Great Leaders Think Differently Than The Rest Of Us…And Then They Do!

A Critical Doer is committed to thinking and acting 

Lolly Daskal is a very successful blogger that writes about leadership and critical thinking.  I recently came across one of her posts entitled “7 Ways Great Leaders Think Differently Than Everyone Else.”  The post was very good, and I’m not going to take exception to a word of it…except to say that it’s only half the story!

Do you want to know the other thing that great leaders do differently than the rest of us?  You guessed it…they do differently than the rest of us.  As writers we can’t cover every single aspect of a subject in each piece we write…especially one the size of a blog post.  I do want to use this one to make a point that bodies of work that focus solely on thinking and don’t go the distance to talk about turning thinking into action are incomplete and mislead those genuinely seeking wisdom on how to be more productive.

As the lead in line for this post suggests, commitment is important.  Thinking doesn’t accomplish much until the thinker commits to doing something with it.  It could be as simple as sharing your thoughts with someone or it could be as complex as a startup business venture to bring an idea to life.

So what is the path of putting real commitment to your thinking so that it materializes into some practical benefit?  I’ll give you 7 ways to match the ways great leaders think differently than the rest of us.

  1. Develop written strategies that bring ends, ways, and means into congruence. You’d be surprised how something as simple as writing down a strategy can spur your commitment to doing.
  2. Build teams. Big dreams take big teams.  Don’t be afraid of building a network to harness more brain bytes and develop mutual support to sustain commitment.
  3. Communicate passionately. Once you summon the courage to verbalize that audacious goal, your commitment will grow and lead to action.
  4. Commit your own resources. Put “skin in the game” with your own resources at risk and your commitment to doing will grow.
  5. Continuing education, formal and informal. The more you learn, the less you fear.  The less you fear, the more you do.
  6. Mitigate risk. Nothing meaningful can be accomplished without taking some risks…mitigate the risks smartly to make the path to action clearer.
  7. Focus.  Kill the distractions and part ways with nonproductive activities in the short term to create both the thinking and doing space to achieve your goal.

Your challenge is to not fall into the trap of thinking you can achieve an objective through thinking alone.  An idea without action…is like the thought never occurred in the first place.  Take to heart the 7 ways great leaders do differently than the rest of us…and you’ll be well on the way to becoming a fulfilled Critical Doer.  It’s definitely what a Critical Doer would…do!

 

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Updated: October 15, 2015 — 12:37 am