What Influences You As A Leader?

What influences successful entrepreneurs to make the decisions that they make? Is there a secret formula? Bill Gates has put his money and his brain to good causes. When asked what influenced him to make the decisions he does, Bill replied that it was his Dad.

Now least you think that Bill had a remarkably different childhood than yours, here is how his Dad describes their family life: “spending vacations with other families in cabins at a favorite waterfront resort, reading aloud to each other, playing post-dinner card games, having family dinners on Sunday and wearing matching pajamas on Christmas.”

Not wildly different from your life I imagine. We all want to hear of that ONE THING that transformed him into a person who can make millions so we can point to it and say, “Well I could have done that if I had that as well.”
The truth is most wildly exceptional leaders aren’t born that way. They don’t have one event that transforms them but rather it is in how they INTERACT, INTERPRET, and add INTELLIGENCE to what did happen in their life that makes them exceptional leaders.

They take small events and wonder how they can make those happen more frequently, better or in a more unique way. Walt Disney didn’t create Disneyland out of nothing. The concept came to him after he saw the Chicago World’s Fair when his Dad worded as a carpenter for it. Walt then just thought, “How do I make that happen every day rather than only once every seven years?” He thought about how to make it accessible to more people, happen more frequently, and make it more affordable.

Take Action:

So stop looking for that one event or that one opportunity that is going to create you.

Instead look at the events that have happened in your life. Ask yourself:

• How has this event shaped me? How I think and what I do?
• Does it help me thrive today or is it choking me?
• If it is helping you thrive, think about how to expand on that lesson.
• If it is choking you, think about how to relea
that lesson or let go of it so it stops blocking you.

Only by stopping and putting intelligence to WHY you do WHAT you do can you re-invent who you are and how you operate. Learn what influences you as a leader. Take the time to rewire you today!