Leading Yourself and Practicing Leadership

Again, as I sit down and write, I feel the topics for The Compass are going to take a different course than I had originally intended.  The great thing about being creative—at least that's what my wife tells me—is that you can change your mind, not whimsically but as your heart leads you.  And my heart is leading me in the direction of Leading Yourself and Practicing Leadership, a great combination of leadership thought. 

The idea for Leading Yourself comes from both Capt. Smith and a good friend of mine, Wever Weed.  Capt. Smith recently observed that I had been writing from a "…first person point of view, from a Father's perspective".   He said, "You are humanizing leadership in a way that I have not seen before."  This connects with what Wever told me early on when I first started on this journey.  He said not to forget to write about Leading One's Self as a true reflection of “…what we have to do on a personal level.”  He continued, “And even an interpersonal level we first have to get ourselves centered, focused, mindful…if we are going to perform well for others.”  He viewed this as “training for life” in the skill of mindfulness.  And when you “train for life” on anything, you must practice, and that’s the connection to Practicing Leadership; “Leadership is action, not position” (from a sign that hung on the wall of CTA1 Cartmell, now retired).  To get better at all we do, leading others, and ourselves, we need to keep doing it over and over again, being mindful, making mistakes, learning, moving on.
 

When Leading One’s Self comes to mind, the very first thing I think of is training oneself for life in the skill of mindfulness as Wever mentioned.  I don’t know why this has taken me so long to figure out—I’ll be 46 soon—but I believe this idea has these elements: knowing yourself; making decisions; dealing with failure; and asking yourself a couple of revealing questions.  Dealing with failure is the hardest aspect of Leading One’s Self.  No one likes it, especially me.  However, I have seen the light, literally!  Again, John Maxwell—I feel like he’s a friend of mine now—has compiled some wonderful ideas in Failing Forward—Turning Mistakes Into Stepping Stones For Success.  He talks about our “perception of” and “response to” failure.  He says, “People who fail forward are able to see errors or negative experiences as a regular part of life, learn from them, and move on.”  He goes on, “They persevere in order to achieve their purpose in life.” (p. 18)  Knowing yourself also has a connection to dealing with failure.  When you make mistakes, errors, or fail at something, you literally figure out who you are by facing your flaws, and then you can have an opportunity to reach your potential; you discover your strengths and weaknesses and build on them, and learn from them.  Making decisions is central in the heart of hearts of a leader and “mindfulness”.  I’ve heard it said that our Commander-in-Chief, President George Bush makes very effective decisions.  He surrounds himself with capable leaders, solicits their input, conceptualizes, and then makes a decision.  I believe he feels he should not spend time looking back and that he needs to keep moving forward.  And finally, simple yet powerful questions that can act as a personal guide for leadership on a daily basis.  "Am I giving to others?"  By this, you can check if you are giving selflessly first, not to yourself first, selfishly; “…people come first to a leader”.  (p. 164)  And then we can ask, "What value do I add?"  Which is explained by these questions: What do I have of which I can add value?  I can't give what I don't have.  What do people need?  Am I seeking their needs?  Can I give them what they need with the abilities I have?  Will I give them what they need based on my attitude?  How often will I give what they need?  And the third question, "Am I doing what I have a passion for?"  Being happy in what you do and motivated so that your work doesn't drag you, your family, or your teammates down into self-pity, doubt, and depression can be hidden from a leader.  If you have a passion for what you do you feel fully committed to your work and feel your work has meaning; your desire for your work is there with no conscious thought at all about it being "work".  In this moment, you feel great comfort, satisfaction, and inner peace; you have found your purpose and realize that “you are there”.  (These thoughts are presented in John Maxwell's CD series, Maximum Impact, Volume 9, Number 5 & 6, and were recently discovered in one of my "Ah-ha! That's perfect!" moments.)

 

Practicing Leadership.  Why should we do this?  I have an answer.  (I first said the following words in August, 1977.)

 

I, Grant Paul Carmichael, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United Statues and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to the regulation and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.  So help me God.

 

How?  Well, and I am going to borrow from John Maxwell again, “Every fulfilled dream occurred because of dedication to a process; the ongoing process of growth”.  (p. 114)  I would suggest that our process for Practicing Leadership should be of the following: teaching, learning, building relationships, staying connected with people, influencing people, dealing with failure, accepting responsibility and accountability, and “polishing” our natural gifts and abilities.  And then there’s Setting an Example, Care & Feeding, Setting a Vision, Communicating, Questioning, having Role Models and Attitude.  The idea again, is to just do it much as great sports stars, Lance Armstrong, Wayne Gretzsky, and Larry Bird, practiced their skills over, and over again to get better and better at their profession.  Another part of it is that it is our duty; however, the biggest part is that our freedom is not free.  Freedom comes at a price and we need to be at our best to preserve, protect and defend our way of life.  I have been all over the world and found no other place on earth with the gift of freedom that we have.  I am willing to dedicate all I have to support and defend this freedom, and I need to be at my best, because, simply, I love this country and I am willing to give my life to defend it.  And order to do this, I will Lead One’s Self and I will continue to Practice Leadership.  So help me God.