direction – Wes MD

Leadership

Raising Up Leaders

A few weeks ago I visited a dear pastor and a wonderful leader in the hospital. In the brief ten minutes I was there, he shared with me a story that prompted me to think about my leadership. Raise Up Leaders He said, ?Wes, many years ago my leadership mentor told me pastors ask two […]

Leadership

Do You Need to Walk Away From Your Position?

The most powerful act of leadership George Washington ever displayed was to surrender power. This was recently expressed by Joseph Ellis, one of our nation?s leading scholars on revolutionary history. Surrendering power. Giving up a great position. Why would anyone ever want to do that? Great leaders do when it’s time. Let me share with […]

Leadership, Purpose

Lessons from General George Washington

Few historical figures are uniformly praised and lauded for their leadership acumen like George Washington. Much has been recorded about?his leadership. This is what historian Ron Chernow said of President Washington in a recent TV interview: ?There were probably other generals who from a strategic standpoint were superior. But while the other generals were jockeying […]

Leadership

Hiring the Best

A few days ago?we invited the CEO of a large organization to speak to us. After he concluded, he fielded some questions from our staff. One of our managers asked, “How do you motivate people?” He?responded, “Bring on people who are aligned with your values and whose life purpose aligns with the purpose of your […]

Purpose

The Seven F?s

Recently I spoke at a conference?about how to have success in our careers. In my introduction?I also shared other areas in which we must succeed:?Faith, Family, Joy, and Health. If we succeed in our careers, but fail in these areas, I believe we don’t achieve?life success.? A few weeks later, a friend gave me a […]

Personal Development

Three Fundamental Growth Disciplines

This article?is the 300th blog post I’ve written on leadership. What a journey! Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your leadership growth and development. I recently had a conversation with a young leader who is earning her degree in management. She is really motivated. But when I asked her about her […]

Personal Development

My Top 5 Questions for Alignment

In this article, I will share with you the exact questions I use with my inner circle in our biannual?evaluations. This is our time of aligning. In my previous post, I described why I prefer to use a narrative approach (versus a numerical one) to articulate how we?evaluate one another, our relationship, and our […]

Leadership

Leadership Is About People and Projects

Have you ever felt this tension? If you take care of your people, you feel like you must ignore some key projects or not meet certain deadlines. Many times there just is not time for both. I believe that great leaders should give exquisite care to both their people as well as important projects. But […]

Personal Development

What Holds Us Back from Writing and Speaking?

In?September of 2012, I began?writing two articles a week about leadership. But I had actually made the decision to write a whole year before that. It took me an entire year to muster up the courage to write. Why? I allowed self-doubt to hold me back. Specifically, there were three questions in my mind?that kept […]

Personal Development

The Six Steps of Growth That Lead to the One Thing Most People Miss: Change

In my last article, I shared the table?I use for my growth plan. The worksheet is designed to track what I?expose my mind to for personal development. However, growth results from much more than mere exposure to knowledge. Personal growth happens when there is a change in who we are. For change to take place, […]