Goals. The corporate executive scrawled the word—goals—quickly on the marker board. So quickly that the “a” and the “l” fused together to look like a “d”.

The word –goals – looked very much like the word –gods. That Freudian slip was not lost on these strategic planners attending a goal-setting business meeting.

Like religion, goals are often infused with a dogma and a fervor that inspires a martyr-like dedication to the hallowed script of goal-setting: the To Do list.

But effective goal-setting begins first with a more purposeful and purpose-filled DUE To list, long before you develop a To Do list.

A DUE TO list is comprised of long-range commitments that bring goals into a clearer, more realistic focus.

A DUE TO list keeps your goals on track: well connected to the Train of Thought and fully linked to the Engine of Purpose.

For example, DUE TO the value I place in hiking and swimming with my grandchildren each summer, I will lose 30 pounds in 30 weeks. The DUE TO (enjoying grandchildren) drives the To do action step (losing weight). And the power of purpose links the two and keeps your train of thought on track to reach your goal.

That book on thinking like a leader is the first of three books in The Leadership Mints Series designed to help leaders refresh their feeling for leading with short stories (called Leadership Mints) you can grab ‘n go  like a candy mint.The two others books focus on leading with empathy LOVING LIKE A LEADER and leading with civility SPEAKING LIKE A LEADER.

The 3-books
in The Leadership Mints Series
available on Amazon.com
in print and e-book

Consumed like a breath mint — quick and on-the-go — a Leadership Mint is a short story that energizes leadership behaviors and personalizes leadership principles so they are more easily remembered, more readily acted upon and more fully applied.