From personal development to personal empowerment

With all the hoopla over the past few months about The Secret DVD, there has been massive interest in personal development. This blog is about going beyond personal development to personal empowerment. Personal development is great. It enables you to acquire information that brings about growth in your life. Personal empowerment on the other hand is awesome because it enables you to utilize your skills to make an impact and a difference in society. The focus of personal development is on self - how you can be a better you. The focus of personal empowerment is on others - how you can use your talents to enable them to thrive in their lives.

The key to personal empowerment is engaging in personal growth with a view towards equipping others. Personal empowerment goes beyond self-actualization to people development. You have to be comfortable with getting out of your comfort zone. Most people are comfortable with developing themselves and growing for their personal ends. Few go beyond self-growth to people-growth. The truth is that true empowerment in life comes when you shift the focus from your own person to the development of others. That’s the hallmark of great leadership. Followers are great at personal development. Leaders are awesome at personal empowerment. Why? Because great leaders understand that their legacy is in developing others.

Let me provide a brief example that I hope will illustrate this better. In 2001 I was a leadership intern at the Honor Academy in Garden Valley, Texas. I arrived in Texas with a passion for personal development. I was an avid student of leadership. This resulted in my being asked to spearhead a new organization at the campus, Terra Nova, whose goal was to identify new initiatives, enhance community and cultivate a focus on the future of the Honor Academy. My responsibility as President of Terra Nova included developing my leadership council. My position gave me a title and authority but no relationship with my team. I had to build a relationship. This came through developing them as better leaders. As I focused on developing them, I became personally empowered in my leadership of the team. The quality of my personal growth was elevated since my goal wasn’t to become the best me but to enable others to become the best them. That’s personal empowerment.

Present Day Speed and the Future of Slowness

Early this year, France’s famous high-speed train, the TGV, showcased it’s high velocity in front of thousands of it’s own citizens and millions of TV watchers worldwide. Clocking up to 357 mph, the train created sparks on the rails as it blew dust on onlookers and astounded a captive global audience. Train driver Eric Pieczac said later on, “I’m delighted. It’s a mixed feeling of honor and pride to have been able to reach this speed.” His delight is understandable. We have come a long way from the 16th Century wagons that were drawn by single horses on wooden rails. We now have double-decker, powerful engines totalling up to 25,000 horse-power speeding across huge countries in short time! That’s major progress compared to the wagonways, tramways and steam engines that shaped the early days of locomotion.

However, before we start celebrating the “savior-faire” of French achievement and start wearing T-shirts with the words ”French Excellence” printed on the back, I want us to consider the implications of this. Society today is consumed with the idea of speed. All we want is the next fastest thing. We want “instant” information, “high-speed” internet, “fast” food, “rapid” results, “immediate” action, “accelerated” education, “expedited” mail, “supersonic” jets, “swift” change, even “quick” sex. What happened to slowness? The leisurely, sluggish and unhurried are branded names while the fast and quick is celebrated.

Melting Glaciers and the Future of Slow

Along with the Maglev of Japan, the world’s fastest train, which doesn’t even run on tracks but floats over a guideway in a magnetic field without touching the tracks, the TGV is a landmark of man’s progress. In this quest for faster and better, is there any future for slowness? What price are we paying in our quest for speed? It is reflected all over our society - on college campuses where students are running from class to class then to workplaces, in the corporate world where everyone’s favorite book is Business @ The Speed of Thought and in homes where fast-paced living has become the norm.

Slow should become the new fast. I was born and brought up in Africa where slow is the norm. No one has mastered the art of living slow like the people in my rural village on the shores of Lake Victoria in Western Kenya. Life is luxury for them. Their motto is “Hurry, hurry, has no blessing”. When I came to the United States in August 2001, I was astounded at the pace of life. I remember going to a grocery store during my first week when I was not yet familiar with the currency. I had a ton of coins and bills which I pulled out of my pocket and started counting slowly in front of the clerk. His look, and that of the customers behind me, could have melted a glacier! But the truth is that our fast-paced life is melting glaciers in real life. The industrial revolution, in it’s quest for better and faster, has hastened the melting of glaciers immensely (global warming is a real threat).

Embrace Your Inner Snail

Given all this, what is the future of mankind? We have a choice for high velocity or slowness. My position is that slow is cool. We all need to apply the brakes. Stress levels are rising because of the speed at which we drive our lives. Human contact has become fleeting, at best. We don’t connect any more because we are rushing for the next event. It’s time to embrace our “inner snail”. The inner snail’s motto is this: “slow and steady wins the race”. Let’s send more letters than emails, ride more bikes than drive cars, use the crock-pot rather than the microwave, visit friends and chat instead of sending text messages and make love with the person that we have chosen to take the time to slowly get to know instead of have rapid quickies.

After experiencing the fast pace of life in the US, I went back home (where the people have mastered the art of slow living) to visit in 2005. I had an opportunity to embrace my inner snail when I went to a local internet-cafe to check my email. It took me longer to open the internet and load the pages than it would have taken me to open a letter and read it. While this may be an indication of backwardness of Kenyan technology, for me it is a celebration of slowness. I had to learn the wisdom of taking a newspaper with me to the cyber-cafe and reading it as I waited for the pages to load. Oh the beauty of slow living! Slow should become the new fast. Have a slow day! (and really enjoy the slowness!).

How a Champion responds to a Challenge: Lessons from Tiger Woods, Rory Sabatini and the Bridgestone Invitational

Yesterday I had the chance to watch the World Golf Championship Bridgestone Invitational with my son. A lot of people were looking forward to the final round because Rory Sabbatini, a fiery South African had a one shot lead on Tiger and three months earlier (in May) had lost a one-shot lead to Woods in the Wachovia Championship, and then said that Woods looked "as beatable as ever." Once again, just as he did in May, Woods put on a clinic for Sabatini, clawing his way past him and finishing with an eight shot win! - the only player in red numbers at the end of the tournament! Tiger demonstrated that Rory's challenge was simply talk that could not back up. Tiger unleashed a bogey-free round that made him the first player in golf history to win the same tournament three-consecutive times, twice. Here are some ideas on how champions respond to a challenge:

Lessons from Tiger Woods, Rory Sabatini and the Bridgestone Invitational

1. Inch by Inch it’s a Cinch

Tiger won this tournament by playing consistently right from the beginning. Every hole he played counted as he advanced towards the last hole of the championship. Every inch of the course had to be played. In order to win in life you must realize that there are no short-cuts to winning. Every little effort you put into the quest for success counts. Keep plugging away.

2. Play your own game

At the end of the game, Sabatini said, "I never put any pressure on Tiger, never forced the issue, and he got far enough ahead so he could just cruise. In a sense, I played into his game." Hmm! Champions play their own game. You’ve got to play your own game. Don’t drive the ball down the fairway just because everyone else is doing that. The key to winning is to develop your own goals and timelines. This is your game, not someone else’s.

3. Don’t be intimidated

What everyone is going to talk about all week are Sabatini's words that Tiger looked as "beatable as ever." Everyone wanted to see how these words would impact Tiger. He was not moved all. He simply let his clubs do the talking for him. He stayed focused. If you are going to be a champion, you must choose to stay focused on your personal path. Let your skills do the talking.

4. Believe in your ability

Everyone has also been talking about whether Tiger can win now that he is a father. Well, he's answered that question. As everyone is wasting time talking about his abilities, Tiger is investing time in working on his game. To become a champion you must do the same. You must believe in yourself and your abilities. It doesn’t matter what may have happened to you in the past. What matters is what you believe right now. You can do it. As Norman Vincent Peale used to say, “You can if you think you can”.

5. Give yourself the best chance

Tiger gave himself the best chance by playing some really clean golf on the front nine. After the game, he said, "I just kept making par after par after par, and the weather kept changing, kept getting more difficult, and I felt if I could just keep making a bunch of pars, the guys were going to have to get greedy and aggressive to some of these pins and probably make a mistake." (Click here to read the entire interview) You have to up your game in the crucial moments of life. That’s how you give yourself the best chance to win.

Much kudos to Tiger; a great lesson for all of us.