Posts Tagged ‘Dan Rockwell’
THE TRUE VALUE OF PERSISTENT PROBLEMS AND NAGGING DISTRESS
Problems are spiny gifts wrapped in sandpaper.
It’s foolish to wish for problem-free leadership.
The four benefits of persistent problems:
#1. The prospect of becoming your best self.
“Leadership is a matter of how to be, not how to do.” Francis Hesselbein.
Discomfort and distress are the hammer and anvil of becoming.
Personal growth gives meaning to persistent problems because problems help you become yourself.
“Leadership is synonymous with becoming yourself…” Warren Bennis
Becoming yourself requires conversations with the problems you face.
Two questions to ask nagging problems and recurring distress:
- Why are you here?
- Who are you calling me to become?
You lose yourself when solving problems is all you think about.
#2. The potential of an open mind.
An open mind reflects the potential of a new future. But the promise of a closed mind is repetition.
You aren’t open minded if you haven’t recently changed your mind.
Persistent problems are useful when you:
- Acknowledge you don’t know. Potential begins with knowing you don’t know.
- Practice curiosity longer than others.
- Rise above, “I’m right,” and allow others to be right.
- Try new things.
#3. The power of choosing your attitude.
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” Victor Frankel
The difference between success and failure is the attitude you choose toward the road ahead.
#4. The possibilities from taking action.
Personal development is the result of action, not simply contemplation. As you act, do three things.
- Work on yourself.
- Open your mind.
- Choose your attitude.
Arrogance short-circuits growth because it blames, excuses, and pretends.
Humility fuels growth because it accepts reality, takes responsibility, includes others, and doesn’t need to be right.
The value of a problem is the opportunity it creates.
How might problems and distress be the tools of authenticity?
What benefits do persistent problems offer?
The Advantage of Strategic Disadvantage
Ease and comfort are the enemies of growth.
Ungraceful flight is better than no flight.
Baby bluebird in our grass wondering what’s next?
The bluebirds emptied their nest, yesterday. Every year we watch the egg to flight ritual. One year we saw the young leave.
This year we found one quaking in the grass.
By Dan Rockwell?
Beginning:
Mother bluebird usually sits on the eggs while father bluebird feeds her and stands guard atop their box-shaped house. Eventually, we hear empty-bellied babies hungrily squawking.
Both parents bring food and stand guard. Their commitment, discipline, and loyalty inspire.
Middle:
Feeding grows nearly frantic till one day mother stands on their slanted roof holding a tasty bug in plain view. Yellow beaks cry out, complaining. Eventual she gives in.
Taking flight:
Both mom and dad feed and guard less and less.
They swoop past their gawking, nest-bound young, providing glimpses of glorious flight.
They offer food but don’t give it. They bring sour berries instead of juicy bugs.
They don’t stand atop the house much anymore. They perch, in plain view, about fifty yards away.
Eventually, after much complaint and coaxing, former eggs fly. Every year it’s the same.
Disadvantage and distance motivate flight.
In praise of disadvantage:
Ease and comfort are the enemies of growth.
On the other hand, strategic disadvantage is advantageous. Make things harder not easier. Uncomfortable challenges provide emerging leaders opportunities to rise up, develop new abilities, and eventually take flight on their own.
Difficulty strengthens.
Emerging leaders:
Welcome difficulties don’t resist. Step out of the nest. You’ll drop toward the ground, bang into things, and ungracefully flap. But eventually, you’ll fly. Trust your gifts.
Leadership development bluebird style:
- Create stress.
- Provide less expect more.
- Stand nearby but don’t hover.
- Model behaviors.
- Let them struggle. Ungraceful flight is better than no flight.
Advantageous stress:
New opportunities that test skills and challenge abilities create advantageous stress. Baby bluebirds fly because they live in a fly or die world.
How can leaders create disadvantages that help the nest-bound take flight?
When does help become a disadvantage?
Adonis Diaries 