Today?s Podcast is brought to you by the letter ?D? in Leadership
This letter stands for Determination
Or…
Courage
or…
Persistence
Part 1: Determination:
I want to start this podcast with a story of my own?determination?through a very tough time. ?We all face these times. ?If I asked you to name one of your top biggest times of discouragement, what would it be?
I can think of a big one – when I was betrayed by a dear friend. ?My board chair turned on me.
One reason this was such a difficult situation is I couldn’t fix it. I had to endure it for a couple of years. I love to resolve conflict and fix things that are broken. But sometimes we have to live in the midst of a big discouragement. It reminds me of my son who’s been in the job for about 18 months that is true.
For you, it might be very?different.
This is really about succeeding through failure and discouragement.
As an aside, Failure is often the backdoor to success. ?I did a whole podcast on seven big failures in my leadership and what I learned from those experiences. ? HansFinzel.com/29
“The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.”
Vince Lombardi“Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal – a commitment to excellence – that will enable you to attain the success you seek.”
Mario Andretti
Part 2: ?Courageous Leadership
?Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.? Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with great talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence, determination alone are omnipotent.?? (Bennis and Nanus, Leaders?The Strategies for Taking Charge, Page 45)
I was sharing with a group of 50 budding leaders at YWAM. ? Overcoming discouragement and setbacks:
I believe that leadership success is this formula: ?The Leader + The Followers + The Situation = Powerful effective leadership when all three are working well. Any one of the three can take us out! For you, discouragement could come from any of these three places.
I do think that discouragement is one of the biggest factors that makes people quit and shut down.
Here is the list we came up with?..
General Colin Powell ? Served 4 Presidents
- ?It will look better in the morning? It is an attitude
- ?Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier?
- Never get too down or too up
- A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.
Brene Brown ? Researcher and story teller
Three things we all need:
- Belonging
- Being seen and loved
- Bravery
I need to embrace failure.??Venture capitalist say, ?I never want to fund anyone that has a death fear of failure.???Failure is the key to all innovation.??I only fund people who have had a lot of failure on their resume.
The book: Daring Greatly, by Brene Brown.
Part 3: Overcoming the Resistance
Steven Pressfield – “Do the Work”
I am reading his little book, “Do the Work.”
This is about the resistance:
- The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more Resistance we feel toward pursuing it.
- Fear never goes away. ?The warrior and the artist(and solo-preneurs like us!) ?live by the same code of necessity, which dictates that the battle must be fought anew every day.
- Resistance aims to kill.
- It’s target is the epicenter of our being. ?Our genius, our soul, the unique and priceless gift we were put on this earth to give and that no one else has but us.
The Resistance: That invisible destructive force that opposes you any time you try to do something significant or make an improvement in any area of your life.
Resistance is?
- Staying in bed instead of getting up to face the day
- Focus on that one critical comment instead of the 99 great comments
- Stay home instead of going out
- Get the closet organized instead of getting to??HPA” working
What is Resistance?
Resistance cannot be seen, touched, heard or smelled.
It is a restrictive force, a repelling force. ?It is negative. ?It’s aim is to distract us.
The more important the work is, the more the resistance will show up to stop us.
What do I think you should do? ??Here?are the things that help me overcome the resistance and get courageous:
- Trust God – Phil 1:6 ?”There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.”??The Message
- Trust Yourself – Sometimes?we are our biggest enemies with self-sabotage.
- Remember – It will pass ??And it came to pass.”
- Be connected in community with people that will help you keep going: ?mastermind, Mens? or woman?s group.
- Action – get going, do the work and the feelings will follow. The greatest way to combat procrastination and fear is to move out.
Conclusion
Some?famous?successes via courage and determination -? Seeing other people succeed in great opposition is encouraging.
Colonel?Sanders.?The?founder?of?Kentucky?Fried?Chicken?was?turned?down?over?a?thousand?times?when?he?tried?to?interest?others?in?his?recipe?for?chicken.?He?drove?from?town?to?town,?often?sleeping?in?his?car,?calling?on?restaurant?owners.?He?strongly?believed?that?the?secret?recipe?would?eventually?pay?off.?His?persistence?and?belief?in?himself?and?his?recipe?finally?did?pay?off??in?a?big?way!?His?tenacity?is?inspiring,?especially?when?you?consider?that?he?found?his?success?when?he?was?sixty-five?years?of?age.
Colonel?Sanders?kept?his?chicken?recipe?a?secret,?but?he?was?willing?to?share?his?recipe?for?success:
- Never?quit.
- Always?believe?in?yourself.
- Be?patient.
- Be?positive.
Nelson?Mandela. ?The?world not too long ago mourned the?death?of?this?great?world?leader.?The?stunning?thing?to?realize?is?that?he?was?seventy-two?years?of?age?when?he?was?released?after?twenty-six?years?in?prison.?He?was?elected?to?the?presidency?of?South?Africa?two?years?later,?at?age?seventy-four,?and?served?for?five?years.?Then?he?enjoyed?another?decade?of?prominence?and?influence?before?his?health?forced?a?full?retirement.
The story I told?you?at the outset of this podcast? ?Well for some reason at that time in my career I was drawn to study Moses. From the example of a great leader who faced more discouragement and opposition than anyone I know in history: Moses. ?No one had more fickle followers! ??The Leader + The Followers + The Situation = Powerful effective leadership when all three are working well. ?In fact in Hebrews 3:8-10 the Bible says they were some of the worst people anyone was ever asked to lead!
Do not harden your hearts as [a]when they provoked Me,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
9?Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me,
And saw My works for forty years.
10??Therefore I was angry with this generation,
And said, ?They always go astray in their heart,
And they did not know My ways?;
We?read?about?this?in?Deuteronomy 31 at the end of Moses??life – man did he finish well and survive with courage,?determination, and?persistence.
Favorite courage passage in the Old Testament:
Then?Moses?summoned?Joshua?and?said?to?him?in?the?presence?of?all?Israel,??Go?and?take?the?land?and?do?it?your?way!??(author?s?paraphrase).?Moses?knew?that?he?would?not?set?foot?in?the?Promised?Land,?and?it?became?clear?to?him?that?Joshua?would?succeed?him.?He?knew?how?uncourageous?most?of?his?followers?were,?and?he?also?knew?that?leaders?make?things?happen,?so?the?younger?leader?Joshua?would?have?to?run?with?the?vision.?Clearly,?Moses?imparted?the?dream?and?vision?to?Joshua.
Then?Moses?summoned?Joshua?and?said?to?him?in?the?presence?of?all?Israel,??Be?strong?and?courageous,?for?you?must?go?with?this?people?into?the?land?that?the?LORD?swore?to?their?forefathers?to?give?them,?and?you?must?divide?it?among?them?as?their?inheritance.?The?LORD?himself?goes?before?you?and?will?be?with?you;?he?will?never?leave?you?nor?forsake?you.?Do?not?be?afraid;?do?not?be?discouraged.??(Deut.?31:?7??8)