Leadership Institute®: Lisa Nichols on Playing Outside Your Comfort Zone
 The mark of a great leader, according to Lisa Nichols – author, businesswoman, renowned motivational speaker and participant in the self-development movement known as The Secret – is the courage to "play outside your comfort zone." That means being ready to embrace new opportunities in spite of any fears you may have of failing, or as Nichols put it, "even with your knees knocking and your teeth chattering."The CEO of Motivating the Teen Spirit, LLC, whose latest book, No Matter What, has landed on The New York Times bestseller list, was the keynote speaker at Wednesday’s Leadership Institute® Breakfast. Nichols offered her own story as an example of succeeding against the odds. Recalling that she struggled in school and was told she would never do well at writing or public speaking, she told the audience that leaders must be determined to follow their dreams regardless of naysayers. "You have to move every other option off the table," she said. In Nichols’ view, another sign of a true leader is humility and gratitude in the face of success. She relayed a lesson she learned during a moment she and her 81-year-old grandmother shared when she took the elder woman with her to Chicago for her guest appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." The limo was waiting outside their hotel to take them to the television studio when her grandmother instructed Nichols to first make the bed, wipe out the bathroom sink and leave a generous tip for the housekeeper. Out of respect, Nichols obliged, but she wanted to know the reason why. Her grandmother reminded her that her great-grandmother had been a day worker who often had to clean up behind people who deliberately made their rooms "extra nasty" to make her job harder. On the other hand, she told her: "On the days your great-grandmother received a good tip, we were able to eat meat for dinner." No matter what level of greatness you achieve, she went on to say, "Don’t you ever forget that you are walking on your ancestors’ shoulders." While Nichols believes each person’s dream, or vision, is a unique gift to him or her from God, she said it is a gift meant to be used to improve the lives of others. That lesson, too, came from her grandmother. "It’s not just what you do while you’re here that makes a difference," she said the elder woman taught her. "It’s how you transform someone’s life that will let your worth and your name live on." The Leadership Institute® breakfast was sponsored by FedEx. |
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