Chapter 11 – Embrace different cultures and beliefs
“It is so important to note that understanding another’s culture does not diminish your own.”
THE NEW MANAGER – HOW TO BECOME A LEADER IN 52 SIMPLE STEPS
Thank you for visiting my website, it is truly appreciated.
I wrote “THE NEW MANAGER HOW TO BECOME A LEADER IN 52 SIMPLE STEPS”, in order to help develop new leaders in their leadership journey.
In the book there is one chapter for every week (52 chapters), filled with practical insight across six core pillars (See diagram). The lessons shared are real experiences that had happened over a period of twenty years of leading teams.
Over the next 52 weeks I will be uploading a video for each chapter in the book. May you draw ‘passion. freedom and courage’ in your own journeys through these simple lessons.
I do hope you have an awesome day further. God bless.
“The NEW MANAGER” in SAA inflight magazing
This is just a big thank you to the SAA team. My book “The NEW MANAGER – How to become a leader in 52 simple steps” will feature in the SAA award winning in-flight magazine in the month of JUNE. So grateful for the exposure.
Interview with Bruce Whitfield on my book “The New Manager”
This interview took place on the 6th Feb 2017 and was broadcast on 702 and Cape Talk in South Africa. I really enjoyed the questions Bruce asked me and it was seriously a privilege to be interviewed by someone that is such a well known professional in their field. Truly grateful for the opportunity.
Be a Visible Leader 59
Leadership is effective when a leader spends time with those they lead. Reflect on all the great leaders that have led you. Why were they great? How much time did they spend with you?
Now reflect on all those leaders that were your leader but never spent any time with you. Are they in the “great list”? It is highly unlikely as what did they actually do for you? If you claim “I am self-managed” then it is true, you actually need no leader. However this statement borders on arrogance.
How can a person improve their effectiveness if they only have themselves to rely on? Surely their ideas will eventually become saturated? A great leader will spend time even with those that seem to be “self-managed” and encourage and inspire them to greater heights. The leader may plant a seed that could produce a hundredfold, yet if they never spend time with you how can any seed be planted?
A visible leader is far more effective than an invisible leader and logic alone proves this to be true. Today may you change your ways and stop looking at emails, decline some internal meetings and rather spend your day with a team member. This is where change begins……
God bless
Neglect
Its amazing how easy it is to fall into neglect. There is a proverb that I love that says, “a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest and so poverty will come upon you like a robber and your want like an armed man (Proverbs 23 vs 33)
It is not the BIG things that cause us to fall into difficulties, it is the “little things”. If we neglect to do something small that we should be doing that thing can snowball into something massive. Most neglect happens because we were sleeping. This does not necessarily refer to actual sleeping but also that our mind was sleeping. We were just not alert enough. In the job you have how many things are you supposed to be doing on a daily basis? If you are the leader of a team what are the things you should be looking at daily? Are you sleeping in any of them? Have you started to neglect the small things?
I am considering building some sort of chart highlighting all the “chores” that should be done daily. The reason for this is that in my work environment there are many emails, phone calls and spontaneous meetings that take place that can quite easily cause me to neglect something as I get so caught up in the moment. What is your strategy today?
Have a blessed day
Steven
Be brave
On this beautiful day my challenge to you is “TO BE BRAVE”. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines brave as “having or showing mental or moral strength to face danger, fear, or difficulty”.
Mental strength is needed if you are going to step out and take a risk. Define your risks, those things that you fear, the difficulties, it will help you understand what they are in order to confront them. Dale Carnegie has some sage advise in his book “How to stop worrying and start living”, in one of the chapters he advises that if you are struggling with a fear you have, then define the worst possible thing that could happen and then think of what you would do if it did happen. This way you have in essence assessed your greatest fear and how to overcome it. In this process it may give you assurance that the risk is not as great as you once believed and you also may realize that you can actually overcome the challenge if your greatest fear fell upon you.
In writing my first book “The New manager” I had many personal doubts and fears. I mean I had invested many years into that book. I delayed and delayed completing it making many an excuse whereas the true reason was that I was afraid it would not be that good. What would the backlash be? I had told so many family members, friends and colleagues that I was writing a book, how would they respond? What if it was a complete failure? Yet at some point my wife got me into completing the book. She managed to get me out of my fear and apathy and into completing the book. The passion I had to finish the book was greater than my fears and the great news is that none of my fears realized. Not one of them.
To date around 1100 copies of the book have been sold and it has received many great reviews. The best of which was that it was chosen as one of the top 6 business books in 2016 by Ian Mann (a best selling author).
I am sure there is something burning in your heart that you want to do, why not be brave and just do it?
God bless
Steven