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Good Morning and Happy Monday!
One of our Contagious Conference™ vendors asked me over the weekend just how we arrived at the theme for the upcoming conference of Authentic Engagement. It was a great conversation and the concept is one I thought you would enjoy this morning.
If you’ve ever heard me speak, you’ve probably heard me refer to Contagious Leadership™ and the fact that everything we do, see, say, think, believe, and behave is contagious. Well, so is your ability to be authentically engaged. And in fact, being a contagious leader means that you are able to Be You and Lead You, as well as Lead Others.
To break that down, Being You means being able to do things in your style, knowing what that style is, and being comfortable in your own skin WITH that style. In other words, being you, means you don’t spend a great deal of time trying to be someone or something else that you’re not. Things like “hiring others to do what you know is not your gift” and paying attention to the needs you have because of your style would apply here and this is what I would refer to as authenticity.
Leading You means being able to motivate yourself to do what needs to be done in the way you wish to have it done, being able to utilize appropriate discipline, being aware of your emotions, your beliefs and your habits, and being aware of what you are asking others to work on or accomplish and how you are asking them. Are these things getting you the results you want? If not, then you are not leading yourself in the right direction and leadership may not be about you, but it sure does begin with you. This type of leadership, the leading you part, is what I would refer to as being engaged.
To be a Contagious Leader, you must in fact, be authentically engaged and ideally, those you lead would also have the freedom and desire to be authentically engaged in whatever their role is and with whatever their style may be. If that is not occurring in your office or in your world, then the Authentic Engagement Contagious Conference on April 28th in Orlando may just be a vehicle for you to work on that element of your own leadership and of those you lead. And if you feel you are not quite as Authentically Engaged as you would like to be or not spreading, so to speak, the kinds of behaviors you wish others to catch, try today to be just who you are in a positive sense. Look for the things that motivate you and give you energy and do more of those. Look for the gifts in others and work toward bringing those out and look for signs that maybe you are covering up your real style and it’s causing you stress.
