Wandering around a wild and remote island clears the mind and leaves it free to ruminate. Throw in some reading ranging from Abraham Lincoln to the Booz & Company journal “strategy + business” to a wonderful crime thriller by the Swedish author Owen Laukkanen…and a few ideas surface.
Amazingly Lincoln, Booz strategy writers, and FBI Agent Windemere agree on the basics of leading others and achieving excellent results in the face of overwhelming odds.
Principles: it is critical to have a few, 4 or 5 at most, core principles that guide everything you do. Principles that are inviolate and are at the core of your being and provide the base on which all of your ideas and actions build.
Simplicity: the simpler you can explain things, the more effective your message. As you add complexity you increase the chances for misunderstanding, confusion, and incomprehension. Take the time to reduce your messages to the simplest way possible to express your idea.
Emotion: humans are both emotional and rational but how we feel about something guides the decision. Ideas expressed simply with emotional triggers grab people and connect them to you and the idea you’re expressing. Facts fill in the details but emotion binds them to you.
Put Yourself Out There: show yourself often, include everyone, listen and learn, do all the things that show people you understand them and their needs and worries. Exhibit your principles, speak simply, and show them you care and want them to be successful.
Humility: as the Ugandan proverb says, “when the moon is not full, the stars shine more brightly.”
You should take clarity breaks more often.