Dominating Your Value

It maybe counterintuitive but the next level to your worth will come when you let go of leveraging your perceived value.

I have been here many many times in my career and in my life. And I am back here again.

Where is Here ?

Here is feeling new. Feeling clueless. Feeling unclear of my value.

Let me be real. I went from being the most coveted man. To being the least on a new team. To being the engine making the new team go. To leaving the team to be a nobody on an elite squad. To being a leader. To back to my old team now scrambled and trying to not offset a great team chemistry.

The team is so new, more than half of them have never worked with me on the same team.

Yet the team is healthy. It’s good. It’s productive. My initial instincts are to figure out how to become the top dawg. How to be so valuable to everyone that they sing my praises. How to work extremely hard and out work everyone that it is so clear that I am all in and I know more and I am the best.

Leaders don’t Compete on Effort

One of the things that I have learnt I. My business is that the team is not better because I work harder than everyone. The individuals may respect my hustle but they won’t necessarily respect me. Leaders don’t Out do their teams with effort. Leaders out love and out coach and out highlight their team. Leaders fight to protect what works but don’t relent to be an example for areas that do not work. Leaders out volunteer where no one wants to go. Leaders out exemplify the spirit of innovation. Doing new things that lead to impact against the odds of old wisdom that was accurate and right in times that are past.

So what does it look like ?

I have no freaking clue. But I know that I have to die a little. I get to shed another part of me. I get to unlearn what has worked well for me in the past. I cannot benchmark myself to individuals in my team and try to compete with them and usurp their leadership. Just for my own gain. That won’t be great for this team. The leadership is in place and it is good.

I know that I get to take a step back and identify lanes that are uncharted. Lanes the team wants to chart but have had no brain space to consider. I get to find pain points that are oblivious to the naked mind. I get to listen more and hear what truly aches the team. I get to apply myself in areas that may feel isolating at first that may feel contrary to old wisdom. I may even risk annoying the leaders of the team now because I am going in directions they wanna go but have not had time to explore.

I must bury my ego, and lead with a servant’s heart.

I come to this realization it feels every year but what a servant will do changes or looks different. There are times when leadership is out working everyone else especially when the temperature and work ethics of the team is low.

Work Smart not Hard

I have heard that phrase before. As in business and in life. Working smart is easy to say but hard to do. Because you first must recognize better ways, dive into them and develop expertise in those ways then transition to those ways without ever losing productivity.

In summary:

Doing the right thing is not always comfortable or clear. Do it anyway!