For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. ~Nelson Mandela

This year more than most, violence, hate, and anger, creates a dark cloud that hangs over our celebration of independence and freedom. Don’t get me wrong, I’m incredibly grateful to live in this country. It just feels like we’ve not embraced, but moved farther from the vision of our forefathers. When I read Thomas Jefferson’s notable quote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights: that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” I wonder if we’re no longer really listening to those words.

As we celebrate our freedom, I think about conversations I’ve had with people of various backgrounds and cultures over the past few years. I’m reminded of the varying definitions of “freedom” I’ve heard. Many of those definitions seem to be focused on Webster’s definition of freedom: the power to determine action without restraint; exemption from external control, interference, regulation.

It’s hard for me to think of any leader more qualified than Nelson Mandela to teach us about the word freedom. He knew all too well what it was like to be stripped of freedom, to be literally behind bars for more than a quarter of a century.

For Mandela, freedom goes well beyond Webster’s definition, it’s not merely to cast off one’s chains. It is to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.

Now that’s a leadership mantra! “To live [and lead] in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”

Let’s celebrate our freedom this week, the Mandela way. Imagine if all leaders throughout this country stood for a definition of freedom that respected and enhanced the freedom of others. Then maybe we truly would be the United States.

The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities. ~Stephen Covey

What’s most important to you? What are your goals (personal and professional)? What’s on your bucket list? Now, look at your calendar. What are you doing, next week, that aligns with your priorities? Anything?

A number of years ago, I went for a walk in a fairly quiet Chicago neighborhood. I came upon a father and his young son having a conversation. The son was listing off all of the things he needed (maybe wanted) to do in the next few days. The father replied, “you have an awfully busy calendar for a six-year old”!

Several years ago I was asked to interview the staff members of a small nonprofit because they just didn’t seem to be in sync. One of my initial questions was how do you determine your priorities each day? The answer I got most frequently was “it all depends upon what’s waiting for me in my inbox.” Only one person showed me her long and short-term goals and then described how her focus on those goals determined how she would spend her time the following week.

I’ve continued to ask similar questions and, unfortunately, I continue to get similar answers. We (including leaders) have lost the ability to discipline ourselves to stay focused on the important. We allow ourselves to get sucked-in to what feels most urgent. Then we wonder why at the end of the day we don’t feel very productive.

Leaders should be setting the example. Leaders should know not only their organization’s priorities but their own personal priorities as well. How they schedule their time should directly reflect those priorities.

We’ve got more distractions coming at us than ever before! In a typical day, the equivalent of 174 85-page newspapers pass by us and we try, sometimes desperately, to maintain focus on what’s really important.

Covey gives leaders a way out of that barrage of distractions.  Schedule your priorities. Don’t prioritize what’s on your schedule.

A leader’s role is to define reality, then give hope. ~Napoleon Bonaparte

Anger, hate, and violence are all words that seem to embody our society more frequently and more intensely. Everything from mass shootings to what may seem like the mundane – one driver angrily yelling at another driver as I attempt to calmly walk my dog down the sidewalk. It’s easy for us to say that all this anger and hate is “out there.” That how we lead organizations is disconnected from what’s happening in our society.

Given the hate-filled violent events of the past couple of weeks, my mind has frequently gone to the work of Tom Rath and the Gallup organization reported in the book Strengths-Based Leadership. They surveyed more than 10,000 people and asked them to list three words that best describe what the leader with the most positive influence contributes to their life. This was an open-ended question, no drop-down menu of words from which to choose. Distinct patterns emerged. Followers’ four basic needs of leaders: trust, compassion, stability, and hope!

Imagine if leaders in organizations all throughout our country took this to heart. What if leaders began to intentionally and deliberately focus on instilling trust, expressing compassion, providing stability, and giving hope! How could that not impact the lens we use to view our world, our society, and ourselves!?

Educator, author, and speaker Angela Maiers said,

At every moment of the day, we are either making the world a better place or making it worse. Our thoughts spread out and become contagious, either positively infecting others or unleashing a plague of negativity, doubt, and fear. We have the power to help lift someone up or to bring them down. How we interact with those we meet may be the catalyst that sets someone into an emotional tailspin or the spark that provides them with encouragement and HOPE for a better day… or maybe even a better life.

I see far too many “leaders” who send their followers into an emotional tailspin. They bark out orders, make demands, focus on the negative, use fear to manipulate. Or sometimes what I think is even worse, just simply never provide any positive encouragement, at all. Yet what we all need from the influential leaders in our lives is: TRUST, COMPASSION, STABILITY, and HOPE. That’s not one author’s opinion; that’s scientific research coming directly from followers.

Napoleon Bonaparte also said, “A leader is a dealer in hope.” You may not be hateful or angry, but are you a dealer in hope? If we, as leaders, focused on being dealers in hope, imagine the potential repercussions both inside and outside our organizations.

Greatness comes from being in the moment, here, present, in the now.  ~Dr. Wayne Dyer

I find it interesting that all leaders really have control over is the present moment, yet they spend many of their waking hours lamenting over the past or pontificating about the future.

When Dr. Wayne Dyer commented about this idea that greatness comes from being in the moment, he also added that we need to spend less time thinking “big” and more time thinking “small.” His point is that great leaders take on difficulties while they are still small; they achieve greatness in little things. This is somewhat contradictory to many leadership gurus’ emphases on visions, goals, and the infamous BHAG (big hairy audacious goal) from Jim Collins. I’m not advocating against these visions or goals; however, I also believe there is real wisdom in Dyer’s perspective.

I’ve helped a number of clients create visions—their grand plan for how they want the world to look in the future, and their strategy to make it a reality. But then they struggle to gain traction or momentum. So they go back to the strategy room and revisit their grand plan, give it a few tweaks and some edits. Again, no traction.

You don’t reach a vision overnight, that’s why it’s called a vision. Some organizations, and individuals, will create stretch goals so they can reach that vision more quickly. We’re impatient and we overlook the obvious, what’s right in front of us—the present moment, the here and now.

When we’re not moving toward our vision we assume that it’s the vision that needs changing, when many times it’s the present moment that’s the issue. Or said another way, it’s the small things that need our attention, the things in the present moment, right in front of us. When those small things start to align, then we are able to make progress toward that grand vision.

An unknown author said, “When I am anxious it is because I am living in the future. When I am depressed it is because I am living in the past.” David Bader gives all leaders some excellent advice, “Be here now. Be someplace else later. Is that so complicated”?

Leaders, spend time in the present moment today.

Persistence is to the character of man as carbon is to steel.  ~Napoleon Hill

Vic Johnson, author of the book Dance Until It Rains, begins with the story of a tribe in Africa that confounded all of the anthropologists. It seems that this tribe had for centuries enjoyed a 100% success rate with its rain dance. In comparing this tribe to other tribes who did rain dances, but who didn’t always experience success, the experts couldn’t find anything that differentiated the one tribe. They performed the same rituals, praying the same incantations to the same gods, in the same costumes. Like all the tribes, they sometimes danced for days, even weeks on end. Finally, an astute observer noticed something very telling. The successful tribe did one thing – and only one thing – different than the other tribes. They ALWAYS danced UNTIL it rained!

Napoleon Hill who wrote Think and Grow Rich became friends with leaders like Henry Ford and Thomas Edison and said of both men that the ONLY thing that was different about them from everyone else was their persistence.

per-sist-ence: firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition, continuing beyond the usual, expected, or normal time.

I was inspired by the dance until it rains illustration to try a little experiment. We probably all have areas of our lives where we are very persistent, but then we also have those areas where we are not so persistent but would like to be. I know I do. I took a sheet of paper and divided it into two columns. In the left column I wrote the header “persistent” and below that listed several areas where I believe I am quite persistent. Then under those areas listed all of the reasons I could think of as to why I’m persistent. Then in the right column I wrote the header “not persistent” and below that listed just one area where I would really like to become more persistent. Under that I listed all of the reasons I could think of as to why I’m not persistent.

As I looked at the two contrasting lists, I noticed that if I reframed my thinking and changed some of my actual habits or practices, I discovered ways that I could potentially become persistent in this area. I just need to modify or reframe the negatives in the right column to be addressed by the positives in the left column. This means that I’ll approach this challenge very differently in the future; but if I can become persistent I’m convinced I’ll also realize a different outcome. I just need to keep right on dancing until it rains now that I have my new list of strategies along with a more positive outlook.

I agree with Vic Johnson and Napoleon Hill, when you look back on many of the great leaders, they did seem to have a dogged determination that made them unusually persistent. Calvin Coolidge said, “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not: unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”