Interesting subject line, I imagine. Well, at least for some of us who are still aspiring to that monetary level.
It’s funny that this would somehow find it’s way into the subject line of a blog post of mine. It was only several months ago that I read a book my mother sent me, called “The Five Lessons a Millionaire Taught Me: About Life and Wealth”.
Nonetheless, I had a very interesting conversation with a millionaire friend of mine just last week. I had prefaced the call by telling him I was a big personal development freak – you know, one of those guys who has listened to so many inspirational personal development speakers and read so many of their books that you get sick talking to me sometimes. J I know he is also one of those guys – coincidence? Probably not, but I’ll save that lecture for another post. I wanted to talk with him specifically about the personal development choices he has made in his life. I first met him when he was more humbly making only a couple of hundred thousand a year. He was one of my first mentors in my career. This year, as a big shot at VoIP vendor Avaya, he stands to make nearly $2m. So, when someone accomplishes that in just a few short years, I want to find out his secrets.
Well, suffice it to say, our conversation started fairly normally. We gave each other updates on our careers, friends, family, etc. It had been nearly a year since we’d last talked, so it was nice to get caught up. However, our conversation turned a direction I didn’t expect. However, I’m glad it turned that direction and that’s the real reason I’m blogging about this now.
Todd and I talked about leadership. No, not the Peter Drucker kind of leadership. We’ve both already memorized all of his work. Nope, no Stephen Covey or Brian Tracy or Jim Rohn, or any others who are famous for their teachings on leadership. No, believe it or not, we talked about a different kind of leadership.
We talked about what it meant and what it took to lead our families. We talked about the roles we held in our husband/wife relationships, the father/child relationships, and how those roles defined who we are as men. It was a very valuable conversation.
In the end, we both acknowledged how difficult it can be to accomplish all we aspire to professionally, while still being good fathers and husbands. More so, we acknowledged it is much easier to be successful professionally than in either of these much more important areas of our lives. Then, we took it a step further and agreed that it was easier to be a good father than a good husband. Because, partly at least, children look up to their fathers as leaders. While, most often, wives don’t – or at least aren’t relegated to do so.
So, we both agreed that we’d get together in a few weeks, every few weeks to talk through how we were doing and to report our successes and failures. Todd recommended I read a book, and now that I’m a few chapters into it, I’m happy to recommend it to any of you who are looking to be a true leader in your family. The book is called “Point Man” by Steve Ferrar. You can find it and the other 2 books by the same author I bought at Amazon.com. It’s inexpensive and easy to read. It’s also a very quick read. I just got it today and I’m about 1/5 through it. It’ll change your way of thinking about your responsibilities.
I feel compelled to wish for each of you a life of health, wealth and happiness. I believe that only comes from a balanced life that includes family, friends, and career successes all masterfully gelled together into a coherent masterpiece executed by each of us with our most fervent intention.
Good Luck!