Be Great in 2008!

“One of the reasons people don’t achieve their dreams is that they desire to change their results without changing their thinking” – Source unknown 

As we look to a new year, I want to set forth a challenge to Latino leaders.  I am sure most of you are familiar with Dr. Stephen R. Covey’s new book on, The 8th Habit – from effectiveness to greatness and the book by Jim Collins, From Good to Great.  Both of these works speak to the challenge I am issuing here, which is that we strive for greatness and exceed our past accomplishments and become “great in 2008”!  For Latino’s, so much is taking place on so many levels at once and I believe we need that extra something to rise to the challenge of great leadership for the coming year.   However, sometimes as we decide to “go for it”, we are suddenly met with that little voice inside our head, a “voice” from the past, as I call it, that can cause us Hispanics to hang ourselves in leadership if we are not cognizant of the enemy of negativity that causes all kinds of wrong thinking to keep us from realizing our true destiny.   

I offer the following as three common challenges to be overcome on our path to greatness:   

1. Fear of Failure 

I have known so many Latino people who had the all the talent and ability of any other great leader, except for one thing.  They did not have the capacity to overcome the fear of failure.  Somehow they had a deep seeded non-belief in themselves for the long term.  In other words, they could achieve great things today and possibly tomorrow, but could not believe they could keep it up day after day, year after year as a normal part of their life.  There thoughts and words were filled with self-doubt, “what if’”, “maybe”, “but”, “coulda”, “shoulda”, “woulda” and all the other excuses we make to talk ourselves out of greatness.  I know because I went through this internal, mental battle for years before I learned how to re-new my mind and accept who I really was and the purpose I was on this planet to achieve.   I remember as a young boy my father would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up.  I said, “a professional baseball player”.  What he said next, and repeatedly said to me, stuck with me for many years, “Well, are you good enough?  You have to be the best to play in the major leagues.  Do you really think you are that good?”  Then he said, “If you don’t have such big hopes and dreams, you won’t be so disappointed when you don’t achieve them.”  It has only been over the past several years that I have come to realize the impact those words had on my sub-conscious mind and helped to sabotage my abilities and live in the fear of failure for too long.  Whether it is a cultural thing, or not, all I know is there are many Latino’s who hear these kinds of put downs, doubts, fears and belittling comments that mentally handicap us and cause us not to dream big or believe we have what it takes to “play in the major leagues”.   I don’t mean to say that all Latino’s go through this, or to stereo type our culture.  I can only speak to what I have lived and witnessed in so many of my family members, friends and associates.  Be that as it may, what I am saying here to all who know what I am talking about is that it is not true!  You have what it takes to be great!!! This book is your call to action!  In the last chapter I am going to show five simple steps of how you can get out of the old mind set, re-new your mind, and live in your full potential!  

2. Pride 

Nothing blinds a leader more than pride.  There is a healthy pride and an unhealthy pride.  The latter is what I am speaking to here that can be defined as conceit or arrogance.  Pride blinds us to the truth of the situation, causes our focus to be fuzzy, our hearing to go deaf.  It clogs clear and accurate thinking and decision making, but worst of all, it blinds us to ourselves.  Hardly anything is worse for a leader than to be blind to what everybody else knows about you; you are impatient, short fuse, loud, over bearing, not a good listener, opinionated, stubborn, incompetent, self-serving, etc., all weaknesses that none of us are above, but all weaknesses a leader should be aware of and work to improve.  What would keep us from doing so? PRIDE.  Pride does not improve, does not accept constructive criticism, does not seek coaching and therefore pride can stump our personal and professional growth through isolation, a major mistake for a leader.  Great leaders can not afford to be influenced with the poison of pride that causes one to become stagnant, irrelevant and stuck in methodologies and missions that may have worked in the past, but are not working today and pride is the one thing keeping you from recognizing why everybody else has moved on.  

3. Jealousy 

Jealousy is insecurity in not knowing who you really are.  Insecurity is probably one of the major things that hinder Latinos from achieving like we were meant to achieve simply because we do not possess the self confidence to believe in ourselves for big things in a big way for a big purpose.  In my experience, this seems to be at the root of why many Latino leaders see other Latino leaders as their competition, or as a threat of some kind, rather than viewing them as colleagues to be embraced for what the positive contribution they are making amongst our people.  Thus, when we see others who are accomplishing more than us in a big way, we don’t have the capacity to handle it and we tend to attack or criticize them in one way or another.  The mistake we make here keeps us from achieving the kind of status and influence we could have as a “community in unity”.  But I believe this is beginning to happen as we grow as a people and recognize each others unique contribution to the whole. Security, self-assurance, and self confidence comes from understanding that we are created in the image of God and that alone is our endorsement for being here and seals the inner security and significance of our life on earth.  Understanding this one fact frees us from having to compete with others and frees us to be genuinely happy for the successes of others that might be bigger or faster, taller, or better equipped to handle things we were not meant to handle.  However, there uniqueness takes nothing away from my uniqueness but instead adds to who I am and therefore increases our capacity to learn more, do more and serve more for the common good.  We can appreciate the different skills and talents we all were endowed with from birth that makes us a significant part of the Master builders’ tapestry of diversity that he obviously loves so much. Can you imagine how boring it would be if we were all the same?  If we all lived in the same place, ate the same food, looked the same, dressed the same, talked and walked the same and everything about our lives was the same?  No thank you.  I admire the differences I see in others and I have learned to appreciate each individual’s uniqueness that is different from me, yet, just as needed for the fullness of our humanity.  Jealousy is overcome through each of us discovering our unique value to God and ourselves and learning that our security and significance comes from within and not from without.