When is a Leader No longer a Leader? When He's a Greeder!

A Leader leaves a legacy that benefits all? A Greeder...is all for self.

So what is real leadership about?

I recently read an article about a business owner (Leonard Abess) who sold his business and gave his present, and ex-staff, 60 million dollars, as a thank-you gift for being part of making it happen. Yes... almost half a Billion rands...he gave away to staff.

Now there is a statement about the real appreciation of value of the human element! So many leaders and managers blithely mouth off about...”our staff are our most important asset”, and then continue to treat them like an expendable cost to be reduced or minimised.

Maybe that’s because companies are usually run by the people who focus more on the numbers than on the real value of life.

On top of this generous, higher ground leadership, gesture, his historical company policy, was to be one of the top paying companies when ranked by compensation per employee.

In simple terms... they paid their staff well from the get-go, as well.
The benefits the company received were numerous... loyalty, talent retention (up to 50 years), high engagement levels, high trust levels, better relationships, increased revenue, happy customers plus numerous other benefits.

All of this put them into the top 15 companies in the country, when measured by revenue-per-employee. This sounds wonderful, and what I would term, a company lead by a higher ground leader with a real HEART as well as a head – but why do so few leaders do it? Maybe they have no choice!

Is your Leader a GREEDER?

Too many companies are run and lead by pure “bean counters” – They trade in human energy, with little regard for the human. They are similar to the movie I watched recently, about human trafficking, where the “asset”, typically a very young woman, is sold, over and over and over and over and over .... daily!

The only thing that matters to the traffickers is the MONEY. Nothing else!

Sounds just like some shareholders I heard of recently. I’m sure you know the kind of person that I’m alluding to.

A leader truly cares about their people on a heart level – A Greeder only cares for the cash!

I meet so many people who basically give their life to the “company”. They are “managed” to give up most of their precious family and personal time, their health, their best years, their core life ENERGY...all for what?

And most of them really dislike their J.O.B. and are completely stressed out.

You are selling your Soul too cheaply!

Take this test quickly... calculate the basic value of all of your assets (eg R750,000– minus all of your liabilities. (Say R550,000) You now have a number left over (R200,000) – let’s call this your nett asset value. Hopefully it is a positive number!

Now calculate how many days you have been working since you started working. So as an example...if you’ve worked for 20 years, it’s about 50weeks x 5days= 250 working days per year x 20 years = 5000 working days – approximately. Let’s call this your working days factor. Do your own calcs here.

Now take your nett asset value and divide it by the workingdays factor. An example looks like this: nett asset value (200,000) / workingdays factor (5000) = Sold Soul Factor (40). Thats' R40 per day!

Now look at that number and ask yourself... Am I happy to have sold my Soul to the “devil” or whoever else pressurises you to perform for the shareholders, for a measly R40 per day?

Is this really what your life has amounted to so far? Just R40 per day? That’s R5 per hour, to take all of the #@%$ you get at the office. Is that what the residual financial value of each day has been for you?

And will this sustain you into your old age? Unlikely! Very unlikely.

Extensive research from the insurance companies provides very real and scary numbers regarding retirement and lack of funds to live reasonably after leaving the workplace.

We need real leadership to change these appalling destinies. We need leaders who care more about people that numbers.

Most of the money people earn is just enough to put the crucial fuel-of-life into their energy tanks (food, electricity, water, clothing, petrol, insurance, shelter etc). How much do they have left over each month?

For many people, usually, there is more month left at the end of the money!

Is this what intelligent life is meant to be about?...Raw survival of the fittest and fattest?

The Big Tsunami?

So what’s the big deal? Well the very big deal is this... by the time you retire from the typical workplace, willingly or unwillingly, it’s a strong possibility that you are going to run out of money and have to eat dog-food, or such like, before you reach, a very likely age, of around 85-95.

Well maybe not you... but at least around 70% of your staff, who are helping you to have the wonderful lifestyle you do have presently.

So let’s take a look at this from the top. We have a leader (probably a greeder), running a company, trafficking... sorry... using human energy for the greater good of himself and the small group of shareholders, who don’t really need much more money to live on.

All of this... whilst the humans / “the werkers!”...are oblivious of the approaching financial tsunami.

For me, this old greedership style approach is just heartless... “let’s devise ways to sell / use this human energy, make and horde the most money we can and ignore the fact that they, these simple souls, have an undeniably challenging and possibly, bleak future... and then we’ll pass this money on to our a small number of kids”.

I think understand capitalism... or was it commercialism... a little?

If it’s true that our staff are really our most important assets... and if it’s true that we all are interdependent and inter-connected... and if it’s true that in our heart, if we have a real one, we have compassion for those who are part of our life’s journey... then surely we can find a better way to show up in this world.

Surely it’s time to become higher ground leaders, rather than greeders.

The 4 Gateway Questions

Imagine if... when your body died and your Soul moved on... you were asked a few simple questions by the “angels” before you passed through the gates of heaven.

Question 1: How much LOVE and COMPASSION did you bring to the planet?

Question2: How GENEROUS were you with everybody?

Question3: How much WISDOM did you gain?

Question4: Would it be ok, right now, for you to re-experience... ALL and every negative experience, whatever... pain, hurt, hardship, sadness, shame, that you perpetrated on any other Souls during your lifetime?

I thought long and hard about question #4. Hmmm... I have to stop writing these articles! Even I’m starting to see life in a new light.

Maybe, If I chose to be a Higher Ground Leader, I too could do a whole lot more... than I have up until now.

Maybe a real leader looks after ALL of the stakeholders and not just the share-holders.

Maybe we have given our power away and given control, political and otherwise, to thugs, yobs and heartless self-interested greeders, whose sense of integrity and concern for us, is seriously misdirected and totally selfish.

Maybe we are to blame, because we have allowed, and participated, in a system that values the “numbers” more than hearts and our interdependent humanity.

If it is to be, It’s up to......ME
Maybe now...we are the ones who can take the action to make some changes to create a more appealing, loving and sustainable way forward.

All I know, is that under this nice facade, this wonderful emaciated veneer of... “all-is-kinda... ok”... that... ALL is not!

It’s time for real leaders to be developed and stand up. It’s time for us all to take responsibility for our actions and results. It’s time to do what is necessary to build proper and effective systems and resources in our governments and organisations that teaches, each and every, person about their financial opportunities, challenges, responsibilities and consequences.

It’s time to bring some heart into our way of business and life. It’s really time... to stop droning on and starting to do something ... something positive, powerful and proactive.

If we, as leaders, embrace our responsibility, of inspiring and supporting others to become higher ground leaders too... Leaders in their own lives, leaders in their families, leaders in their community, leaders in their workplace – then maybe... just maybe... we can begin to bring some real viable hope back into the lives of our rainbow nation.

So back to the beginning... When is a leader not a leader? Each time we make a decision that impacts more than just yourself, we have a choice.

To move closer to the greedership side of scale, or closer to the higher ground leadership side of the scale. Which will it be for your next decision? Can you care enough? Do you actually have the heart?

Next time you look at one of your staff members, ask yourself, “what can I really do as a higher ground leader, to support this person to add value to our business and have a far better quality of life for themselves, and to have more meaning and joy in their lives?”

Next time you have a decision to make – ask yourself the question... How can I act more like a higher ground leader and less like a greeder?

If you really listen to your souls’ inner-voice you’ll possibly start to find and create better responses to the angels’ 4 Heaven gateway questions.

Anyone ready for Higher Ground leadership coaching or Change Your Financial Future coaching and workshops? Lets collaborate...Let’s take action... now!

Get your free "Riding The RAZOR" Report - email RTRSG@coachfree.com

Namaste’