Reader:

Both are important. How you balance them will ultimately determine your success!

(click image bellow for today's video)

​

Morning Minute 7.24.26

Maintenance Preserves Yesterday – Leadership Creates Tomorrow Both are important. How you balance them will ultimately determine your success.

Recently, a friend called me looking for a new career opportunity. I asked him the same question someone once asked me:

"Are you looking for a rocking-chair position, or one that offers opportunities for advancement if you solve their problems?"

His answer reminded me of an important balance leaders must master.

Successful leaders protect what is working today while preparing for what will be needed tomorrow.

Consider a restaurant.

Every day, managers focus on essential maintenance activities. They schedule employees, prepare food, clean the facility, order inventory, and complete daily reports. Without those responsibilities, the restaurant would quickly fail.

But none of those activities create tomorrow's restaurant.

​Leadership asks different questions.

• How can we recruit and develop better people?
• How can we improve our guests' experience?
• What new products or services should we introduce?
• Which team members have leadership potential?
• What processes can we improve to become more efficient?

Maintenance keeps today's restaurant operating.

Leadership builds tomorrow's restaurant.

The same principle applies to every business and organization, even our personal lives.

Maintenance asks:

​"How do we preserve what we have?"​

Leadership asks:

​"Who and what are we becoming?"​

​Ben Franklin had a simple process for making decisions. He drew a line down the center of a sheet of paper and compared two columns. I encourage you to use that same approach this week.

On the left side, write Maintenance.

List the activities that preserve today's success and create consistent experiences for your customers and team members.

On the right side, write Leadership.

List the improvements, investments, and opportunities that will create a stronger future for your organization, your customers, and your people.

Then invite your team members—and even your customers—to contribute their ideas. Some of the best opportunities for tomorrow are discovered by the people closest to today's work.

When you've finished, ask yourself one important question:

Which column receives most of my time, attention, and energy?

If nearly all your effort is spent maintaining today, don't be surprised if tomorrow looks much like yesterday.

As you complete your two-column exercise, remember this truth:

Buildings and equipment don't create the future.

People create the future—and leaders develop people.

Remember:

Information without transformation is wasted energy!

Keep Learning. Keep Leading.

That is today's Morning Minute.

***

Today's inspirational quote:

“The best way to predict your future is to create it!” ABRAHAM LINCOLN

I would love to hear your comments on this quote, and/or today's Morning Minute. Please send them to lab@larryonlearning.com.

***

Here are some recent Morning Minutes you may have missed with actionable ideas, useful instruction, and step-by-step methods to help you, your family, and/or your team to be more, do more, and achieve more.

​"The COURAGE to ASK for HELP!" Discover how the best leaders seek wisdom without surrendering responsibility. Learn from examples at Ford Motor Company and Spartan Food Systems how that asking for help creates a stronger team, makes team members more accountable, and is a great way to be more, do more, and earn more.

​"Mental TOUGHNESS is Built - Not Born!" Learn why mental toughness is built not born. Discover the 5 daily choices that strengthen your mind and your character while preparing you to lead others. Learn how to set yourself up for continuing success by the choices you make, the habits you learn, and the character you develop.

​"Let Then THINK What They WILL!" Why criticism is often the evidence you are making a difference. "Don't be distracted by criticism. Remember, the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you." Quote from Zig Ziglar. Are you giving too much weight to the opinions of people you would never take advice from? Discover the 3 reasons why other people talk about you behind your back.

​"The Personal PRISON Your Build for Yourself!" The greatest barriers to our success are often the ones we create in our own minds! Discover the 7 mental prisons that rob people of success. Learn how any one of these mental prisons can destroy or delay your personal success. Freedom begins with responsibility for your thoughts, your attitude, and your actions.

​"SELF RESPECT: The Foundation of a Meaningful Life!" Learn the difference between self-esteem and self-respect. Discover the 3 basic types of self-esteem. Learn how that self-respect is tied into your own value, dignity, and moral character. Examine and commit to 5 specific actions that create and sustain genuine self-respect.

​"Talent Opens Doors - Discipline Creates RESULTS!" alent is a God-given gift. But discipline determines what we do with that gift. Learn why many times talented people fall short of expectations, while average people who are disciplined excel through their commitment to continuous improvement. Discover 3 interview questions that will aid you in determining who to recruit, and who to pass on.

***

Follow us on social media to never miss a broadcast:

​​​​​

(published by the Bonorato Creative Group, LLC; all rights reserved)