An Awesome Day with Jef Menguin

by Raymund Tamayo

Inspirational speaker Jef Menguin

Blessings, everyone!

It’s been a while since I last wrote here. These days, finding inspiration to write has been scarce. Until I met Jef Menguin.

He doesn’t know me personally and I only knew him from his blog, but meeting him during our company team-building last Friday ignited me again.

It’s just sad that I didn’t get the chance to talk more to him personally because of the busy day, and we’re there to do our own roles in the program; he as the facilitator, and I as one of the participants. Despite that, I did learn a lot in just that one day.

I’m going to share here one of my learnings. It’s about how to become a more effective leader.

According to Jef (this is not included in the handouts) to be an effective leader you have to CLAP for your members. What does that mean?

C – Care for people. As John Maxwell said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” It’s a simple word of wisdom, and something that keeps our feet grounded.

L – Learn to listen. Listening has become sort of a lost art these days. Jef said, “listening is really not about receiving. It’s about giving. It’s about giving your attention and time to the one who is talking.” He also said that there is no such thing as a “difficult person, only misunderstood ones.” I agree with him. Sometimes people are difficult only because of how we brand them.

A – Appreciate the strength of others. Each one is created by God with a unique strength. On the flip side, we all have our own weaknesses. Let’s try to look more on our strengths and that of others and develop them more.

P – Promote each other. Encouragement is a very powerful tool if we use them correctly. It’s not about mindless flattery, but a sincere display of building each other up.

This is just one of the many learnings I had that awesome day. And I thought it’s important to share them with you.

Jef Menguin is a Filipino inspirational speaker, corporate trainer, team facilitator, and leader’s coach. Read more about him and his writings at jefmenguin.com.