Excited to learn new leadership methods at the 2020 Nexstar Super Meeting? Grab a head start on some of the teachings with Dexcomm!
This year's Nexstar Network Super Meeting will have several keynote speakers, including John Maxwell. In this blog, I will share how I've used Maxwell's teachings here at Dexcomm.
I have taught a weekly leadership class at Dexcomm for a number of years. One of the key reference books I have used for my classes has been “The Maxwell Daily Reader”, by John C. Maxwell.
Our leadership classes are limited to 30 minutes each week, comprised of a brief lecture on a leadership topic and a homework assignment. For the homework assignment each leader is asked to apply the leadership tool we just discussed in their work over the coming week.
Most of each week’s class is spent with a discussion of the homework assignment from the prior week. This method allows us to discover real world strengths and weaknesses in each of the leadership tools. We can work together to refine and improve the tool, or even reject it as unfit for our environment.
One of my favorite stories from “The Maxwell Daily Reader” was titled Don’t Lose Your Marbles. It described a man with what he estimated were 1,000 Saturdays left in his life.
He bought 1,000 marbles and began to throw one away each Saturday. He found the diminishing pile of marbles helped him focus on what was truly important in his life. I have shared this story a number of times and it never fails to engender a significant and thoughtful response.
Too often we spend time on tasks that are unimportant or far less relevant than other activities. Our company is in south Louisiana and just a few weeks ago, we had two hurricanes approaching our area. We were forced to cancel all routine activities and focus on urgent and critical tasks.
While ours are real potentially catastrophic events, what metaphorical hurricanes do you face this week? What tasks should you set aside so that you can focus on what is truly important to you, whether it be your work, your life and health, your family, your friends or your faith?
The marble story has another significance for me this week. In two days it will be my sixty-fifth birthday. It is a time when many look back on their careers and their lives.
It is a time of reflection but also of looking forward to the few remaining years. I will have fewer opportunities to teach leadership classes. I will have fewer opportunities to help others achieve their highest potential.
Am I doing the most I can do each day to achieve my life goals and realize my life’s purpose? This Thursday when I teach my first class at age 66 I will do so with a renewed enthusiasm. For it will be one of the diminishing pile of marbles I have left to play.
Play your own marbles with skill, enthusiasm and purpose!
Dexcomm will be attending Nexstar Network's 2020 Super Meeting as a strategic partner. Will you be attending? Meet us there!