{"id":2115,"date":"2014-09-21T12:37:43","date_gmt":"2014-09-21T16:37:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/StillmanLeaders\/?p=2115"},"modified":"2014-09-21T12:37:43","modified_gmt":"2014-09-21T16:37:43","slug":"three-minute-leadership-fill-your-life-with-firsts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/StillmanLeaders\/2014\/09\/three-minute-leadership-fill-your-life-with-firsts\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Minute Leadership: Fill Your Life with Firsts"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong><\/p>\n

To:\u00a0 The Great Leaders Who Have a Passion for Continuous Learning<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a recent Harvard Business Review blog, Bill Taylor, co-founder and editor of Fast Company Magazine, shares important lesson with great leaders to avoid being stuck. He refers to John Gardner\u2019s famous speech, Personal Renewal<\/a>, to McKinsey & Company addressing\u00a0 the question of \u201cwhy some men and women go to seed while others remain vital all of their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From life\u2019s situations and challenges that take a heavy toll on people on their journey, Gardner says that \u201cLife is hard.\u00a0 Just to keep on keeping on is sometime an act of courage.\u201d\u00a0 The harsh fact that great leaders need to face is the \u201cfact that most men and women out there in the world of work are more stale than they know, more bored than they would care to admit.\u201d\u00a0 The reason for this is that they cease to learn and grow. They have grown complacent and fixed in their attitudes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The remedy?\u00a0 He turns to Gardner\u2019s counsel which Taylor says is \u201cthe challenge for leaders is not to out-hustle, out-muscle, or out-maneuver the competition. It is to out-think the competition in ways big and small, to develop a unique point of view about the future and get there before anyone else does. The best leaders I\u2019ve gotten to know aren\u2019t just the boldest thinkers; they are the most insatiable learners.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And how to sustain and grow that fire for learning?\u00a0 Taylor writes about Robert Spence, author of The 10 Essential Hugs of Life<\/em> (e.g.\u201cHug your failures,\u201d \u201cHug your fears,\u201d \u201cHug yourself\u201d) special hug – \u201cHug your firsts<\/em> \u2014 to seek out new sources of inspiration, to visit a lab whose work you don\u2019t really understand, to attend a conference you shouldn\u2019t be at.\u201d\u00a0 It is being a child again when everything is a first. Spence share his learning from his friend Jim Collins: \u201cYou\u2019re only as young as the new things you do,\u201d he writes, \u201cthe number of \u2018firsts\u2019 in your days and weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hug your firsts! Find those incredible gifts within you that await to be discovered. Look through new lenses. See the world through the eyes of a child.\u00a0 As you do, remember the concluding words of John Gardner\u2019s speech:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“Meaning is not something you stumble across, like the answer to a riddle or the prize in a treasure hunt. Meaning is something you build into your life. You build it out of your own past, out of your affections and loyalties, out of the experience of humankind as it is passed on to you, out of your own talent and understanding, out of the things you believe in, out of the things and people you love, out of the values for which you are willing to sacrifice something. The ingredients are there. You are the only one who can put them together into that unique pattern that will be your life. Let it be a life that has dignity and meaning for you. If it does, then the particular balance of success or failure is of less account.”<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Have a beautiful day and a magnificent week!!!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mike<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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