Business performance, as any kind of performance, is a game of inches. And exactly as Al Pacino said in his magistral speech in Any Given Sunday movie, those inches are everywhere.

To cover all those inches there’s a lot of hard work requested. But hard work is not enough.

In any business you are involved, and we both know very well that, nobody cares how hard you work. It’s only what the work delivers in the end that matters.  

Furthermore, as a leader of a team, you cannot deliver the results by yourself .

Depending of which sport you are a fan of, you can be just as effective as Messi or Michael Jordan, or even Max Verstappen (that you can think he’s doing all by himself), or you can be the most charismatic figure in the boardroom, but until your team delivers the expected results, your personal performance is pointless.

As a leader, no matter how large or small is the team you are leading, you are stuck with your team.

Your main game is to get the most out of your team. Period.

To influence them, to empower them, to motivate them, to inspire them, to make them perform at their highest potential.

For that, your impact as a leader is crucial.

And here’s where the quality of your leadership come into play.

A leader of a group of people is not a position in a business organization. Is not something that is given to you with the job title.

It’s a status that you can only earn.

By your attitude and behavior. By  the clarity of your vision and the clarity of your communication trough which you transfer your vision to the team.

Just by having a power position in your organization will not lead automatically to influence and inspiring others, and the easiest trap you can fall into is to use the power of your position to impose your influence. This is not working very effective.

True leadership is when they follow you because they want to.

And people follow someone else only if they trust that person, they understand that person and they feel inspired by that person.

Think of anyone who ever truly influence you in your life and you’ll discover the same undeniable truth.

When Darren Cahill starts coaching Simona Halep, she was already a very good tennis player, but with a lot of ups and downs in crucial moments.

He guided her to an upper level of confidence and focus which brought her her first Grand Slam trophy.

How he managed to influence her so successfully?

Very simple: she believed him! She trusted Darren! 

You can do the same with your team. If only they trust you.

They will follow you if they see that you can see more clearly and further that they can see by themselves.

So to be that person that others want to follow, you need to build yourself up from the inside-out.

First step you need to make in this journey is to understand yourself better.

“Know thyself,” said Socrates! There might be something there…

I call this step CLARITY.

What do I mean by clarity?

Clarity is your North Star!

The one that guided navigators in the midst of the unknown, the adversities of the time, in the dark nights of the vast oceans. Where they only had to rely on themselves and their crew… and orient themselves by the North Star.

Apparently, you are not in the middle of the ocean. But it’s just a beautifully wrapped illusion.

You are surrounded by a crazy and swirling world, and the wild wind of other people’s ideas blows towards you from all directions. The board of shareholders, the clients, the market, the society… even your family, everybody want something and has (apparently) a clear idea about how you or “we” should do “the things”.

You hold onto the helm, or your CEO’s  chair, while the crew waits from you… direction!

You can go back to fulfilling the expectations of others and continue running to check all the boxes they put in your agenda.

Or… you can turn the ship all around! Towards your North Star.

This is a radical mindset change!

In his essential work, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” Viktor Frankl emphasizes that the meaning of life can be found even in the most difficult and painful situations, such as in Nazi concentration camps. We only can imagine what hurricane those people who were there, had to face.

Frankl, who had faced and survived that hurricane, argues that while external circumstances can be horrifying and beyond our control, there is always an inner space of freedom that we can control – our own thoughts and attitudes.

By finding a greater sense of meaning or purpose in our lives, we can find motivation that helps us overcome any challenge or adversity.

And this is the great secret of liberation from “The Matrix”! Discovering YOUR own purpose!

When you put yourself in the center of your attention, all things starts to align.

When you begin to ask yourself what YOU actually want and you succeed to give yourself an articulated and aligned answer to that question… in that moment the whole world freezes!

This is the moment when you can see with clarity.

You will see first how irrelevant many things happening around you are.

And how much attention, energy, and time (practically the only things you truly possess) you were simply wasting.

How your lack of focus on what truly matters to you actually creates all the chaos and agitation in your life. And inevitably, in the lives of those around you, those who depend on your decisions.

 

Usually we don’t act with so much clarity. We just run forward.

We are too caught up in urgent tasks to have time to ask ourselves essential questions.

But coaching will do that.

In the absence of this clarity moments we’ll remain caught in “The Matrix”, the prison of other people urgent problems and expectations.

The prison of our own busy mind that reacts, most of the time, automatically, based on our old habits, old thinking patterns and unconscious fears of inappropriateness.

You don’t hear your own voice anymore, but each morning you tell yourself: this is your to-do list for today! Go!

What coaching does in the first place is that will give you your moments of clear thinking.

Your moments of awareness.

A time for yourself. To ask essential questions and to find some relevant answers in moments of peace.

Moments when you can see your North Star in the middle of adversities.

And this clarity, ones you gain it, will follow you all the way!

That’s a promise!

The moment you define Your North Star is like the moment in The Matrix when Neo sees the bullet coming in slow motion and effortlessly rotates on his heels, watching the bullet spin around its axis, passing by him.  

This is CLARITY.

From this point on, nothing can knock you down.

At this point you might ask, okay, but what does this have to do with leadership?

Well, it has everything to do with it!

That’s precisely why you are called a Leader because you have CLARITY, and YOU know the direction… and that’s why you can lead others.

If you don’t know the direction yet, it means you’re searching for it.

Sometimes you stumble, and all those who follow you (or should follow you) are in the fog as well.

Most of the time, when you’re uncertain, everyone can observe that.

Today you say let’s go right, tomorrow you say let’s go left.

They will do it because that’s what the boss said, but over coffee, they’ll talk. And they won’t do it with conviction if they don’t believe in you. If they see you’re hesitant.

When you have Your North Star and an Inner Compass, you can make coherent decisions that lead in the desired direction. It’s the moment you clarify what you want and why. For which purpose.

And only then can you be a guide for others. When you can finally see further than they can.

Only then are you a true leader, standing firm in the face of storms. Because you know the storm will pass, and you can see beyond.

When you have clarity and direction, your decisions gain meaning. Everything becomes clear, and straightforward, and easy, like saying hello.

Time management?! This is time management. Clarity and focus.

You’ve gained a magical tool: a simple filter for all tasks and decisions, namely “I want to get there!”

When you’re in the fog, every curve is a major challenge because you’re not sure what’s next.

When you emerge from the fog and see the road with clarity, it’s just a curve. You know exactly what to do! Effortlessly, stressless.

You gently steer the wheel and continue to listen to “What a beautiful day” song.

Life sings in your ears, and your heart rejoices in every moment.

Now, you know what you have to do.

To get clarity and vision. To improve your communication style and the way you express yourself to the world. To develop strong relationships. To inspire trust. To be more of yourself, more authentic. To stand up and proudly let your unused potential to be seen and shine into the light.

For sure you are strong on some of the above and some of them may need improvement.

Are you willing to cover all the above areas at the highest level?

There’s only yes to this question.

Can you make it?

My mission is to prove you can!

I know you can.

Because almost anybody can. But just a few make the step to persistent action and go all the way.

We all live a lot in our heads. We think a lot. We also understand a lot.

But then we get lost in our thinking mode. Like in a trance.

And we forget that in the absence of action… a thought will remain just an idea. A vision will remain just a dream.

We need action to transform an idea into something real.

This little step from clear vision to take action for make it real… it is actually simple.

But this simple step is a real game changer.

It’s the difference that make the difference.

Between those who think they can have something more and the ones who really get it.

 

Are you ready to make your first step?

Then make it now!

Claim your first free chemistry meeting to see if we have a fit!