Posts Tagged courage

Children ask for what they want. Do you?

Posted by David C. Buchan in Self improvement on November 30th, 2009

Reading time: 1 – 2 minutes

Children have no hesitation in asking for what they want as my daughter’s letter to Santa demonstrates. As adults we lose this skill. As the end of the year approaches and you begin reflecting on 2009 ask yourself, “What didn’t I ask for this year?”

My weekend shopping had me running late for a lunch engagement. And my mobile phone had run out of charge. It would have been easy to let things slip rather than risk the potential embarrassment of asking to borrow a phone. Instead, I plucked up the courage and asked the sales attendant serving me if I could borrow a phone to make a quick call to my wife.  She could have said no but she didn’t. And while she served me, my day became easier and immediately less stressful.

If this seems a trivial example it isn’t. Requests come of all sizes and often those made early on — before things get worse — make all the difference.

Will my daughter get all she asks for on Christmas morning? Who knows what Santa will bring. I can only hope she never loses the skill of asking.

My daughter’s letter to Santa

Letter to Santa

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Lionheart empowers through Leadership

Posted by David C. Buchan in Self improvement on May 5th, 2005

Reading time: 2 – 3 minutes

I’m still buzzing from last night’s presentation on leadership by Richard Bosi. His Lionheart presentation of no less than 3.5hrs straight was built around the guiding values of courage, wisdom, faith and love.

Presentations on leadership are a dime-a-dozen so why was this one different. Richard is obviously well read, and time in Australia’s special forces as a Lieutenant Colonel hasn’t harmed him either. What I saw and experienced last night engaged the heart, the lion heart, because of the integrity with which it was presented.

  • We were not told what to do.
  • We were not given a rehash of other people’s ideas.
  • We did not sit idly by and listen.

Instead, Richard Bosi shared his view of leadership in a manner that let you take what worked for you and leave what didn’t. Leadership showing deep respect (love) for those in the room.

Special moments for me were:

  • Visualising myself driving through the streets of my home town in a rally car and being so fantastic at it that I could do so with my eyes closed. A highlight was screaming through the quiet zone beside a hospital with all the staff and patients hanging out the windows and cheering me on. Many people say visualising is the way to go. Richard trains you in how to do it, and more importantly points out that if you struggle to visualise something, there are lessons to be learnt from the visualisation process itself. Others I’ve heard/read seem to suggest visualise harder.
  • Recognising that simply leading well is enough to have others follow you. The good example helps them recognise in themselves what they can be.
  • Learning to listen for the tugs which suggest you are off-character. That is, when your character is causing you to behave in a way you don’t really like. This ties beautifully with my coaching model.

Leadership is either on or off. There is no in-between. If you want it, take it.

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