Die Empty (with these 5 new leadership books)

Over at the Leadership Now Blog, they’ve examined five of the best new leadership books coming out over the next month.

• Thinking in New Boxes: A New Paradigm for Business Creativity
• The Firm: The Story of McKinsey and Its Secret Influence on American Business
• Beyond the Idea: How to Execute Innovation in Any Organisation
• Winning from Within: A Breakthrough Method for Leading, Living, and Lasting Change
• Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Every Day

As I looked down the list, the last one caught my attention: Die Empty.

Interesting title.

I assumed this was a short, punchy way of saying: “Don’t die feeling empty."

After all, who would want to die empty?

Then I flicked over to read the description:

“Most of us live with the idea that we'll always have tomorrow to do our most important and valuable work. But by the end of each day we're often left asking ourselves ‘did the work I do today really matter?’ … Don't go to your grave with your best work inside of you. Choose to die empty.”

Ha! Spelling mistake. I think they mean don't choose to—

Oh, wait.

I see my mistake now.

“Die Empty” means: Don’t keep your creativity and passion locked up. Get it out. Die empty, every day.

Got it.

The author goes on to describe the book as being a tool to help people discover and tap into their passion, leading to a more enjoyable and fulfilled life.

This centres around a process called excavation: Digging deep into your self to find out what drives you.

Feel free to check out Die Empty (and the other books) in more detail at the Leadership Now Blog, as I would like to dedicate the remainder of this article to the importance of "digging up" your core values by way of the TTI Motivators assessment. The tool is in use by 1000s of consultants in over 70 countries and one of the best self-development tools available. It examines our passions from a scientific perspective, based on what research tells us about humankind’s most fundamental values.

Values are often hard to articulate. Very few people can name their own values or are even aware that all values can be traced back to half a dozen or so primary “lenses” (world views).

Assessing Your Core Values ( ... It's More Fun Than It Sounds)

The TTI Motivators assessment measures what a person values most deeply (which will greatly motivate them). It measures six major motivators: Practicality, Compassion, Power, Beauty, Knowledge, Order. All of these are types of core values from which dozens of other broad values can be traced. Our two most important motivators drive our actions and give us our direction in life. Fulfilment of these causes joy. Violation of them causes pain.

Motivators are essential basic information that is used to help teams and leaders understand the primary filter for what each person likes, and what they don’t like.

It’s more than just a team building tool, though. Motivators play a key role in job-fit, engagement and job performance. Arguably, the most important role. In the end, how engaged are you going to be if you find that your job doesn’t allow you to experience what you value most?

Same goes for personal relationships. If compassion is your most cherished belief, how annoyed would you be if you heard your partner say that all homeless and disabled people should be wiped out? Would you dismiss it as a bad joke? Would you be irritated? . . . Infuriated? And if someone brought this kind of attitude to work, consider how your relationship with this person (as either a colleague or your boss) would be altered when you eventually realise you have two totally opposing world views.

The Motivators assessment helps people get their values on the table. Crucially, it offers a shared language to understand different world views. From there, as a coach or consultant, you can open up a discussion around areas in the person's life where their value is being ignored or violated — and explore new areas where it can be brought out (“emptied,” if you will).

Ask yourself: Have you had the chance to "empty" your highest value recently, or is it building up at work?

Our view at DTS is that a validated and accurate values-based assessment tool should be included as part of the tool kit of any serious career coach, trainer, consultant, change agent or L&OD professional.

Learn More About the TTI Motivators Assessment.