As we come near the end of our month of focus on “initiative,” how could your life and the lives of others be different if you master the art of taking initiative?
What might that do for your career?
What might that do for your personal life?
I challenge you, today, to make taking initiative a core facet of your leadership journey.
If you don’t, what affect will it have on yourself, others, your organization?
In other words…what do you have to lose? What do you have to gain?
Now that you’ve defined your BHAG (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal — see yesterday’s post, if this doesn’t make sense to you), spend some time with someone you trust today and share it with them. Ask them for their input on it, and ask them to join you on your quest to go after it (taking the initiative!).
Make note of their thoughts and insights as you discuss it. Then set some time aside, with this person, in several weeks to review the progress you’ve made toward reaching your BHAG.
What are you learning through the process?
How might you have approached it differently?
What help, support, encouragement did you get?
What more did you need?
Last week, I spent a few days with a group of like-minded, growth-oriented people from across the US and Canada. We were talking about our dreams and what it takes to bring them to fruition (it was a lot more profound than this, but simply put, that was the focus). One recurrent theme was “Dream Big.”
Dream Big!
After all, what’s the point of dreaming if you aren’t going to Dream Big?!
And why wouldn’t we dream big within our organizations, as well? Typically, in organizations, we speak of the BHAG — or Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal (Thank you, Jim Collins and Jerry Porras), which is a “commitment to challenging, audacious, and often risky goals and projects towards which a visionary company channels its efforts.”
What BHAG would propel your organization forward?
How can you use it to inspire others?
What steps would you need to take to initiate this BHAG?
What will you do, now, to get started?
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