CMD 022: Make Your Thank You Better By Asking 3 Questions

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CMD 020: How To Be A Better Leader Using A Manure Mindset

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If you could only free yourself from the daily grind of your nine to five, you would finally have enough time to fully pursue your dream job.

If that’s how you feel, I encourage you to pause before you submit your resignation.

Stay curious for just a bit longer as Michael Bungay Stanier encourages leaders to do and consider a new perspective about your current position.

That day job you’re so eager to escape can actually provide you with benefits you may not recognize. Benefits you can use to build your side business.

And, these positives of staying where you are in addition to the obvious reasons you’re going back to your workplace day after day.

The obvious reasons for keeping your day job

If you’re thinking about making your side hustle your full time job but haven’t taken that step of faith yet, I bet I know at least two reasons why.

First, you need a steady income. And, second, you need health insurance you can afford.

There may be other drivers keeping you at your day job, but these are the two big ones for most aspiring entrepreneurs. And, for good reason.

If you’ve been an employee of a company that offers benefits, you know the security of having health care insurance as a part of a group policy. The cost is likely higher than you want, but it’s almost always cheaper than what you’ll pay when you’re purchasing insurance on your own.

And, of course, having a paycheck arrive consistently week after week, month after month, year after year provides stability you might not initially have when you go out on your own.

These reasons for staying in your current job are obvious and important.

But, there are other, more subtle benefits of staying in your day job. And, once you recognize them, you may choose to stay in your current role a little longer.

Or, when you understand how what you have in your current position can contribute significantly as you build your side business, you may even decide to stay indefinitely.

3 ways your day job can help you build your side business

These three ways your day job can help you build your side business are based on my personal experience and the wisdom I’ve heard from many other successful entrepreneurs.

This certainly isn’t an exhaustive list. But, I hope it helps you shake off what might be a negative perception of your current position and have a more positive mindset.

By viewing each day you remain with your current employer as an opportunity to learn, you’ll position yourself to be a more effective leader in every role in which you serve. Whether that’s in the company you’re with now or in the business you own.

Here are three strategies to get you started.

Serving your employer while you build your side business

I tried to make it clear in the examples I used in this post, but I want to be crystal clear just so no one misunderstands.

These three ways your day job can help you build your side business are NOT meant, in any way, to take advantage of your employer.

In my opinion, your side hustle should be a positive not a negative for your employer. This Harvard Business Review article supports my position.

If you are committed to working for yourself and your employer with full integrity, which I’m sure you are, there should not be any inappropriate conflicts of interest.

What you learn as a business owner will make you a better employee. And, as these three points demonstrate, your service to the company will equip you to better serve your customers.

So, I encourage you to pursue whatever side business you’ve started. Or, start a new one. It’s a great way to develop new skills and improve your existing capabilities.

But, don’t let your zeal to be your own boss prevent you from leaving your day job too early.

Make the most of the opportunity to build your side business while you’re still working for someone else.

Recognize these three ways you can learn and grow in your current role and look for others. Once you’re on your own, you’ll be thankful you made the most of the time you had working for someone else.

Let’s lead with kindness and confidence.

Greg

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These words spoken by one of my professors at Kansas State University didn’t sit well with me, but I still remember them decades later.

I disagreed with my instructor at the time (I’ll tell how that went in just a moment…), but I now think she was right.

And, now I would even argue that being lazy is actually a good way for you to build your career. Even if you’re not an engineer.

Disagreeing with my professor

I have a degree in Electrical Engineering. And, many, many years ago, I learned a lot of very technical information I can now remember basically nothing about.

But, I do remember a very important lesson from an extremely intelligent professor who was teaching about some shortcut to make highly complex calculations simpler and easier. I now have no clue what that shortcut was or how to apply it.

I do, however, remember the reason she said we would need to know this technique.

She told the class that, “Engineers are inherently lazy.” She and I had a good rapport so I raised my hand and told her I disagreed. I told her we weren’t lazy. We were efficient.

After spending part of my career as a practicing engineer and almost all of it as a business leader, I have reached this conclusion.

We were both right.

Whether you use the term efficient or lazy, doing more work with less effort is an important skill to master if you want to be successful.

But, it can be easy to not recognize behaviors that are actually beneficial because they can appear on the surface to be things an unmotivated slacker might do.

I’ve found if you want to build your career and be more effective as a leader, you need to resist the temptation to view these 7 techniques as lazy.

It might not be easy to change your perspective. But, if you can learn to see these practices as important fundamental career skills instead of acts of laziness, you will have uncommon success to go along with your uncommon viewpoint.

7 techniques to build your career by being lazy

In my experiences these seven behaviors are often viewed by many to be the behaviors of a lazy person who will never be successful.

To be honest, this has been my initial reaction in the past. But, I’ve been wrong.

Now, I continually work to maintain what I consider to be a more informed mindset in each of these areas.

Lazy or efficient?

So, my professor was probably right when she taught me that engineers are inherently lazy. And, I consider that to be a compliment now when I think about how to reinterpret what many people view as lazy.

I hope these seven techniques give you some practical ideas to build your career by being as lazy as you can be, in the right way of course.

You can call it being efficient or being lazy, but regardless of which term you choose, embracing these strategies and the mindset behind them will serve you well in any field or profession as you build your career and grow as a leader.

Let’s lead with kindness and confidence.

Greg

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That’s why you get to the end of every year and wish your company didn’t have a “use it or lose it” policy for vacation days.

I know because I’ve been in that situation too many times over my career.

But, deep down inside, I felt something I wouldn’t readily admit. Maybe you’ve felt it too.

Let me share the feeling I had and you can see if you relate. Then, I’ll share 5 reasons why it’s smart to take time off work and see how that matches up with what I was experiencing.

A dumb badge of honor

I bet you’ve had the same conversation I’ve had near the end of every year.

You’re in a group or talking one on one with a colleague and the topic shifts to how many vacation days you have left to use.

Some folks talk about how they’ve already used every one of them and enjoyed every minute of their time away from work. But, many people I’ve worked with have a much different story.

They talk about how they can’t possibly leave their job to take a day or two of vacation time. And, there’s now way they can take five days off in a row. Or a whole week? Forget about it. That would never work. And two consecutive weeks to take a really big trip somewhere with the family?

Impossible.

“This place would fall apart if they weren’t here. There’s just too much work to do.”

And, as the conversation continues, it becomes apparent that this person doesn’t feel all that bad about not being able to make use of the vacation days provided by the company. In fact, they’re almost boasting that they will have time off left when December 31 rolls around.

They wear their unused vacation days as a badge of honor.

And, in my opinion, unused vacation days are an incredibly dumb badge of honor.

Do you think I was too hard on the person I’m describing? Perhaps you’re right. But, it took that level of tough self-talk to get my attention.

Because I’m the one I’m describing. The feeling I had in the past when I didn’t take all my allocated paid time off was pride.

But, I’m always trying to learn, improve, and get smarter. And, I want to help you do the same.

If my self-description resonated even a little bit with you, I encourage you to consider these 5 reasons why it’s smart to take time off work.

And, I also encourage you to get your days of leave scheduled right now.

Before it’s too late.

5 reasons why it’s smart to take time off work

There are many more than five reasons why it’s smart to take time off work, but we can start with this short list to begin making progress.

Take time off work. You’ll be glad you did.

I hope at least a few of these five reasons why it’s smart to take time off work were meaningful for you.

And, I hope they really do cause you to get away from your workplace even if you don’t use all your vacation days this year. If you can just use one more than you used last year, that’s progress.

If you’re like me, it’s not easy to change. And, as I admitted, my pride can get in the way of doing what is best for me, my team, and my loved ones. That is, intentionally planning and using every vacation day I have.

You may struggle in similar ways. If so, know you’re not alone and you have someone on your side encouraging you to do what you know is right.

Take time off work. Invest in yourself and you’ll be investing in your team and your organization at the same time.

And, have a little fun while you’re at it.

Let’s lead with kindness and confidence.

Greg

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If you didn’t read that post, the concept of being more confident when you’re not sure you’re right may surprise you. To make sure we’re aligned in our thinking, I encourage you to take a moment to jump over to that post to get the concept. Then, be sure to head back here.

Because, once you’ve read my previous post, you’ll probably be thinking I didn’t offer much practical application of the mindset I wrote about.

And, you’re correct.

My goal with my online platform is to create content that is relevant and useful. It needs to be practical and immediately applicable in real life. With my previous post, I didn’t get as deep into each of these seven techniques as I wanted to.

So, in this post, I’m returning to the topic of being more confident by assuming you’re wrong. And, this time, we’ll focus on application.

A quick refresher on the concept of being wrong

In case you don’t have time to read my previous post, here’s a very quick summary.

We are all wrong at some level all the time. And, admitting we don’t know everything empowers us to be more confident as leaders.

That’s pretty much it.

These are the seven ways assuming you’re wrong will make you more confident.

We’ll cover each of these in more detail in this post.

We’ll start with a technique that is especially powerful if you already have good reason to be confident.

1. Invites input from others.

Assuming you’re wrong, invites input from others.

You’re a leader and you’ve got great ideas. Answers to problems. Advice to give.

That’s your job as a leader, right? And, having solutions to problems gives you confidence.

So, how can assuming you’re wrong bring even more confidence?

By giving your teammates more freedom to share their input.

A leader’s input can stifle input from others

Because you’re a leader, and possibly the leader in a formal position of authority, your opinion has power. And, when you’re consistently right and have ideas that work, the influence of your input grows.

As a result, when you make a recommendation, your teammates defer to you.

And, that’s a problem.

I’m sure you have a talented team with good ideas. Ideas that will make you even more confident in them and yourself.

So, how do you engage them and invite their input? By diminishing the power of what you say.

Admit you might be wrong to better engage your teammates

In his outstanding book, “The Advice Trap: Be Humble, Stay Curious, & Change the Way You Lead Forever.”, Michael Bungay Stanier describes the benefit of diminishing the advice you give.

It’s one of the techniques he recommends to stay curious a little bit longer and “tame your Advice Monster.”

Diminish the power of your own advice

Stanier suggests pausing before you offer advice to your team. Then, when you do share your idea, try using wording that acknowledges that you may be wrong and aren’t completely convinced your way is the right and only way to proceed.

He provides several example phrases in the book and I’ve added a few of my own that I’ve found work well.

When you admit you might be wrong in the words you use to share your input, others feel the freedom to speak up.

Your team can help you be more confident if you’re willing to admit you’re wrong and listen to what they have to say.

Let’s move now to the second way to be more confident by assuming you’re wrong. Think like a scientist and start experimenting.

2. Stimulates experimentation.

Assuming you’re wrong, stimulates experimentation.

Okay, I know what you’re thinking.

Insert bald joke here

I belong on this podcast episode with Daniel Tardy and Adam Grant, right?

If you don’t know what I mean, then you’ve obviously never met me in person or seen my picture. But, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and you’ll know why I would fit right in with these two.

Let’s just say those headphones won’t mess up my hair either.

But, being follicly challenged isn’t the only thing I have in common with these two leadership experts.

They also believe being wrong is natural for leaders and will help you be more confident.

In fact, being wrong should be as normal for a leader as it is for a scientist.

Be wrong like a scientist

Adam Grant, organizational psychologist and bestselling author, describes the benefit of thinking like a scientist. He and Daniel Tardy discuss this topic at length in the video above.

He also describes the idea of how leaders should be more like scientists with this graphic he shared in this LinkedIn post.

Scientists know the experiments they design and perform aren’t guaranteed to be successful. Their hypothesis may be wrong and must be proven. They gather data and analyze it.

Scientiests expect to be wrong most of the time.

Does starting with the assumption they might be wrong make them less confident?

Of course not. It’s understood that scientists might be wrong. That’s part of their job.

The same is true for leaders.

Assuming you might be wrong as a leader is part of your job too.

Therefore, you can be more confident when you embrace being wrong as natural and beneficial when leading your team.

Another important part of your job as a leader is to identify and manage risks.

3. Prompts risk management.

Assuming you’re wrong, prompts risk management.

If you are always 100% right about everything that is going to happen in the future, then risk management isn’t something you need to be concerned about as a leader.

But, for the rest of us, knowing we might be wrong causes us to plan for potential failures.

My teams and I often use a technique called a pre-mortem. It’s a powerful way to envision what might go wrong before you start a project or task and then take the actions required to avoid or be better prepared for potential pitfalls.

This 90 second video explains the pre-mortem technique better than I can write about it.

The pre-mortem can help you be more confident in any project you’re leading. But, you can’t do the exercise if you don’t assume you are wrong in some way about what needs to be done.

If you know you’re right and are absolutely convinced you will flawlessly execute the project with perfection, you won’t be able to imagine the work ending in a “disaster, total failure” as the video describes.

Only be admitting you might be wrong, can you identify risks and prepare your team to manage them.

Once again, this admission you might be wrong should make you more confident with each potential risk you identify and plan for.

Being wrong serves you well when you are about to launch a project. And, it helps you even before the work to be done is organized into a formal project.

Admitting you might be wrong helps generate ideas too.

4. Sparks creativity.

Assuming you’re wrong, sparks creativity.

In my post, Unlock Your Team’s Creativity With “How Might We” Questions, I describe how the phrase, “How might we…” has been widely used for decades by organizations seeking to innovate.

As a leader, when you ask a question, especially one starting with “How might we”, you are admitting you are wrong.

Of course, you have ideas you could share, but you recognize your idea might not be the best one.

You want to know what your teammates think would be a good approach. And, you want to create an environment in which every member of the group openly shares their unique perspective. This collaborative interaction stimulates creativity with new ideas being built on those shared by others.

Being open to hear from those on your team because you believe a solution even better than yours is out there waiting to be discovered is what leaders of innovative teams do.

By admitting your idea isn’t perfect and you might be wrong, you are following the tested and proven technique used by highly successful businesses with leaders who ask “How might we…”

Applying this form of being wrong puts you in the a group of innovators who have gone before you and produced amazing creations.

This perspective can allow you to be more confident by knowing that being wrong will unlock the creativity in your team.

5. Weakens the power of perfectionism.

Assuming you’re wrong, weakens the power of perfectionism.

Perfectionism assumes you must be exactly right. The pressure to be flawless can cripple leaders and teams.

In my previous post and an earlier post, You Don’t Have To Be Perfect To Be Ideal, I described how I am a recovering perfectionist. I want to get things right and have the correct and accurate perspective all the time.

It’s a foolish aspiration I know because the pressure to be perfect makes me less, not more, effective as a leader.

Perfectionism negatively affects me as a leader in many ways including my ability to quickly make a commitment.

Over-analyzing a situation and taking too long to make a commitment is something I do way too often.

Being wrong is easier when you’re renting

For example, buying something can be a painful ordeal for me. Just ask my family.

Actually, please don’t. The stories they would tell you would be pretty embarrassing.

I’m much better than I used to be, but I still need to improve.

The truth is I don’t want to buy the wrong thing and be stuck with it. Renting something, however, is much easier for me.

If I’m renting a car for the weekend, I’m much more confident and can quickly make a decision. After all, if I don’t like the car, I just return it. But, buying a car? I can spend months, and even years, over-analyzing a big decision like that.

Renting removes the pressure to be perfect and right with every decision.

I learned through my training at The Kansas Leadership Center to apply the renting approach when considering or presenting ideas.

If you’re not sure if you’re right or wrong with an idea, don’t own it. Rent the idea.

For me using an approach like this weakens the power perfectionism has over me.

You don’t have to defend an idea you’re only renting

I can be more confident when sharing my thoughts with my teammates when I don’t claim to own it. I’m not emotionally attached to it. And, I don’t have to defend it.

Others can freely critique the idea I’ve rented because it doesn’t belong to me. I’m just trying it out. I may be right and decide to own it later. Or, I may be completely wrong and decide to have nothing to do with the idea in the future.

Renting an idea can make you more confident more quickly

I’ve used this technique many times to be more confident when putting an idea out for a group to consider. Many times, after hearing the analysis of my teammates, I’ve quickly concluded the ideas was pretty bad. Other times, I’ve become convinced I wanted to move forward with it.

Regardless of the outcome, admitting I was wrong broke my lengthy over-analysis process and made me more confident.

The support of my team when I admitted I might be wrong with the idea I was renting gave me confidence. The relationships with my colleagues helped me be a better leader. And, that brings us to our next way being wrong will make us more confident.

6. Builds relationship.

Assuming you’re wrong, builds relationship.

Do you know someone who always has to be right? A know-it-all who always has the answer they think you need to hear.

Or, maybe you have people in your life who aren’t like that, but they seem to always “have it all together”. Their life seems to go perfectly because they are making all the right decisions.

Do you like being around those people?

If I’m honest, I will admit I really don’t.

It’s probably my problem, but I always feel a bit inferior when I have conversations with people like I’ve described.

Because I know my life is not “all together”. And, I often don’t know the right answers to life’s hard questions.

So, when I meet a person who readily admits they don’t have all the answers and are seeking to learn instead of show how right they are, I feel less intimidated (and annoyed if I’m, once again, being honest.)

I am drawn to people who are willing to admit they might be wrong. And, I suspect this may be true for you and many others as well.

Being wrong and admitting it to others is attractive and builds deeper and more meaningful relationships.

If we remember how we feel when others are vulnerable with us and share their imperfections, we can be more confident by admitting our own weaknesses and flaws.

Of course, that is easier with the people we trust and agree with, but what about those who hold different opinions?

In this last way to be more confident by admitting we’re wrong, I’ll give you an example of a leader who has demonstrated this even when it’s brought him significant criticism.

7. Promotes civil dialogue.

Assuming you’re wrong, promotes civil dialogue.

There may be no other place where admitting you’re wrong as a leader is more rarely seen than in the political arena.

Sadly, pointing out how the opposing party is entirely wrong and yours is completely right is the commonly accepted practice for political leaders.

But, there are examples of public servants who engage in productive, civil dialogue and get results across the aisle by admitting they may be wrong.

Bill Haslam is an encouraging example of this.

Being wrong in the public spotlight

Bill Haslam served as the mayor of Knoxville and then as the 49th governor of Tennessee from 2011 to 2019. He is a Republican but is widely known for his ability to work effectively with Democratic leaders as well. He even made a former opponent a member of his staff.

This article, Former Governors Phil Bredesen and Bill Haslam Give Their Thoughts On Bipartisanship and Effective Leadership, describes an event at Vanderbilt University in which Governor Haslam gave his description of great leadership.

Great leadership is finding a problem and working to discover the most effective solution, regardless of what one’s own answer is.

Governor Bill Haslam

Openly admitting your position may have gaps or flaws creates an environment for open, productive discussions even with those who hold an opposing view.

If you’re interested in learning more about Governor Haslam and his views, check out this podcast.

The transcript of the podcast includes a story I’ve heard Governor Haslam share a few times.

The other fella might be right

This is a long read, but I wanted you to have the context of this quote from Howard Backer.

For me, Governor Haslam’s Christian faith and worldview explain why he chooses to embrace being wrong and is more confident as a leader as a result.

I am encouraged and inspired by Governor Haslam’s position and his example.

Knowing that he served successfully at the highest level in the Tennessee government while readily admitting he was wrong makes me more confident.

His example helps me be more willing to admit those with whom I disagree may be right. And, I may be wrong.

My opponents may know things I don’t. Things that will help me and the teams I lead be more successful.

And, that is really what these seven ways to be more confident by assuming you’re wrong are all about. Helping our teams be more successful.

Being wrong is the right thing for leaders

These seven techniques are not about us. Admitting our own flaws so we can share them with others is not the goal.

Our purpose as leaders is to serve our teammates and together deliver results. And, being wrong is a key part of leading others well.

As we embrace this approach and use techniques like these seven to practically apply our imperfection, we will see our teams flourish and thrive. They will deliver exceptional results. They will be more confident and so will we.

Being wrong is the right thing to do as we lead others.

Let’s lead with kindness and confidence.

Greg

Discussion Question

• Which of these seven techniques will you try with your team this week?

Please share your experiences in the comments section and let us know how being wrong worked for you and your team.

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Wait a minute. You’re probably thinking that makes no sense at all. People who think they’re wrong aren’t typically confident. And, for that matter, they shouldn’t be.

After all, they’re wrong!

I hear what you’re saying. And, I respectfully disagree.

I’ll explain why in this post and offer seven ways you can be more confident as a leader by assuming you’re wrong.

But, I’m going to let you in on a little secret about myself first.

The reality about being wrong

Here’s the little secret about me.

I am always wrong.

And, so are you.

At some level, every one of us is wrong about everything we believe.

That statement may shock you and you may adamantly disagree, so let me explain what I mean.

Wrong at some level

Pick a belief you think there is no possible way you are wrong about.

It doesn’t matter the topic or subject area. Just pick something you are absolutely convinced you are right about.

Got it in your mind?

Great.

Now imagine if I were to ask you to explain every nuance and detail of that belief, all the intricacies of that thing you know you are 100% right about.

Do you know absolutely everything about it?

If we were to discuss the topic for hours with a probing curiosity to uncover and consider the deepest elements of that belief, do you think you would find something you don’t fully understand? Would you come to realize you could learn more on the topic?

And, even if you did convince yourself you knew everything there is to know, do you know how to perfectly apply the knowledge you have? Not in theory, but in real life. In every circumstance and every situation. And, not just for you, but for others as well, in their unique situations?

Do you think you might be wrong about some aspect of what you believe? Maybe just a little bit?

By now, you’re most likely getting my point. And, you better understand my statement that, from this perspective I described at least, we are all always wrong about everything.

You may be thinking the mental exercise we just went through was my attempt to “put you in your place” as the saying goes.

And, you are correct. That was exactly my intent, but in a good way.

Putting us in our place

My point in taking you (and me) through these questions is not to “put you in your place” in a demeaning way. To make you feel incompetent and ill-equipped to be a leader.

Not at all. It was actually just the opposite.

I wanted to “put you in your place” as an encouragement and to help you be more confident as a leader. Because the place we belong is a place where we can be successful in serving our teammates.

Knowing the reality of our limitations and our proper place in the world will give us confidence in ourselves and empathy with others.

Our proper place is not in the role of an omniscient, all-knowing leader for our teams.

We don’t know everything about everything. This means we are going to be wrong at times. And, we’re going to be wrong all the time at some level.

The same is true for the teammates we lead, our peers, and those who lead us.

We are all wrong in some way all the time.

And, acknowledging that reality can be a relieving realization that makes us much more confident.

Admit we’re wrong to be more confident

Once we acknowledge the reality that we can always learn more about any topic and it’s application, we gain a freedom that brings confidence.

How ridiculous would it be to boldly proclaim something like this?

Imagine how embarrassed we would be if someone announced that about us.

Yet, in all sorts of situations, we struggle to admit we might be wrong.

At least, I do anyway.

We place a tremendous amount of pressure on ourselves to meet the unattainable expectation that we must be completely right before offering our opinion, making a decision, or taking action.

This pressure to meet a laughable standard of perfection hinders our ability to lead others well. It prevents us from leading with confidence.

In contrast, admitting we don’t know everything empowers us to be more confident.

This is a much more effective approach, in part because it is based on how things actually are, not on how we would like them to be.

In other words, reality.

And, once we’ve established the reality of our situation, we can be more confident by assuming we are always going to be at least a little bit wrong.

Let’s talk about how this foundational assumption that we may be wrong can make us more confident and help us lead our teams to successfully deliver results.

7 ways assuming you’re wrong will make you more confident

Confidence comes from successfully delivering results and helping others do the same.

When you start with an assumption you’re wrong, you will see results by applying this approach in these seven ways. With each positive outcome you observe, you will be more and more confident as a leader.

It’s not only you who will be more confident

These practical applications of the fundamental belief that you are wrong don’t just apply to you as a leader. They apply to your teammates as individuals and to your team collectively.

So, when I use the term, “you”, I’m referring not only to you, but to your team and the individuals you lead as well.

Your actions and your words to acknowledge you’re wrong demonstrate humility and set the tone for your entire organization.

Admitting you’re wrong and pursuing the techniques above are acts of leadership. This mindset will enable you to lead your teammates in a way they appreciate and will seek to emulate. And, the seven techniques above will generate positive results.

Read the seven statements above and consider if they support the leadership behaviors you believe will produce successful teams.

In my experience, these seven techniques will foster innovation, inclusivity, accountability, and high levels of performance.

The seven steps will create a culture that will build your confidence and the confidence of every member of your team.

But, leading well by doing the things that bring exceptional results is rarely easy.

And, admitting you are wrong is no exception.

Embrace the discomfort and become more confident

Writing these seven techniques to be more confident by admitting you’re wrong was the easy part for me. Putting them into practice in my own life takes far more effort.

I suspect it won’t be easy or comfortable for you either.

Being wrong and admitting it to others is not comfortable.

Admitting we’re wrong isn’t easy

Admitting we’re wrong, or even that we might be wrong, is not easy.

And, it’s harder for some of us than it is for others. Maybe the struggle is due to our personality. Or, our challenges in this area might be the result of our past experiences and environments.

I get it. I struggle with admitting I’m wrong too.

You may recall from my post, You Don’t Have To Be Perfect To Be Ideal, that I am a recovering perfectionist. I want to get things right and have the correct and accurate perspective all the time.

But, the truth is I’m not right all the time. Nor am I perfect. And, you aren’t either. Despite what our egos would like us to believe.

It’s humbling to say we don’t know all the answers and can’t solve all the problems that confront us and our teams.

Start where you feel safe

I encourage you to take small steps at first and find safe spaces to admit you’re wrong. Build your confidence in this area with those you trust.

You may even want tell them what you’re doing and request their support. Being vulnerable with those closest to you may inspire them to be more vulnerable with you in return as they get more comfortable recognizing and admitting where they are wrong too.

Then, as you are more confident in your closest relationships, try applying these techniques more broadly.

Experiment as you become more confident

In my experience, I’ve seen the positive results of these techniques in all sorts of environments.

This approach will bring success and make you more confident as a leader in your career, your home, and your community.

In whatever situation you are seeking to lead, remembering you are wrong, at least in some way, will make you more confident.

And, remember, you won’t get it right the first time. Or the second time. Or ever.

You will always be wrong to some degree and that mindset will give you the confidence to persevere.

Let’s lead with kindness and confidence.

Greg

Discussion Question

• What keeps you from admitting you are wrong? To yourself and to your team?

Please share your answer in the comments section so we can learn together.

About the Author – Learn more about Greg

Click here to download the free guide.

How to Write a Professional Email: Make a positive impact with every email you send.

The post How To Be More Confident By Assuming You’re Wrong appeared first on Greg Harrod.

I’m sure many people in my organization have asked themselves questions like this over the past couple of years. And, now, you’re probably asking yourself the same question.

I don’t want to keep you in suspense or waste your time so I’m going to answer your questions with the three minute video that introduced me to the concept of being above or below the line.

It’s had a powerful impact on me personally and on many of my coworkers.

Take a look.

Locating Yourself- A Key to Conscious Leadership

This video by the Conscious Leadership Group is the reason my coworkers and I began talking about “the line” and whether we were above it and below it.

The video itself provides tremendous value as evidenced by its one million plus views.

So, if you need to move on with your day and start applying the wisdom you gained from watching the clip, no worries. I hope introducing or reintroducing you to this important message through this post helped you. I’m happy to know you read this far and watched the video.

But, if you’d like to hear a bit more about my personal experience with the concept and learn some tips to move you and your team from below to above the line, I’d love to have you keep reading.

I want to explain how this video made its way out of my fading memory and into a blog post with a “random inquiry” in an email from a coworker.

Before I tell you about that email, first let me give you the background so the story will make more sense.

My history with this video

A couple of years before I received my coworker’s email, I had the privilege of leading training on fundamental career skills as a part of an organizational health initiative.

I co-led workshops with a coworker and really close friend. This experience was a highlight of my career in many ways.

We trained business leaders who served in a range of levels in the company.

Vice Presidents. Individual contributors. Executive Directors. Managers. Our group was diverse in a variety of ways and almost everyone was highly engaged.

The training content was solid and my co-leader is an outstanding presenter and facilitator. I did my best too and somehow managed to not mess anything up too bad.

We had a blast.

And, if you were to judge the effectiveness of the training by how well the content stuck with the participants, it was a success.

And, I knew it stuck with us because of the words we used.

An addition to our vocabulary

As more and more people took the training, we began to hear certain words and phrases being used. New terms from the training material became common in normal conversations.

One of those terms was “the line.” And, with “the line” came a reference to a person’s location with respect to the line. Were they below it or above it?

We picked up that phrase from the video you just watched. It was part of our training.

The common vocabulary was encouraging. It brought a unity and standard we hadn’t had before.

But, sadly, things changed with time.

Things change

If you’ve been alive long enough to be reading this blog, you know change is constant.

Things are always changing. New terms move in and out of our vocabulary. People leave an organization and new folks who haven’t had the same training join. As a result, phrases can be common for a period and then drop out of use.

That was the situation with “above and below the line” when I received the email from my coworker.

My coworker’s email

Here’s a paraphrase of the email my coworker sent me.

A couple of years back, during the 2-day training workshops you led, I remember you guys walking through a slide or two on something I found particularly resonating. The concept had to do with emotional intelligence and I believe the terminology was along the lines of “being above or below the line.”

I have memories of there being a specific visual or clip that felt very applicable at the time.

Is that ringing any bells? If you still have the material, could you please share it with me?

My response

What was my response to this email?

Well, of course I was immediately offended that this person didn’t retain 100% of the material my colleague and I presented during a 2-day course two years ago.

Not really. In fact, my response was a bit like his.

I hadn’t used the phrase “above or below the line” for quite some time myself. And, I couldn’t remember the details of the concept either.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t just the student who didn’t remember all the content of the lessons. As a teacher, I had forgotten important material that had powerfully impacted me personally as well.

Clearly, it was time for a refresher for my coworker and for me.

And, it was time for me to write this blog post so the benefit might extend beyond just my coworker and me.

Why I decided to share this video

As soon I read the email from my coworker, I dug out my leader’s guide for the workshops. The video clip he was remembering was included in a section on having Courageous Conversations.

And, thankfully, I discovered this video was publicly available on YouTube so I could include it here in this post. It has just over a million views at this point.

A million people is a lot of people. And, you may be one of those one million people who have already seen it.

So, why am I sharing here what you could just go see on YouTube yourself?

Because I want to draw your attention to it. Even if you’ve seen it many, many times like I have, I want you to see it again.

The message in this video can positively change your outlook on life. And, it can change the culture of your organization. Like it did ours.

And, as my coworker and I were reminded, we need to regularly review any content we found particularly meaningful and inspiring at one point in time. Because we can too easily forget.

Additionally, if we want to help others be successful, we need to be constantly sharing beneficial material with those who weren’t there with us when we were trained.

That’s part of the backstory behind how this post came to be. But, there’s more to it for me personally.

Below the line is familiar territory

I don’t know about you, but the words used to describe being below the line hit a little too close to home. They made me more than a little uncomfortable.

I struggle to be above the line

Not all of the below the line attitudes and behaviors describe me, but I struggle with certain ones regularly.

For example, the concept of scarcity and the belief that there are not enough resources of various types available is a mindset I battle. So, this section of the sketch got my attention.

Perhaps other areas were more applicable for you.

I’m sure we are not alone in finding areas below the line that are too familiar. Because, as the video says, we as humans are hardwired to go below the line. We are designed to protect ourselves from threats.

The truth is everyone finds themselves below the line at some point.

We all struggle with being and staying above the line.

The struggle is real

And, when say struggle, I don’t mean a little bit.

In my experience, we all have to be aware of and continually fight against the downward pull of the below-the-line forces.

I know I do.

To be more accurate, I guess I don’t have to resist the negative, downward pull of the attitudes of the below the line mindset. But, I choose to. (Well, most of the time anyway.)

I choose to exert energy and mental effort to stay above the line because I want to be a better leader. I want to be more effective in my career.

There’s more to it than my career though. I also want to be a better leader in my community, in my church. And, I want to improve as a husband, a dad, a friend, and in every relational role I have.

I want to be a better person who is above the line more than below it.

I have to be honest, though. The struggle for me is real and strong.

Like gravity. And my coffee.

Gravity and coffee

The illustration places the negative mindset on the bottom instead of on the top of the line. As an engineer, this immediately makes me think of gravity.

If we stop exerting energy to hold an object up, if we let go of a coffee cup for instance, it doesn’t stay where it is. And, it doesn’t float higher into the air. It immediately drops to the earth. And, a dropped coffee mug probably breaks and spills precious coffee.

If a good cup of java crashing to the floor doesn’t highlight the potentially devastating effects of not putting in the work to stay above the line, I don’t know what will.

Spilled coffee is not something to be taken lightly.

Seriously, we don’t want to be below the line, but it’s hard not to get sucked down there and not be able to escape.

So, how can we get above the line and help others do the same?

How to get above the line

Here are a few tips to help you get from below the line to above the line. And, these techniques will equip you to lead your team in this upward transition too.

Knowing where we are

The video emphasizes this important step.

We must know our location. Are we, at any point in time, below the line or above it?

The first, and most important step, to get above the line is to realize we are below it.

But, then what?

Be curious

This section of the illustration triggered me to think of valuable learning I’ve received recently from Michael Bungay Stanier and the team at Box of Crayons.

If you read my posts regularly, you probably recognized the word “curiosity” and made the same connection.

My posts, “How To Ask Powerful Questions – Getting Started” and “Unlock Your Team’s Creativity With How Might We Questions” were built on the concepts of leading through curiosity and asking questions.

I’m going to follow this direction again as we consider how we might help ourselves and those on our team to be above the line.

More useful techniques from The Advice Trap

In the posts I referenced earlier, I shared what I consider to be highly valuable leadership wisdom from Michael Bungay Stanier’s book, “The Advice Trap: Be Humble, Stay Curious, & Change the Way You Lead Forever.”

This book also gives a technique for creating an environment to coax and encourage our teammates to move from below the line to above the line.

Stanier affirms the idea from the video that people are hardwired to instinctively act to protect ourselves from real or perceived danger. And, he introduces “a way of understanding and manipulating the neuroscience of engagement” with a technique he calls TERA.

He describes TERA as an acronym for the four drivers that a brain weighs to determine if a situation is safe or not. I’ll get to those four factors in a moment. But, first I want to share what he wrote.

When the TERA Quotient is high – and the brain gives the all-clear that this is a safe situation – people lean in, access the smartest parts of their brain, see the subtleties of the situation, assume positive intent, and give you their best self. Everyone wins.

Michael Bungay Stanier in The Advice Trap

See the direct connection to the graphic I included earlier?

These great minds at the Conscious Leadership Group, Box of Crayons, and Michael Bungay Stanier, are definitely thinking alike.

So, what is TERA and how might these four letters help us keep ourselves and our teams above the line?

Using TERA to get above the line

The acronym TERA captures four questions to help us as leaders create a psychologically safe space for our teams and keep them engaged.

Here are the four TERA questions and a summary of a few ideas Michael Bungay Stanier recommends to calm your teammates’ fears and increase their effectiveness.

Of course, this is only a brief introduction to the TERA techniques. I encourage you to grab a copy of The Advice Trap or listen to the audio book which includes bonus material not in the hard copy version.

The content of the book will serve you well in staying above the line and keeping your teammates there with you.

Connecting and thriving above the line

This quote from the video sums up why I value and appreciate the lessons in this video.

In many ways, being below the line is natural and normal, but when we are below the line we are not in a state, literally brain state, of high creativity, collaboration, innovation, and relational connection. We’re simply trying to survive. Leaders today can’t thrive if they’re in survival mode.

Locating Yourself – A Key to Conscious Leadership video

When considered along with this quote from Brene’ Brown in her book Daring Greatly, the importance is magnified.

Connection is why we’re here. We are hardwired to connect with others, it’s what gives purpose and meaning to our lives, and without it there is suffering.

Brene’ Brown in Daring Greatly

Human beings, all of us, need each another. Being above the line is where we connect. It’s where we thrive not just survive.

So, if you’re above the line as a leader, great. I hope this video and these tips help you stay there and get others above the line with you.

But, if you’re below the line, don’t worry. You’re not alone and you don’t have to stay there.

Acknowledge your location and reach out to others to help you get where you want to be. Above the line. Serving and leading others with kindness and confidence.

Let’s lead with kindness and confidence.

Greg

Discussion Questions

• What tips would you add to help other leaders move from below to above the line?

• How would you describe your experience when you were below and above the line?

Please share your experiences in the comments section so others can learn from your wisdom and experience. Let’s learn together.

About the Author – Learn more about Greg

Click here to download the free guide.

How to Write a Professional Email: Make a positive impact with every email you send.

The post Are You Above Or Below The Line? How To Know And What To Do About It. appeared first on Greg Harrod.

Wait!

Are about to stop reading because you think you don’t work with creative types?

I don’t mean to be argumentative, but I think you’re wrong.

But I don’t have artists on my team

When you hear the term “creator”, who do you think of?

Does this guy fit your the image of a creator?

He probably does. He’s got some tattoos. Hair that isn’t his natural color. And, he’s working with paint. Most of the stereotypical boxes are checked.

This dude is clearly a creator.

And, I know. You don’t have anyone that looks like that on your team.

But please don’t quit reading just yet. This post really is for you.

Trust me.

How about these three guys?

Matt Amos, Chet Sears, and Troy Trussell (left to right) are friends of mine and have their own podcast with a YouTube channel, and a website.

Creators? Or no?

But, how about this woman?

I know she’s using an Apple product so some would say she’s automatically a creator.

But what if she’s building a spreadsheet or writing an email instead of writing a poem or doing graphic design?

Would you still consider her to be a creator?

To have a creator appreciation mindset, we need to start with getting clear on who we consider to be a creator.

Consider your team. You’ve done the work to get to know each of your teammates.

Would you label any of the people on your team as a creator?

Your answer may change after you finish this post.

Who is a creator?

Merriam-Webster defines a creator this way.

This definition is pretty broad. And, I agree with it. That’s why I made the statement earlier that we are surrounded by creators.

Our teams are constantly “bringing something new or original into being”.

It may be an idea, a presentation, a computer program, or even an email. Our teammates are creating new things. And, so are we.

We are creators.

But, maybe you think you’re not creating anything new or original. You’re just taking what learned from others and combining it and passing it along.

That’s not being a creator is it?

I say it is.

Every creator starts with something

Every human who has ever created anything has started with something.

There’s an old joke you’ve probably heard that makes this point.

Get your own dirt

Here’s the joke. An oldie but a goodie.

Your worldview may not align with God as the Creator of earth and people, but you get the point.

When humans start creating, they are starting with something that already exists.

The most creative people in history built with existing material

Even the people considered to be the most creative and talented in history started with some raw materials.

Michelangelo didn’t create the marble he used to sculpt the masterpiece David.

The same is true with you and the creators on your team.

We are all creating using ideas and content shared with us by someone else at some point in our lives.

I was reminded of this by a tweet and a quote by a talented writer and creator, David Perell.

News ideas start with existing ideas

You can learn more about David Perell on his website. He is a great follow on Twitter (@david_perell) too.

Here’s the quote I saw from him there.

All creativity is inspired by other people’s ideas. The faster you embrace that, the more successful you can be as a creative.

David Perell

Perell also quoted Maria Papova to support his point.

Creativity is combinatorial, nothing is original, everything builds on what came before, and we create by taking existing pieces of inspiration, knowledge, skill, and insight that we gather over the course of our lives and recombining them into new creations.

Maria Papova

You can read his Twitter thread on this topic here and find his mini-essay, Intellectual Phase Transitions, on his website.

Ideas turn into creations

As I noted earlier, our teams are constantly “bringing something new or original into being”. Their combining of existing ideas results in new ideas. And, these new ideas lead to new things we can observe and admire with our senses.

We can see, hear, taste, smell, and touch the work of the many talented creators around us.

Those observations of the countless creations around us allow us to build a creator appreciation mindset.

We can do this with five simple steps.

5 simple steps to build a Creator Appreciation Mindset

It’s simple to get started building an appreciation of the valuable work of the many talented creators who surround us.

Take these five steps to lay a foundation that will allow you to further encourage and support the creators you appreciate and admire.

Step 1 – Pay attention to things you admire

This first step may seem obvious. But it is critical to building a creator appreciation mindset.

And, it’s easy to skip.

We need to continually remind ourselves of the many creations we enjoy and admire. Simply paying attention to things that amaze us or bring us benefit is a skill we need to practice.

It’s easy to be amazed by the obviously impressive creations from those with celebrity status.

• Compelling books written by famous authors
• Beautiful paintings created by master artists
• Moving songs by our favorite musicians
• Inspiring YouTube videos from motivational leaders

Recognizing these often awe-inspiring masterful creations is an important part of building a mindset of appreciation for creators.

We can strengthen our appreciation mindset even further by paying attention beyond the obvious.

Consider these examples of creations that, while perhaps less obvious, are impressive in their own way.

We can be grateful for the unlimited creativity available to us through the internet. And, many of us have direct connections with people who are positively impacting our lives every day through their creative work.

Paying attention to the multitude of creations around us, the things we admire and appreciate, is the first step in building our mindset of creator appreciation.

And, it’s simple. We just need to take a little bit of time to do it.

The next step is just as simple and also takes just a small amount of time.

Step 2 – Closely observe the creations you appreciate

The examples in step one are the final creations. We often see only one thing that was produced. And, we only make surface-level observations.

We can deepen our level of appreciation for the creator of that one thing by taking a moment to examine the creation with more scrutiny. To consider its more subtle, less obvious traits.

Why do we admire this particular creation we’ve observed? What caused us to pay attention to this work and not another?

An unusual example of a complex and beautiful creation

I’ll use an example many of you may find completely boring and irrelevant. And, because that’s true, it may just make my point.

One creation that’s been a part of my entire career is the PowerPoint presentation or slide deck as some call it.

While some might call these documents the bane of their existence, I have learned to appreciate the beauty a high quality PowerPoint slide can contain.

Your world may not involve communicating through digital presentations, but you’ve likely seen similar documents in webinars, YouTube videos, and many other places. So, I think you’ll understand the example.

What all is involved is contained in a high quality slide in a presentation?

Here are just a few aspects of a well-crafted slide you may not have considered.

I’ve been fortunate to learn how important all of these nuances are to creating a single slide for an effective presentation. I’m no expert, but by learning from communication experts on my team, I have a much deeper understanding and appreciation for what expert creators in this field do.

I’m sure you can talk for hours about the details required to create with excellence in your field. Whatever that field may be.

Chefs, plumbers, musicians, visual artists, entrepreneurs, pilots, bloggers, podcasters, interior designers, coaches, financial advisors, administrative assistants, teachers, electricians, and on and on.

Team members in every industry and area are creators. They are bringing new ideas, solutions, and tangible items into existence.

Their work will amaze us when we pause and consider all they must do to produce their creations we admire.

So, by taking steps one and two, we should be thoroughly impressed by the many creators around us.

What should we do next to strengthen our appreciation mindset for the amazing creators in our lives?

We simply take the next step, step 3.

Step 3 – Record creations as you encounter them

I’ll admit. My memory is not that great.

I have to write things down to remember them.

Even after being powerfully impacted by a creation like a podcast episode or a video online or a painting I see somewhere, I’ll forget where I heard the message. I often can’t remember where I was when I saw the image still in my mind.

I need to write things down or take a picture to remember them.

You may be the same way. That’s why step 3 is so important.

We need to record the creations we admire when we encounter them.

Taking time to stop allows us to acknowledge the value of the creation. If something gets our attention, we can be sure it has some level of importance to us.

If we’re scrolling through social media feeds or your emails and we stop the scroll to read something, the creation we are observing may be valuable to us. Either now or in the future. And, if the value is in the future, you need to be able to return to it later.

So, take a screen capture of the creation you are admiring.

In the same way, if you’re out and about and begin to admire something, whatever the creation might be, take a picture of it.

And, there is always the tried and trusted method of remembering something.

Write a note to record the creation you appreciate and admire. Pen and paper still works even today.

You will thank yourself later. And, if you follow the remaining steps and upcoming blog posts, the creator or creators you appreciate will thank you too.

Step 4 – Think about who might have contributed to the work

Our fourth step is based on a truth similar to the idea that no creator has a completely original creation.

No creator delivers his or her creation without the support of other creators.

This belief further deepens our creator appreciation mindset.

In step four we consider all of the people who were involved to allow us to observe and admire the creation before us. These additional creators may be directly connected with the primary creator or they may be more distance resources indirectly providing support.

These are the behind-the-scenes creators who don’t typically get the credit.

Those who enable others to create are creators in their own way.

The computer programmers who write the code to enable the beautiful website we appreciate are just as creative as the web designer. And, the web designer is a creator as much as the person producing the content delivered through the website.

Creators are supported by other creators with their own unique skills and talents. Each person is valuable. They deserve to have their creative contribution recognized too.

And, to recognize them, we have to know who they are.

Step 5 – Identify the creators

The fifth and final step in building our Creator Appreciation Mindset is to identify the creators of the work we appreciate.

After we recognize the creations we admire, deeply consider their complexity, and then understand that many creators are involved, we are compelled to find out who those people are.

Finding out who is responsible for the creations we appreciate typically isn’t too difficult. When we are directly connected to the creator , it’s obvious. We can ask them who else supported them to create what we enjoyed.

For less direct connections, we can usually find the original source of the content with some basic internet detective work.

This last step takes a bit of effort, but it’s worth it.

Having a creator appreciation mindset is of little value if we don’t put it to use. And, one of the best way to apply this mindset is to connect with and support people who create.

The importance of knowing and supporting creators

Identifying the creators who have provided value to us is important. Communicating with them is even more important.

Being a creator can be difficult and discouraging work. Creators need ongoing feedback to be reminded that the work they do matters and it’s making a difference in people’s lives.

If creators are positively impacting our life through their creations, we need to make sure they know that.

This is especially important when those creators are on our team. We should thank them for their work and encourage them. Often we can learn from them and be further supported ourselves through their expertise.

By knowing and supporting creators, we can be teammates and leaders who gives them the energy and motivation to provide even more valuable contributions for our team.

And, even when the creators aren’t on our immediate team, we can still take actions to support and encourage them too.

How do we do that? Once we’ve identified the creators who have impacted our lives, what practical steps can we take to serve them?

We will cover those steps in a future post, but until then apply what you already know to reach out to your teammates.

Start by telling them you appreciate what they create. Communicate to them that the work they do matters.

They will benefit and so will you.

Put your Creator Appreciation Mindset into action

By continually applying these five steps, we can build and strengthen a mindset of appreciation for creators of all types.

With this approach we can lead teams of people who see themselves as valuable and important contributors. Our teams will continue to create in their own unique ways and impact the people around them for good.

As we recognize and appreciate all the creators who positively influence us, we will be a source of encouragement and energy for them. By giving back to them, we can be a part of impacting others through their work and sharing the benefits we have received.

Creators are all around us. Look for them. Support them. Lead them well.

Let’s lead with kindness and confidence.

Greg

Discussion Questions

• Who in your organization would you now consider to be a creator based on this approach?

• How can you apply these five steps to make a difference in the life of a creator you know?

I’m interested to know how you put this into practice in your life. Please share your experiences in the comments section so we can learn together.

About the Author – Learn more about Greg

Click here to download the free guide.

How to Write a Professional Email: Make a positive impact with every email you send.

The post How To Build A Creator Appreciation Mindset With 5 Simple Steps appeared first on Greg Harrod.

I know. I know. It’s not the most pleasing mental image. But, there’s some valuable wisdom in this livestock leadership lesson.

And, honestly it seemed far more appropriate than other options I considered.

So, stick with me to learn why a manure mindset can make you a better leader.

Some definitions – manure and manger

Before we start, I want to go over a couple of definitions. I realize manure and manger may not be common words in your vocabulary.

I’m a small town guy

I didn’t grow up living on a farm, but when I was a kid, farming was an important part of my tiny Kansas hometown.

My mom’s parents had a small farm out in the country near us and I spent a lot of time there.

So I’m familiar with livestock.

My grandparents had cows, horses, pigs, and chickens. They even had a couple of peacocks.

At the risk of completely distracting myself, I’ll tell you this. Peacocks are very cool birds. And, they are beautiful.

If you are ever around a peacock, here’s a warning for you. They will chase you and peck you on the head if you mess with them.

Just ask my cousin if you don’t believe me. But that is a story for another post.

Sorry to digress about peacocks, but they are fascinating.

Back to the manure mindset.

What is manure?

With all those animals on the farm, there was a lot of manure. I don’t know if that’s a familiar word for everyone so let’s get clear on the definition.

Here’s how Dictionary.com defines manure.

Noun: excrement, especially of animals, or other refuse used as fertilizer.

Dictionary.com

Get the picture?

Manure is poop. Animal poop.

Obviously, manure mindset has much better alliteration than poop mindset.

Now you’re probably really wondering how you can be a better leader with a poop, I mean manure mindset.

I’m getting their. Be patient with me.

Let me give you one more definition first.

What is a manger?

Sorry again, but I can’t help myself from chasing yet another distraction.

Here’s a tip when you’re creating your resume or LinkedIn profile. If you’re a “manager” make sure you don’t accidentally type “manger”.

Both are words. But, they are not interchangeable.

I’ve seen that misspelling more times than I can remember.

Now, back to the manger.

This is a question that gets a lot of attention during the Christmas season. Is a manger a feeding trough for the animals or the larger area where the animals are kept?

For this discussion, I’m going with the second description.

A manger is like a stable or a part of a barn. Picture farm animals standing in an area with a bunch of hay or straw on the ground.

And, the hay or straw has a lot of. You guessed it. Manure mixed in with it.

Gross, right?

Why did I bring up the term manger?

So, I could introduce you to one of my all time favorite proverbs and get to the heart of the manure mindset.

A proverb that is as real as it gets

I don’t know what your views are on spirituality and God are. I’m a Christian and I love the Bible and the message of hope it contains.

We may have different worldviews and beliefs, but I’m confident we can find common ground on at least one proverb from the Bible.

Here it is.

Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean; But much revenue comes by the strength of the ox.

Proverbs 14:4 in the Bible (New American Standard translation)

I just love this verse.

When I first read it, I remember thinking, “Is that verse saying what I think it’s saying?”.

Turns out, according to my pastor friend, it is.

Choices and consequences

Back when this proverb was written, oxen were the machines used to work the fields. Revenue came from the crops. So, if you wanted to have a lot of crops, i.e. revenue, you needed strong oxen.

And, if you had oxen, you were going to have manure in your manger.

Stinky, gross manure. And probably a lot of it.

But, the readers of the proverb had a choice.

They didn’t have to have a manger full of manure. They could have a nice clean manger without the stink and mess of the oxen excrement.

All they needed to do was get rid of their oxen.

But with that choice came a serious consequence.

If they didn’t have oxen, they were also not going to have the ability to work the fields in the same way and bring in large harvests.

Of course with no oxen, they would have no manure.

But, by removing the manure producing livestock, they would almost get rid of their source of revenue.

Simple logic. Simple choices.

So how do we apply this proverb today as we lead our teams?

I suggest developing what I’m calling a manure mindset through these three actions.

Three actions to lead with a manure mindset

This is a simple and powerful proverb and we can apply it to be better leaders with three simple steps.

1. Identify your oxen

You likely aren’t a farmer planting and harvesting crops using oxen. But, you and your team are delivering results. And if you’re an owner or an employee of a company, you are also producing revenue just as the proverb says.

Take a moment to consider what resources are involved with generating the results you achieve.

In other words, identify your oxen.

I expect the people you lead on your teams are your oxen (in a good way). They are the ones you partner with to accomplish your collective goals.

You may also have equipment and machinery. Perhaps you run a small business and have a fleet of trucks. If those trucks aren’t running, you and your team aren’t producing revenue.

Computer software may be your oxen. The work you do depends on programs that function properly and do the job they were designed to to do. And, software needs hardware to run on to be effective.

Modern day oxen come in these forms and many others.

Who or what do you need to deliver results?

I encourage you to stop reading for just a minute or two. Get a piece of paper and a pen and make a list of your oxen.

Got your list done?

When you do, let’s go to the next step in developing a manure mindset.

2. Identify the manure

Now that you have your oxen equivalents written down, I want you to be as real and practical as the proverb.

Write down the manure those oxen produce.

On your list of oxen, write down the manure that comes with each one of those results-producing resources.

And, don’t waste time acting like those valuable resources don’t produce manure.

All oxen produce manure

Oxen produce manure. They drop nasty stuff that ruins a clean stable. Not only do they do that, but then they step in it and spread it around. They make the mess worse.

The same can be said of the resources you listed as critical to your success.

Each of those valuable assets brings with it, things that stink. They mess up your clean manger and cause you and others to do more work.

People are messy. Relationships are hard. The manure produced by people on teams is abundant.

If you’ve been on a team for any time at all, you know that’s true.

Even non-living oxen produce manure

The same is true for equipment. Something is always breaking and needs to be fixed.

You and your crew are just about to jump in the truck to head to the job site. And, what do you find to start your day?

A flat tire on the trailer. Or the truck won’t start.

The equipment that allows you and your team to get work done also has all sorts of manure that comes with it.

And, the computer hardware and software we all rely upon these days. It seems to introduce new and innovative forms of manure with each upgrade.

The manure of our modern-day oxen are the things that annoy us, cause us more work, create messes for us to clean up, and just flat stink.

There is no way to avoid the reality that as leaders, we will have to deal with manure.

By first identifying our valuable oxen then honestly listing the unpleasant manure they produce, we have completed the first two steps to have a manure mindset.

But, the key step to being a successful leader with a manure mindset is the third action.

3. Choose what you value

Let’s go back to the proverb.

The proverb lays out a simple choice for the reader. We have the same choice before us as leaders today.

We need to ask ourselves this question.

Do I want a clean manger or oxen and the benefits the oxen bring?

We may not want it to be true, but we can’t have both.

If we truly value a clean manger, we can have that.

We can fire everyone on our team or leave a position that requires us to work with people. Selling the equipment we use to run our business is an option. Pulling the plug on our computers and never turning them on again is a decision we can make.

But, is the clean manger these choices would bring what we really want?

Or, are we willing to deal with the inevitable manure of our oxen?

Do we value the results that come with the people we work with and the equipment we need to do our job?

The question I find I need to ask myself often as a leader is this.

What do I truly value?

When I honestly answer that question, I have taken the last step to have a manure mindset and be a better leader.

Manure is still manure

Well, I made that sound simple didn’t I?

Three easy steps and we’re ready to lead with this clever little manure mindset idea.

The problem with manure though is it’s still manure.

Acknowledging that it’s produced by the oxen that bring us great results doesn’t make it stink any less.

The manure we encounter as leaders is not pleasant to deal with. Especially when we’re dealing with people, it can be particular gross.

We don’t want to be anywhere near it. The baggage and challenges we each have and continually produce can turn our stomachs.

But, this is part of the human condition.

Just like all oxen produce manure and make mangers dirty, every person has issues.

Admitting this reality and dealing with it head on will give us greater empathy and make us kinder leaders.

The key to confident leadership is not just knowing we are going to be faced with much manure in our mangers. Knowing what’s coming helps.

But, we also need to discipline ourselves in how we think about and deal with the manure.

This is why the word mindset must be paired with the word manure.

A manure mindset is a mature mindset

Because we know our oxen are going to produce manure, we can train our minds to react in a beneficial way to serve our team.

Options for an immature leader

As an immature leader, when the manure starts to pile up, we may choose to ignore it.

Or, we can act like we’re surprised when things go wrong.

Another options is to complain and whine about the difficulty the various manure manifestations introduce to our project.

These are all natural reactions we have to fight against as we mature as leaders.

Better options as we mature

With practice we can get better at anticipating the challenges our beloved oxen will naturally produce.

We can have a mature mindset of readiness grounded in reality.

Then when we are gagging in a foul smelling manger as we wade through the manure piles produced by our oxen, we will have the right mindset.

We will remember the great value of our teams, our equipment, and our tools bring.

Will our oxen produce unpleasant manure at times? Manure that messes up our neat and tidy manger of a project?

They sure will.

But, they will also produce much revenue and abundant results.

So, as leaders we can choose the easy option, a clean manger.

Or we can embrace a manure mindset knowing the oxen and the manure they produce will allow us to do great things with our teams.

Of course, I recommend the manure mindset, the mindset of a mature leader.

Let’s lead with kindness and confidence.

Greg

Discussion Questions

• Who or what are your most valuable oxen?

• What types of manure do your oxen produce?

I’m interested to know if this concept resonated with you. Please share your experiences in the comments section so we can learn together.

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