"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." George Bernard Shaw

Leaders must be unreasonable. Why?

Because success does not occur naturally.

As leadership guru Peter Drucker once said, "The only things that happen naturally in an organization are friction, confusion, and malperformance. Everything else is the result of leadership."

To be successful, all teams, businesses, and groups need at least one unreasonable leader who will drive the team to greatness. You have to be the catalyst for your team.

If you want your team to be great you:

- can't tolerate mediocrity.

- can't permit people to get distracted by trivial issues.

- can't allow people to fall into the trap of the comfort zone.

- can't let people give up or give in.

- can't accept lame excuses.

Because of your intense commitment and unrelenting will, you must DEMAND certain standards from yourself AND your teammates.

Why?

BECAUSE YOU HAVE INVESTED TOO MUCH TO SETTLE FOR ANYTHING LESS!

You must be unreasonable when you observe laziness.

You must be unreasonable when you see selfishness.

You must be unreasonable when you hear negativity.

Sometimes your unreasonableness must come across softly when you

ENCOURAGE, COAX, AWAKEN, PERSUADE, STRETCH, TRIGGER, INSPIRE...

Other times your unreasonableness must come across harshly when you

CHALLENGE, PROVOKE, PROD, PUSH, PULL, INCITE, GOAD, BADGER, HOUND, ENFORCE...

Invest the time to accurately judge the person and situation to know which approach is best.

Bottom Line: As a leader, you must BE UNREASONABLE when it comes to your team's success.

You just can't afford to be intimidated, timid, uninvolved, permissive, apathetic, or "reasonable."

As George Bernard Shaw's quote reminds us:

Your team's progress (and the world's) depends on it...

To learn how you can become a better leader, click here for information about the Summer of 2009 Team Captain's Leadership Camp. Save $100 when you register by May 1st!