Source point -A leader’s guide to power, and how to focus it for results

By Bob ‘Idea Man’ Hooey

A power failure can be disastrous in people’s lives. Whole communities can be affected. Vital facilities, such as hospitals, maintain back up generators for such an eventuality.  Their equipment must function – lives depend on it.  I now live in the country, in a little hamlet in the northeast part of Alberta. It is peaceful and quiet, and somewhat secluded. In the wintertime we occasionally experience power outages. Thankfully they have not been extended, but I have preparations made for just such an occurrence. Simple logic and thinking ahead, really.

Power and the means to apply it are critical to our industrialized, increasingly knowledge based, e-influenced society. Energy costs escalate, and sometimes energy sources dry up. People conserve energy, and cut back. We see fleets of 737’s and 747’s mothballed because of the high price of aviation fuel. 

Our daily lives depend, in various degrees, on a readily available power source. We need electricity to power our machines, light our paths, and to allow us to communicate with each other and the world. We need gas to fuel our vehicles and heat our houses.

“Business more than any other occupation is a continual dealing with the future; it is a continual calculation, and instinctive exercise in foresight.” Henry R. Luce

So too, do we as leaders, depend on a power source as we continue to tackle the challenges we’ve taken on. Each of us has a leadership role. Our lives have the power to impact and radically transform the future. We must have clear access to that ‘source point’ of power, if we are to truly impact the world around us and fulfill our vision and purpose.

We already have power ‘resident’ in our daily lives, if we but source it.  Power to dream, power to create, power to choose, power to change and to lead, to mention a few aspects.  Our energy level does not question the need, but responds to our mental conditioning and inner motivation.  Have you ever found yourself mentally fatigued, tired and without energy?  Then, someone asks you to do something you really enjoy, or are totally committed to doing? What happens?  Instantaneously, you shrug off your fatigue and excitedly rise to the new challenge, the new opportunity.  Why is that?  Where did the energy or ‘power’ come from?

What then is our ‘source point’ as leaders and how do we access it at will?

In my studies of powerful leaders throughout history; leaders with vision who have inspired me to action, I’ve noticed two shared traits.  Shared areas in how they lived their lives and how they contributed to the world I live in.  Shared areas that act as a ‘source point.’

•	A deep conviction in a purpose greater than themselves
•	Harnessed belief in their own God given abilities and skills

As leaders, we must continually guard our ‘source point’ against all the demands and frustrations crying for our attention that would drain our energy.  I’d like to share three tips that have been helpful to me in that quest over the past 10 years.

•	Dream big – commit big! Small dreams have no power to inspire you or those who would follow you to act. Big dreams help focus big purpose, and big purpose promotes self-esteem and dignity. Make time to dream! Then commit to acting on that dream!

I remember sitting across the table from my friend and fellow speaker Peter J. Daniels, and having him challenge me on my dreams, when I was first going down this path of professional speaking.  We were sitting in a little fish and chips place in Adelaide, Australia, and he told me my dreams were too small. I was shocked! 

He then went on to challenge me to raise my sites and make my dreams big enough to inspire me, and those who would seek to help me along the path. He was so right! My thanks to Peter and my friends in the International Federation for Professional Speakers, who have been so instrumental in my growth and success.

•	Focus your energy. Clear, concise, concrete goals help focus and direct your energy to fulfilling your ultimate purpose. Guard against diluting your focus, diluting your power, by over-committing yourself and spreading yourself too thin.  
•	Make time to refine and refocus your goals. Use your goals as a filter to make decisions on the investment of your time and energy. Ask yourself, ‘Is this activity important?’ and ‘Is this activity important for me to be involved in?’

One of my biggest challenges, as I took on more leadership roles, was my having to be wiser in how I committed my time. I am an idea guy, and a hands-on-let’s-see-how-we-can-make-this-work kind of guy. That’s why I call my company Ideas At Work! 

This would seem to be a good thing, right? Not always so in leadership. The lesson I learned, all too often the hard way, was to allow others to take leadership on ideas and to act as their cheerleader, coach and champion their success. 

•	The end result – we all achieved more than if I had tried to play an active part in the implementation of an intriguing idea. 
•	The other result – people stood up and took leadership who might not have had the opportunity.  

I saw it work in Toastmasters as Governor, in my challenge as President to rebuild our CAPS-BC chapter, and in a host of other organizations where I had a chance to share my ideas in a leadership role. Hmmm – a double win! People will rise to a challenge if we allow them the opportunity.

•	Commit yourself to achieving your ultimate purpose, to fulfilling your dream, to reaching your goals in pursuit of worthy endeavours. Committing your life to something worthwhile will give you the motivation and energy you need to get the job done and not burn yourself out doing it. Make the time to commit and commit wisely!

“Commitment is the enemy of resistance for it is the serious promise to press on, to get up, no matter how many times you have been knocked down.” David McNally

Commitment is an interesting thing. So easily given, so difficult to sustain.  But it is the true foundation of our success in life, and in providing effective and powerful leadership that makes a difference. 

•	What empowers you as a leader? 
•	What moves you to follow thru on your commitments? 
•	What makes you dig deep into your reserves and then even further to make something you’ve committed to happen? 

That’s your ‘source point.’ 

Guard it, care for it, feed it with positive action so that it grows and becomes even more evident in your life. It will make a difference in the quality of your life and in the results of your leadership in the lives of those who entrust you with their trust.

“There is only one way to succeed in anything and that is to give it everything. I do and I demand that my players do. Any man’s finest hour is when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle…victorious.” Vince Lombardi

Copyright 1994-2002 Bob ‘Idea Man’ Hooey All Rights Reserved. www.ideaman.net Bob’s Ideas At Work! have been applied successfully by 1000’s of professionals across North America. He is the author of 6 books and a contributor to consumer, on-line and trade publications. He is an award winning, proven leader with Toastmasters, the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers and a host of other organizations.