Deposits and Withdrawals

If you have been in a leadership position hopefully you have heard about the concept of deposits and withdrawals.  You must deposit, invest, into your team before you can make any withdrawals - asking for things back from them just as you would do with your bank account.
 I would say that you must make numerous deposits before making any withdrawals.  In fact the more you deposit and invest the less you will ever have to withdrawal and when you do these withdrawals become very easy to do.
I have experienced this in the past from my own supervisors.

I had one who from day one of meeting him he approached me in a way that made me feel appreciated.  He would ask my advice about things in my department - even when he knew the answers (but I didn't know it at the time) - and he would simply talk to me like I mattered.  And he did this on a daily basis.  This allowed him to ask me for things that other supervisors wouldn't have been able to ask.  In fact, many times he wouldn't even have to ask.  Because he invested so heavily in me and others around me the need for withdrawals was tiny.  We gave the extra effort without being asked.  We identified issues before they ever reached this supervisor.  We took care of him.

I had another supervisor that from day one she was the opposite.  Instead of asking for my advice or opinion she just barked policy and compliance.  She would point out opportunities and started her withdrawals from me and those around me.  We complied but because there were no previous deposits from her we quickly ran out of that discretionary effort that makes things flow smoothly.  Now, we didn't do anything that was detrimental to the business but this supervisor never got the very best from anyone and she couldn't understand why.

So...as leaders we must make our deposits into our teams.  Deposit and invest so much that we all become billionaires!  Then, when the inevitable withdrawals have to come they seem like a drop in the bucket compared to the deposits.

Write Everyday

I was watching a movie the other day about Zig Ziglar (Zig: You Were Born to Win) and Seth Godin was being interviewed and one thing he said is to blog everyday...that's what he wants to do.  He stated that by doing so you will have many bad blog posts but you will also be improving everyday and at the end of the day have hundreds and hundreds of posts with hundreds of excellent posts.

You build on your "failures"

Dave Ramsey, in the same movie, told a story about the garbage you have to produce in order to be a success and, if you keep going, the mountain you are standing on at the end of the day is built by the garbage.  This also keeps you humble because you can always look down and see the garbage!

So...write everyday

This is advice I am going to follow starting today

Brusha, Brusha, Brusha...

At what age do you decide that your child is old enough to brush their own teeth?  To brush them well...not just to wet the brush, put some toothpaste on it and run it around their little mouths for a second or two but to really brush them properly.

Every kid is different

Every parent teaches differently

Why am I asking this today?  As leaders we have to determine when those in our charge are ready to do things by themselves.

How do you determine when your folks are ready?

March 4th

Today is March 4, 2020

The date is also giving us our marching orders in life

March forth

Keep marching toward your dreams

Keep marching toward your goals

Keep marching...and see what happens!

March 4th

A few swipes of a shirt tail

I reached for my reading glasses this morning and wow...The were filthy...all smudged up and cloudy!

I couldn't see through them very well.

Not surprising...smudges are hard to see though.  Not impossible but they make it more difficult, especially if there are a lot of them.

So...I cleaned my glasses

It didn't take long...just a few swipes of the tail of my shirt and I could see clearly again.

It made me think...how many smudges are clouding my view of things in life?  And how long, or short, would it take to clean these smudges?

Perhaps just a few swipes of a shirt tail

Ants in my pants and I need to dance!

Because sometimes you just need to dance...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWo9SNvaJZU

Beeee yourself...

Aladdin is trying to woo Jasmine and the Genie is helping. Aladdin, at this point in the story, is pretending to be a prince and doesn't know what to say to gain Jasmine's interest.  The Genie becomes a bumble bee and offers this advice, "beeee yourself."

Great Advice!

There are two moments in my 36 plus year career where I can point to and say I was less success than I wanted to be.  Both of those moments were when I was trying to be something other than myself.  I was trying to conform with a style or I was trying to be compliant instead of just doing what I do - within the larger framework of the business of course - and letting success happen.

You can't be someone else

It doesn't work - not for any long-term success

Beeee Yourself