close out M4 for this week.
If you are interested in boosting your leadership style and focus or that of your team, Connect with Marilyn West today - [email protected].
