Category: In The News

The Leadership Minute #82 – Give Up Excuses (Current Events Edition)

Post author By Dave Guerra
Post date August 17, 2016

Welcome to the Leadership Minute #82 and it is the Current Events edition of things to Give Up To Be a Successful Leader. Today I am continuing my talk about Giving up Excuses.

When I first started writing the notes to this video I had a little trouble finding a real world current event that I could use then it happened.

At the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio at the 400 Meter Hurdle quarterfinals US athlete and the youngest to ever qualify for this Olympic event, Sydney McLaughlin, a 17-year-old high school senior was interviewed after the race that put her into the finals and that’s when it happened. While she did not finish in the top three to automatically move her into the semifinals her time had to beat the rest of the remaining athletes to fill in the other spots in the semis. Her youth, inexperience, and overly ambitious reporter got the better of her. She started with the excuses as to why she did not finish in the top three.

“It’s hard coming to a place like this, so many people, so much expectations, the rain, the change in weather, I’m sick – I have a cold. It’s a lot to take in, a lot to process, and a lot to deal with at the same time.”

Having a daughter just a less than a year younger than McLaughlin who also happens to participate in her high school track and field saw all the excuses right off the bat.

One you are not there to see the crowd. The only expectations are your own and as world class athlete you know that by now. The ringer was that she had a cold. Like I said she is 17 years old and her inexperience dealing with the media came shining through. Here was a great opportunity to be a role model for her peers and those future Olympians but instead gave the opposite.

She gave what kids her age give. Again, I am not blaming her but it does show the inexperience. It does show that people will blame others and make excuses to their advantage or they think it is to their advantage. Ultimately, it is just fronts, it’s a barrier and that’s not good leadership.

Thank you,
David Guerra

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Veterans, 2016 Elections, and Hope & Change

Post author By Dave Guerra
Post date August 3, 2016

The following is something I recently posted on my Facebook page – http://www.facebook.com/thedavidguerra
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FullSizeRender(3) I would like to take this time to talk about something that is really close to my heart.

The great thing about Facebook is that you can join just about any group on just about any topic. Those that know me know that I am Veteran (former active duty US Army Infantry) and am I member of several veteran groups here on Facebook. There was a post today that made me think about the last 8 years and the 8 years before that.

The post read, “I sure hope that whatever party takes on the presidency will make this a top priority and gets those Vets the help they need…”

Folks, whether it is Veteran Issues, LGBTQ, Race relations, Elder issues or anything else, the past 16 years have taught us that we can NO LONGER hope. Those days of hope and change are gone! Those days of wishing and praying for a better future are out the window.

What needs to be done is to STEP UP, TAKE A STAND, and DELIVER A MESSAGE that is clearly UNDERSTOOD and ACTED UPON.

We can no longer act like pawns and puppets. The days of looking for someone to take care of us ended the day we became members of society. There is NO expectation of anything. My grandparents and great-grandparents worked for what they had. My two grandfathers did not even expect to survive when they were called to go and fight against Nazism, Fascism and Imperialism during World War II but they made it back after working hard to help win that war.

I stepped up and did my part when I joined the US Army and was at the front-line against Communism in West Berlin. It was touch and go but we won the Cold War without it ever getting hot.

Now, we fight a different war and yet people seem to look at it as if it is a problem that belongs to others and nothing they should be bothered with. Unfortunately, it is a problem that belongs to us. Right here, RIGHT NOW!

In World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War, OIF & OEF, the only hope was to come home without getting your ass shot off. Many did but many did not come back in one piece or did not come back at all.

We owe it to them, the ones that are gone, the ones we will never see again, the ones that we called our friends, our buddies, our brothers, to stop hoping and start acting on making a change. We owe it to our battle buddies today that are suffering because of the “hope and change” and the “promises” that things will be different. We owe them the opportunity they never had or don’t get a chance at.

We are still soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen and though we might be a little slow on the draw, the time has come to stop hoping for a change and start ACTING TO MAKE CHANGE HAPPEN.

Thank you for your time and let’s get out there,
David Guerra
Infantry, US Army (Veteran)

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Things To Give Up To Be Successful: Give Up The Need To Impress Others

Post author By Dave Guerra
Post date July 23, 2016

Things To Give Up To Be A Successful Leader

Give Up The Need To Impress Others

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Why do we impress others?
Easy for me to say. I am a writer, a videographer, a photographer, and many other things.

Why do I do them? For those that do not know me or only live in a shallow will believe that I do this to impress others. I do it because I can, I want to, and most of all when I set my mind to something I do it.

There have been many people in my life that see what I do and believe what to do is being a show off. However, they are entitled to their opinion of me. That is all up to them but there are just some things that I have done that do not justify what they believe.

I wanted to join the US Army and be an infantryman and I did. I waited before starting a family and I did. I started a business and I did, several of them as a matter of fact. I wanted to write a book and I did, six of them so far. Do you see where I am going with this?

All of the things that I did for myself, I did because I want to leave a legacy for my children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. I did these things mostly because I wanted to, so I challenged myself and I did it.

Sure, my younger self was all about impressing my parents, my friends, my family, my bosses, my teachers but eventually you start to figure out that you can only write checks you can cash.
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Why do we need to give up the need to impress?
Have some respect for yourself. Impressing others gets you nowhere. However, impressing yourself gets you everywhere.

Have respect for others, as no one likes a show off. Trying to impress others minimizes your impact on others. They will never be certain on just how authentic you really are.

Get rid of that uncertainty by going with your instincts and not the facade that comes with trying to impress others.
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How To Impress Others Without Actually Trying To Impress Others.

Be Authentic. By being real, that comes through and those that see you out will do so because of your authenticity.

Be Yourself. As the saying goes, “Be Yourself Because Everyone Else Is Taken.”

Just be yourself and the place that will take you, will most certainly astound you.
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What do you do when others are trying to impress you?

Before you do anything rash, find out why they are trying to impress you.

If they are trying to impress you for selfish reason. Let’s say they are name dropping, remember in this social media age, EVERYONE is just one mouse click away. Ask yourself and them what purpose does name dropping serve?

However, if they are trying to impress you for selfless reasons, hear them out. Then give them feedback.

Then make certain to let them know the next time to not work too hard to impress. Let them know to just be themselves.

It works for you, it will work for them.
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The Only Person You Need To Impress Is Yourself.

I firmly believe that we must challenge ourselves daily as that is the only way we are going to overcome our need to impress others. By challenging ourselves we make ourselves better people.

My mantra is “Be Better Than You Were Yesterday.” What’s your mantra?

Whatever, that mantra is it should be one that serves your and acts as a motivator to get you to where you really want to be.

Challenge Yourself Constantly. Out do yourself constantly.

When you are constantly challenging yourself, you have absolutely no time to worry about others and what they think or believe. Most importantly, you have no time to worry about whether or not they are impressed by you and what you do.

Keep your challenges up-to-date and changing. Because when you stop changing, you are more apt to fall back into MEDIOCRITY.

You know what happens when you fall back into mediocrity and what it leads to: TRYING TO IMPRESS OTHERS

So embrace change and give up the need to impress others! Challenge yourself to impress ONLY yourself.

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David G. Guerra, MBA