Last week I spent two full days conducting a client session on Developing the Leader Within. At the end of the session I challenged this team of leaders to use a Leadership Attribute that is difficult to teach and grow: the leader's WILL. There are times in the life cycle of family, business and certainly sport where leaders must just WILL things into being.

According to dictionary.com, WILL used as a verb with an object is to:
wish; desire; like: for example, "Go where you will."

My wife Jenni and I recently visited Washington DC where I spoke to 200 executives. I played professional Hockey for the Washington Capitals from 1978 to 1982, so for us it was nostalgic to return to see the core of the city again. We discovered one significant change in the National Mall: the addition of the WW II Memorial between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials.

As we walked the periphery, the words of author Walter Lord etched into the east wall, describing the impact of the Battle of Midway June 4-7 1942, caught my eye:
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"They had no right to win, yet they did and in doing so they changed the war... Even against the greatest of odds there is something in the human spirit, a magic blend of skill, faith and valour that can lift men from certain defeat to incredible victory."

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I believe this is a much fuller and more accurate description of WILL. The best athletes that I have played with and coached have developed and displayed this inner quality called WILL. In the end this is how NHL teams win Stanley Cups and how you will personally WIN the next season of your life. You will WILL it!

Many of us have experienced difficult times through this tough economy... all of us are leaders and leaders end up with problems. The key component to being your best as a leader is to find ways to inspire your personal INNER energy. People are looking for leaders with WILL, who know where they are going and are resolute in their desire to get there.

How aptly Walter Lord's words also describe what I call the Hungry spirit. People who are HUNGRY stay the course in applying this attribute of WILLING things into being.
(Look for our newest book HUNGRY! Feeding your appitite for Success. to be released at www.ryanwalter.com  soon... it will deal with both WILL and the HUNGRY spirit.)
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"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent. The slogan "press-on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."

John Calvin Coolidge, 30th US President
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Erma Louise Bombeck suggests that there are people who put their dreams in a little box and say, "Yes, I've got dreams, of course I've got dreams.'" Then they put the box away and bring it out once in awhile to look in it, and yep, they're still there. These are great dreams, but they never even get out of the box. It takes an uncommon amount of guts to put your dreams on the line, to hold them up and say, "How good or how bad am I?" That's where courage comes in.

Coolidge is right. Erma is right. Staying hungry, focusing our WILL and determination to pull our dreams out of the box and work towards finishing them off does take courage and ultimately is how we WIN!

So here are your marching orders as we end 2010 and head towards 2011... Over this next season of life:

1- re-evaluate what you want to BE and DO?
2- re-establish and understand the price you are willing to pay to get what you want?
3- re-ignite your inner WILL to make it happen!

Have an amazing week!

Call me this week 1 866 728 3603