Proof: Meaning What You Say

The edge of a cliff.  The top of a roller coaster. Completing a trust fall.  What do these things have in common?  They make most people’s stomachs do flips from the anticipation of what is to come.  I believe this is the feeling Steve Farber speaks about that Extreme Leaders experience when they have an OS!M.  Have any of you felt this way when approaching your job?  If you could not answer yes, then you may not have dug deep enough to become an Extreme Leader yet.

The final letter of LEAP…Proof.  Love, energy, and audacity are great concepts but without the follow-through and proof that you really mean what you are saying it’s pointless to even put forth an effort on the other three concepts.  You must prove it to others, prove it to yourself, and prove it to others that you are proving it yourself.

This concept reminds me of a movie I recently watched, The Prince of Persia.  A quick synopsis of the storyline, the prince has the opportunity to go back into time due to a magical dagger and change the fate of what would have occurred.  In order to change the fate, the prince had to stand up for what was right, even though that meant speaking up against his uncle and brothers.  He spoke what he believed to be the truth in front of hundreds of people he was leading.  In other words, he had an OS!M.  Prior to opening his mouth, the prince did not know how his words would be perceived, especially since he was disagreeing with the decision his brothers and uncle made to go to war.  I am sure if we could go back in time and ask how he felt…or maybe we could just ask Jake Gyllenhaal (the actor who played the prince), the prince would probably tell us his stomach was doing flips right before he spoke.  When he spoke he provided proof that a close friend had betrayed them.  Throughout the entire movie the prince searched for the correct answer, found the proof of betrayal, and then proclaimed the truth for all to see.

Within The Radical Leap, Janice stood up in front of XinoniX and showed how much she loved and believed in what they did.  She had an OS!M in front of her fellow peers.  She also conveyed the fact that she still had to prove it to them.  She informed her colleagues what she wanted to accomplish and asked them to hold her accountable to that goal while she proved it to them.  I will ask you the same question she asked her peers, “Why did/do you love what you do and how can you ensure that you keep that feeling?”  I cannot answer the first part of the question for you, but Steve Farber answered the second half for us.  It is simple; we must have humility and ask for help.

DWYSYWD: Do What You Say You Will Do.  Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, known leadership gurus, coined this term.  How many of us have sat at conferences and been inspired by what we hear and learn from our colleagues?  Yet, when we get back to our campuses we talk big, but don’t prove how we can implement an idea on our campus. How many of us have sat in staff meetings where our boss was giving us another ‘hoorah speech?  How many of us have given that speech to our RA staff?  Did it do much good?  Before you answer that question ask yourself, did you love what you were doing and believe it could change the world?  You need to prove yourself by walking the walk and holding yourself accountable to the same things you are asking of your staff.  It is easy to talk things up, but actually embodying those concepts and ideas is a different story.  An Extreme Leader will embody their organization’s concepts and ideas in their daily actions and words, standing up for what is right, and using their successes and failures as public examples.

I believe that Edg said it best when he issued the challenge, “Make a commitment – right now- that no matter where you sit on the org chart, no matter what it says in your job description, stand up for what is right and ‘normal constraints’ be damned.”  So, I now ask you, how are you going to change the W/world?

Ellen Engh is a Residential Community Coordinator at Millikin University. 

Book Club Blog Post: Audacity

“Love generates Energy, inspires Audacity, and requires Proof. LEAP, you see, is simply the Extreme Leader’s active, dynamic expression of love.” – Steve Farber via Edg

Monday morning, I woke up and started my day with my usual program: a simple breakfast followed by a quick shower and then head into the office. As I do most mornings, I made a pot of coffee, sat down at my desk, checked phone messages, and started rifling through the email from the weekend. It was just deluge of the usual incident reports, solicitations for entertainment funds, and the typical daily communication that occurs on a college campus. Everything done with the robotic efficiency that comes from years of routine.

Then I found an email from a coworker describing a fund raising project that she is spearheading for a local scholarship fund. Not too far out of the realm of regular email for a college campus, but I couldn’t help connecting her plea for help with the Audacity aspect of Steve Farber’s LEAP. She had asked herself “How can I change the world?” and found herself helping to change the life of a student..

It was definitely the wakeup call I needed on a sleepy Monday morning! I thought, “This woman Loves what she does and it is giving her the Energy to be Audacious.” Where was my Love? Where was my Energy?

According to “The Daily Handbook for Radical Leaders”, we surrounded and imprisoned by “normal constraints” of people who don’t think we can do it, people who don’t think it is worth the effort or risk, and people who, for some reason or other, want us not to be successful. If we Love what we do, then we will have the Energy to be Audacious; the energy to take risks and find a way to change the world!

I realized that I was placing constraints based on society’s perception of the working world: Monday morning is slow and grumpy. My Love and Energy were lost in the ridiculous constraints of an exaggerated stereotype of office life! I decided then and there to shrug that constraint, regardless of its source, and I spent the rest of my morning working with a renewed vigor.

Being an Extreme Leader means asking the question “What are the constraints holding you back?” For me, in this case, it was the constraint that Mondays are not allowed to be fun and exciting. In other cases, especially working with the ever diminishing resources of higher education, it is someone telling us that there is not enough money or that the return does not justify the cost. There are as many constraints as there are people to impose them.

Being an Extreme Leader means throwing those constraints aside. Being an Extreme Leader means inspiring others to do the same. Being an Extreme Leader means changing the world, even if it is just for one person in one situation.

How have you expressed your love? How have you changed the world?

Joseph Hawkins is the Assistant Director of Residential and Student Life at Lincoln College.

Radical LEAP: Love and Energy

“What is leadership?” Have you ever stopped to think about this question before you began to read The Radical Leap? I love to ask students this question in RA interviews but never really had an answer of my own. Who knew it could be defined in just four words? Love. Energy. Audacity. Proof. Like Steve Farber, I was curious about how this acronym could encompass leadership but the more I read, the more it made sense. I’d like to focus on the first two components of the LEAP acronym: love and energy.

I may not think of myself as an extreme leader yet, but I sure do have plenty of OS!Ms. For example, three years ago I accepted a position at my current institution only to find out in my first week that I would be the only staff member in Housing & Residence Life. Luckily I work at a very small college, nevertheless the task seemed daunting.  However, I survived this OS!M, stepped up to the challenge and, just as Steve Farber highlights, I was able to grow and develop my leadership abilities. Think back in your experiences. What OS!Ms have influenced the work that you do and how were you challenged?

It becomes easy to see how these ideas lead into the first concept of the LEAP philosophy. In order to get through an OS!M or any difficult task you have to love what you do. As Farber writes, “Love is the ultimate motivation of the Extreme Leader”. Just like Farber’s friend Janice, I too sometimes lose sight of why I love my job and the wonderful opportunity I have to influence others. However, I am now challenging myself to remember the many reasons why I love what I do, and I ask you to do the same. Why do you love your job?

After reading further in The Radical Leap it became extremely evident that love and energy are connected. When you love what you do you are inspired to be a better person and are motivated to help others. For example, during high school I spent one summer working at Dairy Queen and I hated it. I now understand that it was because I didn’t love what I was doing and wasn’t energized to make the job better.  It is our role as rising Extreme Leaders to show our love and generate energy in all that we do. I find that in my current position I continually am filled with energy and passion because I love where I work and the students/staff I work with.

Becoming an extreme leader may seem challenging, but start here: first, identify why you love your work. Next, think about where your energy comes from and how you can act on it. I encourage you to reflect, and/or post your reactions to this post as we move forward in The Radical Leap so that we can share in the process of becoming extreme leaders.

 

Stephanie Martin is the Director of Housing and Residence Life at St. Joseph’s College in Indiana. Share your thoughts on the first two sections of the book in the comments!