Category: Attitude

A Failure of Ethics

Recently, a Philadelphia prosecutor was charged with accepting luxury gifts in excess of $160,000 in exchange for official favors. He has admitted to receiving the gifts, but has plead not guilty to bribery and extortion charges.

I do not know how this will be resolved, but whatever the outcome, it is clear that the prosecutor had a breakdown of ethics. This news stood out to me as an all too common example. The strength of our democracy relies on the values of its individuals. It was a strong sense of values that led the United States to declare independence.

Every individual that is willing to ignore the human values that are within their heart, will ultimately destroy themselves and others.

That is a strong statement. I believe it to be true. If you can not live out your own values, you will have a negative effect on our society.

No one is perfect. We struggle against challenges, issues, and problems each day. It is easy to give in… to bend the rules. In the case of this prosecutor, he accepted inappropriate gifts.

We become better by overcoming the challenges. We become stronger by solving the problems. It is not easy to stand by your values. But it will make you stand out in a society that at times seems to be crumbling at the edges.

Doing Nothing Is Not Really an Option

Have you ever stood still in a river and felt the water rush by you? The water can be a gentle push against you, or it can be forceful. It can cause you to lean, struggling to stand upright.

There are days when I feel time rushing by like the water in a river. In reality, time is always moving like the Earth is always moving. The Earth is traveling through space at 66,000 miles per hour. And at the same time, the Earth rotates on its axis faster than 1000 miles per hour.

Maybe the fact that life moves so fast has made me love the times when I can just sit and think. I love being able to ignore all the outside activity and demands of daily life.

However, even though we can ignore it, the fast pace never goes away. I have discovered it is important to embrace the pace, the changes, and the obstacles that life throws at us.  They are just as important as the quiet times.

Instead of standing in the river, imagine being in a kayak. No longer are we trying to resist the current. Instead we strive to control our kayak. We paddle. We steer.

We decide to guide our kayak. We cannot stand still. Doing nothing is not an option. Life is moving. We can make every day count.

Are You Sometimes Reluctant to Delegate?

As Ronald Reagan said, “Surround yourself with great people; delegate authority; get out of the way.” But at times, you may find this difficult to do. Here are three key reasons, I have found that people fail to delegate.

1. A desire to maintain control. If a leader tries to maintain control through involvement in all the details, the team will be limited in their success. A leader will be more likely to embrace delegation if they can develop their leadership knowledge and skills. Moving the focus from task success to team success can unleash amazing results.

2.  A belief that the team does not have the required knowledge. This can be a valid reason to stay more involved with a team. But as a leader, you should be focused on getting your team the education they need to be successful. A leader’s worth is not in the knowledge they hold, but in the knowledge they share.

3. A belief that the team does not share your values. This may be the hardest challenge for a leader to overcome. Teams need shared values. However, not all values will be shared. Individual values also play a part in the strength of a team. To overcome this delegation roadblock a leader must be able to identify the difference between key team values, and supporting individual values. A leader will be more successful if they embrace the diversity of individuals within a framework of strong team values.

If you are feeling stress because your team is not achieving to their potential, examine your level of delegation. Is one of these reasons holding you back?

Stop Interrupting and Listen

When I find myself interrupting a conversation, it is usually because I am excited to make an observation, a point, or share my opinion. But I have learned that what is important to me, may not be important to the other person.

I hate to be interrupted before I am able to finish my thoughts. Others are too. So why do we tend to do it so often? For me it seems to happen more with people that I know well. In my head I can finish their thoughts, so I don’t listen as closely.

To become a better listener, I had to make an effort not to interrupt. I had to stop finishing other people’s sentences. I had to focus intently on their words, not my thoughts.

The most important lesson I learned was that in many conversations, people just want someone to listen. The topic of the conversation is not even important. They just wanted to be heard.

We can all be better listeners. It starts with being quiet.

“When you interrupt, you’ve stopped listening. People need to be heard.” – Jerry Seinfeld