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

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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The Leadership Minute #81 – Give Up Excuses


I am going to talk about Giving Up Excuses as one way To Be A Successful Leader.

You’ve heard the old saying, Excuses are like a certain body part, everyone has one. Nothing truly says that your level of maturity is not where it should be, you are not ready to take responsibility for your actions and you are not ready for anything that comes with the job of being a leader than being a leader that makes excuses for everything good or bad, chiefly bad.

People want to know that they have a leader that inspires them because he or she is confident, has high self-esteem and is ready to handle any situation good or bad. What people do not want is a leader that is uncertain, unproven, wishy-washy and most of all they do not want a leader that will throw them under the bus
the moment something goes wrong.

Unless if blatant there should never any reason for a leader to blame others or use others as an excuse as to why something went wrong or did not meet the expectations of the organization.

Remember, in any organization it is the leader that is there for his or her followers and not the other way around
As a leader you look good because your followers make you look good. When you look bad or your followers look bad the first and only question that should be asked and answered is who is the leader?

Thank you,

David Guerra

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blog Change Current Events In The News Leadership Walking Leader

Veterans, 2016 Elections, and Hope & Change

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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