The internet landscape is flooded with content on leadership overwhelm and burnout. While we can blame the systems, a lack of skills or work/life balance to avoid burnout, we need to look deeper at the root causes where society has fallen very short.
Leaders think they are seeking results, when in reality they are in pursuit of Peace of Mind.
Peace of mind is that emotional feeling when the family is whole and safe. It’s the feeling when the community comes together and celebrates a High School football victory and its a leader looking on at their team seeing collaboration and great results without their intervention. That’s peace of mind.
When leaders focus their teams on pure results, that is all they will ever achieve. However, when a brave leader focuses their team on an outcome first, they bring together their team’s creativity and possibilities that align with the purpose. Ultimately they are the sustainable winners, rather than the typical results-oriented leaders. We do have to get results, but it’s a lagging indicator to the health and creativity of the workforce.
When leaders focus on results and they miss the goal that month, they run their teams into the ground as firefighters with extra emails, meetings and long hours for the team. When the leader is in pursuit of Peace of Mind, they are far wiser than the previous leader to focus the team on a greater outcome and remove emphasis on month by month results. They give the team time and space to move forward on achieving the greater outcome.
For example, a leader says, “We want to be number one in market share.” The team will game the system to get that result at all costs. When they hit that goal, they high-five and celebrate. When they miss the goal, they beat their teams until they break.
Alternatively, a brave leader says, “We want to be the customer favorite.” They have the greater outcome in mind. People come to work energized to create an experience for the customer. Loyalty is created and they will be top of mind to partner with, even if there have been some mistakes along the way. When they become the customer favorite, the leader can step back and see the team perform at the highest level.
I’ve seen these leaders and when I interview them on The Drop in CEO podcast, they have truly achieved Peace of Mind. These are the companies I’ll follow. Will you?
So if this concept still intrigues you, seeking results vs. pursuit of Peace of Mind, let’s have a conversation on Linkedin or DM me. I’m your partner to help you move to Peace of Mind.
If you’d like a bit more time to kick around your thoughts on this article, let’s book a call to discover your authentic leadership style.
Resources
The CEO’s Compass: Your Guide to Get Back on Track – If you’re that leader who feels in their gut something is off track, this could be the resource for you.
Good Reads
7 Keys to Navigating a Crisis: A Practical Guide to Emotionally Dealing with Pandemics & Other Disasters by Dr. Elia Gourgouris PhD and Konstantinos Apostolopoulos – I just interviewed one of the authors Kon Apostolopoulos and it was a book about leadership resiliency with concepts that had never been discussed before. Particularly about “Kindness” that too often leaders focus on the firefighting and miss respecting humanity. A great quick read!
Good Music
“I believe” by Giuliano Poles – I was listening to this yesterday as I was driving to a keynote speech for The American Business Women’s Association; my first keynote and part of launching my speaking career. It was playing while driving through corn fields of Indiana and I had a wave of joy over me as I was racing to my dreams. I was so inspired because I believed in myself.
Good Advice
I love this message from JD Gershbein because Linkedin has been my playground to grow my brand and build know like and trust with my audience. I wish more leaders realized the power of this platform.
“LinkedIn gives you an opportunity to really build out that personal information reservoir on yourself. It’s almost boundless in the way that you can market yourself.” – JD Gershbein
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