Category: Principle of Life

The Principles of Life

Do you have any universal principles which guide your life?  Why do you make the choices you make?  You might say you believe in God and the Bible, or in the law, or in love.  You might say that you believe in family, friends, or hard work.  You might say you don’t believe in anything at all, but you would be wrong.

A large part of society would say that there are no absolutes; that it is all up to us to find our own way through the maze of life, saying; “If you want to believe something, that’s fine, just don’t think that anyone else has to believe it.”  Some people embrace this philosophy, while others casually accept it because they have not experienced anything else.  Many whose lives were not exposed to deep truth and constant principles, except in the most abstract way, wander through life, missing much of what gives reason for living.  The result of this kind of living is not a life without principles; everyone has principles even if they aren’t recognized as such.  Instead, it is a life of conflicting principles, that in the end leave the individual confused and disappointed.

Another part of society would say they believe and live according to a set of religious principles; that the Bible or some other book counts as divine and serves as a guiding force for their lives.  Interestingly, just observing people proves that the majority of those who profess to have this kind of foundation consistently disregard the very principles which they profess; that is, they say one thing and do another. We typically call these people hypocrites.  What this means is not that there are no guiding principles, just that their principles are not those which they profess. 

What you believe makes a difference!  Everyone is guided by a set of principles.  The problem is that those principles are rarely if ever, taken out of the deep places in our lives and examined; they are never tested against the truth and the value of life.  Like a ship without a rudder, the winds of life push those with undefined principles into situations that cause hurt and shame to ourselves and others.  They provoke us to decisions that have negative consequences.  They invisibly guide our lives, while we constantly wonder why we make the choices we made and why our lives are such a mess.

In case you couldn’t tell, I do believe there are universal truths.  I do believe that there are principles to live by which will make life richer and fuller.  I do believe these truths and principles should be taught to our children and our society.  Call me an optimist, but I believe there is hope for all of us to be better than we are . . . and to make a difference wherever we are.

I have made an effort to teach my children, and have passed on to hundreds of others, the importance of having life principles. By setting up life principles you will be more likely to succeed in whatever you undertake, and enjoy your life more along the way.  Specifically, I have five principles that could be called my core principles.  Each of these principles are touched upon in at least one of the proverbs contained in this podcast.  Most of these proverbs could be categorized using these principles.  Whether or not you adopt the principles I am going to share with you as your own or develop others, I urge you to make this a priority in your life; you will not regret it!

The Principles of life are based upon the greatest commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27  If we could figure out how to do this, then everything else in our life would naturally fall into place. Here are what I call my Principles of Life:

  1. All of life can be reduced to relationships. 
  2. Everything rises and falls on leadership
  3. Excellence in all things (do your best)
  4. It is not what happens to you that counts but what you do about it (resilience)
  5. Don’t quit (perseverance)

I’ll explain more about each of these in future episodes.

If you would like to know more about these now, check out my Kindle book titled The Principles of Life by Rick Upchurch.

Level 5 Leadership

According to Jim Collins in Good to Great, one of the key traits of Level 5 leadership is: “ambition first and foremost for the company and concern for its success rather than for one’s own riches and personal renown. Level 5 leaders want to see the company even more successful in the next generation, comfortable with the idea that most people won’t even know that the roots of that success trace back to their efforts.” (25, 26) This placing of the interests of the company above self evidently is an unusual trait. It seems that many of those who are willing to step into leadership do so because they are interested in leaving a legacy which can be directly traced back to their wise leadership.

When discussing this with my daughter, she thought the Level 5 leader might be characterized by an individual whose concern for those who work for them, those they lead, is genuine and interested in their best as well as the company. She also postulated that the Level 5 leader might also be one who does not see themselves as the lynchpin of leadership, and often are unaware of their own ability. These observations about Level 5 leaders is born out by Collins’ research. 

Collings also states that: “…Level 5 leadership is not just about humility and modesty. It is equally about ferocious resolve, an almost stoic determination to do whatever needs to be done to make the company great. … Level 5 leaders are fanatically driven, infected with an incurable need to produce results.”(30) The ability to make decisions, often hard and unpopular decisions is not as prevalent as one might assume. Even harder is to stay a course which for the short-run seems as if it will have an irrecoverable effect. Level 5 leaders are able to analyze the data and trends, face the hard truths of the reality and make decisions which keep the company focused and successful.

Finally, “Level 5 Leaders look out the window to apportion credit to factors outside themselves when things go well (and if they cannot find a specific person or event to give credit to, they credit good luck). At the same time, they look in the mirror to apportion responsibility, never blaming bad luck when things go poorly.” (35) This is entirely the opposite of most leaders, who look to blame something, or anything, for their failure.

Now we come full circle back to a concept which Collins refutes, but his research supports (in my opinion): i.e. everything rises and falls on leadership. You probably thought I would come back to this and you were right. The Level 5 Leader is aware that what happens can be reacted to, either to blame (wallowing in a victim mentality) or to see the opportunities (moving forward). 

See, my take on this Level 5 leadership thing can be summed up on these points: 

  1. Everything rises and falls on leadership – leaders take responsibility.
  2. Leaders care about those they work with, wanting them to realize their potential
  3. Leaders want results, NEED results, and don’t care who gets the credit. (this last part is definitely descriptive of a different kind of leader)
  4. Leaders want the best for the company and for things to be better AFTER they leave than even it was when they were there.

Let’s think about this