Filed under: Personal Transformation | Tags: Leadership, Personal Development
What if you knew you had one year left to live? I asked a client this question today. He looked at me like I had antlers on my head. Oh Deer…pardon the pun. Listen, as leaders we need to be willing to ask tough questions and get ourselves and others out of our auto reply zone. I have been listening in on many conversations lately. They tend to smack of mundane, polite, niceties that may not be serving those around us. I find that a well placed “outrageous” question can really assist us in higher thinking.
We all know that Living Life as a Leader requires some unreasonable questions of ourselves and of others. These questions will generate an entirely different thought process for the people around us .Different thought processes create different results. If you are a person that is interested in generating different results, then I recommend asking different questions. Perhaps the questions are a bit edgy or thought provoking. It’s OK – it won’t hurt anybody. It will make us all think. I find the worst thing that can happen from an edgy question is; the person just does not want to answer. That’s OK too.
As you know, I endeavor to practice what I preach. So, I am also a fan of asking myself these kinds of questions on a regular basis. The results are mind blowing. For example: What could I do in 2009 to double my business? That question makes me think. You will also note these questions create inspiration and focus. You must admit that is a very different question than: How can I do the same sales volume that I accomplished last year? Or…How can I stay profitable in a tough economy? You will get an answer to the questions you ask. That is just sensible. The better the question – the better the answer- the better the answer – the better the solution – and the better the solution the better the result.
I encourage all of you to practice asking some edgy questions and see what happens. You got no-thing to loose and every-thing to gain. Have fun and ask away.
Let me know what you discover?
Would you be willing to “fire” a client if you thought it would serve them? What if that action meant leaving thousands of dollars on the table? For example; a plastic surgeon that knew that liposuction was based in some low self image and not remotely necessary. Would you tell your client you did not think she needed the surgery, or would you go for the dollars?
Moreover my question is: What is your willingness to really serve other people regardless of the business that you are in? Most of us are afraid to really serve. We serve others when it is convenient for us. What about the times it is not convenient or lucrative to serve others? How honest would you be with your client?
I feel most of us have limits on how we would serve people. Up until now I have been afraid to really serve people. I thought I was serving people. I meant to be serving people. As I look at it more closely, I was terrified to serve. Serving someone might mean I could get taken advantage of, or even worse they might not approve of my renegade ways of being. Now I can see more clearly as I attune more to the Spirit of Service. It really has very little to do with me or what I think. It has much more to do with my listening to the guidance of Spirit in my life.
Also, in terms of serving others…there is a belief that I had to shift. The endemic thought I had in the past was: Can people handle the truth? In a way, that was just me really wondering? Can I handle the truth? Once I began to handle the truth in my life, I have been able to share truth more fully with my clients and the people around me. My new belief is: “Of course people can handle the truth”. That has been a large shift for me. That willingness to serve has created for me the largest client base of my 12 years of teaching leadership.
I find that as I get older I am willing to go to any degree to serve other human beings. I get juiced up from it. I feel alive and edgy from it. I feel free when I serve others in a myriad of ways. Service is the bed rock to any business I can think of. Service is the infrastructure to leadership. Would you follow a leader that was unwilling to serve? I have done that in the past and you won’t find me doing it again. I invite you to consider the following question: How could I serve my family, clients and associates? What are the limits to my willingness to serve? What value is there for me to serve others? Let me know what you discover?
