Peter Drucker was one of the most influential thinkers the business world has ever seen, and his thoughts and writings remain one of my touchstones for leadership guidance. He is the architect of such beautiful yet effective ideas as:
Neither ‘big is better’ nor ‘small is beautiful’ makes much sense. Neither elephant nor mouse nor butterfly is, in itself, ‘better’ or ‘more beautiful.’ Size follows function.
and
One either meets or works.
Honestly, I could rattle this stuff off all day. Here’s a great article with some more of his wisdom if you’re feeling the same way. But today I want to use another of his famous questions to get you thinking: what will you do differently on Monday?
As the story goes, Drucker would often say to his consulting clients, “Don’t tell me you had a wonderful meeting with me. Tell me what you’re going to do on Monday that’s different.” This is all about affecting swift, meaningful change in one’s life based on realizations we have throughout the day, small and large. If you get some new information, you must act on it, or it may as well never have existed at all.
So let’s imagine we’re having a meeting together right now. I want you to think about your mind’s activities and your body’s activities. This can be either in a personal or a business context.
Where does your state of greatest flow come from? What time, and for how long? What happens before? After? On the other side, in what situations do you struggle? When does it feel like there’s extra weight on your shoulders? How long goes it last and what makes it go away?
In business, and in our personal lives, there’s always something we can do differently on Monday that will change the way we, or our organizations, operate for the better. We just need to pay close attention to the signs. If you do that, and make each Monday a little different than the last, you will see improvement in the areas you are focused on.
So what will you do differently on Monday? Connect with me on LinkedIn or on Twitter @DoubledareCoach
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photo credit: Cherry blossoms / Sakura / 桜 via photopin (license)
