Recently, the paperback version of my book, Making Your Leadership Come Alive, came out. It’s begun to do well as many are buying in bulk to pass out to others who have not read it. There are several key “hooks” in the book that have received a lot of notoriety like the concepts of Self-Preservation, Relationship before Opportunity and The Influence Model. However, none has received as much attention as Chapter 2 entitled “My Death and My New Life.”
Some of you have faced near death experiences. Most of you have experienced the death of a loved one. My wife and I experienced the first and almost the second after being hit by a drunk driver while in a taxi in the middle of a Hurricane at night in Mexico. Now that was a loaded sentence. Any one of those is an issue. All three together became a nightmare.
While I don’t want to give the story away I do want to highlight what I learned about my near death experience both personally and as a leader.
1. I was able to answer the most important question in life – “God, was I your man?” My life changes dramatically as I was able to see the answer to this question as my life passed before my eyes.
2. My priorities became prioritized. God, wife, family moved most definite into the first spots. Business moved down to its proper position.
3. “Its not about me” became easier to say. I realized that giving yourself away for others has become easier, although still hard to do.
4. I came to fully comprehend the influence I have on the lives of others, and the impact their lives have on me.
Since the painful September night in Cancun, my leadership style has changed to become much more focused on others. I am trying to invest in others more to help their dreams come alive as well as creating events and organizations that impact hundreds of thousands of people annually. Make no mistake, I am still a business guy, who is aggressive as an entrepreneur. My priorities and my perspective have simply been reset from my near death experience. A new way of influence has been occurring as my leadership has come alive.
If you know someone that could use a fresh perspective or a hope to help reshape their priorities, I suggest having them read Chapter 2 in Making Your Leadership Come Alive. You can also receive other resources at www.aliveleader.com.
We all need to come alive, let’s just make it happen today.
