The Leader-Ship: Who's On Board?

The WOW! Factor

Let’s imagine that the Leader-Ship is a huge cruise ship. Why did you choose to be here? When you talk to people about your organization, do they get that WOW? WOW stems from passion and creates more passion. What’s the WOW factor that keeps people coming back each day?

“Be passionate about it or don’t do it.” –Rudnesky

According to urbandictionary.com The WOW factor is: “The distinctive appeal that an object, behavior or person has on others. An impressive display brought on by a certain object, behavior or person.”

When you walk into our building, we want you to get that WOW! Factor. We absolutely need that distinctive appeal that makes us different in a positive way. When you talk to someone about our organization, we want you to get that WOW! Factor. Some contemporary leadership literature documents that you don’t need enthusiasm to be an effective leader. I disagree. I see that enthusiasm carry over to all aspects of our organization. Enthusiasm generates enthusiasm.

I work in a school, and you may think some of the examples I use won’t work in your organization. Keep an open mind. I think these examples will work in any organization. We’ve had people from all over the world visit our organization from as far away as Japan. One of the common threads is happiness. We had a visitor a few weeks ago state that the first thing she noticed was smiles. WOW, got that one!

Another common thread is kindness. Granted, we certainly are not perfect at it, but we practice on a daily basis. Each year the New Jersey Department of Education requires all schools to have a Week of Respect. I think it’s lame because we should practice respect all year. So I asked the mayor of our town for a proclamation declaring the whole year, a “Year of Respect.” And that’s what he did. WOW!

“I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers." --Ralph Nader