When I travel I always enjoy getting my morning copy of USA Today.  Over the last several months, its content has provided some amazing leadership content.
The following are 12 Things Great Leaders Are Constantly Thinking About I gleaned from various articles.  First is the lesson followed by the leader and their quote.
July 10
  • Great Leaders Are Possibility Thinkers – Cori “Coco” Gauff, 15 yr old tennis player said, “I have my ultimate goal which is to be the greatest.  A lot of people kind of try to say, ‘Oh, that won’t happen.’  But I really do believe that you should really dream high and dream to the highest possibility because anything (is) possible.”
July 23
  • Great Leaders Are Constantly Thinking New Thoughts And About Solving Problems – Parachute founder and CEO Ariel Kaye said, “Growing a business is hard, and I’ve consistently and continued to hear ‘no’ more often that I hear ‘yes’ in so many ways, so really being able to show up every day and fight through challenging moments and let those challenges be things that fire me up and keep me engaged.  Also, being really open to learning.  So much of building a business is solving problems, and I view that more as embracing opportunities.”
  • Great Leaders Are Constantly Thinking About What’s Next – Kaye added, “Don’t sweat the small stuff – don’t get in your own way, get out of your way and focus on moving forward.”
July 25
  • Great Leaders Are Constantly Thinking About Selecting The Right People For Their Teams – Glamsquad CEO Amy Shecter says the company selects only one of six applicants.
  • Great Leaders Are Constantly Thinking About Their Organization’s Financial Performance –  HydraFacial CEO Clint Carnell realized, “When you are growing a business, everybody spends a lot of time talking about financial performance but financial performance is just the byproduct of having great people.”
  • Great Leaders Are Constantly Thinking About Their Culture – Carnell, whose number of employees have grown from 145 to 450 since 2016, said, “Culture has been the thing that we’ve worked the hardest to build.”
  • Great Leaders Are Constantly Thinking About Their Brand – Author Rhonda Abrams noted, “Happy motivated employees create loyal customers.  And an unhappy employee can ruin the brand experience for many customers.  If you want to build your small business, be committed to your employees, and they’ll help build your bottom line.”
  • Great Leaders Are Constantly Thinking About Their Employees – Richard Branson said, “Customers come second, employees first.”
  • Great Leaders Are Constantly Thinking About Their Customers – Andrea Hopped of Zappos said,”Zappos is a customer service company that just happens to sell shoes and clothes.”
  • Great Leaders Are Constantly Thinking About The Organization’s Core Values – One of Zappos’ core values is “Create Fun and a Little Weirdness”.

August 16

  • Great Leaders Are Constantly Thinking About Keeping People Accountable – Alex Epstein, director of transportation safety at the National Safety Council, observed about motorized scooter injuries, “People have to realize that operating any motorized vehicle is inherently dangerous and that it is up to the driver to operate the vehicle in a safe way.”
August 19
  • Great Leaders Are Constantly Thinking About Who Around Them Is Passionate About The Organization’s Mission And Vision – Oakland Raiders GM Mike Mayock on Antonio Brown, “So from our perspective, it’s time for him to be all in or all out.”

Is there one thing from this list you need to start constantly thinking about?

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