Spoiler Alert!
As a leader, you do NOT have to have the best idea.
Release yourself from the burden.
Also, humble yourself.
Instead..
Realize that as a leader, your job is to aggregate the BEST idea to serve your team & clients.
Sometimes that’s yours.
Sometimes it’s not.
And that’s OK!
You must stay HUMBLE.
Remove the ego.
Be open to the firepower from your team.
As your focus should not be on your idea..
Rather, the BEST IDEA!
SPOILER ALERT!!
Leadership is NOT about making people happy.
It’s about helping them.
Very basic concept, but extremely profound.
Why is this challenging?
Because when you lead someone, the truth is many sometimes they won’t be happy with you.
But that’s ok and is your job as a leader.
Need an example that universally relates?
If you have kids.
They misbehave.
Your job is to provide the correct action and be a role model.
Guess what?
Chances are they will not be happy with you in the moment.
However, this will develop discipline and behavior that will help them in the future.
Yes, they will thank you later just like the people you lead.
However, at the moment, they won’t be happy.
Embrace this tough truth.
THIS IS LEADERSHIP!
Over the last few weeks, we have learned about the 4 pillars of Stoic Philosophy.
Why is this important?
In leadership, you need to control your internal thoughts/mind.
As your thoughts/mind control your actions.
And your actions control your results.
Success is an inside job, my friend.
And when you use the 4 virtues of Courage, Wisdom, Justice, and Moderation in your endeavors like a good stoic..
The strong winds of leadership will be at your side.
But you must take action.
As the last parting words of wisdom around Stoicism.
It’s not an abstract philosophy full of “Thinkers”.
Rather, one of “Doers” who take action.
And here are your 4 north stars of action for ongoing reference:
Moderation or Temperance is the 4th stoic virtue.
I intentionally left it until the end.
Why?
Candidly, I struggle with most with this being I am recovering alcoholic & addict. Thus, I cannot talk with an overwhelming amount of authority here.
That’s the ugly truth.
And while in some ways I have improved drastically, in others I have a long way to go.
This is a slippery slope as on 1 hand my addiction, when channeled toward the light, is a superpower.
On the other hand, it can be a looming disaster.
Just like the use of anger can be a very good or bad thing depending on how it’s channeled.
Thus and as a cautionary tail, this is what the stoics valued moderation or temperance as the 4th coveted virtue.
My message today?
Ponder on this and come to your own conclusion on how the usage of moderation can positively affect your leadership and life!
Justice is defined by the Merriam Webster dictionary as: the quality of being impartial, or fair.
Justice is an incredibly valuable virtue especially since life is not fair. In fact, anyone telling you otherwise, should not be trusted.
As a leader you have to strive for justice in order to support your team, clients and following.
Although as a leader, you also have to understand the concept that fair is not equal and equal is not fair. This is true justice and why it can be so difficult which takes wisdom to decipher.
By now you can see the virtues compound.
Your focus as a leader?
Create value and justice for your following in every opportunity possible. You will need courage and wisdom by your side to aid you in this pursuit..
“The More I Learn The Less I Know.” – Tony Bennett
This quote perfectly describes the 2nd stoic virtue of wisdom.
As the sober reality is that attaining wisdom is a lifetime pursuit. Something that you can acquire more of, but will always be elusive to some degree.
Although the journey of its pursuit is certainly a valuable one and one worth traveling…
“OK, Bryce, there’s value in gaining wisdom but how do I attain it?!” you might be asking..
Many ways although the truth is that most times wisdom can only truly be derived by life experience. Although the closest life hack I learned at a young age was to develop relationships with your elders.
They possess it due to their vast life experience..And if you listen well; you can unlock a world of wisdom, growth, and leadership.
Looking forward to covering Justice next week!
I listed the 4 Stoic Virtues last week below..
They are in no specific order according to the Stoics. But the best way I digest them specific to leadership is attacking COURAGE as number 1.
The fact is that strong Leadership often times means going against the grain. It means taking action not that is NOT part of the status quo. Many times, this action ruffles feathers.
And sometimes a strong leader even has to make decisions that hurt some of the followers to protect the whole tribe.
You need COURAGE to lead this way.
In fact, here’s one of my favorite leadership quotes by the late Steve Jobs of Apple, Inc.
“If you want to make everyone happy, Don’t be a leader – Sell ice cream.”
And while you need all 4 other virtues to lead, without COURAGE to execute, nothing else matters.
This is the hard part of leadership. But why it’s so valuable.
The good news is that COURAGE is a just muscle that you can improve. The more you flex it, the stronger it becomes.
I look forward to diving into Wisdom next week.
A philosophy called Stoicim emerged thousands of years ago in the ancient world by a man named Zeno who was a successful sea merchant and died in Athens, 236 BC.
Stoicism was created as a framework on how to live a better life and to cope with its challenges being Zeno lost everything in a bad shipwreck. As ultimately, life is challenge & suffering. So stoicim provides a framework on how to lead oneself and others despite these challenges.
Thus, leadership and stoicism are intertwined. In fact, I refer to Stoicism as the philosophy of successful leaders.
The Stoics elaborated a detailed taxonomy of virtue, dividing virtue into four main types:
We will spend the next 4 weeks diving into each of them to provide you with a stronger framework on how to lead yourself and others through the 4 stoic virtues.
Happy Monday Mindset!🙌
As we kick off our New Year “10Lbs Challenge” brand-wide, I wanted to strengthen your mindset for the road ahead! As yes, there will be A LOT of success, but also A LOT of challenges!
And no better way than to provide some perspective from some challenges our ancestors faced. As I read this article recently, I was humbled and inspired, so I wanted to share it with you.👇
“For a small amount of perspective at this moment, imagine you were born in 1900. When you are 14, World War I starts and ends on your 18th birthday with 22 million people killed.
Later in the year, a Spanish Flu epidemic hits the planet and runs until you are 20 years old. 50 million people die from it in those two years. Yes, 50 million from the pandemic.
When you’re 29, the Great Depression begins. Unemployment hits 25%, and global GDP drops 27%. That runs until you are 33. The country nearly collapses along with the world economy. When you turn 39, World War II starts.
You aren’t even over the hill yet.
When you’re 41, the United States is fully pulled into WWII. Between your 39th and 45th birthday, 75 million people perish in the war and the Holocaust kills twelve million. At 52, the Korean War starts, and 5 million perish.
At 64 the Vietnam War begins, and it doesn’t end for many years. 4 million people died in that conflict. Approaching your 62nd birthday you have the Cuban Missile Crisis, a tipping point in the Cold War. Life on our planet, as we know it, could well have ended. Great leaders prevented that from happening.
As you turn 75, the Vietnam War finally ends. Think of everyone on the planet born in 1900. How do you survive all of that?
A kid in 1985 didn’t think their 85-year-old grandparent understood how hard school was. Yet those grandparents (and now great grandparents) survived through everything listed above.”
Perspective is an amazing art. 🎯
As this year begins, let’s try and keep things in perspective. Let’s be smart, help each other out, and we will get through all of this. In the history of the world, there has never been a storm that lasted!💥
Head up and onward, as with any challenge in your way, this too, shall pass.🔥
PS. TODAY is your LAST CALL to join our upcoming 10lb Fitness Challenge which starts TODAY, click HERE!
Leadership is a verb.
It requires action.
The lowest level of it, is simply telling a subordinate what action to take.
The highest level of it, is modeling the desired action.
Today’s lesson?
Whatever your desired action is, lead by taking that action as an example to yourself & team.
This is true leadership.
Bryce Henson, CEO of FIt Body Boot Camp
I hate spammers as much as you do so don’t worry, I won’t blow your inbox up with nonsense.
