Where Can You Be Brave in Your Life?

Recently, I had the pleasure of hearing Commander Rorke Denver, Navy SEAL Commander and Author, speak at Leadercast 2015.

The theme of Leadercast was Bravery (#thebraveones) and Cmdr Denver’s talk was enlightening, thought-provoking and very funny. He acknowledged, very early on in his 20-minute talk, that we are living in a world of soundbites and Tweets so he talked in easy-to-follow quotes.

Here are some of my favourite shares that resonated deeply with me and that I found related easily to the workplace.

“Limit your field of view and you will see more.”

When in the workplace, managing people, this means that you need to find ways to remove all the distractions that exist around us every day and focus on the person sitting in front of you. Sometimes, we need to stop looking at the big picture and just focus on the person in front of us and what they need. Hard to do in busy times but it will make all the difference in what you are able to see, observe and hear in that conversation.

“Make bold corrections.”

Little shifts bring little results. If you want to reach a goal that is far away, you need to be bold, take risks and make leaps. We see this when managers want to set a big goal for their team but they are hesitant to ask team members to step up and join them in their quest. Ask the team to make bold corrections; don’t settle for subtle feedback that brings little shifts and be disappointed with the results. Sometimes, you need to ask for a bold correction to reach a new level of performance.

“Make bravery a team sport.”

You do not have to make changes in your team, in your workplace or in your own performance alone. You do not have to weather a storm at work by yourself. Build a team around you of members who are willing to be brave with you and you will go a lot further, move a lot faster and everyone will be better for it.

“Choose your ruck wisely.”

You need to know that a “ruck” is a backpack for this one to make sense! No matter the size of your ruck, you will fill it. The bigger your ruck, the more you fill it and then the more work you have to do when you carry it. What does this mean? Choose the amount of work you take on wisely because you are the one who is going to have to carry that load. A lighter load means that you will be able to achieve more in the long run.

“Find your harmonic gait.”

We all have a passion and a purpose. Find yours and do that. Your life will be easy and full of rhythm and movement that comes naturally to you. It is worth finding this for yourself and if it takes a bold correction, then so be it. Think about this for your team as well. Are they finding their harmonic gait? If not, what can you do to help them reach it?

“Lean into the pain.”

Stop avoiding pain; the learning, the good stuff and the transformation is on the other side of the pain. It’s a bold correction but leaning into pain is a growth opportunity.

My plan is to make some bold corrections and to lean into the pain more fully.

I am confident that we will all be better for it!

Full credit for all of these statements goes to Commander Rorke Denver (@RorkeDenver). Hopefully, this small sample of what he had to say resonates with you as well.

Your Engaged Assignment: Take a look around your workplace; take a look at your own leadership. Are there any changes that you would make to be brave in your work? In your leadership style? In your life? This is the time to become one of the brave ones!