My son, The Graduate at Sydney University and
his proud family! I travelled to Sydney during
April to attend Justin's (my son) graduation
ceremony.
It's quite an event, with hundreds of graduates in
their long flowing gowns and mortar caps with proud
parents and relatives celebrating the day!
Eyes get a
little misty as you watch in wonderment in the great
University Hall at that good
looking young man or young woman who used to, not
too
long ago, run around as a toddler, then start their
kindergarden, begin secondary school, then to
university, then finally graduation!
Now that Justin's graduated with his B.Educ.,
B.Teach (Primary), he'll be starting to teach the
young children soon to be leaders from a young age.
To lead first in the 3R's i.e. reading, riting
and 'rithmatic. And after that to pursue a higher
purpose such as mind, body, heart, and spirit. Covey
describes mind as related to vision, body to discipline,
heart to passion and spirit to conscience. That is
really elegant and empowering.
Teaching's a great profession. Of course, I'm
just a
little bit biased towards this profession, but to me,
teaching is leading! Whether it's Justin teaching the
young children or me teaching adults, we're both
performing a leadership role.
Stephen Covey, internationally acclaimed
leadership guru released his latest
book, The 8th Habit late last year.Stephen's one
of my favourite authors and mentors and I became
acquainted and entranced with his work back in 1989
when he released his seminal book, The 7 Habits of
Highly Effective People.
Stephen's message in his latest book, The 8th
Habit, is to find your voice (your spirit) and to
help release this voice in others. The book comes
with a bonus DVD which is included in the price. It's a
beautifully done DVD with 16 short movies - many of
them just priceless!
I'm glad to say that I've subscribed to Stephen's
principle even before he published his
book. One of my aims is to set others up for
success. I'm dedicated to making you successful and
not to let you fail. You see, most managers set their
people up for failure.
Many managers just don't know how to coach,
mentor or encourage their staff to do their best.
They expect their staff to do well, but leave the
staff alone to their own devices.
When mistakes arise, they blame their staff and
are hard on them. That's no way to run a business.
Staff are far too important for bosses to rule them
this way.
The way to build an awesome business?
Manage the arrangements. Lead the staff. Go
hard and manage the perfect execution of practices
and procedures. But be kind to the people. Teach
your staff to motivate themselves. To empower
themselves.
That way, you're not treating them like a jackass -
carrot in front as enticement and the stick behind if
they don't perform!
I know that Justin will become a good teacher.
After all, he's a chip of the old block (well, I've
got to blow my own trumpet!).
Perhaps he'll even become a great teacher. And when
he finally lays claim to the Heart of Leadership, then
others will find the passion in his work. Work no
longer is just a career. Work now becomes a mission
in life when the heart's on fire!
What would happen if your heart was on fire
with your mission clearly in mind and you were
determined to pay the price of success? What would
you achieve? Would you achieve most of your
dreams? All of your dreams?
Make the coming month another great one!
Until I see you again, take some risks, be
forward, be brave, be your own great leader!
Lead With Passion!
Ricky
