MIKOLAJ'S MONTHLY MAUNDER
Insights and inspiration for your leadership journey!
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Inspiration and lessons for your leadership journey! 48.5 million Americans, or nearly 16%, live in poverty (as defined by the federal government).1 Let me tell you a true story… Johnny got up excitedly from his fourth grade desk, one day last week. It was lunchtime! He wasn’t thinking about his single mom who scraped by on a part-time job at WalMart or his estranged dad or the grumbling in his tummy. No, Johnny was thinking about pizza. He was especially excited about lunch today because it was Pizza Day! The students all loved Pizza Day! He hurried off with the other children as they scrambled to get in line and make their way to the school cafeteria. When his turn came, he anxiously watched as the attendant loaded a big slice of pizza on his tray; followed by a serving of fruit and another of vegetables. Finally, a pint of milk finished off the anticipated feast and the attendant handed Johnny his tray. He slid his tray down the familiar chromed bars as he slowly progressed in line waiting to check out. When his turn came, he knew he was just moments away from a delicious lunch. The cafeteria attendant looked at Johnny, grabbed his tray, and immediately turned and dumped his lunch into a nearby trash can – everything except the milk. Johnny stood shocked in disbelief. Then the attendant slammed down the tray, put the pint of milk back on it, and then reached into a refrigerator and grabbed something. Slap! Johnny stood there looking at a cold, cellophane-wrapped, processed cheese food product sandwich. “When your mother pays your lunch ticket, then you can have the full lunch. Next!” Johnny began to turn to walk away with his near-empty tray with a pit in his stomach as he looked down at his tray in disappointment – a cold sandwich and the small red and white square box of milk staring back up at him. He felt like he was one of those characters in a movie he saw about prisoners. Luckily for Johnny, his teacher saw the whole thing and immediately scrambled into action. She brought Johnny back to the counter, scolded the cafeteria attendant, and paid for Johnny’s full Pizza Day lunch out of her own pocket. She’s had to do this before for many kids. Some kids aren’t lucky enough to have a teacher who has the heart (and the money) to bail them out from time to time. When I heard this story, I was utterly shocked and enraged. Shocked that the attendant literally took and threw away perfectly good food. Shocked that her excuse is ‘that’s what the manager tells me I have to do.’ Shocked that a principal, school board, state government – and thus, all of us – allow this to happen thousands of times each school day across Texas. I am enraged that in the richest country in the world, our leaders at every level have failed us as citizens and human beings allowing four years in a row of increasing poverty in America while we spend trillions of dollars in ‘too big to fail’ bailouts and the world’s largest war machine in history – all the while justifying rhetoric about ‘budget sequestering,’ Medicare slashes, educational funding cuts, not providing affordable healthcare to citizens, and on and on. All this is happening while the Dow has reached an historic high and according to the Pew Economic Mobility Project report, as cited in the New York Times, recently, “Compared to the last generation, wealth has become more concentrated in the hands (and bank accounts and houses) of the richest Americans.” This is not just a failure of leadership of people holding governmental and institutional positions of power and influence; it is a failure of our collective individual leadership! We are all to blame. Commit to change that today. Don’t miss this week’s video! This Week's Affirmations (Repeat these quietly to yourself multiple times throughout the day.) I do not support leadership that fails those they serve! I am empathic, concerned, and charitable. I am a loving, servant leader! Recommended charities: Feeding America Houston Food Bank If you like this week's blog, I encourage you to share it with your family, friends, and colleagues and join me on my journey to empower and inspire millions of people around the globe. Together we can spread words of Encouragement, Inspiration, Empowerment, and Loving Leadership... and wouldn't you agree our world could use a little more "Positivity" these days? Together we can make a difference... Have an amazing journey today! Alan
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Inspiration and lessons for your leadership journey! “If ever there’s a tomorrow when we’re not together, there’s something you must remember… you’re braver than you believe and stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.” Today’s quote comes to us from the “Hundred Acre Wood” and Winnie the Pooh. Who doesn’t recall with some sense of fondness, the simplicity and wisdom in A. A. Milne’s classic works? Braver than you believe. I want you to think back over your life and think about a time that you faced something challenging, new, nerve-wracking, or even truly frightening or life-threatening. A recent one for me, for example, was a job interview for a position that the hiring Vice President himself said was a “colossal leap” for me. As I prepared for the interview, I waffled between scared out of my wits to confident about a great opportunity – even if it was just to practice my interviewing skills and hone my resume. This waffling between feelings could happen on a dime. And even though I didn’t get the position, I learned a lot from the process of preparing for and going through that interview. The two most important lessons were how wonderfully helpful and supportive my family, friends, and colleagues were and second, how brave I turned out to be during the interview, despite some initial jitters. You may be facing some very real challenge or challenges, right now; or, maybe you soon will be. Remember, you have faced many challenges before and look at how you’ve done so far! You come from Love to create love. Your heart beats with the mystery of life and radiates an electromagnetic wave of energy all around you. You have trillions of cells made up of trillions of atoms that are all waves of energy that together makes the unique person that you are right here and now. Whatever it is you are facing right now, remember then that there is something you must remember: You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. This Week's Affirmations (Repeat these quietly to yourself multiple times throughout the day.) I am a brave and courageous leader; doing what is right! I am strong and disciplined reminding myself what it is I’m truly after. I am smarter, more clever, and wiser than I think! I am a loving leader! If you like this week's blog, I encourage you to share it with your family, friends, and colleagues and join me on my journey to empower and inspire millions of people around the globe. Together we can spread words of Encouragement, Inspiration, Empowerment, and Loving Leadership... and wouldn't you agree our world could use a little more "Positivity" these days? Together we can make a difference... Have an amazing journey today! Alan Inspiration and lessons for your leadership journey! “Whoever I am, or whatever I am doing, some kind of excellence is within my reach.” It’s easy to get discouraged and even fearful in our culture. I don’t know about you, but I have to actively work at nurturing joy, peace, and love every day. Some days I’m more successful than others. A Travel Guide to Leadership is full of ideas that help. There is another way that I didn’t explicitly point out in the book: reaching for excellence. I was lucky to be born to parents who strove for excellence in their work and encouraged – sometimes demanded – it in me and my sisters. Whether it was cleaning the house, putting away the groceries, mowing the yard, or completing some major home improvement, we not only saw our parents do their very best, but they expected it of us, too – even if our contribution was just a small part. They taught us that going the extra mile – spending just a little more time and effort on something – had benefits. It wasn’t long before I realized that not everyone grows up that way. Others would say, “It’s good enough for government work” or “Leave well enough alone” or “Who cares? The boss sure doesn’t care about us!” or “It’s good enough.” That’s unfortunate because there is something inherently rewarding about doing, not just a good job, but the very best that you can, despite circumstances and sometimes other people and organizations. And, like our opening quote reminds us, there is always some kind of excellence within reach. Teachers are a great example of this. Many of you know my wife, Leah, is a teacher and an inspiration to me. Like many teachers, she faces government cutbacks, stagnant wages, a weak economy that affects her student population disproportionately, and sometimes what seems like unsupportive parents and leadership. Despite these and more, she and countless teachers like her continue to give their best to and for our children. They are mission/vision/value-driven! What challenges are you facing, right now? How can you best respond? What excellence is within your reach today? This Week's Affirmations (Repeat these quietly to yourself multiple times throughout the day.) I am focused on my mission, vision, and values. I find joy in doing my best, no matter what others are doing or saying. I look for ways to grow and improve. I am a loving leader! If you like this week's blog, I encourage you to share it with your family, friends, and colleagues and join me on my journey to empower and inspire millions of people around the globe. Together we can spread words of Encouragement, Inspiration, Empowerment, and Loving Leadership... and wouldn't you agree our world could use a little more "Positivity" these days? Together we can make a difference... Have an amazing journey today! Alan Inspiration and lessons for your leadership journey! “When you blame others, you give up your power to change.” Do you know what motivates others at work? Research from Duke University and George Mason University reveals that, although you might think you do; you probably don’t. At regular intervals over a forty year period, executives were asked to rank what they thought motivated their employees. They consistently got it wrong. Executives erroneously believed that external factors and incentives such as compensation, bonuses, job security, and promotions are what most motivated their employees. But employees say it is inherent factors, such as interesting work, being appreciated for making meaningful contributions, a feeling of being involved in decisions, and being part of something bigger that most motivates them most. However, employees were no better off predicting what motivated their bosses and peers. They got it wrong, too; believing it is external factors that motivates others – especially superiors. The fact is, most executives report being the most motivated by autonomy, their inherent interest in their work, big challenges, and a sense of relatedness with colleagues. In psychology we call these biases – particularly the self-serving bias and the extrinsic incentive bias. We give more credit to our internal and inherent motivations to ourselves than we do to others and think others are more externally motivated than they probably are. These biases between boss and employee can lead to suboptimal incentive, reward, and compensation programs. But more importantly, it erodes trust which makes working well together difficult. This doesn’t mean that money, promotions, and the like are not important. They are. Just much less than we think. Other research shows that as long as employees feel they are earning a fair wage, inherent factors begin to take over as motivators, or if not met, as a detriment. When both bosses and employees reduce blame and finger-pointing by reversing erroneous beliefs and ANTs about each other, we foster trust, engagement, and a better working environment – and we know that that leads to higher productivity, reduced turnover, higher customer satisfaction, and increased profits. And who doesn’t want that? This Week's Affirmations (Repeat these quietly to yourself multiple times throughout the day.) I remind myself that there is so much more meaning to my work than just a paycheck – and more importantly, that that is true for others I work with, including my boss! I look for ways to talk about what is valuable and meaningful for others’ work – what motivates them, even my boss. I am a loving leader! If you like this week's blog, I encourage you to share it with your family, friends, and colleagues and join me on my journey to empower and inspire millions of people around the globe. Together we can spread words of Encouragement, Inspiration, Empowerment, and Loving Leadership... and wouldn't you agree our world could use a little more "Positivity" these days? Together we can make a difference... Have an amazing journey today! Alan Bonus Video: Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us Watch >>Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us |
Alan Mikolaj
Alan Mikolaj is a a professional, experienced, positive, and passionate speaker, leadership and organizational development consultant, change agent, author, and coach. He holds his Master of Arts degree in Clinical Psychology from Sam Houston State University. He is a certified graduate coach from Coaching Out of the Box and holds his ACC and membership with the International Coaching Federation (ICF). Impactful change starts with a conversation! Schedule your free, one-hour session by clicking here: Discovery Conversation with Alan
Or call or email: Contact Page 
In his third book, A Travel Guide to Leadership, Alan offers you simple, fundamental, and powerful lessons that have the power to transform you, your relationships, and your career.
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