I'm feeling very grateful today. My family had a scare and although it isn't over it is looking much better than we feared. Which has led me to reflect a little on gratitude and how important it is for leaders and team members to express gratitude to and for each other. It is easy to call out mistakes but genuine gratitude takes a lot of effort. For whatever reason it seems like humans are naturally inclined to criticism and adverse to showing gratitude. Which makes all the more important that you make the effort to show others your gratitude.

Make time and space to deliberately show your gratitude. Official things like pins for time served at the company are good but small things like going out of your way to thank someone for something small are just as important.

I think another quote that really sums this up is “We are all self-made, but only the successful will admit it.” ― Earl Nightingale. It is easy and almost automatic to rationalize and justify our choices because it is so much harder to look at ourselves and take responsibility for our own situation. But the fact of the matter is that where we are and who we are is exactly where and who we chose to be. If you desire something different you have to make different choices.

Make the choices that you need to make today so that you can be where and who you need to be tomorrow. That is the only way to get there.

The Roman historian Suetonius said of Emperor Agustus:

"He thought nothing less becoming in a well-trained leader than haste and rashness, and, accordingly, favorite sayings of his were: "Make haste, slowly"; "Better a safe commander than a bold"; and "That which has been done well has been done quickly enough.""

Integrity means more to me than honesty. I believe you need to be honest and I don't think you can have integrity without being 100% honest but you can be honest without integrity. For example; you can live your life openly taking people's money through legal means by finding loopholes in contracts, etc. and be "honest." However, if you have integrity you won't take advantage of someone just because you can and it's legal. Legal doesn't always equal "Right."

Do the right thing for the right reason at the right time for the right person. Even if you're the only one who will ever know.

If you are doing it for the money you are doing it for the wrong reason because money is just a tool and it can ruin your life just as easily as it can help your life. If you are doing it for the fame you are doing it for the wrong reason because while you are alive fame takes more of your life than it gives and when you are dead you can't enjoy it, plus no matter how famous you are you will eventually be forgotten. The only real reason to be a leader is to serve others. You should only be a leader if you can help those around you. Leadership is never about the leader, it is always about the people the leader serves. That is why Christ in the bible told his disciples:

"But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all." Mark 10:43-44

​He wasn't telling them to not be leaders, he was explaining that the greatest leader is the greatest servant because people follow those that can help them achieve what they want. So, if you want to be the greatest leader you have to help the most people otherwise they won't follow you.

Being a leader implies that you have followers, people follow leaders because they believe that they will get more by following the leader than by not following them. 

The first place you should start as a leader is with however you can best serve those around you. Remember that it is never about you. It is always about those you serve as a leader.

As a leader your success is literally tied to the success of your team. If you subconsciously consider your team members as competition and threats then you will unintentionally undermine your own success by competing with them rather than collaborating with them. 

Rather than compete with your team you should focus on their success and how you can help them. Don't worry so much about your own success, if you keep your focus on your team your success will flow naturally out of their success.

What do you believe?

The common school of thought in business is to "check your emotions at the door." You're not supposed to feel things at work. You're supposed to be purely rational and think only in  logical ways. The trouble is that if you do manage to defy human nature and check your emotions at the door, your emotions are right there waiting for you when you get back to the door. And anyone who has tried to suppress their emotions for an extended period of time knows that they surface with a vengeance and usually at the absolute worst possible time. Besides that, we are by nature emotional beings not rational beings so trying to separate ourselves from our emotions is practically impossible. What makes this even more impossible is that most employers want their people to be passionate and excited about their work but not to ever be sad or upset. As if it is a simple task of cherry picking which emotions people can feel. 

I disagree with the common sentiment of leaving emotions out of work. Rather, I believe and feel that emotions are an important part of life and work. Work should be a safe place for people to feel emotions. I'm not advocating for inappropriate emotional displays. I think the best analogy is that work shouldn't be like a family, work should be like a professional sports team. If work is like a family then maybe your a little too close and too personal. If work is like a professional sports team then everyone knows their job and what to do. Everyone wants everyone else to succeed so they don't sabotage each other. They aren't afraid to give each other feedback so that everyone gets better. They feel emotion; passion, anger, frustration, joy, etc. But they don't let each other get out of line either. 

Don't bury emotions until they surface like a bubbling volcano. Make sure people feel safe enough to honestly express how they feel. People will be more productive when they aren't worried about their emotional wellbeing. 

Last time I wrote about heroes and how I think that heroes are important to have. I also think that at some point in your life you should transition from trying to be like your heroes to trying to reach for the same things that they were reaching for. For example, in my case, I can't just strive to be like Winston Churchill or Marcus Aurelius, I have to learn what they were seeking for and strive for that. I have to make the journey my own because I am not either of those men and I never will be. I have to be the best leader that I can be and not the best Winston Churchill.

You are you. Don't try to be a leader like someone else. You can and should learn from others but you shouldn't try to imitate them. Come up with your own unique way of leading.