On Eagles, Geese, Turkeys, Crows, Vultures, and Hawks

Eagles have always been representative of high calibre leaders. They don’t flock like geese but rather fly solo. While this may rob them of the ability to draft from each other, it provides them with some crucial advantages that are essential for vision development, maintenance, and casting. Here are two: 

One, an eagle and a turkey react very differently to the threat of a storm. A turkey runs under the barn, hoping the storm won’t come near. The eagle, on the other hand, leaves the security of its nest and spreads its wings to ride the air currents of the approaching storm, knowing they will carry it higher than it could soar on its own.

Two, when an eagle is attacked by a pack of crows it doesn’t fight back. All it does is simply fly higher and higher, knowing that pretty soon the crows won’t be able to fly any higher. The eagle plays smart rather than lose its sensibility in the mindless games of small-thinking crows.

What additional insights can high calibre leaders gain from eagle-like thinking? Here are six marks:

1. Eagles are catalysts of experiences – Eagles make things happen based on their skills and abilities. They walk the road less traveled, defying models in order to blaze new trails. They make epic experiences happen.

2. Eagles possess great vision and execution – Eagles don’t perch on a tree and wait for the cows to come home. They go out and look for opportunities. They are not risk averse. They know when to unleash their cards.

3. Eagles are change agents – Eagles influences others in positive ways. They are 360° influencers. Their influence is not restricted by any categories or attributes. They confound the simple while dazzling the enlightened.

4. Eagles are multipliers of value - Eagles multiply the value of what they touch. Geese add value, turkeys subtract value, while crows divide value. Some groups are infested with vultures who prey on value!

5. Eagles empower eagles – Eagles don’t hang out with hawks. Hawks are pretenders. They are self-conceited, wait for the vultures to leave the carcass before they swarm in to make an even greater mess.

6. Eagles are sources of creativity – Eagles hunt for ideas that result in quantum transformation. They bring about the revolutionary advances that cement their status as high calibre leaders. Let the eagles fly!

Dance: The Rhythm of an Epic Life

There is a Kenyan saying that “He who spends time adorning himself knows he is going to a dance”. This saying came to mind a few weeks ago as I watched my wife spend almost thirty minutes in front of the mirror. When I jokingly told her that she was spending too much time using cosmetics on an already stunning and gorgeous face, she responded, “Stop it charming … I’m not spending time here, I’m investing time”. Immediately when she said that I thought about the Kenyan saying above. Through this simple interaction, the stunner had just contributed towards refreshing my mind with brilliant insight.

Let’s explore the saying. For the purpose of clarifying the idea of what I’m sharing here (and staying on the same track with my wife’s thinking), let me say it this way, “She who invests time in preparing herself knows that there is something special in her future”. The stunner invested a significant amount of time in preparing herself that morning because she was expectating to meet a client later in the day.

Preparation is the key to securing your future. Are you adorning yourself? You should be, because there’s a dance awaiting you. The dance is the future that you were destined to live. One of the most beautiful things in life is a man or woman who is ready when his or her time comes. You may not be in the ‘dance’ of your life right now, but you can prepare because the truth is that every human being gets the opportunity to experience their dance. The problem is that very few are ever ready when the moment comes.

Start adorning yourself. Invest in personal growth. Read books that will prepare you for the future. Develop yourself into the kind of person who will shine on the dance floor when destiny finally says, “Here’s your chance”. Get ready! The quality of dance you expect in your future determines the amount of adorning you will do today. Raise your expectations. You shouldn’t be expecting to go to some mediocre dance. Your goal should be to dance in the most sophisticated dances reserved for the ones who have invested heavily in themselves.

One very important closing thought: Life was never meant to be a battle. Life is supposed to be a dance. Larry D’Anges said, “If you don’t learn to dance with life, life will pass you by and get another partner“. And I say this: “If you don’t learn how to dance today, you won’t shine on the dance floor tomorrow“.

Flowing into a Meaningful and Specific Epic Life

One of the quotes that had great impact on my life when I was in college was Zig Ziglar’s famous question, “Are you a meaningful specific or a wandering generality?” This quote came to mind as I was thinking about the ingredients that make a life of purpose, direction and productivity. A keen study of the lives of people who excel will reveal that the main ingredient for their success is usually one thing: passion. Their dedication to a cause, belief in people and commitment to living their best life come from their passion. They find the one thing they really enjoy doing, then do it with passion. Passion is the key ingredient to success. 

Where does passion come from? How can we use it to become meaningful specifics? Passion is born out of desire – having a dream, vision or longing to see something different from a current situation. What do you see in your future? What’s your dream? Martin Luther King Jnr. was a very passionate man because he had a dream for racial equality. Princess Diana had a passion for charity work because she wanted to see a better world. Your passion will enable you to soar from obscurity and into the limelight. Your passion will enable you to realize something greater than yourself. Your passion will enable you to be a meaningful specific. 

Passion is effective when it is birthed from the inside. You must be motivated intrinsically. You cannot exhibit passion on the outside when deep down you are shallow. You’ve got to cultivate it deep within yourself. That comes by immersing yourself wholeheartedly into pursuing your vision or dream.

Here are two key things that generate passion:

a). Relentless Dedication – In order to become a meaningful specific, you must be relentlessly dedicated to making your dream come true. What are you doing on a daily basis that is adding value to your ability to fully become who you were born to be? Are you being true to the voice within you that is calling you to perform at your optimum level? 

b). Steady Focus – Steady Focus comes from always having your vision right in front of you. Think about why you have immense success driving every day – the windshield is right in front of you and you are always looking out through it! It’s the same thing with your dream. You must keep it right in front of you. There are many ways that you can do this. Write it down and recite it throughout the day. Design your environment to remind you of your vision every day.

Are you a meaningful specific or a wandering generality? Go on, live an epic life.

A Formula For Fulfillment: How to live an epic life

Imagine living the life of your dreams – an epic life! Imagine doing what you’ve always dreamed of doing for a living – flourishing in the flow of peace, fulfillment, prosperity, wisdom and happiness. Imagine having the time to do the things you love to do with your family and friends – a combination of engaging, participating, interacting and creating with them. Now, here’s the formula to make that happen:

Desire + Decision X Determination = Destiny!

What does this mean? Let us look at the three components of the formula:

Desire

In The Road to Arrival, we discovered the joy of positive desire and defined it as being an unsatisfied longing (p. 105). Dreams are the product of desire. The starting point of all accomplishment is desire. The fact that you can imagine a certain kind of lifestyle fro your self is a good indicator that you have a desire. A dream is simply a strongly desired goal. Desire is the key to motivation because it develops within us a passion to pursue that which we long for. Your desires, however, must be backed by good decision making.

Decision

Decision is the ignition key of progress because the instant one makes a solid decision, change will be automatic. It’s one thing to have good desires but it’s quite another to make a quality decision of getting up and pursuing those desires. Many people falter in this area because they do not want to make a commitment. Making a quality decision enables you to find the power of being commited towards your desires. Nothing ever changes until a man or woman makes a decision. Decision should lead to determination.

Determination

In Battling for your Prophetic Destiny, we learn about Abraham Lincoln and how he had many failures yet remained determined to pursue the dream of becoming America’s president (p. 33). Lincoln himself said, “Always remember that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other thing”. Once you make a decision to pursue a dream, there will be many obstacles and challenges to keep you form working towards your dream. You must be persistent.

The key to realizing your desired destiny is to make a decision to be determined as you pursue it. You can live the life of your dreams. You can reach all your goals and surpass them. Stay focused!  

Four Competencies of Great Leadership

In living an epic life, you also have the priviledge of modeling leadership to those around you. There are four quadrants of leadership: bad leadership, average leadership, good leadership and great leadership. You want to be in the “great leadership” quadrant.

Good leadership takes people from point A to point B. Great leadership does a lot of great stuff, like empowering people so that they can go from point A to point B. What other competencies do great leaders embody? 

First, they articulate a clear and compelling vision.

They are visionary. They communicate a common vision that gives people a purpose and meaning. It outlines the priorities of the group and the direction that is is going in. 

Second they act confidently and optimistically.

The leader’s confidence, conviction and optimism is contagious. It rubs off on the followers. Lack of this weakens leadership of its potential.

Third, they express confidence in their followers. 

Great leaders have high confidence in people and make them feel good about themselves. They foster their confidence and optimism.

Lastly, they lead by example.

One leadership proverb says, “Example is the main thing in influencing others.” Their example leverages the whole organization and enables people to come into their full potential.

The Wisdom of Maximizing the Moment

A couple of days ago I got a unique card from a friend who is a practitioner of personal development. What caught my attention immediately was it’s title: Follow Your Destiny, Wherever It Leads You! This title was powerful to me because that very same morning I had written in my blog about Plotting Your Destiny. What a coincidence that I would receive a card along the same lines on the same day! This act of providence sent me a great message which was solidified even more when I read some of the words on the inside. Here’s part of what it said:“There comes a time in your life when you realize that if you stand still, you will remain at this point forever. You realize that if you fall and stay down, life will pass you by.”

This was huge for me because I am just at that point when I have made a decision to take a leap of faith in my personal life. My decision to leave a rewarding job where I am adding value to at-risk youth so that I could start my organization in which I could potentially multiply value to society is an attempt to plot my destiny. The card went on to say:

“Rather than wondering about or questioning the direction your life has taken, accept the fact that there is a path before you now. Shake off the “why’s” and “what if’s” and rid yourself of confusion. Whatever was – is in the past. Whatever is – is what’s important. The past is a brief reflection. The future is yet to be realized. Today is here.”

What a beautiful message! This card cemented for me the truth that we must maximize every moment. The key to an epic life is in being able to seize every single day and utilize every single opportunity life offers you to live up to your full potential. Don’t settle for less when you can have more. You were designed for accomplishment and engineered for greatness! Maximize the meoment! Live an epic life! Get into the flow! 

KUDOS – Discovering Fulfillment

A few days ago I was floored when someone sent an email to someone else to pass along some kudos for me. This is a rare word so I went home and developed a KUDOS formula for encouraging others. Here’s the KUDOS formula:

K – Keep your focus on finding acts worthy of encouragement in your people.

U – Underscore the vital necessity of a climate and culture of encouragement.

D – Discover the 101% principle (Find the 1 thing someone is good at and give 100% encouragement in this area.

O – Outline your expectations, knowing that people soar higher once encouraged.

S – Seek to encourage with a desire for the other person’s benefit, not your own.

Participating by Dreaming Big

Many times we stall in contributing to society because we “have no dream”. Is that really possible? Are there people who “have no dream”? I don’t think so. Think deeply. What’s your dream? What’s that one thing you absolutely believe you were born to do? What keeps you up at night and keeps you dreaming during the day? What’s your greatest desire in terms of accomplishments?

Each of us have been created with a desire for greatness. There is no human being who does not have the capability to dream big dreams. Greatness does not necessarily mean being rich and famous. Greatness is simply understanding what you were born to do and doing it to your utmost potential. All human beings have the potential to dream great dreams and achieve them. T.E. Lawrence, in Seven Pillars of Wisdom, said, “All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night, in the dusty recesses of their mind, wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible.” Don’t let your dreams become nightmares. Dream big. Your dream is key to you participating in the flow of life.

Trading a Successful Life for An Epic Life

One of my favorite quotes is from Tom Brokaw. He was once quoted as saying, “It’s easy to make money, it’s a lot harder to make a difference.” From the inspiration of this quote I have developed the following saying, “It’s easy to live a successful life, it’s a lot harder to live an epic life.” For those of you who are frequent readers of my blog, you already know that epic means engaging, participating, interacting and creating. Living an epic life means trading off a mediocre life for an excellent life. Jim Collins refers to this as moving from Good to Great. Someone might criticize me and say, “Man, I have many riches and possessions. Do you call my life mediocre?” Yes. I still say mediocre if you are not engaged, participating, interacting and creating some value in society. And remember criticism that’s negative doesn’t contribute to the flow of goodness. 

For successful people, life is a destination – the attainment of wealth. When you begin to live an epic life, you understand that life is a journey. Any journey has intersections and those who win are the ones who make good trade-offs at the intersections of life. Bob Buford once said, “None of us know when we will die, but all of us, if we wish, can select our own epitaph”. We select our own epitaph based on the kind of life we live. Are you living an epic life? Are you pursuing a better life? If not, here are ten trade-offs worth making that can qualitatively improve your life and a question after each to prompt your decision-making. 

1. Affirmation for accomplishment – Are you going to be one of the boys and get the affirmation of mediocrity or will you step out of the herd and blaze a trail of accomplishment? 

2. Financial gain for future potential – Will you be enticed by the promises of wealth or will you live for an epic life based on your true capacity? 

3. Immediate pleasure for personal growth – Are you tempted by the life of ease and play now, or are you motivated by the desire for living your best life possible? 

4. Security for significance – Do you want to live a comfortable life of comfort and convenience or will you soar towards a better life in which you make an even greater difference in society? 

5. Acceptance for excellence – Are you going to settle for the acceptance of your peers and friends or will you aim for the excellence that comes from the pursuit of a cause that is greater than your personal dreams? 

6. Addition for multiplication – Are you satisfied with adding value to your community or will you go for the more rewarding joy of multiplying value to the world? 

7. Many things for one thing – Will you be a jack of all trades and master of none or will you stand out from the pack and be a master of one thing? 

8. Quantity for quality – Are you going to fill up your life with things and events or will you go for the right things and events? 

9. Stability for success – Is your prime desire to have a stable life or are you willing to tap into the joy of adding ? 

10. Work for family – Are you laboring at your work at the expense of your family or are you creating a legacy for those whom you love and society in general? 

Only through the wise use of trade-offs can we truly live an epic life.

 

How do you “c”?: Creativity versus Reactivity

In order to be in the flow of engaging, participating, interacting and creating, we need to be able to see things differently. Many people see society and their abilities in the light of limitations instead of abundance. The bulk of society is seated down, observing everything and critizing what is happening. Difference makers are usually standing up and doing something by creating newness in society.  

In our every day dealings, do we spend too much time on the horizontal that we fail to see our potential in the vertical? Is life all about what’s happening around us? Think about this. In a meeting, when you are horizontal you are sitting down but when you are vertical you are standing up. By getting vertical we can gain a bird’s eye view so that we have a bigger picture of what’s possible.

In the vertical we have an opportunity to be creative while in the horizontal we are always reactive. Creativity comes when we can ’C’ things differently. Notice that the difference between creative and reactive is in where you place the ‘c’. In being creative you ‘c’ first and then develop a game plan. In being reactive you ‘c’ in the midst of the situation. How do you ’c’ (see)? Are you seated and criticizing or are you standing up and doing something about it? Are you creative or reactive? C first!