Dr. Nate Salah
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As you're creating a vision for your life, for this masterpiece that you're creating, are there instruments in your life that don't belong there? And are there instruments that aren't in your life that should belong there? So it may be a time to do inventory. Hello, my friend, and welcome to this brand-new series on leadership.
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I'm your host, Dr. Nate Salah, and every Friday we have a solo Friday episode. It's just the two of us, and we unpack some aspect of leadership to add to your leadership tool belt so that you can begin to, if not already, thrive in leadership as you aim for greatness in serving others. That's the high call of leadership, at least in my opinion and my vision of leadership as someone who studied this for my life, and understanding how people interact, how we best are able to reach goals. And speaking of vision, that's exactly what this new series is about. In fact, leadership is the discovery of influence toward an achievement of shared purpose, right? You may have heard me say that before.
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I'll repeat it again and again; that's my own personal definition of leadership based on my research. And so this very first element of leadership, this discovery of is really this idea that leaders are explorers. We are the ones who embark first in our minds on a journey to a better future state. And so as we do that, what does that mean?
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We envision the future. We discover the future, and we discover it as a canvas, as a blank canvas. You see, the future has not been made yet, and so it is completely blank. It is as we design it. We can design it to be optimistic and hopeful and a better future. We can design it to be meaningless and desolate and divided. We can design it any way we choose, and then we invite others to suspend their own reality and join us in creating a new reality.
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And so, a compelling vision to me and so many others is a vision that is progressing, that is better. No one wants to go to a worst future state. So as leaders, we first must envision, number one, envision what a better future looks like, whatever it is that we know we can be a part of creating that future in your own world, in your own context, in your own vision, you can see. You can see what's wrong with this picture today and be compelled by your own passion, your own desire to be a part of that solution. And really, that's a lot of what this discovery piece is. This exploration piece is that right now in the here, in the now, it's not the way we desire it to be.
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We know there's better possibilities for the future. We know that there's a better impact that can be made, and we know we can be a part of that, and so we're drawn to that. And so we begin to observe today, and we begin to peer with foresight around the corner of life and say, wow if I just was a part of this, whatever the movement is, I could make a difference.
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I could be a difference maker. And so for me, my own life, even just sitting here with you today, you know, years ago, my vision was limited. I had self-limiting beliefs. My vision was limited. Could I ever sit with someone and share and interact and create a meaningful, harmonious relationship that is connected and helps us to move forward? Progress the human condition? Could I possibly do that?
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And the answer was why? The answer was, why? Why? Because I knew that I could help you on the other side of this microphone, and I was drawn to that. And so what did I begin to do? I began to explore. I began to discover. I began to learn higher education. Business, families listening to scholars standing on the shoulders of giants, right? That is discovery, that is exploration, investing, investigating.
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And slowly I began to develop my own vision of what this might look like. And then of course, that vision that began in my mind, it almost never ends up in the same place when we actually get there, because the road shifts and it twists and it turns, and sometimes you've gotta go a different direction and sometimes you end up in a different place, and that's okay. Why? Because you're in motion. Now, you're not in motion just for the sake of motion, but you're in motion toward that trajectory.
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And so as you progress, your vision continues to matriculate. Your vision continues to change and adapt. For me, I didn't think I would be doing a podcast. I did wanna have these one on ones, but I thought everything would be in person, face to face. Right? And what happened? A pandemic. So in fact, I just finished my doctoral work in 2020, July of 2020.
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And so we were in the heat of it, and my whole vision was to have these huge seminars and lots of workshops and all kinds of people interacting close together. We weren't doing anything close. We were all about six feet. We were sanitizing our to-go bags from restaurants because we didn't know if we were gonna get infected.
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We weren't shaking hands, we weren't in each other's space. If we even sneezed or coughed in the vicinity of someone else at a grocery store, anywhere else, all eyes were on you. Oh my goodness. Do you have covid? Are you infected? Unclean? Unclean? Who knows? Right?
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So that vision of mine wasn't happening. So then I had to think, okay, well what's a way that I can interact with people? I can share? I can go from one to many. And share what I've learned about leadership so that I can help people progress. Aim for greatness, create a masterpiece of a life, an irresistible offer. How about this?
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Get a microphone. Start talking. Start thinking about your ideal client avatar. Who is that person that you can share? Who's that person you can speak with endlessly? And that's what began this turn of a vision. For you, same things. There may be something in your pathway that impedes your vision and you have to adapt and overcome.
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You have to look at that canvas and look at it as though, okay, you know, I've gotta add a little picture that changes. But that's okay because as long as your why is met, why am I doing this? You know, I'm doing this because I know that I can fulfill a need for significance, for contribution. I can fulfill those needs by giving it to you in just in a different medium, in a different way.
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Now, will we do seminars, big events, things like that? Of course, they're actually coming back. I'm attending one in just a couple of weeks in DC as a speaker, and those are back online. But in the interim, I've gotten the blessing of having over 50 episodes and counting cuz we're not quitting to have these conversations.
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So, vision. Vision, my friend, is not static. It's a fluid flower that's continuing to bloom. And so that flower, as it blooms, it's gonna change. It's up to you to order and organize the pieces to this vision. And what do I mean by that? You know, I consider, you know, a lot of people say, well, I'm just trying to balance my life so that my vision will come together.
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And you may have heard me talk about this on a previous episode, but I didn't really go into the kind of depth I'm gonna go into now about how I view the pieces rather than having a balanced life, because I don't really believe balance is possible, nor do I believe it's plausible. Why even think about life in terms of equality?
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Like I give my family the exact same time as my work at all times and vice versa and play and everything else, friendships, to try to keep a scorecard on balancing all of those aspects is, I think it's an expenditure of energy that ultimately may be completely fruitless, but let's not look at it like that necessarily.
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I would submit, suggest, perhaps look at it more like a symphony and you as the maestro. You're the conductor. And in a symphony, if you've ever been to the symphony, there's all these different instruments, right? And all these different instruments, and there are different sections They play based on the sheet music, and the conductor organizes those and helps those two play harmoniously.
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Why? Because the conductor's desire, his desire or her desire is to create a masterpiece. And so if you imagine your own life in this word picture, imagine your own life as the conductor, and you've got all these different instruments in your symphony, and each instrument plays as it should with each piece. Some instruments sometimes are louder than others.
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Sometimes the base is louder, sometimes the wind, sometimes the percussions, sometimes different instruments. Sometimes you've got instruments that don't play at all an entire piece. Sometimes what happens when you have instruments that are not supposed to be there, instruments that perhaps are out of tune, instruments that are not playing harmoniously with the others. It creates a terse environment. It creates an environment to where the experience is compromised.
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And so I'll ask you this, as you're creating a vision for your life for this masterpiece that you're creating, are there instruments in your life that don't belong there? And are there instruments that aren't in your life that should belong there?
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So it may be a time to do inventory, do inventory on the instruments in your life, and also on your own instrument, inventory on your own conducting of this life. Am I conducting it as if I approached it toward the ideal of creating a masterpiece? Because if you think about everyone in the audience, everyone playing, right, they're all part of the story that you're creating because that's what life is.
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Life is a story and a series of stories. It has chapters, it has plots, it has twists, it has ups and downs and twists and turns, and so this is the grand story of your life. So that grand story deserves your utmost, it deserves your very best as you create and execute a vision worth attending by all people who are called to be a part of this journey.
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So as you think that through, and you start to take inventory, you begin to perhaps think, well, I've been letting this instrument play, but this instrument has no business being there. Or perhaps that instrument just needs a little bit more work. Maybe, perhaps, perhaps you need to spend a little more time with that instrument.
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And I use the word instrument, of course, the individual playing the instruments to help that individual to play more effectively. That's the picture, my friend, because with every crescendo, as you design this masterpiece of a life, you may find that you are even more drawn to showing up every day to begin playing.
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So that's that picture, and that leads you to assemble the pieces as you begin to form and execute a vision. But it all starts with this idea that my context could use improvement. And then I begin to assemble how that can improve through my own experiences, through my own discoveries, through my own exploration, and sharing it with others, having conversations, getting involved and excited, and getting others involved and excited.
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And as I do that, my vision then begins to develop and change, and I add those pieces and I enjoy the journey and I live my vision out. You begin with the end in mind. Begin with where your outcomes will lead you. This is really important too. As you're thinking about vision, think about the outcomes and how they will satisfy you because it's the satisfaction, at least the perceived satisfaction that you have in your life and your own mind that motivates you to a certain level of effort.
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So if you do not perceive you'll be satisfied with your vision of the future, your effort will not necessarily increase. You say, I'll increase my effort because X, Y, and Z, your effort level is directly related to your perceived satisfaction. If you run out of perceived satisfaction, guess what happened? You burn out. This is a relationship with burnout. Many people burn out because they don't see the kind of progress that leads them to be satisfied. Because satisfaction, your own satisfaction, is a basic human motivation. Think about eating, right? Think about when you're going to a restaurant and you think, boy, I love this steak restaurant, and you get to go there maybe once or twice a year.
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And you're so excited to go because why? You haven't experienced what you're going to experience in the next day when you go, you may have had an experience in the past, but it's your perceived satisfaction in the future, that outcome that leads you to be motivated to want to go to that restaurant and may, I mean, It might be the atmosphere, it might be who you get to go with and have the kind of conversations that you absolutely know that you're deeply satisfied wi th.
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So the point here is think of those things as you develop a vision for the future. Think of what type of deep satisfaction you will have. And you say, well, Nate, isn't that a little selfish? Well, in some ways, yes, you can say that's selfish, but really what it is, it's tapping into your own internal drives.
[00:16:10]
It's tapping into your own needs in life, and sometimes we forget about those needs. Those needs are essential for you to have fullness of life. And so you can say it is somewhat, in some senses, selfish, but in some senses, it's selfless because you know that if I can paint a picture of better future state, that's compelling to me, then others who share in that purpose will join alongside of me and we can together craft and execute that better future.
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This is something that I do daily. Daily when I share a better future. I mean, when I'm working with new hires, I've been interviewing a lot lately because we've been growing in our accounting and advisory firm, and as I interview, I share this better future state, this vision that I have for the firm and for the kind of clients we absolutely love to serve. And I share that with this deep sense of perceived satisfaction with every interaction. As we know, we get to help these people to overcome their obstacles with their accounting, their tax, and their business advisory.
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And you can see that those who share that kind of purpose in the interview process are drawn to that. They're inspired. They're devoted to that cause, because it's worthy, because they can see the vision. And not only that, they know that they can attain it alongside of someone like myself, who also shares deeply in exercising the kind of power necessary to create that better future.
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You can see then why your own level of perceived deep satisfaction in that future state is essential. For what? For creating a vision that is what, that is totally, totally, totally built on influence, right? Because what is leadership? Leadership is the discovery of influence toward and achievement of shared purpose.
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So you've got to discover where the desire to go more than anywhere else. And then what do you do? You share it. Inspiringly compellingly with others. And the best part about it is that you get to achieve it. You get to reach it because you're an effective leader. So don't be discouraged if you haven't achieved it yet, you will.
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Keep pressing on. Well, that's it my friend. This is the beginning of our parts as we explore this idea called vision. It's essential, it's the fuel that leaders run on, and I hope that you've been inspired to either rekindle your vision or begin to fully embrace a vision for a better future, an optimistic future, a hopeful future that you can share with others to progress the human condition forward.
[00:19:24]
Well, my friend, we did it again. I'm so glad you joined me on this episode of A Call to Leadership. If you've been with me on the show listening in, you'll know this. But if you're new, you may not know that I created a free course for you, that you don't need to provide an email address. You don't need to go. It to stay right here in the podcast. I created the very first six episodes of the podcast because I wanted you to have the kind of value that you need to take advantage of to thrive as a leader. So if you haven't done that yet, listen episodes one through six and I'll see you on the next episode. I'm Dr. Nate Salah and this is A Call to Leadership.
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