Leo, a newly promoted Vice President in a major corporation, came to me for coaching.  He said, “I want to be compelling.”

I said, “I can help you with that. What’s the message you’re trying to get across?”

Leo said, “Oh! Do you think I need one?”

Leo wanted to be compelling because, well, he wanted to be compelling.  That was it.  He had no real message.

We see too much of this.  All show and no substance.  People who want to be powerful only to get attention. Or status. Or admiration. Or to be told they’re compelling.

I sent Leo away on a mission. I told him that when he found something real, something that emanated from the core of his true purpose as a human being, something that would actually help others, that would help make the world a better place, that this would be the time to come back and I would help him be compelling.

Only then would Leo have a message worthy of compelling others.

People make the mistake of thinking, “I have to be compelling.”  If you look at truly great leaders in the world, I’m talking about the truly great ones, it wasn’t they who were compelling – it was the big idea they stood for, it was the big idea that was driving them that others found compelling. 

A great leader stands for something.  And others find that something compelling.

You have to stand for something.  And you have to communicate it well.  Then you are compelling.

Leo came back 3 months later and said, “I have my message.  I know what I stand for.”

It was easy after that.  We elevated his ability to communicate and present eloquently and powerfully, and Leo went on to become a highly respected, admired and influential leader.  He is followed by many.  As a result, Leo has done his organization, and his industry, a world of good.  He is compelling.  It seems to all flow naturally now.

As we go into this New Year, it’s a good time to take a little “time out” to take a measure of ourselves and to ask, “What do I stand for?”

Add to that, “What is my message to the world?”

There is something you bring to this world that is uniquely you.

It’s easy to get into the daily grind, running from meeting to meeting, racing to meet deadlines, and forget that there’s a deeper purpose to your being here, that there’s something important you’re here to do.  That you have a purpose to fulfill that’s uniquely yours, the purpose that makes you truly happy.  The one that shines your light.

No one will find it for you.  But there’s nothing holding you back from finding it and communicating it clearly to the world when you do find it.  Make this the year you fully express it.  It will make it a good year for you.  And we will all be truly better for it.

So, as you face this new year of your life, what do you stand for?  What is your message?

Find that, and then stand tall and communicate.

Be the cause!