Category Archives: Message

Yo-Yo Leadership…

06 Thursday Feb 2020

Posted by in Actions, Authentic, Communication, Courage, Culture, Engagement, Essence, Expectations, Humility, Leader, Leadership, Message, Purpose, Servant, Sincerity, Understanding, Value

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We can all agree or should, at least, that leadership is not about popularity. Oh, but how many “leaders,” think and lead that way.  You know them…

What begins as, hopefully, a genuine desire to serve others in leadership soon can become nothing more than an act of impressing others. If a leader’s leadership depends on the applause and approval of others, the genuineness, or lack of, is so apparent, people get blindsided because of it. And there lies the problem….

I read something the other day about popularity being similar to a yo-yo. I thought it was funny because we all know some yo-yos. Yo-yo up, yo-yo down. Now, it has been a while since I toyed around with a yo-yo, but as I reflect, I can definitely see how the analogy takes true. As the yo-yo goes down, gravity takes over, everything is natural. As the yo-yo comes back up, it is drawn back with a force of having to get back to the top.

As I thought more about popularity and the yo-yo, I transferred the concept to leadership. Does your leadership, naturally work, or are you leading because of a controlling force? And the most critical question to answer today is, “Is that controlling force your wanting to be liked?” When things are going well, we strut and swag; when not, we drop our head and mope. When your wanting to be liked becomes the “want of your day,” nothing good happens. It makes you miserable (it should) and others around you miserable.

Let people like you because they see true leadership in you. It seems that a reoccurring theme in my blogs is talking about “being for others.” I think we should; why would we not? But it is tough to be for others when we are for ourselves first. It goes back to a thought I had the other day… “Finding value in what we know instead of what we think carries greater leadership responsibility.” Lead because you know… If we do not, how can we ask for society to grow to be better leaders? Be popular becasue you are respected, not the other way around. Bottom line… Do not be a yo-yo leader!

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others

©2020 J Clay Norton

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What is the message I am teaching?

18 Friday Oct 2019

Posted by in Actions, Balance, Clarity, Communication, Humility, Importance, Leader, Message, Relationships, Servant, Teachers, Value

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How many of us, when we first started teaching, spoke a different message than we do now? When it comes to teaching, many teachers are “talking” way further down the road, then they are actually “walking.”

The struggle for many is that we are talking so much and in so many areas where students cannot hear our message. Or do they? The contrast of what is heard between not saying something and saying something is profound, and our students are listening.

Any given day, we can point to areas where we know our teaching has not caught up to the truth we are speaking and sharing with others. It is at this point in time we must remember the idealist mission we first started with. I believe the challenge of our message is, “Are we doing right with and by students?” In all humbleness, we teach to grow and serve students to be more and better than they realize they can be.

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Deep down, we know what a message of teaching should sound like. We know about pedagogy, methodology, classroom management, best-practices… and since we know these things, we automatically think we have them. But, do we know about teaching the message of kindness, patience, fairness… yes, we know about these as well, but we do not automatically have them.

The message we speak for our students carry beyond the time we have them in class. We can make all the necessary changes here and there to make ourselves better teachers. However, if we do not find a platform on which to stand for our students, and actually hold them accountable and be for them, the platform we stand on is not any better than trying to stand on a 2×4 in the ocean.

Being a quality teacher is teaching a message that gives credibility to others and as a byproduct, credibility to you in return. This message must be part of ourselves and not lip service. Let your “walk” and “talk” catch up with each other.  Everyone will be better for it.

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others

©2019 J Clay Norton

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