As leaders that are gracefully striving to change the world into a better place, we need to learn to steer clear of the mindset that says, “I accept someone as long as they think and act like me.”
Are we out to raise up people into their created purpose?
Or clones of our created purpose?
Let’s paint a brief picture as an example… Let’s say you started a website production company. You have had good success thus far, but you are having trouble breaking into the next level and direction of growth you’ve had in your vision. Here is a good assessment to run through your employees. Are you hiring people that think only like you, see like you, or express themselves like you? Or are you looking for people that fit your vision, but see things differently from you?
Hiring people that will simply be a clone to the leaders purpose is a sure fire way to limit ourselves from tapping into the creativity and effectiveness we are truly after. We need people with different viewpoints, different backgrounds, different ways of doing the same thing yet more effectively, and that are not afraid to speak up.
This can challenge some people, and can quite frankly scare some leaders.
Are you trying to create a bunch of followers?
Or a bunch of confident world changers?
So much of our society is driven towards controlling things. Most of what we see everyday is geared towards comparing ourselves to others or what others have accomplished. Here is a guaranteed way to plateau and remain unsatisfied in your growth, pattern who you are and what you do around trying to be someone else. You were created to be you and fulfill your purpose. Sure you can be inspired by and glean from others success, but it should ultimately drive you to be the best you possible.
We need to embrace a mindset that teaches people how to think, not what to think.
As a leader when we teach someone exactly what to think we don’t realize it limits everyone, including ourselves, because it steers the person we are leading away from expressing their needed and unique input and vantage point into the bigger vision. The healthiest environment is one in which everyone acknowledges and honors the leadership, but is also free to see things different and isn’t afraid to speak out a new creative approach or way of seeing.
You, nor I, have all the answers. We don’t have the perfect vantage point to all the challenges our vision faces, but when we promote freedom and creative thinking for our followers we increase our own problem solving ability. When leaders promote freedom and creativity solutions to problems we can, and cannot, see begin to organically surface within our midst.
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Upgrade Your Thinking 