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To follow is a bullet of wisdom on leadership. It comes from Tom’s rifle, named Shot, who has seen it all. You’ll get the drift by clicking Blog in the menu at www.tomnewhouse.com. —
EASY FOR ME TO SAY. I love being a rifle. I go on adventures. I shoot things. I am well taken care of. I am usually in the hands of a great marksman. How about you? Do you love your work?
It’s just not common to find, even among those who like their jobs, that they like everything within their jobs. But as leaders, you can find things within jobs that you like. They may only be small aspects, but they can be emphasized. Marcus Buckingham has called them “red threads.” Maybe a person likes creativity, maybe it’s precision, maybe it’s sharing a laugh with customers. Whatever. It’s a red thread. Love the threads and attend to them. Do that for yourself and you’ll come to love your job. Help those you lead discover, isolate, and attend to their red threads. Consider letting them emphasize their red threads by accomplishing performance goals in their own ways.