Humans should come with progress bars installed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I love video games. Madden, 2K, COD, Final Fantasy, whatever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m not very good at any of them… <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though I had a good run between 2003-2005 where I was playing with Vick on Madden and I couldn’t be stopped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyway, a lot of times I see the world through the lens of video games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If we could find a way to install energy level progress bars on people, we would be in so much better shape as leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I remember getting a call from my Duty Chief at 1930 about a call from my mentor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His message to me was \u201cDedication check, unsatisfactory\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I laughed and hung up the phone and almost immediately began to feel slightly guilty for not being at work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After really thinking about it I began to understand how completely stupid his notion was\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My impact as a leader is predicated on how many hours I remain at work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Get to work before the sun comes up and leave after it sets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These were my examples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not actively contributing to anything except a pristine inbox. Merely being a \u201cpresence\u201d just in case something went down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not purposeful or intentional, just existing in the workspace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I watched the leaders before me expend every bit of energy they had with a purposeless existence at work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is the leader’s job to facilitate an environment where leaders are cultivated. With the leader never allowing others to lead, the environment becomes stale and growth becomes stifled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is a point where you\u2019re putting so much of yourself into work that your impact becomes counterproductive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While you have convinced yourself you\u2019re working hard, the reality is that you\u2019re merely working long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why? To prove a point? To show that you\u2019re the man\/woman?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We just wind up diminishing that energy bar to the point where it will never fully regenerate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And when we truly need those energy reserves for something significant where success requires us to be at our best\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
we will fail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the unexpected occurs, we are reacting just like everyone else, instead of responding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is when that energy bar is low when all of the cracks in our foundation are magnified. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The unresolved anger problem that was easily managed at a higher energy level, overtakes your will when you are low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As humans we all have imperfections but when we fail to manage our energy levels, especially as leaders, those imperfections become liabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Liabilities get people killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the game when I don\u2019t rescue the princess, I can turn off the game and try again\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This isn\u2019t a game and there is no princess but there is no pause button, we must always be ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At 1930, I was home with my wife and daughters laughing and dancing ensuring my energy bar is fully recharged because if I get a call at 0330 I need to be ready to respond, not react.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Take care of yourself and recharge your energy bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Well oiled machines don’t grind” -Phontigallo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Humans should come with progress bars installed. I love video games. Madden, 2K, COD, Final Fantasy, whatever. I\u2019m not very good at any of them… Though [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theunsungleader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theunsungleader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theunsungleader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theunsungleader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theunsungleader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theunsungleader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":245,"href":"https:\/\/theunsungleader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243\/revisions\/245"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theunsungleader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theunsungleader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theunsungleader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theunsungleader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}