Curiosity Didn’t Kill The Cat

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. – Albert Einstein

RichTavee’s Wisdom of the Day

I tend to get bored easily-as a result, I enjoy learning new things and purposely take myself out of my comfort zone. Often times while driving I intentionally get myself lost just to seek out something I’ve never seen before. Fortunately my outcome is usually something new, exciting and fascinating. If you’re daring enough and enjoy taking risks it’s more fun not knowing where you’ll end up  (thanks to GoogleMaps for always getting me back home) just to be exposed to brand new landscapes, shops or places to eat. Everyday I strive to master each of my areas of interest by living adventurous or just plain old picking up a magazine article or book to read…but then it hit me today: my habit of intentionally seeking out new things makes me just want to learn more, dig deeper and explore even further…it’s so infectious. My experience has inspired the following quote:

Always desire to learn and you will learn to desire knowledge – RichTavee

Serious about Fun (via Leadership Freak)

Some great tips about having fun at work.

Image source Woody Allen said, “Most of the time I don't have much fun. The rest of the time I don't have any fun at all.” On the other hand, Thomas Edison remarked, “I never did a day's work in my life. It was all fun.” Get serious about having fun or you won’t have it. People talk about fun, believe in fun, encourage fun, and want to enjoy fun; but do they actually have fun? When was the last time you lightened up? Appointments postpone fun. De … Read More

via Leadership Freak

Initial Steps To Becoming A Great Leader

Leaders are just born, right?

WRONG. Some may argue “you can’t just become a leader, you have to be born with it”. This is nonsense and I strongly disagree with anyone that says this. We are intelligent, adaptable human beings capable of doing anything we wish to do. With enough focus and S.M.A.R.T. goals you can achieve wonders. I know I’m starting to sound a little cheesy, but hey-it’s true. Plus…life is too boring if you don’t have any goals and don’t hold yourself accountable and responsible for those goals. If you’re passionate about a topic or group of topics, read some relevant books or scholarly articles and immediately apply what you’ve just learned to a real-world example. This is extremely important. Personally, if I read, then do (within a reasonable time-frame): the information quickly absorbs and transforms into knowledge. So what does this have to do with leadership? In order to evolve into a leader and maintain leadership qualities you must gain significant knowledge.

More On Leadership

Leadership is intangible by nature. This often makes it difficult to distinguish who is a leader and who is not. We’re not all wearing badges that say “Hi, I’m a leader” or “Hi, I’m not a leader”…although that would be interesting. 🙂 There are many types of leaders and each has their own styles. Leadership typically falls into, but is not limited to, three categories: autocratic, democratic and free reign. Autocratic leaders make it clear and direct to their employees what needs to be done and how to do it…typically with no suggestions taken into consideration. This style usually has a negative connotation, but to me it’s more like, “Hey I need you start Project A. In order to finish it, Tasks X, Y and Z should be done. Tell me when your finished. Thanks.” Typically enough information is given to the employees to immediately start the necessary work. Democratic leaders take a work-together approach. Often times the manager will need to be involved with his or her employees to get the job done, but will have the final approval authority or decision. Free Reign leaders often allow their subordinates to make their own decisions and provide them with total flexibility.

The reality is, there is no “right” style to use all the time. Instead, leaders need to understand each of these styles, know when to use them (sometimes in combination) to achieve the objectives at hand and quickly adapt to the current situation. Regardless of which style is used: leadership is really all about the people.

Leadership Is All About The People

If you have subordinates, peers, and superiors that despise you…you’re obviously doing something wrong. To prevent such a catastrophe, the following steps will steer you in the right direction to becoming a great leader:

• Have confidence, but not arrogance. People want to be around others who are confident. But, if you take the confidence thing too far, others will notice right away and become indifferent. Also, help build the confidence of others around you.
• Constantly build trust and respect among everyone you interact with. Would you follow someone who just betrayed you? Of course not…you would immediately go in the opposite direction. Trust and respect are essential qualities of a leader.
• Regularly recognize others and give feedback often. Recognition is the most powerful way to motivate others. Plus…we all love to be recognized. Being recognized one-on-one is great, but we also want to be recognized in society. If you recognize a person and communicate it to their colleagues, it will be more effective than a one-on-one recognition.
• Take initiative and recognize others for taking initiative. Be the first to start a new project or task. Get others involved and work together to reach common goals. If you notice individuals taking initiative, don’t forget to recognize them for it.
• Shape others into leaders. Mentor and reach out to others who want to become leaders. Take some time to recognize those who have shown leadership qualities. Share information about leadership qualities and best practices.
• Celebrate successes together and learn from failures. Go bowling, grab some dinner or drive go-karts together after your team accomplished a milestone. Have a good time together and embrace every moment. If you’ve had a failure, figure out why it happened, document it and make proactive recommendations to prevent future failures.
• Just be human. Be open and honest with others. Exude sincere transparency. Be approachable and available. Keep your door open. If your employees can’t come to you freely for discussion, they will feel shut out.
• Always go above and beyond expectations. Your given Task A to create a silver widget. Instead you create a gold widget. If you go above and beyond, you will wow those around you and could potentially open up some creative and innovative ideas or opportunities.
• Create an environment conducive to productivity. Make the work-place fun, exciting and interesting so when your employees wake up every morning they look forward to coming into the office. Maybe even get rid of those cubicles…who decided that cubicles make us more productive? Would no cubicles make us less productive? That’s for you to decide.

Given enough focus, education and experience, I believe everyone is capable of becoming a great leader. The information I’ve shared provides a stepping stone for cultivating your own exciting leadership journey.