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Drive the Humvee!

May 2, 2017

October 4, 1993: The Mogadishu Mile

Our troops are under fire. Casualties are mounting and The US Army Rangers Commander instructs a young Ranger to Drive the Humvee! He responds, “But sir, I’ve been shot!”. The Army Ranger Commander, “Everyone’s been shot! Drive The Humvee!”

This scene was portrayed in Director, Ridley Scott’s 2002 movie Black Hawk Down. Follow this link to watch The Mogadishu Mile Scene.

 

Drive the Humvee

 

This past weekend I spent 3 days at The Souly Business Conference. Set on beautiful Lake Allatoona at Camp High Harbor; 200 men have gathered each quarter for the past 14 years to experience the grace of Jesus and the acceptance, love and fellowship within this community of men. I highly recommend Souly Business to any man who desires to experience life with a community of men who strive for greater authenticity, intentionality and purpose.

 

While at Souly Business we had the honor of hearing from Retired US Army Colonel Paul Trotti, Sr. on the topic, Finishing Well. His presence and resume certainly gave him credibility to speak on the subject. He recounted The Mogadishu Mile Scene in Black Hawk Down from his friend’s perspective, The US Army Ranger Commander, played by actor Tom Sizemore in the movie. Colonel Trotti a commanding silver haired man in fatigues, combat boots and an impressive physique for anyone, particularly someone near 70 years of age.

 

Colonel Trotti, a regular attendee to Souly Business knows that all humans, certainly men, are broken. Broken in that we all struggle with regret, lack of confidence, guilt, greed, impure hearts and this list could go on and on, ultimately sin. However, his encouragement was that we are all in this together and that everyone has a past, “we’ve all been shot.” Though wounded we can’t allow that to define us. We must pick ourselves up and keep living intentionally in order to finish well. Certainly a message that sounds familiar to our Drive Planning Members!

 

If this message finds you at a point of despair or wanting to give up. Remember We’ve all been shot. You aren’t alone nor should you try and work it all out alone. Feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss moving forward in a group or simply with greater accountability.

 

The group of guys (My Northpoint Men’s Leadership Group) that I attended with became a much closer Band of Brothers over the weekend.  If you aren’t familiar with the idea of a Band of Brothers, follow this link to David Robertson’s article, Band of Brothers. Personally, I am thankful to have them in my life.

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. – Proverbs 27:17

 

As a group, we have adopted the rallying cry, Drive the Humvee! So, I’ll finish with this; We all have experiences, great ones and not so great ones in our past. In Christ, you are forgiven. Regardless of how wounded you may feel, it may be time for you to Drive the Humvee and Finish Well!

What if you could always operate at your peak performance?

 

Leaders in the productivity space suggest the way to get more done and make the largest impact is to focus on your strengths. Knowing your strengths allows you to know which areas to focus your attention, but more importantly which ones to avoid. Uncovering your Superpower or your conative strengths will unlock your success in leading and communicating with those around you.

 

Kathy Kolbe is a pioneer in the space of conative education and testing. The Kolbe Corporation recognizes the difference between cognative and conative. Cognative is more closely related to your ability to reason or capacity to learn. While conative is aligned with your natural tendencies for taking action or doing. She has created an easy test that will apply indexes or a score to your natural tendencies. I equate this understanding to uncovering your superpower because it provides you with a deeper understanding of yourself and those around you. When used in business and personal relationships it can even provide you with an unfair advantage on how to communicate and lead.

 

See this sample of The Kolbe A Index Summary. You will notice below that it provides a numeric value in the following categories, Fact Finder, Follow Thru, Quick Start and Implementor.

 

 

KolbeA_4-6-3-7_0000

Leadership Impact

Knowing your strength is like knowing your Super Power. This level of knowledge helps to explain why you are the way you are and will give you insight as to how to you will perform in any situation. This trait typically doesn’t change throughout you life; it is a part of your genetic wiring. As stated it will likely not change throughout your life but how you learn to adapt to your tendencies is a major part of developing as a person and as a leader. Your leadership impact will dramatically take off when you learn your superpower and how to apply it in building your organization.

 

Many people struggle with saying “yes” to often. When you are a part of a church, team, office environment or frankly any organization everyone knows who the doers are; they are the automatic go to people (because they won’t say No). There are times when you should say, “no” because it isn’t a good fit for you and you don’t end up doing the job that you should. If you refuse to say no, it is then most important to know not only your strengths but your teammates strengths as well. This will help you to assign tasks, communication methods and timelines to each member which is conducive to their strengths.

 

Communication Impact

Your communication skills greatly increase once you recognize your superpower. Being familiar with the Kolbe Index process provides guidance on how to communicate with those around you on your team or even within your critical relationships. At Drive Planning we focus on each others Index when communicating so that we provide the right amount of details and in the format which is conducive to the person receiving the information’s strengths.

 

Summary

Taking the Kolbe A Index test, which is quick and easy, will help to uncover your superpower. Focusing on your strengths will allow you to become a better leader and communicator both at home and in the work place. You may even want to follow the links below for testing your Children or understanding your Financial Decision Making Tendencies.

 

Benefits of The Kolbe A Index

  • Discover striving instincts (conative strengths)
  • Better results at work, home and life
  • Grow by improving communication and leadership skills
  • Easy to complete with instant online results
  • Goes beyond what personality tests say

 

Kolbe A Index – Take the Test Here

 

Additional Tests

Kolbe Youth Index          Kolbe Financial MO

Once you have completed the test or if you have questions please create a conversation on Facebook, twitter or LinkedIn

 

 

 

For personal appointments related to this subject or others reach out to me directly at [email protected] or to my office at [email protected]

How Do You Define Success?

December 7, 2015

For a child measuring success comes in many forms. Most of which we are really familiar with like, grades, batting avg., wins or losses in sports or other competitions. How about when we become an adult; How then do we measure success? Far too often it is measured by your career or more accurately stated how much money you have or make.

 

As most of my readers know, I have served my clients for the past 20 years primarily assisting or directing their financial or business planning. In that realm we are definitely measured by how well we are doing financially. All to often I have seen individuals who had plenty of money but weren’t very happy. If asked they would have even shared with you that they didn’t even feel successful. I have shared this story over the past few years with people and it is either met as an in-explainable phenomena or agreed with entirely. It all depends upon the person receiving the message and where they are personally and financially.

 

So what do we do with this knowledge or question about success? I asked myself this question a few years ago and ultimately it led me to create Drive Planning. My firm, Drive Planning aims to create an intentional approach to becoming a successful person. But it still begs the question as to what is a successful person?

 

Reviewing numerous case studies and interviewing numerous individuals. Taking into account social status, economic status, gender, age and cultural differences; we established three areas which we needed to focus. The three areas being Relationally Rich, Physically Fit and Financially Free. The research found that if a person were to create measurable and attainable goals which are continuously sought after in these areas they will reach what we believe to be success!

 

In an effort to continually refine our process I would like your feedback. We have created a 3 Question Survey which is free, quick and anonymous. Please take 3 minutes and provide us with your insight.

 

Take the Defining Success Survey

 

Thank you for following along and especially for assisting in the survey! Please feel free to comment and share any additional thoughts with me on Facebook, twitter or LinkedIn