The Defining Moment: The Straw That Stirs The Drink Of
Motivational Leadership (Part Two)
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Summary: Motivation is a critical aspect of leadership. But most
leaders fail to realize practical processes to motivate people
consistently. Here is a motivational-leadership tool to greatly
increase your leadership effectiveness.
The Defining Moment: The Straw That Stirs The Drink Of
Motivational Leadership (Part Two) by Brent Filson
In Part One, I described the importance of establishing deep,
human connections with people you lead. I said there were three
ways to do that, by communicating information, by making sense,
and by having your experience become their experiences. By far,
the most important and most effective way, is the latter.
Now I'll show you how to make that happen by developing and
communicating a defining moment.
Write down three to five of your EXPERIENCES that made a strong
impression on you. Describe each in a few sentences or
paragraphs. That's it. Do no more. The important thing now is to
deliberately walk through the sequence of defining-moment
development. It's easy to get off track, but once you take the
trouble to go through the process, you'll have it for life.
For instance, an experience that defines much of what I do in
leadership happened when my father lay on his deathbed. He and I
had struggled for years over conflicting views of my career
path, but when he got cancer, the terrible disease led to a
healing in our relationship, and for the first time in years, we
were able to talk with affection and no recriminations. During a
long discussion one afternoon a few weeks before he died, I told
him that I felt I had run out of opportunities in my life.
His thin hand, which had been so broad until he became ill (He
came from a family of hulking carpenters.) closed around mine,
and he said, "Brent, how can you say that? Everyone has
opportunities all the time. Look at me. Even me, here, on this
bed