The TRUTH About Leading!

 

Everyone wants to be a leader! You see it online, on social media, in books, EVERYWHERE! Let me ask you the most powerful question you’ll ever be asked as a leader. Who is the toughest, yet most important person you lead? I bet you had all kinds of names and faces, maybe even events, that awaken your memory, ha? I know that I did when I first asked myself that question.

The toughest follower you’ll ever have is YOU! Yes, YOU, yourself. You see, whenever there’s a follower/leader relationship with another person, there’s more of a chance for practicing accountability. I didn’t say that there’s more accountability, but that there’s a higher possibility. Most of us will, at least, consider the consequences of not living up to a promise we’ve made to someone. But the consequences of not living up to a promise we’ve made to ourselves are seemingly excusable. I know, I’m an expert! I’m so good at excusing myself when I choose not to do something I said that I would do, that I have each excuse numbered. I’m not gonna workout today because...number four! The next day, it’s number twenty! But if I told my Accountability Partner that I’d be there at seven tomorrow, chances are I will. I make not like it, but I will. Speaking of will, that’s what it takes to be accountable to ourselves, willpower.

Let’s assume that you agree with me. How can you change yourself to fix yourself? I’m convinced that self-leadership begins with knowing what’s really important to you, your values. We always do what we think is important at the moment. Always! Make some time, or discuss your values with your Accountability Partner, and make some commitments to living by what’s most important to you daily. Your commitment to your values will drive you to discover your purpose. Once you realize why you do what you do and that it’s your purpose for your life, it will drive you. Envision what accomplishing that purpose looks and feels like. “YES! That's me!” will be your motivation. And consider how you influence others as you practice being your true self. Be careful not to let factors influence you away from your purpose, though.

Like everything in our lives, the more we practice leading ourselves, the better we’ll become at it. I’ve always said that if you can see it, you can be it. But ya gotta do the work! This is the work.

You want to be a good leader? Lead yourself first!

Be GREAT! You ARE! HEIRPOWER!

bob vásquez!

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Vision is Powerful!

 

Vision is one of the most important attributes of an Effective Leader. You probably already know that, though. But what’s critical is that you can communicate it to your followers. Now, being a wordsmith of sorts, I know that words can be powerful. But words lose their meaning when they aren’t supported by actions. They gain strength by example, by modeling, particularly when it comes to leading.

 

You’re not going to be an Effective Leader by just telling people what your vision looks like. Your effectiveness will result from SHOWING others what that means. Effective Leaders are also Great Teachers. As Admiral Bobby Ray Inman once said, “A great teacher never strives to explain his vision. He simply invites you to stand beside him and see for yourself.” Chances are, you’ll probably need to use words, but the real effectiveness will result when you can show others what you mean, when they, too, can see your vision.

 

As Thomas Edison famously said, “Vision without execution is hallucination.” If your vision is to lead a group of Effective Followers and Leaders, you have to be one yourself. And when they behave as you do in accordance with that vision, you have to explain the effects of it so that they can continue to behave that way themselves. Leadership guru, Warren Bennis said that “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” First, YOU have to do that, and as you model that vision, as you explain and nurture it among your followers, your team will also do it. That’s the power of vision.

 

Until next time,

 

Be GREAT! You ARE!

 

HEIRPOWER!

bob vásquez!

  

When’s YOUR Bye?!

 

I’m an NFL fan only around this time every year. I watch football on Sundays because Deb makes some incredible popcorn for me. Hey! Full disclosure. One of the interesting things about some sports is what is known as a “bye.” Knowing this term is important if you want to fit in with the folks who are actual fans. Who has a bye is very important. As it should be.

 

Apple AI describes this phenomenon as “A bye week in sports, particularly in the NFL, is a scheduled week during the season when a team does not play a game, allowing players to rest and regroup. Each NFL team has one bye week during the 18-week regular season.” 

Okay, you started reading this because you’re interested in leading effectively. Well, here’s the point. WAIT! Let me tell you a story first. It’s my nature.

My family and I are stationed at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. I'm the Deputy Director of the Family Support Center, serving about 40,000 Americans in the Kaiserslautern Military Community. I'm at my office. In civilian clothes. On leave, at least officially. I'm working on my Master's Degrees at the time and have to submit some paperwork to the University of Oklahoma office, which happens to be on the top floor of the building my office is in. I head up, looking for Heidi Kennedy, the young lady in charge of that office. I submit my paperwork to her, and we start to chit-chat. She asks me why I'm in civvies. Attempting to be cute, I tell her that "you'll always know when I'm on leave because I'll be in the office in civvies." That's kinda cute, isn't it? Man, does she set me straight as she asks, point-blank, "What do you think you're showing your Airmen? That they, too, should take their leave and go to work in civvies?" Reevaluation moment right there! I never did that again. And I made sure my followers didn't do that, either.

 

I’ve always led. Always! And one of the things that I was taught that I should do to be an Effective Leader is best described by a commercial from the 60’s. Yeah, I was around then. Believe it or not. The tag line was “The best never rest.” I learned how to emulate that admonishment. I became a workaholic. All of my peers were, too. I may share my updated perspective on that thought with you sometime, but for now, I want to tell you that it’s stupid!

 

If you’re to lead effectively you have to take care of yourself, FIRST! And always. Yeah, that sounds selfish but let me tell you that you cannot give what you do not have. AND your followers are watching. They’re going to do what you do, not what you say.

 

The key to that description of “bye” is “allowing players to rest and regroup.” You HAVE to rest! You DO! Or you’ll break. You WILL! Trust me! Commit to giving yourself a bye whenever you need it. Look forward, not backward. I shoulda doesn’t work here. Put it on your calendar. RIGHT NOW! I’ll wait! Now, live up to it so that you can live longer and more effectively. When’s YOUR bye?!

 

Until next time, How bout dem Cowboys?! 

 

HEIRPOWER!

bob vásquez!