My friend Chris McDaniel said, “You may be born looking like your daddy, but you’ll die looking like your decisions.” He’s right. As human beings, we are shaped by our decisions, or choices. This is especially true for a leader. I have often said that our lives are nothing more than the grand total of all the decisions we have made, good or bad.
It what now seems as though it was another lifetime, I was hired by Ric Selbie to be the Plant Manager for Filterdyne Filtration Systems in LaGrange, Georgia. During the interview process he said to me, “I’m hiring you for your people skills. I know you don’t have the technical skills and knowledge regarding the products we produce. I’ll teach you those. I need your people skills.” He continued, “I’m paying you to make decisions. Occasionally, you’ll make the wrong one. It’s okay. When you do we’ll discuss it and correct it. However, if you make the same incorrect decision twice, then we have a problem.”
As a leader, one of the best decisions you can make, as Pastor Michael Catt says, is to, “Never let a loser tell you how to be a winner.” Decide that you will learn from those who are already successful in the field or endeavor in which you seek to succeed. On your own, you don’t have time to learn everything you will need to be successful. Therefore, as a leader, learn to borrow other folk’s brains! Choose to learn from their experiences. This is exactly what I did with Ric Selbie. I chose to be mentored by him. For eight years I borrowed his brains. For eight years I associated myself with a winner. For eight years I was mentored by a person who was already successful in the field in which I was endeavoring to succeed. For eight years he poured into me. And at the end of the day, I walked away with knowledge and a leadership skillset that still impacts my leadership ability today. It was a choice I made!
As a leader, you will be impacted, good or bad, by those with whom you choose to surrounded yourself. Choose wisely!
I want to encourage you to click on the link below and watch this clip by Lou Holtz. It will help you!
Brother Aaron
https://www.goalcast.com/2017/09/12/lou-holtz/ You may also find it at Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/julie.studdard/posts/10212144135771194