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Andy Stanley - Unlocking the Power of Focus · Andy Stanley Sermons

0:07
Hey, Leader Cast, thank you so much for having me back, and
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Joe, I appreciate the invitation. I'm so sorry I couldn't be with you
0:13
in person. Scheduled didn't permit, but it gave me an opportunity to invite
0:17
our central location staff to join us for this session. I told our team,
0:21
Hey, I think I'll do a better job if I'm talking to some
0:23
real people rather than just the camera. Now, if you've been to Leader
0:26
Cast in the past, you know I absolutely love this event. I always
0:30
love the theme, but I think I love this theme in particular one thing.
0:34
And as soon as I was invited, I knew immediately what I wanted
0:37
to talk about. I knew immediately what my word was going to be,
0:40
and my word is focus. Now, it took me way too long.
0:45
In fact, I think I kind of consider this a leadership failure in some
0:49
ways. It took me a long time to figure out and harness the power
0:53
of focus professionally. And the reason it took me so long is because early
0:57
on in my leadership, I bought into two leadership myths. And these may
1:02
be two myths that you have bought into as well. Number one, the
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first leadership myth was that good leaders are good at everything. And I think
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when I was young, in my late twenties, especially early thirties, the
1:12
reason I believe this is because whenever I met a leader I had respect for,
1:17
they just seemed to be great at everything. So I thought, if
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I'm going to be a great leader, I have to be great at everything.
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Because on the surface they seem so together, but their organizations were so
1:26
amazing. I just assumed it's because they were so good at everything. The
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second myth that I bought into really early was that good leaders focus on their
1:34
weaknesses in order to make them strengths. Because these leaders, when I would
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meet men and women who are great leaders, they seem so well rounded.
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I just figured that while they had strengths and weaknesses, these were men and
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women who so focused on making their weaknesses a strength that that's what made them
1:49
such extraordinary leaders. But both of these things are absolutely faults. So what
1:57
I set out to do because I believe these is I would focus my attention
2:01
on my weaknesses and wing it in my strengths. So the areas that were
2:06
that were natural to me I gave very little attention to because I was already
2:09
quote good at that, and I would spend so much time trying to shore
2:13
up my weaknesses. Consequently, and maybe you can relate to this, Consequently,
2:19
I was never at my best at what I was best at. I
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was never actually doing my best in the area or the arena where I was
2:27
actually where the things that I was naturally good at. Meanwhile, my weaknesses,
2:31
which are many, they got marginally better. So because I improved a
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little bit, what did I do. I just thought, well, I
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just got to bear down. I've just got to focus more on making my
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weakness's strength. So literally, it was I would say eight or nine years
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into my professional career before I finally discovered this. And if you don't get
2:51
anything else out of this talk, this is kind of the bottom line as
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it relates to focus. I finally learned that my fully exploited strengths, full
3:00
the exploited strinks are of far greater value to our organization than my marginally improved
3:06
weaknesses. And the same is true for all of you. And this is
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what we're going to talk about a little bit. The same is true for
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the people that report to you. It took me too long to discover that
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really the bulls eye on the target of leadership. And this is so unrealistic
3:20
that you may just roll your eyes, but I still think it's worth putting
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it out there. The bullseye on the target of leadership is this to only
3:27
do what only you can do, to only do what only you can do,
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and to some degree that is unattainable for most of us. But simply
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having that out there is a reminder that in leadership we should constantly be trying
3:40
to move towards the place to where we only do the things that add the
3:44
most value to the organization. Every time our organization has restructured for growth,
3:50
I have to give things up and give things away, and do fewer things
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and do more of what only I can do. I carry our organization is
3:58
twenty six years old. I carry more responsibility than ever before, but I
4:02
actually do fewer things. I don't work fewer hours, but I do fewer
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different things. And this is absolutely essential if you want to grow your department,
4:12
your division, or your organization. And periodically, my assistant Diane Grant,
4:16
who is here today, would say to me and will say to me,
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especially in those transition times, Okay, if we're going to do that,
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what are you going to stop doing? If we're going to add that,
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then what do you want to give up? Because you can't just add
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an ad and add an add or you begin to hate life. Now,
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for those of you who are already pushing back, let me address something you
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may be pushing back on. In certain seasons of your career and in certain
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seasons in the development of an organization, it is both natural and necessary to
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do everything. It's natural and necessary. It's natural because early on, especially
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as the point leader and organization, you want to set the pace and you
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want to set the standard. You want to be able to answer the question,
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this is how we do it here. As you employ people, as
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you begin to grow, you're orchestrating and orchestration is this is how we do
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it here. And consequently you have to set the pace in the standard for
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this is how we do it here. So it's natural for you to jump
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in and basically kind of pave the way and model how everything in the organization's
5:13
done. And it's necessary because, as you know, sometimes there's just nobody
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else to do it. You have to do everything because there's no one else
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there to do anything. So you do everything. But what is natural and
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necessary in the beginning becomes a trap if you're not willing to employ and apply
5:30
the principle of focus. What's natural and necessary natural you want to set the
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tone and the pace necessary, there's nobody else to do it if you stay
5:39
there too long. And again, I think my greatest leadership regret is that
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in so many areas I just stayed there too long. And in a few
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minutes, I'm going to tell you why. Now that leads me to this.
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There are what I consider two secrets in leadership, or in my notes
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I wrote the two best kept secrets of leadership. And again this to focus
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us in on how to apply the principle of focus. The two best KEP
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secrets. Number one is the less you do, the more you accomplish,
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Not the fewer hours you work. That's never the case, right. The
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less are the fewer things you do, the more you actually accomplish. And
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number two, the less you do, and this is why this is so
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important for organizational life. The less you do, the more you empower others
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to accomplish. Now, at the end of our time together, I'm actually
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going to give you an assignment, and I want to go ahead and give
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you a heads up on what the assignment is so that you can listen to
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the rest of this content through that or through that grid, or to watch
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this through that lens. And so at the end, your assignment's going to
6:38
be to discover where you add or to come up with or to figure out
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where you add the most value to your current job description or your current area
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in the organization where you said, or to the organization as a whole.
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To figure out where you add the most value and then get permission, or
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figure out how to spend more of your time in the area where you add
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the most value. So at the end, I'm gonna you know, I'm
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gonna say that again. I'm going to give you some specifics, but as
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you listen to the rest of this, I want you to be thinking,
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in my current job or within the context of the entire company, where do
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I add or where do I have the potential to add the most value.
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Now, part of the challenge for some of you is this, the more
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you begin to focus on a few things, it's going to require you to
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give up some other things. And for some of us, that's easy.
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For some of us, you know, we have both feet on the break
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when it comes to giving things up. But one of my graduate school professors
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said this, and I thought this was this was such a great reminder.
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The secret of concentration, or you can say the secret of focus. The
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secret of concentration is elimination. So in order for you to again focus on
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your strengths and begin to let go of some weaknesses, you've got to be
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open handed and willing to give some things up. Now again, in terms
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of motivating you to lean into this content, here are three things that always
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happen. Here's three things that always happen whenever a leader is distracted from his
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or her core competencies. These three things happen whether you recognize it or not.
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These three things are happening right now in some of your organizations. Again,
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these are things that happen behind the scenes that ultimately undermine your personal efficiency
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and ultimately the efficiency of the organization. When leaders get distracted from their core
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competencies. Number One, their perceived value to the organization is diminished, not
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their actual value. The problem is, nobody even knows their actual value.
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In your organization. There are people who work around you, and perhaps the
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people who you direct you, your boss your manage, your supervisor. They
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may not even know your actual value to the organization because you're not working out
8:48
of your strengths. Nobody will recognize your actual value until you are focused on
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where you add the most value. Nobody's gonna even understand or appreciate you your
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actual value to the organization until you are doing the things where you add the
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most value. The second thing that happens, and again this happens whether we
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recognize it or not. When a leader gets distracted from core competencies, the
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perceived value of other leaders in the organization is diminished. Why Because if I'm
9:18
not in my lane, and if I'm not leading from my sweet spot,
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I'm liable to get in your way because I'm liable to be doing things that
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really you ought to do, but you can't do them because I'm the boss
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and I've just decided this is what I'm gonna do. So consequently, you
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could do some things that I'm doing better than I can do them, but
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nobody's ever gonna know that because I'm not applying this principle and I'm in the
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way I wrote in my notes. When I stay in my lane, it
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clears the path for other leaders to excel in there. So again, this
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isn't just about you as the point leader. This is really about everybody in
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the organization. The third thing that happens, and some of you have experienced
9:52
this in previous jobs or previous companies, the ability of the organization to keep
9:58
great leaders is ultimately diminished. Now here's something I've learned over the years.
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Very few people in an organization feel like they have to be number one.
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Nobody feels that. Very few people are like, I can't stay here if
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I can't be number one. But great leaders won't stick around if they're not
10:15
able to exploit their strengths for the benefit of the organization. People want space
10:22
to do what they do best, and if you get in their way,
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they will eventually be on their way. Because everybody wants to thrive in the
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workplace. Everybody wants to thrive in the marketplace. And people thrive when they're
10:35
able to find a seat on the bus, a job and a job description
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that allows them to do the things that they do best. It gives them
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energy and ultimately it puts when in the sales of the entire organization. So
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the point being, this is a really big deal it's a really big deal
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for you personally, but it's a really big deal for your division and your
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department. And if you can learn to model this, or I should say,
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if you'll suppline yourself to model this, then this helps and again freeze
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up space and freeze up capacity throughout the entire organization. And it impacts everything
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I wrote. It impacts culture, productivity, longevity, because people are going
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to stay longer if they're allowed to do what they do best and certainly enjoyability.
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Now, having said all that, I doubt any of that is.
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It's certainly not new. It's certainly not Oh my gosh, I never thought
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of that before. I've never experienced that before. So the question is,
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and the tension is, and where I want to spend the rest of our
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time is why do we miss this? Or let me personalize it, Why
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do I miss it? Why as many times as I've talked about this,
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why as many as much as I believe in this, Why if I'm not
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careful, will I drift away from what is obvious, what is best for
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me as a leader, and what's best for the organization. And I think
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there are five primary reasons. And here's what I want to do in the
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next few minutes. I'm going to list these five and probably only one of
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them actually applies to you, maybe to but probably only one of these applies
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to you. In other words, one of these is going to be your
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primary obstacle in terms of really taking hold of and applying this principle. And
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when I get to yours, essentially, now you know what your homework assignment
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is. Now you know the obstacle that you can begin to remove to free
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you up to do what you do best within the organization, and then begin
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to work your way into a place within your current job description or your current
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organization where you're spending more time doing what you do best and adding more value
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to the organization. So I'll do these really quick. The first, the
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first reason I think that we missed this, even though it's obvious, is
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number one. We've already talked about this a little bit. We buy into
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the well rounded myth, like I talked about early on, that somehow I've
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got to shore up my weaknesses instead of focusing on my strengths. When we
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focus on shoring up our weaknesses rather than developing our strengths, again, we
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end up winging it in the areas where we're strong, and we're never ever
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going to add the value that we could otherwise. So here's the big takeaway
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on this one. The goal, and especially if you're an entrepreneur, or
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you're again the head of a big division or department, or you have lots
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of direct reports, or there's an entire organization that sits under your leadership,
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the goal is to build a well rounded organization department, or division. The
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goal is to develop a well rounded organization, not to become a well rounded
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leader. And those are two very different things. But if you get this
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right, and I'll give you an example in just a minute, if you
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get this right, your organization, your department or division, it will reflect
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your strengths, but it will not reflect your weaknesses, because again, the
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goal isn't to be a well rounded leader, is to develop a well rounded
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organization. So the tip for this one is to play to your strengths and
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delegate your weaknesses. To play to your strengths and figure out a way to
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delegate your weaknesses. The second reason, so for some of you that might
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be your thing, you may be caught up into Oh I thought I was
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supposed to shore up my weaknesses, so I can be a well rounded leader.
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That's the obstacle. That's your homework to figure out how to work around.
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Number two. Second reason we miss this is we don't distinguished between our
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authority and our core competencies. This is so huge, and this is so
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subtle, and this happens all the time. We don't distinguish between our authority
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and our core competencies. Every leader, no matter how big the division,
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or the department or the organization is, every leader has authority over areas in
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which they have little or possibly no expertise or competency. And the larger the
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organization and the more responsibility you have, the more authority you have. But
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the dumber you get, in other words, you're the more responsibility you have,
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your IQ in terms of overall IQ for the organization it shrinks. I
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mean for those of you who work here with me, and for those of
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you who work in a large organization, you know this. There are so
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many facets to what goes on within a large organization to make it successful,
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and you have to hire people with areas of super specific expertise. So I
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have authority over people who do things that I I don't have any idea what
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they do or how they do it, or even how to make it better.
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And when a leader gets confused and feels like, because I have authority
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over it, I need to speak into it, that's a problem. They're
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out of their lane, they're out of their area of expertise. But because
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they're the boss, because they're the authority. You know what, do the
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more competent than them people do? You just do what you're told to do.
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When we exercise our authority and areas where we lack competency, we undermine
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efficiency. We have all run into this. You have worked for someone who
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just felt like they had to tell you how to do your job, and
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you would go home every afternoon to go in You know what, I just
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wish they would let me do my job because then you would excel, the
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organization would be better, and they would ultimately be more successful. So confusing
15:46
authority with competency it's a big, big deal. Example. Personal example,
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I am a really good in terms of my skill set, not compared to
15:56
other people, but in terms of my skill set, my prime mary one
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of my primary value adds to organize our organization is I'm a good content developer.
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I can just crank out outlines. You give me a topic, give
16:08
me information. I just I can just sit down. That's that's something in
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my skill set. I don't know that I'm better than everybody else or anybody
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else, but in terms of my skill set, I'm good at that.
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I am not good. And I asked that none of the folks who work
16:22
directly with me laugh out loud. I am not good at organizing events or
16:26
project management. Thank you. I am not good at organ you know,
16:30
organizing events or project management. And in the past this has happened so many
16:33
times. We'll be in a meeting and we're talking about a project and trying
16:37
to be magnanimous and generous and you know, be a team player. I'm
16:41
like, I'll take care of that. And I can see the people around
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the table like no, no, no, no, no, no no.
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I mean you have the authority, and I say, you know what,
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no, I'm doing this. But what can they say? I am
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the boss, but they know when I get out of my lane, whatever
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the project is, whatever the event that we're about to produce, would be
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goodness, it's never going to be as good as it could be. Now
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I have authority, but I have almost no expertise or competence. And when
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we get these two things confused, we get out of our lank quickly.
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And again you can see we hamper them what other people are doing. So
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the tip for this one is leverage your and we've talked about this before at
17:14
leader Cast, but this is huge. Leverage your authority as little as possible.
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Leverage your authority as little as possible, make as few decisions as possible.
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And the reason is as your organization or department grows again, your IQ
17:26
is going to get You're going to get dumber and dumber. So you just
17:30
need to make fewer decisions and make decisions within the realm of your area of
17:33
expertise, and then trust other people to make decisions in there. So to
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help you with this, because some of us this is such a big deal.
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I want you to repeat after me out loud. Everybody, just say
17:45
this. You decide one more time you decide. There are people who work
17:51
with you and for you who would almost faint to hear you say that.
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They are dying for you to listen to what they're trying to do or what
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they're trying to problem they're trying to solve. And they would love for you
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to just look at them and say you decide, because what you're saying is
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this, that's your area, that's your area of expertise. You know more
18:07
about that than I do. I trust your judgment better than my judgment.
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I have the authority, you have the competence, you have the good judgment
18:17
in that area. So make as few decisions as possible. Somebody in your
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organization is probably dying to hear you say that. Number three. The reason
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we miss this is and it's related to number two, but I wanted to
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make this distinction. We're not aware of what we're not good at. This
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is a self awareness issue. And the two reasons in organizational life this becomes
18:37
a problem is. Number One, it's something that we've always done. If
18:41
there's a role that you have always played in the organization, you may be
18:47
the best person you've ever seen do that particular thing, but that doesn't mean
18:49
you're good at it. But because you've always you've always been in that seat,
18:52
and nobody's competing for that seat, you just sit there because it's something
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you've always done. The second problem is sometimes it's something we just enjoy and
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perhaps you've worked with people who enjoy what they do, they're just not good
19:07
at it, I wrote in my notes, and this is kind of an
19:10
industry specific thing for my industry. As a church leader, have you ever
19:15
endured someone who enjoyed singing but couldn't? Yeah, have you ever endured it?
19:21
Right? Endured? They're enjoying it. I mean they are just loving
19:23
it and no one else is loving it because they can't do what they're sure.
19:27
So the takeaway is, don't be that leader. Just decide if I'm
19:32
not good at it, even if I love it. I enjoy it.
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It's my favorite part of my job. But you know what, there are
19:37
other people that can do it better. Just give it up and figure out
19:40
how to lean into your strength. We all need people around us. We
19:45
all need people around us who are empowered to say to us privately, you
19:49
shouldn't sing. You should sing at home, you should sing in the shower,
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you should sing in the car, but you should not sing in public.
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And it could be that you are doing things and because you're the lost,
20:00
you have the authority. Nobody's going to tell you that unless you invite
20:03
that feedback. Somebody needs to be able to take things away from it.
20:04
So the tip for this one is it's okay. It is okay not to
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be good at something. It is not okay to keep doing something you're not
20:14
good at. It's okay not to be great at certain things, right even
20:17
if they were initially your responsibility or that's the seat that you set in.
20:21
But it's not okay for your career and for the benefit of the organization to
20:23
continue to do things you're just not good at. I wrote in my notes,
20:27
admitting a weakness doesn't diminish your effectiveness. Refusing to diminishes your effectiveness.
20:34
Admitting a weakness to your staff again, even if you have the authority,
20:37
it never diminishes your effectiveness, and it never diminishes people's respect for you.
20:41
It always increases respect and increases effectiveness. When we acknowledge a weakness, it's
20:48
never new information for the people who work with us. When you acknowledge,
20:52
you know what, I need to quit doing this because I don't think I'm
20:56
great at it. No one is going to reach for their pen and write
20:59
that down as if that's new information. They already know. They're just going
21:03
to be thrilled that you finally figured it out. So be willing to give
21:07
it up. They won't be surprised, they'll just be relief. The fourth
21:11
reason we miss this this whole idea of focusing on our shrinks rather than just
21:17
trying to show up a weakness. And I mentioned this one almost left it
21:19
out. I mentioned this one because this is this is one that I struggled
21:23
with and at times still struggle with. So maybe it's somebody out there as
21:27
well, and it's it's a little bit long and clunky. One reason we
21:30
miss this is we feel guilty delegating things we don't enjoy it's the opposite of
21:36
the other one and aren't good at because we assume nobody else will enjoy them
21:40
either. So you're you have such great character, you are so selfless.
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It's like, I hate this part of my job. And because I hate
21:48
this part of my job, I bet everybody would hate to have this as
21:51
part of their job. So as the leader, I'm just gonna keep doing
21:55
this because I don't want to put this on anybody else. That's almost always,
22:00
always, always a mistake. So consequently, in you know, the
22:04
early years, you know, Diane and others would sort of have to prime
22:10
my fingers off of things because I thought I was doing them a favor by
22:12
not asking them to do them, and they're like, no, First of
22:15
all, you're no good at it. Number two, just because you hate
22:18
it doesn't mean other people are gonna hate it. You got to let that
22:21
stuff go. And if you don't, what am I gonna do. I'm
22:22
gonna spend too much time on things I don't enjoy, which depletes energy,
22:26
right, and I'm gonna do things that don't I'm not good at, which
22:29
is going to impact the entire organization. It took me a long time to
22:33
realize there are people who actually love to do the things that I don't enjoy
22:38
doing. So here's your tip on this one. Your weakness, this is
22:41
so important. Your weakness is somebody else's opportunity. Your weakness, you're not
22:47
good at it and you don't enjoy it, that is somebody else's opportunity.
22:51
And delegating, I mean, you know there's a good and not so great
22:53
way to delegate things, but delegating things properly again, it empowers you because
22:59
you're able to folk and it empowers them because they're able to focus on something
23:03
they're gifted at and they actually look forward to doing so. Your weakness is
23:07
somebody else's opportunity. The last reason that we miss this, and this this
23:11
is a tough one for some of us because of the way we're wired,
23:15
because of our temperament, is we don't take time to develop other leaders.
23:19
If you don't take time to develop other leaders, you do have to do
23:22
everything. If you don't take time to develop other leaders, you're never going
23:25
to be satisfied with how other people do the things that you're doing that you
23:27
may not be great at, but nobody else can do it as well as
23:32
you. There is some truth to the adage that if you want something done
23:34
right, do it yourself. But here's a tip, and this is so
23:38
important for those of us in leadership. Leadership is not primarily about getting things
23:45
done right. Leadership is about getting things done right through other people, which
23:52
means you have to develop other leaders, which means you have to allow some
23:56
balls to drop every once in a while. You have to allow things to
24:00
be done in such a way that don't naturally naturally or actually reflect exactly how
24:04
you would do it. But that's the only way to develop leaders around you,
24:07
and the only way to multiply influence and ultimately as you know, it's
24:11
the only way to grow your organization. So and when I say getting things
24:17
done through other people, I'm not talking about using other people. I'm talking
24:19
about empowering other people by positioning them where they can succeed and thrive because you've
24:26
set them up to do more of what they can only you set them up
24:30
to do what only they can do in the sense that they're able to focus
24:33
on their strengths, their passions, and again they win. You win,
24:37
the organization wins. But in order to develop leaders and in order to figure
24:41
out what people are actually good at, you've got to experiment. There have
24:44
to be some losses, there have to be some setbacks. You've got to
24:47
be willing to have some minor failures along the way. And for certain personalities
24:52
this is so very difficult, but they become a lid to their own leadership.
24:56
So as you think about those five things, maybe one of them or
25:02
two of them, or something about one of those five things may have kind
25:04
of danger conscience or you're like, oh, my goodness, that is totally
25:07
me. Well, now you know where to bear, you know, bring
25:11
some pressure to bear in terms of getting yourself to the place where you're able
25:15
to change your thinking and begin to open up the capacity for yourself in terms
25:18
of leadership, and it's ultimately the people around you. Now, as I
25:23
said this, I feel like when people ask me, Andy, what's your
25:29
you know, biggest leadership failure, you know they're looking for, you know,
25:32
some tangible thing where we lost a lot of money, or something broke
25:36
or we hired the wrong people. This this is what I always go to
25:37
when people say what's your biggest leadership failure? I always say, I spent
25:41
too much time doing things I had no business doing. You know, even
25:45
in my case, I feel like I had good motives, but I finally
25:48
figured this out. So, in terms of teasing you to really lean into
25:52
this, I want to tell you the two biggest benefits of getting this right.
25:55
And I talked about those three things that happen on the negative side.
25:57
Here are the two positives take aways when you begin to get this right.
26:00
There's a personal win and there's an organization or corporate win. And the personal
26:06
win is this that you're going to find it much easier to establish and maintain
26:11
a sustainable pace. Personally, you're going to find it much easier to establish
26:15
and maintain a sustainable pace personally, stress in the workplace, and you know
26:21
this, you've experienced this. Maybe you put it in different words, but
26:23
stress in the workplace is often related to what we're doing, not how much
26:29
we're doing. And when you're spending thirty forty fifty sixty percent of your work
26:33
time in an area where you don't thrive and you don't feel like you're competent,
26:37
it is so stressful and you constantly feel like a failure. But all
26:42
of us have had those days or maybe those weeks or those projects where you
26:47
are just I mean, you just can't get enough of it. I mean
26:49
other people are like, whoa you Just you're happier, you see more energize.
26:53
I mean when you're finally able to sit down or focus on or get
26:56
the team together to do that thing, you go home energize, you have
27:00
more energy, You're in a better mood that people around you enjoy working with
27:04
you more. So. Ultimately, the personal win in this is you're going
27:08
to be more effective as a leader just because of what's happening on the inside
27:11
of you, and there's less stress. We experience less stress when we're doing
27:17
the thing that we're gifted or called to do the corporate win. Is this
27:22
that you will build an organization or department I mentioned this earlier, that you're
27:26
going to build an organization or department that reflects your strengths but not your weaknesses,
27:32
which is the goal in your zone. And you're delegating the other things
27:36
and you finally figured out why is it that I continue to drift outside my
27:38
lane? When you finally get that figured out again, less stress for you,
27:42
and you're going to have an organization or department or division that will definitely
27:45
it's going to definitely reflect your strengths because you're bringing more of your strengths to
27:49
bear, but it will not reflect your weaknesses. Our organization in our local
27:56
communities is famous for something I'm not good at. Our organization is famous in
28:03
our local communities for events. And the best thing I can do to ensure
28:07
that we have great events is not plan the event. In fact, the
28:12
best thing I can do, and this is what I do, and the
28:15
people I work with, many of them are sitting here. This is not
28:18
making this up. When it comes to an event, I submit myself to
28:22
the authority of the person producing and running the event. My question isn't how
28:27
can I be in charge? And you know what decisions do I need to
28:30
make? My question is what do you need me to do? Because I
28:33
have a little itty bitty skill set. I can develop content and present content.
28:37
If you need a content developer and a presenter, I'm your guy.
28:41
Now put me in where you think I fit, and if I don't fit,
28:45
don't put me in. So our organization is most famous and known for
28:49
in our communities. We're most known for something I personally am not good at.
28:55
And the reason we're known for it is because I learned the hard way
28:57
to stay out of it. I have authority, I don't have competence,
29:03
so I try to stay in my lane. Now here, coming back to
29:07
your homework assignment, I want to make this super specific and I'll wrap up
29:11
for those of you because I know some of you are listening. You know
29:14
you're like the point leader. You're like, oh, yeah, I need
29:15
to get this right. Some of you are somewhere in the middle. In
29:18
fact, most everybody listening or participating is somewhere in the middle. You're like,
29:22
well, that would be great if I was like the point leader of
29:23
our division or company, you know, but I'm not somewhere in the middle.
29:26
So here's what I want all the middle people to do, because we're
29:30
all, to some extent middle people. Everybody reports to somebody. I certainly
29:33
do, I report to a board. Here's what I'd love to ask you
29:37
to do at some point, maybe before this day is over, within the
29:40
context of your current job, or within the context of the the broader context
29:47
of your company. So you can do this one or two ways. Within
29:48
the context of your current job, or you may look at your current job
29:52
and say, you know what, I'm not even in the right job.
29:55
Or within the context of your current company, I want to encourage you to
29:59
develop, write down and script out your ideal job description, your ideal job
30:03
description. In other words, if I within this job or I within this
30:07
company could do what I think I'm best at, where I would add the
30:11
greatest most value, write it down, just script it out. I mean,
30:15
just be as specific, be as bold be I mean, just get
30:18
it all down there, you know, you know, make it you know
30:21
the good grammars, all the words right. And here's how I would encourage
30:25
you to begin this little short document like this. I could add more value,
30:30
or I believe I could add more value, or I'm convinced I could
30:33
add more value to our company if I could devote more of my time too.
30:38
I believe I could add more value to our company or our organization if
30:42
I could devote more of my time too, and then look for the right
30:48
time to present it to your supervisor or your boss. Again, as I
30:52
said earlier, a good manager, a good boss wants this information because they
30:59
don't necessarily know what you're great at. And the thing is you may be
31:02
doing and this is what makes this difficult. You may be doing a great
31:04
job, but you may not be doing what you do great and your supervisor
31:11
want. A good supervisor wants to know and have that information. That is
31:15
what I call appropriate ambition. So I want to encourage you to figure that
31:19
out. Begin with a statement something like this, and then just wait it
31:22
maybe a month, a week, a year. If you're a supervisor or
31:26
you're the company owner, this may not be a bad assignment to give to
31:30
some of your employees. Hey, everybody's doing a great job, but I
31:33
want to know what I don't know about where you could add value to our
31:36
organization. That would be a when for everybody. So wrapping up, there
31:40
are many things you can do. Focus on the things you do best and
31:42
where you add the most value to the organization. Your fully exploited strengths,
31:48
your fully exploited strengths are of far greater value to your organization than your marginally
31:53
improved weaknesses. The less you do, the more you will accomplish thing.
32:00
And this is important. Don't try this at home. Don't try this at
32:07
home. You are all things. You cannot delegate affection, you cannot delegate
32:10
acceptance, you can't delegate those difficult conversations at home. You are all things
32:15
to all people. Guys, you know you got that. You just have
32:20
that little glass of orange juice and you open up the dishwasher to put it
32:22
in there, and the dishwasher is full of clean dishes, and you're looking
32:28
around and you're thinking to yourself, you know what, I'm not really good
32:31
at cleaning out the dishwark. This isn't my thing, you know what?
32:35
You just clean it out anyway, right, and ladies, I'll just stay
32:38
on my own lane. Thanks so much for having me at Leader Cast again.
32:43
I love this organization. You're in for a great rest of your day
32:45
again. I hope I see you next year. Thank you