LEADERS HONE THEIR MISSION STATEMENTS – AND THEIR SKILLS

Recently, a friend sent me an article about leadership that he thought I would enjoy. He was correct. I did enjoy it, and I made time to read it over several times to digest all the knowledge contained in the piece.

The article actually took me back 11 years. At that time, I was still working as an Assistant Dean at Georgetown Law Center. Loving leadership, I applied for the Georgetown Leadership Coaching Certificate Program, which fortunately was taught only several blocks from my office.

One of the first things we were asked to do in that class of 32 motivated professionals was write a personal mission statement.

I was familiar with the concept of a personal mission statement, having taught “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” for 25 years. Stephen Covey made the creation of a personal mission statement an essential part of his book and his seminars.

I was so taken with the concept of a mission statement that I encouraged our family – my wife and two sons – to work with me to develop a family mission statement. We did so and posted it on our refrigerator.

Thereafter, when our sons went to college, my older son posted his own personal mission statement on the wall of his dorm room. It became a great conversation piece and motivated new classmates to talk with him and get to know him.

Before reading “The Seven Habits,” I thought mission statements were only for companies. I saw them framed on walls in waiting areas of law firms and corporations.

One year, Georgetown Law held its annual Senior Staff Retreat at the Baltimore Hilton. As she walked around the hotel, Dean Judy Areen was taken with the fact that every hotel department had its own posted mission statement. She asked each department at the law school to create their own mission statements. Then department heads shared their mission statements at the weekly Dean’s meeting.

When I first started drafting my personal mission statement after reading “The Seven Habits,” I was pretty confident. I spent quite a while on it. It was more than one page long. Eventually, I shortened it to one sentence: “I am about making a positive difference in other people’s lives.”

Later, after I was exposed to significant content within the Georgetown leadership coaching program, I realized that I could not myself make a significant positive difference in other people’s lives. They had to do it themselves.

So I changed my previously written mission statement to “I am about helping other people make a positive difference in their own lives.” That made much more sense to me because I learned that coaches help people look in the mirror and serve as a “guide on the side.”

Going back to that leadership article my friend sent me, I was taken with a quote from the US presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, who is now 83 years old and still going strong.

Doris wrote:

Leadership is the ability to use one’s talent, skills, and emotional intelligence to mobilize people to a common purpose and to make a positive difference in people’s lives.”

There’s that phrase: “make a positive difference in people’s lives.” As soon as I read that sentence, my mind flashed back to my personal mission statement.

Doris goes on:
“The qualities important for leadership are

-humanity

-empathy

-resilience

-self-awareness

-self reflection

-the ability to create a team where people can argue with you and question your assumptions

-the ability to communicate with people using stories to make people feel a part of what you are saying.

The most important thing is the willingness to take a risk because the ambition for the greater good has become greater than for yourself.”

That is quite a list that Doris has provided for our review.

Go down that list. Do it slowly.

How many of these leadership qualities can you honestly say that you exhibit and value on a daily basis for your teammates?

How do you remind yourself of the leadership traits you wish to hone and develop each day, each month and each year?

I encourage you to make your own personal list. Keep it on your phone. Keep it on your computer. Keep it in your desk. Whatever works best for you.

Please remember that when it comes to leadership development, you are your own best ally!

If you believe this content would resonate with a friend or colleague, please feel free to forward it along!

-Larry