Article written by Dawn Burnett, Reporter for OnFire Books
Brian Faught, Conversation Coach & Speaker
Have you ever been at a crossroads in life and lost sleep over a decision that needed to be made? It’s so easy to skip a step and jump to the wrong conclusion or make a rash decision, which usually leads to a domino of consequences. That’s why it’s important to slow down, take a deep breath, pause and think, what is the right decision? After all, it’s our decisions that determine the direction of flow for our purpose. Nobody knows that better than Brian Faught. Author, speaker, and founder of Just Do The Right Thing. I had the honor of sitting down with Brian and asking him how his decisions in life have affected the following of his purpose. Here’s what he had to say.
Brian Faught: I remember my daughter was six and I wanted to stay engaged in her life while living a very busy life in business after divorce. It was very important to me to be a good father. I thought of ways I could keep a great relationship with my daughter and open communication flowing. I remember talking to her on the phone and asking her what the three most important things in life were. It hit me at that moment that questions are so powerful in teaching values it’s then that I decided to start my personal development program Just Do The Right Thing. The ten questions that I ask people lead them to do the right thing, if you start every situation with that in mind then you really can make every day, the best day of your life.
Dawn Burnett: Now Brian readers may be thinking, “Yes, but many times I’ve done the right thing but it produced unintended results.” I think at that point it really comes down to mindset, what one feels is a bad result really ends up being the right result in the long run and that’s why it’s important to have long-term thinking. The same goes for leadership, in doing so, you will experience less replacement. But there are other key factors that make leaders successful, what would you say is another important attribute?
Brian Faught: Leadership is nothing more than a transfer of feeling. People respond to how you make them feel, they won’t remember what you say or what you do but they will always remember how you make them feel. Leadership is making sure that people understand their responsibilities, giving them the tools to achieve those responsibilities and the motivation to supply the want to. Good leaders find out how to tie their objective to what the real interests are of their people. Everyone has their own why and motivation as to why they do something, so it’s important for a leader to understand that so they don’t have to manage, they can let their smart people do what they are best at.
Dawn Burnett: Yes, I would agree. I like that you recognize the importance of motivating factors and you put the focus on your people rather than just your own wants. So what then would you say makes leaders fail if it’s really as simple as putting the focus on the people you are leading?
Brian Faught: EGO, every bad leader typically has to be the smartest guy in the room and that’s ego driven. They are seeking attention; their ego can’t stand someone below them getting the recognition. Ego keeps you from stepping back and letting your people grow.
Dawn Burnett: Absolutely, I would agree and growth in people is important when you want to experience growth overall in a company. There are a lot of companies today that try to force growth and in the end what they are really doing is forcing the turnover to happen at a rapid pace. There are definitely a lot of responsibilities that come with the role of leadership, so what advice would you supply to anyone considering stepping into this role?
Brian Faught: The first thing a leader should do is to check their own internal self-worth. It doesn’t matter your success or financial position it’s all about your self-worth/ self-esteem because if it’s not in check it will spill over onto your people. People are motivated by their own self-interests, it’s important to know this as a leader. So you have to build up the people around you and if you don’t have self-esteem you can’t give away what you don’t have therefore you won’t be able to build up your people. Find out what people love and give it to them.
Dawn Burnett: It’s a fact, happy employees produce better results. A recent study by Forbes revealed that happy employees are 20% more productive impacting sales and the company’s overall bottom line. So if you want to succeed in leadership, change your belief system, remove your own mental barriers, believe it is possible and inspire your employees to believe the same. After all, whatever the mind believes, it can achieve.
