Sleep tight.

That phrase stems from the Colonial days when beds were tied to the bed frame. Back in the day you would tighten the ropes and strengthen the tension to enhance the comfort of the mattress.

Tension can generate added performance.

No wonder leaders treasure a measure of tension.

Without tension the 639 muscles in your body would atrophy.

But with tension, the muscles in the human body pull on the bones during exercise and stimulate their growth.

The most effective leaders know that tension — measured and treasured — can spark considerable achievement as author Harry Emerson Fosdick observes in his book Living Under Tension:

“No horse gets anywhere
UNTIL he is harnessed.
No steam or gas engine ever drives anything
UNTIL it is confined.

No Niagara is ever turned into light and power
UNTIL it is tunneled.
No life ever grows great
UNTIL it is focused,
dedicated and disciplined.”

And no one can begin leading without first harnessing and focusing the opportunity with a tension that is both measured and treasured.

To more fully embrace the value of tension in leveraging your capability in thinking like a leader, consider purchasing a 280-page book that is available now on Amazon.com.

It is titled THINKING LIKE A LEADER.

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.