What are you building?

As leaders, we should constantly be building. We should be building up our people, we should be building relationships. We should be building on our successes - on what works for our team and our organization. We should be looking at what's not working and see if we can build something positive from whatever is lacking.

What is making me write all this? Well, I guess it's because I read a lot of blogs and that means I read a fair amount of ranting posts...ranting about what we don't like, what we think is wrong with other people or organizations, and what somebody needs to fix. I've even ranted a few times, myself. Ranting is probably cathartic at times, but when you step back and look at it, does ranting get you anywhere long-term?

So, what's our direction? We should ask ourselves that question on a regular basis. What's our direction? Are we moving forward? Are we marking time, stagnant in our work and maybe our lives? Or worse yet, are we moving backward, moving downward away from the positive parts of existence?

Each of us only has so much time on this earth. While we don't need to get maudlin about our lives as we age, it's not something we can just dismiss. At least it shouldn't be. If we're blessed with leadership qualities, we have a responsibility - no - mission to help build whenever we have the chance. People are looking to their leaders for direction and it's up to us to point them in the right way.

What are you building? What's your direction? If you don't know, give it some thought and get moving...forward.