Welcome to the Champion’s Brew, a weekly pick-me-up designed to equip and call you to uncommon leadership. I believe you will discover that the format that is not only useful, but also that you can consume it within the time it takes you to enjoy your daily ‘brew’!
Here is your weekly drink of what I have been reading and experimenting with to help me to:
- Lead Better: Tony Dungy released a daily devotional book back in 2011 called The One Year Uncommon Life Daily Challenge (affiliate link). I picked one up back in 2019 after reading the parent book, Uncommon: Finding Your Path To Significance (affiliate link) I have found great value in this book and it has become part of my daily routine in the mornings for the past few years. Whether I have already read the entry or not, these daily reminders are great ‘pokes’ to keep me focused. A recent entry in the challenge called me to serve others more in my leadership. I have often heard the term ‘inverted org structure’ to indicate how a leader should be at the bottom lifting up his folks. Tony brings it to another level. Here are a few takeaways for me:
- Mentor leadership calls us to focus on a point outside ourselves, because such leadership must be others directed and others inspired.
- Mentor leadership org charts invert the standard chart. The leader appears at the bottom of the chart, serving and lifting those above, modeling servanthood to all.
- Mentor leadership runs contrary to the prevailing wisdom of the world, which focuses on personal success, achievement, and advancement.
- Exercise Daily: Exercising and moving daily have become a big part of who I am. It wasn’t always the case. As leaders, it is imperative that we maintain our health so that we can give our best to those we lead at work, at home, and our communities. Don’t wait as long as I did. Here is a link that outlines a bit of my fitness journey… one that I remain on today. I don’t share it out of pride, but rather I hope that it can influence you to either continue on your healthy road or start on that road today! https://www.menshealth.com/weight-loss/a30390410/weight-loss-80-pound-transformation-fitness-tracker-calorie-app/
- Work Culture: Patrick Lencioni is a great thinker. I thought his list of three reasons people disengage at work were informative:
- Anonymity: They feel their leaders don’t know or CARE what they are doing.
- Irrelevance: They don’t understand how their jobs make a difference.
- Immeasurement: They cannot measure or assess for themselves the contribution they are making.
What You Need to Do:
Call to Action: What is one thing you can do this week to implement a mentorship approach in your life?
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Until next time, go and Grow Champions!
2 Responses
Great choice of topics John. Sharing the personal weight loss story is pretty stellar and the narrative adds just enough context that others can relate to and feel inspired to take action.
Have heard the term immeasurable but never the word immeasurement nor its meaning. However, I would agree the negative impact is very significant.
Steve, thanks for the engagement and feedback. I, too, thought that was a new ‘word’. After your comment, I went back to confirm and it is his ‘word’. See this link for further explanation/definition: https://www.tablegroup.com/product/engagement/