Leadershipbydesign
News From LBD
September 2015 Volume 9 Issue 5
             Look Beyond the Clay
One morning a man was out exploring caves by a seashore.
In one of the caves he found an old and dirty canvas bag with a number of hardened clay balls. It appeared that someone had taken the time to roll up a bunch of clay balls and then left them in the sun to bake and dry.

The clay balls didn't look like much, but the man was fascinated by them. He took the bag out of the cave. As he walked along the beach he would see how far he could throw each of the clay balls into the sea. He didn't really give it much thought until he dropped one.

The dropped ball hit a rock and cracked. Inside he found a beautiful precious stone. Breaking open the remaining clay balls he found each one contained a similar precious stone.
Fortunately for this man he had found hundreds of dollars in the remaining 20 that were left. Unfortunately, as he later realized, he had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their treasure into the sea; lost forever. He could have taken home thousands of dollars and maybe even more, not just hundreds.

Do you see the individual potential in others? Do you look beyond the clay? To discount the individual potential of those you lead could result in throwing away more than money. 
 

What Leaders Are Reading

EntreLeadership: 20 Years of Practical Wisdom from the Trenches by Dave Ramsey. 

Your company is only as strong as your leaders. These are the men and women doing battle daily beneath the banner that is your brand. Are they courageous or indecisive? Are they serving a motivated team or managing employees? Are they valued?

Your team will never grow beyond you, so here's another question to consider. Are you growing? Have you inspired your team to take ownership and love what they do? These and more practical tips to grow your business are shared in this book.
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Leadership Tip of The Month

 
Are you throwing away individual potential?  

Great leaders get their satisfaction, and best results, from seeing other people succeed; seeing others doing better than they thought they could, or doing things they didn't realize they could do.
 
Everybody has a buried treasure inside waiting to be discovered. In order to find that buried treasure in yourself or others, to unlock individual potential, leaders have to care about the people they lead. They have to exercise patience and have the courage to give difficult and timely feedback.
 
Take time to develop your leadership skills to motivate others to accomplish great things.
 
  
For additional information contact LBD.
John Branstad
John Branstad

Quote of the Month

"Some talk change. Others cause it."

Hubert Humphrey II
John Branstad
www.leadershipbydesign.org
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