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. 

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