Who would have thought a funeral a fruitful place to learn about leadership and life?
 
Born:  August 6, 1923 - Died July 23, 2004
Birth: Dash*       Death

The book of George’s long and productive life was depicted by a simple dash.

How’s Your Dash Doing?
There is nothing like a funeral to drive home the reality that our dash is finite. Yet, most leaders are too busy meeting challenges and getting things done to reflect fully on where their dash has been or where it is going.
 
More than an Epilogue
Start adding panache to your dash by committing to compose new and exciting chapters for the book of your life. While we should want to do that, it can be tempting to kick back and write an epilogue instead. 
  
Epilogues have a purpose. They round out a story and give it meaning. They also have a place: the very end. Don’t start writing your epilogue too soon. 
 
Many people do. Teenagers tend to think life is over when their first love is lost. Others relive high school glories into their dotage. Both setbacks and successes can cause us to start scribbling an epilogue. Major reversals can cause adults to emotionally check out and drift aimlessly. So can big gains. The experience of many lottery winners is an extreme example of how winning can devastate. 
 
Organizations go both ways also. Success becomes a problem when the team says “that’s good enough” and starts coasting. On the other hand, difficulties double when employees become so worried about their jobs they stop doing them.
 
Yogi Berra said it best and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong demonstrated it brilliantly:  “It ain’t over until it’s over.” The juice of life for individuals and organizations lies in creating fresh challenges and exciting experiences. That is why writing new chapters is part of the essence of leadership.
 
Don't Be Cool
Leaders must continually energize their organizations by demonstrating an openness to new ideas and personally participating in the adoption of new methods. Doing so can be risky, however. After all, leaders get to the top by being good at the old way. There, they are comfortable, in control, cool. To stay cool all they have to do is remain rooted in their comfort zones.
 
Comfort cannot work for very long, however. Leaders who stay cool soon find themselves progressively more out of touch. Action and satisfaction lie in dropping your cool and venturing out of your comfort zone.
 
Break the Lure of Familiar
As a leader, you are an expert at what you already do. Taking on something completely new is like starting all over again and that can be a personally risky business. Few of us want to be that vulnerable.
 
Perhaps that is why breaking the lure of the familiar does not come naturally. You must consciously put yourself in situations that are new and uncomfortable. 
 
Start with little things: have your family change seats at the dinner table; wear your watch on the other wrist; drive a new route to work; take up a musical instrument; try a new sport; or join a new club. Then, when you think you are ready for the big time, try convincing your spouse to change sides of the bed!
 
Go Against Type
When the comedian Robin Williams accepts a dramatic role, he is playing against type. So is Robert DeNiro when he does a comedy. If you want to expand your horizons, take up an activity that is “against type.” Start with something recreational. If you are a hockey player, try figure skating. If you are an endorphin junkie, try golf, or better yet chess. If you love opera, give rap a go. You may love or hate your new activities. Either way you will be opening yourself up to new experiences that will expand into other areas of your life and work.
 
Move out of your comfort zone and watch your creative juices flow. Then you will not only add panache to your dash, you will inspire those around you to do the same. That is Leadership on the Edge.
  

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