6 Practices Of Highly Successful Leaders Who Have A Quality Approach To Life

6 Practices Of Highly Successful Leaders Who Have A Quality Approach To Life

What is your approach to life?  To leadership?  To relationships?  To your customers?  In the past year, I have become increasingly aware of the incredible power and potential of a healthy, proper approach to life.
To give us a picture of what a healthy approach looks like, I went back into my files and found a great example from the world of athletics.
In July, 2010 the best pitcher in baseball at the time, Cliff Lee, was traded from the Seattle Mariners to the Texas Rangers.  It was the third time in less than two years Lee had switched teams.  If you research the analysis of the trade, you will discover it was Lee’s approach that put him at the top of his profession.
The question then begs, could changes in our approach help us become better leaders?  With help from a number of sources including Mike McCall of MLB.com, the following are just some of the practices which made up Lee’s successful approach to life:

1. Options – Lee had command over five pitches while most major leaguers have control of only two or three.  In order to make yourself indispensable you must diversify your skills and develop as many options as possible.
2. Focus – He developed this broad-based package of pitches because “he put his mind to it”.  Distraction is the enemy of success?
3. Confidence – As a result of his options and focus, Lee was freed up to trust his preparation and throw any of the five pitches at anytime.  Confidence is determined by your memory, not the current scoreboard of your life.
4. Others – Lee had become a great tutor for Seattle pitchers Jason Vargis and Doug Fisher.  They hated to see him go.  A quality approach to life is one of generosity which benefits others.
5. Perspective – After being with four teams in less than two years, Lee understood baseball was a business first.  He is very flexible and keeps the bigger picture in mind.
6. Evaluated Experience – It’s been said experience is life’s best teacher.  Actually, experience which has been properly evaluated is life’s best teacher.  Lee was 4-0 with a 1.56 in the 2009 post-season.  That experience gave him a sense of calm as he approached the remainder of his career.

Options, Focus, Confidence, Others-Focused, Perspective, and Evaluated Experience.  Leaders, how are you doing in these six areas?