3 KEYS TO LEADERSHIP

By Travis Hardin
An Inspirational Speaker @ The Re-De-Fined Project

One of the joys of being a Communication Consultant and Team Member Network Co Chair is that I sit on executive leadership teams. This mostly means that I spend a large amount of my time in meetings trying to effectively move business and others forward. But it also means that many of those meetings are led by leaders and mentors of our community!
Recently, one of the leaders shared what they consider to be the 3 most important skills of a leader. I don’t think I’ve ever heard them talk about this before, and I don’t think it is written down anywhere. And, I’m sure I’ll shortchange some of their brilliance by trying to pass it along…but it was so good, I have to try:

- The ability to clearly articulate the present reality
- The ability to visualize the future

- The ability to be self-aware

It was the TEAM’s opinion that the easiest skill of these three is the ability to visualize the future. Anybody can have a vision of the future! You really don’t have to be a leader to visualize the future, but you can’t be a leader if you don’t.

It was the TEAM’s opinion that the toughest skill is the ability for a leader to be self-aware. Because leaders are good at a few things, they assume they are good at everything. Many leaders often lack the ability to recognize where they actually get in the way, causing bottlenecks to progress and productivity from fruitfully occurring.

Questions for you to ponder:

- What is the CURRENT reality of your leadership/mentor ability? What are your strengths, weaknesses, barriers to growth, perception amongst teens and adults? Is it a safe place for students? How healthy is your volunteerism? Do YOU believe in YOU?

- What’s your vision for the future? Have you dreamed any big dreams lately? Have you had a “God Idea” recently (an idea so big that only God could make it happen)?

- When is the last time you looked in the mirror? What are your weaknesses as a leader? What do you insist on holding onto that may actually be holding your ability to be an effective leader at a standstill? Have you truly tried to identify some of your blind spots?

I challenge you to consider these 3 keys and ask yourself, “Am I really being effective in the life of a young person?” If you are honest with yourself, your answer just may be NO. Let’s work together and make sure we pass these keys onto our youth. They will thank you later.

The thing that lies at the foundation of positive change, the way I see it, is service to a fellow human being. – Lee Iacocca

Pay it forward

Travis Hardin

FUNDAMENTALLY SOUND

By Travis Hardin
An Inspirational Speaker @ The Re-De-Fined Project

Too often we as adults focus on obtaining a desired result and expect our youth to win or overcome.  We end up getting disappointed because they cannot deliver or make the simple decisions that are required to be competitive on the field of life. Our attention is on the end result, rather than on preparing our youth to execute during their performances. Execution starts on the practice field and only after numerous hours of proper practice and hard work will it be carried on to real life situations. 

One of the common denominators upon successful performers or athletes is 10,000 hours of practice (perfect practice). Thus, to be successful at anything, it requires hard work, dedication, determination and discipline.  
On the same token, we expect our youth to hit singles, doubles, triples, or even homeruns when facing the challenges of life. Instead of focusing on the end result, we should teach our youth to focus on executing a perfect swing and fielding a ground ball, catching a fly ball, or delivering a pitch fundamentally correct. Youth need to understand that there are things that he/she cannot control, like getting a hit. A baseball player has no control on what happens after he executes on his swing and hits a line drive. The other team might make a great play and make the out, but the important thing is that the player executed correctly and not that he did not get a hit. As it is in life, we need to encourage youth even when they fail at something after putting in the hard work to complete the task.

I have seen many instances where a player hits a hard line drive and somehow gets put out. Then goes back to the dugout with his head down or even sometimes takes his helmet off and throws it on the ground. This is mainly as a result of coaches or parents expecting their kids to get a hit, rather than expecting them to hit the ball with proper form.  Help the players focus on execution rather than results, on what they can control rather than what they cannot control.  Praise them for hitting the ball, not just when they get a hit.

Winning is a result of hard work, dedication, determination and discipline. Focus on the latter four and winning will take care of itself. This is why I don’t like to talk about winning during speeches or instructional work. We focus on what we have control of; like working hard, getting our perfect repetitions and developing mental toughness.

As I sat and watched game 3 of the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and Detroit Tigers, I could not help but to wrap this latest message into baseball terminology. The hits in the game of baseball are just like the everyday successes our youth see but are not given recognition for. We only celebrate them when it is a large accomplishment (home run). Let’s get back to basics by teaching and coaching morals and values. No matter what the score is in life, if our youth are given the proper strategies during the critical learning phase, ages 10 – 18, we will minimize their thirst to want to follow the “In Crowd.” We have all been there where we see something that really isn’t there. Love at 16 felt like it was going to be marriage and life happily ever after. Only to mature and learn that we didn’t know what love was until we endured hurts, pains, ups and downs. Just like the last out of every World Series recorded in history, win or lose, spring training will return in March. Help us to keep the basics of morals and values in our youth. Celebrate them for the work and efforts they are putting into their service. Life is not always about winning. Some of my losses have been much more valuable than the wins. I am sure you can go back in your past and think of some things or people you drifted apart from which felt like a tremendous loss at the time, only to mature and learn, you would not be where you are had you stuck around that negative thing or person. Let’s embrace the fundamentals.