By now you have heard Doug talk about Leadership being just like the raffle, where Leaders Must Be Present to Win. In his last Blog, “What Can Leaders Learn from Grandma and Grandpa” we learned about the first kind of Presence. Physically Present.
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By Doug Sterbenz, "Present to Win"
What is the second kind of Present for a leader?
On the night of May 13, an Amtrak train went off the rails in Philadelphia killing 9 and injuring hundreds of people. What a horrible tragedy!
At first, they questioned the track conditions and Amtrak’s maintenance spending level. Then, they questioned the aging infrastructure and said, “if only we had more advanced train controls.”
Then, we learned that the engineer was traveling over 100 mph on a curve rated for 50 mph.
How is it possible that a healthy engineer, with no drugs or alcohol in his system, not on his cell phone or texting can operate a train at over twice the rated speed?
The cause is still under investigation. We may never know what really happened, and I do not intend to be overcritical of anyone when we don’t know.
What I say is, Not Mentally Present.
The second kind of Present for us leaders is Mentally Present.
We have so many distractions in our daily lives. But when are those distractions really more important than the people and tasks right in front of us?
When you are with your team at work, or your family at home, are you Mentally Present?
Being Mentally Present means being fully engaged in what is happening at the moment. Being Mentally Present also means thinking deeply about the leadership aspects of your business and your role.
Whether you are a train engineer or a mechanical engineer, running a company or taking care of a customer on the front line, we need to be Mentally Present.
Mentally present reinforces your physical presence. It's not enough to just show up, you must pay attention and learn from what's going on around you! When you are mentally present, you earn respect because they know you have a clue about what's going on rather than just being the guy who comes to check to make sure they're all working.
If you want to make great strides on your leadership and the performance of your business, be Mentally Present.
Remember, “Leaders Must be Present to Win – Mentally”
