oAGDXthe Transformative Leader - Complete Ebook Series-2 PDF

Fundamentals of Manifesting the Transformative Leader Within AMIRGHANNAD.
COM
FUNDAMENTALS OF MANIFESTING
THE TRANSFORMATIVE LEADER  
WITHIN
Book 1 of The Transformative Leader
Blog E-book Series
AMIR GHANNAD
The Transformative Leader Blog

Copyright © 2017 THE GHANNAD GROUP LLC, all rights reserved 1 of 16
Fundamentals of Manifesting the Transformative Leader Within AMIRGHANNAD.COM
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Harness the Transformative Power of Personal Integrity 3
The Massive Power of Assuming Positive Intent 8
Giving Up: An Essential Part of Becoming an Effective Leader 11
Gratitude: The Spice of Life! 15
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Written by Amir Ghannad, leadership coach with 30+ years of
experience in leadership and organizational development, author of
The Transformative Leader, host of The Transformative Leader Podcast,
and writer of The Transformative Leader Blog.
Amir’s corporate career began at Procter and Gamble in 1985. He has
since held many key leadership positions, including those at Sunny
Delight Beverages Company, where he led the Atlanta plant operations
and the company’s Workplace Excellence efforts, and at Campbell Soup
Company, where he led the Global High Performance Organization
initiative.
In addition to designing and conducting training sessions and
facilitating numerous workshops in various locations in the US, Asia,
and Europe, Amir has effectively led multi-national and multi-functional organizations in delivering
superior results through his ability to rally teams around a common vision.
After publishing his first book in October 2015, Amir had the honor of being invited to The White House
to participate in the Worker's Voice Summit on Employee Engagement. In January 2017, Amir retired
from his corporate career to start his leadership development and consulting practice with his own
company, The Ghannad Group.
Amir’s commitment and mission is to create a world in which everyone is in touch with their
greatness and fully serves their unique purpose in life. 
The Ghannad Group, LLC

Atlanta, Georgia
Copyright © 2016-2017 by The Ghannad Group, LLC
All rights reserved. No part of this e-book may be reproduced without credit being given to The Ghannad Group,
LLC.
 
Harness the Transformative Power of Personal
Integrity
Trustworthiness is the most essential quality of extraordinary leaders. Few of us can
think of a leader that we would admire, respect, and be willing to follow if we knew they
couldn't be trusted. Unfortunately, every day we see more evidence of behaviors all around
us that erode trust, and it seems no one is immune as we hear stories that involve politicians,
teachers, policemen, religious leaders, coaches, corporate executives, husbands, wives, and so
on. The root of each and every breach of trust can be traced back to one single source:
someone’s lack of personal integrity. That is, when someone gives their word to behave a
certain way, according to the values and principles that they have agreed to honor, and then
goes on to act in a manner that is completely incongruent with those very same values and
principles.
As I explained in my post titled “The Massive Power of Assuming Positive Intent,” we
tend to judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their behavior. The same is true
when it comes to personal integrity. It is easy to see the enormous consequences of other
people’s lack of integrity and wonder how they could have done such a thing, while we consider
our own lack of integrity inconsequential. If we heard that a certain airline’s pilots were
known to be sober on the job only 99% of the time, we wouldn’t fly that airline, but we are
perfectly fine with being even 80% in integrity with ourselves. The message we send
ourselves by thinking this way is that what other people are doing is important, but what we
are up to in life doesn’t really matter. We view the consequences of us saying one thing and
doing another to be minimal, and thus we eventually come to view our own actions and our
own value as individuals to be inconsequential. Most of us don’t even consider being 5
minutes late to an appointment, or missing a deadline, as lack of integrity; we tend to view

them as something that “doesn’t matter.” When we compare ourselves to the “bad guys” we
hear about on the news, we assure ourselves that are certainly in the clear, and when we look
around in our workplaces and communities, we take comfort in knowing that at least we’re
no worse than anybody else!
What we fail to realize is that most of the people who commit those enormous breaches
of trust—which some of us use to justify our own lack of integrity—were not born
psychopaths and criminals. Most of them were ordinary people, like us, who entertained a
certain thought—that they didn’t matter and thus others didn’t matter—for a bit longer than
they should have, and that thought manifested in the form of small actions, which eventually
blossomed into bigger actions with more devastating consequences. What we don’t see is
that the culmination of the choices we make that are not in line with our word, no matter
how seemingly insignificant at the time, eventually do real damage to our ability to lead high
quality lives and make a positive impact in the lives of others around us.
“ The manthatwhohe liescannotto himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point
distinguish the truth within him, or around him,
and so loses all respect for himself or others.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky
I’d like to demonstrate this point with a hypothetical situation. If I offered you $1000 to
walk on a wooden plank that was supported on both ends by blocks, about 6 inches off the
floor, would you do it? What if the plank had a few cracks in it and it had a 50/50 chance of
breaking? Would you still do it for $1000? I know I would. I mean, even if the plank broke,
it is only 6 inches off the floor and I could safely hop off. Now, let’s assume that the same
plank is placed between two skyscrapers on the 120th floor with no safety net and the cracks
are still there, posing a 50% threat that the plank would break and you would fall to your
death. I know for sure that you wouldn’t walk it for $1000, but would you do it for $1
million? Probably not, right?!
Now, I want you to imagine that the plank is your image of who you are and the cracks
represent all the instances when you didn’t honor your word and put your personal integrity
at risk. When you say one thing and do another, no matter how small the deviation, you put
more cracks in your plank. Whether other people notice or care or not, the greatest damage
is done already within yourself, in that you begin to relate to yourself as someone whose
words don’t matter and whose commitments cannot be taken seriously. If you know that
your plank has a lot of cracks, no matter how small they are, you tend to play a small game
and settle for an ordinary life, but if you know that your plank is solid and you can count on
yourself to keep your word and fulfill your commitments, you are much more likely to go for
the gusto and play a much bigger game in life.
This is why it is important for us to look no further than ourselves to decide if we should
cut a corner or miss a commitment. The key question is not whether others will notice or not,
or whether the consequences of them finding out will be mild or severe. The truth is that, in
many cases, other people may not even notice because it is an accepted norm to be 80% in
integrity or below. In most organizations, being a few minutes late to meetings is perfectly
fine, and committing to something and not following through is an everyday occurrence that
nobody bothers to deal with. This is because everyone subscribes to an unspoken agreement
to tolerate each other’s lack of integrity so that theirs is tolerated in kind. They have a lose-
lose deal that is gradually destroying the way they relate to themselves, diminishing the
creative power of their words, their deeds, and their destinies.
If you have ever been on the receiving end of broken promises and unmet expectations,
you know how frustrating it can be. Chances are that you have been wishing that those
people would change their behavior. Can you imagine the instant shift that can occur in the
culture of an organization, a community, or a nation if we didn’t wait for someone else to go
first? Can you see what would be possible if we all practiced unconditional personal integrity
regardless of whether others did or not? I know this sounds naive, because we immediately
think of the consequences of us taking this on but others not doing so; not only do we not
think it would work, even worse, we might look foolish. May I remind you that you wouldn't
be doing it for anyone but yourself ? You may think of the price you would have to pay to
maintain your integrity, but have you really thought about the cost of losing it, and the
payoff in restoring it?
One of the best illustrations of this is a story I read in Stephen M. R. Covey’s book, The
Speed of Trust, about tennis champion, Andy Roddick. In the 2005 Italia Masters tournament
in Rome, his opponent, Fernando Verdasco, had lost the first set and was down 5-3,
love-40. Verdasco served and the line judge called the ball out. Roddick noticed the
indentation in the clay and challenged the judge’s call, and the judge let Roddick overrule
him. Roddick went on to lose the set and ultimately the match, which cost him tens of
thousands of dollars, but he managed to keep his integrity intact and he earned the
admiration and respect of many around the world for his sportsmanship. Can you imagine if
he had traded in that admiration and respect for a few thousand dollars, which would have
eventually been spent and earned many times over anyway? More importantly, can you
imagine how he viewed himself and the power of his word after refusing the temptation to
sacrifice his integrity?

The transformative power of personal integrity is unleashed in those defining moments

when we choose to honor our word, even when it is inconvenient and costly. The higher the
price, the more confidence we develop in ourselves that when we declare something bold,
we can consider it done. We begin to relate to our word as a powerful weapon against any
obstacle we want to tear down. When we know that we are a person of our word, all we have
to do is to declare our future into existence and know that it will be, because we said so!
“ The Transformative power of personal integrity is unleashed in those defining moments

when we choose to honor our word, even when it is inconvenient or costly.
What if we went one step further and we were not only guardians of our own integrity,
but cared enough about our family members and colleagues to stand for them being in
integrity as well? What if we treated people as if they also cared about their plank being as
solid as ours and didn’t just write them off as slackers who will never get it? What if we took
a chance to have the courageous conversations that would compel others around us to
reconsider their choices and restore their personal integrity? If you can imagine what would
be possible, you will be far less likely to question whether or not you should pay the price.
If you are intrigued or even remotely interested in taking this idea for a test drive, I
encourage you to take a couple of steps right now. Don’t wait until it is convenient, and
certainly don’t listen to that little voice in the back of your head that hardly ever encourages
you to do anything extraordinary. Start with small baby steps or go big, but whatever you do,
do something before you talk yourself out of it. I guarantee you won’t regret it.
STEPS YOU CAN TAKE IMMEDIATELY TO DEVELOP AND/OR RESTORE YOUR INTEGRITY:
• Identify one area where you habitually don’t honor your word and make a commitment
to change your behavior, and start immediately. 

• If you have not been able to keep your word to someone in the past, you can still honor
your word. Do that by cleaning up the mess you have made and owning up to your miss
and making a new commitment. 

• If you have made commitments that you know you are not going to meet in the future,
get in communication now and let the people who are counting on you know, and
accept the consequences. 


• Next time you fall off the wagon, rather than using it as an excuse and saying, “I guess I
just don’t have integrity,” or, “I’m no worse than anybody else,” say, “I know I am better
than that,” then get back on track and clean up what you have to clean up.

 
The Bottom Line:
The greatest price we pay for not honoring our word, and compromising our personal integrity is not
that others won’t trust us, but that we begin to relate to ourselves as a person whose words and
commitments don’t matter. Simple compromises like telling a “white lie,” or missing our commitments
or not delivering on small promises that we make begin to erode our view of just how accountable we
can be to follow through on what we declare. A commitment to unconditionally develop our personal
integrity restores our power to boldly declare an extraordinary future and know that it will be, just
because we said so! Being intentional about applying this idea alone can cause a transformation in
anyone's life, and it is an absolute must for anyone who has been trusted with leadership
responsibilities. Because without integrity, there is no credibility and a leader without credibility is not an
asset but a liability. 

 
The Massive Power of Assuming Positive Intent
Over the course of my continued leadership development and culture transformation
work, I have had ample opportunity to have fun with the participants of my workshops/
speeches as we learn from each other. One of my favorite exercises has to do
with McGregor’s Theory, which distinguishes two sets of assumptions that leaders can
subscribe to; Theory X assumes people are inherently lazy, avoid responsibility, and have to
be told what to do, and Theory Y is essentially the opposite and states that people are good
and they want to achieve, are dependable, and can self-direct as long as obstacles to doing so
are removed. With a list of the various characteristics under each theory projected on the
screen, I ask the audience how many of them know people who fit into the Theory X
category, and just about every hand goes up. Then I ask them to raise their hand if they are
one of those people, and, of course, hardly any hands ever go up. This happens literally
every single time, which means those “bad" people who could really use some teaching and
coaching always escape my session and I end up preaching to the choir... or so it seems!
The next question, however, reveals the truth about what is really going on. I ask whether
anyone occasionally exhibits the behaviors that are listed under Theory X. Once again a bunch
of hands go up. The crowd usually breaks out in laughter and agrees with me when I bring
to their attention that the reason they didn’t raise their hand for the previous question is that
when they behave that way, they believe it is justified, or even if they know it’s not right, they
don’t classify themselves as a Theory X person. I further explain that this is because we
judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their behavior, a phenomenon known by
social psychologists as the fundamental attribution error.

The same tendency, to assume the worst about others and absolve ourselves of
responsibility, tends to dominate our thoughts in auto-pilot mode. Unless we are intentional
about assuming positive intent, we tend to question other people’s intentions, which often
leads to a whole different set of attitudes and actions than what is required to create and
grow fulfilling relationships and deliver extraordinary results. It also results in millions of
dollars worth of wasted time and effort that go into designing elaborate checks and balance
processes for the 5% who would abuse the system, rather than the 95% who wouldn't. I'd
venture a guess that by now you are having an easier time thinking of other people who have
assumed negative intent on your part, rather than instances in which you have done the same
to others. If that is the case, it proves that even the best of us are not immune to the
fundamental attribution error; in fact, those of us who think more highly of ourselves may
even be more susceptible to it!
THERE ARE A NUMBER OF WAYS IN WHICH ASSUMING NEGATIVE INTENT SABOTAGES

PRODUCTIVITY AND FULFILLMENT:
1. It diverts attention away from the mission  
While we are focusing on trying to figure out why others behave the way they do and/
or defend ourselves against their assumptions, the real issue that must be addressed in
order to achieve our mission remains unresolved and is apt to recur.
2. It slows down issue resolution 
When we suspect negative intent, we tend to gather allies and ensure we have a strong
position in which to remain entrenched, rather than going to the person directly and
attempting to resolve things.
3. It discourages bold moves 
Attacking a person's character and questioning their intentions eventually drives people
to play it safe and not play a big game so as to avoid being viewed with suspicion.
4. It diminishes collaboration 
We tend to perpetuate a “silos” mentality and strengthen cliques by seeking refuge and
understanding in others who we believe would be on our side.
5. It reduces accountability 
The drama associated with assuming negative intent on other people's part prevents us
from seeing and being accountable for our own contributions to the issue.
6. It damages relationships 
Resolving differences of opinion when everyone trusts each other's intent may involve
passionate debate and discussion, but they won't damage relationships. The drama
associated with assuming negative intent can cause significant damage in relationships,
even when debate and discussion is apparently polite, which will take time to repair.
If you believe in the massive power of assuming positive intent and are interested in
harnessing it, it is important to understand the reasons and myths that prevent it from being
a more prevalent practice:
ASSUMING NEGATIVE INTENT ...

1. Takes less effort – It is more convenient and easier to shift the blame to someone else,
rather than do the hard work to seek to understand and identify the real root cause of
the issue.
2. Lets us off the hook on any contributions we have made to the perpetuate the issue in
dispute – Blaming someone else's intent shifts the attention away from us taking
responsibility for our part in creating or tolerating the issue.
ASSUMING POSITIVE INTENT IS PERCEIVED ...

1. To be naïve, weak, and idealistic – On the contrary, it takes a great deal of courage to
assume positive intent and have the tough conversations to identify the real issues.
2. To imply that everyone indeed has positive intent – Not at all! It just means that just
because 5% of people have negative intentions, you will not treat the other 95% as if
they do as well.
The Bottom Line:

Assuming positive intent requires intentionality to go beyond our auto-pilot mode of judging
ourselves by our intentions and others by their actions. It keeps the organization focused on the mission,
speeds up issue resolution, encourages bold moves, instills a culture of accountability and collaboration,
and improves relationships.

 
Giving Up: An Essential Part of Becoming an
Effective Leader
I am a firm believer that realizing one’s full potential as a leader is much more about
identifying and giving up what’s in the way than it is about acquiring new skills or tools. Yet,
most seekers and providers of leadership development focus a great deal of their attention
on transferring knowledge and learning/teaching specific skills of leadership, when it is the
person's fundamental beliefs and mindset that determine how they relate to themselves and
form the foundation of their ability to lead.
I’m certainly not suggesting that becoming skillful at time management, delegation, or
conflict resolution and the like are not necessary. There is certainly merit to acquiring and
practicing these and other skills. However, if the pursuit of skills is done without proper
attention to what is holding us back from realizing the maximum benefit they could yield,
that’s like driving with one foot on the brake pedal and wondering why you are not picking
up speed as you keep pushing the gas.
As I look back on my personal journey of leadership development with the benefit of
hindsight, I can clearly see the lessons that I learned, either by attending a course or receiving
coaching and feedback, that made the profoundest difference for me. By far, most of these
lessons came in the form of transformative training, rather than informative training. The
distinction being that the latter is intended to arm you with some tools or skills you didn’t
have before, and the former is aimed at getting something out of your way so that you can
use all of your tools and skills to their utmost potential. Going back to the metaphor I used
earlier, informative training teaches you how to push the gas pedal, while transformative

training causes you to see that your foot is resting on the brake pedal so you can move it off
and pick up speed.
So, what could be in the way? Usually, what gets in the way stems from—or shows up as
—self-deprecating beliefs and/or self-preserving behaviors that hinder our natural self-
expression as extraordinary leaders. It is the stuff that causes a perfectly enthusiastic three-
year-old who wants be and do everything to settle for mere survival by the time he/she is in
his/her 30’s. The same thing happens to wide-eyed new hires who start a career with
complete enthusiasm only to end up joining the ranks of multitudes of people who simply
drag themselves in to work for a paycheck. Getting the enthusiasm and zest for life back
does not depend on getting something. It depends on giving something up.
Obviously, the specific thing(s) one has to give up is a very personal matter and everyone
has to look for, identify, and be intentional about giving up whatever is in their way
specifically. The list below is intended to suggest a few places for you to look and more
importantly, to compel you to ask, “What is in the way?” and have the courage to give it up
next time you find yourself stuck or disempowered as a leader.
Try giving up some of these tendencies and watch it transform your experience of
leadership:
1. Needing to be right – The source of this need is pride and our incessant desire to look
good, or at least not look bad. Giving it up reduces the pressure of having to prove
ourselves right all the time and leaves us open to making the necessary course corrections
along the way. 

2. Pretending you have all the answers — This is often exacerbated when we assume a
leadership position and believe that we are less of a leader if we are not an expert in
everything. It takes courage to be vulnerable and admit that we need our team members
to bring their strengths and make up for our weaknesses.  

3. Defending yourself every time you get feedback – Defensiveness blocks the flow of
much-needed feedback and perspective that every leader needs. Giving up the notion that
constructive feedback is a personal attack on you leaves you open to receiving and using
feedback. 

4. Living a “someday” life – Some of us go through life with the purpose of building a
great resumé, or accumulating skills or physical things that we would use someday. Giving
this notion up and showing up to life, fully present, creates the kind of relatedness that
every leader must practice. 


5. Feeling guilty when you say no to a priority that you aren’t fully committed to –
We often string a bunch of people along and cause them to have false expectations as we
make half-baked commitments to the causes that they ask us to commit to. This is
because we don’t want to be straight and only say yes to those priorities that we are truly
committed to. This tendency creates an integrity issue, especially for leaders; and without
integrity, nothing works. 

6. Blaming your boss for not being perfect – Persistent complaints about the boss and
passive aggressive behavior patterns that continue to strain our relationship with our
leaders do nothing but sabotage our success and rob us of the joys of a fulfilling
career. What if we gave up our complaints and purposed to make up for the boss’s
shortcomings instead? 

7. Making what others say or do mean something about you – This is a deeply rooted
and established part of our social “DNA” that has a pervasive effect on how we operate
when we are in auto-pilot mode. It takes intentionality to constantly give up the
interpretation that everything that happens around us has to do with us. Giving up this
notion liberates us to operate in a proactive manner toward accomplishing the cause we
are committed to, rather than being in a perpetual cycle of defending ourselves and
making others wrong for their words and deeds. 

8. Holding on to “unforgiveness” – Letting go of grudges we have been carrying with us
for years is absolutely essential to effective leadership. Otherwise, the constraints of the
past will continue to show up in our future and we will continue to act surprised when
we run into more of the same. 

9. Justifying your drama as if it were proof of your passion – The amount of passion
and drama we experience is directly proportional to how much we care about a
topic. Therefore, we have constructed this illusion that our disempowering thoughts and
actions, otherwise known as drama, are evidence that we care, and therefore are a good
thing. What if we gave up this notion and kept the passion but ditched the drama? 

10. Perpetually blaming yourself for past mistakes and worrying about the future –
Learning from the past and planning for the future are great, but our obsession with our
past and the anticipated future often robs us of the joy of being present and
experiencing life to the fullest in every moment.

The Bottom Line:

Effective leadership is not so much about picking up tools and skills as it is about having to courage
and determination to identify one's attitudes and behaviors that are in the way of them showing up as
the extraordinary leader that they can be. While the special brand of “what is in the way” is unique to
each person, this post is intended to provoke thought by suggesting a few places to look for what one
might consider giving up in order to fully show up as an effective leader.

 
Gratitude: The Spice of Life!
“Can you say thank you?!” You probably remember hearing those words as a kid when
someone gave you something, or did something nice for you. It is, of course, good manners
to utter those words to express our gratitude, and most of us still do, as a polite response to
acts of courtesy, respect, or kindness. Unfortunately, though, the ritual of expressing thanks
has lost much of its meaning and impact as we have come to practice it mindlessly, just as we
do with many other routine conversations like the social nicety of asking, “How are you?”
without genuinely wanting to know the state of the other person’s well-being.
I can think of one such routine conversation in my life, a ritual that started 35 years ago
when I started dating my wife. I learned very quickly that it was important to her to be told
that I loved her at the end of our phone conversations, and I have done so since then. On
one occasion a couple of years ago, however, I suddenly recognized after hanging up that I
was uttering the phrase, “I love you,” so automatically and as a matter of routine that it no
longer conveyed a message of any substance. Having had that epiphany, I immediately called
my wife back and told her what I’d just realized and went on to express to her in very
specific and intentional terms how much I appreciated having her in my life and what a
blessing she was to me. As you can imagine, this non-routine conversation communicated a
message to my wife that one thousand routine comments would not have. The surprising
part was what it did for me.
As I pondered how grateful I was for my wife for who she had been for me and the
contributions she had made to my life, and as I expressed that gratitude, it was as if I felt a
concentrated dose of all that I was grateful for in that moment. It was then that I knew,

based on the experience I had just had, that gratitude was the final step in the process of me
receiving something. It became clear that everything I was taking for granted made my
experience of life seem bland, and it wasn’t until the magic spice called genuine gratitude was
added that I truly experienced the joy of having received whatever was intended to be given
to me.
I’m convinced that it’s not how much you have, but how grateful you are for what you
have that makes the feeling of abundance available. You could have a million dollars in the
bank and dine in fine restaurants every night and still feel lack and scarcity if you didn’t take
the time to truly acknowledge how great you have it. On the flip side, someone living in
poverty could experience much more joy just to receive a simple meal from a stranger. I
don’t mean to imply that having more automatically makes us ungrateful. I am only
suggesting that whether you have a little or a lot, the extent of your satisfaction likely
depends on how truly grateful you are for what you have.
When others express gratitude to me for something I have done, it confirms that what I
intended to bestow upon them has indeed been received. The presence of an attitude of
gratitude is also a strong indicator of the culture of an organization. Every healthy
organization I have been exposed to has been one in which gratitude is abundantly felt and
expressed.
There is no time like the present—especially for those of us who live the US, since
tomorrow is our Thanksgiving holiday—to be intentional about pausing and being genuinely
grateful for what we have. What’s even better is to take the time and effort to go
beyond feeling and being grateful, and actually express it in a meaningful way to someone. My
hope for you is that this message will compel you to pause and give thanks for all the things
and people that you are grateful for. Join me, if you will, in expressing gratitude in a specific
and meaningful way to at least three people in the next 48 hours.
Meanwhile, whether you celebrate Thanksgiving this week or not, I hope that you will
take on being grateful and watch it spice up your experience of life. May you always give
without remembering and receive without forgetting.

Unleash the Power of the Other 70% AMIRGHANNAD.COM
UNLEASH THE POWER

OF THE OTHER 70%
Blog E-book Series
AMIR GHANNAD

TABLE OF CONTENTS
"I Don't Have Time!": A Myth of Disempowerment 3
All I Needed to Know About Effective Delegation, I Learned from my Mechanic! 7
The Magic of Powerful Requests 11
Want to be an Extraordinary Coach? Get your ACT together! 15
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

initiative.

Atlanta, Georgia
TheAll rights reserved.
Transformative No Blog
Leader part of this e-book may be reproduced without credit being given to The Ghannad Group,
LLC. 2 of 17
Copyright © 2017 THE GHANNAD GROUP LLC, all rights reserved
 
"I Don't Have Time!": A Myth of Disempowerment
What would you do if you had more time? What if you had a few more hours in a day, or
a couple more days in a week, that you could spend the way you wanted to? Would you travel
more? Would you get going on accomplishing the important things you have been putting
on hold? Would you fit more into your day or week? Would you stop and smell the roses
more often?
What if you found out that you didn’t have much time left to live? How would you spend
the remainder of your time? Would you make different choices? Would your priorities shift
from what you consider to be what you have to do to what you want to do?
I’m guessing your answers would be similar under both circumstances. In other words,
whether you had more time in a day or you had a limited amount of time on this earth, you
would engage in things that were important to you. The question is, then, “Why wait?” Why
is it that we feel like we don’t have enough time to do those things that are important to us
and yet, at the same time, we feel like we have enough time left to postpone those very same
things?
How many times have you said or heard others say, “I don’t have time!?” Some of us say
it offhandedly as if it is self-evident, some of us say it facetiously to poke fun at our sense of
under-preparation, and still some say it with a tinge of pride as if being too busy to get
everything done is a badge of honor. Regardless of how we express it, all this does is
perpetuate the myth that we are at the mercy of our environment and our circumstances.
The truth is what we all know: that each one of us has 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a

week, and each one of us is solely responsible for the choices we make about how we spend
every minute of that time. Now, I understand that some may point out that we are just
talking about a figure of speech—after all, not saying, “I don’t have time,” won’t change how
much time we actually have. However, I am a strong believer in the creative power of words
and I believe we owe it to ourselves to acknowledge that we have a choice, and that we are
choosing to spend our time—or our money for that matter—in a certain way.
Acknowledging the power of our choices allows us to get more out of the time that we do
have, instead of wasting time lamenting the time that we don’t have.
What if, the next time you consider engaging in an activity that you know will be
beneficial to you and find it difficult to find the time to make it happen, you say, “I am
choosing not to …” instead of, “I don’t have time to …?” This shifts the responsibility of
how you spend your time from your circumstances to you. “I don’t have time to …” gives
power to the external forces acting on you which, by definition, you will never be able to
control. It puts you in a victim mentality. “I choose not to spend my time on …”
acknowledges that you have the power to choose and it honors your choice, regardless of
what your choice may be. It also liberates you to take a fresh look at your priorities and not
just spend your time aimlessly, but invest your time on those activities that matter to you and
others that you care about. I love Stephen R. Covey’s quote that says, “Don’t prioritize your
schedule. Schedule your priorities.”
“ Don’t prioritize your schedule. Schedule your priorities.

— Stephen R. Covey
Time is, of course, our most precious commodity. We have a limited amount of it, we
can’t get any more than we have, and once we spend it, we can’t get it back. So, it makes
sense to use our time as wisely as we can. Adopting a proactive language is good practice
when it comes to making the most of time as well as other resources like money, tools,
talent, and so on. Organizations, as well as individuals, often find themselves spending time
and money in a way that stands in contradiction to their stated goals and values.
I have encountered numerous organizations whose only excuse for not investing in the
growth and development of their people is that they "have no time" or "have no money" for
it. Neither of those excuses are literally true, of course, but they may certainly feel true to
those in charge of deciding how to invest an organization's resources. Accordingly, this kind
of thinking often indicates that producing and maintaining results has been given a higher
priority than investing in the very people who are responsible for delivering those results. I
have had budget responsibilities and I completely understand that this way of thinking may
be justified for a period of time when other urgent priorities must come first. However, as

has been said, that which is most important should never be subordinate to that which is
merely urgent.
“ Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least.
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
If there is a pattern of consistently "not having" time or money, it is evident that either
leadership is out of touch with the significant value of leadership development or they have
not taken the time to evaluate what they are spending their time and money on. In both
cases, things do not bode well for the future well-being of the organization. When leadership
chooses to only focus on the priorities that seem to produce immediate results and fails to
invest in the development of themselves and their people, they are collecting the golden eggs
but neglecting the goose that lays them. By contrast, when training and development is
important to a leader, they always find a way to make the investment, knowing well that the
pay-out will be worth it in the long run.
What priorities is your organizational capacity focused on? How much time are you
spending on developing people in your organization into effective leaders? When was the last
time you evaluated the priorities and allocated time and money to activities that would give
you, and those in your organization, the greatest pay-out?
Obviously, I am passionate about the topic of leadership development because that’s
what I do. Some might say that I am biased toward making the investment in such activities,
because I offer goods and services along those lines, but that isn't the case. I am biased, but
only because I have personally witnessed the tremendous impact of the epiphanies and
realizations that come out of personal development efforts on the results of organizations
and on the personal lives of employees.
What are you spending your personal time on? Next time you find yourself saying, “I
don’t have time,” consider that you do and you are simply choosing to spend it on other
activities. Honor your choice and own up to it, as it simply means that you have a better
grasp of the value of the activity that you choose than the value of the activity that you
don’t. This may be frustrating if you are a victim of your schedule, but over time, this line of
thinking leads to you making conscious choices that you can actually stand behind and take
responsibility for. The more you take responsibility for your choices, the closer attention you
pay to what led you to your choices, and what your choices led to. And with this increased
attention and responsibility, you will find yourself slowly beginning to see the value in certain
activities that you may not have been able to see before, and you will naturally begin to make
choices in line with this newfound sense of value.

I urge you to be intentional about breaking the cycle of letting circumstances dictate how
you spend your time and money, and to commit to reboot by changing your language such
that it acknowledges your power to choose. This, more than anything, will enable you to
channel your resources in the direction of priorities that are truly important to you and your
organization. 

The Bottom Line:

The words we speak have tremendous influence and can leave us feeling empowered to take charge
of our destiny, or they can convince us that we are powerless victims of our circumstances. In either case,
the truth is that what we choose remains solely up to each one of us. Phrases such as, "I don't have
time," are disempowering because they imply that our power to choose has been removed from us and
placed in things beyond our control. By carelessly adopting such phrases, in opposition to the truth, we
pretend that we have no choice, not realizing that choosing not to choose means choosing the status
quo. In accordance with the truth, however, admitting that we do have the time or money or resources
and that we choose to allocate them in accordance with our values allows us to stop pulling the wool
over our eyes, and lets us see that the power of our choices remains where it always has been and always
will be: only in our hands.  

 
All I Needed to Know About Effective Delegation, I
Learned from my Mechanic!
“Do you want me to change out your alternator, or fix your car?!” I can still hear my
mechanic's words from 30 years ago, and although at the time it was not clear to me, the
simple exchange that followed would become central to one of the most profound
leadership lessons I have ever learned, and one that I have used many times to center myself
and calibrate others on the power of effective delegation.
In those days, I drove a “beater,” and with the exception of oil changes—which were
performed by yours truly—all other maintenance was done on a breakdown basis. On this
particular occasion, my car wouldn’t start and I had it towed to the shade tree mechanic who
usually bailed me out at a reasonable price. I had done some preliminary troubleshooting
and, not recognizing that I knew just enough to be dangerous, I was sure the problem was
with the alternator. The mechanic tried to explain to me that I had a different problem that
was going to cost more, but I was persistent. That is when he looked me straight in the eye
and popped this question.
In hindsight, it's clear that he had been there before, where someone asked him to fix
their car and insisted on how he should go about doing it, and then blamed him when it
didn’t work. This guy was no dummy and he wasn’t going to let me get away with what I was
trying to do. He was bound to force me to choose to either delegate the methods or delegate
the outcome; and he was going to make sure that I would be accountable for the outcome if
I chose to prescribe the method.

The truth is that when all of this was going on, I was pretty frustrated that he wouldn’t
just do what I asked him to do. I pieced it together and extracted leadership lessons out of it
a little later as I graduated from college and started working in a manufacturing plant. I had
several poor souls—who had been there for years—reporting to me and having to endure
my trial-and-error approach to learning to lead them.
It didn’t take me long to realize that the people who reported to me knew so much more
about their craft than I did. I learned to appreciate the lesson I had learned from my
mechanic even more as it provided a solid foundation for how we would work together. The
greatest thing I had going for me was my willingness to empower them to do what they did
best and get out of their way. I have to admit it took me a while to get the hang of the
practical application of this, but I am certainly grateful for my head-start.
Although the basic theory of effective delegation is fairly simple, there are far too many
people in the workforce today who have simply been reduced to gofers because their bosses
are more interested in prescribing their own methods rather than practicing what Stephen
Covey refers to as Stewardship Delegation in his best-selling book and course, 7 Habits of
Highly Effective People.
 
Benefits Of Effective Delegation
There are multiple benefits to delegation if it is done properly:
1. It generates alignment on the expected outcome.
2. It establishes the boundaries within which the delegatee can operate.
3. It defines the resources the delegatee can tap into.
4. It clarifies the method by which results will be measured.
5. It spells out the positive and negative consequences.
Effective delegation frees up the delegator to focus on things that he/she is uniquely
qualified to work on, and it gives the delegatee the freedom to take license to get the job
done the best way he/she can within the agreed upon boundaries. It also elevates the
relationship between the delegatee and delegator beyond micro-management and creates
true stewards and owners in the organization.
The ultimate benefit of mastering the art of effective delegation is that it makes an
opportunity available in the delegatee’s world that would cause them to stretch and grow, and
it expands the influence or impact of the delegator beyond what he/she could accomplish
alone.

What Ineffective Delegation Looks Like

The two extremes of ineffective delegation, both of which often lead to unfavorable results
and loss of credibility, are as follows:
1. Abdication – This happens when either the wrong thing is delegated or the right
thing is delegated the wrong way. The former involves the boss dumping something that
he/she should personally lead on someone else and remaining out of touch. The latter
involves the boss delegating something he/she cares about but doesn't take enough care
to make sure the delegatee is set up for success.
2. Micro-management – This happens when the boss is too involved in every detail
and does not give the delegatee room to exercise any judgment or creativity. The
methods are prescribed along the way, too frequently and/or in too much detail which
leads to frustration for both parties involved.
“ You cannot hold people responsible for their results if you supervise their methods.
— Stephen R. Covey
What Happens When We Don’t Get It Right

When we cling to ineffective delegation methods, one of two things happens:
1. We stop delegating because we become convinced that it takes less time to do it
ourselves or that it wouldn’t be done right unless we did it ourselves; or
2. We keep using our ineffective delegation methods and reduce the passionate and
talented people in our organizations into gofers whose view of their jobs is to do what we
tell them to do, and this ultimately robs us of utilizing the full extent of their talent and
denies them of the opportunity to grow and develop.
I recognize that I am most likely not telling you anything you don’t know, but I hope that
this serves as a reminder and a nudge for you to examine just how effective you have been at
delegating. Are you asking your people to fix the car and making sure they know the desired
timeline, resources, measurement methods, and other guidelines, or are you asking them
to change out the alternator and blaming them when the car is not fixed?
 
The Bottom Line:
Effective delegation is a key process by which leaders can expand their influence, impact, and cause
their team members to grow and develop while they maximize their contributions to the team. When we

delegate a certain outcome and micro-manage the methods, we are in fact taking the responsibility for
the outcome away from the delegatee. This leaves our team members either frustrated because they
cannot freely express the full extent of their talent and ideas in service of the desired outcome, or
resigned to the fact that they are only there to follow our orders and so they settle for utilizing a fraction
of the skills and ideas they bring to the team. 

 
The Magic of Powerful Requests
In the course of our personal lives and professional pursuits, we have all had those
moments when we didn’t get what we wanted, and most, if not all, of us have come to
realize that such is life and everything is not going to go our way. It is indeed a good thing
to be able to cope with the feeling of rejection and occasional failure, or to find ourselves
challenged to still deliver a certain outcome in the face of scarce resources. One of the
Japanese sensei I’ve had the pleasure of working with used to say that wisdom is never
developed when you have an abundance of resources.
It is also important to recognize, however, that we don’t get many of the things we want
in our personal or professional lives simply because we don’t ask!
Have you ever hesitated to ask for something, or asked in a roundabout way, rather than
making a clear and powerful request? While we can all think of a few people who are not
hesitant to ask anyone for anything, I believe we have all experienced this in some
circumstances in our lives; whether we hesitated to ask our boss for a promotion or if we
hesitated to ask someone out on a date, or something similar, the end result is a bland mix
of regret and dissatisfaction. I’d like to dig into this a bit further and share my thoughts on
the topic, with the intention of liberating you from whatever is holding you back from
making powerful requests involving others in creating value in areas of life that are
important to you or your community.

“goalsMaking powerful requests that call others to action and compel them to take on stretching
and a new mindset or habits, then, is a necessary element of transformative leadership.
Leaders are called not to just make things a little better but to transform the results and
capability of the team, and to increase the level of fulfillment its members enjoy. When there
are low hanging fruit, it is possible to deliver game-changers that everyone gets excited
about, but in every transformation process there comes a time when the leader must create
an environment in which people stretch themselves beyond the constraints of the past and
try new things, learning new ways to acquire and apply their knowledge. Every visionary who
takes on a transformation finds himself/herself making requests of people who can
contribute to the cause. No worthwhile social or organizational transformation has ever
come to fruition due to the efforts of one person alone. Transformations that have made a
mark on the world—or on the history of large organizations—have involved a few people
enrolling, energizing, and involving a few more people and those people doing the same to
others, and so on. Making powerful requests that call others to action and compel them to
take on stretching goals and a new mindset or habits, then, is a necessary element of
transformative leadership.
What exactly is a powerful request? What distinguishes a powerful request has to do
with both its content and the way in which it is delivered. When a request for the right action
is made in the right way, it compels the other to consider it in a way that he/she had not in
the past, and make an informed choice based on what the request makes possible for them
and others.
The Content of the Request Must be:

• Bold
• Possible, though perceived to be improbable
• Focused on win-win outcomes and the greater good, not selfish pursuits
The Delivery of the Request Must:

• Be clear
• Call for compelling action on the other person’s part
• Communicate the need for a declaration, one way or another
• Be done with a balance of commitment to the desired answer and respect for
whatever choice the person makes

You may have had an experience with sales people or not-for-profit organizations
soliciting you to buy something or make a donation, that made you uncomfortable. You may
have also found yourself grateful that a request was made of you so that you could have the
opportunity to participate. I’d like you to consider how effective you are at making powerful
requests in the course of fulfilling your responsibilities, or whether you shy away from those
simply because of the experiences you have had in the past.
What holds us back from making powerful requests? There are a number of reasons
that cause us to water down our requests of others, or not make them at all. Maybe you
don't want to make the other person uncomfortable. Maybe you are afraid of what they
might say or how they might react. Consider that no matter what your reasons are, they are
constructed and supported by evidence you have gathered from your past experiences. You
have a choice to either continue to act according to your past experiences and get what
you’ve always gotten, or act in the direction of your commitment and get what you actually
want. The choice you will make is largely dependent on just how committed you are to the
outcome you are working toward. In the end, what makes the difference is not trying to
ignore or downplay all those internal forces that are holding you back as much as supersizing
your commitment and being “unreasonable,” i.e. acknowledging reason(s) to the contrary
and acting anyway.
The pre-requisite of powerful requests – If you think of negative experiences you’ve
had when someone has tried to sell you something you didn’t want to buy, or when you felt
coerced into getting involved in an activity you didn’t want to have anything to do with, the
missing element was that you weren’t enrolled in the idea. I freely and willingly give to
charities that I believe in and I hesitate to give to others that I don’t, in spite of the guilt trip
that some requesters try to put me on. The pre-requisite, before you pop the request, if you
will, is to communicate the cause and the WIIFM—What’s In It For Me—in a way that
raises the person’s interest, or at least piques their curiosity to find out more. Ideally, by the
time you are ready to ask them to do something, they will be somewhat interested in getting
involved and they will be eager to find out how they can contribute. This step also gives you
the opportunity to understand if there might be a total mismatch between the request and
the person’s interest or willingness, so you can determine if it is right to make the request
and if so, how it might be modified to increase the chance of getting a favorable answer and
create a win-win for all parties involved.
My request of you is to consider the following questions and let your answers guide your
next steps:
• What requests to solicit the cooperation, involvement, or support of others have you
been hesitating to make?

• What has been holding you back from making the requests? What stories have you
been telling yourself about the possible outcome? What is the worst thing that can
happen if you make the request?
• What positive outcome is possible if the answer is favorable? What opportunity does
it make available in the other person’s world? What does it make available for you and
the community your cause is serving?
• Are you willing to commit to courageously make a powerful request of someone in
an area of life that is important to you? What will it be? Of whom will you make the
request? By when? 

The Bottom Line:

Leaders are called to not just manage change but lead transformations that bring about a step
change in the results, capability, and the level of fulfillment of their team members. The process of
accomplishing this often requires the leaders to make powerful requests that make opportunities
available for people to get involved and get themselves and others beyond the constraints of the past. It
is crucial that leaders understand the characteristics of powerful requests and gain personal insight on
what keeps them from making those requests and develop the skill and will to utilize powerful requests
to continuously elevate their game and that of their team. 

 
Want to be an Extraordinary Coach? Get your ACT
together!
Coaching is a necessary element of high performance. Serious athletes, singers, actors,
and top executives have coaches, and it's not because they are terrible at what they do. On
the contrary, it's because they are great at what they do and have a desire to keep getting
better. Likewise, workplace cultures in which coaching is abundantly available, requested, and
utilized at all levels continue to get better.
Developing coaching skills and characteristics in organizations is therefore
paramount. While there is an abundance of books, training courses, and tools that help
people develop coaching skills, I have come across countless people who are natural at
coaching without any education or training on the topic.
I have personally experimented with a variety of coaching styles and approaches over the
years and have come to conclude that good coaching comes down to helping the coachee
sort through the random streams of thought in their head, get in touch with the outcome
that they are committed to, identify the next step(s) that they must take, and feel compelled
to get in action.
“thought
Good coaching comes down to helping the coachee sort through the random streams of
in their head, get in touch with the outcome that they are committed to, identify
the next step(s) that they must take, and feel compelled to get in action.

As Werner Erhard, the creator of The Est Training stated, “It is important that you get
clear for yourself that your only access to impacting life is action. The world does not care
what you intend, how committed you are, how you feel or what you think, and certainly it
has no interest in what you want and don’t want. Take a look at life as it is lived and see for
yourself that the world only moves for you when you act.”
Extraordinary coaches that I have come across understand this and effectively get their
coachees in action. They are also the ones who have gotten their ACT together.

Naturally, we each have our strengths and opportunities as coaches, but it is good to keep
these characteristics in mind and do a self-assessment to identify a few areas in which you are
doing well as you coach others, and perhaps identify 1 to 2 focus areas that you want to get
better at. The best place to get constructive feedback on how you’re doing is from your
coachee. Role-model being coachable so you can continue to get better as a coach.

The Transformative Power of Servant Leadership AMIRGHANNAD.COM
THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER

OF SERVANT LEADERSHIP
Blog E-book Series
AMIR GHANNAD

TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Defining Moments of Leadership 3
The Leadership Paradox 9
The Secret to Unleashing your Unlimited Power to Transform 13
9 Ways to Fail-Proof your New Year's Resolutions 17
 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

initiative.

Atlanta, Georgia
All Transformative
rights reserved.Leader
No part of this e-book may be reproduced without credit being given to The Ghannad Group,
The
LLC. Blog
The Defining Moments of Leadership

Leadership is a choice! If you make the choice to lead, you will find a way to do so
successfully. If you make the choice not to lead, explicitly or otherwise, you’ll find plenty of
justification and excuses for why you can’t do so. Whether you’re leading a multi-national
company and have an abundance of resources and formal authority, or you are just out to
improve your own health, fitness, finances, etc., or you are somewhere in between, the key
factor in determining your success or lack thereof is your level of commitment to your
cause. This alone fuels your tenacity to get in action directing all of your knowledge and
resources toward a common goal, and to stay in action when you hit the proverbial wall.
“ If youthe choice
make the choice to lead, you will find a way to do so successfully. If you make
not to lead, explicitly or otherwise, you’ll find plenty of justification and
excuses for why you can’t do so.
We all know larger-than-life transformative leaders like Gandhi, Dr. King, Nelson
Mandela, and others who accomplished what was thought impossible, against all odds. What
we really mean when we say that these figures were larger-than-life is not that they had some
special inherent quality that others lacked—“I am the One and it’s not about me” applies to
others as well, after all—but rather that their level of commitment to their causes was larger-
than-life, and in some cases this was literally true. We call these people great because their
commitment to something greater than them called them to greatness and they responded in
kind; when they hit the proverbial wall, they went over it or through it, but they never let it
stop them. The billion-dollar question, and the topic of this blog post, is whether the rest of
us ordinary people have what it takes to accomplish great things as well.
We have all experienced those moments when we feel as if we have done everything we
can and, despite our commitment to a certain cause, we feel there is nothing else that can be
done to move toward achieving it. In those moments, when the great wall of our limitations
looms before us, we face a choice to keep moving forward or give up. It is the decision that
we make in these moments of truth that determines whether we will achieve greatness or
languish in ordinariness; everything before this is just practice and preparation.
Transformative leadership is all about acknowledging that these moments will come,
understanding the nature of how we personally process what is going on in our minds, and
mastering the art of staying in action when everything else tells us we should give up.
These moments of truth in which we have a clear opportunity to choose to commit
ourselves to a way of behaving or a desired outcome are rare, but when they do happen, they
are epic. Can you think of a few of those moments when you made a choice that forever
altered the course of your life? A decision you made that you stuck with despite the fact that
you had made the same decision half-heartedly before many times? I have a vivid memory
of one such moment. I was about 35 years ago, around 1981, and I had been smoking
cigarettes for 4 years. I had “quit” 4-5 times, only to go back to smoking. Then, one day, I
was lying in bed with the flu, watching TV. There was a documentary on TV about the
effects of smoking. One glance at the graphic pictures of the lungs of a smoker did the trick
for me. I made the choice, for the last time, to give up smoking and I have never smoked
another cigarette since.
Developing leaders, in my experience, has everything to do with creating the causes and
conditions in which ordinary people freely choose to live up to the extraordinary beings that
they are. Leaders who lead in a way that creates these conditions end up cultivating other
leaders, ensuring exponential growth, rather than just giving rise to more followers which at
best ensures things stay more-or-less the same. These conditions can be created in
workplaces, family environments, places of worship, schools, and so on. Workshops and
learning events, however, provide some of the greatest opportunities for cultivating and
experiencing the conditions that cause someone to have an epiphany that forever shifts their
paradigm and, consequently, their effectiveness and satisfaction in life and at work. Such
experiences can alter the trajectories of our lives from their ordinary, default futures to the
extraordinary, designed futures that we choose to intentionally create. I have been fortunate
enough to have witnessed hundreds of people—all of whom thought of themselves as
ordinary—experience these profound epiphanies and go on to achieve the extraordinary in
their lives and at their workplaces.

“ Developing leaders, in my experience, has everything to do with creating the causes and
conditions in which ordinary people freely choose to live up to the extraordinary beings
that they are.
In order to have a fruitful experience in an environment that is ripe for moments of

truth to come about, such as a workshop, one must first examine the specific, usually hidden
factors that are holding one back from being receptive to these experiences. Once one has
acknowledged and examined them, one must also be willing to take the responsibility to deal
with them.
So, let’s have a little straight talk about some of the most common thought processes
that get in the way of us declaring, pursuing, and achieving the extraordinary. Please keep in
mind: this is not intended to condemn you, but to compel you. Know that knowing this
stuff alone doesn’t help, but that you can only act on what you do know. Here is a bird’s-eye
view:
• I want to… but… – Actually, most of the things you say you want to be or do or have
come at a price that you aren’t willing to pay, and you aren’t willing to admit this to
yourself. If you really want something, you will do everything in your power to
achieve it. If you aren’t willing to do what it takes to have what you say you want,
then you don’t really want it. And there’s nothing wrong with that; it just means you
don’t personally see the value in what you say you want. All there is to do is be
straight with yourself about admitting what you actually want and what you pretend to
want, and line your behavior up with what you are really committed to. 

• I just don’t know what to do – This may be a fact. Actually, if you are going for
something extraordinary, more than likely you won’t know where to start or what to
do, and in fact, this the best place to get started. However, it is the story you are
making up about this fact of “I don’t know” that is stopping you. If you are truly
committed to an outcome, when you don’t know what to do, there is just one thing to
do: Find out! Don’t know how to find out? Find out how! Wisdom is knowing what
to do when you don’t know what to do. It is the drama about “I don’t know” that
people use to justify quitting even though the fact is that they have just reached the
starting line.
 


• I need more information/knowledge/better tools to get started or keep going  

Most of the time that is not the case. Be honest with yourself. When you want to get
in shape, is it that you don’t know how to exercise or eat healthy or don’t have a
membership to a fancy gym, or is it that you are not willing to do what you are
already know and not using the resources that you already have available? Remember
Rocky IV? Rocky trained outdoors in the snow, using some rocks and tree limbs, and
eventually beat his Russian opponent. Yes, it is true that when we exhaust the
knowledge that we have and we have used all of our resources, additional knowledge
and better tools will help us to go to the next level of performance, but 9 times out
of 10, that is not the issue. More often than not, we use our knowledge and tools as
replacements for the responsibility of acting on them. Counterintuitively, this attitude
even defeats the purpose of seeking more knowledge or tools, perpetuating a vicious
cycle in which the more we know, the less we do. Remember, it isn’t what you know,
but what you do with what you know, that makes a difference. 

• I know what I need to do but I don’t feel like it  
Doing what you feel like leads to ordinary. If you say you want something
extraordinary, seeking permission from your feelings will not carry the day. Feelings
come and go on their own accord and, while they may initially be helpful in pointing
us in the right direction, they alone will never be enough to sustain us on the journey
there. A simple step to interrupt this thought process is to get an accountability
partner, so that you can lift each other up when you don’t feel like doing what you
need to do. Check out my post titled “The truth about why we don’t do what we
know we should.”  

• It is hard  
It is never the size of your challenges, and always the size of your commitments, that
determines whether you stay the course or not. Ordinary is easy, but I think you’ll
find that ordinary isn’t worthwhile. When you think it’s too hard, supersize your
commitment! 

• It will take too long 
Time will go by whether you are up to something or not. Going for something big
expands your thoughts, words, actions, habits, and ultimately your character. This is
the key to you making the best of your time rather than biding it and impotently

hoping things will get better. Nothing gets better with time unless someone takes the
time to change it for the better.
There are many more of these types of thought processes that block our performance
and fulfillment and, most of the time, they are not easily detectable by us. The very first step
is recognizing these thought processes for what they are, but that is only the first step;
knowing this stuff alone won’t make a difference. The real key to transformative leadership
lies in transcending these thoughts and emotions through our dedication to the experience
or outcome that we are committed to. In my workshops, I don’t just regurgitate these
concepts but rather help the participants individually unpack what is going on with them
through a conversation that compels them to make a personal choice that they will stick
with.
“ Nothing gets better with time unless someone takes the time to change it for the better.
— Naveed Ghannad
The secret ingredient in extraordinary workshops is the subtlety and deftness with which
the conversations are conducted and the space that is created in which transformative
realizations can surface for each participant. In the best workshops that I have attended and
conducted, even when the audience is listening to the same conversation, everyone is able to
relate it to their own situation and gain visibility on something that was hidden from their
view before. Some of the characteristics of my workshops which enable this to take place
are as follows:
• A space (physically and mentally) that allows the participants to distinguish the noise
in their head from the truth of the situation.
• Introspective conversations—not looking “out there” hoping to find the answer.
• Transformative learning, not just informative learning.
• Focused on the possibilities, not the immediate obstacles.
• Spicy coaching, aimed at compelling the participants, not condemning them.
• Actionable, real world conversations, not theoretical stuff that sounds great but
doesn’t apply.

The Bottom Line:

Extraordinary workshops create a transformative experience for each participant, in which he/she is
enabled to truly and freely make a choice to alter the course of his/her life and that of others. They do this
by creating a space in which it is liberating, not shameful, to own up to our self-imposed barriers and
make new commitments to a whole new way of being and behaving that serve us in creating a designed
future. The best workshops also arm the participants with practical tools and methodologies that can be
put to good use immediately, but they attract the kind of participant who is willing to do the work and
reap the long-term benefits rather than trying to find a quick fix that requires little internal work and is
inherently self-limiting.

 
The Leadership Paradox
If you have read my writing or attended any of my talks or workshops, you probably
know that the title of this post is one of my favorite phrases. The concept behind this
phrase is what I believe embodies the true spirit of servant leadership. Only a servant leader
—one who has the tenacity to lead and the humility to serve—is willing and able to balance
the full responsibility for bringing about the desired outcome with the recognition that
nothing about the journey or the destination is about him/her. Such a leader must have
the courage to provide direction, deliver bad news, and take corrective action when necessary,
the consideration to do so in a way that creates capability, acknowledges progress, and builds
the morale of the team, and the wisdom to balance both of these approaches in different
measure as appropriate to each situation.
Leadership Is a Balancing Act

It is the ability to balance these two sets of seemingly incompatible characteristics that
separates great leaders from the rest. There are plenty of leaders who have no problem
declaring that they are “The One,” but that it is also all about them. On the opposite side,
plenty of leaders truly get that it is not about them but they don’t consider themselves “The
One,” and therefore abdicate their responsibility to lead to the detriment of their
organizations. I have come across several people who were willing to be authentic and admit
that they couldn’t wrap their minds around how they could simultaneously be “The One” if
it wasn’t about them. There is absolutely nothing wrong with feeling that way, if that is
where you find yourself. As long as you remain open to dialogue, being authentic about your

lack of understanding is actually the first step in attaining it. The issue is with those of us
who intellectually understand the concept but fail or even refuse to practice it.
The Power Of Paradox

In my book, The Transformative Leader, I explore the power of simultaneously embracing
two seemingly contradictory ideas. The point I want to underscore in this post is just how
essential it is for leaders to not only get that they are “The One” and that it is not about
them, but also to dynamically embrace many other leadership paradoxes that they may
encounter throughout their careers.
Consider that we all have come to proverbial forks in the road where we felt that we had
to choose whether to go one way or another. In grade school, we may have faced the
decision to be nice or stand up for ourselves. In our careers, we may have had to choose
between being honest and straight with a boss who asked for feedback but didn’t really want
it, or being diplomatic and equivocal in our communication to stay on the boss’s good
side. In our personal relationships, because of their very nature, we are constantly faced with
situations in which we can look out for our own personal interests or those of the people in
our lives.
Whether we learned from our good choices or bad ones, we have all drawn hundreds of
conclusions during the course of our lives that continue to influence our attitudes and
behaviors today. In many cases, these conclusions have resulted in an “either/or” mentality
which often has us giving up on the idea of having the best of both worlds. The “either/or”
mentality also has a profound effect on our business and leadership strategies. If you think
you can either cut cost or deliver a high quality product, you will eventually choose between
the two and lose out on one. If you believe that you can either have employees that feel free
and empowered or employees that are compliant and deliver reliable results, you will most
likely choose one and end up with a watered down version of both. An “and” mentality, on
the other hand, will have you look under every rock to figure out how to cut cost and deliver
superb product quality, and find a way to empower employees and deliver extraordinary
results reliably.
Developing The “And” Mentality

This is where the heavy lifting comes in. It is not easy to look inward and examine our
mindsets and shift them in a direction that serves our purpose and mission, but that is
precisely the work that needs to be done to create a lasting shift in our effectiveness as
leaders.

A great place to start is going through the following list and acknowledging some of
these that you do well and others that you have the opportunity to get better at:
• 100% contentment with what is, and 100% tenacity to create what can be
• 100% commitment to winning, and zero attachment to the scoreboard
• 100% honesty in expressing disagreement with an idea, and not making the other
person wrong for subscribing to the idea
• Learning from the past, and leaving the baggage in the past while being present
• Planning for the future, and not worrying about it while being present
• Having a high sense of urgency, and remaining calm the whole time
• Being liberated to be oneself, and having the discipline to conform to the established
standards of the organization
• Being completely confident in your ideas and beliefs, and remaining open to new ideas
and opportunities for improvement
• Taking full responsibility for everything, and not blaming yourself for how things turn
out
• Speaking the truth, and extending grace to those who disagree with us or do not
embrace our truth as their own
• Acknowledging you made a mistake, and not condemning yourself for having done so
• Giving straight corrective feedback, and treating the person with dignity and respect
• Saying no, and not feeling guilty
• Seeking to understand corrective feedback, and not coming across as being defensive
The work is to identify 1-2 of these that you know sabotage your relationships, your
fulfillment, or your results and be intentional about observing your attitude and behaviors in
that area and make course corrections as you go. It helps to declare what you are working on
to others around you so they can serve as your accountability partners, but that choice is
entirely up to you. The key is to be intentional about and in action on at least one paradox
that you feel would make a difference for you. Once you achieve some victory in one area,
you will be energized to tackle more of these and empowered to embrace the power of
paradoxes in the future, no matter where you encounter them.  

The Bottom Line:

We often live “either/or” lives and miss out on the opportunity of having the best of both worlds
because we are not intentional about embracing ideas that may seem contradictory at first. Discovering
the power of paradoxes—such as leading and serving, having courage and consideration—allows us to
transcend “either/or” and take on “and,” thereby creating a powerful method for manifesting
transformative possibilities.

 
The Secret to Unleashing your Unlimited Power to
Transform
“havingThe arequest I make of you is to read and digest my content as if the two of us were
chat, not as if some guy who thinks he’s got it all figured out is just talking at
a bunch of people and sharing his formula.
I am a frequent traveler and I have come to value the copious amounts of time I spend
in airports and on airplanes as me time, to relax, listen to music, read and respond to emails,
or watch a movie on my iPad. To that end, while traveling, I have developed a habit of
putting on my “I don’t really want to talk to you” face, and my noise cancelling headphones
in case my neighbor on the plane is not great at reading my face. I share this at the risk of
being judged as anti-social or two-faced—because I claim to love to coach and talk to
people, and at the same time I often don’t want to be bothered with people sitting next to
me on the plane. But, as I have no insecurities about my willingness to spend countless
hours coaching people and giving them my undivided attention, I can tell the truth. That’s
how I have been acting while traveling.
A few weeks ago, I was walking to my gate at 6 am, in my usual stealth mode, and all of a
sudden, the duality of my approach to people became too apparent for me to ignore. How
could it be, I thought, that I claim my mission and purpose is to put people in touch with

their greatness so that they fulfill their unique purpose in life while I shield myself from the
very conversations that would make the opportunity available for me to fulfill my
purpose?! It also occurred to me that my experience of myself as an unapproachable person
was vastly different than that of my normal self in a conversation of transformation with an
individual or a group. I decided to run an experiment and just drop the airport façade and
have a more welcoming and pleasant demeanor. The results were instant and amazing. It
wasn’t like all of a sudden people started flocking to me, but I almost instantly felt a shift in
my own mood from one of, “I don’t want to be here” to one of, “I am going to be present
and make the most of what I am doing.” My face wasn’t tight anymore and I had a smile that
seemed to be contagious. I eventually had a couple of short chats with other willing—I
think, anyway—partners and, overall, it made for a much more pleasant experience.
“touchHowwithcouldtheirit be,greatness
I thought, that I claim my mission and purpose is to put people in
so that they fulfill their unique purpose in life while I shield
myself from the very conversations that would make the opportunity available for me to
fulfill my purpose?!
Whether you have or haven’t been acting like me on your travels is really not the
point. Everybody makes the choice that’s right for them and nobody is obligated to interact
with total strangers everywhere they go. The tragedy is that we have a tendency to act like
that in our smaller circles of people that we know and work with every day. We determine,
often subconsciously, who can do something for us and who is in the way, who we are going
to be nice to and who we are going to ignore, and we are not aware of the opportunities that
are lost when those judgments are made.
Can you name a few people throughout your life who were always great at acknowledging
your presence, or listening to you, or taking the time to talk to you? Can you think of those
authority figures who instilled confidence in you through the subtlest gestures of
acknowledgement? How about a teacher or a mentor? How about a stranger who committed
a random act of kindness? Those are the people who have shaped that part of your
personality that you feel good about. They are the ones who helped you write the part of
your story that you can always look back on and smile.
Have you considered that you could be that person to multitudes of people throughout
your life? Have you thought about the marks you leave behind with your words and actions
every minute of every day? Can you imagine the magnificence of the good in the world that
could come about if we were all willing to be a little bit more open to turning our

“transactionships" into real relationships? What would be possible if we all decided that we

would treat every conversation like it mattered?
Imagine what it would be like if I gave you a checkbook for an account that had an
unlimited supply of money in it and told you that you could write checks to anyone (other
than yourself) that you would like to help financially. I’m sure you could think of your
favorite charity, or relatives, or causes you care about. Let’s say you spent a few days, making
sure that all of those people in your immediate circle got the money that they needed and
you still had billions of dollars left in the bank to give away. Could you find ways to get rid
of that money? Can you see yourself disbursing it generously simply because you know it
would cost you nothing to do so? Wouldn’t that be fun?
“ You have an unlimited supply of treasure thatamount

is oftentimes more precious than any
of money you can give away.
I hate to tell you, but that scenario is probably not going to happen. However, I want to
remind you that you have an unlimited supply of treasure that is oftentimes more precious
than any amount of money you can give away. That treasure can be dispensed in the form of
words of affirmation, acts of service and kindness, just listening to someone’s troubles, and
many other forms of acknowledgment. It doesn’t cost you anything. On the contrary, giving
these treasures away makes you experience them like you never would if you were hoarding
them. Why do you think all the super-rich wind up becoming philanthropists? It’s because
there is a pleasure in giving that you can never experience in getting and accumulating. The
philanthropists are willing to part with their money because the satisfaction they get in return
is far more precious. We can all be philanthropists with our words and deeds right now and
watch it create magic in our relationships and our own experience of life.
My passion and my life’s work is to coach people on leadership effectiveness and culture
transformation, and I cannot think of a more profound shift in a culture than one that
results from team members choosing to generously and abundantly speak words of
encouragement and gratitude. I have had the pleasure of being on a team that experienced
this shift almost overnight and the impact on the results and morale were indescribable. This
may conjure up the image of an organization where everybody is nice and nothing gets
done. It’s actually quite the opposite. In every case where I have experienced this, people in
the organization found themselves speaking the truth with courage, and dealing with the
tough issues that hindered their progress, simply because they had plenty of chips in the
bank and weren’t worried about being perceived as not caring about their teammates. This is
precisely why organizations that have established a foundation of trust and camaraderie and
positive engagement always deliver superior results.
This can happen on any team, in any company, and in any family. It can happen in an
instant. The reason it does not happen most of the time is that we are all waiting for
someone else to go first. What if you chose to be a pioneer, regardless of whether others
followed or not? You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. At the very least, you
begin to experience yourself as a giver and a force for positive change, and at best, you may
inspire others to do the same and create a culture where extraordinary results and fulfillment
are an everyday thing.
“ We can all be philanthropistsmagicwithinourourwords and deeds right now and watch it create
relationships and our own experience of life.
I encourage you to examine the auto-pilot mode you are in most of the time and make a
conscious choice to be present and attentive in your interfaces within your circles. Take the
time to listen and get into the other person’s world. Don’t assume that people know that you
appreciate them. Look them in the eye and tell them. Be specific about it. If you don’t feel
like making a wholesale change, start small but be intentional, and let me know how it goes
for you. 

 
9 Ways to Fail-Proof your New Year's Resolutions
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! …It is also that time of the year when you
might be reflecting on what you don’t have, and what you haven’t been doing right, and
you’re likely feeling compelled to close the gap between where you are and where you think
you ought to be by making new year’s resolutions. (I’m speaking from personal experience).
Most of us don’t even remember what resolutions we made this time last year, probably
because we haven’t thought about them for over 11 months! You could argue the statistics
but I tend to believe that, by far, most resolutions are broken or forgotten in about 14 days.
Let’s dig into why most of us cringe at the very thought of last year’s resolutions and get
into what we can do differently about this year’s. Although etymologists may disagree, I think
“re-solutions” are so called because we tend to repeatedly try to solve the same problems
every year. Most of us “resolve” to lose weight, eat right, exercise more, quit smoking or
some other harmful habit, stay in touch with family and friends, etc. These are all wonderful
things to do and noble goals to have. However, the truth is that many will have wishes,
some will set goals, and few will have accomplishments. So, what does it take to break the
ordinary cycle and experience the extraordinary in in a new year?

CONSIDER THESE 9 ACTIONABLE WAYS OF MAKING YOUR ORDINARY NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS
INTO EXTRAORDINARY ONES:
1. Ordinary resolutions are all about our wants, needs, and our success. They are
motivated by what we want to get.  
Extraordinary resolutions are about fulfilling a greater purpose and leaving a
legacy of significance. They are fueled by what we want to give.  
 
Get In Action: Start with a cause you are committed to that is bigger than yourself. Be clear on the
WHY behind the WHAT! 

2. Ordinary resolutions are focused on fixing something. They are rooted in changing
something we don’t like about ourselves.  
Extraordinary resolutions are focused on creating something. They are
anchored in transforming something in the world.  
 
Get In Action: Start with the outcome you want, not what you don’t like about your current
circumstances! 

3. Ordinary resolutions are scheduled for a significant date like January 1st.  
Extraordinary resolutions are put into effect right now, the moment we
commit ourselves to them.  
 
Get In Action: Start now! 

4. Ordinary resolutions are postponed until it is convenient, like, “I am going to go on a
diet, but after Thanksgiving so I can enjoy all of the delicious food I won’t be able to
eat on my diet.”  
Extraordinary resolutions involve giving something up now that hurts, so that
when we have the urge to quit we think back about the price we already paid
and stay on track.  
 
Get In Action: Start your resolution at an inconvenient time!
5. Ordinary resolutions are focused on what we think we should do and what we want to

have.  
Extraordinary resolutions are focused on who we want to be and how we
experience ourselves and our life.  
 
Get In Action: Look more deeply at the true motivation behind your resolution and determine if it
is aimed at transforming your experience of life, and in what way.  

6. Ordinary resolutions are kept under wraps in an attempt to save us potential
embarrassment, in case we end up not going through with them.  
Extraordinary resolutions are boldly declared and widely shared. 
 
Get In Action: Let your community/network/friends know what you’re up to and invite them to
hold you accountable. 

7. Ordinary resolutions rely on willpower and discipline to stay on track.  
Extraordinary resolutions are based upon a solid commitment that transcends
temptations to quit. 
 
Get In Action: If your commitment is partial or conditional, reconsider your resolution. 

8. Ordinary resolutions involve great intentions, but not a detailed plan of action.  
Extraordinary resolutions are followed through with an action plan. 
 
Get In Action: Create an action plan that you will carry out consistently, no matter what. 

9. Ordinary resolutions are acted upon when it is convenient and as opportunity
presents itself.  
Extraordinary resolutions involve a structure for integrity and tangible ways to
ensure the actions we have identified get scheduled and carried out. 
 
Get In Action: Put the actions you have identified on your calendar and protect the time to perform
them.
So, why not make the process of making and keeping resolutions a year-round habit?
Have some fun with it. Experiment with some of the nine ways above that speak to you to
strengthen your resolve to cause a transformation in an area that matters to you. You could
even use some of these to put your favorite resolutions “on steroids” and have them actually
work for you.


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Fundamentals of Manifesting the Transformative Leader Within AMIRGHANNAD.

The Transformative Leader Blog

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The Ghannad Group, LLC

minutes late to an appointment, or missing a deadline, as lack of integrity; we tend to view

The Transformative Leader Blog

The transformative power of personal integrity is unleashed in those defining moments

“ The Transformative power of personal integrity is unleashed in those defining moments

The Transformative Leader Blog

The Transformative Leader Blog

The Transformative Leader Blog

THERE ARE A NUMBER OF WAYS IN WHICH ASSUMING NEGATIVE INTENT SABOTAGES

ASSUMING NEGATIVE INTENT ...

ASSUMING POSITIVE INTENT IS PERCEIVED ...

The Bottom Line:

The Transformative Leader Blog

The Transformative Leader Blog

The Transformative Leader Blog

The Transformative Leader Blog

The Bottom Line:

The Transformative Leader Blog

The Transformative Leader Blog

The Transformative Leader Blog

UNLEASH THE POWER

The Transformative Leader Blog

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The Ghannad Group, LLC

The Transformative Leader Blog

“ Don’t prioritize your schedule. Schedule your priorities.

The Transformative Leader Blog

The Transformative Leader Blog

The Bottom Line:

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The Transformative Leader Blog

The Transformative Leader Blog

What Ineffective Delegation Looks Like

What Happens When We Don’t Get It Right

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The Transformative Leader Blog

The Transformative Leader Blog

The Content of the Request Must be:

The Delivery of the Request Must:

The Transformative Leader Blog

The Transformative Leader Blog

The Bottom Line:

The Transformative Leader Blog

The Transformative Leader Blog

The Transformative Leader Blog

The Transformative Leader Blog

THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER

The Transformative Leader Blog

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The Ghannad Group, LLC

The Defining Moments of Leadership

The Transformative Leader Blog

In order to have a fruitful experience in an environment that is ripe for moments of

The Transformative Leader Blog

• I need more information/knowledge/better tools to get started or keep going

The Transformative Leader Blog

The Transformative Leader Blog

The Bottom Line:

The Transformative Leader Blog

Leadership Is a Balancing Act

• I need more information/knowledge/better tools to get started or keep going  

Get In Action: Start now! 

Get In Action: If your commitment is partial or conditional, reconsider your resolution. 