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The Defining Moment: The Straw That Stirs The Drink Of Motivational Leadership (Part One)
Decades ago, as a rifle platoon commander in the Marines, I saw leaders who could motivate troops to do extraordinary things -- and leaders who couldn't get the troops to do much at all. I wondered what was the difference between the successful and unsuccessful leaders; and if that difference be taught. Those two questions have stayed with me throughout my civilian life as I have worked with thousands of leaders worldwide for the past 21 years. Now, at last, I can say I've answered those questions. I've cracked the code. The difference between successful and unsuccessful leaders is the successful ones are able to engage in deep, human, emotional relationships with the people they lead, the unsuccessful ones don't. It's as simple as that, yet it's more complicated than you think. The power of those relationships has been demonstrated since the dawn of history. In all cultures, whenever people needed to do great things, one thing had to take place: A leader had to gather those people together and speak from the heart. In other words, deep, human, emotional relationships had to be constituted for great things to be accomplished. Look at it this way: Leaders themselves must be motivated, that's an absolute truth. If you're not motivated, you shouldn't be a leader. But the burning challenges in leadership are, Can you transfer your motivation to others so they are as motivated as you? And can you translate that motivation into great results? Great leaders successfully meet those challenges. There are three ways to transfer your motivation to others. Give them information, make sense, and make your experience their experience. The most powerful is the latter, having your experience become their experience. One way to make this happen is with the "defining moment" technique. This entails having the leader's experience become the people's experience. It can be the most effective method of all, because when the speaker's experience becomes the audience's experience, a deep sharing of emotions and ideas, a communing, can take place. Generally, people learn in two ways - through the intellect and through experience. In our school system, the former predominates, but it's the latter that is most powerful in terms of inducing a deep sharing of emotions and ideas, because our experiences, which can be life's teachings, often lead us to profound awareness and purposeful action. Look back at your schooling. Which do you remember most, your book learning or your experiences, your interactions with teachers and students? In most cases, people say their experiences made the strongest impressions on them; they remembered them long after book knowledge had faded. This is where the defining moment comes in. Its function is simple: to provide a communion of experience with you and the people you lead, so those people will be as motivated as you are to meet the challenges you face. The process of developing a defining moment is simple, too: put a particular experience of yours, a defining moment, into sharp focus, and then transmit that focused experience into the hearts of the audience so they feel the experience as theirs. Out of that shared feeling they can be ardently motivated to take action for results. It's easy, and it's a game changer. But if you don't get the defining moment right, it can backfire. In fact, you could wind up having people motivated against you. So follow carefully as I show you the precise steps in developing and transmitting defining moments. Take the first step in mastering the defining moment. Review experiences from your past. Don't try to figure out how to use them or how they relate to developing and communicating a defining moment. They needn't be wrenching, shattering experiences; everyday experiences will do. They don't need to have taken place recently; you might want to look back upon experiences from your youth. Finally, they don't need to have taken place in an organizational context. Look at every aspect of your life. Any of your experiences, at any time, anywhere, can make a good defining moment. Make sure, however, that it is your experience (I'll say more about this in Part Two.) and be aware of the difference between personal and private experiences. Usually, our personal experiences are those we can share with others, and our private experiences are those we want to keep to ourselves. The dividing line between personal and private is embarrassment. If you would in any way be embarrassed talking about the experience with others - don't use it. In Part Two, I will show you how to put together a defining moment to communicate. 2005 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. - All Rights Reserved PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.com The author of 23 books, Brent Filson's recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is founder and president of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. - and for more than 20 years has been helping leaders of top companies worldwide get audacious results. Sign up for his free leadership e-zine and get a free white paper: "49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results," at http://www.actionleadership.com
Latest News:Site: Yahoo! News Search Results for news JCDecaux in talks for News Outdoor Group in Russia (AP via Yahoo! News) French outdoor advertising firm JCDecaux SA said Thursday it is negotiating to buy Russian rival News Outdoor Group from global media company News Corp. JCDecaux and News Corp. in talks to combine outdoor ad groups (International Herald Tribune) The News Corp. chief executive, Rupert Murdoch, has recently expressed nervousness about investments in Russia, where News Outdoor generated the bulk of its revenue last year. News Corp tightens grip on Premiere with new CEO (Reuters via Yahoo! News) Rupert Murdoch tightened his grip on German pay-TV broadcaster Premiere by appointing News Corp executive Mark Williams as CEO in a move to get the company back on track. SEC Looks Into UAL Stock Scare; Implications For Online News? (CBS News) A ton of digits have been devoted to this in other spots but the SEC's decision to investigate takes it to another level. The backstory: a six-year-old news story about UAL declaring bankruptcy made it into the Tribune-owned Sun-Sentinel 's current news flow, was picked up by a Google (NSDQ: GOOG) News bot and, via a reporter for a newsletter, made it onto Bloomberg News. After a lot of buck ... Asia Markets: Financials in rally mode, as Lehman news helps (Market Watch) Asian markets advanced early Friday, with financials such as Mizuho Financial Group and Macquarie Group rallying after a rebound on Wall Street and on news Lehman Brothers was looking for a buyer. SEC Looks Into UAL Stock Scare; Implications For Online News? (paidContent.org via Yahoo! Finance) A ton of digits have been devoted to this in other spots but the SEC's decision to investigate takes it to another level. The backstory: a six-year-old news story about UAL declaring bankruptcy made it into the Tribune-owned Sun-Sentinel's current news flow, was picked up by a Google News bot and, via a reporter for a newsletter, made it onto Bloomberg News. News Corp says Mark Williams interim Premiere CEO (Reuters via Yahoo! News) News Corp. executive Mark Williams has taken over as chief executive of German pay-TV broadcaster Premiere in an interim capacity, News Corp. said after the move led to renewed takeover speculation. News Corp. says Mark Williams interim Premiere CEO (Reuters via Yahoo! News) Mark Williams, a News Corp. executive named late on Wednesday as chief executive of German pay-TV broadcaster Premiere, has taken over in an interim capacity, a News Corp. spokeswoman said on Thursday. JCDecaux in talks to buy News Corp. billboard unit (AP via Yahoo! Finance) In a deal that would create the world's largest outdoor advertising company, French conglomerate JCDecaux SA said Thursday that it is in talks to buy Russian rival News Outdoor Group from global media company News Corp. UPI NewsTrack Entertainment News (UPI) Kanye arrested in paparazzi scuffle ... Report: Critic smacked Ebert with binder ... Cafe Tacvba nominated for 6 Latin Grammys ... Groban to perform TV songs at Emmys ... News from United Press International. Site: news - Google News Fidelity to Roll out New Home Page Providing Real-Time Financial ... - MarketWatch
MORE RESOURCES: Site: Yahoo! News Search Results for leadership 6% - Leadership and Gender (Pew via Yahoo! News) While the public rates women has superior to men on a host of issues associated with leadership, like honesty and intelligence, a mere 6% say women make better leaders than men. Brown Leadership 'Threat' (SkyNews via Yahoo! UK & Ireland News) A small number of Labour MPs have requested Labour leadership nomination papers, according to Sky sources. BJP leadership meets to mull poll winning strategy (Calcutta News) Major roads in Bangalore's central business district were awash with saffron flags Friday as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership looked for a plank to take on a nuclear-deal buoyed Congress in the Lok Sabha polls due early next year. Philly Museum Begins Search For New Leadership (Arts Journal) "The Philadelphia Museum of Art has assembled a search committee to... find a successor to Anne d'Harnoncourt, the longtime director who died unexpectedly June 1." There is no timetable for the search, and the museum's board chair says that the interim arrangement of splitting the artistic and business sides of the leadership is likely to remain in place after a new director is hired. Community Foundation reorganizes leadership (El Paso Times) EL PASO -- The El Paso Community Foundation, the city's largest public community foundation, will undergo leadership changes to ensure its continued support and impact on the region, the organization's board announced. West Salem?s rec department will have change of leadership (West Salem Coulee News) West Salem lost its Park and Recreation director last month when Mary Freybler resigned to take a job with Viterbo University, but the transition to new leadership looks to be relatively painless as Michelle Czerwan, who has been with the parks and recreation department for eight years, has moved up to the acting director position. Leadership spill 'within days' (Adelaide Now) BRENDAN Nelson could face a leadership spill as early as next Tuesday after Peter Costello's declaration that he will not accept being drafted as leader of the Opposition. Nigeria: Abaji Council Trains Staff on Leadership Qualities (AllAfrica.com) The management of the Abaji Area Council, Wednesday began a two-day workshop to train its staff on leadership development and better service delivery. Groton Electric Light commissioners honors for outstanding leadership (Groton Landmark) GROTON -- Each year, commissioners who have provided outstanding leadership to their public power system for three full terms, or at least 10 years, may be nominated by their utility to receive the NEPPA (New England Public Power Association) Commissioner Service Award. An election about vision, leadership and trust (Scoop.co.nz) The 2008 general election will be fought over who has the vision and leadership to take New Zealand into the future, Grant Robertson the Labour Candidate for Wellington Central said today. Site: leadership - Google News 3n User Conference Drives Best Practices and Thought Leadership in ... - MarketWatch
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