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If you started your company, or are the owner, you know what I’m talking about.

You’ve put your heart and soul into this venture, and it’s consumed every waking moment. For years. That passion and commitment has driven you to whatever success you’ve had. And hope to have.

But your team? Well, it seems like it’s just a job to them. You feel like they could walk away at any moment.

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Perhaps it’s time to look at things anew.

This comes to mind, of course, because it’s the start of a new school in the US. But there are other reasons why it might be good to get rid of some of that old stuff which isn’t really serving you anymore.

Perhaps you have a change in leadership. Or have just completed a big project. Or your business cycle just got you past the busy phase.

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Why do we have this very human need to honor those who have served before us?

Lest you think I’m just talking about our civic culture, I’m not. I see this need also in companies and other organizations.

It’s a need we shouldn’t ignore in our efforts to constantly be looking forward.

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I totally understand the need to manage a business carefully and to know what your financial status is at all times.

But building a generous business is investing for your future. The nice thing is that you can totally decide how you want to exercise this. For example:

  • Giving your employees the opportunity to contribute time/money/products to causes they’re passionate about
  • Letting your customers have more leeway than is normal in your industry
  • Doing high-visibility sponsorships to expand your brand image
  • Working with key partners in win-win scenarios to benefit your community

But what does it mean to approach things with a spirit of generosity?

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A leader’s primary reason for being is to instill hope.

Think about it: Why would an employee want to work for you? Because they hope for a stable life and valuable work, with people who make it interesting.

Why would a customer want to buy from you? Because they hope you’ll fix their problem or address a need they have.

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We’ve all been there, and we’ve seen it happen to others.

Burning the matches, then renewal

You’re doing fine for a while, working super hard in a stressful environment, and then something inside you senses that you’ve hit a limit. It might be a feeling of crushing overwhelm, or a more general lack of energy and direction.

We’re human. We have limits.

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Sometimes we think our job is about just doing our job.

But if that’s the case, I’m going to quickly become bored and uninspired. Even with the prospect of pulling in a paycheck, I’m going to lose interest. Sure, I’ll do the job – I have integrity – but I’m not going to be inspired by it.

As a leader, your job is to help people become inspired.

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Where do you get your inspiration from?

It’s an important question when we get bogged down by details, by differences and disagreements. Which is SO easy these days.

But all of that doesn’t give you energy and the inspiration to move forward.

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I love the coaching approach because it tends to look optimistically at the future. In regular life, we all fall into traps of being depressed about how messed up things are, and how impossible it will be to surmount the obstacles in front of us.

What you have to realize is that it’s mostly a story in your head. Sure, there are barriers and challenges ahead. But that’s been true since the day you were born.

And you overcame most of them, right?

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This last year has worn us out. Sure, we can blame Zoom Fatigue – which is a real thing – but the honest truth is that we’ve an intense period of uncertainty, fear, instability, and even boredom.

But this is going to continue, and we wonder if we’ll ever experience “normal” as we had it a couple of years ago. I suspect not.

So how do we keep our energy up?

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