Renaissance for Leaders

What Are You Chasing?

On February 27, 2015

To chase means to pursue in order to catch or catch up with. Unfortunately, many people chase their tail, looking busy and yet going nowhere.

Where does the idea of chasing what you want come from? What if there is a faster and more effective approach that is counter-intuitive?

Here’s the thing, whatever you chase says a lot about you. It speaks louder than what your words say. It communicates your true intentions, your lack, and limitations. Typically we don’t chase what we have in abundance. We chase what we don’t have and by doing so, we telegraph to everyone that we are lacking in the thing that we are chasing. This creates a feeling of neediness, which is repulsive!

So if chasing isn’t the way to do it, then what is?

The key is to align your actions, beliefs and feelings from the end result of the vision as if it were here now. This point of view collapses time and draws the future into the present. Then from this perspective, there is no chasing. Your vision is drawn to you.

Does that mean you don’t have to do anything? Of course, you have to do something! The difference is that the actions you take will be from a position of confidence, certainty and clarity and your results will go up exponentially!

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Ten Lessons From The Fastest Land Animal

By Andrew John Harrison

On January 6, 2015

In Leadership & Influence

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Catharsis & Honesty

By Andrew John Harrison

On December 22, 2014

In Health & Vitality

For some people, this video would be confronting. For others it is cathartic. A film by Mark Pellington – David Whyte essay – Music by Jeff Rona.

Mark Pellington’s words say it best:

“This film was made by me as an exercise in process, to explore my own progress and personal feelings towards loss, grief, and healing. Via this text. My instinct was to be very simple and direct and to understand these words, via catharsis. The conduit was human, the face. The unlying veneer, the carrier of instinct. The face. It evokes the range of emotional expression and human truth of strangers. They all listened to it one time and brought their own inner stories to you the viewer. For you to feel your own. David’s Whyte words inspired this all. Kudos to the cast, Michael Sanford casting, Jeff Rona’s music and Matt Roe’s wonderful images.”

Our Greatest LUXURY is Time

By Andrew John Harrison

On December 11, 2014

In Leadership & Influence

MOVIE > The Giver

By Andrew John Harrison

On December 1, 2014

In Leadership & Influence

Set in the year 2048, after a war, the community elders thought it was a good idea to remove all race, emotions and as many differences as possible.

Hmmmm… sounds like removing many of the very qualities that make us human!

Before watching this movie I had never heard of the book that it is based on… I was looking for a movie to watch one evening and stumbled on it in iTunes.

Filled with A-List actors this movie delivers. I totally loved it! My most profound takeaway is that no matter how well-intentioned people are, in their “infinite wisdom” by removing what makes us human in order to make us “safer” they create a new set of horrors. This manifests as good people engaging in unspeakable acts without even realizing it.

This has me thinking about certain people and cultures that find emotions so difficult to handle that they suppress, cover up and deny them… in the end lacking feelings, perhaps most importantly lacking empathy for the suffering of others…

It is the full range of emotions from the depths of sadness to the highs of joy and ecstasy that has us being fully alive…

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The Sweet Spot

By Andrew John Harrison

On November 26, 2014

In Leadership & Influence

I was inspired to put together this diagram to highlight the competing forces of risk and return (also known as reward). As I sat on the couch one evening a thought came to me about what separates successful leaders from everyone else.

Successful leaders aren’t smarter. They certainly aren’t more conservative. They do seem to take a lot of risks and for the most part emerge unscathed. Once in a while you will see a leader crash and burn only to rise from the ashes. Unless it is incapacitating or life threatening… most disasters won’t keep a true leader down.

Lots of people have visions of a future they would like to create or see others create, however most of these visionaries never manifest their vision into reality. You could say its easy to dream and quite another thing to take it all the way to realizing it.

The best leaders not only inspire others to follow but also acquire missing knowledge and apply it through successful execution on the route to mastery. This takes balancing risk and return.

The same is true of investing and entrepreneurship. Ask any successful investor or entrepreneur and they will tell you that maximizing returns comes with high risk and that minimizing risk also limits potential returns. The Sweet Spot (The Zone) is found by seeking a balance between these two competing forces. In order to stay in the Sweet Spot takes constant learning, execution and application of the knowledge gained.

When you stop learning, stop applying and stop executing you drop out of The Zone and become either over conservative or take unwise risks that are akin to gambling.

Most people fixate on one end of the spectrum or the other and often wildly swing between the two.

Consider for a moment, what would happen to your FLOW if you followed this simple 4 step strategy:

Locate the Sweet Spot by asking “what does OPTIMUM look like?”
Move into the Sweet Spot
Make ongoing adjustments to stay in the Sweet Spot
Assess the downside risks and develop a strategy to mitigate them
Inventory the potential upside and implement a strategy to capitalize on it

The key is to not fight competing forces… work with them!

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CUPID: Musing About LOVE

By Andrew John Harrison

On November 25, 2014

In Relationships & Family

– dedicated to the memory of Anjou MacPherson (1959 – 2012)
By Andrew John Harrison

L. O. V. E.

I often ponder what it is
where it comes from
why so many people long for it and yet deny themselves

MASTERY

By Andrew John Harrison

On November 24, 2014

In Leadership & Influence

MASTERY in one’s career and consciousness growth simply requires that we constantly produce results beyond and out of the ordinary. Mastery is a product of consistently going beyond our limits. For most people, it starts with technical excellence in a chosen field and a commitment to that excellence. If you are willing to commit yourself to excellence, to surround yourself with things that represent this and miracles, your life will change. (When we speak of miracles, we speak of events or experiences in the real world which are beyond the ordinary).

It’s remarkable how much mediocrity we live with, surrounding ourselves with daily reminders that the average is the acceptable. Our world suffers from terminal normality. Take a moment to assess all of the things around you that promote your being “average”. These are the things that keep you powerless to go beyond a “limit” you arbitrarily set for yourself. The first step to mastery is the removal of everything in your environment that represents mediocrity, removing those things that are limiting. One way is to surround yourself with friends who ask more of you than you do. Didn’t some of your best teachers, coaches, parents, etc.?

Another step on the path to mastery is the removal of resentment toward masters. Develop compassion for yourself so that you can be in the presence of masters and grow from the experience. Rather than comparing yourself and resenting people who have mastery, remain open and receptive; let the experience be like the planting of a seed within you that, with nourishment, will grow into your own individual mastery.

You see, we are all ordinary. But a master, rather than condemning himself for his “ordinariness”, will embrace it and use it as a foundation for building the extraordinary. Rather than using it as an excuse for inactivity, he will use it as a vehicle for correcting, which is essential in the process of attaining mastery. You must be able to correct yourself without invalidating or condemning yourself, to accept results and improve upon them. Correct, don¹t protect. Correction is essential to power and mastery.

– Stewart Emery

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The Dark Side of Follow the LEADER

By Andrew John Harrison

On November 22, 2014

In Leadership & Influence

Choose your leaders carefully.

Wise words that we would all agree with, and yet how many of us get to know the obvious and not-so-obvious aspects of a leader – BEFORE we jump in and follow them?

The obvious aspects are those we can all see. Examples are their likeability, dressing, body language, and grooming. Also their tone of voice, leadership style, and their past performance.

Not so obvious aspects would mean those qualities and attributes that we cannot see without getting to know them personally or investigating with more discerning eyes. Usually, these aspects include their values, operating model, typical emotional state, beliefs, honesty, candor, ethics, and integrity.

ZONE TIPS > Resolving Upsets

By Andrew John Harrison

On November 22, 2014

In Relationships & Family

With the frequency of communication via text message and email increasing, it is common to develop misunderstandings and end up with one or both parties upset. The result is a loss of affinity, less collaboration, and a feeling of disconnection.

There are four primary ways people respond to this type of upset: