10 Philosophies on How to Build Leadership Influence

10 Philosophies on How to Build Leadership Influence

The Holiday Season can be a challenging time for leaders.  We embrace the joy of being with family, friends, and colleagues.  Well, most of them.  Sometimes there are a few outliers that are a bit more difficult to be with…

I recently reviewed survey results of how service providers are reporting the Mental, Physical, and Social Health of youth in their community over the last 12 months.  Some initial stats are stunningly sad:

• 83.4% felt the mental health of youth has declined.
• 66.1% felt that those experiencing harassment or bullying (including phone, text, and online) have increased.
• 57.3% felt that face-to-face social interaction with peers has declined.

It’s not just youth. It appears that adults are having trouble also.

• 76.1% felt the mental health of adults has declined.
• 68.6% felt that adults are feeling less optimistic about their future.
• 41.3% felt that those experiencing harassment or bullying (including phone, text, and online) have increased.

These results are a fresh reminder that many of our family, friends, and colleagues are in the Fear Zone. They have yet to move to the Learning Zone and the Growth Zone. Read this article to learn more: How do You Confront Fear to Strengthen Your Leadership Development?

That’s why I’m reposting parts of this article, which I published a number of years ago: The Paradoxical Commandments.  Or, Love them Anyway. Here’s the original article:

Give the World the Best You Have… Anyway!

I’m attending my first-ever National Speaker Association Conference in Orlando, Florida. As I’m taking the shuttle from the airport to the convention center, I strike up a conversation with a fellow attendee, Kent. Since he looks like an experienced speaker and author, I ask him about his core message, his forte.  When he says, “Paradoxical Commandments” I’m intrigued.

As he recites the commandments to me, I immediately think, ‘Wow!  This applies to us as leaders in the world of sales too.”

He gives me permission to publish the Paradoxical Commandments. I created a plaque to give to my clients. I still have it on a shelf in my office.

Dr. Kent Keith wrote “The Paradoxical Commandments” in 1968 when he was 19 years old! Since then, they have been circling the globe for more than 50 years. You’ll find them pinned on walls and refrigerator doors, featured in speeches and articles, and preached from pulpits. They are extensively shared on the web. They grace my office. I trust they will find a place in your life also.

The Paradoxical Commandments
by Dr. Kent M. Keith

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down

by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.

© Copyright Kent M. Keith 1968, renewed 2001

Watch a short video on my surprising meeting with Dr. Kent Keith HERE.

Here’s what Dr. Keith has to say about love…“You’ve gotta love people. You’ve gotta care. Love is the only motivation that’s strong enough to keep you with the people and with the process until the change occurs because change takes time.  If you don’t love people and you’re in a leadership position, you should resign because you’re going to do more harm than good.”

Leadership Lesson:  As leaders, we are called to do what’s right, even when it feels like we are the only ones walking that pathway.

Leadership Question: Who’s the emerging leader in your sphere of influence whom you might accept the challenge to “love them anyway”?