Art Fettig’s Monday Morning Memo
October 31, 2011
In This Issue
o Investing in Ourselves
o Say Something Good
o Points To Ponder
o A Little Humor
o Quote of the Week
Investing in Ourselves
If you asked me what the best investment I ever made, I would have to say it was the $12 I paid to take the Christopher Leadership Course back in 1957. It might have been $16 now that I think about it. And maybe it was one night a week for six or was it eight nights including the competition? Our leader was a Dale Carnegie instructor and I believe I received six books free and I won a nice pen one evening. Three of us competed in one of the sections and I came in a distant third. The winner could not speak English. But I felt like a winner because I stood up and spoke. When I started the course I could not lead a group in silent prayer.
The morning we graduated I went in and made my first outside speech. It was in my bosses office and I asked him for a raise. He gave me a $25 a month raise and that is somehow reflected in the pension checks I receive today. I sort of laugh when I hear some people say they do not take courses because their employer does not pay for such things. It took a great deal of change in me before the results of that course might be seen but every time I get up to give a speech, some of what I learned in those classes is apparent. It changed my life. What have I done lately in the way of continued education? Well, I went alone to a local place called The Depot and I stood up at the open mike and did five minutes of comedy. I had never done “Open mike” before and I knew only one fellow in the audience and I did not attend with him. I went along. Never could have dared that without that course I took just fifty four years ago.
Is it time for you to make an investment in yourself?
Say Something Good
In our newsletter I have been asking God to send our troops home and out of harms way. I just read a news flash, now dated, that said we would be removing nearly all of our troops from Iraq before the end of the year. Of course, this was not our idea it was supplied by Iraq. Now if we just have the good sense not to send them to Africa or Libya or only God knows where else then one of our prayers might be answered, at least partially .I feel in my heart it is time to take care of America and to stop playing policeman for the rest of the world. What about bringing our troops home from Germany and Korea and Japan and a few dozen other places. I think that would be Good! Good! Good! for all of us. May God Bless America and bring our troops home safely.
Points to Ponder
Nay, be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought. Henry David Thoreau
A Little Humor
My mind works like lightning, One brilliant flash and it is gone.
Quote of the Week
Conceit is God’s gift to little men. Bruce Barton
Recommended Reading
Leading in today’s workplace requires the ability to influence others in a way that gets the best out of them while remaining flexible and adaptable in your approach. Gone are the days when you could just tell your employees to “pull up their big boy pants” and do their jobs. In today’s ever-changing work environment, there has been a transformation in the leadership landscape that involves taking more of a coaching, mentoring, and nurturing approach with your followers. Influence is the new leadership superpower, and there needs to be an intentional effort to lead through respect, empathy, and compassion if you seek to motivate and inspire others.
The Leadership Survival Guide lays the framework for how to be a more influential and inspirational leader, while also highlighting the importance of adapting to the individual needs and motivators of your followers. The way in which you decide to use this framework will ultimately determine the level of trust and credibility you earn from those you seek to lead.
Leave a Reply