Leadership For Deep Results: Without Them Are You Wasting Your Leadership And Your Life? (Part One)

I've challenged all leaders I have worked with during the past two decades to achieve "more results faster continually."

They can get on track to start achieving such results not by working harder and longer but by slowing down and using Leadership Talks on a daily basis.

However, I also tell them that getting on the more-results-faster-continually track is not an end but a beginning. They must then begin focusing not just on the quantity and speed of results but the kind of results they aim to achieve.

There are roughly two kinds of results, standard results and deep results. Most leaders understand standard results but fail to come to grips with deep results. In fact, these leaders go through their entire careers getting the former, but they don't have a clue about the latter. Of course, standard results are necessary. But in the long run, they are far less important than deep results.

We know what standard results are. They are the results we must get in our jobs, such as: speed, productivity, operations efficiencies, sales closes, sales leads, sales to new customers, failure prevention, health and safety advancements, quality, training, quality control, logistics efficiencies, marketing targets, new revenue streams, sales erosion, price calibrations, cost reductions, demand flow activities and technologies, inventory turns, cycle time reductions, materials and parts management, etc.

Whereas achieving standard results enables us to do a better job and have a better career, deep results are different. Deep results are about being better leaders. Of course, being a better leader will have a positive impact on your job and your career. But there is something else involved: Being a better leader means being a better person. Who we are as a leader and who we are as a person should be the same thing. If they're not, we diminish both our leadership and the person we are.

Look at it this way: Standard results are about "doing"; deep results are about "being". Our most important achievements as leaders are not just what we achieve but who we become in that achieving.

For instance, if we don't get standard results in our job, we fail in that job or at least in that particular aspect of the job.

But in the realm of deep results, such failure might lead to success if in that failure, we find a better way to lead, a better way to be better.

Here are some ways deep results differ from standard results.

--Deep results emerge over longer periods of time.

--Deep results encompass wider circles outside your job, usually impacting your family, friends, and relatives.

--Deep results are often not conventionally successful results. They can come in the guise of failure.

--Deep results can't be quantified. They're usually a quality of living or being.

--Deep results are often not immediately apparent. Usually, you become aware of them after they appear and sometimes long after they appear.

--Deep results are formed in your inner life and the choices you make over the things you control, your opinions, aspirations, and desires.

--Deep results shape, and are shaped by, character.

How does one go about getting deep results? There are many paths up this mountain. But one path is straight and steep and clear. In Part Two, I'll show you that path and provide examples of deep results in action.

2005 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.com

The author of 23 books, Brent Filson's recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is founder and president of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. ? and for more than 20 years has been helping leaders of top companies worldwide get audacious results. Sign up for his free leadership e-zine and get a free white paper: "49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results," at http://www.actionleadership.com



Leadership Prep

So you want to be a leader? Or you want... Read More

Tough Times Demand Resilient Leaders

The stock market gyrates with unpredictable and heartburning results. Icons... Read More

The Seven Secrets to New Age Leadership

Did you ever notice that In our American culture, we... Read More

3 Aspects of Developing Leadership Skills

Everyone knows that great leaders are made, not born. However... Read More

Develop a We Focus And Not a Me Focus

____________________________________________"There's only one thing more contagious than a good attitude... Read More

Leadership, Self-Development, and the Committment to Growth

There is a common phrase that says: "You can't teach... Read More

3 Ds For Leadership Action... Dedicate, Direct, Dialogue!

"...And winged hope, with heart of fire, To gain the... Read More

In Leadership, The Eight Ways Of Right Action (Part 1)

The ancient Greeks had a saying: "When Aschines speaks, the... Read More

The Synergy Effect

Have you ever considered that everything you want in life... Read More

C4 Leadership: Taking Your Leadership (and your Life) from Good...To Explosive!

Chances are if you're interested in this post, you're looking... Read More

The Challenge to Lead

The topic of leadership has been and continues to be... Read More

Father Knows Best

A good strong example of a family leader would be... Read More

Act on Some of the Facts

Making any decision without having all of the information and... Read More

The Greatest Leaders Are Often The Worst Leaders

It's a common occurrence, a CEO leads a company to... Read More

Is Your Life Ready For Groundhog Day?

In the hit comedic movie Groundhog Day, Bill Murray's character,... Read More

UNCLOS III Process model

The United Nations Conference on Law of the Sea was... Read More

Stepping Into Leadership and Being The Source Of Your Success

Why is it that we often wait until we have... Read More

How To Get To Know A Disabled Person

When you first meet someone who is blind, deaf, or... Read More

Pure Discipline

General George S. Patton was born on November 11, 1885... Read More

Leadership A Perspective From Tao

Tao Te Ching said to be written by Lao Tzu... Read More

7 AAA Ways To Succeed!

[Abounding Abundant Ample Ways To Boost Your Growth!] This may... Read More

Building Teams and Teamwork

A tight knit team is a group of competent individuals... Read More

Leadership Skills and Ability

What is true Leadership.Is leadership something we are born with... Read More

Mr. Shoaffs Simple Strategies to Success

(Excerpted from the Jim Rohn Sampler single CD)My first mentor,... Read More

Introduction to the The Enneagram as a Leadership Tool

The Enneagram is a fascinating tool of nine orientations that... Read More

If you'd like to keep up-to-date,
please complete the form below and we'll put you on the mailing list
to receive our twice-yearly newsletter for supporters

* Your email address:
* choes your language: