Purpose should cause you to be asking yourself “what gets me up in the morning?” instead of “what keeps me up at night?” ~Joey Reiman (author of The Story of Purpose: The Path to Creating a Brighter Brand, a Greater Company, and a Lasting Legacy)

I believe what makes an organization effective has changed over the past decade. We’ve been using the word “social” in new ways for some time. Facebook launched in 2004, and we’re all familiar with how rapidly it influenced our vocabulary. Being more “social” has also changed our expectations for work.

Author and speaker, Nilofer Merchant, says, “social era rules are both provocative and grounded in reality—they cover thorny challenges like forsaking hierarchy and control for collaboration; getting the most out of all talent; allowing your customers to become co-creators in your organization; inspiring employees through purpose in a world where money alone no longer wields power; and soliciting community investment in an idea so that it can take hold and grow.”

Purpose first started to appear as a topic with some regularity early in the 21^st century. Today, a number of the best-selling authors in leadership and business reference or even focus on the significant impact of purpose.

Dan Pontefract, author of The Purpose Effect: Building Meaning in Yourself, Your Role and Your Organization, said, “‘The sweet spot,’ the axis on which talented people gather together to create value through an alignment among three types of purpose: personal, organizational, and role. This central argument is critical, something that successfully expands upon the works of others.”

The benefits of aligning purpose? “When people know the purpose of an organization, they don’t need to check in or get permission to take the next step; they can just do it. When the organization is demonstrating purpose, the likelihood of employees going above and beyond the call of duty greatly increases. When people share in purpose, they will bring their all to the group’s efforts. When organizations stand for something, it brings coherence to everything, and a real advantage to what they offer.” That’s Nilofer Merchant’s perspective on the benefits of purpose.

The strength of organizations today—I don’t think it matters if the organization is for profit, not-for-profit, large or small—is found in its core. Its shared meaning, its values, its purpose—its core. If the core is weak then the organization will in turn also be weak. A strong core can, to a degree, compensate for weaknesses in other areas.

Leaders should enable staff to find their personal purpose, help them connect that purpose to the organization and to their role. That alignment of purpose, or as Pontefract called it, the purpose effect, can transform organizations.

The power of purpose can’t be underestimated. So, what gets you up in the morning?

Smart [leadership] is not about being intelligent, but rather about being wise in how to deal with people. ~Patrick Lencioni

It’s not that difficult to find leaders who are intelligent, people who are content experts, who really know a topic in-depth. Leaders who are smart by Patrick Lencioni’s definition, who are wise in how to deal with people, aren’t quite so easy to come by.

I’m borrowing this idea from Patrick’s most recent book The Ideal Team Player. He identifies three virtues of the ideal team player, one of which is being smart and this is how he defines a smart team player. “They have common sense about people. Smart people tend to know what is happening in a group situation and how to deal with others in the most effective way. They have good judgment and intuition around the subtleties of group dynamics and the impact of their words and actions.”

I know that Patrick is talking about being a team player, but I would argue that the same definition of smart should apply to leadership. When I work with an organization, it’s rare that I find a leader who isn’t knowledgeable about the “content” of their organization or intellectually intelligent. I far more frequently come across leaders who lack the “smarts” that Patrick describes.

Smart leadership can be learned, but it takes a fair amount of practice, learning to become more mindful of your interactions. Here are six questions Patrick suggests you answer to determine how “smart” you are.

1. I generally understand what others are feeling during meetings and conversations.
2. I show empathy to others on the team.
3. I demonstrate an interest in the lives of my teammates.
4. I am an attentive listener.
5. I am aware of how my words and actions impact others on the team.
6. I adjust my behavior and style to fit the nature of a conversation or relationship.

The Review of Economics and Statistics recently published research findings indicating that your social skills may be just as important as your intelligence when it comes to achieving success.  Quoting Harvey Deutschendorf in Fast Company (6/16/14), “Over the last decade there has been a huge increase in evidence that emotional intelligence is an important factor in leadership.”

So, how can you become a smarter leader?

There’s a difference between leading and rallying. We can rally people if we stoke their fears. Leadership is about inspiring people with hope. ~Simon Sinek

If I think about leadership within the context of political party conventions, it makes my head hurt. What I see, from all sides, just doesn’t feel a lot like leadership. I feel like I’m being persuaded to vote based upon what they believe I should fear, instead of what inspires me to hope for an optimistic future.

I don’t know about you, but I need a respite from all this “rallying” and a reminder of what leadership is really about. Here are a few quotes that have helped me to refocus my perspective on real leadership.

• Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real. ~Thomas Merton
• Humility, that low, sweet root, from which all heavenly virtues shoot. ~Thomas Moore
• Humility is nothing but truth, and pride is nothing but lying. ~St. Vincent de Paul
• The difference between a good leader and a great leader is humility. ~Jim Collins
• Great leaders don’t need to act tough. Their confidence and humility serve to underscore their toughness. ~Simon Sinek
• The challenge of leadership is to be strong but not rude; be kind but not weak; be bold but not bully; be thoughtful but not lazy; be humble but not timid; be proud but not arrogant; have humor but without folly. ~Jim Rohn
• To possess self-confidence and humility at the same time is called maturity. ~Jack Welch
• Humility is a great quality of leadership which derives respect and not just fear or hatred. ~Yousef Manayyer
• A great leader needs to love and respect people, and he needs to be comfortable with himself and with the world. He also needs to be able to forgive himself and others. In other words, a leader needs grace. ~Leo Hindery, Jr.

After a few more months of intense name-calling, fear-based ads, and simply rude behavior, I’ll hope for real leadership to emerge somewhere in this nation of ours.

I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions. ~Stephen Covey

Ever felt stuck, boxed-in, or maybe like everything was happening to you and you had no control? We’ve all had those moments, some lasted longer than others. Someone who lives from the perspective of being a product of their decisions, not their circumstances, is a leader.

Numerous psychologists have written about the critical acknowledgment of our ability, and freedom, to make decisions. One of those psychologists is author and Holocaust survivor, Viktor Frankl. Frankl said, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” He also said, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” The key word in these quotes is to choose, and by choosing we are making decisions.

Another psychologist, Dr. Caroline Leaf in Switch on Your Brain, said, “One brain generates more energy (electrical impulses) in one day than all the cell phones on the planet (quoting Joe Dispaneza). So we have the power to make changes; we do not have a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind.”

A former Navy SEAL, Brent Gleeson identified seven tips for being a more decisive leader, to face the tough decisions (be a product of his decisions, not a product of his circumstances).

• In the absence of orders, take charge.
• Stop avoiding those difficult conversations.
• Make that decision you should have made months ago.
• Know that most problems are never as bad as they initially seem.
• Actively decide to be a better leader.
• Remember that you are not alone.
• Make a decision to be positive, no matter what.

Dr. Leaf tells us, “This is the incredible power God has given us: to be able to think and choose and create reality.”

What decisions are you putting off? What decisions do you need to make this week? What decisions could make you a more impactful leader? In your leadership roles, how will you use the incredible power God has given you, to create reality?