Control, define yourself, self, work, you
In Ideas on November 8, 2009 at 10:18 PM
So does that mean when I complain about it that – that represents me? Does that define me? I read the line from a blog that I follow. I won’t write on here which one, but I’ll tell you if you really want to know – @Lemness or e mail me – lem@lemusita.com.
I think the better line is that you define a part of yourself by the work that you do. You are also defined by a bunch of other thing that are outside of your control:
Who your parents are.
What order you are in your family.
Where you grew up.
Why your parents divorced.
Your conditioning as a kid.
The stuff that was projected on to you when you were growing up.
You are defined by the work that you do, but not completely. Sometimes you are defined by what you don’t do as well – you lazy person you.
You are defined by things in your control (the work that you do) and by many other things that you cannot control (the work that is done to you).
address issues, leadership lessons, maturity, responsibility, yelling
In Ideas, Influence on November 8, 2009 at 9:19 PM
[As I prepare to write this, I cannot help but think about how I'm not sure I am going to convince many of you about this. In light of my last post, I find it ironic that I'm thinking things way, but we'll see what happens.]
A leader needs to always take responsibility for those that he leads – always. Now I understand that the every individual has to ultimately take responsibility for their individual actions, but I would like to think that as a leader, I am still responsible for their actions in leadership.
I heard of a story this weekend where a leader was blaming someone that worked for him for being irresponsible. The leader had a laundry list of offenses – that had gone unchecked. Then he wanted to blame one of his staff for his irresponsiblity – by not addressing the issues earlier. It doesn’t matter how true the accusations were. The individual working for the boss could have done all of those things the he was accusing him of doing, but the responsibility is still the leader’s. He didn’t address the issues. He should have been on top of it. If he was truly leading, then there wouldn’t be anything to address. He let things go and he needs to take responsibility for it.
When you as a leader find yourself yelling at someone that is working for you and/or following you – take responsibility for not leading well. Ultimately, you weren’t leading and now you’re yelling. Yelling at someone is not leading. It’s making yourself feel better. No one deserves that – especially since you were not leading.
For all of my Leadership Lessons
Argue, conversation, talk, waste of time
In Ideas on November 8, 2009 at 6:29 PM
There are a ton of ways to say it. I don’t even know how I’m going to say it, but you know what it’s like to argue with someone that is always right – even when they’re wrong? Why argue? I mean, why waste your time arguing with someone that just likes to argue – even if they’re wrong.
This came up in a conversation this weekend. It ended up with someone losing their job. That’s never good, but it was all a misunderstanding. It was also an argument that couldn’t be won. Arguing with someone that can’t be convinced is a waste of time. It is not strength to argue from that perspective. It’s closed minded and selfish. It’s insecurity. If you were secure and could handle it, you’d have a conversation about it. You’d engage the argument with with sound thinking and substantiated claims. It takes skill and patience. Arguing with an insecure person is the worse.
Your time is precious. Don’t argue with someone that can’t.
