Leading By Example

It’s midweek and the sun is beaming in through your windows. The room where you work from is getting hotter every minute. Your friend calls and suggests you go out for a drink and enjoy the sunshine.

What do you do?

Just last week you added a note in your schedule book to pick up the phone and call 10 prospective clients to setup meetings. You know it’s what you need to do, but as the time to make the calls nears, you decide to work on your website and update your social media profiles.

Our integrity as consultants, leaders and business owners (even has human beings) is determined by how we treat others and ourselves.

You’re thinking this will help just as much. Will it really?

You signed up for a program to help you improve your skills so you can become more successful. You expected overnight success and it hasn’t come. You’ve decided to call it quits and tell your instructor that the ‘program isn’t a fit’.

Is that honestly the case, or is there another reason giving up?

You promise to send payment to your contractor. Except they haven’t been performing the way you’d like them to. It could be them, or it could be your failure to train and teach them. But now you’re finding a way to hold back sending the payment you promised them.

Do they deserve that? Does it even matter?

Our integrity as consultants, leaders and business owners (even has human beings) is determined by how we treat others and ourselves.

In each of the above examples there are two paths available.

One, you can choose to find reasons why things don’t work and blame anyone and everything you can – except for yourself.

Two, even if only 10% of things work out for you, that’s where 90% of your focus and effort are placed. You choose to see the positive. To follow through with your commitments and do whatever is necessary to succeed.

If you’re ever in a situation like this, ask yourself, if my client did that, what would I think?

Turning the tables and jumping into the other persons’ shoes is a powerful way to see things from a different perspective.

How would you feel if your client decided to focus on less valuable work when you’ve both agreed they need to focus on the higher value actions to reach their goals?

How would you feel if your client wanted to end your project early, because suddenly they thought it wasn’t ‘a fit’ for them, even though you’ve done your best to serve and support them?

How would you feel if your client didn’t pay you, even though they agreed that they would?

Act the way you want to be treated. Because if you don’t, how can you expect anyone else to?

Commitment. Action. Integrity.