Tag Archives: Right People

You must become what you want to attract…

April 28, 2021 By in Leadership Tags: , , , Leave a comment

“Surround yourself with people that push you to do better. No drama or negativity. Just higher goals and higher motivation. Good times and positive energy. No jealousy or hate. Simply bringing out the absolute best in each other.”

Warren Buffett

I’ve used this quote before, but it is just such a good one that I wanted to use it again. If you are interested, you can read the previous post HERE.  

Every word I wrote last time is as relevant to me now as when I first posted them. I might add to my prior writing the creation of a more disciplined approach for reviewing and pruning. I am going to make this a quarterly habit and see what happens.

Today as I read this quote, I am inspired by exactly how POWERFUL it is when you find people like this and actively seek to include them in your life. It is interesting to observe that the more effective you are, the more people like this seem to show up. A sense of “center of gravity” happens, and like-minded people seem to draw closer together and in more significant numbers. The impact of a group of people who believe and behave in this way can’t be overstated. It can change your world and the worlds of all those around you whom you care for and love.  

The lesson to myself, review this quote and the process I outlined before regularly and live these behaviors outwardly FOR OTHERS every day.  You must become what you want to attract…

Take great care of your garden…

October 5, 2019 By in Leadership Tags: , , Leave a comment

“The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.“

Epictetus

Who are the people in your life that make you better? Who are the ones that drive and push you to be better than you would or could on your own? Do you intentionally create and foster these relationships? Do you seek out people that uplift you and prune out of your life those that hold you back?

Life is all about the relationships that we have with other people. We will be a product of the time we spend with them and they will have great influence over our actions and choices.

Think of the relationships you have as a well-designed garden. In order to maximize the beauty one must cultivate and care for the plants with great diligence. This means planting new ones and removing or pruning out the dead or dying plants. Are there certain relationships you need to nurture? How about pruning? Are there any you need to remove all together?

It’s your choice to be on the bus…

June 15, 2019 By in Leadership Tags: , Leave a comment

“If you have the right people on the bus, the problem of how to motivate and manage people largely goes away.  The right people don’t need to be tightly managed or fired up.”

Jim Collins

Are you a person that would be considered “the right person on the bus?” Do you have to be tightly managed or fired up? If so, then why? If you are doing work you genuinely care about, that you find compelling and rewarding, then “getting motivated for work” is something that should never happen. If you don’t feel this way about your work, either change yourself, or change the work. Being the wrong person on the bus is never a good option.

The magic recipe for success…

October 6, 2018 By in Leadership, Teamwork Tags: , , Leave a comment

“It’s not the X’s and the O’s, but the Jimmys and the Joes that make the difference.”

Unknown

This quote has been used in college football for years.  Finding the original author proved to be impossible.  It has been attributed to Barry Switzer, Jimmy Johnson and many others.  Leaders who knew that no matter how brilliant their plays might look on the chalkboard, if they didn’t have the right talent on the field to execute it, the plays wouldn’t work.

I have been blessed in life to work for teams and players that could perform exceptionally well in almost any business.  Frankly, they could be successful at any plan, product or initiative.  Having an opportunity to serve alongside players like this is incredibly motivating and humbling.  They elevate the game of everyone around them.  But it is more than just pure energy and commitment.  The magic happens when the players fit the game plan AND the plan is the right one for the game being played.

Winning takes combining both great plays and great players.  You have to have the right talent in the right place.  You can’t ask a 6’4″, 220 pound wide receiver who runs a 4.35/40 to be your left tackle and expect to win.  Nor can you ask your 6’5″ 312 pound offensive tackle to go run a post route down the field and expect him to beat the coverage.

As Jim Collins wrote in “Good to Great” (still one of my favorite books of all time).  “First who, then what.”  You have to have the right people.  The bottom line is that if you don’t have the right talent you can’t win.  Period.  The joy of working with exceptional people is almost indescribable.  Their will to win, their effort and intensity, their sheer energy that is exuded all the time.  With the right people you know that almost any game plan can work.  With the wrong people, no matter how great the plan, it is doomed to failure or mediocrity at very best.  Sustainable greatness comes from marrying the right talent to the right plan and then executing relentlessly.  

So here’s the question.  Do you have the magic mix of the right talent, in the right place, at the right time to win?

group of lacrosse players celebrating with coach during daytime
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

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dusty