The EAGLE Mentality

I’m inspired by the stories of innovators like Andrew Carnegie. Andy surrounded himself with big thinking resourceful people. How he got them is a secret that is open to all of us. Mr. Carnegie went on to become the greatest philanthropist of his generation because he knew how to get the right people and empower them for broad-based action.

In a way, we can say that Andrew Carnegie surrounded himself with eagles. Eagles in this sense represent leaders of the highest calibre. The tricky thing about eagles is that they don’t flock; you have to find them one at a time. Most organizations end up with turkeys instead of eagles because they are position conscious and take whoever shows up. Eagles don’t show up. You have to go and look for them. Here are six marks of an eagle:

1. Eagles are catalysts of experiences - Eagles make things happen based on their skills and abilities. They walk the road less traveled, defying models in order to blaze new trails.

2. Eagles possess great vision and execution - Eagles don’t perch on a tree and wait for manna to fall from heaven. They go out and look for opportunities. They are not risk averse.

3. Eagles are change agents - Eagles influences others in positive ways. They are 360° influencers. Their influence is not restricted by attributes like age or profession.

4. Eagles are multipliers of value - Growing organizations have people who bring added value to the company but great organizations have people who multiply value. The average organization has people who subtract value while the mediocre organization has people who divide value.

5. Eagles empower eagles to lead - Birds of a feather flock together because only they have an uncanny ability to bring out the best in each other. Eagles don’t hang out with hawks.

6. Eagles are sources of creativity - Eagles hunt for ideas that result in quantum growth for the organization. Because of this, an organization with eagles will always be a leader of the pack.