doug smith training

  What if your goals are only as good as your character? When you set positive goals with the intention of doing good, with no harm to anyone, that's a reflection of your character. If you set goals with no thought of how they might affect other people, that is also a reflection of your character. Working on your goals starts with determining your character. When your values matter, so do you. -- doug smith

Which should come first to be a high performance leader, strength, or character? High performance leaders do need to be strong. They need to be able to stand against opposition, correct wrong doing, and push on even when loss seems certain. But even more important than strength is character. Being truthful, trustworthy, and fair. Making a difficult decision even when personal gain could tempt that decision to go in another direction. Treating people with compassion. Leaders can easily cross ethical lines but a person of character sees those lines, honors those lines, and no matter how creative, manages to stay within those ethical lines. Strength without character breeds corruption. Stay strong, stay true, and may your character never be questioned. -- doug smith

Develop your character and let your ego take care of itself. -- doug smith

Does your team see and feel the real you? Are you the same person at work as you are when you are on your own? Or are there masks that you wear, roles that you play, that you leave backstage when the day is done? Leaders should be authentic. They also have personal lives. Your life at work may not match your life at home, and that's OK. What's NOT OK is if your life at work does not match your values. High performance, centered leaders lead with the heart as well as the mind and they lead with integrity. In "Alice In Wonderland" there are lots of surprises, lots of tricks, lots of turns, lots of levels of deception. Have you ever known a leader like that? How they achieve their goals and how they think thru their processes can feel like a total mystery. I'd rather work for a transparent leader who has no secret agenda. I'd rather work for an authentic leader who shows you what you get and tells the truth first time and every time. How about you? M