“If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; build anyway.”
~ Mother Theresa

I found this quote in this article from Fast Company about ad guy Alex Bogusky. It’s a powerful call to stay the path, stay true to what matters, and pursue Great Work.

“Example is not the main thing in influencing others; it’s the only thing.”
~ Albert Schweitzer

Influence is on my mind this week, prompted in part by this very interesting project that Fast Company is running.

(If you click on this link or the one above, you are in fact helping prove I have some influence…)

The Schweitzer quote is provocative, although Robert Cialdini – author of the definitive tome, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion – would argue that it’s a little too emphatic. Cialdini suggests there are at least six other ways to influence others, one the much quoted and somewhat abused “law of reciprocity” (you give me something, I now really want to give you something.)

But back to the quote. You know and I know example matters.

So what example are you setting? In your interactions? In your meetings? In where you put your focus? In what you say No to? In how you handle pressure? In how you support, encourage, cherish those around you?

What’s the example you want to be setting?

“Love. And Fear.
Love. And Fear.
That’s all it is.
That’s all it is.”
~ Carlos Santana

Last night Santana was in town and he totally rocked the house. A few times during the concert he laid down his rules of life, and this in particular stayed with me.

There’s no middle-ground here, and that’s what I think is so powerful. You’re either moving towards Love or you’re moving towards Fear.

So when you’re just putting your time in, in neutral, just getting through it … is that Love? Or is that Fear?

“mak[e] Your 100 Square Feet a study in
Magnificence & Excellence &
Beauty & Surprise &
Wow & Wonder &
Joy & Grace.”
~ Tom Peters

Tom Peters tends to hyperbole, and I kind of like that.

Part of what’s most powerful about this for me is not s much the eight Capitalized Nouns. But the narrow focus on the 100 Square Feet. Don’t think about saving the world. Think about turning what’s within your control and influence into something extraordinary.

Sounds like the making of a Great Work Project…

If you can’t stand solitude, perhaps others find you boring as well.
~ Mark Twain

For me at least, the evidence is getting increasingly hard to avoid: meditation is a powerful leadership tool. Tony Schwartz, Eric Klein, Kevin Cashman and a bunch of other smart people all point to the power of meditation to help bring focus, intention and self-wisdom to the work we do.

But gosh it’s hard. I’m trying 15 minutes most mornings, and I spend my time entangled in my monkey brain, gibbering nonsense and leaping from thought to thought, forgetting entirely to keep coming back to my breath.

And then, occasionally, I remember that everyone finds it difficult and that sticking with it and coming back to the breath when you remember is the point of the exercise in the first place.