Every leader knows that at some point, if he or she doesn’t step away from the business at hand, burnout will be the inevitable result. He also knows he is tasked with making decisions that are never easy but necessary.
 
Making decisions is never easy with Kingsley GrantStepping away does not mean leave or sell the business. For some it may mean that, but that’s not what I’ll be talking about here.
 
For sometime now I have felt the need to take time to reassess. You and I have heard that “To continue to do the same thing and expect to get different results, is a sign of insanity.” 
 
I’ve found myself for the past several months taking a long hard look at where I am in my business. Have you ever done that? If you haven’t, you ought to consider doing so.
 
One of the things that I began to look at was my weekly podcast – The Midlife Launch. I’ve been at it for about two years now and I’ve truly enjoyed it. The best part of the show has been the number of interviews I’ve had with some incredible guests.
 
The show gave me an opportunity to build relationships with some awesome people some of which have continued to this day.
 
Having gone to events and personally meeting some of these guests have just been the “icing on the cake.”
 
As most Podcasters will tell you, we thrive on the feedback we receive from our audience members. They are the reason we do our shows. 
 
Some will say they are doing it for themselves. My thing is, why do a podcast if it is just for oneself. Why not just journal to yourself.
 
Others may say it is their way of refining their overall message, which to some degree I understand. I’ve done that as well and found that my message became clearer as time went by.
 
However, the feedback gives a better indication or measurement of what is happening.
 
This measurement takes place through comments and downloads of the episodes. When there is little or no feedback, it is time to make changes.
 
Let me interject here just in case you are wondering what does this post have to do with leadership. So far it seems like it is all about podcasting. Well it’s not as you’ll see in a few minutes.
 
Take any branch of your business, which I hope has more than just one aspect of it, and substitute it for podcasting. 
 
It could be speaking, which is also one of the three main areas of my business. 
 
You could look at it and ask yourself, how is it going? What is the feedback like? The feedback would be in the form of speaking engagements and money being made from it. Is it profitable?
 
If you are not seeing a positive feedback loop being formed, then you would need to do as I’ve suggested above; take a serious look at the business.
 
I’m, as of this post, listening to the audiobook of the E-myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. In it he talks about working ON your business as opposed to always working IN your business.
 
Working ON your business means taking time to do the things that generates more business – marketing, networking, visioning, etc. For me it also means taking a look at what is working and what is not working.
 
This is what I did. Hence my mention of the podcast. 
 
Even though the podcast in and of itself is not the end game of the business, it is a means to an end for the business. It is about getting the message “out there” through this medium.
 
This is an important part of it. The engagement process gauges whether or not if is working. 
 
Each episode requires a lot of time and effort. As you know, time is a very valuable commodity. It must be used wisely.
 
Here is where the leadership aspect come in; it is about making decisions. Every leader at some point will have to make major decisions that will affect how the business is run. This is part of leadership.
 
Sometimes those decision will require doing away with or adding some thing(s). At times these are the most agonizing time of a Leader’s life. He knows the moment he makes that tough decision, will be the moment he becomes open target. He will be praised by some for his decision, and abhorred by others. He cannot win.
 
This is what leadership is about. It’s part and parcel of the position. You cannot escape it.
 
Having taking some time to look at my overall business strategy, I realize that something has to give. I have to change my approach. I want different results. Hence I’m making some decisions.
 
Here are some of the changes I’ve decided.
 
  1. Put the podcast on hold. I call it “on hiatus.” I don’t know if I will go back to it. But one never knows.
  2. Shift my focus to the high performance male leader who wants to grow his business and increase revenue but feel constrained by inhouse relationship squabbles. I want to help him with how to navigate this process.
 
This shift doesn’t veer too much off the path from where I was. The person to whom I’ve always targeted my business, was that midlife man who is leading his family and is in some leadership role at his workplace.
 
But my original message was focused on helping him launch a business on the side. I gave “him” all I could. I see it as also my preparation process.
 
One cannot stay in launch forever. There has to be other layers added.
 
You could say this is one of my new layers.
 
My overall new focus will be on the high performance male leader, helping him find ways to do these three things: 
Be: 
  1. Courageous
  2. Contagious
  3. Courteous
 
I will be writing a blog article for each of these cornerstones in future blogposts.
 
In summary, I hope to share more of this shift that’s taking place and more concrete ideas some of which I have no clue as to what it is at this point. It is fluid right now. I’m open and just wanted to share this with you. 
 
I hope this post made sense to you and gives you an overall idea of what is going on. This was a burden on my mind for the last few weeks since I decided to make the shift.
 
Can I ask you this one thing … stay with me and help me with this journey? 
 
I have also created a Facebook group where I’ll be sharing much more. If you are over 30 years of age and is a high performance male leader, please join the Facebook group. It is at www.facebook.com/ValiantLeader.
 
 
 
 

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