“Without the why, the how and the what don’t matter!”  ~ Dr. Nido Qubein

(Many years ago, before anyone wrote a book about “The Why,” my mentor and friend, Dr. Nido Qubein shared the above quote with me and it has impacted me almost everyday of my life. I hope it has the same impact on you and your leadership).

From time to time I have written about leadership while referencing the folks in Washington. Please know, it is not my intention to stir up any political turmoil as this is not a blog about politics… this is a blog about leadership!

That said, right now in Washington on BOTH sides of the aisle we are seeing what could be the greatest example  of leaders who have completely lost their way.

Losing Their Way…

Is it me, or am I the only one noticing the extraordinary amount of grandstanding, lawsuits, pontificating, non-sensical topics and interviews about such non-news-worthy topics coming out of Washington?

I guess this is what happens when you allow the foxes to guard the henhouse or ask a bunch of lawyers to find solutions instead of arguing about the problems.

I believe the root cause of all of these issues is caused by the fact that these leaders have completely and utterly lost their way.

Why? Because they have forgotten their purpose, they have lost their WHY!

How Leaders Lose Their Way?

You see, when a leader is not aligned with a purpose greater than themselves (always about serving others), they limit their impact because they become self-centered. Instead of fighting for what is best for others, they fight for what is best for themselves and their needs. In the case of career politicians, it is all about – re-election and the party holding power. This why we have half-dead people still sitting in office or folks who literally die in office (some of those folks still haven’t left yet).

And that is why self-promotion, pontificating, saying things to get news coverage becomes the order of the day, just so they can be re-elected. That is unless it is serving as a prequel to sell their new tell-all book coming out next week.

Not Just Washington

Now, we can point our fingers at Washington and say it happens only there, but the truth is that the same thing can be said for leader at any level and in any organization. It can be in the corporate world, the religious world, or any where in the world.

When a leader loses their why, they lose their sense of purpose, and when they lose their sense of purpose, they get lost, and nothing gets done. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of rhetoric and talking taking place (meeting after meeting after meeting after meeting) maybe even a little movement that resembles action, but many times it is meaningless chatter with little to no results.

And so core-issues don’t go away, the poor performers don’t go away, morale drops, talent leaves and the bottom line continues to be adversely impacted.

In the end, the people who they have the privilege of leading always seem to feel the brunt of their leader’s lostness.

Rediscover Your Purpose

As as a leader, when your actions are not bringing the intended results, you’re not meeting expectations, or your issues are causing disruptions to the bottom-line, you have 3 choices:

1. You can do nothing and eventually you will be negatively impacted. You will lose your job, lose your office, or your position. Why? Because your intentions will always rise to the surface, not immediately, but eventually.
2. You can change, and do your best to get refocused on why you became a leader in the first place. This may require finding a Coach who will hold up a mirror for you to see yourself so you can find a path back to your purpose.
3. You can quit. Leave, move on and find what you were meant to do since it is obviously not leading others.

Are You Called to Lead?

I hope you choose number 2, unless you truly know that you were not called to be a leader. If you are questioning it, please answer these 5-gut check questions, you can find them here. 

However, if you truly feel called to be a leader and you have simply lost your way. Maybe it is time to ask for a little help. Below are a few options that might work for you:

1. Read more about how to be rediscover the path to being an extraordinary leader (Click here).
2. Listen the path to being an extraordinary leader (Click here) for Apple listeners (Click here).
3. Reach out and ask for help You can find help here.

Just remember, you may not be able to change the leadership in Washington, but you can certainly change your leadership and your ability to bring out the best version of yourself and others!

And it all starts with knowing, reclaiming, and living your purpose!