Hello Leaders,

Welcome to Today. We continue with this week's Leadership and Personal Development tip - Synergy.

I have been blessed and challenged to work with an organization in Northeast Ohio called "Begin the Conversation". The Purpose of this organization is to have an open and honest conversation regarding race relations and justice in our community, to lay the ground work through education and communication regarding our community's commitment to peace, cooperation, accountability and equality and to build a relationship of trust between the citizens of Lake County and community leaders.

In my last blog I provided my personal definition of synergy. Synergy is taking the best of the individual inputs to generate a phenomenal output. This is what we are trying to do in Lake County. On the surface, we may appear to be a motley crew, disparate indeed. However, this is what gives us the opportunity to transform the county for the better. We are very diverse in skin tone, thought pattern, background, faith, etc. Team members include the County Prosecutor, local NAACP President, former local United Way President, Judges, Pastors, Ministers, Chiefs of Police, leaders of Charity Organizations, Public Defender, Chamber of Commerce leaders, School Superintendents, Business Owners, Sheriff, Radio Personality, etc. We have black, white, Hispanic, Latinos, and those born outside of this country.

For what we are trying to accomplish, teamwork is not enough. We must have synergy. At a recent Diversity Training seminar led by Mr. Lee Coffee, Jr., we learned much more about each other. Understanding the backgrounds of the individuals on the team has helped me better appreciate their various viewpoints. Many of us have different world views. It is this difference that makes us strong. It is this difference we will use to help bring our communities closer. It is this difference we will use to support Begin the Conversation's purpose from multiple angles. It is this difference we will value. It is this difference the leaders will use to drive synergy!

John Maxwell said, "Leadership is influence. Nothing more. Nothing less." He also said, "If you are a leader, the true measure of your success is not getting people to work. It's not getting people to work hard. It is getting people to work hard together. That takes commitment." Leaders have to be committed to helping people embrace their differences, their uniqueness, in order to bring their whole selves to work. The team's greatest contribution is not when everyone contributes the same. It is when everyone contributes their unique thoughts towards solving the same problem or accomplishing the same goal. That's synergy. And that's my thought for today.

That's it for now. Until the next blog....

Mike Nwankwo

Founder & CEO

#synergy #teamwork #team