No Excuses Leadership

Break A Cycle

Let’s face it, there are things about all of us that we’d love to change.  Depending on your background, there are probably many things you wish you didn’t inherit, learn, or have thrust upon you from your parents or grandparents.  If you spoke to my mom, she’d openly share about the “mother’s guilt” she carries for not being the perfect parent.  If she was really open with you, she’d share about the challenges she faced while growing up and of her wish that she could have sheltered me from every minute aspect that might have brought her three children any hardships.  But the truth is, it wasn’t my mom’s job to break every negative cycle she grew up with.  In my opinion, it was just her job to make things just a little bit better for me than it was for her.  In the end, she not only made things better, she fundamentally changed the trajectory of our lives by her commitment to positive change.  Break one cycle?  She broke many!

At the same time, there were aspects of my mother’s upbringing that were incredibly beneficial to the generations that followed.  From the deeply held beliefs about commitment to country that were established when my great grandmother was born on the ship before docking to Ellis Island, to the sense of loyalty to family that runs deep in our DNA, there are many cycles worthy of perpetuation.

TAKE ACTION

Learning from and through our triumphs and hardships is all part of the human condition.  As leaders, we sometimes feel that it’s our job to fix everything that is broken and protect everything that is not.  Expectations this lofty will set us up for failure.  Our job is simple: Perpetuate a positive cycle that adds value to our lives and the lives of those we serve, and break a cycle that has been hindering the kind of progress we know needs to take place.  Be honest with yourself.  What’s a cycle you want to continue?  What’s a cycle you wish to break?

BE BOLD

"At any given moment, you have the power to say 'This is not how my story will end.' "

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