Genuine People - Forge your own path

I was reading a Forbes article on leadership.  It starts with a premise that EQ is important: "People with high EQs make $29,000 more annually than people with low EQs. Ninety percent of top performers have high EQs, and a single-point increase in your EQ adds $1,300 to your salary. I could go on and on."

The author, Travis Bradberry, goes on to say, "But there’s a catch. Emotional intelligence won’t do a thing for you if you aren’t genuine." and "It’s not enough to just go through the motions, trying to demonstrate qualities that are associated with emotional intelligence. You have to be genuine.

You can do a gut check to find out how genuine you are by comparing your own behavior to that of people who are highly genuine. Consider the hallmarks of genuine people and see how you stack up."

Then he starts to list the characteristics of genuine people. It is a good list in the style of 12 characteristics of genuine people, but one characteristic stood out for me: "They forge their own paths. Genuine people don’t derive their sense of pleasure and satisfaction from the opinions of others. This frees them up to follow their own internal compasses. They know who they are and don’t pretend to be anything else. Their direction comes from within, from their own principles and values. They do what they believe to be the right thing, and they’re not swayed by the fact that somebody might not like it."

In a sense this is a circular reference. You can't lead if you do not know where you are going. Stephen Covey coined the term, "Begin with the end in mind". If you know where you are going you have a much better chance of getting there.

Covey, is talking about the absolute end, death, "In your mind's eye, see yourself going to the 
funeral parlor or chapel, parking the car, and getting out.    As you walk inside the building, you notice the flowers, the soft organ music.    You see the faces of friends and family you pass along the way.    You feel the shared sorrow of losing, the joy of having known, that radiates from the hearts of the people there. 

As you walk down to the front of the room and look inside the casket, you suddenly come face to 
face with yourself.    This is your funeral, three years from today.    All these people have come to honor you, to express feelings of love and appreciation for your life."

All well and good and it is important to think about your life's final goals.  I am all in. However, life is like sailing in the ocean. Say you want to sail from Kauai to French Polynesia. You know it will take about three weeks and you know the general direction. But the winds and currents will entail numerous course corrections. The only way to achieve the master goal is by many, many minor goals.

Right now I have several. We fly from Hawaii to Washington State for the summer in ten days. Kathy and I both want to close out our apartment well. We have been blessed to be able to minister to some hurting people this trip; Covey's analogy was brought into focus as a number of friends and acquaintances suffered the loss of a loved one. We hope to do this one more time before we fly. We have made a lot of progress training our high spirited Rottweiler, as soon as I post this, I will take him on another walk through town. And, I am trying to hone my skills to decode DNS, fast, accurately, and with a nose for the unusual. These are all tactical goals and they don't mean I have lost sight of the ultimate goals, but this is the path to get there. What are your ultimate goals, what are your tactical goals and do they align.