When is a leader not a leader?
So many leaders and managers blithely mouth off about...”our staff are our most important asset”, and then continue to treat them like an expendible cost to be reduced or minimised. Maybe that’s because companies are usually run by the people who focus more on the numbers than on the real value of life.
On top of this generous, higher ground leadership, gesture, his historical company policy was to be one of the top paying companies when ranked by compensation per employee. In simple terms... they paid their staff well from the get-go, as well.
The benefits the company received were numerous... loyalty, talent retention (up to 50 years), high engagement levels, high trust levels, better relationships, increased revenue, happy customers plus numerous other benefits. All of this put them into the top 15 companies in the country, when measured by revenue-per-employee. This sounds wonderful, and what I would term, a company lead by a higher ground leader with a real HEART as well as a head – but why do so few leaders do it? Maybe they have no choice!
Too many companies are run and lead by “bean counters” – They trade in human energy, with little regard for the human. They are similar to the movie I watched recently, about human trafficking, where the “asset”, typically a very young woman, is sold, over and over and over and over and over .... daily! The only thing that matters to the traffickers is the MONEY. Nothing else! Sounds just like some shareholders I heard of recently. I’m sure you know the kind of person that I’m alluding to.
I meet so many people who basically give their life to the “company”. They are “managed” to give up most of their precious family and personal time, their health, their best years, their core life ENERGY...all for what? And most of them really dislike their J.O.B. and are completely stressed out.
You are selling your Soul too cheaply?
Take this test quickly... calculate the basic value of all of your assets (eg: R750 000 minus all of your liabilities. (Say R550 000) You now have a number left over (R200 000) – let’s call this your net asset value. Hopefully it is a positive number!
Now calculate how many days you have been working since you started working. So as an example...if you’ve worked for 20 years, it’s about 50 weeks x 5 days = 250 working days per year x 20 years = 5 000 working days (approximately) Let’s call this your working days factor. Do your own calculation here.
Now take your net asset value and divide it by the working days factor. My example looks like this: net asset value (200 000) / working days factor (5 000) = Sold Soul Factor (40).
Now look at that number and ask yourself... Am I happy to have “sold my Soul to the devil” or whoever else, for a measly R40 per day?
Is this really what your life has amounted to so far? Just R40 per day? That’s R5 per hour to take all of the #@%$ you get at the office. Is that what the residual financial value of each day has been for you? And will this sustain you into your old age? Unlikely! Very unlikely.
We have extensive research from the insurance companies that provides very real and scary numbers regarding retirement and lack of funds to live reasonably after leaving the workplace. We need real leadership to change these appalling destinies.
Most of the money people earn is just enough to put the crucial fuel-of-life into their energy tank (food, electricity, water, clothing, petrol, insurance, etc). How much do they have left over each month? For many people, usually, there is more month left at the end of the money. Is this what life is meant to be about? Survival of the fittest and fattest?
The 4 Gateway Questions
Imagine if... when your body died and your Soul moved on... you were asked a few simple questions by the angels before you passed through the gates of heaven.
Question 1: How much LOVE and COMPASSION did you bring to the planet?
Question2: How GENEROUS were you with everybody?
Question3: How much WISDOM did you gain?
Question4: Would it be ok, right now, for you to re-experience... ALL and every negative experience, whatever... pain, hurt, hardship, sadness, shame, that you perpetrated on any other Souls during your lifetime?
Maybe a real leader looks after ALL of the stakeholders and not just the share holders. Maybe we have given our power away and given control, political and otherwise, to thugs, yobs and heartless self-interested greeders, whose sense of integrity and concern for us, is seriously misdirected and totally selfish.
Maybe we are to blame, because we have allowed, and participated, in a system that values the “numbers” more than hearts and humanity.
If it is to be, It’s up to......ME
Maybe now...we are the ones who can take the action to make some changes to create a more appealing, loving and sustainable way forward.
It’s time for real leaders to be developed and stand up. It’s time for us all to take responsibility for our actions and results. It’s time to do what is necessary to build proper and effective systems and resources in our governments and organisations that teaches, each and every, person about their financial opportunities, challenges, responsibilities and consequences. It’s time to bring some heart into our way of life. It’s really time... to stop droning on and doing something ... something positive, powerful and proactive.
Next time you look at one of your staff members, ask yourself, “what can I really do as a higher ground leader, to support this person to add value to our business and have a far better quality of life, and to have more meaning and joy in their lives?”
Next time you have a decision to make – ask yourself the question... How can I act more like a higher ground leader and less like a greeder? If you really listen to your souls’ inner-voice you’ll start to find and create good responses to the angels’ 4 gateway questions.
Anyone ready for Higher Ground leadership coaching and Change Your Financial Future workshops? Lets collaborate...Let’s take action... now!
Tony Dovale
Coach@coachfree.com
Your “Cage-Rattling” Coach
083-447-6300
Real Team Building & Leadership
Personal Finance Make over
