I had the chance to hear George Foreman speak, and then had a chance to meet him afterwards (this is somewhat obvious given the picture).
I was looking forward to his talk, but I came away much more impressed than I thought I would be. To say that he exceeded my expectations would be an understatement.
I guess that shouldn't be too suprising, considering that he is a Champion.
In case you are younger than me and don't know, George Foreman isn't just a guy who sells grills on TV (he's sold 120 million of them), he is also the two-time Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the world.
In reviewing my notes of his talk, I found four clear messages for us as leaders to remember, and take action on.
Age?
In responding to people who said whe was too old to become Heavyweight Champion again, he said,
"Age doesn't matter, hunger does.
" This truth holds two messages for us. First, we shouldn't let our age be an excuse or reason to keep us from achieving and growing to our potential. Second, we shouldnt let age cloud our judgment of the capacitiies of others. Resolve today to make hunger, desire and passion bigger criteria in viewing others than age or experience.
Self Promotion
"We are our most important product." - George Foreman
This may make you feel uncomfortable from a leadership perspective - many leaders want the focus on their teams and not themselves. While this is understandable, and I'm not suggesting that as leaders we must become self aggrandizing; being confident in our abilities (and the capabilities of our team) is important too.
If you know you can lead and succeed, sometimes you must tell others!
Vision
"Keep the vision by going back to where you came from." - George Foreman
Few things are more important to us as leaders than having a clear vision of where we are heading. Whether you are a supervisor, mid-level leader, or a executive leader, the need for vision is clear. George's point, I beleive is that there is power in connecting yoru vision to your values - "going back to where you came from." When you make that connection for yourself and communicate that to those you lead, your vision will be tremedously more valuable and lasting.
Values
During the Q&A session at the end of Geroge's talk, he was asked about the top three values he wanted to impart to his (10) kids. His answer was:
- Get up early in the morning.
- Take advice and listen.
- Strive to be the nicest human being ever.
These clearly aren't just thoughts valuable for children. Thank about how these three pieces of advice can both apply to us and those that we coach, mentor and lead.
These lessons show us that George is a champion - not just in the ring or when pitching a product - but a champion in life.
As the picture shows, George has an autographed copy of
Remarkable Leadership. Why did I give him a copy? In part because it he talked about the importance of reading and being a continual learner. Just one more reason why he was (and is) a champion.
If you want to become a more successful productive, confident leader follow George's advice. If you want to develop leaders, do the same.
Labels: Best Leadership Blogs, leading, supervision, supervisory leadership
Unleashing Your Remarkable Potential is Kevin Eikenberry’s guide to helping you have amazing success while developing your professional and personal potential.
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