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The Leader’s Cycle of Teaching & Giving
This week, let’s reflect on a truly powerful piece of guidance from the incredible Maya Angelou:
“When you learn, teach. When you get, give.”
Such simple words, yet they hold a profound truth about growth, responsibility, and especially, leadership.
Think about it:
➡️ “When you learn, teach.” As leaders, we’re constantly learning – new skills, strategies, insights. This quote reminds us that knowledge isn’t meant to be hoarded. Our role includes sharing that wisdom, mentoring our teams, and illuminating the path for others.
➡️ “When you get, give.” Whether it’s recognition, resources, influence, or opportunity, leadership often means receiving more. The call here is clear: use what you “get” to uplift others. Share the credit, create pathways, open doors, and offer support.This resonates so deeply with my own journey in the hospitality industry. I stand where I am today because leaders and mentors before me took the time to teach me invaluable skills and gave me opportunities to learn, grow, and prove myself. Just as importantly, they consciously chose to give opportunities – trusting me with new responsibilities, providing chances to lead projects, letting me learn from mistakes, and ultimately allowing me to grow and prove myself. Without that intentional sharing of knowledge and opportunity, individual growth can stall, and teams can stagnate. Their generosity truly paved the way for my career.
It’s a cycle I feel a strong duty to continue. As leaders, especially in hospitality where mentorship is key, we MUST consciously:
▪️Teach our teams what we know – share the secret sauce, the recipe for success, the techniques, the service standards.
▪️Give them chances to shine – delegate important tasks, provide constructive feedback, advocate for their growth.Let this week’s wisdom guide our actions: How can we better embody this cycle? Let’s turn our learning into teaching, and our getting into giving. It’s how we build stronger teams, foster loyalty, and create a lasting positive impact.
Book Recommendation 📖
For anyone in leadership, particularly hospitality, I can’t recommend “Setting the Table” by Danny Meyer enough. It beautifully illustrates how prioritizing and investing in your team (teaching & giving!) creates exceptional guest experiences and business success. I had the privilege of working with Danny (and so many other great leaders) during my tenure at Shake Shack and saw firsthand the profound, positive impact living the principles from this book has on culture and success. It’s packed with real-world hospitality wisdom! -
Seeing Beyond the Obvious ⭐
This week’s wisdom from Albert Einstein speaks volumes about leadership:
“Creativity is seeing what others see and thinking what no one else has ever thought.”
Great leaders don’t just see the same things everyone else does; they think differently about them, finding unique insights and possibilities within the familiar. 💭
How this creative thinking applies to leadership:
▪️ Problem Solving: Seeing recurring issues but devising truly unique solutions by challenging assumptions, not just applying standard fixes. 💡
▪️ Strategic Vision: Observing the same market landscape but synthesizing information differently to chart a distinct, innovative path forward. 🗺️
▪️ Innovation: Looking at existing processes or products and fundamentally reimagining how they could work, leading to breakthroughs beyond incremental improvements. ✨
▪️ Opportunity Spotting: Connecting seemingly disparate elements (team skills, market trends, feedback) to identify hidden possibilities others overlook. 🔭
▪️ Team Potential: Seeing current team capabilities but thinking beyond them to set groundbreaking goals that inspire unexpected achievements and growth. 🤝
📚 Book Recommendation:
Want to cultivate this kind of thinking? I recommend “Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World” by Adam Grant. It’s a fantastic exploration of how to champion novel ideas and effectively challenge the status quo – embodying Einstein’s quote. It offers great insights for leaders aiming to foster originality and drive meaningful change.
🎉 Website News! 🎉
Exciting update: All past WoW Wednesday posts are now archived on my new site, The WoW Wednesday! It’s your one-stop shop to easily find past quotes and leadership insights whenever you need them. Thanks to my friend Dan Bejmuk and his talented team at Dreambox for partnering with me on the creation of the website.
Check it out, subscribe, and bookmark: 👉 https://www.thewowwednesday.com/
#Leadership #Creativity #WordsOfWisdom #Innovation #Einstein #LeadershipDevelopment #WoWWednesday #SeeingDifferently #StrategicThinking
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Weathering the Storms for Future Growth 🌧️🌷
“April showers bring May flowers.” – English Proverb
Happy April everyone! This classic saying holds a powerful message for us as leaders. Think about it – those tough times, the challenges that feel like endless rain, they’re actually essential for the beautiful growth that follows. And hey, at least we’re not getting caught in the rain without a piña colada, right? 😉
In leadership, our “April showers” can take many forms:
- Navigating Change: Implementing a new strategy might feel disruptive and bring resistance initially. It’s like those April downpours – uncomfortable at the moment. But pushing through and guiding your team through the transition can lead to significant positive outcomes – your “May flowers” of improved efficiency and innovation. 🌱
- Addressing Setbacks: A project might face unexpected hurdles or a key initiative might not deliver the results you hoped for. These are your April showers. How you lead through these disappointments – learning from mistakes, adapting your approach, and keeping morale up – will determine the strength and resilience of your team in the long run, leading to future successes. 💪
- Difficult Conversations: Having tough conversations with team members about performance or making necessary but unpopular decisions can feel like a storm. But addressing these issues directly and with empathy can foster a stronger, more transparent, and ultimately more productive work environment – your May flowers of improved communication and trust.🗣️
Just like you can’t skip the rain and expect a vibrant garden, you can’t avoid challenges and expect significant growth in your leadership or your organization. It’s about embracing those difficult periods, learning from them, and continuing to nurture your team and your vision so you can blossom in the future.
Book Recommendation:
I highly recommend “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” by Carol S. Dweck. It dives deep into the power of a growth mindset – the belief that our abilities and intelligence can be developed. This perspective is crucial for leaders navigating those “April showers,” as it encourages resilience, learning from setbacks, and ultimately cultivating the “May flowers” of success. 📚
Let’s embrace the storms knowing they pave the way for growth!
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✨ Positivity’s Winning Streak! ✨
“A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes. It is a catalyst and it sparks extraordinary results.” – Wade Boggs, Red Sox 3B, HOF 2005
Just as baseball fans like me eagerly anticipate MLB 2025 ⚾ Opening Day tomorrow (Go Sox!), with its promise of fresh starts and exciting possibilities, leaders can cultivate that same sense of optimism within their teams. That feeling of excitement, and positive anticipation is very similar to what a strong leader can bring to a team. A positive outlook is not just beneficial, it is a driver of success.
Here’s how a positive attitude fuels leadership excellence:
🚀 Boosts Team Morale: Creating a High-Energy Environment:
~A leader’s positive energy is contagious. It fosters an atmosphere where team members feel valued, motivated, and empowered. This translates to increased engagement, reduced stress, and a stronger sense of camaraderie. When people feel good, they perform better.💡 Fosters Innovation: Encouraging Creative Risk-Taking:
~Positivity breaks down fear of failure. When team members feel supported and encouraged, they are more likely to contribute innovative ideas and take calculated risks. This leads to breakthroughs and a culture of continuous improvement.🤝 Strengthens Relationships: Building Trust and Rapport:
~A positive leader communicates with empathy and understanding, building strong relationships with colleagues, clients, and stakeholders. This fosters trust, enhances collaboration, and strengthens long-term partnerships.💪 Enhances Resilience: Navigating Challenges with Optimism:
~Setbacks are inevitable. A positive mindset helps leaders and their teams navigate challenges with greater resilience, viewing obstacles as opportunities for growth. This transforms potential defeats into valuable learning experiences.📈 Drives Results: Aligning Teams for Success:
~Ultimately, a positive attitude leads to better outcomes. When teams are aligned, motivated, and focused on solutions, they achieve extraordinary results. This creates a winning cycle of success and positive reinforcement.Just like the excitement building towards MLB opening day, a leader can build that kind of excitement within their teams.
📚 Book Recommendation
“The Power of Positive Thinking” by Norman Vincent Peale. This classic explores how to cultivate a positive mindset and harness its power to achieve your goals. It aligns perfectly with Wade Boggs’s quote, emphasizing that our thoughts have a direct impact on our reality. Just like a baseball player focusing on a winning season, this book helps you focus on a winning mindset.Let’s choose positivity today and watch the extraordinary results unfold! 🌟
Oh and once again, Go Sox!
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Strength Through Perseverance
“Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes.” -Buddha 🧘♂️
In leadership, endurance isn’t just about personal stamina; it’s about the ability to guide a team or organization through prolonged periods of challenge, uncertainty, or change. It’s the capacity to maintain vision and morale when faced with setbacks, resistance, or seemingly insurmountable obstacles. A leader with endurance inspires confidence and stability, demonstrating that the team can weather any storm. ⛈️
Here are real-life Leadership Examples:
Navigating a Crisis: A CEO leading a company through a major economic downturn or a public relations crisis. They must make tough decisions, maintain composure, and keep the team focused on long-term survival and recovery. 💼
Driving Organizational Change: A leader implementing a significant cultural or technological transformation. This requires sustained effort to overcome resistance, manage anxieties, and ensure the change is successfully integrated. 🔄
Building a Long-Term Vision: A founder establishing a startup or a political leader pursuing a long-term policy initiative. They must maintain their passion and commitment despite slow progress or initial setbacks. 🚀
Leading Through Innovation: A leader pushing for innovative strategies within a conservative company. The leader will face many roadblocks, and will need to have endurance to see the innovation through to completion. 💡
Maintaining Team Morale: A military leader or a project manager guiding a team through a demanding and prolonged mission. They must keep morale high, provide support, and ensure the team stays focused on the objective. 🛡️
Endurance in leadership is about demonstrating unwavering commitment to the team’s goals, even when the path is difficult. It’s about showing that resilience and perseverance are not just personal traits, but essential qualities for collective success. ✨
Book Recommendation:
To further explore the power of perseverance, I highly recommend “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance” by Angela Duckworth. 📖 This book delves into how grit—a combination of passion and perseverance—is a key predictor of success.This isn’t just another self-help book; it’s grounded in Duckworth’s extensive research as a psychologist. She delves into the concept of “grit,” defining it as the combination of passion and perseverance for long-term goals. Duckworth’s work demonstrates that grit is often a more significant predictor of success than talent, IQ, or even luck.
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