CYD

CYD


At a staffulty (faculty and staff) meeting, I flashed those three letters up on the big screen: CYD. The audience quickly reverted to their teenaged years and started laughing. You can probably make up a silly acronym without much effort. Then I clicked to the next screen:

“Control Your Destiny – if you don’t, someone else will.” The slide was met with, “Oh that’s what it means.”

I’m simplifying the leadership process so you can get on board. Let’s eliminate you as a barrier to yourself and get moving. Most of the people complaining can have a simple solution:

“Be the person you want around you.” Or “If you don’t like where you are, leave.”

A few months prior before I started to write this book, I received a unique email. It was an evite to my fortieth, eighth grade class reunion. The email was ironic in the sense that I was immediately able to reply and attach a picture of my eighth grade class. The reply was not so exceptional because I use that picture all the time when I talk to students and adults about leadership.

The reason I use the picture is from an old quote: “People may not remember exactly what you did, or what you said, ~but they will always remember how you made them feel.” I show the picture to prove the truth in the statement. I cannot reciprocate much about what I learned in eighth grade or a book I read while in the eighth grade but I can still name every student, and tell you how every student made me feel. I can tell you how every student made every other student feel.

People will always remember how you made them feel. That statement is true about your colleagues, friends, relatives, and coworkers. Long after you leave an organization, your legacy is defined by how you made people feel and how people made you feel. What do you want your legacy to be?

I ended up going to my eighth grade reunion. I saw those same faces, same smiles, and same feelings that I remember from eighth grade. And just to reiterate, we didn’t talk about the curriculum one time. It was great to see my old friends, and it was great to feel that happiness resonate off their faces. It certainly started up some new dialogue.

At the end of each year, I have an individual meeting with all of the employees and all of the students leaving our school. I ask each one how they did. One teacher told me that morale was low. She kind of caught me off guard. I wasn’t naïve enough to think that our organization was perfect. And I knew that I wasn’t complacent but nonetheless, I didn’t expect that response.

I guess you have to examine the source sometimes to decipher the statement. It didn’t matter because even though I estimated that it came from three people and it didn’t affect our positive culture, it was an opinion. I told the teacher to start with herself and move out. I’m still waiting for a response.

What stands in your way?

I hope it’s not you. Motivate yourself, inspire others!

We are going to create a place where everyone wants to be through commitment, hard work, and leadership.

This is a fresh approach to any organization. Well, not really but it’s an approach that every organization should take. Most people are worried about productivity rather than process. If you fine-tune the quality of the process you’ll create long-term productivity. How much time do you spend at work? Even if it’s eight hours a day, that’s half of your waking time. If you create a place where you want to be, I guarantee it will be a place where others want to be as well.