The Other L Word Besides Leadership

The Other L Word Besides Leadership

"You gotta let it grow." -John Lennon

While doing some yard work today, I was listening to music and John Lennon's song "Mind Games"  came on. This song has nothing to do with leadership, but it made me think of one of the lessons behind the song, in my opinion. The message I received from the song was, that John stated that with love you had to let whatever you are doing grow.

To me love isn't just a feeling, it is an action. Don't get me misunderstood, you can feel love. But there are many times we do things that we do not want to do because we love something. That something can be someone, like a significant other, a family member, or a pet. Think of all the things you didn't want to do, but you did it because you loved that something. There are other things that we also can love. Like a sport, an activity, or a hobby. If we love those things then odds are we are doing those activities. 

But let us dive back into the things we do not like to do, and discover why we do them for the things that we love. Because anything that we do, we have a why. When we love what we do, there are many why's that we do certain things. One reason would be to prevent conflict, another would be to make someone happy, or make yourself happy. At love's core, it is a selfless action. When someone asks you to do a favor, do it, and be polite about it. Do not complain, do not blame, and do not be defensive about doing it. Be like Nike, and "Just Do It." This isn't a shameless Nike commercial, but what this is, is helping yourself out in the long run. Be selfless. 

When we eliminate three things known as "BCD" we will be happier and healthier human beings. 

BCD stands for Blame, Complain, and Defense. These three things are not love at all, they are selfish and spiteful. Instead of making your class, your team, or your group better you are jamming up the process. Life throws a lot of things at us, so we must be prepared to tackle life when it throws difficult issues at us. 

This also takes me to my final point in the love equation. If something is so toxic, so negative, that it is making you change into those values, then leave it. It doesn't make you any less of a person to leave it, it is doing a selfless service to your prior group. Why? Because if your values do not match up with that groups values, then you are doing a disservice to that group.

Another addition to this equation is understanding that a quality organization is a fragile thing. Change can be a good thing, but sometimes change can hurt your team. That is why it is important as a leader to question if this prospective addition will help or hurt the team. If this prospect will be an energy vampire and be a toxic member to hurt the team, then the group will suffer in the long run. So if you must leave, then leave.

Just remember that if you do not love what you are doing. Which means doing what is necessary to help the organization at 100%, then get out. There are many factors that can be at play with that, but understand that if you cannot give 100% in what you are doing then you do not love what you are doing. You are either all in, or all out when it comes to jumping on ship to an organization, so love it or leave it and get after it!