Here am I, today…March 19, 2012…I will just leave “Hello world!” as the title of this very first post. I have been inspired to blog by reading blogs. Why is today different? http://michaelhyatt.com/ is the difference. Today, I received my first alert “[New Post] What I’ve Learned About Blogging from Writing More Than 1,000 Posts” from Michael Hyatt and Intentional Leadership. Yes, he is a leader who has already influenced this wandering soul.

While I, too, am a leader who seeks to intentionally influence I have not always taken every opportunity to do so. Mr. Hyatt, today I am taking a new opportunity because of you. Thank you for the nudge.

What caught my eye initially was a guest post on the Intentional Leadership website by John G. Miller titled, “How Leadership at Home Affects the Rest of Life.” I found this posted by a friend, Anthony Davar, on Facebook. Anthony is an intentional leader as well. I find that I know many leaders and I believe that we all are leaders; that is we all influence one another whether we do so intentionally or not.

Yes, leadership begins with influence. We likely all know good leaders, bad leaders, crazy leaders and somber leaders who have caused us to change. It may be subtle amendments to our language or a drastic adjustment of our behavior. Leadership might be taking note of the janitor or reading a book to a young child. It can be an acknowledged of action or an unknown inaction. Leadership is influencing another to follow suit or dissuading a clash. Is it that our sway might even be with ourselves?

Mitch Albom, in his book The Five People You Meet In Heaven, emphasizes that we may never know all the influences we have had, how many people we have lead to greater heights or lower depths. Here lies the challenge of intentional leadership. While I am only newly familiar with Michael Hyatt, I do assume, based on my short exposure, he is interested in lifting, not leaning. What will my few words add? I do not know though I desire to help carry the load; I encourage you to grab a corner if you will.

Let’s be intentional.

ST2