NEW Leadership… Optimism, Pragmatism, Humanism

“Hope is a great thing to have and to feel. ‘I hope’ is not a good thing to say. The hardest commitment is to lead your life from the inside out, not from hope but from trust, willingness and commitment in the spirit of optimism, pragmatism and humanism.”

— Mitch Axelrod, 30 Years, 30 Lessons

Optimism is positive expectancy.
Pragmatism is practical reality.
Humanism is personal spirituality.

Optimism is a state of mind.
Pragmatism is a state of body.
Humanism is a state of soul.

Optimism is an idea.
Pragmatism is an outcome.
Humanism is a connection.

Leadership is connecting people to produce an outcome in a state of optimism.

Like optimism, hope is a state of mind.
It’s a wish, a desire, a something as yet unfulfilled.

You cannot touch, see, hear, smell or taste hope.
It’s not real in a concrete, tangible or practical sense.

It’s very real in the mental, magical, illusory sense.

Hope is a great thing to have and to feel.
It’s just not a good thing to SAY.

Saying, “I hope” is like saying “I wish.”
“Que sera, sera” – what will be, will be.
It’s let go and let, well, you know.

“I hope” disconnects me with any responsibility for the outcome.

It’s a divine event, and whether or when the divine intervenes, it’s “out of my hands.”

I wrote the essay, “Stop Hoping, Start Trusting” as a way to make conscious the deep unconscious conditioning that communicates, “I hope.”

Hope is not a game plan.
Hope is not a playbook.
Hope is not a play to run.

Hope alone changes nothing.
Stop hoping; start trusting.

Don’t ask for permission; ask for courage.
Instead of wishing and wanting, be willing.

Trust + Courage + Willingness = Commitment

Commitment + Compassion + Connection = Leadership

Add trust, courage, and willingness to hope, and you get commitment.

Add compassion and connection to commitment, you get leadership.

Leadership commits.
Leadership has compassion.
Leadership connects.

Leadership creates and re-creates.

Without commitment, you cannot lead.
Without compassion, connection and creation, you cannot inspire others to lead.

The hardest choice I make is to lead my life from the inside out.

Authenticity is not a new marketing tactic.
It’s the measure of integrity and wholeness.
It’s being integrated.

We get virtually no training in leadership, an essential life skill.

Much of what we get encourages and reinforces follower-ship.

Be led by your inner compass.
Be guided by true north.

Hope is good.
Hope is healthy.
Hope can get you through the night.

Hope is not trust.
Hope is not willingness.
Hope is not commitment.

We need trust, willingness and commitment to carry us forward.

Optimism gets us in the game.
Pragmatism keeps us in the game.
Humanism IS the game.

Optimism is a healthy state of thinking.
Pragmatism is a practical state of doing.
Humanism is a unique experience of being.

Optimism is the fuel.
Pragmatism is the engine.
Humanism is the passenger.

The NEW Game of Leadership matches the fuel to the engine so the passenger can drive the bus.

Leadership works best with the right blend of optimism, pragmatism and humanism.
A NEW Game leader maintains a healthy balance of all three.

Whether you lead an organization of thousands, or you are a Virtual Entrepreneur™, look at the current mix of optimism, pragmatism and humanism you bring to the game.

Challenge yourself to create a better blend of optimism, pragmatism and humanism to lead more efficiently, effectively and empathetically.

The world is starved for leadership.
We need you.

The people you serve are waiting for you to step out of the line and lead from the front.

You’re a player.
You CAN change the leadership game.

I’ll meet you on the field.

Mitch, CEO — Chief Encouragement Officer™
The NEW Game of Leadership™