Before we can discuss failure, let’s quickly cover what is Real Success according to Dr. John Maxwell:

Becoming a REAL Success:

Relationships:  The ability to get along with others.  They either make or break your success. 

Equipping:  Those people close to you determine your success or your failure. 

Attitude:  Your attitude, more than your aptitude (what you know), will determine your altitude (how high you will go). 

Leadership:  Everything rises and falls with Leadership.  Your ability to be a success is determined by how you increase your leadership skills.

What is the Main Difference between People who Achieve and People who are Average? 

Is it your Family Background?  Many people that are successful are from broken homes. 

Story of my trip last week to the orphanages in Ethiopia. 

Is it your wealth?  No, there are many people throughout history that come from nothing to become something. 
Texas Lottery Example

Opportunity?  Opportunity is determined by who is looking at the situation.  2 people can look at the situation in two different ways. 

High morals?  Unfortunately, this is not the case.  Many people with high morals are not successful.  And many people with low morals are successful.

The absence of hardship?  Helen Keller example.  

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AVERAGE PEOPLE AND ACHIEVING PEOPLE IS THEIR PERCEPTION OF AND RESPONSE TO FAILURE. 

 
Why do we fear failure? 
Culture has done this to us. 

Why do we misunderstand failure?If you fail at something are you thus a “failure.”  Is failure a single event or is it a process? 

 Why are we unprepared for failure?  
Why do we assume that our idea will be approved, or we will get the promotion, or we will get the raise, or we will succeed at this task, without any preparation of failure?
What if I were to tell you that Failure is more common than success? 

There are more people today in poverty than wealth. 

Almost half the world — over three billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day.

25,000 children die each day due to poverty.

Only one in five of those who enroll in two-year institutions earn an associate degree within three years, and only two in five of those who start four-year colleges complete their degrees within six years.

So, during this leadership sessions we are going to talk about failure.  It is not if you are going to fail in something during your life, it is when you fail.  Are you going to Fail Forward or Fail Backwards? 

If your perception of and response to failure were changed, what would you attempt to achieve? 

Failing Backwards                  Failing Forward

Blaming others                  Taking responsibility

Repeating the Same Mistakes                 Learning from Each Mistake

Expecting never to Fail Again                  Knowing Failure is a Part of Progress

Expecting to Continually Fail                  Maintaining a Positive Attitude

Accepting Traditional Blindly                  Challenging Outdated Assumptions

Being Limited by Past Mistakes                  Taking new risks

Thinking, “I am a failure”                  Believing something didn’t work

Quitting                  Persevering                  

Over the last 2 weeks, we have filmed a video of the Leadership Series where we asked 5 different leaders within Khidmah questions about leadership.  Most of these leaders have been with us since Khidmah was founded and have heard at least 30 to 50 leadership sessions.  For many, the simple questions “What is Leadership?” was hard to answer.  Many people talked about attitude, charisma,  and leading followers to a vision.  When hearing these questions, I realized that I had done a poor job communicating the main thing.  And as my friends always say – “it is best to keep it simple.”

So, the correct definition of leadership is influence.  Leadership is all about influence.  You can not be a leader without influence and if you have influence on others you are a leader - good or bad. 

If you really think about it, the greatest leaders influence others long after they are gone (The Leadership Law of Legacy, as we learned last week).  When I first came to Abu Dhabi, I quickly learned the leadership of Sheikh Zayed still remains to this day.  The people he touched, the changes he made, the sons he raised, the vision he instilled, is still propelling this country today and will for generations to come. 

Something that Sheikh Zayed and other great leaders have always known is that true leadership cannot be awarded, appointed, or assigned.  It comes only from influence.   Most people think that because you have a high position or a title you are a leader.  NO, you just have a high position or a title – you don’t have influence. Influence is earned and based on many leadership principles. 

Dr. John Maxwell teaches that there are Five Myths About Leadership and I want us to discuss them. 

1.  The Management Myth
   • Management is focused around the running and maintainance of processes and systems.  
   •  Leadership is focused around influencing others to follow. 
   • Here is the TEST –  A manager can not create a positive change, only a leader can do that.   A manager is a maintainer and can “manage” a company going straight ahead without any challenges or changes.  But it takes a leader to lead a company with challenges and changes. 
2. The Entrepreneur Myth
   • Many successful entrepreneurs are first inventors or people that see something new that is not captured by the current market.  That does not mean they are a leader with influence.  Most entrepreneurs are solo workers that don’t have followers; they do it all themselves.
   • Many successful entrepreneurs will partner with a business leader who is able to influence followers to realize the opportunities the entrepreneur sees. 
3.  The Knowledge Myth
   • Many people fall into the myth that if a person is smart they are a leader.  After 3 Masters degrees, I can tell you that many really smart people are in colleges and universities, but they are not leaders.  If they were a leader, they would be out doing what they are teaching in these colleges and universities.  It does not mean that these professors are not great teachers, they just might not be a great leader or influencer of followers.   
   • I have personally heard many times in my career the statement, “Well, I can not be a leader because I just have a high school diploma.”  This is an excuse and has nothing to do with reality.
4. The Pioneer Myth
   •  Just because you were first to do something only means that you were the first to do something.  Nothing more. 
   • So being first is great, but you must have influence to have followers behind you – otherwise you are just first, not a leader. 
5. The Position Myth
   • Ok, HERE IS THE BIGGIE.  Most people believe that because you are of such and such title, you are a leader.  There is nothing more false about leadership than this.  
   • The title will bring you influence for about a week or maybe at the most a month.  But after that, people will see through the title and realize if you have what it takes to be their leader or not.  Titles buy you a little time, nothing else. 
   • “It’s not the position that makes the leader; it’s the leader that makes the position” – Stanley Huffty

Now hopefully I have unveiled the myths of leadership, let’s discuss influence. 

Influence according to Dictionary.com is

The capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of others: He used family influence to get the contract.

The action or process of producing effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of another or others: Her mother's influence made her stay.

A person or thing that exerts influence: He is an influence for the good.

 So as Dr. Maxwell says “the proof of leadership is found in the followers,” and leadership is influence, then what important things matter to have influence?

1. Character – Who They are Matters.
   • As we have discussed before, leadership is built on Trust and Respect. However, a leader must have the character in order for people to respect him/her. 
2. Relationships – Who they Know Matters.
   • Are you a bridge builder when it comes to people of differences?  Or do you divide and hurt people?  Do you bring out the best or the worst in people? 
3. Knowledge – What they Know Matters. 
   • Knowledge alone will not make you a leader, but no one will follow you unless you know how to do the job or understand the business and market.
4. Intuition – What they Feel Matters. 
   • Leaders seek to recognize and influence the intangibles such as energy, morale, timing, and momentum.  They are able to sense it or feel it. Example of Khidmah at the last 60 to 90 days of 2009. 
5. Experience – Where they’ve Been Matters.
   • You are more likely to get a chance as a leader if you have the experience.  Being a followers allows you to gain experience to be ready to lead.  
6. Past Success – What They’ve done Matters.
   • Example of Saima and “We are the Service.”  Example of Adel setting up the network, email systems, etc.  Example of Kamilia with the Expo. 
7. Ability – What they Can Do Matters. 
   • Do the followers think the leader can lead them to victory or accomplishment of the vision?  A moment of truth. 

The two extremes – Leadership in the Military and Leadership of Volunteers

If you ever want a tough leadership job, then try to lead volunteers.  Leading volunteers means that the followers have set aside their own personal time to dedicate to the vision, mission or cause.  This takes a leader to inspire and influence these followers to accomplish the goals at hand.  If at anytime the volunteers do not believe in the leader or do not believe in the mission, they will just quit and allocate their personal time to something else. 

Leadership of Volunteers is 100% opposite than leadership in the military.  Literally, in the military if you do not listen to the leader and do not follow his orders you can be put in jail or court marshaled. Even though leadership is critical in the military, especially when it is life and death situations, it can be contrasted with leadership of volunteers by the amount of influence you must carry with the followers.  In the military, you can force people by rank to do something, however in volunteer leadership you must rely 100% on influence. 

In Business, the leadership level is somewhere in between the military and volunteer.  You can for a short-term rely on rank or position, however it will not last.

So you might ask, “How do you gain, increase or grow you level of influence to be a better leader?”  Well, that is where we will pick up next week. 

Lead On,
Sutton

The word Legacy means (from Wiktionary.org) “something inherited from a predecessor; a heritage.  Example:  John Smith left as his legacy an enduring spirit of respect for the environment.”  And this definition - “something inherited from a predecessor” is the concept I want to talk about today. 

Many people fall into the trap of thinking that their legacy is about the company, building, work of art, or money they have made or created in their life.  However, success does not count for much if it does not live on after you are gone.  Only people live on.  Objects do not.

When I first started out my career, I wanted to be a great businessman and make a lot of money. That was it.  If you asked me how, I would tell you that I did not know, but I was going to be rich.  I was of course very immature and had no life experience.  As I grew and matured into my thirties, I wanted to create a great company and this company would become my legacy.  But as I built that company, I realized that the company itself had no life. The people who worked there did have life. So, I turned my attention to training leaders, building up leaders.  I started working with people that wanted to go to a Hole Nutha Level, but who needed someone to believe in them and give them a chance.  Hopefully, this attitude and spirit of caring about people and helping people will be a legacy that I impart into others that they carry on to others.

Developing Your Leadership Legacy

(Law #21, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, by John C Maxwell)

1.    Know the Legacy you want to Leave

Leaders of others must first lead their own life well– not merely accepting the circumstances we find ourselves in but leading ourselves through them.  If we want to have a Legacy we need to decide what that Legacy will be and then decide to work to make that legacy happen.  

In order to create a Legacy it relies on your attitude:

· Must first care about others.

· Must appreciate how great an impact a good legacy can make.

· Must understand how UNimportant you are compared to the task with which you have been entrusted as a leader. 

2.    Live the Legacy you want to leave

There is a great saying, “I can not hear what you are saying because your actions are so loud.”  Basically, this means that you are saying one thing, but doing another.  Your actions must line up with what you say you want your legacy to be.  

In the book Today Matters, it states that the “secret of a person’s success is determined by their daily agenda.” So look at what you are doing each day.  The areas taking the most of your time are the areas of most importance to you.  Does your daily agenda line up with your priorities?

Personally, I spend at least 5 hours per week preparing for our leadership trainings.  It is all on my own personal time during the weekend, but this is important to me, it is what I want my legacy to be, and thus my weekly agenda is lining up with my legacy. 

There is often a natural progression to how leaders develop in the area of legacy, starting with the desire to achieve. 

· Achievement comes when leaders do big things by themselves.

· Success comes when leaders empower followers to do big things for the leader. 

· Significance comes when leaders develop leaders to do great things with them.

· Legacy comes when leaders put leaders in position to do great things without them. 

3.    Make sure to pass the Baton

If you have ever seen a relay race, you know that it’s one distance (usually 400 m) run in 4 segments (100 m) by 4 different runners.  While speed is important, being the fastest runner does not guarantee success in the relay because the most important part of a relay is the exchange of the baton.  This exchange area is very similar to the exchange of leadership that must take place between the leader and successor. 

· Mistake #1 – Leader is running to fast for the successor (wreck).

· Mistake #2 – The successor is running too fast for the leader (no hand off). 

· Mistake #3 – The leader is not ready to hand off the baton (no hand off).

· Mistake #4 – The successor is not ready to take the baton (no hand off)

A good handoff of the baton means the following:

· Leader understands the Law of Legacy and the need for a Successor.

· Successor understands the Law of Legacy and the need to be groomed for the position.

· Leader has prepared the successor for the handover.  It happens gradually, not all at once.

· Success and Leader are running at the same speed – sign of this is good communication and they begin to think alike in the vision of the company.

Most relay runners could never run a fast 400 m race on their own. They are good at 100 m and good at a handoff to another runner.  Likewise, a good leader knows his limits and hands responsibility off to a successor who can carry on.   

Remembers a couple of weeks ago we discussed empowerment?  And we talked about having your hands full of rocks, which if not passed on to someone else, would cause you to miss out on a new opportunity because you were “too busy.”  Well, handing off rocks to someone else and training them to handle these rocks is the process of development of a successor. 

In closing, we all want to have a legacy.  We all want to be remembered by someone after we are gone but the best way to leave a lasting legacy is with a successor who carries on and improves upon your work.  

Lead On!

Sutton

(Below are the full notes to our leadership lesson on Monday, January 18, 2010)
Empowerment (Wikipedia): refers to increasing the spiritual, political, social or economic strength of individuals and communities. It often involves the empowered developing confidence in their own capacities.

Secure (Wikipedia): Free from anxiety or doubt; unafraid.
Firm and not likely to fail; stable.

Law of Empowerment says that only Secure leaders give up power to others. 

“The Best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.”  (Theodore Roosevelt)

Sometimes even the most successful leaders don’t understand that you have to Give Up to Go Up.  Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company once said, “If a guys works for you, don’t let him get too comfortable.  Don’t let him get cozy or set in his ways.  Always do the opposite of what he expects.  Keep your people anxious and off-balance.” 

In 1914, Ford had 50% of the car business in the US.  By 1931, that was down to 28% because Henry Ford did not understand the Law of Empowerment, “You have to Give up, to Go up.”

How To Lead Well:
1. Identify Leaders
2. Build Leaders up
3. Give them resources
4. Give them Authority
5. Give them Responsibility
6. Give them the freedom to do what needs to be done.

If you want to Go Up (to a “Hole Nutha Level”), you have to Give Up to others.

To lead others well, we must help them to reach their potential.  That means being on their side, encouraging them, giving them power, and helping them succeed. 

When you first start out your career, you have very little to give up, so the concept is easier the younger or less experienced you are.  However, the more you gain experience, success, position, and power, the harder it is to give up.  This is where the Law of Empowerment is needed.  It is needed in all levels of an organization, but the higher you go in the organization the harder it is for you to give up power to others. 

There is a wrong assumption that you have to fight others to maintain your leadership.  When you keep people down, you have to go down with them.   When you do that, you lose power to lift others up. 

For you to take on new tasks and responsibilities, you have to make space in your schedule if you are already at your maximum output.  You have to make room for the new thing, and that means giving up some current responsibilities to someone else. 

Let’s say every one of your responsibilities is a rock.  Some rocks are bigger than others and heavier than others just as some responsibilities take more time and are more important.  As I give you every one of your rocks (responsibilities) to hold in your hand, you eventually come to a critical point where you cannot hold anymore rocks (or take on any more responsibilities).   A project comes up that is your “dream job”.  This project is why you chose the career you re in and to work with Khidmah.  If your hands are full of other rocks, how will you have the space in your hands to take on this “boulder” (It’s a really big project and very heavy with responsibility!)?  You must be constantly giving up to have space to go up.  You must be handing off the smaller rocks to your staff so that you have room for new and bigger challenges.

What is a “Trade-Off?” 
A “Trade-Off” is any situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased.

When I was a little kid.  I would remember my mom telling me when we would go to the grocery store.  “You can pick one ice cream – do you want vanilla or chocolate?  She would never say, "Pick all of the ice cream you want."

No, my family would share one pint of ice cream for desert each week.  I could pick only one kind of ice cream.  There was a “trade-off” – it was either Chocolate or Vanilla – not both. 

There are many trade-offs that are worth doing:

• Trading Affirmation for Accomplishment
Actually getting something done vs. just making yourself look good.  

• Trading Security for Significance
Success is not about working hard or looking busy all of the time.  Doing something significant means accomplishing something, and often in order to accomplish something, you have to take risks.  
I “just” have a job vs. I am doing something significant. 

You never start out with Significance – it comes after work. 

• Trade Financial Gain for Future Potential
It has been said that all financially successful people who have made money by doing something (not from inheritance), really like whatever they did to make their money.  They first started out doing something because they liked it, and it was their strength.  Before they knew it, they had achieved a level of financial success because they were rewarded for their performance. 
Example :  Steve Jobs of Apple, Inc. 

Unfortunately, many people take jobs because of the pay, not because they like what they are doing or like with whom they work.  This most of the times does not lead to financial gain, because they are miserable and do not do the job well.  

• Trade Exploration for Focus
Some people try this industry, try this career, try this profession – and then switch, and then switch again.  They “dabble” in one thing, then another and never focus on one thing.  In order to get good at something you must focus and gain experience in this area. 

• Trade Acceptable for Excellent
People don’t get the trophy for finishing the race in the middle.  Everyone should aspire for excellence.  If something is worth doing, do it with excellence or don’t do it at all.  Excellence is a good habit you can get into..  If you get in the habit of high achievement, then you expect that from others and others will expect that of you as well. 

So Leadership is a all about the “trade-off”.  You have to let something go, in order for you to do something new.  Basically, in order for you to have room to move to the next level you need to empower people around you.   

HNL – Handout

 

When leader resist giving employees power, they create barriers within their team or organization.  If barriers remain, then people give up, quit, and stop trying. 

If you don’t Give up power, then people will Give up. 

1. Barrier to Empowerment:  Desire for Job Security.

Weak leaders worry that if they help subordinates, they themselves will become dispensable.  But if you keep raising up leaders and empowering them, you will develop a pattern of achievement excellence, and leadership that will be recognized and rewarded. 
Personal note:  If a company replaces you because you helped someone reach the next level, then you made a bad choice working for that person/company. 

Many people working for you will want your job.  However, this can take 2 different forms:
a. They want to get you fired
b. They want you to get promoted

2. Barrier to Empowerment:  Resistance to Change

With change comes progress.  Nothing ever gets better with staying the same.  Nothing gets better just sitting on the shelf.  Nothing, except maybe wine.

But people don’t like change.  Most people are resistant to change.  However, to be an effective leader you have to love change, and see change as a challenge to make things better.

All of these following words mean by definition change:  improvement, progress, growth, development, increase, and expand.

3. Barrier to Empowerment:  Lack of Self Worth

Leaders cannot focus on themselves.  They most focus on others.  By definition, Leaders must first be able to lead themselves well, before they can lead others.  This is why a good leader will very rarely be someone who does not like themselves. 

If you are not self-confident, YOU (as the leader) will want all of the credit for a job well done, and none of the blame if the job is not successful. 

If you are someone who lacks self worth, then you will create barriers around others because you will not want others to succeed. 

Key traits for Empowerment
“You have to SEE the leader inside someone.” 

To be a leader that practices empowerment, you have to believe in people many times more than they believe in themselves.  Most people do not believe they can go to the next level.  Why?  Because they really don’t know what it takes.  But you as the leader do understand what it takes at the next level.  And it is your job to inspire, encourage, and empower the person you are leading to that next level.  Many times the people you are leading and empowering will want to quit, or stop trying because change is hard and they might be getting scared.  However, the leader that empowers continues to inspire and encourage their followers to the next level. 

Why do we want to empower the people we lead? 
1. Allows the Leader to achieve more than he could do alone.   It gets things out of the leaders hands to others that can do it. 

2. Allows the Follower to achieve what he has not done before and grow as a leader.

3. Allows both the Leader and the Follower to experience empowerment and become believers in it.  They both become better leaders and both grow as a result.  

Steps to Empowerment:
1. Analyze yourself first and your own self worth.  If it is low, you must lead yourself first before you lead others.
2. Make a list of the people you work with directly and indirectly at least once or twice a week. 
a. Rate each person’s potential 1 to 10.
b. If the numbers are low, you need to change the way you see them, you are focused on their weaknesses and not their strengths. 
c. Now think back over your list.  What is each person’s potential if they made the most of their strengths?
d. Think of one thing you can do to help a person reach their potential and DO IT.  
3. If you have an issue with empowerment then you will never succeed in doing it.  You must Give Up to Go Up. 

Empowering people is great when thing go well.  However, leaders MUST take the blame when things don’t go well. 

When you are a leader, you look for opportunities to stand behind your followers.  They see these actions modeled, and they will, in turn, stand behind the people they lead.  It becomes contagious. 

Empowering others – the Giving Up to Go Up – is what makes an organization truly successful.  It makes a company more efficient because everyone is working at their maximum potential.  An empowered team accomplishes more, sets new directions, inspires others, provides excellent customer service, and makes a difference.  I think we all want to be on that kind of team.

Lead On!
Sutton

Today we will focus on the BIG “TEAM” and little “me.”  Simply put, the members of the TEAM – the “T” – “E” – “A” – “M” are bigger or more important than the “me” or than the leader.  

Notice that each of the letters are different and they are also in all caps to show their importance or superiority over the smaller caped “me.”

This concept of “TEAM me” or BIG “TEAM” and little “me,” is today focused around the leadership practice of Servant Leadership.  We will discuss, learn and apply Servant Leadership today.  As this is the first leadership lesson of "TEAM me," it is also the most important and toughest leadership lesson of them all – Servant Leadership. 

Why do people want to be a Leader? People have different motives to be a Leader:

• Be in Charge (personal) “I’m the boss!”
• Make Organization run smoothly (corporate & personal)
•  Make money for shareholders (corporate & personal)
• Build up a great company (corporate & personal)
•  Make company better than the competition (corporate)
•  Win (personal)
• Make more money (personal)
•  Status (personal)

Bottomline:  Leadership isn’t how far we advance ourselves but how far we advance others.  Make the “T” “E” “A” “M” the best they can be individually.

Relationships either add or subtract from a person’s life.

                   “That person sucks the life out of me”

                  “I get so fired up and re-inspired after being around her”

Leadership is all about Relationships.  You either have a positive/add or a negative/subtract affect on the people you lead. 

Are you making things better for the people who follow you or worse? 
Are you making things better for the people surrounding you or worse? 
Think about it.  Are you adding TO others or subtracting FROM others?

Problem:  People are naturally selfish.  They think about themselves first and others second.    90% of all people who are subtractors – do so unintentionally.  They don’t mean to be a subtractor.   If you told them they would be shocked!

Why? 

People that are subtractors have never seen SERVANT LEADERSHIP.   Being an adder and not a subtractor requires you to get out of your comfort zone and think about someone else besides yourself.   That is naturally a hard thing to do. 

A TRUE Servant Leader does something for someone else expecting NOTHING in RETURN. 

Great leaders are less interested in their position and more interested in their positive impact to others.  Leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr., Ghandhi, South African President Nelson Mandela, and HH Sheikh Zayed put the cause of a people before their own personal gain.

Servant Leadership: (Wikipedia) Servant-leaders achieve results for their organizations by giving priority attention to the needs of their colleagues and those they serve. Servant-leaders are often seen as humble stewards of their organization's resources (human, financial and physical).

Phenomenon:  When you give expecting NOTHING in return – you get more than expected – 100% guaranteed. 

The general concept is ancient.  Chanakya wrote, in the 4th century B.C., in his book Arthashastra:  “the king [leader] shall consider as good, not what pleases himself but what pleases his subjects [followers]” “the king [leader] is a paid servant and enjoys the resources of the state together with the people.”

So who should be a Servant Leader? 

• Everyone: Servant Leadership applies to anyone who is on any team, any department, any division.  Where ever the place is that you can serve the best and add value to other people – that is the place you need to practice servant leadership.  
•  Example:  Emirati Internship program – Asking others to give up their time and effort to serve someone else who most likely will not return the favor and might not even work for Khidmah.  

So how can we become Great Leaders of Great Service? 

I.  We add value to others when we … Truly Value Others. 

Effective Leaders move on from not harming others to intentionally helping others.    Each person is important and has significance no matter what their title, position, or experience.

Leadership is never about emails, spreadsheets or getting things done.  It is about people and people are important.  

• At Khidmah, we held Eid al Fidr dinners at each compound with our workers.
• Meeting each employee in the office.  Find out what is important to your fellow workers.   
• Writing a personal note when you pass the 6 months with Khidmah to say “thank you.“
• It is the little things that matter to people, not the big things.  

Questions: 

What have you done lately to show someone on your team that you value them?
When was the last time you told someone on your team “Thank You?”

II.  We add value to other when we … Make ourselves more valuable to others.

What can you give to others? 
You give to others out of your strength, so what is your strength? 
Your strength can be your skills, your opportunities or your perspective.

Example – Mark Airhart, Director of Support Services, came here to serve others, to give back to others, to make others better, to leave Abu Dhabi and Khidmah better than he found. 
How will he do all of these things?  Through people. 
If his employees are better than they were before knowing him, then Mark has added value to their lives and professional careers. 
How can you be more valuable to someone? 
Who can you add value to by doing what you are good at?  

III.  We add value to others when we … know and relate to what others value. 

Leaders are listeners. 

Listen – Learn – Lead
What do our customers want? 
What do our employees want?
What does one person value that another person does not? 
What is really the most important thing in a person’s life? 

The people that are on your team, do you know what is important to them? 

So, I challenge you today to see the image of TEAM me.  It is made up of the “T” “E” “A” “M”  which represents different people needed different things to help get to their next level.   It is NOT about the little “me” in TEAM me, it is about adding value to the members of the TEAM by servicing them – making them better.   Servant Leadership is the hardest leadership principle to do, however it bears the greatest amount of fruit not only for the TEAM but also for the ME, which is you. 

Lead On!

Sutton 

When weak people surround a great leader, the leader has weak potential to be successful.  However, here is the best news, an average leader can do awesome things with awesome people surrounding the leader.  It is all about the team surrounding the leader.  

The Law of Inner Circle comes from the 21 Laws of Leadership book by Dr. Maxwell. Because there is no perfect leader that has all of the 21 Laws, the leader needs to surround himself with people that add to and multiply the leader’s abilities.  
 
A common mistake is made when people hire people that they like or with whom they are comfortable.  They do not hire the people that will make them and the leadership team more complete and effective.   So when building your inner circle you should find people with the following attributes: 

 1.  Do they have great influence with others?

 2.  Do the people you surround yourself with have people surrounding them?  Are these people influencers?Example of Brad – he leads others that he influences.  

 3.  Do they bring a complementary gift to the table?The most important hire for a leader is your Assistant, Secretary and Executive Assistant.

 a.  The ability for an Assistant to anticipate is the single greatest asset.

 b.  Your assistant speaks on your behalf because she knows you so well (knowing the questions I will ask and what the current priorities are in the company).

 4.  Do they hold a Strategic Position in the Organization or to the success of the leader

 Khalid (a good example)

Everything he does affects the business and success of Khidmah.  He and I always need to be on the same page, saying the same things.

5.  Do they add value to me and to the Organization?

 a.  Adders or multipliers with a proven track record (Is the Organization better because they are on the on the Team?)

 b.  Hire lifters.  Lifters are people who lift up others or make others better. 

 c.  Mark is a great example of someone with Experience and proven track record of success.

 He lifts up others and makes others better around him.

 Not the type of person you need to have a “guard” up or be defensive around.

 The principal “Iron Sharpens Iron” – you don’t need a “Yes Man”, you need a solid supporter that makes you better.

 6.  Do they positively impact other Inner Circle members?

 Team chemistry:

 a.  Do they have a “Positive, always positive” attitude?

 b.  Do they have a “Whatever it takes” approach to problems?

 c.  Do they fit well with others on the team?

 d.  Do they make others better?

No leader starts with a good Inner Circle

In the last company I led, it was a change management position. Basically, 100% of the people within the Inner Circle had to be changed or repositioned.  Leaders must build their inner circle to fit their leadership style and leadership needs.  No two leaders are the same and no two leaders need the same chemistry for their inner circle. 

So when building your Inner Team here are some Law of the Inner Circle takeaways:

Increase your capacity as a leader and maximize your potential with thinking and effort (Leader yourself first).

1.  Increase your capacity as a leader and maximize your potential with thinking and effort (Lead yourself first).  

2.  Hire the best staff you can find. 

3.  Develop them as much as you can. 

4.  Hand off everything you possibly can to them. 

As our company grows, people in the company go one of two ways.  They catch the momentum of the company growth and grow with it, or they get insecure and go the other way.  They become negative, insecure and start tearing down what others have worked so hard to built.  

Today, we will discuss insecurity in a leader.  How to spot it and how to avoid it.  In actually, many people don’t even know they are going down that road until they get there.  

(in Leadership class we went through the example of a farmer and planting crops in his field) 

Discussion questions:  

1. Achieving the Goal – It is not about the individual - what was the Goal of the farmer?  Was it met?  Was there a success? 
2.  The farmer was focused on the field?  The first set of workers were focused on themselves, not the overall goal of the farmer or employer.  Have you ever seen that happen in a company you worked for?  
3. People at the end were as important as the one’s that started the day – without them the field would have not bee completed?  How can we relate that to Khidmah?  What about the original 5 employees vs. the latest 5 employees to join Khidmah?  
4. You don’t get more just because you are older or been around longer.  (entitlement issue - let's discuss this)
5. The rest of the story – if the owner of the field did not get paid if he did not harvest the full field – therefore the only way the first people were paid is because the last people helped complete the job.