Leaders R.I.S.E. - The Meaning of the book.
I was standing in a leadership team meeting one day preparing to review my part of the agenda for approximately 25 district leaders. As I glanced at the outline, it hit me pretty hard that day for some reason, we needed to have more talks about what matter the most, why we do what we do, not just what we do.
As I began to contemplate how we could integrate more leadership talks into our meetings, a quote I had heard for years popped into my head, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” Again, not to be cliche but this is so true. It really does. This statement paired with the idea that life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it are at the core of my beliefs as a leader.
Now let me be very clear, this does not mean I have mastered any of these concepts at all, in fact, absolutely not. But the challenge of being a leader never ends and we are all one step or breath away from our next leadership challenge which simply means we have to reflect on these ideas daily. Thus the meaning of “Leaders R.I.S.E” originated from the idea of needing a routine daily that challenged me to do the small things and lead well by design and routine.
R.I.S.E. - Reflect. Inspire. Spiritually Connect. Empower.
This is the acronym spelled out. I expound on each word and concept deeper in my book, but I want to mention here how important it is to have some type of daily routine that you do as a leader that sets your day up for success. This just happens to be mine.
Reflect on the day or days before and ask yourself a few simple questions. What did I do well and what did I do not so well. How did certain conversations go? How did I make a certain person or group of people feel? Was I on time? Did I give it my all? These are just some simple examples of how you can reflect on the day and days prior.
Inspire yourself and others. Find something in your routine that inspires you. It could be music, art, a sunrise, a strong cup of coffee (ha). Whatever it takes to inspire you to move forward, find that thing and embrace those moments. Then carry that inspiration with you throughout the day and don’t hesitate to share. Inspiration moves people forward sometimes both mentally and physically!
Spiritually connect. Some people may hang up on this idea, but don’t let it pass without giving it strong consideration. I think it is the most important one of them all. Being spiritually connected to something that is greater than you, us, your problems, and even the entire universe can put things into perspective. My spiritual connection is to God plain and simple. Whatever I can do to find a way to connect to Him, I seek that moment or moments each day. Whether it’s reading the Bible, praying, just listening, or all of the above, I try to find time and quiet my soul and connect spiritually.
And finally….Empower. Leaders who cannot empower themselves cannot empower others or their teams. I think this is an area that all leaders should focus on. This can look a lot of different ways for a lot of people. This could be done through eating right, exercising, invoking a positive mental attitude, breathing exercises, saying positive quotes out loud, exercising mental and physical discipline, etc. These are just examples of things we can do every day to empower ourselves first in order to empower those around us.
So, RISE and shine and have an excellent day as a leader. You can do it! Your team and our most precious commodity, the students, are counting on you!
God bless!
Lead well.
Jeff Collum, Ed.D.