Yoyo photo by Flickr.com user ppdiaporama licensed via Creative Commons
By Cornel Bongco
“The trick happens in the head before it is executed by the hand!”
A lot of planning in the mind is done before a yoyo artist executes a neatly done trick. He chooses what yoyo he needs to execute the trick better. The power and the speed of the spin he will need to execute the trick should also be well planned. And if it looks effortless, keep in mind that yoyo artists took a lot of time practicing off-stage than on-stage doing the trick. A smart yoyo artist would not do a trick for the first time on stage especially if it is a competition.
What happens when the mind and the body do not work together? The trick may look clumsy even if the equipment used is the best yoyo and the skill level of the yoyo artist is excellent. It won’t matter.
Planning and execution goes well when the mind and the body work together. Isn’t this also true with our life and leadership experiences? Planning and execution working together makes a lot of difference.
Feedback mechanisms, evaluation, introspection, vision engineering and strategic planning go well with excellent communication and excellent execution. The leadership and the whole body working together like a smooth yoyo trick.
Cornel sharing life and leadership principles from a yoyo. Photo by Edwin D. Arceo
Just like a difficult yoyo trick, painting a picture in our minds of what we want to substantially accomplish and knowing why we want to accomplish such things make it easy to plan for the steps we need to achieve!
Knowing the values that we want to share with the world as we try to accomplish what we want to do and taking time to prioritize these values will make it easy for us to deal with conflicts that rise with these values later. Conflicts in the allocation of budget and the allocation of time, for example, is easily resolved when these values are prioritized and these values are known by stakeholders!
Acts that lead to our vision and the accompanying rewards and recognitions for even the simplest things that lead us closer to the shared vision will strengthen these acts until they become a habit.
The way we discipline the people who drag others down by doing things contrary to the vision, should be clear from the start. Do we do it by encouraging them to stay in the path, provide proper training so that they will be better equipped to do their part or do we place sanctions instead?
This is also a tribute to any leadership, where passion for excellence is never secondary. As we continue to pray for the great people who continue to be passionate about hearing from God’s heart, let’s be reminded of the great leadership principle from the yoyo, “The trick happens in the head before it is executed by the hand!” and get excited about God’s next move!
