Straight-Line Leadershp

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Hello and welcome to episode number 20 of the strategy corner where a goal is to get you to take action. I’m your host, Michelle Zink, the owner of Intentional Solutions Corp. In today’s episode we’re reviewing a book. It’s episode number 20 and every 10th episode, I’m making it a point to share a book that I love. I’m a big reader. I love engaging and reading books and learning from masters who have done it before me, so I really am passionate about sharing some fun books with you. The first book I shared was 10 episodes ago and that was Steve Chandler’s Reinventing Yourself, which is one of my favorite books. And this book is called Straight-Line Leadership. Now I know I’m going to miss say the name, pronounce it wrong, but the author of this book is Dusan Djukich and he is an amazing author that I’ve actually only read this one book from him, but what I love about the book is just like the title says, Straight-Line Leadership.

This book is all about straight-line thinking. It’s all about taking the guesswork, the emotion, the not knowing out of your leadership style and getting you focused and looking forward at a straight line. So, I like him because he aligns with a lot of the things that I agree with or believe in and I love his writing style. Like Steve Chandler, he’s a straight shooter, he just tells you how it is. Again, he keeps the emotional mess out of it and I really liked that writing style. I enjoy reading books that are very to the point and tell you specifically what they’re thinking so that it takes the guesswork out of it. Now what I’ve decided to do today is I’ve decided to take this book off my shelf and read everything that I’ve highlighted in it. So, it’s going to be a total book review and I’m doing this because you might not read this book and most likely you might not have space to read this book.

So, with that being the case, I want to make sure that I include all the information that I think is useful and that I’ve obtained from this book. So I’m going to read to you everything that I’ve highlighted so that if you don’t pick this book up, you know about the book, you have insights from the book and you have great learnings that you could take with you today and actually start implementing in your job and your business. Okay, so let’s get started. I’m going to just open the book and see what comes up first. Another thing that I forgot to mention that I love about this book is the short chapters. I really enjoy books that have short chapters because I feel like it helps you get wins ahead of time. It helps you feel like you’re actually accomplishing something by reading something quickly and short.

And so, I love – just like Steve Chandler -I love how this author creates short chapters in his book. The first highlighted part that I have in the book is from chapter number one, which is called What’s Your Inner Stance? Distinctions give you an up-close observation of the stances that you live your life from. They make these stances clear and visible. Distinctions give you the awareness you need to clear your way for choice in the matter. Hope is the rare material of losers. Now that’s pretty interesting because I think a lot of times, we think about hoping for things to happen and if you listen to those, hope is the raw material of losers. To me that means that you need to start creating. Hoping is a great thing, but it doesn’t actually create anything. So, let’s just take it for what it’s worth. Hope is the raw material of losers.

Most people don’t realize how the stances that they are operating from in life or where they’re coming from, impact the quality of life for themselves personally and professionally. I’m gonna read that one more time. Most people don’t realize how the stances that they are operating from in life or where they are coming from impact the quality of life for themselves personally and professionally. It boils down to this. Where you come from determines the actions that you take in life and the actions that you don’t take in life. Your stances will always be the keys to your castle or your jail cell. We’ll read that again. It boils down to this. Where you come from determines the actions that you take in life and the actions that you don’t take in life. Your stances will always be the keys to your castle or your jail cell.

This reminds me a lot of Steve Chandler and how he talks about owner victim and what I am reading when I read this and what I think about when I read it is that where we’re coming from really does determine if we’re going to take action. So, if we’re feeling like we don’t have enough information to act on something, then that stance will be, you don’t take action. And so, it’s really determining the actions that you take in your life and the stances that you take and seeing how those do affect how you do move forward. We believe success is about having the right information and for that reason it isn’t long before we think we need more and better information. We keep seeking something that does not help, and it returns us full circle to the same failure that caused us to seek in the first place.

That’s from chapter two. It’s all about learning to always find the shortest distance between you and your objective. So again, straight-line leadership going straight to the situation and handling it. Another tidbit from chapter two. Knowledge must be utilized to be a value. So, to me that means you could have a lot of knowledge, but if you’re not actually implementing it or doing anything with it, there is no value. And the last from chapter two is the shortest distance from a to B is always a workable inner stance and doing the necessary required actions until B is realized. Chapter number four, straight-line people. Knowing without doing dilutes your strength. Again, saying that if you don’t, if you have knowledge, if you know without doing, it dilutes your strength. Straight-Line people simply create and utilize more internal tools. Let me say that again. Straight-line people simply create and utilize more internal tools.

Straight-Line individuals simply decide what they want to accomplish. Jot down what the necessary required actions are and then do the necessary required actions. Commitment equals a created stance in which you know what you will do or not do regardless of what happens or what doesn’t happen. I love this statement, a created stance in which you know what you will do or not do regardless of what happens or what doesn’t happen. I don’t know if any of you have had this happen to you, but I’ve had a, you know, go into my day thinking I’m going to accomplish three things and then possibly I don’t feel like doing one of them. And so, then I end up not doing it. And so, what this is saying is you decide this ahead of time, that no matter what happens, you do what you say you’re going to do.

So again, creating that inner stance where you do what you say you’re going to do. And I’ve been better about doing this lately, but I can easily fall into that trap. So, once I do, I always think about like, well, what am I thinking? Why don’t I want to do this? And to get myself back on track. But again, commitment equals a created stance in which you know what you will do or not do regardless of what happens or what doesn’t happen. Chapter six. Now you’ll see I’m jumping around. There are chapters in between. Then I haven’t even hit on because I didn’t have anything highlighted, so just wanted to make sure you understood that. So, chapter number six, stop stopping versus stopping. Step one, decide what you intend to accomplish. Step two, define exactly what actions it will take from you to achieve the outcome.

Step three, decide if you’re willing to pay that price. If you’re not willing to pay the price to get whatever you want, you’re just going to get frustrated. Step four, monitor the results of your actions and make corrections when needed. Step five, continue to take the required actions and do not stop until your outcome is realized. When you learn to stop stopping, you will achieve virtually any goal you ever set. Chapter number seven, what distinguishes a straight-line leader? True power is the wherewithal to bring out the best in others. I love this. I have a leadership style where I’m always trying to make others shine and I always want my employees and my clients to get everything they want to achieve. So, to me, this is an amazing way to sum it all up. True power is the wherewithal to bring out the best in others.

I love when others succeed. I love to show people things they can do in order to be successful. So, this is an amazing sentence for me. People love to be inspired. They hate being fixed and corrected, but they love being encouraged by what they see. A straight-line leader creates responsibility. Confidence may or may not be present for you, but that’s okay as long as you are living from an inner stance of responsible leadership, which will produce appropriate decisive action. Chapter number eight a problem versus a decision to make. The willingness and ability to concisely choose and act decisively is real power. The magic is in continuously creating and living your inner stances through decisive action and not thinking things to death. The culture of an individual is the inner stance taken. You must alter the inner stance of the individual before he can change his behavior.

Chapter number nine, what I know versus what I live. I’ve acquired, what do I live? What do I implement? Separate what they know from what they live. You can actually separate them out and put them on opposite sides of the whiteboard or whatever you’re working with. Number one, what you know. Number two, what you live. So, if we slow this down and think about that question, what you know and what you live. What I know is I should be eating a lot more vegetables than I actually am. And I know that I shouldn’t be eating ice cream at night, but what I do live is I had ice cream last night and I sometimes don’t choose vegetables. So, what’s amazing about this is that this whole knowledge, like we have a lot of knowledge, but when it actually comes to doing something that’s totally different.

So, having a knowledge is one thing, but acting on it as another. Awareness is only one small part of having your life work. We all know some highly educated and amazingly aware people who are also very ineffective. They may be able to analyze, advise and sermonize, but they tend to stop there to cuddle up with their reasons and understanding rather than follow through on that knowledge with the necessary required actions to get the result that they are after. Remember that reasons only help you sound reasonable and that they have nothing to do with producing personal and professional accomplishment. Personal and business transformation requires not necessarily that you acquire new understandings, but that you change. I’ll say that last part again, but that you change. Very profound. Chapter 11: Can’t versus Won’t. Can’t refers to what is not possible for you to do. Won’t refers as just something that you are capable of doing, but just choose to.

You’re not willing to exert the effort. People get frustrated over knowing what they are capable of doing and are still choosing comfort over action. Do what’s required now or repeat history. Chapter number 12 being truthful about where you are versus lying about it. To get to where you want to go, you have to know the exact location that you’re starting from. To get to where you want to go, you have to know the exact location that you’re starting from. When you talk about being realistic in in the, now we’re talking about the exact location you’re starting from. So, if you’re trying to start a business or if you’re trying to grow a business, you need to know exactly where you are right now. So, what was your revenue for the last year and where do you want to go? You need to know where you’re starting from.

If you want to lose weight, you need to know how much you’re weighing right now. You can’t be telling everyone who could help you that things are fine when they’re not. Once you see how workable reality always is, you also realize that there’s nothing wrong with you other than the fact that you have been scaring yourself to death. I’m going to say that one more time since I didn’t read it straightforward right away. Once you see how workable reality always is, you also realize that there’s nothing wrong with you other than the fact that you have been scary yourself to death. Suffering does not come from the event. It comes from the meaning you attached to the event. Suffering does not come from the event. It comes from the meaning you attached to the event. So that’s one great thing to be looking towards. If you do feel suffer or you suffer during the day, start looking at what you’re making these events mean.

It’s not life’s condition, but the inner stance you operate out of that shape your destiny. It is not life’s conditions, but the inner stances you operate out of that shape your destiny. Chapter 13 pleasing versus serving. And when I asked him what he got out of not deciding, he was surprised. He didn’t see that he had a habit of almost never deciding anything so that he would never make a bad decision. He was placing pleasing everyone ahead of serving anyone and was therefore trapped in his own survival system. Chapter number 14 a created world versus a reported-on world. Change before you have to. Phil couldn’t see that his approach was profoundly ineffective. He was making a classic mistake made famous on Michael in Michael Gerber’s E myth books of working in his business instead of working on his business.

“What Kind of team do you want to create?”, we asked him. And even after he tried to tell us that hiring was not a current problem, we pressed on letting him know that straight-line leadership was not about bouncing from problem the problem trying to survive. Phil was finally able to describe the best possible sales team he could envision, and he based it on two current superstars, Patty and Stewart. This never would have occurred to you coming from your stance of crisis management. You can keep reporting on what’s happening out there in your world or you can create the world you want to live in. Chapter 15 a dream versus a project. There’s nothing wrong with any dream you have, but to live an effective life, the dream has to get converted from your head thinking about it to a project that you can get your hands on and do something about. Accountability has no sense of blame.

It means count on me. So, look at where you’re headed in life. Ask yourself what will happen if nothing changes. Straight-line individuals know that the only time you can ever change from a dream to a project is now. As Lindsey Bradley asked in her book, As the Pendulum Swings, “Which now are you going to change in?” You’ll see that real awareness occurs as a result of confronting where you are and how you actually operate in life. By thinking the way to operate is the way you are is exactly what keeps you stuck. It’s also what keeps your problems in place and looking more complex and daunting every day. In the end, it’s about doing what’s required. It’s about observing how you actually operate and when it’s not workable. Choosing a stance that does not work for you. What will shift you in life from the warning category to the example category is awareness and choice.

Chapter 16 worry versus concern. Worry is passive and concern is active. Worry delays appropriate action. It scrambles your brain when you need your brain to be its best. When you shift from worry to concern, you can number one, acknowledge the situation. Number two, focus on the actions that will improve it. By not worrying you have a lot more energy to get off your butt and stay off your butt. Concern leads to action. Worry leads to dysfunction. Creating is the answer to just about any problem. Are you living at the level of choice or circumstance? You can always change as long as you’re aware of where you are living. You have to choose and only by choosing will you be able to live deliberately. Chapter 17 SHOULDs versus MUSTs. People almost never do what they think they should do, but they always do what they feel they must do. When you create your own must, which are commitments, and throw the SHOULD’s away, you finally own your life. Everything changes when you see that these problems must be solved. Feel the difference. Your energy goes up, you are filled with new strength and resolve. “Just Do it” is a great sounding slogan, but so few people go out and just do it even when they know exactly what to do. Here’s a quote, “Failure to commit is the high cost of low living…” James R. Baker.

Life is about creating yourself and that happens when you’re willing to operate from a must do list every day. So, you see the difference here. He created a must do list every day. Chapter 18 I’m responsible versus it’s their fault. It really is simple when it’s their fault, you can’t do anything about the situation, but when you come from the stance that says, I’m responsible, you can cause what you intend from there. You want to have the power to deal with what’s in your life. Remember too that you don’t have to like it. You just have to do it. I love that last line. You just have to do it, right? You don’t have to like it. You just have to do it. Chapter 19 growth choices versus safe choices. We explained that her inner stance of safety first had prevented her from seeing what was really possible and that shifting to a growth stance would make a huge difference in resolving the matter.

Chapter 20 content with insight versus only results count. If you’re going to be successful in life, the first thing you will have to do with all the great information you learn is to get it out of your head and into the physical world. I’m going to say that one more time because it’s so powerful. If you’re going to be successful in life, the first thing you will have to do with all the great information you learn is to get it out of your head and into the physical world. No matter how brilliant they are and no matter how good their newly acquired information and strategies, nothing gets better until the inner stance is confronted and altered. Nothing ever changes. The leap is created by taking appropriate action with the information that you have absorbed. This is what will move your life forward. Chapter 21 optimistic denial versus the Valley of death.

If you find yourself in such a Valley with no way out, it’s time to cut your losses and move on. The best predictor of future performance is the position that you’re coming from right now and that is yours to freely choose. Chapter 22 productivity versus busy-ness. Straight-Line leadership is all about leading yourself and others. Out of the woods of busy-ness. We begin with a series of questions. Is what you are doing in the next hour highly productive for you? Is it your next necessary required action or are you just keeping busy? I love that, or are you just keeping busy? What is the most powerful action that I can take right now? Busy people run out of time for what’s important, but lack of time is not the true issue. The issue is lack of priority setting.

Check in with yourself throughout the day. Are you just inventing things to do to avoid necessary required actions? When you stay focused, do what’s required and don’t allow yourself to get distracted. You always get there. Chapter 23 commitment versus trying. A commitment is a particular type of declaration. It’s a declaration you use to move yourself forward. Just like moving a chess piece across the board. It physically moves you. A real commitment is a powerful declaration that functions to alter behavior but doing what’s required by definition is doing what gets the result. Doing whatever gets the result and not knowing what that is not an impeachment. It’s not a reason to quit. It’s a reason to keep going until you find through experiment and or inquiry. What the necessary required action is. Take inventory. Inventory. Where have you been going through the motions? List them out.

Number two, are you really committed to each and every item on the list? Yes or no? If you are not committed to an item, clean it up. If yes, go to number four. Number four, list the necessary required actions for each of them. Number five, create a timeline for the completion of each item. What new commitments do you need to create to get the future you choose? What results will you produce as a measure of your commitment? Chapter number 24 owner versus victim. The owner gives himself permission to live the life that he chooses. When you find yourself in a difficult situation, ask, how do I empower myself with this situation? Create an owner stance to operate from. Creating a new stance to operate from does not change the world. It creates who you are in the world. It’s about who you are, not who they are.

Owners are thinking, “It’s okay for others to have their stories about me.” While victims are obsessed with, “What are they thinking about me?” Owners do what they are doing while they are doing it. Owners do one thing at a time. Owners are focused while victims are scattered. Now that you’re getting this distinction between owner and victim, who are you? The best question is who you say you are. Owners are always looking for and finding how it can be done. Owners tend to deliver well compensated service. That’s because owners are always looking for, “How can I serve them?” While victims are trying desperately to find out, “Do they like me?” Always practice awareness of behavior by noticing who you are being instead of what you’re doing. You’re never not being when you’re willing to be rigorous about observing your state of being, you will always see where the hole in the boat is.

Victims talk about what they will do someday. Owners create the future today. When you create a position of ownership to come from, know that it won’t last. It won’t hold. It has to be consistently created. Ownership is not a version of positive thinking. It is very radical potent material that changes cultures. You create a vision and you live it right now. That is what alters behavior and creates powerful results. Because when you don’t have ownership deep down at the level of choice, it doesn’t matter what you try to put on top of it as the positive thought. The true inner you will argue back. If you keep lying to yourself with false positives, you’ll get a rot going in your mind. Your people only do two things. They either take ownership of their mindset or they default into a victim mindset. Some organizations want to make their people happy and that is simply not possible.

However, happiness is a natural byproduct of growth, so we put our focus there. Human effectiveness and growth are productivity and productivity is what straight-line coaching is all about. When people are growing and expanding, they tend to be satisfied, fulfilled, and highly productive. This leads to an increase in individual and company profits. Owner’s function from the viewpoint that no matter what they’re focused or faced with, they’re going to get something good out of it, that it will be a learning experience. They will always live more powerfully. Therefore, they grow stronger. They know that if there is no solution, then there is no problem. An owner will assume any personality in order to keep his commitments. He will be who he needs to be. A victim will break any commitment to keep his personality intact. They live in the, I’ve got to be me syndrome. No one has greater calm to do it than you do.

You can start by relating to your current problem as a project and that you’re happy to be engaged with. You will have a totally different experience. When you get this distinction between owner and victim, you too will see that everything you encounter today is an opportunity for practice. Chapter 25 the same versus separate. One person might say, I am broke and therefore I can’t start a new business. They don’t see that they have two separate situations occurring. Being broke is one issue and choosing to start a new business is something entirely different. The more I collapse these issues, the less freedom I have to adjust them separately and to solve them. Once you see that the trouble you are going through is merely a separate set of circumstances that has no relationship to your commitment to change yourself and your life, it will no longer panic you.

You will not confuse the circumstance with the commitment ever again, which leaves you free to focus on and enjoy the fruits of your commitment. Chapter 26 agreements versus expectations. The straight-line leader has no time for expectations. He expects nothing of people around him. When he wants something done, he creates an agreement. Expectations almost always lead to disappointment. A straight-line leader manages commitments and agreements. He creates agreements with team members and enters into those agreements on an adult to adult basis. All communication is done with mutual respect. There is no giving in the temptation to be intimidating, bossy or all knowing which comes from having expectations and no courage to make an agreement. Agreement support the straight line to a result. Expectations produce the vicious cycle of confusion and misunderstanding. The creation of an agreement takes courage, bold requests and promises. It always contains specific, measurable timelines and deadlines.

It takes. It asks that we give and keep our word. It asks of us that we take the appropriate action required to keep the agreement. Chapter 27 radical self-honesty versus being insincere. When I look at my activities on any given day, I want to employ radical self-honesty. Am I just inventing things to do to avoid or put off the necessary required actions? When I’m radically honest with myself, I will acknowledge that the straight line from A, where I am, to B, the result I intend, is made up of necessary, required actions. Am I doing those or am I inventing other tasks that somehow provide me with a sense of accomplishment? Martin had been telling his peers and his family that he couldn’t figure out why his business wasn’t growing. He always said to them that he was doing everything he knew to do but doing everything you know to do doesn’t count.

You have to do what is going to make a real difference. As we surveyed his unproductive business, we helped him to see that allowing his thoughts and feelings to determine his actions didn’t make a lot of sense. That’s because your thoughts and feelings come and go. They ride in on the breeze and change every hour. There is nothing with which to base a business success. The implementation of this level of honesty in your own world can be assessed by these questions. What are you pretending not to know? What’s going to happen if you continue down this path? How do you need to be different? Are you assuming that logic is running the show? How could you be in the face of this? Where has going easy on yourself gotten you so far? The easier you are in yourself, the harder life is on you, but the more honest you get with yourself; the easier life is.

That’s interesting to ponder. Chapter 28 realistic optimism versus unrealistic pessimism. The pessimist does the opposite. The pessimist quits too soon. The pessimist shuts out even the possibility of possibility. His artificially limited thinking is often used as a misguided protection mechanism for dealing with future disappointment. The problem with that habit mechanism is that the practice of avoiding disappointment has all of one’s life ending up being a total disappointment. Optimists know that their feelings come from their thinking. They also know that they are in charge of whether they challenge or accept any line of thought that appears. Therefore, they end up being in charge of how they feel. Straight-Line clients, when learning this distinction, take charge of their moods, attitudes and morale. Chapter 29 being bold versus being arrogant. It’s stepping up when you feel like stepping up. It’s taking appropriate action when you’d rather not. Being arrogant amounts to just being pushy and obnoxious and attempt to get your way.

Insecure bullies are arrogant. Chapter 30 discomfort and pain versus chaos. The straight-line practice that eliminates all this emotional escalation is this. When you are in discomfort, keep it there with focused. Do not go to pain when you can help it. Emotional pain is created by judgment alone and never go to chaos. And what do you focus on? You focus on the next thing to do in the moment. When you’re uncomfortable or even in pain, you don’t have to label it as bad or unjust and catastrophic. Instead, keep it right there where it is. You can still do something about it. And how you do that, that magic tool is focus. You just accept the discomfort and focus on what you intend. Accept that discomfort and then focus on what’s required to get the job done and start taking action. Once you’re in action, that will be enough to keep the condition at discomfort and after a little more productive action, even the discomfort will start to subside as you start getting desired results.

Chapter 31 purpose management versus time management. When you are not sure what to say yes to and what to say no to, you will always appear to have a time management problem. Having no committed stance throughout the day looks like a time management problem, but it’s not. It’s actually more of a bold communication problem. Remember your purpose and you solve time management forever. Who am I? Why am I here? Why do I choose to create? A really dysfunctional way of living life is to check in with your feelings all day. What do I feel like doing now? By choosing to obey your feelings, you run a huge risk of wrecking your life. When you just start doing what’s required, ignore your feelings. You will develop a muscle that will change your life. What do I really intend to achieve? Am I willing to get it? What would I generate?

What would guarantee it? How can I ratchet up my accountability? Just do the things you’re procrastinating on. It’s just that you’re not doing what’s required. That’s all. All that’s keeping you from doing it is that you’re not doing it. You choose discipline or you don’t. Discipline is simply remembering what you intend to do and refocusing to get sidetracked. It’s all about choice. This is how to manage your time step by step. Number one, have a purpose. Number two, the purpose tells you the next step to take. Chapter 33 how to versus choose to. Moving from an obsession with knowing how to do something to simply choosing it. What if I told you I would give you $1 million if I left the room for an hour and when I returned, you had 20 good people to call listed on a sheet of paper. You can get the names anywhere.

You can get them from your computer, from calling others. Anywhere you wish, but I want you to come up with 20 really good people to call and I’ll give you $1 million when you do it. You have one hour. Would you do it? The answer is always yes. They can see right away. Yeah, I’d call it with 20 good people, I’d collect my million dollars. You bet. They can see that once they begin calling their original 20 people, the list would expand with references. The ball would be rolling. Everything would be on its way to the result. We do know how to get our result. We are simply choosing not to. So, people are not stuck in not knowing how to, they are stuck and not choosing. That’s a really good one because I know for myself recently, I know there’s things I need to do and there comes time where I don’t actually want to do it and I don’t do it. And… But changing that and realizing that that’s just me not choosing to do it is totally easier than me beating myself up and trying to figure out why I’m not doing something.

Next time I come to that situation; I’m just going to choose to. Okay. Chapter 34 nice versus kind. Nice is a stance you take to protect your own feelings. It’s insincere. Being nice wastes a lot of time. Individuals operating at an inner stance of being nice, have trouble choosing in or choosing out. They tend to stumble around and produce very little. Chapter 35 positive no versus rejection. No purpose people become a victim of the unlimited amount of requests that they get throughout the day to do things. They have nothing to do with their real goals or purposes. This and this alone creates the illusion that they don’t have any time. We sometimes call it intention deficit disorder. You are not intending anything. You’d frequently just dealing with your fear of other people’s judgments, but when you set your purpose at the beginning of the day, you’re creating a straight line.

People trying to pull you off your line will get a polite, positive, no. Chapter 36 tolerance versus confrontation. Do you want to measure your straight-line leadership? Once a week, stop what you’re doing, observe the activities that you’re engaged in and really challenge yourself asking, “Are these activities taking me toward my goal or are they just making my life more complex?” Now notice that there’s a difference between tolerating and copying. When people are copying, they usually feel that whatever they are copying with can’t really be changed. So, they cope, they relax a bit about it and do their best to deal with it. But whenever you are tolerating, you know you can change and that is why your tolerations drain you. Your next step is to write out the downside of keeping the tolerations in your life. What is a negative impact on your psyche? How about your relationships? What’s the impact on your bank account?

Get all that down. Good. And now for the fun part, it’s time to write out the upside of letting those tolerances get out of your life. What are all the positive benefits? List those in detail of removing those things on your piece of mind, on your relationships, on your pocketbook. Chapter 37 language that describes reality versus language that creates reality. Once you have the picture clearly your mind of what you want and what it feels like to have that, you can become proactive. You produce the life you get, and you produce the life you get by declaring it and promising it and implementing the necessary required actions. As Stevens Hoffman and Dave Logan, write in The Three Laws of Performance, future based language, also called generative language, has the power to create new futures, to create vision and to eliminate the blinders that are preventing people from seeing possibilities.

It doesn’t describe how a situation occurs. It transforms how it occurs. It does this by rewriting the future. Neutral is not passive. Neutral is a blank canvas where creation starts and artist’s dream. Reacting is the lowest form of reptile living. There is no bad news. There’s only information with which I choose to work with. Chapter 38 commitment versus involvement. Zig Ziglar, it was character that got us out of bed commitment that moved us into action and discipline that enabled us to follow through. A true commitment alters behaviors and actions. When a person says he’s committed and his behaviors and actions remain the same, he’s not committed. Chapter 39 contribute versus desire. To be an effective leader, you must assume the stance of contribution. You always ask yourself inside every encounter and conversation, how can I serve this person? What can I contribute? True power is a willingness and ability to assist others in making themselves more powerful.

Willingness to accept being uncomfortable is a major skill cultivated but the straight-line leader, because all growth is accompanied by discomfort. A true master is soon comfortable with being uncomfortable. Chapter 41 now versus later. The only time you can ever do something about anything is now. Chapter 42 childlike versus childish. They’re often quite rigid and inflexible and they’re immature and stubborn approach to life, whereas childlike people are quite flexible in life and are usually much more successful than childish people. Many times, the source of childish behavior in adults can be revealed by using the following straight-line coaching questions. When you were a child, what was your favorite strategy for: number one, getting out of trouble? Number two, getting what you wanted and number three, getting your way. Chapter 43 playing to win versus playing not to lose. Many times, in business we get a big win and then we coast instead of continuing to play to win, we are now simply playing not to lose.

We get cautious and lose our energy and our drive. Creativity and innovation soon disappear and by trying not to lose, we find we are losing even more. Winning comes from going deep with what it is that you are committed to do. That and not be backing off until you are finished. Chapter 44 investment versus cost. If they are going to participate, they look at the potential return for their time, money, energy that they will expand. Once again, a straight-line individual will look at potential opportunities as investments in their future. They will make a decision and live with the decision. Chapter 45 core actions versus surface actions. Core actions are commonly referred to as necessary, required actions. At least 50 times a day, ask yourself if you’re doing the necessary required action for what you are up to in life. Straight-line leaders become masters at doing what’s core.

Chapter 48 stressing versus caring. A stressed-out tense performer only has access to a small percent of his or her skill and intelligence. Stressing versus caring. “Many Of my clients spend their days racing around firefighting and trying to do everything at once”, says Ron. They think it’s because they care so much about their business that they stress themselves out every day. But stressing is not caring. Stressing is stressing. The greater the stress, the poorer the performance and only always. And that’s a wrap! That is the end of the book, Straight-line Leadership. I apologize in advance that it was a long one, but I do know that all of the things that I read will be really helpful if you slow down and think about it. Again, it’s going straight and taking out all the emotion from your actions. That’s where the true magic happens. Okay, so now it’s your turn. Go to iTunes, Stitcher, Google play and subscribe to the Strategy Corner. You can also go to my website, intentionalsolutionscorp.com and sign up to get my weekly blog post, which also has a link to the latest podcast. Until next time, remember through action and growth progression happens. Let’s take action together. Thank you and create an amazing week.