MIKOLAJ'S MONTHLY MAUNDER
Insights and inspiration for your leadership journey!
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Inspiration and lessons for your leadership journey! “Human beings are the only creatures that allow their children to come back home.” I’ve been thinking about parenting and leadership the past couple of days and today’s quote from Bill Cosby caught my eye. After five years of doctor visits, diagnostic procedures, and trying, my wife and I found out this past week that we are pregnant! This will be her first child and my fourth. While there are many lessons from parenting that apply to leadership, I remember something else Bill said many years ago when I first became a father. As a young and idealistic young man, what he said changed how I viewed parenting and being a father. He said that a parent’s primary role was preparing the child to leave. When I thought about it, I knew he was right. It was my job as a father to do the best I could to prepare them (and me) for that moment – being a grownup and leaving the nest. From the earliest lessons of infancy and toddlerhood through childhood and the adolescent years, parents are in the process of teaching and preparing a child to be an adult – helping them to develop their strengths, minimize their weaknesses, identify what they love to do, and dream big. Parents help prepare their children for whatever the next step is; knowing that the final step will be leaving home. I am so excited, humbled, and grateful to begin engaging in that process with my wife for our new little one! The most effective leaders lead with this understanding and apply it with those they lead, as well. They nurture the dreams and strengths of each of the individuals on their teams and actively participate in their development. We call it different names – operational development, professional development, high performance culture, identifying high potentials programs, or employee engagement. No matter what you call it, the best leaders help those they lead:
This isn’t just about high potentials. Even if an employee is perfectly happy remaining in their current role, there are always developmental steps and dreams to nurture and a retirement to plan for. One measure of the effectiveness of this is whether your ex-direct reports “come back home.” Do your ex-direct reports keep in touch? Connect with you via social-professional media? Email from time to time? Call? Ask for advice? Stop by every so often? While not the only thing, leadership is partly about your mentoring relationship with those you lead; preparing for them to leave one day and always being open to welcoming them to come back home. This Week's Affirmations (Repeat these quietly to yourself multiple times throughout the day.) I am a positive role model. I am a mentor to those I lead. I am a servant leader identifying and helping to meet the needs of those I lead. I am preparing those I lead to leave. 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
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Inspiration and lessons for your leadership journey! “Good bosses make sure people are responsible for their roles and actions. This particular quote from a wonderful blog I saw shared on LinkedIn (thanks, Robin!),10 Things Really Amazing Bosses Do, by Kevin Daum caught my attention because I had the honor of talking about this very concept with an amazing team, this past week. Did you know?
In A Travel Guide to Leadership, I call mission, vision, guiding principles, and goals GPS for Leadership. Whether it’s connecting those you lead to your organization’s GPS or your more personal attempt to connect to yours, pursuing meaningful personal goals has been shown to increase happiness and initiate an upward spiral of positive outcomes and success building patterns. Without a Leadership GPS, you risk wandering in circles. The best leaders use some type of Leadership GPS to help them navigate through life. A personal connection to our own or our team’s or our organization’s GPS serves to inspire us. To the ancient Greeks, to be inspired was to have the breath of life or breath of God come within. It means literally to be ‘in spirit.’ Being in spirit is what fills your heart with passion, power, and joy. Know that. Connect to it. Radiate it. Live it. Do those you lead have buy-in and connection to your team’s and organization’s GPS? This Week's Affirmations (Repeat these quietly to yourself multiple times throughout the day.) I radiate with purpose and inspiration! I am inspired. I am in spirit. I am connected to my higher purpose! I am living it! I help others connect to theirs, their team’s, or their organization’s GPS. f 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! Do you regularly spark the fuel within you with inspiration? I’m honored that one way you may spark that fuel is by reading Mikolaj’s Monday Maunder. So, thank you! To the ancient Greeks, to be inspired was to have the breath of life or the breath of God come within. It means literally to be ‘in spirit.’ Being ‘in spirit’ is what fills your heart with joy, whether you believe in God or not. In A Travel Guide to Leadership, I show you many ways to connect to inspiration:
Some of these are things to do occasionally and some you should do as a daily ritual. Whatever you choose, reconnect to inspiration today and be ignited with sparks! “Without inspiration the best powers of the mind remain dormant. There is a fuel in us which needs to be ignited with sparks.” 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 This Week's Affirmations
(Repeat these quietly to yourself multiple times throughout the day.) I live inspired! I daily connect to that which inspires the best powers of my mind! I am a loving leader! Inspiration and lessons for your leadership journey! “Being defeated is often a temporary condition. I’ve been thinking about giving up, lately. Book sales are practically non-existent, I haven’t given one presentation since the Book Launch, and Laedan Enterprises has never even come close to turning a profit. Even though it’s not much in the grander scheme of things, maintaining a website, bank account, telephone number, and the secure iContact blog and archive costs money each month. Then, I read your comments, see the “Likes” on Facebook and the “retweets” on Twitter, and hear the most loving and encouraging words from Leah. There are over a hundred people subscribed to Mikolaj’s Monday Maunder and nearly 200 followers on Twitter. So, when I watched this week’s video, I knew it was for me. I know many of you are facing difficulties and challenges and feel like giving up sometimes, too. Remember the words of one of the most intelligent people on the planet and the author of “Ask Marilyn;” defeat is often only temporary. Sometimes, when I feel like giving up or may be feeling a little down, I think about these facts:
Repeat this meditation over and over to yourself: I am in the earth and the earth is in me. I am in the universe and the universe is in me. I am in God and God is in me. Kind of takes the temporary sting out of things, doesn’t’ it? This Week's Affirmations (Repeat these quietly to yourself multiple times throughout the day.) I am steadfast in my service and mission! Defeat is temporary; love and service are eternal. I am in the earth and the earth is in me. I am in the universe and the universe is in me. I am in God and God is in me. 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! “All through its life there will be drama - the drama of life and its beauty… My wife, Leah, and I were sitting outside in our garden patio this morning. Spring was blossoming all around us. The air was cool and the sun was warm. Birds flew all around. Trees and flowers were blossoming. The Vernal Equinox had just passed the week before and Easter Sunday was just a day away. It is a time of change, hope, renewal, growth, and a realization of the cycles of life. One of the greatest lessons for leaders during Holy Week – whether you are Christian or not – comes on Holy Thursday or Maundy Thursday and I hope you didn’t miss it. In the original Latin, Maundy means the washing of the feet. You may recall the story of Jesus of Nazareth getting up from the Passover meal and going around and washing his disciples’ feet. Afterwards, he said, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher (Master), have washed your feet, you ought [it is your duty, you are under obligation, you owe it] to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14, Amplified Bible). This theme is not unique to John. You will find the following quote from Luke in Chapter 5, A Path of Love: ““The kings of the Gentiles are deified by them and exercise lordship [ruling as emperor-gods] over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors and well-doers. But this is not to be so with you; on the contrary, let him who is the greatest among you become like the youngest, and him who is the chief and leader like one who serves” (Luke 22:25-26). This directive clearly defines a leader’s role and the hierarchal structure that Jesus wants to establish – that of servant leader leading other servant leaders. If you’re like me, this is more of a goal and process than a perfect achievement. Thank you for striving to be a servant leader, too! Don’t miss this week’s video (below). This Week's Affirmations (Repeat these quietly to yourself multiple times throughout the day.) I am a servant leader! I identify the legitimate needs of those I lead. I help those I lead fulfill and meet their legitimate needs! I am a loving, servant 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 |
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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