A study mentioned in the 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth states, HONESTY is the top trait universally valued by people.  Good to know and not a real surprise! As we are leading ourselves and leading others we are always honest, right?  But how many times have you seen this and maybe it even happened to you: a stretch of the truth, a white lie, a version of truth, can hurt people and is not the truth. Of course, we have to stay away from any variance that is untrue and stay above board in all things.

The good news is our inside development is totally within our control. We will each face character choices determining not only our own growth but the value we can add to people. The right choices allow us to help people and not hurt them!  Plus, the growth within ourselves is priceless.

In a recent Leading at the Next Level lesson, I (Cindy) shared the Law of Solid Ground which says, trust is the foundation of leadership.  This particular lesson delved into What the...

“Wanting everyone to be happy and making tough decisions were incompatible tasks.”

 - John Maxwell

I (Cindy) remember reading this quote early in my leadership journey and realizing there’s my problem!  I was attempting to keep people happy while making tough decisions... and it wasn’t working out so well. Family, work, friends...everywhere!  I wanted everyone to be happy yet life offered an unending barrage of tough decisions.  Since I made tough decisions with this mindset, I was in constant turmoil.   That simple quote reminded me everyone is responsible for their own happiness and my job was to continue making tough decisions with everyone's best interest at heart.  That worked for me because it values everyone!  

Consider when a mindset shift may be helpful for you in this area. It may just make the difference for you and your leadership like it did for me! If it wasn't for ongoing growth, I would still be...

Quite a few of the leaders I’ve known over the years also held positions where they were responsible for supervising a group of people, managing a process, or running an entire business. Let me be very candid before I move on though, filling those positions had almost as much to do with them being real leaders as sitting in a garage does with me being a car… Since condemning the misuse of the word leadership isn’t my intent (today), I’ll stick with the regularly scheduled program…

As a supervisor, a manager, or even a business owner, there’s often pressure from various directions to ensure we’re making the numbers. While I’ve been providing this blog and A Daily Dose Of Leadership for going on five years as a complimentary service to hundreds of people across the country, I like sleeping inside and eating food as much as the next person so at times I’ll reference some of the fee-based services Cindy and I provide as well;...

In putting together an upcoming course titled The Strength of Your Organization:  Finding & Retaining the Best People, I (Cindy) was reminded of something John Maxwell shared with us as part of his President’s Advisory Council.  What I am about to share with you John says is a foundational piece to all his success! 

“Everything I know about leadership comes out of my thirst for personal growth.  Personal growth/professional development is my first love.”  - John Maxwell

I share a similar story and relate to this so deeply because of the difference personal and professional growth continues to make in my life.  Whether you want to lead yourself better, lead others better or both; if personal growth is not happening on a consistent basis then success will be fleeting. The key to success is personal growth.

Personal growth becomes professional development when you apply personal growth laws to grow yourself professionally.  Some...

Even after doing all the things we’ve looked at through the last several posts to ensure we’re on the right track to being able to exceed expectations with each person we interact with, there can be a huge gap between what we intend and what they perceive! Nearly all of us have grown up hearing just how important it is to follow The Golden Rule by doing unto others as we’d have them do unto us. But there are times with even the purest of purpose, things can go awry…

Have you ever met someone who seems to view the world through a pair of rose colored glasses? You know, one of those folks who can find the best in any situation… Hope about someone who can brighten just about any room simply by walking out of it? I’m not sure what color their glasses are, but they probably don’t have that same rosy tint!

Cindy and I were in a training session a few years ago where the instructor divided us into small groups and challenged each group to review...

I got my first taste of behavior-based safety in late spring or early summer of 1998. Cindy and I had only been dating a few months at that point so I was still teetering on the edge to say the least… By the time I went through the two day training process required to conduct behavioral observations in January ‘99, we were nearly a year into a pretty solid relationship so some of my extremely rough edges were beginning to get at least a little bit smoother. Looking back, I can see so many places where God’s hand was moving in my life at that time but I’ll save those stories for another time.

For now, I’d like to share a subtle but crucial lesson that I probably should have pulled away from those two days of training. Truth be told, it took a few years for me to really get it!

You may have heard me reference this before but I’ll hash it out here again. One of the core tenets of behavior-based safety is that employees are trained to watch their...

In the 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth, John Maxwell presents Laws of Growth with the Live It, Learn It, Lead It mindset challenging us to Live It but genuinely living out the law we are growing in.  This challenges us to be the change.  Learn It is simply taking in the right information. However, many people learn but never improve themselves or find a fulfilling path in life which leads to their purpose because they learn but do not grow.  In other words, they do not apply, stretch, and put in the work to grow themselves which is the answer to all other fulfillment. 

For example, we can read about the Law of Intentionality but if we do not apply it we don’t grow!

In one of our (Cindy) study groups, we are currently learning more about the Law of Awareness which says, to know yourself you must grow yourself.  We started with questions like the ones below to help us know ourselves better and these will work for you too.  As you think about who you...