Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Larry Linne, entrepreneur, advisor, and author. We hope you enjoy Larry's wisdom and perspective.
A business leader exists in a perpetual world of chaos. Issues and pressures from employees, vendors, professional advisors, clients, innovation, strategy, and execution all dance around in the leader’s brain. This chaos can bring a leader to a point of becoming powerless and ineffective. However, this chaos is also what provides the opportunity to do something GREAT, something worth writing about.
I was on my monthly advising call a few years ago with Tim Leman, CEO at Gibson, and we were reflecting on the company and his leadership over the past few years. It became clear to me he had a story worth writing about. I told him he and the people in his firm had accomplished something great. You could feel the energy and fear come through the phone all at once. Tim was quite proud that someone thought his efforts and results were worthy to be in print. But he was terrified that it was really good enough or that he would have the skill to put it to paper.
Well, putting it down on paper is the easy part, as he later found as he wrote rEvolution. The hard part was doing the work that created the story in the first place.
My wife is one of the most talented writers I have ever known or read. She is gifted in poetry, blogging, articles of interest, journaling, and more. Her gift is to see stories in just about everything in her world. She told me recently that she believes every person walks by 50 stories a day that would be interesting to others if they were just put on paper.
I thought about this concept. Do we really have 50 stories a day that we live, experience, or create that would be interesting to others? Well, as usual, I believe my wife is correct. We all have moments of clarity, moments of weakness, and moments of trial. It’s the human condition. The real challenge is living a life that others find difficult to live; and to master it, demolish it, and come out the victor!
Reading books is a big part of my life as a business consultant. Any information I can read that allows new dots to be connected when advising my clients has great value for me… and them. The real life stories are the most fun to read. I get so energized when a person or a business survives a difficulty, innovates something amazing, solves a big business problem, or finds heroism in human behaviors or systems.
I used to feel that these stories and experiences were untouchable by the common person. After writing my first book, Make the Noise Go Away – the Power of an Effective Second in Command, I realized the opportunity to do something worthy to be written about was available to anyone. Now I encourage my clients to do something so great that someone would write about it in a book or speak about it from a stage. When they reach these results, the rewards are exciting and big! Doing something great is available to all of us if we are willing to do what it takes to “write our own story.”
Can everyone live a life that is worth writing about? I believe the answer is “yes.” Developing opportunities out of challenges. Turning weakness into strength. Innovating ideas. Working hard enough to create results that are worthy of print. This is where the real story lies, whether it’s ever written down or not.
What’s The Risk?
One risk is that you might fail. But, I think the real risk is letting your story write you and being defined by your adversity. It’s time to take ownership and proactively manage your own story. Tim Leman is doing it. I am doing it. You can, too.
This content was written and shared by guest blogger Larry Linne.
Larry Linne is one of the most innovative and inspirational business leaders in North America. He is an entrepreneur and owns numerous companies in consulting, insurance, and executive management. Larry is the author of Make the Noise Go Away and Brand Aid.
Connect with Larry on LinkedIn and Twitter.
