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** PARENTING AND LEADERSHIP by Graham White **
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There are many things that we can fail at and still recover from. The
one area where there is little room for failure is with your children or those
you lead.
Trust and respect are earned.
Parents have a period of grace because young children begin by thinking
parents are full of perfect love. Leaders begin with some amount of
respect commanded by their position. It only takes one incident of
losing your temper, being completely inflexible in unique circumstances or
doing something unethical to forever destroy the respect that was there.
In the movie Signs, Mel Gibson
loses his faith in God. At dinner, his children want to say grace but he
insists that they go ahead and eat without saying grace. His children
insist that it's important to say grace and he loses his temper, screaming at
his young son and very young daughter, frightening them and bringing them to
tears.
Something precious was lost in that
moment. The trust and unquestioning love and safety that was unspoken in
the relationship was forever changed in that one moment. Even though he
ultimately apologized to his children, that place of unquestioning love and
safety was changed.
Do you want those you lead to
obey? Do you want compliance? Do you force obedience?
This isn't leadership, it's a form of
dictatorship.
Leadership inspires, leadership
reaches down and assists those who are challenged, leadership works to provide
answers to those who aren't quite sure how to be successful. Leadership
takes time, effort, genuine empathy and most of all leadership is about
setting the example.
In short, leadership implies love,
putting others ahead of yourself, even though you hold the position of
power. If you have broken the trust of your children or those you lead,
you'll need to rebuild it. If you will be a parent or leader soon, be
mindful of the cost of dropping your standards in moments of stress or crisis.
Graham White www.incrediblepotential.com
"The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be
kind, but not weak; be bold, but not a bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be
humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without
folly."
"We must learn to help those who deserve it, not just those who need it.
Life responds to deserve not need. Good people are found not changed.
"
"My mentor said, 'Let's go do it', not 'You go do it'. How powerful when
someone says, 'Let's!'"
"Managers help people see themselves as they are; Leaders help people to
see themselves better than they are."
"Learn to help people with more than just their jobs: help them with
their lives."
Jim Rohn www.jimrohn.com
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If you are
currently dealing with a challenge or you are deeply concerned about the
situation of another but don't know how to help, e-mail your question for a
reply with the specific strategies that you can implement in yourself to
encourage them to change.
info@incrediblepotential.com
Graham White www.incrediblepotential.com
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