Leadership Quote: We Should Try To Be The Parents Of Our Future…

 

This month’s leadership quote:

“We should try to be the parents of our future, rather than the offspring of our past.”

-Miguel de Unamuno

The best way I know to live Miguel’s quote is by being intentional. For some of us, it is setting goals and deciding what we want for the future. For others, it is opening ourselves to discovering the opportunities that await us and how we can best apply our geniuses and contribute to the world. Which way works best for each of us depends on who were are, and where we are, in our lives and our careers. Either way, it is up to us to be the parents of our future, rather than the offspring of our past.

P.S. One way to contribute to the world is to support social purpose organizations.  With that in mind, the four of us have extended our Cara challenge grant through the end of the year.  Click here, if you want to learn more and perhaps join the match.

What Our Vistage Members Want You to Know

Why Vistage Works

Elisa K. Spain

Leadership Quote: Today You Will Get Something That Was Not Guaranteed…

 

This month’s leadership quote:

“Today you will get something that was not guaranteed.

One more day. Out of which to create the ‘you’ that works for you.

And to decide what that day will be, and who you will be.

You can write one more blank check, and let others fill in the amount;

or, you can decide on the payees in your life, and what and how you chose to give.

No magic. We all get this choice every day.”

-Larry M. Cassidy, Vistage Master Chair

What Our Vistage Members Want You to Know

Why Vistage Works

Elisa K. Spain

Leadership Quote: One Sees Great Things From The Valley…

 

This month’s leadership quote:

“One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.”

-Gilbert K. Chesterton

Another way to say this, the higher we rise in an organization, the less we see. The challenge for leaders, therefore, is to spend time in the valley. Easy to say; harder to do. And, the great leaders I know spend most of their time in only three ways: strategic thinking/strategic conversations; visiting and listening to customers and potential customers; and siting down with and listening to employees.

What Our Vistage Members Want You to Know

Vistage Works

Elisa K. Spain

 

Leadership Quote: Discovery Is Seeing What Everybody Else Has Seen…

 

This month’s leadership quote:

“Discovery is seeing what everybody else has seen, and thinking what nobody else has thought.”

— Albert Szent-Györgyi

Albert Szent-Györgyi lived from September 16, 1893 – October 22, 1986 and was a Hungarian physiologist. He won the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1937. He is credited with discovering vitamin C and the components and reactions of the citric acid cycle.

Like all inventors, Mr. Szent-Györgyi lived this quote. The questions this brings to mind are:

  • How do the rest of us follow his example?
  • How do we look, really look, at what is and see the opportunities?
  • When we do our SWOT analysis, do we focus externally on the O and the T?
  • Do we challenge ourselves to find the opportunities and threats, turning both into discoveries and innovation?

 

Elisa K. Spain

Leadership Quote: The Rate Of Change…

 

This month’s leadership quote:

“If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near.”

-Jack Welch

When things are going well, it’s easy to become complacent, even arrogant. We become married to a point of view. After all, we built our business based on these beliefs and it has worked. Often it is our own people who tell us that the old way may not be appropriate today. Their message, as Jack reminds us, is the rate of change outside might dictate the need for more change inside.

The question is, “are we listening?”

 

Elisa K. Spain

Leadership Quote: What Is Important Is Seldom Urgent…

 

This month’s leadership quote:

“What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.”

-Dwight Eisenhower

 

Mother Theresa, Steve Jobs, Benjamin Franklin and other great leaders, past and present, all had the same 24 hours in a day that we do. And, yet we yearn for more time. “If only I had more time,” we say, “I could accomplish so much more. I could do the things I really want to do. I could have more balance.”

What if, instead, we simply paused each day and asked these two simple questions that Benjamin Franklin asked himself at the beginning, and at the end, of each day:

• What good can I do today?
• What good have I done today?

What if we then set out to prioritize our day, according to the Eisenhower quote above. Making immediate time for the urgent/important, saving time for the important/non-urgent, ignoring the non-urgent/non-important and then delegating the urgent/non-important?

How would you feel if you could answer Mr. Franklin’s important question, to your satisfaction, at the end of each day?

Elisa K. Spain

Leadership Quote: Success Is Getting What You Want…

 

This month’s leadership quote:

“Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.”

-Dale Carnegie

We can always count on Dale Carnegie to remind us, attitude is everything.  In his books and in this quote Dale reminds us…when we take the time to celebrate what is, in ourselves and others, happiness is the result.

Elisa K. Spain

Leadership Quote: If We Only Focus On Fixing What's Wrong…

 

This month’s leadership quote:

“If we only focus on fixing what’s wrong, we forget to notice and build what is good and strong.”

-Rebecca Wilkinson

So often in our quest to be better, both as people and in our companies, we forget this advice. No question, sometimes fixing is what is required, technology becomes outdated, systems break down, etc.

And many times, the best approach is first to notice what is good and strong and then work to build upon it. Or as I am fond of saying, “discover both our’s and our company’s genius and then work to become excellent at what we are already good at.”

Next time, you make the list of what needs fixing, perhaps draw a line and then make a list of what is good and needs building.

Elisa K. Spain

Leadership Quote: Compete With Things To Come…

 

This month’s leadership quote:

“Compete with things to come – not with things that were.”

-Carlos Rizowy

 So easy to look in the rear view mirror and ask ourselves, what’s coming? And, what Carlos reminds us is that what we see in the rear view mirror are only the things that are present now. The things to come require “eyes down the road”, as they say in driver training. It is only when we are looking down the road that we can see what we will be faced with and, therefore, will be competing with.

If we wait until it is in front of us, it is, at a minimum, more costly and often too late to respond.

Elisa K. Spain