The Way of the Inspired "New Story" Leader
The Way of the Inspired "New Story" Leader
Welcome to the era of new rules…
Never before has the past had such little if any influence on the unfolding future. We live in such a time. A time of churning uncertainty that ignores the rules of the past order, and is plunging us all into a turbulent, chaotic disorder.
Old rules aren't working– have you noticed? What are we to do when the old rules don't explain our current conditions? The following story is a good example of why I believe we need an ERA of NEW RULES in the business world!
One of my pet beefs about aggressive "old style" sales people was brought jarringly to my attention this past week, when I received numerous phone calls from a woman, (representing one of the top direct sales companies) requesting that I give her the contact info of one of my friends.
Let's back up a moment… I am the Founder of a network group, called "Fabulous Women." It started in Toronto after 9/11 in that brief moment of time when the world as we knew it collapsed. All of a sudden women took a collective breath from their busy harried lives and just needed to connect.
In my role as a life coach and avid networker, I have the opportunity to reach out to a wide variety of women. It was easy to see that the women in my life, including me, needed to connect over this horrific act of violence.
Take the space, create a moment, catch our breath– all in an environment of warmth and trust. Do what women do so very well– create a connection.
Some of the most interesting and liveliest women came. We met at my favorite Thai restaurant in Toronto, for the best Thai food this side of… (Sasi's on Jarvis St. Shameless plug!)
We had 24 fabulous women at that event, many meeting for the first time. The evening was an enormous success with much laughter and many tears as we shared our innermost thoughts and feelings– heart to heart.
"Magical" and "lively" are two of the most common words to discuss each of our events. Thousands of dollars of business transactions have taken place through Fabulous Women developing relationships with each other, and then doing business with each other.
When I moved to the Twin Cities a few years ago, I thought starting a Fabulous Women group here would be an ideal way to meet new people. It was! We had our third event a few weeks ago.
Now back to my story and my pet peeve!
In the many years we have had these events, not once has anyone complained about any aggressive sales follow-up from connecting at our events– until last week. The victim was me!
This rep was determined to get my friend, Chelsea's contact info from me. It did not matter what my response was to this direct sales rep… she would not listen to me! At our last event, Chelsea had mentioned in passing to her that she might be interested in learning more about the business but that she was getting married in Mexico soon and would not be interested in learning more until returning from her honeymoon. Makes sense to me!
Well this rep had just returned from her company annual conference in Arizona. She HAD TO CONNECT with Chelsea ASAP to let her knew all about the most exciting news that came out of the conference she was at…! Is any of this hitting a chord?
My response was that Chelsea was getting married that very day, so I doubted that she would respond with the same enthusiasm about the business opportunity if she were to get a call on her cell-phone… oh, by the way, did I mention she was getting married that very day — in Mexico?
I had real difficulties getting this rep off the phone and boy was I ever in a hurry to do so! The bad news is that I don't believe this story is all that unusual. In fact I admit that in my early days of building my business I probably was guilty of similar misguided enthusiasm. Where it was more important to me to share my enthusiasm than to care about what was going on with the person at the other end of the phone.
The good news is, today I believe that:
"New Story Leaders do not need to recruit because their CAUSE becomes a beacon, attracting the PASSIONS of people from far and wide!"
Lance Secretan
One of my favorite she- heroes is Kim Klaver. She recently wrote the New School 11-point Manifesto. To see it in full go to: KimKlaverBlogs
In it she explains that the future of our industry rests on the fact "we are members of a community not hunters."
People like to do business with people they like.
The new era rules that "we offer our products or business to those who are most likely to share our values and interests NOT market to anyone who can fog a mirror!"
There are many more but this much is certain. To regain a steady hand on the directions of our business, we must unlearn a host of old rules and learn many new ones. I believe there is no more daunting task we face than to adapt to the idea that much of what we thought we knew is wrong!
I believe that the 'old story leader' tries to motivate others. The 'new story leader' wants to inspire others.
Here is the definition of each word.
Motivation: to provide a motive, to induce, incite, impel.
Inspiration: is from the Latin word spirare, meaning in spirit, to breathe, to give life, the breath of God.
When we're inspired it's because we love something, we love the people we're doing it with, and we love the reason we're doing it.
"Love is what powers Inspiration. Motivating others means bribery, exploitation, manipulate."
Lance Secretan
We mix up motivation and inspiration all the time.
The Old Story Leader says I want you to meet my targets, so I will bribe you to meet your targets, so therefore when you meet them I will meet mine. It is an act of selfishness and greed.
The Old Story Leader is going the way of the dinosaur. People can see them coming today and duck to get out of the way– FAST!
The New Story Leader wants to inspire others, following the example of history's greatest servant leaders:
Jesus Christ, Confucius, Gandhi, Buddha.
The #1 lesson I learned from reading their biographies is to treat your team as customers and inspire them to do what they love.
As Kim Klaver states in Manifesto #9,
"Making a difference is first, then making a buck. Making a difference is the dream. Those who stick do so because they love what they do, even with little money."
"The essential conditions of everything you do must be choice, love and passion."
Nadia Boulanger
So if you envision creating a team in which truth-telling and promise-keeping are restored, where the culture is built around personal integrity, then you must seek the Way of the Inspirational Leader!
4-6-2007
EH
