Making A Significant Impact
Ask yourself who sees you as their mentor, as their inspiration, as memorable in their life. This may be difficult at first since people seldom see themselves as making a significant impact on others.
Ask yourself how many people in your life want to help you? How many people have you dedicated your time and energy to help this year? If the answer to both questions is “a handful,” you may lead a comfortable life, but you will not develop significance in your relationships.
To create significance, you must develop the attitude of the “servant’s heart”. You must ask how you can help other people.
This requires you to shift your focus. You develop a servant’s heart by dedicating yourself to the success of those who help you achieve your success.
People walk around with the letters MMFA – Make Me Feel Appreciated – as a figurative imprint on their foreheads. You, as a leader with a servant’s heart, must ask how you can help these people become more effective and feel more important. You must make your customers, employees and suppliers understand that you have their best interests at heart and that your commitment is unconditional.
All of us aspire to reach our dreams and goals. The leader with a “servant’s heart” inspires others to succeed at a personal level. When people realize that they can reach their personal goals through helping the organization reach its goals, they make impressive results possible.
Making Personal Changes Is Not Easy.
You can use several proven steps to assist you to become an empathetic leader.
First, you must acknowledge your current attitudes before you can change them. People with strong self-awareness understand emotions, strengths, limitations, values and motives at a deep level. They are honest with themselves and about themselves. They know the direction they want their life to take and why.
Second, to make personal changes you must practice the new actions and thoughts you want to develop. To be more successful, you must practice skills and attitudes that will further your success. As you practice building empathy and the other skills you need to become significant in others’ lives, you must track your new skills. You must hold yourself accountable so you stay on target and make progress toward your goals.
Third, use a coach or mentor. At the times when you get cranky, a trusted friend, colleague or coach can give you an unbiased perspective. By helping you through rough times, they help you stay focused on your goal.
The effective leader develops an organization where people want to work and want to do their best. At the same time, the leader does not sacrifice performance. Everyone understands the performance imperative and this mutual understanding brings great results. Gaining personal success through helping others is timeless. William Shakespeare said, “The more I give to thee, the more I have.” And to quote Ralph Waldo Emerson, “A man cannot help another without helping himself even more.”
To become an extraordinary leader and develop sustainable success, become significant. Make an indelible impact on the lives of others.
LMI JOURNAL, VOLUME V, NUMBER 5 Leadership Management® InstituteReprinted with permission === Strategic Essentials is a Managing Partner for Leadership Management® International, Inc.
For more information about Strategic Essentials small business training and education programs or our coaching and consultation services please call our Reno office at 775.826.8282 today!
Strategic Essentials serves business owners, business leaders, entrepreneurs, managers, supervisors and decision makers in Reno, Sparks, and Carson City, Tahoe, Truckee Meadows and surrounding communities.
