What REALLY differentiates an Army Ranger from any other soldier? Only one thing…

The thread we are working on:  leaders own everything.

Now let’s get practical:  how do you do that? 

One area to examine is your standards.  What standards do you set for yourself, first of all?  Are they “your best?”  Are they at your top line, do they stretch you out of your comfort zone?  (the challenge is this:  when you are above average, you can be performing below your capacity, but as long as you are better than your competition, you still get rewarded.  Do you see how unresourceful this might be to the Greatest You?)

Even more, this leads to your expectations of your team.  What are they?  If you are “above average” you will most likely ask and accept that of them.

Now we get to a great NLP tool, perhaps the 3^rd most powerful tool in the system:  I/O v. O/I  (inside – out vs. outside – in.)  All great leaders use both, but which is the more important driver? Do you march to your own drummer, or do you do better when you have outside accountability?

• Do you go to the gym faithfully and religiously, or do you need a trainer or a partner to make your commitments?
• New Year’s resolutions are I/O, what your boss hands you for yearly goals is O/I.
• Do you know and teach and enforce the difference between “discipline and self-discipline?”

Many of you are fantastic at O/I.  and here’s the new thought and great news:  if YOU are I/O, and set a standard:

THEN YOUR TEAM WILL BE O/I TO IT, AND RESPOND!

The big challenge for many leaders is:  “Do I have the courage to hold myself accountable for an I/O standard?” (That comes before the O/I to your team.)

“What if I fail?  What if I am disappointing?”  (if these are real questions and real drivers (O/I) — then most will only “publish” those things that they know they can do, which is WAY BELOW their potential.)

Next, when you ponder it, there is the process of setting an I/O goal, and more importantly, there is LIVING THE I/O STANDARD.  And now you are alone.  And your friends think you’re crazy.  And no one else is living a life that is “that hard.”

But once you are there, when you wire this into your matrix, it is easier than you think.  There are more tools that make it even easier:  Mach 1 tool, Joe Sakic tool, the “B+ Manager,” and other tools that we will cover in the coming articles.

And when you stand up this way, now your team follows suit.  And the leaders under you that you are developing, AND ARE DEVELOPING LEADERS UNDER THEM THE SAME WAY.  That’s another “why” it gets easier!

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What actions have you taken that are DIFFERENT and more POWERFUL this week as a result?  If you need help, WRITE OR CALL ME.  I am here to serve you…