A few thoughts from the intersection of Seth Godin, George Harrison, Alice in Wonderland, Dr. Seuss and Todd Henry …
Auxano’s Founder and Team Leader, Will Mancini, posed the following question in a morning text to our team:
Where could you use breakthrough clarity on your leadership team?
The question is intended to be asked by our Navigators to the leaders they are connecting with in churches—but it’s also appropriate for leaders everywhere. Most leaders can immediately identify a barrier or roadblock that stands in their way of moving forward to a better future. Many leaders also have some idea about how to break that barrier.
It begs another question: What are you waiting for?
That question was on my mind as I began my day’s reading, researching, curating and editing—and over a period of a few hours, the following came together:
Excellence isn’t about working extra hard to do what you’re told. It’s about taking the initiative to do work you decide is worth doing. It’s a personal, urgent, this-is-my-calling way to do your job. Please stop waiting for a map. We reward those who draw maps, not those who follow them. —Seth Godin
Mapmakers are those who can effectively circumnavigate constraints in order to make things happen. We all deal with constraints, especially if we are working inside an organization. There will always be organizational charts, reporting structures, budgets, and defined career paths of some sort. The question isn’t whether constraints exist, but whether we persist in finding our way around and through them.
Where in your life and work are you waiting for permission? Don’t anticipate that someone is going to hand you a map. You’ll probably have to make your own. The good news is that once you get moving, the terrain becomes more visible and navigable. It’s only when you’re standing still, unaware of what’s over the next hill, that the path of progress is opaque and frightening.
Say yes, then figure it out along the way. —Todd Henry, Die Empty
A quote often wrongly attributed to The Cheshire Cat:
If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there. —George Harrison, from his song “Any Road”
The actual conversation between Alice and The Cheshire Cat:
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where … ” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“ … so long as I get SOMEWHERE,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”
And, from everyone’s favorite graduation gift book,
You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go … —Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
A closing challenge from Todd Henry:
When you look back on your life, the moments you will be most proud of will likely be the ones where you stepped out of your comfort zone in the pursuit of something you believed in. Don’t allow the lull of comfort to keep you trapped in a place of complacency and subpar engagement.
You must own your own growth and take responsibility for your own progress.
Inspired by, and adapted from, Todd Henry’s Die Empty, with a little help from Dr. Seuss, Seth Godin, George Harrison and Lewis Carroll.
