Category Archives: Actions

“A Christmas Story” Leadership Lesson…

09 Friday Dec 2022

Posted by in A Christmas Story, Actions, Authentic, Christmas, Leader, Leadership

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A few years ago, I wrote in my blog that my three favorite Christmas shows are A Charlie Brown Christmas, Christmas Vacation, and A Christmas Story. I have written about the leadership of the first two in the past. So, to close the trifecta of shows here is the leadership I find in A Christmas Story… 

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Don’t fall for gimmicks

The decoder… Ralphie waited on it to come in the mail. All excited and everything. When it did, a special code on that night’s Little Orphan Annie Radio Show… Ralphie locks himself in the bathroom, stressed out as the anxiety comes to the point of solving the clue… “Be sure to drink your Ovaltine,” it read. The Decoder Scene

To listen to Ralphie’s thoughts and see his face is where we all have been at some time or another. Wanting to believe something was the “real deal” or believing in someone who eventually showed their leadership was a gimmick. We might not know it until the last possible moment, but when we do, we throw it in the garbage. I bet that’s what Ralphie did with the decoder. Like many in leadership, all it is is an ad for a crummy commercial.

Keep dreaming

Ralphie takes many different approaches to getting his Red Rider BB Gun. From planting advertisements in his parent’s magazines, blurting it out at the table while eating, writing a school essay on it, and even telling Santa. Everyone responds the same, “You’ll shoot your eye out.” But somewhere, in all that, his dad made good (he had one when he was eight). The funny thing, though… they were all almost right. Ralphie’s Pursuit of the Red Rider BB gun

People are standing in line to destroy your dreams. It’s up to you if you let them. Your dreams might not work out or come to fruition when you want them to, but keep them from dying because you didn’t quit dreaming. 

Reward the people

It’s a major award. The classic leg lamp. A Statue. Front and center in the living room for all to see. The amber glow. Delivered in a box that spelled “Fragile.” It could be Italian; who knows? A major award. The Leg Lamp

People, by nature, love accolades. Find ways to acknowledge and give them credit. Let them be celebrated. It doesn’t even have to cost anything. Create something… you get the idea; just make sure it’s not lip service. It’s not always about the reward but the acknowledgment of a well-done job. 

Enough is enough

Ralphie, Randy, Flick, and Schwartz were constantly being bullied by Scut and Grover. Day after day, before and after school. The dread of going to school and coming home. Until… Ralphie had had enough. The whole gang and others were watching the unleashing of pure fear and hatred that had been bottled up explode. If Ralphie’s mom hadn’t come, he would still be hitting Scut Farkus. Ralphie’s Fight

No one likes a leadership bully. Contrary to popular belief, they are out there. They are the ones who are using gimmicks to fool you. Leadership bullies lead with fear until they cannot. Anyway… when people have had enough, they have had enough. At some point, they explode. Like Scut Farkus, they have a small following (Grover), and once they get hit, you really get to see how weak they are.  

A Christmas Story is a family favorite for us. We watch it right after Christmas Vacation on Thanksgiving night and whenever it’s on TV. We will find good or bad leadership if we watch shows close enough. 

At any time of the year, the key to leadership is to put others first. It should not take a Christmas season to make that happen. Let the Christmas spirit take hold of your leadership and let others know, see, and feel it. It should be the gift we give others. 

Next week will be my Christmas Thoughts 2022. 

Let’s go fight the good fight of leadership. Someone has to…

Go be a great educator and leader today… Our future needs it…

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others…

©2022 J Clay Norton

Want more Leadership Thoughts? Follow me on… Twitter @thebookchamber or follow the blog directly.

Want to share this leadership thought with others? Click on one of the social media sharing buttons below and help spread the good…

Knowing Joy Beats Someone Telling Me I Should Be Miserable…

02 Friday Dec 2022

Posted by in Actions, Attitude, Christmas, Deciding, Decisions, Emotion, Encouragement, Inspiration, Intentions, Jesus, Joy, Kindness, Leader, Leadership, Misery, Thankful

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Ok… I am always excited when I learn something new, and boy, did I? The other day listening to talk radio on the way to school, I heard a segment on the reporting of the US Misery Index. I was like, what? Are you serious? There is an index out there that is supposedly going to tell me if I am miserable or not? Maybe not me specifically, but our nation as a whole.

So, I got to school and looked it up. Guess what? It’s real. Here’s the website: http://www.miseryindex.us

In short, here is the description… “The misery index was initiated by economist Arthur Okun, an adviser to President Lyndon Johnson in the 1960’s. It is simply the unemployment rate added to the inflation rate. It is assumed that both a higher rate of unemployment and a worsening of inflation both create economic and social costs for a country. A combination of rising inflation and more people out of work implies a deterioration in economic performance and a rise in the misery index.”

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Yes, inflation is high. I’m not going to get into the unemployment rate and all of the other political stuff. However, inflation does not discriminate. I don’t like the price of milk and eggs right now, but I’m not going to make myself miserable over it. I like money in my pocket just as much as the next person. What I don’t need is an index gauging my thoughts for it. But… ultimately, I decide if I am miserable or not.

So, where’s the leadership in this? It all depends on you, I guess. My joy depends on these things – family, close friendships (that circle grows smaller as I get older), enjoyment of my work, and when it does not rain on Saturdays (so I can play golf), and foremost, my relationship with Christ.

As we are now in the Christmas season, if we listen to everything out there, we almost have no choice but to make ourselves miserable. Some small part of me believes that is what society wants; for us to be miserable, so we will depend on someone or something else. I am not going to sign up for that. You shouldn’t either.

Regardless of what the US Misery Index says, at any time of the year, I’m going to choose joy. Now, I have bad days; I’m sure we all do. However, the joy we should feel at Christmas, we should feel all year. Especially knowing the reason for Christmas, for that brings “Joy to the World” within itself.

And as for leadership… I get to choose that also. I get to decide what type of leader I want to be. I definitely do not need an index for that, either. As we begin the month of December and the Christmas season, focus on the joy that we have. If you have a chance, which we all do, spread some of it around.  It sure beats being miserable because somebody said, “Misery loves company.”

Let’s go fight the good fight of leadership. Someone has to…

Go be a great educator and leader today… Our future needs it…

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others…

©2022 J Clay Norton

Want more Leadership Thoughts? Follow me on… Twitter @thebookchamber or follow the blog directly.

Want to share this leadership thought with others? Click on one of the social media sharing buttons below and help spread the good…

“Looney Tunes” Thanksgiving Leadership…

11 Friday Nov 2022

Posted by in Actions, Leader, Leadership, Looney Tunes, Servant, Thanksgiving, Trust

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To begin with, let me say that I am a huge Looney Tunes fan. Saturday morning, growing up, a bowl of cereal sitting in front of the TV. One solid hour of pure, free, clean comedy. The funny thing is that now as an adult, you realize how much of an adult overtone the cartoons had. Every once in a while, I’ll see one again, and I find them as funny, if not funnier than when I was a kid. I enjoyed the main characters, Buggs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote, and the Tasmanian Devil. In some way or another, I can identify with each of their personalities.

So, for today’s blog, a Looney Tunes Thanksgiving leadership theme…

For those who can remember, these episodes were called Merrie Melodies. One of the episodes was Holiday for Drumsticks, starring Daffy Duck.  If you have time for a 6:42 laugh, click to watch, Holiday for Drumsticks – Daffy Duck

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Here’s the plot synopsis (taken from fandom.com)…

A hillbilly husband brings home a turkey. After shooting back at their feuding neighbor, the wife prepares some food to fatten up the turkey for Thanksgiving. The turkey is thrown into the animal pen. Daffy Duck, who happens to be one of the farm animals, is jealous of all of the food that the turkey is receiving. Once he sees a feast for the turkey, Daffy rushes to the turkey and tells him to stop eating. Daffy explains that the hillbillies want to fatten up the turkey then eat him, so Daffy says that the turkey should reduce his weight so the hillbillies won’t eat the skinny turkey.

In a montage, the turkey exercises day by day, while Daffy eats up the entire feast that was supposed to be for the turkey. On Thanksgiving Day, the turkey is now extremely slim, while Daffy is fat. Pa finds the turkey and states that it’s too bony for him to eat. However, the tables turn when Daffy brags that he is a healthy duck himself and that the hillbillies can’t eat duck for Thanksgiving. Pa finds Daffy a suitable alternative and attempts to axe and shoot him. Daffy frantically tries to lose his weight, but he nearly gets shot in all attempts. Daffy begs the turkey to save him, and the turkey hides him in various areas, before admitting that Daffy can’t be saved aside from moving to a country that doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving. The turkey tells Daffy to take an airplane to Rio de Janeiro, which is a trick to get Daffy into the oven. However, the hillbillies are unable to cook Daffy, as Daffy keeps blowing the matches out.

So, where’s the leadership, you might be asking? How many times have we tried to help others, and it backfired? How often have we, like Daffy Duck, found ourselves having to constantly blow out the match? But… did Daffy Duck know what he was doing? The turkey even tried to trick Daffy in the end. Go figure…

Sometimes it’s a no-win situation. We have all been there before. I’m all about helping others; we should be. It should be in our nature as servant-leaders. I figure if we just do right by people, trust our instincts, and, as my grandfather said, “Make the most of whatever comes, and the least of whatever goes,” then our leadership will turn out alright. Even when it backfires…

Now, go enjoy your Thanksgiving Season with turkey or duck… Next week will be our annual Thanksgiving Thoughts.

Let’s go fight the good fight of leadership. Someone has to…

Go be a great educator and leader today… Our future needs it…

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others…

©2022 J Clay Norton

Want more Leadership Thoughts? Follow me on… Twitter @thebookchamber or follow the blog directly.

Want to share this leadership thought with others? Click on one of the social media sharing buttons below and help spread the good…

Intentionality of Leadership: Acknowledging Others…

04 Friday Nov 2022

Posted by in Actions, Education, Intentional, Leader, Leadership, Relationships, Servant

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The intentionality of leadership… Where has it gone? Better yet, why is it important? I guess we can answer the first question with it’s here, but we are “oh, so busy, I don’t have time to be intentional.” An answer to the second question might answer the first… why is it important? Well, I have found that intentional leaders usually help create an environment of confidence, helping others to develop and succeed. Their purpose, if we want to say that, is to put others first with support. So, if intentional leadership is here but not practiced, it would seem that time is more focused on themselves than others. Yep, that will keep you, “oh, so busy.” 

I’ve written a few blogs in the past on intentional leadership, but the topic came back to mind the other day when a friend and I were talking. So, here’s a different spin on it… 

Tricia Manning of Be Intentional says, “When you lead with intention, you foster an environment that teaches your employees that their work matters. You help them feel the importance of their contribution, build their self-confidence, and connect their work to their own core values. But this doesn’t just happen.”

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Leaders who are out and about have a better pulse on the culture than those who stay behind a closed door of an office… But it’s more than that… Just because you are out and about, being seen is not enough. It’s speaking to and allowing others to speak to you as well. Ok, bad grammar time –  Ain’t nothing is worse than a leader who walks by and sees you but doesn’t speak. You don’t have to stop and carry on a monologue; just say hello. You don’t even have to ask how they are doing. Just acknowledge, but do it without the “head nod;” take the time to speak.

While this might seem simple and little, another “foundism” I have is that the simple, little things of leadership matter. This defines us more than what we do on a larger stage. When we only serve others when convenient, our intentionality becomes inward-centered. 

As I write this, I realize that we are as much defined by what we don’t do as we are by what we do. As leaders, we provide enormous influence without having to say it. If we ever, really want people to work “with you” instead of “for you,” our leadership intentionality needs to acknowledge others. We could really use this in our classrooms as teachers with our students in education, by the way… 

Let’s go fight the good fight of leadership. Someone has to…

Go be a great educator and leader today… Our future needs it…

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others…

©2022 J Clay Norton

Want more Leadership Thoughts? Follow me on… Twitter @thebookchamber or follow the blog directly.

Want to share this leadership thought with others? Click on one of the social media sharing buttons below and help spread the good…