Spare Change

Love and truth form a good leader; sound leadership is founded on loving integrity. Proverbs 20:28 (The Message)

It's a little like earning and spending pocket change. Each time I make a good leadership decision, it puts change into my pockets. Each time I make a poor decision, I end up paying a late fee and lose money. All leaders have a certain amount of change in their pockets when they start in new positions.

The half dollars are from an amazing project that I did and the pennies were given to me for keeping something from falling through the cracks. I always come to the next project with change in my pocket from our last job. From then on, I either build up change or I pay it out. It doesn't matter if the mess up was my fault or not. If it happens on my shift, it’s my responsibility. If I make one bad decision, I lose a coin or two. If I keep making bad decisions, I will run out of change and I’m out as a leader.

What usually makes the difference in keeping or losing change? Credibility. A leader's history of successes and failures will make a big difference in this category. Changingminds.org says “Build your credibility before persuading. Understand what builds and destroys it. Protect it like a baby, because once lost it can be impossible to recover. Use it to gain commitment without having to argue your case.

Wayne Bailey is a Distributor with SendOutCards. He has recognized tremendous growth in his personal and business relationships by implementing the strategies he talks about in his articles. You can email Wayne at wayne_bailey642@hotmail.com or visit: www.sendoutcards.com/waynebailey.