It sounds ridiculous, right?

Imagine walking into McDonalds with a group of people in evening gowns and tuxedos.

It’s about the same thing as walking into court in pajamas. Clearly, you’re not dressed for the occasion.

Your dress tells us a lot about your attitude toward the day.

Sweatclothes says “this is relaxed” and suits, dresses, and uniforms say “this is important.”

Much like how you dress for the occasion, your mind is dressed for the occasion, too.

At times, your mind is wearing pajamas. It’s relaxed, indifferent to what happens, and takes a casual approach to the day.

Other times, Your mind is dressed in a tuxedo. It’s in high gear, ready to approach the next task, and willing to put it’s best foot forward.

Think about it. Do you wear a tuxedo or evening gown with disheveled hair, unbrushed teeth, a dirty face, and tattered sneakers? No. You go out of our way on special occasions to make yourself look your best.

The question I have for you is: how often does your mind wear a tuxedo?

How often are you taking a formal approach to your leadership? How often are you preparing your mind for getting the most out of your day?

You might not wear a tuxedo to McDonalds. But, if your mind was wearing one, you might not make the same order as you would if you showed up in your mental pajamas.

In the video “What is Leadership?” we discussed briefly the four fundamentals of leadership. The four fundamentals are:

1. The End.
2. The Start.
3. The Path.
4. The Activity.

These four fundamentals are what make up the leadership process. To explain this in better detail, I’d like to relate this to a trip to the grocery store.

The End

The leader begins with the end in mind. Why do we go to the grocery store? Simple. To get food. Our end result is that we walk out of the store with enough food for ourselves and our families.

Some people even make lists before they go to the grocery. These lists help them to remember what their end result should be.

Also, some people clip coupons before they go. These people want the end result of their total bill to be decreased. So, when people clip coupons, they are thinking ahead to save money.

The point is: when you go to the grocery, you have an end result in mind: get the food.

The Start

Guess why we go to the grocery? Because our food supplies are diminishing, or are diminished. We want more food so that we can eat to survive.

Many people go through their fridge and cupboards before they embark on their journey so that they can decide what they need more of.

If you don’t need milk, maybe you won’t travel by the milk section. If your freezer is full, maybe you don’t need to travel down the frozen foods aisle.

The point is: You have a starting point that determines where you are starting from, which impacts the path you have to take.

The Path

Now that you know your starting conditions, and you know what you want for your end result, you map out the path you’re going to take.

If you know the store well, you probably look at your list and try to map out the best way to get through the store in the shortest amount of time.

You know you have to travel the store and pick up your items and place them into the cart. Then you check out, you load the car, you travel home, and you unload the groceries to their new destination.

The point is: the leader must travel a certain path to get what he or she wants.

The Activity

We know that just thinking about the grocery store is not enough. If we’re going to get the groceries, we’ve got to travel to the store, pick the groceries up, and bring them home.

The point is: We’ve got to work to make the vision of the future a reality.

Measuring Effectiveness

A burning question is: Because leadership is a process, is it possible to measure the effectiveness of the process?

And the answer is: of course.

Tomorrow, we’ll discuss specifically how to measure the effectiveness of leadership.