I asked my client another question, trying to push him to tell me the unvarnished truth. He finally coughed it up. He told me why he was giving one of his LOVED ones an ultimatum. Here’s what he said.
“I deserve more.”
His words seared me. They just did.
The more I study, learn, and apply in this work the more convinced I am that most teams, most families, most couples, and most companies underperform because they are led by leaders that embody those words.
Remember we are overly tuned toward our own justice thread and feel that we’ve been cut to the bone when we experience what amounts to a surface slice. We just are.
AND, we don’t even notice the nicks, cuts, gashes, crushed spirits, ball busters, broken noses, and other deep wounds that we leave in our wake. We just don’t. We haven’t wired our feelings toward empathy for the same 10,000 hours that we’ve wired it to think strategically, and we’re simply blind in a feelings sorta way. Most men, and more and more women of work, just are. Feelings blind, that is.
We’ve defaulted to let the world do our wiring, not His word. One “l” of a difference, huh Gurue…
I may deserve more from my family, friends, and clients. I may be getting the short end of the stick. I may experience more pain than short term pleasure. I may be taken advantage of if I wire myself toward empathy.
I may also get what I give.
I may receive a real blessing when I train my brain to do more than just think strategically. I may get a few that are willing to run through the wall with me. Who could desire any more than that?
God, help me give more.
God, help me.
What does your team deserve from you?
What more do you want to give them?
BUILT TO LEAD 