I’m Full

At some point this week, thanks to Thanksgiving gatherings, surely you will hear/have heard someone pronounce, “I’m SO full.” And perhaps that someone will be/was you. ’Tis the season, after all.

Within the context of commerative feasting, the phrase I’m so full can have up to half as many meanings as it does letters. Here are the possibilities.

Boast: I hope you noticed all that I just consumed just now: Not only half the turkey but also four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge. Skipped the pares — doing the keto thing.

Lament “Frailty, thy name is…stomach.” (adopted from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet); or, Why did I wear “them buttoned up britches?” (nod to Carrie Underwood’s Stretchy Pants).

Tribute: Let these words serve as my compliment to the chef — because I’m far too civilized to belch aloud…in public.

Fact: This is all that I just consumed just now: Not only half the turkey but also four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge.

Also at some point this week, surely you will hear/have heard a leader pronounce, “I’m SO -ful.” And perhaps that someone will be/was you. ’Tis only human, after all.

Within the context of teams and organizations, the phrase I’m so -ful is something leaders speak aloud continually — and often without using words, as one’s character always communicates.

Good leaders can be all sorts of -fuls: careful, delightful, dutiful, faithful, fruitful, hopeful, insightful, joyful, merciful, mirthful, peaceful, purposeful, respectful, skillful, tactful, thoughtful, truthful, zestful — just to name a few.

Now, if you can be characterized as doubtful, fearful, resentful, or woeful, you are probably lacking in leadership effectiveness.

And, if you are deceitful, harmful, lustful, or spiteful, please don’t consider yourself as a leader — because others don’t, no matter how high you are on the org chart.

Further, if you are impactful…well, some grammarians question — for good reason, I believe — whether one technically can be “full of” impact, so let’s avoid that word.

Lastly, let’s emphasize grateful here, full of gratitude. (At first glance, grateful may seem to be like impactful — how can one be full of…grate? — but the English grate is a form of the Latin gratus, from which “gratitude” stems.)

In surveys about what people expect leaders to be full of, gratitude does not rank as highly as integrity, intelligence, persistence, passion. And sometimes gratitude is not even on this list. Plausibly, then, some (many?) people only consider gratitude as an ancillary leadership quality.

And that is precisely why being grateful should be a primary practice of leaders. True, being grateful is not always expected, but being grateful is always appreciated. Acting in an unexpected-but-appreciated way is refreshing, and being refreshing, winsome is useful for being influential.

Even more useful for earning influence is truly caring about — and for — those whom you lead. There may be no more powerful way to show that you care than a demonstration of thanks — both for what others do and also for who they are. And such demonstration need not be elaborate to be potent. In fact, simplicity is typically the bedfellow of sincerity.

Gratitude: let’s be full of it, leaders. (Full of it on November 27 this year simply proves we are celebratory; full of it on December 4, January 4, February 4 and so on proves we are committed.) Being grateful takes thought, yes, but not effort. And being grateful is guaranteed to make you a different leader, a better leader — not only because what being grateful does for those around you but also because what being grateful does within you.

Blog by Jeff Zurcher

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I’m Full was originally published in Horizon Performance on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.