Mark S. Brown

P. B. Fitzwater said, “Character is the sum and total of a person’s choices.” You are required to make choices continuously. You decide when to get up, what you will eat, if you will exercise, with whom you will speak. Not all choices are equal in importance.

The simple choices are usually the easiest to make. The larger the impact of the decision, the more difficult it sometimes becomes to make the right choice. Mary Lou Retton once said, “As simple as it sounds, we all must try to be the best person we can: by making the best choices, by making the most of the talents we’ve been given.”

It sounds simple. Yet the biggest gap in our performance is the difference between what we know and what we do.

You can make excuses for not doing something. You can delay choices as long as possible. You can avoid situations that force you to choose.

If you feel you do not have control of your choices, it is time to get control. This week’s reflection exercise is to think about the choices you are making everyday and the choices you are avoiding. Review your to do list and see how long some of the items have remained on that list. Develop a plan to improve your daily choices.

I agree with Pat Riley when he said, “Look for your choices, pick the best one, then go with it.”

Patrick Lencioni has said, “If everything is important, then nothing is.” Our world is operating at an ever increasing pace. We are connected by electronic messages and news to people and organizations that continually demand our attention. Is it important?

John Maxwell’s Law of Priorities states, “Leaders Understand that Activity Is Not Necessarily Accomplishment”. We cannot focus on everything, and we need to be able to decide what is important to us. In John’s book he gives us his process of prioritizing using the 3 R’s.

1. What is required of me?
2. What gives me the greatest return?
3. What gives me the greatest reward?

Are you ready to shake up your life, and find your true priorities? Developing the ability to eliminate the tasks of little value, and drive focus for yourself and your team, is challenging. Prioritizing can be painful. Keeping busy is not the same as achievement.

The challenge for this week: Reflect on your schedule, cut activities that are not adding value. Add time to focus on what is really important to you.

If you want to be a leader, simply lead! Simply lead, was the theme of this year’s Leadercast. Leadership can be very effective if you are able to take a complex situation and make it simple.

The day was filled with six speakers, three interviews, live music, and great fun. Andy Stanley was the first speaker of the day. Andy said, “Growth creates complexity, and complexity is the enemy of everything. Clarity is the most important thing. If you lose clarity, you lose the ability to move your team.”

He used three questions to show how simple leadership can be.

1. What are we doing?
2. Why are we doing it?
3. Where do I fit in?

These three simple questions can keep you on track. It can bring clarity to a complex situation.

If you missed the Leadercast event, you can purchase a kit that will let you view the event, and provide other resources to support your leadership journey. Of course, put on your calendar the next event, May 9, 2014.

Clarence Francis said, “You can buy a person’s time; you can buy their physical presence at a given place; you can even buy a measured number of their skilled muscular motions per hour. But you can not buy enthusiasm… you can not buy loyalty. You can not buy the devotion of hearts, minds, or souls. You must earn these.” However, loyalty is not easily earned.

Loyalty is built over time through action. It is not a feeling that can be developed based on thoughts or ideas, but only upon demonstration of trust, openness, and a mutual need.

Loyalty is a two way proposal. Long lasting loyalty does not work one way. You can not receive true loyalty from another person if you are not loyal to them.

A simple exercise for this week is to reflect on your level of loyalty to those within your inner circle. How can you strengthen the loyalty of your team? What acts will demonstrate and build the loyalty you want?