Veteran business leader and executive Bill George shares helpful ways to stay grounded as a leader, in the midst of a chaotic world.
Bill is the former CEO of Medtronic and author of the classic . He shares two primary things that keep us grounded, in addition to our relationship with God.
Setting aside time for reflection.
This allows us to gain understanding of our life story and help us develop a healthier perspective. Bill adds the importance of slowing down in a fast-paced world.
“We live in a very hectic world; volatile and ambiguous, and 24/7. You can’t go 24/7 all the time! You need to have a practice at least 20 minutes, once a day, to pull back into yourself and reflect.”
Bill shares helpful suggestions for how to use this reflection time.
•Pray
•Gaze up at the sky
•Take a nice, long walk
•Keep a journal
•Relax in a peaceful environment.
“You need to do something where you’re just reflecting, ‘Am I doing today what I really want to do with my life? Am I letting the immediate take precedence over the important? Or my focusing on the important things?’ It’s so peaceful in that. From those moments, I get great clarity in my thinking, creativity, and a sense of well-being.”
Receiving honest feedback from others.
We need other people. Who are your truth-tellers?
Bill shares the importance of surrounding ourselves with people that we’ll listen to, and people that aren’t afraid of telling us the truth.
“You need a group of people around you that you really listen to.
People who will come in and say, ‘Bill you’re getting off track here. You’re chasing the wrong things. You know you’re too impressed with yourself.’ You need to have people like that around you.
My men’s group has been that, my wife is that, I have some wonderful mentors, people like David Gergen. I even have a thirty year old and twenty year old mentor because they’re teaching me how the millennial’s think. If you don’t have that and you don’t have those truth tellers, you can get way off track.”
We are reminded that we are not meant to go through this life alone, we are meant to go through life together.
“If you think you can just do it alone – you can’t. You cannot go alone, you can go with God, but you also need people to reflect that in your life and will bring that back to you and say, ‘Stay on course,’ or that help you when you feel really down.”
“A friend of mine just lost his daughter at nineteen, who’s there for you when that happens? Or if you lose your job, all of the sudden the people who thought you were great, you lose your job and they may go away pretty quickly: Those people are not your friends.”
By taking the time to reflect on our lives and allowing others to hold us accountable, we’ll be able to remain grounded as Christians in a world that does the opposite.
