Welcome back to Sunday Journal, a chance to start your week out with short, quiet reflections and advice for life.
This effort started with a handwritten journal I keep for each of my children, designed to give them a sense of how to become the best version of themselves.
This week’s edition has advice on how to interact with your children, but it can just as easily apply to how leaders should interact with employees as well. Or just general advice on being a decent human being.
Reflections:
Use “please,” “thank you,” and “excuse me.”
Be generous with compliments and stingy with criticism.
Listen to your child (or anyone) when they speak to you, even if you’ve heard it before.
Don’t discipline your child in front of others.
Do not correct any child other than your own on his manners, and always do that privately.
Be clear about what you expect.
Be consistent.
Do not give in to temper tantrums.
Do not lose your temper.
Admit when you are wrong and offer an apology when you owe one.
Let your child know when a discussion has become a decision.
Words can hurt; do not hurl them as weapons.
Respect your child’s privacy and boundaries. Knock first.
Do not impose your ideology, and respect those whose ideology differs from yours.
Agree to disagree.
Give credit where it is due.
Hold the door.
Lend a hand.
Be a good sport.
Be a gracious loser and generous winner.
Give more than you are asked.
Don’t take more than you need.
Leave a place cleaner than you found it.
Do not respond to rudeness with rudeness.
Winning is not the only thing and nice guys do finish first.
If you know of anyone who could use reflections like this, please send them my way:
Quote:
“Love is not to be purchased, and affection has no price.” — Saint Jerome, c. 415
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There’s so much to learn,
One more thing…
I work with executives and their teams at small to mid-size companies to help identify and alleviate where their teams are stuck, whether it’s a lack of vision and plan, not being transparent with data, teams operating in silos, no cohesive culture, a lack of a scalable leadership system, and other blockades to growth and success.
I’d like to help you identify your #1 leadership bottleneck with a 30-minute Executive Clarity call where I can help you chart a course for a better performing team.
So important to learn this and something I am still working on after 20+ years of being a leader and a parent -> “Do not respond to rudeness with rudeness.”
💕