LEADERSHIP

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LEADERSHIP Tagged Articles

Teambuilding - are we mixing our metaphors?
This article looks at possible teambuilding methods and how appropriate (or not) they might be in terms of the unconscius messages they are sending!

9 Ideas to Reduce Cliques at Work

My thesis is that cliques at work have some helpful components, but they often do more harm than good by being exclusive elements in the culture. Top performance in any organization requires the best effort of the entire team, and when parts of the group are fragmented into insular cells, all kinds or gremlins creep into the structure. In the extreme, cliques can be hurtful to the mission of an orgnaization. But cliques are as natural as pancakes for breakfast. They form spontaneously and have their own unwritten bylaws that serve the members very well. How can leaders reduce the negative impact of cliques? Here are 9 ideas that can help reduce the problem.

Idiot! Why do you think that way...what's wrong with you?!
I was in a discussion last night about common sense and the popular statement was made: "People should have more of it". I would argue that there is no such thing.

Productive Conflict in Leadership Teams
Productive conflict in leadership teams is essential if they want to be high performing. This has to come from a basis of trust, understanding and honesty. The Leader needs to role model the right behaviours for this to happen.

Don't you just love a little mischief?
Your brain is a complex prediction machine and is always constructing possible futures you might encounter to keep your body out of harms way. In the last 100 years, the day to day danger to your body has almost been eliminated.

Recovery or No Recovery? That is the Question.
James Dicks examines the discrepancies of what economists are telling us about a possible technical economic recovery and what the American public is actually experiencing.

Making the EXCEPTIONAL Normal - Step 7 Initial Meeting
Now that you have an overview of the Making the EXCEPTIONAL Normal system the question is "How do I get started?" This article will guide you through that process.

ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE THROUGH TOTAL COMMITMENT
Excellence is an excellent word and excellent companies strive for achieving it. Many factors contribute to the excellence of companies chief among them is employeeâ€™s commitment. Without commitment no company can think of achieving excellence. Commitment is rather a key ingredient for improving quality and productivity, reducing defects, increasing profitability and decreasing costs.

Do women have different leadership qualities than men?
Research is not conclusive on the subject. Traditionally however, leadership is broken down into archetypes that you may identify with: it is said that male leadership qualities are those that focus on getting things done, taking charge and acting systematically, while female leadership qualities are those that focus on creating conditions for life. How can women contribute?

Do you have it in you? - Embracing new forms of Leadership
Which are the qualities of an all-embracing leadership style? How can you be at the same time dynamic, confident and enthusiastic? I recently came across a list of leadership qualities that I consider the cornerstones of an all-embracing leadership model.

The Seven Inherent Growth Steps for Every Leader

As part of my ongoing commitment to personal development, I attended a seminar over the weekend where the speaker talked about the seven inherent growth steps every leader must take. I have made a firm commitment to follow these steps as I develop as a leader within the network and online marketing industry. I’d like to share these seven growth steps of leadership with you, and ask if you are already incorporating these steps as a leader.

21 Undisputed Rules for a Leader of the 21st Century
Working with organizations for the last two decades across the globe, I have derived 21 undisputed qualities of a leader (not a manager). Sharing with community of at least 42 countries I have learn that leadership is everything (not managerial effectiveness). A leader can be a manager but a manager cannot be a leader.

Executive and Leadership Coaching is Here to Stay
Coaching in business, corporations, government and non profits are here to stay. It's not a fad, coaches don't fix people, they evolve people into their levels of excellence and positively impact the organizations they're leading. What makes a corporate executive want to get a coach? They want to be better.

The Path of Least Resistance
Avoidance is not the best growth strategy.

4 Mantras of Leadership
4 Mantras of Leadership by Dr. Shailesh Thaker

5 Caveats to the "Open Door" Policy
Most organizations have an "Open Door" policy to protect employees from bully supervisors. The idea is to make it safe to bring a problem to a higher level of management. The method can be helpful, but I have found it to be fraught with problems. This paper describes five of the most significant problems with the "Open Door" Policy and suggests a simple antidote.

What Does Leadership Mean?
Leadership means having a responsibility that you choose to own for yourself. It’s not responsibility someone else gave to you it’s a responsibility you chose to give yourself. Once you choose to be responsible you in turn become a leader. Leadership is about being able to create more leadership

Do You Play the Executive Whack-a-Mole Game?

Are you so busy solving problems and reacting to crises that you do not have time to develop the culture in your organization? If so, you are trapped in a whack-a-mole game. To get out, you need to carve out time to work with your group on improving the environment. Benefits - (1) reduce interpersonal conflicts - fewer problems for you to solve, (2) create more empowered employees - more willing hands to resolve issues, (3) lower stress and burn out.

4 Common Denominators of High Performing Teams
There are four common denominators of high performing teams. When these elements are present, teams are almost guaranteed to be efficient and rewarding for the members. The elements are: Common goals, Trust, Good Leadership, and a Good Charter. If your team has these four elements, chances are you are enjoying the benefits of working on a high performance team.

Define Leadership - The Missing Key Success Factor in Change Management
How you define and exercise leadership in the present climate will be a significant determinant in your organisation's fortunes - and especially in the context of change management. But so often in change management situations the emphasis is on the process and the management of the situation and not the leadership...

Toxic Leadership and Change Management - How to Spot it, Deal With it and Avoid it
Toxic leadership is all about the abuse of power and its destructiveness. In change management terms, having anyone in a leadership or a management position in your organisation who displays these characteristics is like a poison that needs to be identified and eradicated at the earliest opportunity. There are a number of defenses to toxic leadership...

Reinforce Candor to Build Trust: Transparency

Trust is the key ingredient missing in most organizations, particularly in these draconian times. The ability to build trust is most impacted by a leader’s habit of reinforcing candor – which means making people glad when they bring up inconsistencies in the leader’s actions. Most leaders punish people for surfacing difficult issues. In the process they extinguish trust and transparency, which further cripples worker motivation. Learn how to change your behaviors to allow consistent trust building interfaces with people.

12 Do's and Don't for Effective Online Communication
We communicate more online now than verbally. In many situations, people send signals that are not consistent with their intentions. Unfortunately, while the rules of excellent e-mail communication are common sense, they are not common practice. These simple 12 rules will allow you to prevent most problems when communicating online.

Improve the Effectiveness of Your Meetings

Here are five tips to improve your meetings. 1. Reduce griping and venting. The leader of the meeting can allow people to vent, but not have it become a debilitating whirlpool. 2. Use the agenda wisely. Know when to follow the script and when to rip it up. 3. Summarize the discussion frequently. This prevents an endless cycle of people in violent agreement. 4. Agree to disagree. Use the rule of three to cut off acromony without hurting people’s feelings. 5. Manage the time efficiently. Make sure people feel the value in the meeting time.

9 Tips to Improve Trust in Virtual Teams
We work in virtual teams more now than ever before. Many people spend most of the career working with people in high pressure situations, yet they have not ever physically met. Here are 9 tips that can improve the effectiveness of virtual teams.

Ubiquitous Reinforcement
Great leaders know that reinforcement is the most powerful way to improve motivation. This article highlights four frequent errors in trying to reinforce people along with the antidotes. It also covers the need for reinforcement to be for the entire culture, not just for leaders to use.

Avoiding Playing Favorites

We all know the issue of playing favorites is one of the most deadly trust busters in an organization. The conundrum is that every leader really does have favorites and uses these people more than the not-so-favored people for certain tasks. If you are a leader and deny this, check your reality meter – you may be out of gas. Given this problem, how can a leader go about running the most efficient organization and still beat the debilitating stigma of playing favorites? The answer lies in doing 4 things that are outlined in this article.

Anti-Hubris Pixie Dust

We have all run into a narcissist leader somewhere along the way. This “Bull in a china shop” leader goes around all day creating damage – often with no congnition of it. There are two issues here. If you are a leader, how can you tell the extent to which your hubris is taking you in a direction at cross purposes to your intent? If you work in an environment where there is one or more narcissistic leaders, how can you improve conditions for yourself and your co-workers? These questions are so common that most people deal with some form of the dilemma every single day at work, yet despite years of effort and suffering, no relief is in sight. I believe there is a shaping process that can actually serve as a tranquilizer in the melee, but the application must be done with great skill to be effective.

Authentic Leadership
In organizations, our success as leaders is measured by the degree to which we’ve mastered the external environment and delivered results in the form of revenues, profits, new product breakthroughs, cost savings, or market share increases.

Leadership Myth #1 - Great Leaders Are More Intelligent

Many people believe great leaders are more intelligent than poor leaders. There are so many examples that debunk this theory that it is hard to pick just a few. Raw intelligence is not correlated with outstanding leadership characteristics. In fact, if you drew a correlation line showing IQ on one axis and success as a leader on the other, it would not be a straight line. There is a maximum point beyond which higher IQ is actually a predictor of lower success as a leader.

Leadership Myth #2 - Great Leaders Work Harder
Many people believe great leadership requires a person to be the hardest working person in the organization. That is simply not the case. In fact, Great leaders are often less work-a-holic type people than is commonly thought.

Leadership Myth #3 - Great Leaders have a College Education
To be a great leader, does one need a college education? No, that is not a prerequisite for leadership, but the weight of evidence is that better educated people do make better leaders. This article explains the apparent paradox.

Leadership Myth #4 - Great Leaders are Expert at Playing Politics
The issue of when and how to play politics makes an interesting study. While we all want to avoid the Machiavellian type of behavior associated with manipulative politics, like it or not we are in a sea of political thought every day. We better get used to it and learn how to navigate well in it.

Leadership Myth #5 - Great Leaders Have Large Egos
We all know egotistical leaders. We run into them all the time. But is having a large ego a requirement for leadership. I think not. Here are some reasons.

Leadership Truth #1 - Great Leaders Operate from a Set of Values
Values are the underpinning of everything we do. Great leaders have a concrete set of values that they operate from on a daily basis. Where do these values come from?

Leadership Truth #2 - Great Leaders Live Their Vision
Great leaders are congruent. They live their vision all the time. Consistency is a trait most great leaders have in abundance. Why is this trait so important?

Leadership Truth #3 - Great Leaders are Passionate
Not only are great leaders passionate people, but they have an uncanny ability to infect others with their passion. That is how the gusto in their soul gets translated to the rank and file. Let's explore how this is done.

Leadership Truth #4 - Great Leaders Value Transparency
Transparency in an organization means not holding things back from people.In so many organizations people know there is information being denied them that they really ought to know. This is devastating to morale.

Leadership Truth #5 - Great Leaders Have High Emotional Intelligence
Simply stated, Emotional Intelligence is the ability to work with people at all levels. The degree of success of an individual in this world is much more closely aligned with the level of Emotional Intelligence than IQ.

Leadership Truth #6 - Great Leaders Never Stop Learning
When we stop learning, it is time to call the undertaker. At birth, we are given one body and roughly 80 years - that is what we have. All of life is a series of learning opportunities. Great leaders are like sponges trying to absorb lessons in life, even in the most difficult of times.

Leadership Truth #7 - Great Leaders Believe Work is Play
Have you ever noticed that the best leaders actually have fun at work? It really is allowed to create an environment where the good times outnumber the bad times. There are some gifted leaders who have discovered this concept.

Am I a Leader?
What makes a person a leader? What distinguishes a "good" leader from a "bad" leader? Can anyone become a leader or do you need particular characteristics and behaviours? This article considers these questions and makes some suggestions about who a "leader" really is.

Leadership Truth #8 - Great Leaders Do Not Overly Worry about Popularity
While everybody likes to be popular, great leaders understand their primary goal is to balance the needs of all stakeholders at the same time. This inevitably leads to some stakeholders being unhappy with certain decisions. How do leaders deal with the fact that they are unpopular for some portion of the time?

Leadership Truth #9 - Great Leaders Foster Great Followership
For centuries, most of the focus has been on leaders and leadership. There is a new trend over the past decade to also focus on great followership. We are all leaders and followers for some portion of the time. This article compares and contrasts these two roles.

Leadership Truth #10 - Great Leaders Make Large Trust Deposits
The level of trust between any two individuals is like a bank account. There is a balance, and we make continual deposits and withdrawals. Great leaders look for the opportunities to make large deposits in the trust account with people.

Leadership Truth #11 - Great Leaders Do Better in a Crisis
A hallmark of great leadership is that these people do better when there is a crisis. They are more prepared going in and have a way of navigating during a crisis that instinctively finds the best path through chaos. How do they accomplish this?

Leadership Truth #12 - Great Leaders Develop Others
The highest calling for any leader is to develop other leaders. But great leaders do more than that, they focus on the development of everyone in the organization. This is the way they tap the true potential of the entire population. Great leaders continually invest in improving the capability of people.

Teams and Kindergarten
When we were in Kindergarten we learned some rules to be successful in class and on the playground. It is astounding that people in work groups often forget these basic rules in their activities. Let's get back to basics.

Reducing Conflict between Peers is an Art
Conflict within organizations is a constant problem. It deflects energy away from the vision and causes wasted energy. Conflict between peers is particularly hard to eliminate because the individuals see the world from different perspectives. This article offers several tips to reduce conflict between peers.

Ten Hallmarks of a High Trust Organization

We tend to think of trust in one dimension, but there are several different ways trust plays out in organizations. My favorite definition of trust is that when I trust someone, it means I believe he or she will always do what is thought to be in my best interest (even if I do not particularly appreciate it at the time). We can contrast some dimensions of trust by considering what it is like to work in an organization with high trust versus one with low trust on several dimensions

Downsizing Dynamics
When companies are forced to downsize, it is an unpleasant time for everyone. Unfortunately many organizations make the process much worse than necessary. This article explores the problems and gives an antidote.

Reinforce Candor or Speak Truth to Power?
My Trust model highlights Reinforcing Candor as the most powerful tool to build trust in organizations. Some people might think this is the same as Speaking Truth to Power, but it is really very different.

Deming on Leadership
Here is an interesting personal story of a run-in I had with Deming several years ago that had a profound impact on my understanding of leadership.

Avoid Garbage-Plate E-Mails
Less is more in e-mail communication. If a note cannot be read and internalized in 15-30 seconds, there is little chance it wil be effective at communicating the intended message. Granted, some messages do need to be longer, but it is a good idea to keep them as short as you can, and try to not have the text go "over the horizon" because the reader has no idea how long the note is if you do.

12 Rules for Success
Several years ago I generated a list of my own personal rules for success. It was originally 10 items which I called “Whipple’s 10 Commandments for success.” I later added a couple more to make it an even dozen.

Little Known Leadership Tip
When leaders transition to a new position, they often make a critical error of being too outspoken about possible improvements based on the environment in their presious position. This can undermine relationships dramaticlly at the very time when it is critical to be building good will with the new team.

Using Time Wisely
We all have the same amount of time each day. Some leaders seem to get a lot more done with less stress on themselves and everyone else. Others, seem to always be running around at Mach 7 with their hair on fire but getting less true work accomplished. What is the trick to getting more done?

Defining Success

We all want to be successful in life. Success has meaning to us in a very personal way. Some people long for financial freedom to be able to live out their lives in relaxation with enough money to pay the bills. Other people define success in terms of power, they want to have a large span of control. Still others think being successful means having excellent personal relationships and love in their lives. there is another definition of success that is provided by two very learned men.

12 Dimensions of Culture Rarely Seen in MBA Books

Most business textbooks define the culture of a company in terms of things like: 1.Physical structure 2.Language and symbols 3.Rituals, ceremonies, gossip, and jokes 4.Stories, legends, and heroes 5.Beliefs 6.Values and norms 7.Assumptions I believe all these things are important parts of the culture, but I believe there are several even more important things that are not on this list. What is your opinion? My view would include things like whether there is an environment of trust and several other key ingredients.

Writing Challenging E-mails

We have all been there at some point. We need to communicate on a delicate issue, and e-mail is the only method possible because the other person is unavailable for any other type of communication. The situation can be a CTO (Career Threatening Opportunity). First of all you will be putting snesitive material in writing in a medium where there is no chance to fully erase it. Second, time is usually short in these circumstances, so there is not a lot of opportunity for detailed analysis. Finally, the subject matter gives you the feeling that you are walking on eggs.

2 Ways to Avoid Being Micromanaged

Most of us have complained about this well-known situation at some point. What steps do you take to avoid the problem? My personal view is that if you can accomplish the following two things, the chances of being excessively micromanaged are significantly reduced. 1) Be credible. Do excellent work and anticipate questions that might come up. Do your homework well and take preventive actions before being asked. 2) Over Communicate. If you get to the boss before he or she gets to you, then the potential to be micromanaged goes down.

Leading Change Initiatives
We are all aware that the pace of change continues to increase exponentially. Our frenetic world makes the need for effective change a matter of survival. Why is it that most change initiatives in organizations are impotent? My own favorite 9 prerequisites for successful change are outlined in this article.

7 Times It Is Important to MicroManage
I am a macro-manager. I like to lead leaders, so I try to paint the big picture for a team and release team members to do their work carrying out the mission of an organization in his or her own way.

Are You a Credible Leader?

Credibility is important in any leadership position. If a leader desires followers to willfully work with passion to reach an established vision, then he or she must be trusted. Credible leaders have followers that share the organization’s values and work hard to achieve them. When a person’s leadership is not credible, followers are less likely to be team players and will be disloyal to the organization.

Leading from a Position of Fear or Security

Leaders, do you lead from a place of fear or a place of security? In my experience, leaders typically tend to lead from one or the other. The leader dominated by fear is afraid of failing, fears that people are out for his or her position, or struggles to delegate and trust others (including God). The leader dominated by a sense of security trusts his or her abilities, is confident in his or her position and has faith in other people (including God)

5 Tips for Managing Strong Willed People
Have you ever tried to lead someone who didn’t want to be led? The same children that were labeled “strong-willed” by their parents often grow up to be strong-willed adults. Perhaps you know one…perhaps you are one. (I know one personally…me!)

Building Your Organization Around Strength of People
Is your strategy built around your organization’s people strengths?

The Delicate Balance Between Yes and No
As a leader, I prefer to say yes. I love when our staff comes to me with a proposal for a new ministry or a new expenditure and I can simply say, “Yes, go for it!” I love being the guy who gets to encourage another person’s big dream. I am not a fan of micro managing. Saying yes allows me to empower others to do their work well.

4 Reasons Change is Difficult
Change is necessary if organizations want to continue to improve and grow, but change instantly raising resistance from some people. Change requires a certain amount of faith. Faith is much easier to believe, and even to preach, than it ever is to live by.

The Best Leaders Don't Have All the Answers
The Best Leaders Don't Have All the Answers

Shotgun Vs. Rifle Approach
Too often we shot gun versus rifle our day. When we try to accomplish too many tasks in one day, we are seldom effective at very many of them. The more scattered your plans, the less effective you will appear and appearance most likely will mirror reality. With the shotgun approach, a person tends to run from activity to activity quickly, but never really accomplishing any one project well.

Managing Your Style

Many of us have taken the Myers Briggs Type Indicator and also the DiSC Profile. We have sat in seminars or corporate training sessions designed to help us understand our "style" and how our "type" relates to the rest of the world. These insights are helpful at understanding ourselves and how we can improve relations with other people. I believe style needs to be considered more as a dynamic process - not static. For that we should think about the possibility of actively managing our style.

10 Commandments to Reduce Gossip
Gossip and rumors about people are hurtful to relationships and organizational effectiveness. Here are 10 commandments that can reduce this problem in your environment.

Who is Your Worst Critic?

Most of us do not have to look far to find our own worst critic. We just need to look in the mirror. Even though it is not good for our physical or spiritual health, we all tend to dwell on what we need to do better. There is an antidote to the malaise, and it is easier that we think. All we need to do is re-train our minds to avoid dwelling on our deficiencies. Easier said than done? Not really. There are three simple steps you can take that will alter your self perception if you have the will to do them.

5 Management Mistakes in Using Data
Deming taught us that many managers make things worse rather than better by the way they react to data. I would like to hear your opinions on whether you see this in your organization. Here are just 5 reasons why managers use data inappropriately.

4 Tips To Improve the Morning Meeting
Many organizations have a short morning meeting every day to accomplish multiple objectives. In some cases these meetings are highly successful: in others they actually make things worse.

Three Little Words
There are three little words that have a lot to do with building trust in an organization. At first you will think these three words actually lead to the destruction of trust, but in the hands of a great leader, these words can become the most compelling force for growing trust. The words are: I am right.

Are You an ‘IN’ or ‘OUT’ Leader?
Leadership is both 'IN' and 'OUT'. A motivational leader not only guides people in the organisation but also take care and inspire the individuals who indirectly influence the growth factor of the organisation from outside.

Autograph Your Work With Excellence
People should understand the difference between job and work. Job satisfaction is an outdated idea. Work satisfaction is a truly possible thought. You must know what you are doing. Leaders always know what they are doing and what they don't.

Culture and Motivation

You have probably asked yourself, ¡§How do people become motivated to perform at peak levels over a sustained period of time?¡¨ Perhaps you found yourself coming up with incentive programs that reward based on money, vacations, or perhaps merchandise in an effort to motivate your employees. The reality is, motivation comes from within each of us is not generated by picnics or T-shirts. As a leader, do not seek to motivate your employees; rather, focus on building a culture of trust where individuals make the choice to become motivated.

Good Peer Realtions Enable Leadership Transitions
Despite rigorous selection criteria and intense training, Michael, an employee reporting to you, is not working out. His attitude and personal habits are fine, but you have invested heavily in his development but have come to the realization he will be better off as an individual contributor rather than a leader.

Ideas for Political Survival
There is an old saying “Too soon old – too late smart.” During my long career in a large organization, I somehow managed to do some pretty bonehead things politically. I will never be someone who is politically brilliant because I am far too outspoken. But I have learned some things and want to pass on an idea to others.

Merger Downsizing

The following example shows how downsizing after a merger can become a huge morale problem for the surviving organization as well as the organization being taken over. Most mergers are done to improve economies of scale and reduce costs by combining similar functions in the two previously independent organizations. This is a tempting ploy when looking at how an organization can survive the increasingly competitive world market. Beware!

Punished by Rewards
The following review is taken from a pivotal article by Alfie Kohn in 1993. The paper can be ordered from Harvard Business Review (Sept. 1993). I will also provide my own comments on each point and offer some additional materials that amplify Mr. Kohn’s point of view.

Organization Development Techniques

OD is short for Organization Development. This is not a new term. Behavioral scientists have been writing about Organization Development for over 30 years. The science has evolved into many different approaches all aimed at the same objective: to enable massive improvements in organizational performance through specific and planned interventions. I have been involved with dozens of OD efforts over the past decades. Some of these have resulted in the desired improvement. Some have not. Let’s review four major types of OD interventions (there are others, but they are usually variations or combinations of these four):

The Power of Admitting Mistakes

One of the most powerful opportunities for any leader to build trust is to publicly admit mistakes. The source of that power is that it is so rare for leaders to stand up in front of a group and say something like this: “I called you here today to admit that I made a serious blunder yesterday. It was not intentional, as I will explain. Nevertheless, I failed to do the best thing for our group. I sincerely apologize for this and call on all of us to help mend the damage quickly. Without being defensive, let me just explain what happened…”

Tips for Improving Motivation

The concept of motivation is one of the most misunderstood terms in the leadership lexicon. Reason: Most leaders either never learned or have forgotten the nature of motivation, so they try to achieve it using ineffective tools. This white paper focuses on the learning from Herzberg’s Two Factor theory and why those concepts can be translated into helpful guidelines that create the opportunity for higher levels of motivation.

Tips to Improve Team Culture

The culture of a team governs its effectiveness. Most teams have a culture that allows adequate performance despite many unfortunate outbreaks of tension and sometimes childish behavior. It is unfortunate that more teams do not experience the exhilaration of working in a supportive culture that produces excellent results. The methods of building teams into high performing units are well documented, but most teams do not go through the rigor required to get to that level. This paper blends well known processes with horse sense born of experience that will allow any team to perform better.

Write Colorful E-Mails
We can all improve the quality of our e-mails if we take a little time to think about how we word them. Painting "word pictures" can be a great way to improve this mode of communication, and it is not as hard as we might think.

WHAT IS YOUR PERSONAL MODEL FOR THE YEAR 2010?
Leaders always plan their year in advance and they visualize the time in advance. They also design their strategy and decide to move forward according to strategy. So , plan and plan in advance and move forward. Remember, time passed never returns in the life.

LEADERSHIP: ART & SKILL OF LISTENING
Leader always listen, listen and listen. They use the words for the action and delegation and execution.They are passionate listeners and direct the team to achieve the common goal.Active listening is a skill and it should be acquire by the leader. Leader has to understand his people and to understand the people , you must listen them.

How People Will Remember Me at My Work Place?
Leadership in silence sounds more. Do some extraordinary thing at work place that after leaving your work still people will remember you. It can be innovative ideas, excellent service, talent, helping peers and so on. Create a difference for yourself and be remembered by your colleagues even after you leave.

8 Signs of a Positive Leader
How do we know when we're following a true leader instead of a sensationalist?

Jesus Christ, A Great Leader To Lead Us From Darkness To Divine Light
A world leader Jesus Christ has evolved us from the sorrows of this earth to real joy and happiness. He has shown us the path to divine peace and serenity. He has led us from darkness to divine light. So, let us celebrate this special day, when Son of God Jesus Christ was born, as our enlightenment day and remove the darkness from our life.

Feet Look To The Ground And Eyes Look To The Sky

Life is never a yesterday, it is always tomorrow. Even when everything is lost, does not matter, because tomorrow is not lost. A leader is a dealer of hope. Trust me, the biggest hurdle in the race of life is yourself only if we have pessimistic attitude. Leaders are internal driven and full of confident for making things happen. They believe in excellence and excel their talent to accomplish set goals. They believe in realistic world and keep burning desires inside.

Hierarchy of Reputation
A bad reputation does not provide the same opportunities as a good one. Being known expands market visibility, power, performance and more. But how do you move from where you are to a higher level?

Leadership Assessment #1 – In vs. Out Ratio

There are hundreds of leadership assessments. The content and quality of these assessments vary greatly. You can spend a lot of time and money taking surveys to tell you the quality of your leadership. There are a few leading indicators that can be used to give a pretty good picture of the overall quality of your leadership. These are not good for diagnosing problems or specifying corrective action, but they can tell you where you stand quickly. Here is one of my favorite measures. I call it the "In Versus Out" Ratio.

Leadership Assessment #2 – Level of Trust

There are hundreds of assessments for leaders. The content and quality of these assessments vary greatly. You can spend a lot of time and money taking surveys to tell you the quality of your leadership. There are a few leading indicators that can be used to give a pretty good picture of the overall quality of your leadership. These are not good for diagnosing problems or specifying corrective action, but they can tell you where you stand quickly. Here is one of my favorite measures. It is the level of trust within the organization.

Leadership Assessment #3 – Growth & Development

Leadership Assessment #4 – Lack of Fear

Leadership Assessment #5 – How People Treat Each Other

Leadership Assessment #6 – Builds an Inclusive Culture

Leadership Assessment #7 – Connects Well with People

Leadership Assessment #8 – Firm but Fair

Leadership Assessment #9 – Admits Mistakes

Leadership Assessment #10 – Lead by Example

Leadership Assessment #11 – Demonstrate Integrity

Leadership Assessment #12 – Listen Deeply

Leadership Assessment #13 – Negotiate Well

Leadership Assessment #14 – Emulate Level 5 Leaders

Leadership Assessment #15 – Make Good Decisions

Leadership Assessment #16 – Build a Reinforcing Culture

Leadership Assessment #17 – Optimize Communication

Leadership Assessment #18 – Handle Crises Well

Leadership Assessment #19 – Generates Passion

Leadership Assessment #20 – Lowers Credibility Gap

Leadership Assessment #21 – Build a SAFE Environment

Leadership Assessment #22 – Leaders are Enablers

Leadership Assessment #23 – Leaders Create Winners

...and a healthy, happy and prosperous new year!
We – unlike our parents and Grandparents – will not be rewarded or honored for our hard work; but will be valued only by our knowledge and ability to design more effective and efficient strategies, tactics, and practices for ourselves, our employers or our businesses

Leadership-Its in Everyone of Us!
This time of the holidays before we are headed into a new fiscal year let us not forget to try and plant our feet firmly on the ground because 2010 will be a great year on the Internet for many leaders.

Maximize Discretionary Effort
Each of us has a vast storehouse of “discretionary” effort that we either give or withhold on a daily basis. Let’s examine the factors that govern why some people freely choose to give a lot more of their discretionary effort to their organization while others, equally qualified, habitually hold back most of their potential.

Incredible Speed
Here are a couple true stories that illustrate how an organization can shrink months of effort into hours if the motivation is there. The interesting thing is that the people involved really loved the challenge and rose to the occasion.

The Power of Good Measures
Most organizations have a TQM (Total Quality Management) Program. It is the quality of the measures in this effort that will determine the success or failure of it. Here is a short paper I wrote on some interesting aspects of measures.

Organization Structure
Here is a lecture I wrote for a graduate class on Management. It discusses some interesting points about organization structure and how it can impact performance.

What Does Leadership Mean

This is not a easy topic to narrow down. Because of the world that we live in has demanded so much from those who are leaders. That What Does Leadership Mean simply will not fit into one definition or category. A trait of leadership is to be the eternal student that is ravenous in their approach to always adding to their knowledge base under the pretense that the more you know the better you can serve.

Some Dangers of PERT Charts

Many companies use PERT charts to track the progress of projects. These charts show the major milestones in complex projects and develop a “critical path” through the ones that must not slip or the entire project suffers. Depending on your job, you may be exposed to these. They are used extensively in military projects and large construction projects. The more sweeping and complex a project is, the more useful a network representation can be. There are some precautions that I will describe here.

Concepts of TQM and Lean

I have lived and worked through many of the phases of the Quality Revolution and have personally studied with many of the legendary Quality Gurus, like Deming, Juran, and Joiner. Often the articles and books on TQM (Total Quality Management) portray the world as an ideal place and describe theories in ways that are neat and tidy. The real world is a messier place, and the theories need to be integrated in that environment so they will actually work.

Understanding E-Body Language

Online communication is so much a part of everyday life that we normally take it for granted until the power goes out. Many of us view e-mail the same as face-to-face communication; we just type information as if we were chatting with someone in the lunchroom – potentially a big mistake. If you are like most leaders, you lived through the transition from a face to face world to a mostly online world with little training. That can lead to some problems that are unnecessary. In this article I describe some of the opportunities.

Project Planning and Risk Assessment

This article will describe two central issues in project management. Successful projects are built on good plans: unsuccessful ones are often caused by faulty plans. The ability to visualize risk factors and react appropriately is the basis for triumphant success, like the first manned lunar landing, or colossal failure like 9/11. This article looks under the hood of the planning and risk management processes.

To Socialize or Not
I am often asked by students if it is a good or bad idea for a leader to socialize with subordinates outside of work. There are a lot of tradeoffs, and this is a complex question. I break down the variables in this article.

Politics and Leadership...The Contradiction of Purpose!

It is the rare supervisor that we also call our leader. Someone who inspires us beyond our own perceived capability is not typical. In today's "self-focused" work environment, employees are drawn to a leader that seems to inspire a "larger" purpose. Maybe this phenomenon is rooted in a generation of Americans that has an entitled view of the world...they are owed something because of their very existence. Or, maybe our own need to make things better for our children has caused them to expect so much as young adults. It really doesn't matter as things are as they are and the reality of truth is what we must ponder this holiday season.

Is Mediocrity Contagious? Is it spreading faster than the flu?
What is happening to our next generation of leaders? Have we become a nation that inspires mediocrity? Are we going through a metamorphosis and don't realize it? Do we really believe excellence comes without effort? Are we all getting infected with the mediocrity disease?

Why DO Idiots Eat Their Young? And, Is it a Bad thing?
If we compare the typical "idiot" in business to the starving family patriarch in the cruelest of winters, interesting parallels start to surface. Consider the challenge of feeding a family to the typical business leader that must financially feed his or her team. Imagine the bad winter as analogous to the challenging business climate and the story starts to sizzle.

Leadership and Service

Customer or client service directly reflects the culture that exists in an organisation. This culture is largely determined and maintained by the leadership the organisation provides. Over some 7 years Douglas Long has proved that the right sort of customer satisfaction assessment - that driven by the customer not the supplier - can be used to improve profitability. In this article Doug Long uses an actual experience with a major computer supplier in order to illustrate the need for good customer service and good leadership. He provides some pointers on how this is done.

What is the Role of a Leader in an Organization?
Leadership is not just working in the present situation or environment by leading towards a path. Leadership symbolizes purpose, value and to look to the future. Leaders need to put investments not only for profit purpose but also for the welfare of the society.

Can Simply Being Nice Save You Money?

It occurred to me (at the tax office of all places) that simply being nice to others really does save us money. This morning while paying taxes, I was pleasant and took the time to be nice and two ladies really did everything in their power to save me some money. As I then drove to my office, I pondered the application of "simply being nice" to a more general business application. Can we as leaders role model being nice and teach our employees to be the same way? Can being nice impact our bottom line? Do we sometimes neglect the very people that mean success or failure in the game of business?

E-mail Tip #1 - Use the Right Mode of Communication

Most leaders communicate more through e-mail than face to face with their people. It is a common practice to view e-mail as just a natural progression of communication not much different from conversation. This is a huge mistake. There are many ways e-mail communication needs to be handled differently to get the intended message across. This first tip may sound like common knowledge. Unfortunately it is not common practice. This will be the case for all of the tips I will give.

E-mail Tip #2 - E-mail is Not a Conversation

Most leaders communicate more through e-mail than face to face with their people. It is a common practice to view e-mail as just a natural progression of communication not much different from conversation. This is a huge mistake. There are many ways e-mail communication needs to be handled differently to get the intended message across. Even though writing or reading an e-mail feels very much like having a conversation, it really is not. Many people fail to understand the ramifications of this observation.

E-mail Tip #3 - Less is More in E-mails
Most leaders communicate more through e-mail than face to face with their people. Many managers feel the use of e-mail is a license to dump out huge quantities of information expecting the workers to absorb and follow all instructions cleverly hidden in volumes of text. Too bad: it does not work that way.

THINK BEYOND WHAT YOU SEE
You need to always dream big and achieve your dreams. This is only possible when you think beyond what you see and try to catch it. Always remember that vision is ageless and timeless so possess it.

TIME TO DEMONSTRATE LEADERSHIP IN TOUGH AND CHALLENGING TIMES
Leadership is always demonstration not definition is what Dr. Shailesh Thaker shares in his leadership 2020 program. Leadership is not just talking and discussing but in real sense it demonstration. It is to show real nerves in tough times and emerge out as a successful leader in the most challenging times.

WILLINGNESS TO DESTROY IS THE ESSENCE OF LEADERSHIP
Leaders are ready to do whatever comes on their way. Quitting is very easy. Destroying too is very easy. However, coming back is very tough and hard job. Once you come back and rise up, you will reach to newer heights. And, this is what leader do. They are ready to destroy and also rise up from the massive failure.

ONE STEP IN TOMORROW’S JOURNEY
People have to spare some moments of a day for tomorrow, everyday. Be clear about your future, be passionate, and be confident for the tomorrow. Leaders always focus on tomorrow and thrust us to be one step ahead.

REWARD SUCCESS AND FAILURE EQUALLY
Success and Failure are two sides of a coin. We need to accept them equally. Failure is nothing but a feedback of your actions. So, never get disappointed when you fail but accept it as a stepping stone for your success.

SUCCESS NEVER COMES OVER NIGHT
Success is the hard earned asset of a person. It just never comes by chance or over night. Lots of hard work, perseverance and involvement helps an individual to gain success.

E-mail Tip #5 - First Sentence Sets the Tone of a Note
The first few words of a note have more impact than meets the eye. It is important to start off a note on the right foot because otherwise your reader may have an incorrect frame of mind when reading the entire note.

YOU ARE NOT BROKEN - YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE FIXED
If you believe you are broken you are. But, if you do not allow such feelings to creep inside you then you are never broken. It is our mentality that breaks us down. Be firm in your thinking and you will find that you do not require anything to be fixed.

Life is 10% Reaction & 90% Action
Most of the time, we are governed by people. People drive us. In fact, we should drive our selves. Most of the people react to action. Thus, we make ourselves sad. So, it is better that pay attention to our actions rather than reacting and spoiling our relations. Therefore, always remember that Life is 10% reaction and 90% action.

E-mail Tip #6 - E-mails are Permanent Documents
In the hubub of everyday interfaces, we often forget how dangerous e-mails can be because of their permanance. If we write something, we better be prepared to defend it for all time. Here are some tips that can help protect you.

Isolation is fatal
We assert that prosperity is a natural tribal phenomenon, while isolation is simply fatal in more ways than one. Disastrous to your health, mood and appetite. Cataclysmic to your prosperity. In fact, if you intend to be really wealthy, you are going to require more help than you can imagine.

The Four Magic Business Bullets – Strategy, Intellectual Capital, Innovation, Implementation
When a serious attempt is made to transform any organization, the return on investment in the building and linking of strategies to accomplish the mission and vision of the organization will be substantial. Strategic thinking and planning will allow the organization to both sustain itself and grow. Strategy is where the rubber meets the road. Great strategies begin with solid leadership!

E-Mail Tip #7 - Accomplish your Objective
It is amazing how many e-mails miss the mark and cause reactions in the reader that the writer did not intend. How can you prevent this from happening to you. Te secret lies in clarifying your objective before you compose your notes. It takes very little time and will improve the quality of your communication immensely.

E-Mail Tip #8 - Write Notes Only When You Are Yourself
We all know it is unwise to write an e-mail when we are angry, yet all of us are guilty of doing exactly that from time to time. This article contains a case study on what can happen and three different methods you can use to protect yourself.

E-Mail Tip #9 - Don't Hide Behind the Screen
Some people communicate things in e-mails that they would be reluctant to do in person. In effect, they hide behind the screen for protection. This strategy usually backfires for some percentage of notes written with this problem. This article contains an analysis of this problem and suggestions to prevent it.

E-mail Tip #10 - Visualize the Person
You can really improve your online communication by visualizing the recipient of a note as you type. It will help you relate to the individual better in the words you choose. This article describes some techniques that can help the process of visualization.

E-Mail Tip #11 - Create a Set of Rules for Your Organization
It is amazing how some organizations live in a perpetual state of e-mail overload when there is a very simple way out? This article suggests each group create a set of rules to use. My experience is that doing this can cut the volume of notes from 30% to 50% very quickly. Wouldn't your group benefit from all that extra time?

The Transactional Nature of Trust
I have studied Trust for several decades, and I have come to believe that trust is transactional in nature. That is, trust is like a bank account where we have a balance and make deposits and withdrawals constantly. This article highlights some ideas about the transactional nature of trust.

Two Organizational States
In this article I contrast two extreme organizational states: one with very low trust, and one with very high trust. The contrast is stark. Most organizations operate somewhere between these two extremes.

Identifying a Better State for Your Organization
In this article I identify the start of the strategic process. The first element is to realize there is a better existence for your organization. Ultimately this leads to a vision of the future, but I will save that process for another article.

Clarifying Your Values

Every enterprise should be guided by a concrete set of values. These ahould be very visible and tangible. Unfortunately, mny organizations have not clarified their values. This leads to numerous problms in running the organization because there is no moral or ethical compass. Clarifying values takes time and energy, but it is time well spent. In this article I outline a specific process to do this critical work.

Creating a Brilliant Vision
If your organization does not have a compelling Vision, it is going nowhere. A solid vision of the future is the most important ingredient in any strategic process, yet often organizations just throw out a vision statement as a kind of placeholder to guide action. That is a crime. This article contains a solid process for creating an organizational vision that is brilliant.

Do We Really Need a Mission Statement?

Many organizations confuse the concept of a vision statement with a mission statement. They might say, "Our mission is to become the world leader in windows." Well, that is reallly a vision statement, not a mission statement. A vision statement is always about the future, while a mission statement is all about what we are trying to do today. It is very important to know that. This article will clarify a process to obtain a good mission statement.

Documenting Expected Behaviors
In creating a Strategic Framework, many organizations forget to include a documented set of expected behaviors. This is actually a critical step to do well. This article walks through a porcess of documenting behaviors. It is not rocket science, but it must be done.

Developing a Strategic Plan
Developing a specific Strategic Plan is fundamental to organizational progress. Once an organization has a concrete set of values, a vision, a mission, and a set of behaviors, it is time to document the strategic plan with tactics. This article gives a brief outline of the process.

Drawbacks of Leadership Evaluations
Leadership assessmants are ubiquitous, but there are several issues that need to be considered or the process will be flawed. This article highlights some of the problems with leadership assessments and offers antidotes and a refreshing new perspective on the qualities of leadership that are really important.

Be Open to New Ideas
It is easy to say "be open to new ideas" and most of us believe we have an open mind. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are all stuck with an enormous array of paradigms that limit our ability to see the possibiliies. To be really open minded is a skill that takes a lot of effort to develop. This article may help you see things from a different perspective.

Don't Put People Off
Most meetings are intense affairs where it is important to stay on the topic at hand. When an individual comes up with an idea or concern that is not spot on the agend, often leaders will dismiss the input as a distraction. That can be a big mistake. This article looks at how to deal with distractions in a way that actually builds rather than destroys trust.

Reinforce People Who Challenge
A key leadership skill is to be able to reinforce people who challenge you. This is prticularly hard to do if the challenge is made in public. This article will provide some interesting dimensions on this issue and offer some advice.

Follow Up on Commitments
When I ask people how they define Trust, usually the first definition that comes forward is whether the person does as he says. It is the old "Walk the Talk" expression that is so overused, but so vital just the same. This article offers some thoughts and tips on effective follow up.

Bilateral Trust
Many leaders tend to forget that trust needs to be bilateral to really work. They need to trust people if people are going to trust them. This article puts some perspective on this idea and offers some concrete suggestions.

Trust vs Walking on Eggs
The contrast between a high trust organization and a more typical group is so stark. I wanted to write an additional article on the topic. I call this one Trust vs Walking on Eggs because the comparison really works for me. See what you think.

10 Organisational predictions for 2010
Working with the trends we have observed in 2009 and the continuing harsh reality in the business world, we have predicted the top 10 key issues for organisations in 2010

Importance of Culture and Communication in Leadership
What importance does culture and communication play in effective leadership?

Dysfunction Begets Dysfunction
The daily function of your team is not an accident. Team dynamics are a direct consequence of action or inaction by leadership. Too many leaders ignore team problems with the hope that they will improve over time. Unfortunately, the problem only gets worse and everyone suffers as a result.

Should we encourage mistakes on our team?
Are honest mistakes allowed on your team? Do people fear failing to the point that they become paralyzed at decision time? Are mistakes treated as opportunities for development?

What Happened to Forgiveness?
The strange thing about forgiveness...we are selective about "who" gets it. Why do we forgive some and not others? Why are some people on "the list" forever while others seem to be forgiven quickly?

Help! My Team is Broken... You are not alone
What does communication, or lack there-of, cost your company each year? How many people on your team, at the moment you are reading this email, are doing a task that in some way will have to be reworked or redone? Funny, we always seem to have time to do things "right" the second time around.

Is My Boss an Idiot? Clues you may have an IDIOT for a boss...
The truth is...we have all had idiots for bosses. For some of us that pain is a present reality and for others it is a painful memory. Unfortunately the disease is more prevalent in our society than we like to admit.

Fearless Leadership
You'll learn: • The four elements of fearless leadership • How to build trust and respect in leadership What builds morale and motivation • The secret of continually selling your company to your company in team meetings

Taking Leadership On Adequacy By Following Up
Adequate is a term that should be reserved for streets, sewers, mops and fast-food restaurants. Yet, we dream: “If we could just have adequate schools … if only.” Nevertheless, it is good to have the “adequacy studies” to confirm for us (and others) what we knew and hoped for.

Trust, Belief and Faith
Trust, Belief and Faith are the inevitable part of life and essential characters to be followed to make a meaningful life. These three precious values help humanity to sustain even in the worst conditions and make humankind to survive.

Effective Steps to Become a Leader
Becoming a leader is difficult in itself. Hence, becoming an effective leader is a hurdling task. Aside from meeting up that qualification, there are other factors that must be considered to achieve productive results when leading a team. An effective leader is one that is able to analyze the situation at hand. Good leaders know when their leadership is required and when it is not.

Becoming a Motivational Leader
To become motivational leader, you need to create a big vision, set high standards, face your own fears, be realistic about your situation, accept responsibility, take vigorous action, strive for excellence, action exercises and follow all these rules to be a great motivational leader.

Life is Marathon
Life is like a marathon. It goes on and on until we die. It never stops. Each day is to be lived uniquely for creating everlasting impressions on this planet, on family, on work place, on friends and society.

Managers and Leaders: Are They Synonyms?
A manager is the person in charge of commanding and running a business or a project. Leadership deals with the interpersonal relations. Managing means planning, developing and organizing. In the contemporary society leadership qualities along with managing abilities are a must.

Love The Work You Do
Love the work you do. The work you do should be your passion. This will only get you o success. When you love your work it will be not like a burden but your it will like your passion. And, this will surely take you to newer heights.

How To Be a Champion in Life
Person is a real champion when he never gives up. Success comes to him who faces the challenges of life and overcome all the hurdles of life without giving up. If you want to be number one or just the best that you can then start following the five strategies that will help you become a champion at whatever you choose to pursue in life.

10 Steps To Replacing Leaders

If you want an organization to grow you must develop leaders. Success or failure of an organization rises and falls on leadership. I believe it is equally true that the degree of success an organization can attain is directly proportional to its leadership potential. Those can be scary words, because it means that we must constantly be finding new leaders if we intend to continue to grow as an organization.

6 Ways To Win In the Game of Life

Most winners are built through brokenness. The greatest leaders have failed many times. Before inventing the light bulb, Thomas Edison failed a thousand times. Babe Ruth had 714 home runs and 1,330 strikeouts. Abraham Lincoln was said to have failed so many times, in business, in his love life, in politics but finally became one of the greatest President of the United States. Allow failure to be your friend.

Evaluating Your Vision Planning
So, here are some of the tough questions I’m asking myself. While at this point these are personal questions I am processing, yesterday I shared these with our staff for their input and to spur their thoughts in similar directions. I welcome your input if you have questions or thoughts that would be good for us to consider or if you have insight for a church at our stage of its life-cycle.

Can The Founder Ever Leave The Company He or She Founded?
Companies are launching into their niche faster than ever before. The information age and technology allows for growth at a pace unknown in previous generations. Much of that growth is a direct reflection on the personality and passions of the founder who is seen in the public as the chief representative of the company. I’m not sure this has always been the case.

Leadership Today

I read lots of business magazines and blogs. I find it helps me with my own management skills. I also believe the Bible teaches us some great leadership principles. Unless you have lived under a rock then you know that today’s workplace is changing. The “new” generation of workers is more value-centered. Through my conversation with business leaders, what I have read and what I have personally observed this new generation of workers love time at home more than time in the office. They value a company that cares for the environment. They want benefits as well as pay. Fairness and honesty in the way they are treated is of utmost importance to them. They want immediate responsibility and authority in their area. They want to dress comfortably and they don’t expect to do what they are doing forever. Finally, they want to enjoy what t

Leadership Inspiration
It has always amazed me to see someone I’m supposed to be leading get their inspiration and even direction at times from someone other than me. Those type things will happen throughout your career. It’s only natural.

Bad Leadership

Honestly, looking back over my life, I have had periods of time where I followed bad leadership. I complained inwardly; I may have even voiced my opposition to others, but I continued to follow and for the most part did nothing to change the situation until I left the organization. In the meantime, not only did the organization suffer, but it wasted my time and energy and ultimately kept me from pursuing my own dreams and goals or from realizing my own potential as a leader.

5 Steps to Take When You've Offended Someone
5 Steps to Take When You've Offended Someone

Identifying Potential Leaders
I want in on that ability. I think God is seeing that potential in our church today, but He often uses me and leaders like me to find them.

Leadership or Friendship or Both
I believe I can say from my parent’s generation that there was almost a “hands-off” approach between the leader in a company and the employees; and most employees seemed to want the separation. I also know when I first entered the world of management this atmosphere was still in place. I’ve watched it gradually change over the years.

3 Basic Needs of a Healthy Organization

Someone shared an article with me by Raymond P. Rood entitled “How Then Should Organizations Live”. In the article Rood makes the point that every organization has three basic needs. They are growth, maintenance, and development. For an organization to thrive it must do all three well. Yesterday at our all day staff retreat we expanded our thoughts on these three needs as they relate to the life of our church and each individual area in which we serve.

10 Things I Hate In Leadership
There are some things in leadership that drive me bananas. Maybe you have your own list, but this is mine. Here are 10 things I hate (or don’t like very much) in leading or following people:

Making Companies Thrive Today
I’m an observer and I read a lot. Why would a pastor care about such things? Frankly, some days I miss the business world and so thinking about it keeps me connected. Plus, much of my ministry is to people who live in this world every day, so keeping up with it makes me a better minister to them.

Information Demanded

Today’s “information age” workforces, especially those who have entered within the last ten years, want to be a part of something that has lasting value. In order to insure this value is met, they feel a need to understand why they are doing what they are asked to do. They want to feel they can contribute to shaping the company’s path. They want to participate in the planning of the organizations future.

LEADERSHIP IS ALWAYS “WE” and “TEAM”
We are not able to digest success and sustain success. Most of the people, I have found that they fumble after becoming a successful person. Most of the time, they forget their team and people around them. Believing in a team and appreciating team is a rock-climbing task.

What the Vision Does?
Vision is a tool for orienting our energies and effort around which we really are. But, when we obsess about whether or not our vision is being achieved, we confused the animating force behind our being with an idea created by our mind.

LEADERSHIP IS NATURE
Leadership is happening not doing. Itâ€™s just happen.It is always with least effort. Something you have to do or keep on doing without love is not a leadership. Let us believe nature = happening . Leadership is making things happen, instead of doing. Nature and all elements of nature are showing to all of us how they works in the universe. Have we ever seen an effort in nature?

Acting Like Adults
It is not uncommon to hear someone say, "People at work act like children most of the time." This is because in the pressure cooker of the working world, the behaviors of people get on each other's nerves, and they tend to regress back to the kind of playground rules that kept society in order when they were children. this does not wear well in an adult atmosphere, so what can we do about it?

LEADERSHIP IS INSIDE-OUTSIDE
A potential leader requires solid knowledge that comes only from inside and he should have competency to complete the things internally. The whole earth is following the principle of ‘Inside-Outside’. Competency is also created inside and bringing it outside up to 100 per cent is leadership. Leadership is always performance, never position and always regardless of power.

5 Incredible Leadership Qualities
Leaders have to possess some inevitable equalities that makes them different from the ordinary folks. Leaders have to nurture certain qualities in order to enhance their leadership abilities.

Two Fundamental Traits of Leaders Who Stand Out
Most of the people I hang out with are continually striving to become better leaders. This article focuses on two of the most essential traits of successful leaders

Make Your 2010 Goals Work
A key element that pushes some forward to success and holds so many back.

Are We Entitled?

What exactly are we entitled to in life? Can a sense of entitlement create mediocrity in people? Is entitlement a good thing? Dictionary.com defines "entitle" as... to give (a person or thing) a title, right, or claim to something. As a parent of two boys, I am always examining and learning (as if I were never a child or a teenager) what really motivates positive activities and what promotes the less value-added ways to burn time in our lives. It is amazing how the purity of childhood is such a micro chasm for life as adults.

Do you do things every day that amaze you?
I very much enjoyed a seminar recently with a colleague Paul Dunn who is known internationally as ‘the wizard of wow’. I also love getting emails from Paul who often signs off with “be sure to keep on doing things that amaze you.” In this article are 5 ways you can do things everyday that will amaze you.

Are Business Games worth the money?
Business Games are booming in organisations today. So what are they and why should we use them?

CHANGE IS TEMPORARY OR PERMANENT
Change is always temporary. It cannot be permanent. We need to accept change because it is always good for our own development.

Vision, Management And Motivation
The job of a leader is to constantly improve standards and levels of productivity. And the only way to achieve that is to motivate people to perform their best at all times. A good leader essentially needs to be a motivator. He should be able to consistently inspire his team to strive for quality and excellence in their work.

On the Lighter Side

What a tough year. I am sure most of you are glad it is over. The recession has had an impact on every one of us. But, now is the time to look back and be grateful; grateful for who you are and who you want to become. December, unlike years of the past was very busy for me. This is only because in prior years I always took the month of December off. This year due to the tough economy that just didn't seem like a good option. So, I spent time in Cleveland, Dallas, Tampa and Montreal. I froze in Cleveland & Montreal, didn't take a coat to Dallas and should have and I went to Tampa during Florida's coldest temperatures in years. Over the holidays Tracy and I visited friends in South Carolina and got to see a calf born on a cattle ranch and took our dog to the ocean. (It was way to cold to even consider swimming.)

Dealing with Difficult Employees
Managing people is never easy, and some employees make it even more difficult. These challenging employees can try your patience and take a lot of your time and energy. It requires skillful management to turn these employees around and make them into productive workers.

An Organic Leader Used Power Versus Force

"If only there was more time to get more done," has become as common and familiar a conversation as talking about the weather. There is an endless string of "to do's" without even having time to celebrate what has been accomplished. Acknowledgment of deeds well done is often overlooked. There are deadlines causing the deadening of senses, contracting potential and poor self care. Freedom from overwhelm is leading with power and not force.

Authentic Leadership

As an authentic leader you are an effective leader. Leadership is founded on character and intent but before this is possible you must know yourself more thoroughly than anyone else does. For you to become more effective with others, you first must become more effective with yourself. Before you focus on finding the right partner, seek to be the right partner. You must commit to being genuine, to be authentic, to be unafraid to know yourself and let others see you that way..

Criticism: An Opportunity to Develop Personality

Criticism; people think that it is worst thing that they have to face. But, make it a practice and learn to listen to such type of criticism and build the habit of taking notes of such type of criticism. The core thing is not to take such type of criticism to heart in a destructive manner but on the contrary, involve your soul in this criticism and make full use of the criticism. Take it entirely to your soul and try to make some constructive suggestions and apply it in your lifestyle and let it be a part of your ethics.

INNER BALANCE
Inner balance is most important compare to outer balance. Aim to balance mind, body and emotions with spirit. Life is a blessing of God to live. So, unwind and forget about the troubles of the day and week, and enjoy every gentle nurturing. Inner engineering brings you happiness to leave aside all the tensions at the door. Experience the balance inside yourself by suggestive therapy.

Lone Wolf Leaders Just Don't Get It

Success today is created by caring about more than profitability and growth. Growth and profitability are created by employees. Trust and respect for employees is paramount to creating success. However, when discussing success, especially in today's economic turbulent times, I often ask clients exactly what is it that makes them different than their competitors? The answers are wide ranging and include things like: • World class service • Exceptional new product introduction • Technology • Experience • Our Chinese connection • Our design capabilities • Our Pricing • Operational excellence • One - Stop - Shop • Our logistics system • Locations • Our size All these things are good. In fact some of them may even be classified as "Core Competencies". However, the answers I receive to that question are often disheartening.

Assume Best Intent
We can reduce conflict between individuals by establishing ground rules for behavior and holding people accountable for living up to their intended actions. One interesting and helpful rule is to always give the other person the benefit of the doubt when something does not seem right. I call it "assuming best intent." This paper describes how important this little rule can be in an organization.

What Puts Success in Succession?
Succession planning is vital to the long term survival of any organization. Unfortunately many companies do a poor job of succession at various levels. This paper outlines some of the key issues and gives several checklists that can help make these processes work better.

Communication Skill Areas
Effective communication is critical for building trust. This paper is about the skills required to interpret incoming communication without ambiguity. I address this from the point of view of the leader, but the concepts are applicable to all people in the organization.

Do You Know Your Breakeven
It is critical that all business know their breakeven point and it is even more critical today.

Listen to Your Employees
If you do not listen to your employees, you are probably making a major mistake.

Manage Your Sales Force
Many CEO's/owners do not feel that they understand the sales process, so they hire salespeople and do not manage them. They just tell them, "Don't just stand there, sell something". Does this ever work? Probably not. Do not fall for the old idea that you must be a sales expert to manage the sales process.

Not Enough Meetings
Not enough meetings. What a dumb statement.

Performance Appraisals
All organizations should have formal performance appraisals. The following is a guide for a good appraisal system.

Communicating on the Shop Floor
This paper is about some tips to enhance communication with people on the shop floor. These interfaces are critical for leaders as they define how the workers react to the leader.

The Need for Strategic Planning
Every company should have a strategic plan, no matter what the size. In fact, it is often more important for small firms as they tend to lose focus very easily.

Communicating with Large Groups of Employees
Some leaders have a knack for communicting with large groups of employees well and others stink at it. In this paper I outline some of the variables in this equation and offer many tips for improving your skills in this area.

Too Much Inventory
Critically managing all your inventory is critical to long term success. You may be surprised at what I classify as inventory.

Topgrading
How do I chose the best employees?

Manage the Rumors
Rumors are a daunting challenge for any organization. Wherever there are people, there is an issue of reality. One of the largest schisms between management and workers is the issue of accurate information. Rumors deflect energy from the vision and values. This paper discusses the origin of rumors and some antidotes to this common problem.

WHAT IS A COMMON QUALITY AMONG SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE?
Successful people have qualities in common. But, one thing in common in all these successful people is that they have experienced significant failures in life or in their work but they have learned from their failures.

WE MUST TAKE ACTIONS IN ORDER TO BECOME WHO WE DESIRE TO BE
What we are, totally depends on us. It does not depend on others. Life never creates anything for us. We have to create something in life. It is only possible if we decide to make ourselves move first.

Why Bother With Distributed Leadership?
There are many ways to measure alignment. But you can only achieve alignment across the board through distributed leadership. Implementing such strategies develops leadership in each unit of your operation and at different levels of your organization. You actually end up empowering employees to act and give them the knowledge about what must be done.

Legends
When corporate legends live long - we don't always prosper.

Leading People Through Change
These are trying times for us all, and none of us should underestimate the anxiety that exists, nor the stagnating inertia it creates. As I have said before, the companies that recognise this and help their employees get through the cycle as quickly as possible will be the ones who come through the current crisis fastest and strongest.

Solving the Problem or Finding the Guilty

We have developed into a blaming society. Mom blames the older siblings when problems arise in the household. Teacher finds someone to blame when things go out of control in the class room. Management and unions blame each other. Political parties use blame in the extreme, and it is disruptive, subordinating national goals under political aims. Which describes your leadership: Do you actively search for solutions to problems or do you spend your energy searching for the parties to blame?

Three Factors of Leadership Motivation
Many leaders fail to motivate people to achieve results because those leaders misconstrue the concept and applications of motivation. To understand motivation and apply it daily, let's understand its three critical factors. Know these factors and put them into action to greatly enhance your abilities to lead for results.

Boost Your Leadership Skills
Leadership is always important in an organisation. Leadership skills are very important as it helps not only you to grow but also helps your organisation to grow.

Selfish Leadership
If you are in a leadership position and guilty of this: don't tell anyone and CHANGE!

A Leader is Born Every Minute...?
Are leaders born or developed? Leadership is not for the lazy. It comes from having a want and a deep desire to excel and bring others along with them.

Extreme Productivity Tools - mind blowing tips
All leaders know that capturing their day in the most productive way is the only way they will reach their goals. They are extremely focused, and have a strategy to their madness. Here are 5 tips and how we apply these extreme techniques to our life.

Neuroscience and leadership

Many of us are increasingly frustrated by the fact that today's problems were often caused by solutions that were provided yesterday – solutions which, with the benefit of hindsight, were patently inappropriate or inadequate. Mostly these are caused by people operating out of less than optimal worldviews coupled with a primarily ‘red zone’ area of brain control. In this article Douglas Long explores the issue of worldviews as developed by Clare Graves and couples this with some basic neuroleadership concepts

Papering over the cracks
If "cracked eggs don't hatch", simply papering over the cracks isn't going to change things. All too often organisations go for the quick fix - dealing with the immediate rather than the underlying causes of problems. In this article Doug Long argues for a leadership approach to getting desired results.

Five Myths about Knowledge Management
Knowledge Management is a common business phrase that is often misunderstood. Here is a short article that dispels the myths around it and demonstrates what it really is.

What Leadership Behaviors Do You Value The Highest?

“Leading business success requires something even harder to gain than great ideas; it requires followers, collaborators, allies and other supporters”. This statement comes from researchers at Babson College, Wellesley, Massachusetts in the Babson Executive Education Program. They did a survey in November 2005, of what people want to see in their business leaders. The results were ranked by the importance of specific leadership behaviors people want in those who lead them. And all survey participants were themselves business leaders/executives.

Top Ten Ways Delegating Makes Your Business More Successful

Most sole proprietors and solo entrepreneurs go in to business for themselves because they love what they do. They have honed their craft to become an expert. They excel at what they do and put their total energy, commitment and passion into making the business succeed. But at some point (hopefully sooner rather than later) they realize they can’t do it all themselves and they need a team around them to further the growth and success of their enterprise. Here are ten ideas that may help you delegate effectively so your business will flourish.

Operations Plans
Why should small companies have an operations plan?

Performance Measurements (KPI's)
Every company must have Key Performance Indicators that they use the manage their company.

The Balance of Managing
How many small business owners say they don't have time to manage? They must do it themselves.

Put On Your Listening Hat
We have always had problems with people hearing but not listening. I believe with the electronic world, we are getting worse rather than better. This article focuses on a way to make sure the other party is focused on understanding your message.

How Much Eye Contact
Eye Contact is a fascinating thing. We know it is important for good communication, but too much of it can be very distracting. What are the techniques for establishing the right level of eye contact? This article focuses on this fascinating subject (no pun intended).

Leadership Strength and Courage
Everyone knows that leaders need to be strong and courageous. But what do those buzz words mean for the real world? What are the dimensions of strength, and how does a leader develop them? This article discusses these questions.

A Framework for Making Tough Calls
All leaders have to make difficult judgment calls routinely. The best leaders operate from a specific framework, so their calls are fair and balanced. This article describes a typical framework for making those difficult calls.

Keeping a Positive Outlook
The best leaders are able to weather most storms and keep a positive outlook. This is a challenge as some of the pressures can be staggering. This article deals with the subject of outlook and how leaders can hone this trait.

Developing a Passion for Performance
In his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins characterized two common denominators of Level 5 leaders. One was humility and the second was a passion for performance. This article deals with the passion aspect of leadership and gives some tips for how to generate more of it.

The four Stages of Change
Change is inevitable, and many people fear change. Not too many leaders view change as a specific process that can be managed. This article gives a four step model for making change in organizations.

Essential Steps to Making Successful Change
Since change is actually a process, it is important to break down the process into logical steps. This article considers several of the more important steps to successful change.

Thinking Like an Owner
Many people fail to keep the mindset of an owner of the business. In doing so, they suffer political damage. This article gives some tips on how to improve your performance by thinking like an owner of the business.

Empowerment and Other "Programs"
Be careful when management wants to do another "program." Short term bursts of energy may be well intended, but they actually sap the energy of an organization. This paper describes the pitfalls and gives some antidotes.

Working Between Layers
I view an organization as a stack of overlapping layers. Good leaders instinctively know how to work effectively in between the layers so they are credible in both directions. That takes a special skill. This article outlines some of the leadership dynamics between organizational layers.

Designing the Organization
Often how an organization is set up determines its effectiveness. When leaders do a reorganization, sometimes they are not thoughtful enough about what they are trying to accomplish. The result is a mess. This article discusses some aspects of organizational design.

Job Redesign
There are huge books devoted to the subject of job redesign. This short article deals with some aspects of redesigning jobs for a more empowered team structure.

Reorganization People Placement
If you are going through a reorganization soon, pay special attention to the placement of people in the new order. It is critical for your success. This article gives some tips to remember when selecting people to fill slots in a reorganized entity.

Leadership Transitions
There are some interesting dynamics when leaders transition to new positions. These times are awkward, and often the organization suffers for a while until the new leader is fully up to speed. This article contains some things to think about when moving leaders to new slots.

Adjusting to a New Leader
When a new leader takes over an organization, all kinds of things chaange immediately. There is a process going on, but sometimes it is hard to see it. This article discusses some of the dynamics going on in most leadership transitions.

Organizational Flexibility
Static organizations are not healthy ones. The flip side is that too much turmoil is hard on people. In deciding how much change to introduce, leaders must consider several factors. This article outlines some important ideas on flexibility.

Removing Ineffective Leaders
One area where leaders struggle is removing ineffective underlings. This is a highly unpleasant aspect of the job, but it is vital to the health of the organiztion. This article shares some tips on how to accomplish the removal and reposition of leaders.

Creating Winners
A key leadership function is to create an organization where people feel like winners. This is not really that difficult to do even in the most oppressive environments. This article outlines some techniques you might find helpful at creating a winning organization.

Valuing Diversity
Much has been written about the topic of diversity. This article deals with my views on the topic in terms of why and how to achieve a culture that values diversity.

Solving Problems
Learning how to resolve problems efficiently is a skill some organizations need to study. We are surrounded by problems that wear different masks. How we react to these not only governs the quality of our working lives, but also determines how effective and profitable our organizations are. This paper deals with some tips on problem solving in the real world.

Having Fun at Work
Where is it written that to be productive a work environment must be oppressive? Nowhere! In fact, the best organizations are ones where there is a lot of enjoyment and just plain fun. The top 100 companies to work for in the US have all figured it out. This article discusses some of the dynamics of fun in the workplace.

Training People in an Empowered Organization
As organizations move to engage more employees in the business and empower them to take on more responsibility, there is a need for good training. This article outlines some key points to consider when training employees in an empowered organization.

Growing Other Leaders
The best leaders understand and accept their mandate to grow other leaders. The reason there are not more excellent leaders in this world is that there are not enough good mentors. This article discusses growing leaders and the concept of mentorship.

LEADERS REDEFINE SUCCESS
Be an inner driven leader. Never let yourself down what ever the situation comes. Set your own resolutions and work upon it. You will definitely get success.

Ten Tips for Everyday Leadership
Leadership is an aspiration. To be a leader is a mark of merit - not just a job title. Leaders are all around us. They move people; they bind people together; they inspire people to go beyond the known horizon. We should all aspire to develop our leadership every day.

The Spirit of Leadership
You can boost your leadership skills and hence your career by understanding this one thing that most leaders miss: great leadership incorporates a spiritual dimension.

How to Hire the Right Person for the Right Job

Part of good leadership requires skill in the hiring process. Good leaders know that retention of productive employees affects the bottom line as well as morale and growth. Recruiting, training and then terminating someone are never desirable. There are many good candidates you could hire. However, even though they may have certain desirable skills, they may not be right for the job at hand. The key is not just to hire the right person, but to hire the right person for the right job.Taking the time to make the correct hire in the first place is worth all of the effort it takes. The right person in the right job will be productive for years to come. The right person in the wrong job will cause problems, waste time, and expense and send you back to square one again.

Building A Great Team: The Greater The Delay The Greater The Damage
The building of a great team starts with developing great leadership or a great coaching staff - a staff that gets rewarded for building a great, high performance team. One of the most important aspects of management is to hire, train and retain the best talent possible. The longer an organization delays this process of developing a solid staff, the greater will be the damage to the organization.

Top Leaders Tell Their Secrets – Are You Listening?
I’ve found many jewels buried in the inserts and pullout sections of my favorite magazines. Yet these same resources cannot be researched after the fact because they are not indexed as part of the publication.

Beating Your Own Best
Leadership is not just directing others and leading others. Leadership is not just holding position, it is creating position. Leadership is to break down your position and creating a new one for the world to applaud you. Leadership means beating your own best.

Building your Leadership Culture for Today’s Business Climate
What is your Organizational Culture? What does "Organizational Culture" have to do with leadership culture?” Do your top executives set the tempo and culture of your organization?

Leaders Need to Lead – Now is the Time
Business reality is derived from the performance of your sales force, your profit and loss statement, employee morale, and messaging from your company’s leadership. Despite how long it takes to emerge from this perfect storm of economic issues it is my firm belief that it will be the focused and resolute effort of your company leaders who will make the unique difference.

How To Build Wealthy Home Business Secrets Revealed

It is really possible that you can start from humble beginnings and become wealthy almost overnight. In fact scores of people are included in the millionaires club, while a few dozens move up to the big boys billionaires club every year. You can build a wealthy home business if you have the qualities that are essential for success. So whether you wish to earn six figure incomes, have multiple streams of income or residual income then the list of required attributes in building a wealthy home business can be group into five broad areas namely: desire, choosing the right business for you, attitude, marketing and leadership.

Changing My Game
Have you ditched an old recipe and found a new way to cook up your success?

E R R Your Way to Negotiating Excellence

Negotiating is the ultimate challenge for any entrepreneur. Being good at it is essential for success. You don't have to be a shark to succeed. The dolphin approach is better. The difference is one of style. While sharks try to intimidate, dolphins genuinely enjoy people. They are confident, assertive and don't try to manipulate their opponents with negotiating ploys and gambits. Learn the ERR principles of negotiating and you may never need any others. When you apply these 3 principles you'll become a more successful negotiator and gain the respect of your opponents in the process.

10 Simple People Skills To Successful Management
Getting the best from your people is vital if you are to make the best progress in your business or organisation. Much comes from the way you interact personally and there are just ten key actions to take to build great, fulfilling and productive relationships...

10 Steps When You Need Help in Your Business
You start off alone. Be it as a solo business owner or a manager looking after a part of a larger business. It gets busier, you get distracted from what you want to do, because there's only one of you and you've only got one pair of hands.

HOW TO BECOME A GREAT LEADER AND COACH
Coaching by a leader may appear to be time consuming, but look at it as a smart investment. One of the beauties of coaching and cultivating high quality talent is that it creates the momentum required to take your organization from good to great because it plays off and exploits the natural and learned talents, strengths, and competencies of everyone involved.

Leadership Is All About Building An Organization That Will Execut Objectives

As a leader you must set the pace and clearly communicate expectations. A leader must continually move the organization through change so it can both survive and grow. As a leader, you need to demonstrate the courage to tap into the strengths and creative potential of your people. You need to craft and build a dynamic culture of trust, respect, and innovation, supported by a sound business foundation and exploited through action oriented innovation and customer service.

Marter Your Game: Put a Shine on Your Leadership

As business owners, leaders and managers, we play a huge role in the collective health and wealth not only of our business, but of society. The quality of our leadership directly impacts the people in our organization and ultimately the financial results. The more successful we are personally, the more successful our organizations will be, increasing our ability to create greater abundance in society. Each of us has a choice about our ability to make a difference.

Traing; Less or More
The fourth Article in this series is focused on creating valuable learning opportunities. The previous article was Flexibility, The quality of a good leader. I am going to focus on, are you getting value from your investment in training?

It's in the Brain - leadership and social issues

It is now fairly well accepted that the brain has three quite clear areas from which to control our behaviour – the area closest to the brain stem (sometimes called ‘the reptilian brain”), the limbic area (sometimes called “the mammalian brain”), and the cortical area (sometimes called “the human brain”. There is hard data that shows where teachers engage with students, the students become more responsive to learning and they don’t want to “let the teacher down”. In turn this has an impact by reducing antisocial behaviour in the community around the school. There is also hard data that shows where employees are engaged with their work and with their co-workers, there is significant reduction in lateness, absenteeism, sickness, and abuse of trust.

Why Are Meetings One Hour Long?

The vast majority of meetings in the business world are scheduled for one hour. I think this is a paradigm we should challenge for several reasons. 1. Like an old habit, we just fall into the pattern without even thinking about it. 2. We lose track of those extremely valuable minutes within the hour format. We can do better than that. 3. The meeting itself is often inefficient as there is time to schmooze for the first 20 minutes or so, and most of the decisions occur in the final 10 minutes of a meeting. There are many techniques for squeezing more usable time from our daily schedule – and we really need them. Next time you schedule a meeting, try making it 50 minutes rather than an hour. It will emphasize the importance of the minutes and save time in the bargain.

Three Reasons Why Leaders and Managers Must Learn to Coach
Today’s business and entrepreneurial environment requires a different approach to leadership and management than ever before.

E-Mail Tip #12 - Avoid Posturing Preambles
Many e-mail writers start off with a phrase which is intended to protect them, but only really serves to annoy the reader. Be careful not to be guilty of this offense. This article offers some tips.

E-mail Tip #13 - Don't Take Cheap Shots
Because people exchanging e-mails are usually not in the same room (we cannot say this about texting!) often it seems safer to take a "cheap shot" that we would not take if the person was facing us. This is usually a big mistake. Recoginze this and avoid it in your e-mail communications.

E-Mail Tip #14 - Handling Over the Top People
Some e-mail exchanges go way overboard and spiral out of control. This paper contains a juicy example and the antidote to the problem.

E-Mail Tip #15 - Avoiding E-Grenade Battles
Childish online fights are common in most organizations. There is a simple cure for these battles. This paper describes some of the psychology between people having e-grenade battles and how to stop them from different perspectives.

E-Mail Tip #16 - The Online Power Struggle
We need to get good at reading between the lines in e-mail to extract the maximum information. This article is a case example where a power struggle is going on between two individuals.

E-Mail Tip #17 - Matching Words with Body Language
E-mail has a kind of Body Language, and if the words do not match the body language there is going to be confusion at best and open warfare at worst. This article shares an example of a mismatch between Body Language and words and gives an antidote.

E-Mail Tip #18 - Stress in Remote Teams
In a global environment, many people work in remote teams. E-mail exchanges between team members can cause great stress if we are not careful. This article gives a classic example of the problem and suggests a remedy.

E-Mail Tip #19 - Tone within Questions
The use of questions in e-mail is a good way to get information or lobby for your cause. There are many different types of questions and their use gets very specific. This article goes into the issue of questions in e-mail and how to make them work well for you.

E-Mail Tip #20 - Use Socratic Questions
The technique known as The Socratic Method is a powerful way to convince others of your point of view. It must be applied with skill to be effective. In e-mail, the socratic Method is often very helpful. This paper describes some examples and gives some rules for using this technique well.

Developing Your Leadership Skills
Leadership = Influence. The art or process of influencing people so that they will strive willingly and enthusiastically. As human beings we all influence someone: parent to child, teacher to student, friend to friend, employer to employee, and coach to athlete. If you stop to think about it, the list is endless. Therefore, we are all capable of influencing others.

Passing the Leadership Torch
A corporate mentoring program is an effective part of succession planning: when employees feel good about what they are doing, when they are productive and satisfied with their positions they are in a better position to grow. As staff members are able to grow, they are able to take on more advanced roles, grow into upper level positions and continue passing the leadership torch.

Women in Leadership
Research has shown that there are three main traits of a leader: People skills, Professional Competence & Business Acumen. Women outperform men on People Skills. Business week called attention to these finding in its November 20, 2000 issue with a cover story titled, “As Leaders Women Rule”.

8 Ways to Help Others Succeed
The highest calling for any leader is to grow other leaders. Great leaders seek to help other people regardless of their position. When you think about it, helping other people succeed is the shortest route to your personal success. This article gives eight tips to think about if you are really interested in helping others succeed.

E-Mail Tip #22 Use the Vernacular with Caution
E-mail is considered by some to be an informal form of communication where we can relax and use the same street language we use face to face. This is dangerous. This aricle shines some light on reasons to avoid this behavior.

E-Mail Tip #23 - Avoid Using Off Color Remarks
Similar to using the vernacular, dirty jokes in e-mail can easily get out of control and peg you in a light that you would not appreciate. This article discusses the issue in depth and gives some antidotes.

E-Mail Tip #24 - Using Proper Etiquitte
Proper etiquitte in e-mails has been called "netiquette." This article contains a list of precautions that will be helpful to you. It was compiled by a friend of mine and used with her permission in one of my books.

E-mail Tip #25 - Watch for Changes in E-Body Language
There is a weath of information in between the lines in e-mails. This is a kind of body language. However, just as in physical body language, to be valid, one must look for changes in body language. This article explains why and how to interpret the changes.

E-mail Tip #26 - Keeping Things in Context
One of the real dangers of e-mail is how people can extract short snippits of information that, taken out of context, can distort your meaning. Here is an article that focuses on this aspect of e-mail and offers some suggestions.

E-Mail Tip #27 - Keep an Open Mind
If we prejudge the notes we read, it will reduce the effectiveness of communication. We need to approach all communication from a posture as neutral as possible. This is especially true with e-mail communication. This article gives some examples why this is the case.

The Changing Role of Leadership
The road ahead is unchartered and most people will be faced with tremendous change and an increasing feeling of losing control. Many will have to learn a new approach to dealing with life in the knowledge age. To a very large degree leaders will have to play strong new roles as coaches, mediators, mentors and team builders.

Keep Your Fire Stoked
In so many ways this fire can be compared to a marketing team of professionals. It is nice to sit and watch the fire, watch the flames flicker but soon if you only watch and don’t feed your fire it dies down. You start to feel the chill back in the air. You must get up and put on another log on the fire.

10 Tips for your Stop Doing List
A frequently overlooked opportunity is to create a "Stop Doing" list. Leaders should be especially mindful of this method of shaping priorities. This article shares some technology on how to create and manage a "stop doing" list.

E-Mail Tip #29 - Manage a Complainer's Need to Cavil
Some people just need to vent in e-mails. If you understand this and know how to manage it, you can avoid many of the battles that are so common in e-mail exchanges. This article offers some information on this aspect of online communication.

E-Mail Tip #30 - Avoiding Inappropriate Counterpoints
Online exchanges can become traps for rancor if we are not careful. It is easy to take something written the wrong way and fire back a snippy reply. Then, we are off to the races. If you watch the tone of your counterpoints, you can avoid many problems online. This article provides examples of the problem and suggests some antidotes.

E-Mail Tip #31 Make Your Point Clearly
A lot of the e-mail traffic cluttering up people's inboxes is a result of prior notes that gave the reader an incorrect understanding on what was meant. To avoid this, heed the ideas in this article.

E-Mail Tip #32 - Peer Pressure in E-Mail
Peer pressure and domination are evident in all forms of communication. In e-mail exchanges there are some particularly nasty things to avoid and some specific tips to prevent this type of thing. This article addresses this aspect of online communication.

E-Mail Tip #33 - Creating an Online Persona
There are all kinds of wierd things that go on in the cyber world. Many people create a kind of persona that is not really them. The game Second Life has this aspect as a central idea. Here is an article about what goes on when there is a second identitiy behind the actual person writing a note.

The MBTI Aspects of Communicating Online
We all have a personality style. Most of us know our MBTI Type. In communicating online it is helpful to remember the differences in Style as documented by the MBTI. This article gives specific information that will help.

E-Mail Tip #34 - Use Neuro-Linguistic Programming
The study of how people take in information is fascinating. This article highlights how some people communicate on predictable channels. It really can help improve the accuracy of communication online.

E-mail Tip #35 - Don't Communicate Through a Third Party
Some people try to get messages to other people through a third party. This practice is dangerous at best. You need to be direct in online communications to avoid all kinds of problems. This article explains the dynamics.

Coaching and Coach Training in the Workplace

• How the workplace is changing from authoritarian bosses and jobs for life towards self directed learning and portfolio careers. • How the Virgin Empire was built using a coaching culture • Case histories of the implementation of coaching and coach training in the workplace. • Some facts and figures about Return On Investment. • Why companies introduce coaching. • A look into the future.

The Role Of Leadership For Now And The Future

Leadership in the information age is based on the belief that the best way to achieve high performance, innovation, creativity and results, is to stress “individuality”… not conformity… by employing the full talents of all stakeholders – including their ideas, experiences and knowledge. What is required is a form of leadership that actually engages individual differences and sustains them in creative useful ways, rather than seeking their resolution through conflict, suppression or compromise.

Three Key Elements to Improving Leadership
Great leadership is the key to success. Great communication is the key to great leadership. Think of any great leader in modern time: Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr, and John F. Kennedy come to mind immediately. They were powerful leaders because they could inspire people to follow them. It was their ability to articulate their vision that made them successful in achieving their goals.

Systems for Business Growth

What Are Systems? Now, some people may think of "systems" as sets of technically sophisticated interacting parts, designed to accomplish some complex result (and, in some cases, they may be all of that) but in the vast majority of cases in business, systems can be simple, little things. For example, you might develop "systems" for answering the phone, handling emails or running meetings. So, one definition of a system might be: "A plan for achieving a desired end result in an efficient and certain way."You may develop a simple system for answering the phone so that you consistently create a positive impression. You might develop a more complex system for opening your office in the morning so that no time is wasted; the alarm is turned off (saving a call from the security firm); your "Open for Business" sign is switched on (saving you

Risk: Making the leap

As a collaborative team value, the ability to take calculated and well-reasoned risks is a foundation for building an effective organization with the capacity to learn about itself, to expand and grow. When fear is present, however, growth and forward momentum stagnate. This article looks at organizational behaviors and practices that both encourage and discourage an employee's willingness to take appropriate and well-reasoned risk. Risk is the fifth of six values that build collaboration in groups. Without risk being t6olerated at the cultural level, many organizations penalize people for thinking.

Leading Like TIGERS: A Successful Team Building Model
Teamwork thrives in a collaborative culture and tends to have problems in individualistic and internally competitive cultures. This article discusses a collaborative value system that supports an organizations vision, mission and core values through teamwork and the concept, "If we in, I win."

Leadership and Greed
Greed. Some call it an ugly green monster. And, it seems to be a topic we are hearing a lot about in the US news today. This article defines greed and differentiates between individualistic and collaborative work cultures and practices. It also gives you criteria for discerning leadership greed in your organization.

Move Yourself First

Leaders move themselves in the direction with speed. Now a day, speed is the way of living; if you are without speed, you are dead.Leaders are always initiative. They took the responsibility for making things happen. It is very difficult to become successful without initiative. Procrastination is the fertilizer that makes difficulties grows. How someone can achieve success with procrastination quality. Initiative is a tool of compass of the successful people.

Character: That Makes a Successful Leader
No one can live with pride under the sky and over the surface without the strong character to protect his life and to achieve final objective of the life. Leaders have strong characters to overcome every difficulty.

If You Do Not Conquer Self, You Will Be Conquered By Self
Travelling within and winning over yourself is the greatest victory. Discipline always shorts the distance between you and your accomplishment. Leaders always have to walk on discipline. What we are that discipline helps us to tap it and to put across the globe our potentiality. We cannot reach up to the fullest potential level without discipline.

Cross Training - The Miracle Cure?

When I watch those infomercials on TV that claim some new pill or tonic will cure most of our physical ailments, I don't bite. No matter how convincing the cliams are, I just believe there is nothing that can fix all or most ailments just by buying a bottle and popping the pills. Life does not work that way. Likewise in leadership there is no miracle cure, although building Trust comes pretty close in my mind. Another strong medicine for organizational ailments is cross training. This article describes some of the more important benefits of a great cross training process.

Top Earners and Leaders
Everyone wants to know the inner dealings of top producers. Many factors come into play and they are all valid and essential yet there are two that are personal and at times overlooked. They aren’t normally seen as part of the process but they are key items.

Using Visioning Activities to Lead to Future Success
It's easy to get bogged down in the nitty-gritty of your existence as a manager from day to day. Surviving even in the short-term can become a challenge - and that's on a good day! But what about making it better into the future? What can you see?

How to Get Respect from Others
Everyone wants respect but it can be an elusive pursuit for many. Learn important tips on how your behavior can make all the difference in how people treat you and how you lead. Leaders benefit by getting respect without stepping all over people.

How to Motivate Under-Performing Personnel

It is no secret that the performance of personnel is the largest contributing factor to the long-term success of any organization. Managers may give direction, but in the end, it is the company’s staff that determines how well it executes. It is the staff that must respond to the threat of competition and the shifting interests of shareholders and consumers. Taking this into consideration, one of the greatest challenges facing managers is motivating their personnel to achieve outstanding performance. Whether you are a first-time or veteran manger, these simple strategies will serve as a primer to put you on the right track.

Five Reasons the War on Terrorism Will Never be Won with Foreign Invasions
Osama bin Laden and all al-Qaida leadership that aided in the 9/11 attacks should be vanquished. We can also protect our homeland from the next terrorist attack. But none of this requires America to invade a single foreign nation, and here are the five reasons why.

Building and Organizing a Virtual Team - Strategies that Work
Building and organizing a virtual team can be challenging at the best of times and more so when team members live internationally and possibly come from different cultures, but there are some common strategies that will make light work of it whatever the circumstances.

Five Leadership How-Tos for Recession Survival

We're in the midst of the worst economic crisis in decades, and many people in leadership positions haven't seen anything like it before. As an executive coach, I know that leaders often make decisions out of fear of what could happen instead of crafting a plan to ensure that everyone stays on track through the bad times. Surviving a recession can feel a bit like sailing without sails, so here are a few tips to help you stop, think and weather the crisis.

LEADER IS LIVING ON THE EDGE OF RISK
Leaders have to decide to go with speed, risk and courage instead of safety, slowly and caution. I have to face problems, challenges, may be hurt, embarrassed and even struggled through the tough time. So what, this would not stop me to take a risk. I would love to die on that way where I was living with a feeling of “DOING”. Life is doing not discussing.

The Power of a Willing Mind

According to the Gallup organization, only 30% of employees are fully engaged in their work. That means 70% are merely earning a paycheck. What does this untapped opportunity cost an organization? And, why are so many companies oblivious to this loss? Are they blind to the unrealized opportunity that is left on the table daily? What would this extra potential do for us as individuals, organizations and even countries? Imagine the impact of fully engaged workforce on the economy. Consider the productivity and profit that is simply there for the willing organization to take.

Four Levels of Coachability
Have you noticed that there is not a single top-level professional athlete that does not have a coach? It's obvious, isn't it? In order to become a champion - to excel - it is necessary to be coachable. But, did you know that there are four distinct levels of coachability? If you are a leader, you will want to know this.

The Five Powerful Practices
Leaders who are committed to living an extraordinary life, engage in extraordinary practices. These five practices will empower you to make a profound difference in your leadership, your effectiveness and your personal life.

Creating Breakthroughs in Business

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." - Albert Einstein We need to radically shift from doing more of the same expecting different results - that's insanity! We need to create a breakthrough which is fundamentally a function of two things. First, we must shift the mindset, and second, we must have a corresponding shift in behavior. One without the other never works!

The Power of Publishing for the Social Entrepreneur
Five solutions your book will provide: Define yourself as the leader. Recognize the pioneers of the field. Make your case. Gather the powerful network you need. Sell it: the book becomes part of your successful business.

Myopic Leaders?

Scanning the overall environment in which you are working to ascertain threats and opportunities. A mindset that is constantly trying to position the organisation in a place where it can deal with any threats and take advantage of any opportunities. A broad vision rather than leadership myopia. The constant need for a leader to be creating and sustaining an environment in which everyone can be successful.

A LITTLE EXTRA IS THE ESSENCE OF LEADERSHIP
No leader can achieve success by doing what is required. One has to put an extra value to his work to achieve excellence. Leaders are consistent and continuous performer. Legendary people never quit, once they decide to do it, they make sure that things are done. They have conquered quitting habit of an average people.

Leaders Never Say These 3 Things
You've heard the saying, "How you say something is just as important as what you say." There are 3 most commonly abused responses you should never use, if you ever wish to be perceived as a leader.

Why Dedication to Lifelong Learning is a Key to Success
Jim Rohn said it best that you should “Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.” The most successful people in any industry will tell you that they spent a considerable amount of time honing their skills and working on their personal development.

Lead yourself first
In order to lead others we first must learn to lead ourselves!

Leading with Discernment
Leading others is not about giving an order and people robotically following. It's a complicated, neverending process which requires humility and discernment.

LEADERS: NOT THE PAST CONSCIOUS BUT FOCUS ON FUTURE
Put your first things first, everything more likely to fall into place. Our present thoughts, attitude and decision makes our tomorrow. Our tomorrow is a creation of our today. Leaders live in present and focus on tomorrow to accomplish decided goals.

RIGHT THINGS BUILD YOU FOR LIFE TIME
Leaders are known for their strong character. Character is not what you have but it is what you are. This has a strong value. People like character but when it goes to deed and actions, they differ. They compromise with the logic that this all is ideology not practical. One has to be practical not ideological.

Successful Leadership is a Lot Like Eating an Elephant
Leaders are often faced with overwhelming tasks that seem like trying to eat an elephant. The SECRET to leadership success in those instances is to apply "Kaizen" with "The Law of the Slight Edge!"

Things Leaders Do Part 3
There are five activities leaders do daily that are required to make businesses grow, this is the third of the five. These actions have been proven to be essential to the building and flourishing of any successful enterprise. There is no substitute for any one of them and they must be done daily.

Applying the Lessons Learned
James Dicks explains how he turns the mistakes he makes into future positive actions.

Changing Consumer Spending Habits
James Dicks examines the changing spending habits of the American consumer.

Create a Personal Financial Survival Plan
James Dicks examines the need to prepare for financial hardships ahead of time.

Finding a Fresh Path for the New Year
James Dicks reexamines what is important in light of the holidays and this past year's recession.

Leadership Traits of the USMC
James Dicks examines the importance of leadership development in today's business environment.

Lessons of Leadership
James Dicks discusses the importance of leadership traits in the business enviroment

Management and Leadership
James Dicks examines the differences between management and leadership

Why You Must Master Self-Discpline

How many times have you felt the urge to take a small break and watch TV while you are in the middle of writing an article? Or perhaps you’re in the middle of making your prospect calls, and suddenly you decide you want to chat with your friend about weekend plans without completing your other calls? I know it’s important to take breaks once in a while, and you should to recharge your batteries, but have you ever experienced taking a break, and suddenly that break turns into a few hours and you suddenly don’t want to do that task anymore? Most of us have been guilty at one point or another, but it’s important to complete income-producing tasks to put you closer to your goals. Out of all the skills, mastering self-discipline and focus is key to success.

Measures that Drive Wrong Behavior
It is a common problem that measures intended to halp an organization reach goals actually work to the disadvantage of the organization. That sounds illogical, but it happens all the time. This article describes three typical examples of this phenomenon.

Things Leaders Do Part 5
There are five activities leaders do daily that are required to make their business grow. These actions are proven to be essential to the building and flourishing of any successful enterprise. There is no substitute for any one of them and they must be done daily.

7 MYTHS OF LEADERSHIP
Leaders have to always prove themselves. They are consistently working hard to lead others successfully and make others glow under their influence. Though some leaders possess certain myths about leadership which has to removed for the bright phase of leadership.

Leadership and Fear
As entrepreneurs, managers, and leaders, how do you learn? Learning by experience is not necessarily bad – sometimes, however, it can be extremely costly. Is it something that you can always afford? People with their brain’s locus of control in the “Blue Zone” are prepared to learn from coaches and mentors as well as from experience.

LEADERSHIP IS FROM “WHAT WE ARE” TO “WHAT WE MAY BE”
Change is only going to remain constant. Change alone is eternal, perpetual and immortal. Life is never statuesque it is always in progress. The world is always in progress. Change starts when someone is observing the next step or thinking for a new world or moving forward. When you get aware with the change, you start following change and you totally change.

Follow Rule of Connectivity Not Competition

Entire universe follow the rule of connectivity. Now, business leaders start following the rule of connectivity in the business houses. Recently, Yahoo and Microsoft have followed the rule. Tata and Kores have also followed this rule. Internal competition breaks down the team spirit. Internal competition affects on the morale of the team. Home Management is the base on the rule of connectivity not on the rule of competition.

Joke or No Joke

I was having an online conversation in a class I am teaching about teams at work. The discussion was relative to having online messages misinterpreted. Clearly we have all experienced this uncomfortable situation more than once. I got so fascinated about this topic that I wrote a book on it a few years ago. One student brought up a situation that is common in person as well as online, but the damage done online is usually much larger. This is when a person tries to rib another person with a joke, but the meaning on the part of the receiver is taken literally. The writer is astonished when the reader takes umbrage at the barb. The writer says, “but I was only joking.” This article deals with this common situation

LISTEN UP LEADERS: The Frontline Makes Your Bottom Line
Does your staff treat customers badly even though your advertising claims you are #1 in customer service? Learn why it is critical to retain current customers and what you can do to improve customer service while managing your company reputation on-line and off.

How to be An Effective Leader in a Virtual Team
One of the major problems companies are facing is how to manage their workers. Most of them have this wrong belief that remote workers and workers at home are not as productive as an in house staffer.

7 Steps to Improve Your Virtual Leadership and Virtual Team Effectiveness
How can one achieve success in a team full of individuals with different points of view?

Passion, Plan and Profit by Christy Strauch
Having your own business is said to be a part of the "American Dream". Even in these tough economic times, many people are still working toward having their own business. Actually, I've read that a financial recession can be the perfect time to lose a fortune --- but also the perfect time to make a fortune. So, is this the time for you to get serious about starting your own business?

Heart of Marketing by Judith Sherven and Jim Sniechowski
Customer service and really good customer service seems to be a thing of the past in many businesses. When I was growing up - my grandfather reinforced the importance of stellar customer service to me and that lesson has served me very well of the last two decades. This book explains how to put "heart" back into our businesses and our marketing.

Women's Millionaire Club by Maureen G Mulvaney, MGM
Many people own home based businesses and in these tough economic times - many more people will launch home based businesses. Some people do very well with their own business - while others never make a decent living. What is the difference?

Moving Forward After Organizational Restructuring

Since the early 1980s, a wave of reorganization has emerged. The plight of displaced employees has received great attention, as evidenced by the many programs for helping them retrain, relocate, increase their employability and regain their emotional stability. Relief comes to an organization after restructuring when everyone assumes that the worst has passed. However, the readjustment process for the remaining employees may become a shocking experience for the organization.

Protect Your Success: Have Unfinished Business

The fastest way for an achiever to revert to mediocrity in any endeavor of their calling or profession, is to have no unfinished business. Competitive edge, continuous growth and success, are loosely tied to achieving established goals. The key is to turn yesterday's goals into today's routine, it is also the platform you need to set goals that are more challenging, the one that you never thought of yesterday. You must see and set yourself up for a life beyond today's goals.

Top Must Have Assets to be a Sought-After Leadership Speaker
What can you do to be a sought-after leadership speaker? Work hard on it! Are there some professional and personal attributes that you can develop to set yourself apart in a crowded field of speakers? Here are the major ones that can't be faked.

You Can Turn Information into Leadership and Career Success
During turbulent times, when seeking information on what to do next, the best answers for arriving at new possibilities require deeper questions. It is a time for reinventing the knowledge you have with creativity and vision.

When I Ask Your Opinion
It's not about only what you know or that your opinion is the best or only opinion; it's about how to integrate your knowledge and many opinions into a greater whole. There's a reason why you're heading up an organization, even if you run a solopreneurial business. What's it going to be? Playing nice or succeeding?

Recycling in the Office shows good Leadership
Many companies don't recognize the benefits of recycling, for improving the bottom line is often the motivating factor for implementing such programs; but it shouldn't be.

TOP 10 MISTAKES OF LEADERS
Usually, leaders make mistakes and think that they are right. Leaders have to understand the situation of their team members when they are leading them. Leaders need to set an example and lead with pride. There are top ten mistakes that usually leaders make.

First, Know Your Buffalo-Then Get the Right Spears!
You can never overcome a challenge, in your organization or in your personal endeavor that you have not identified. Using the wrong resources and/or strategies will not help overcome challenges, it could even make them worse.

6 Proven Ways to Conquer Your Fear of Public Speaking

Cicero, renown world speaker and philosopher said, "I turn pale at the outset of a speech, and quake in every limb and in all my soul." Read Exodus to learn about Moses' fear of public speaking. John Dryden described his fear of public speaking this way, "Whenever I speak a cold sweat trickles down all over my limbs as if I were dissolving in water." I know how it feels to have running stomach, sleepless nights and disappointed audience.

Building Trust: The Ratchet Effect

I believe that building Trust works like winding up a ratchet. Trust is built by a series of actions or ratchet “clicks” that occur over time. But, like the ratchet used to pull in the sail on a large sailboat, when the pawl holding the ratchet from rotating backward becomes dislodged, the spool can spin back to zero quickly. If a leader has made a thousand deposits in the “Trust Account” with people, they can be wiped out by a single mega withdrawal that happens in a heartbeat. This article gives some more information on this analogy and suggests a method for inserting the pawl back in the teeth once a withdrawal has happened so the bulk of historical trust assets are retained.

What Do We Do Now?: Options for Allocating Scarce Resources When You Haven’t Planned Ahead

Although advance planning for resource allocation is the ideal scenario, many organizations found themselves caught short by the severe constraints imposed by the economic downturn. What are the alternatives when organizations are operating in crisis mode and there is no “Plan A?” Given the need to make decisions about how to curtail their operations immediately, there are two options that can help in the short-run: (1) increase inputs or (2) decrease outputs - each with several alternatives

Guidelines for Allocating Scarce Resources

Scarce resources are a fact of business life. In the wake of devastating budget cuts, furloughs, and/or layoffs, however, “normal” levels of scarcity have been exacerbated. The question for many organizations has become, “How do we move forward from here most effectively?” I recommend to my clients that they begin by identifying some crucial information that will guide their subsequent actions and decisions.

Can You Make a Good Living Being a Life Coach?

Running a coaching and consulting company dedicated to helping women achieve breakthrough in their lives and work, I meet thousands of folks each year who want to reinvent, many of whom are considering launching a coaching or consulting practice, or other small business of their own. They long to transition into coaching for solid reasons, and many come with great, top-level experience. This article will explain some points to consider if you are contemplating a career move to becoming a life coach.

Taking Back Power Back Tips For Restoring Balance and Focus

Since my book published this Fall, I've been inundated by activity around launching it, publicizing it, and speaking about it. I enjoy much of this activity, as it involves marketing and promotion, which I'm comfortable with (it was my professional specialization in my corporate life, and also it fits my "socializer" personality). I also believe in the book's messages, so it's a joy to speak about it. But what I didn't realize was that, day by day, hour by hour, I began to feel less and less powerful, and more and more focused on "outer" events and accomplishments, and things beyond my control, rather than inward milestones.

Leadership is “Net Time” and “Net Results” not “Gross Time”
Leaders always forget the other issues apart from their professional life such as family, friends, relatives, health and other major life activities. Leaders need to learn the importance of these things in their life. Once these things are shattered, you will never get them back. So, enjoy your life with your family and friends while concentrating on net time rather than gross time.

COMMUNITY WEB, INTERVIEW, JOB AND TALENT
Today the greatest challenge in front of leaders is to find the right talent for their organisation. It has become quite difficult to get the best talent for their team. Leaders need to find ways in order to find the best and the right talent for their purposes.

From Me to We
The Prism Awards

Technology Professionals as Full Business Partners

In the last few months much has been written about IT Professionals expanding their business expertise in order to participate as full business partners in their respective organizations. Acquiring a basic understanding of other business disciplines such as finance, operations, marketing & sales, logistics and strategic planning have all been mentioned as advantageous credentials. Unfortunately simply acquiring knowledge is a good step forward but relatively inadequate if one cannot use that knowledge skillfully. This is where Leadership, the ability to gain wholehearted followers for a given course of action, is essential.

Leaders' Current Trend of Work
Leaders are always hard working. Their current language is result. They are result-oriented. They speak, drink, eat and sleep with results. They focus on efforts and work, leaving behind the intention after efforts.

Teaching Moments

It is not always easy to find a leader that will take time out of their busy schedule and truly mentor you. A good leader has gems of wisdom, unique techniques, and excellent skill sets that can always benefit a newbie in the business world. When you find this type of leader you would be wise to latch onto them and be coachable in every sense of the word and take advantage of every teaching moment.

Unions Complify Business
This article highlights some of the inefficiencies and costs that result from having a union operating between line workers and management. It represents a cost that we can no longer afford to bear.

Is Leadership Success 99% Failure?
During an interview, when asked the secret to his leadership success, Soichiro Honda, the founder of Honda Motor Company and one of the most respected business leaders in the world, responded that success is 99% failure.

LEADERSHIP IS HARD AND IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE ©
Almost All Greatness Was Born From Adversity. This brief action plan summary is how to become a better leader and re-enegize your key employees by reassessing the current strategy and tactics for market analyis and setting sales and / operational goals.

Polysyllabic Fog
If your organization has problems with people not following instructions, you need to read this article. It points out a habitual problem that can be costly to organizations in terms of lost productivity, waste, and even employee accidents.

Please Please Listen to Us
Leaders need to tap into the ideas of the people closest to the work. Unfortunately, due to hubris and a number of other factors, the ideas of shop floor people are given less attention than the ideas of higher level managers. This is a crime, as is discussed in this article.

How to Bring a Partner, Co-founder or COO into Your Business

According to Cisco's Innovators Forum guest blogger Bob Goedjen It's not unusual to realize that as a solo-preneur you've reached the end of your expertise and that you need to bring someone else into your business. Even if you have employees, there are times when a partner can share the load. But how do you find a partner, vet a partner, and protect yourself in such a critical relationship? I've asked our guest experts to give us their insights. We'll be featuring them over the following weeks. Here's what members of Silicon Valley SCORE had to say. ----

Tips to Help You Stand Up, Step Up and Play Big as a Leader
What would it be like to be among the top 3% of winners? The three per-centers at the top started with a dream of where they wanted to go and imagined winning. In the beginning their dream may have started on a small scale, but as time went on it grew larger and larger.

Be Inspired - From Rags to Riches Leadership
Where does leadership originate? What makes a good leader? There are a multitude of perspectives and definitions on the subject. What about the followers? Who are the followers of a leader? Are the followers obeying blindly out of fear or laziness when taking the easy road? Or are the followers being self-leaders within the circles in which they participate?

The 3 Biggest Myths of Entrepreneurial Leadership
Successful entrepreneurs are leaders who understand the myths of commonly accepted wisdom and temper them with the realities. Outlined in this article are 3 of the most common leadership myths that, if not clearly understood, could be barriers to success.

Yelling Telling and Selling
I saw an employee survey the other day where several employees referred to their supervisor’s style of giving instructions as “yelling.” It started me thinking about that word. This article compares the yelling style with telling and selling.

Develop a Tolerance for Risk
When trying to manage change, leaders often make a huge mistake by not telegraphing a tolerance for risk. This article digs into the issue of risk in making changes and suggests an antidote to this common problem.

Leadership with a Small "L"
There have been only a few great leaders in our lifetime. Leaders like Reagan, Churchill, Disney, and Welch to mention a few. They could never have risen to the hieghts they did without the many small "L" leaders that backed them up. It is from the pool of small "L" leaders that the great leaders emerge. Learn how to grow leaders from seed.

A Basic Technique to Influence Others
Did you know that the word "because" has a profound effect in the way you influence others?

Are you Managing Your Time or Managing Your Life?
Sometimes all it takes to enable us to better manage our time and accomplish our to-do lists is just adding a little "juice" to the mix.

Be Empowered Before Empowering Others
We all need to fuel our own tank, to ask for what we need from those around us so that we can feel inspired and empowered and be willing to support others as well.

Changing the Way You Think Can Empower You
What is the real meaning and purpose of self empowerment and why do you need to have it?

Different Influencing Styles
If you're a manager, is it important to develop different styles of behaviours and a wider range of approach? And how can this affect your performance as a manager now... and in the future? And does it matter?

Do Not Be Afraid to Take the Lead
When we think of leaders we have archetypal images of what we perceive a leader to be, but there are subtle ways to lead that empowers both you, as leader, and those with whom you interact.

Do your words promote or demote?
What we say and how we say it can have a powerful effect on other people. If you are a leader, what you say has an even more powerful influence... do your words promote or demote others?

How to Be a Source of Inspiration
To be a source of inspiration for others we must reflect a confident and positive image, but how we view ourselves colours the image we project.

How to Be an Empowered Leader in a Challenging Business Environment
With the economic uncertainties besetting most companies, an empowered leader is needed who can boldly face the challenges in an unpredictable and sometimes scary business environment. An outstanding business leader must not only be capable of being in charge of others, he should also learn how to be in charge of himself.

How to Influence Others to Reach Their Full Potential
A position does not make for a leader, having people that follow because they want to follow makes for an influential leader. Activate these six strategies to empower your people and you will find that you are a sought after leader, mentor and guide who not only positively impacts your organization but is influential in expanding the lives, confidence and abilities of the people you serve.

Put Accountability To Work In Your Organization
Accountability begins with engagement: a heightened emotional connection to your company that influences your employees to exert greater effort.

Reach your Destination with a New Set of Directions
We are all creatures of habit, but how can we expect different results if we keep doing things the same way? Sometimes we need to try a different direction and all it takes is a change of perspective.

Reciprocity to Motivate
Give what you'd like to get and use the law of reciprocity to successfully influence your personal and professional life.

The Art of Influencing and Empowering Others
A leader who wants to influence and empower others should inspire them with a great enthusiasm. You may not have been gifted with this kind of personality but you can still move people through your honest conviction.

The Bookend Process of Engagement
Winning people over takes more than using our charm; it takes influence... our personal power of influence... which is why I like to use 'book ends'!

Three steps to creating a Pay it Forward Environment
Imagine a world where we all empowered each other. Well all great ideas have to start somewhere with someone, and we can all do our part by not only empowering ourselves, but paying it forward and empowering others.

What's Leadership?
It is a natural instinct to want to be a leader yet so many people have no idea what is required to be one. As they climb the ladder of success they feel they are leaders and have the demeanor requiring being followed without earning it. Rank has it’s privilege but not in the hearts of men and so conformity is through duty.

What is the Secret of Success?
I have always wondered what was the secret of success, and it all made sense after listening to Earl Nightingale’s recording of the Strangest Secret. I’d like to share the main points of what he discussed, and encourage you to apply the secret of success in your life.

Coaching Staff is easy when you know what to say
Knowing what to say to staff in difficult moments is challenging but with a little guidance, almost any new manager can learn the simple coaching techniques that will set them up for success throughout their careers. Here is an example of how one coaching script, can turn things around.

How to be an Inspirational Leader in 3 Steps
"Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality." So said Warren Bennis, world renowned authority on leadership. Leaders must be inspired. If a leader is not then his followers won't be either. There are 3 vital steps you must take to translate your vision into reality that inspires others to follow.

10 Questions for Inspirational Leadership
There are ten very important keys for leaders to be very inspirational. If you follow these key factors you will definitely set an example of inspirational leadership.

PEOPLE FOCUSED - LEADERS FINISHED FIRST
Leaders who are people- and relationship centric are far more likely to display outstanding performance.The assumption that so-called "tough" leaders with a controlling and target-driven approach do better during tough economic times is simply not true, according to new research carried out in the UK

12 Questions for Leaders in the Year 2010
Now, 2010 is here, and in the earliest days of the economic recovery it's time to take the bull by the horns. Smart leaders will bypass the predictable New Year's resolutions and, instead, start the decade with 12 essential questions.

Leadership: Now More than Ever!
Winston Churchill is a hero of mine. Partly, I think, because he wasn't perfect. He was neither an obvious hero nor someone acknowledged early on to be the leader that he eventually became. He just put his head down, plowed through and never gave up. He was honest and hard-working, pragmatic and passionate. Sound like any small business owners you know?

Integrity is the Key for Followers
Of the many traits humanity has, integrity is probably the must sought after in others. We desire truth and honesty but also that it be rooted inside each individual and not just only as a front. This is so vital in leadership that it has caused the failure of many an endeavor.

Leadership: Best Practices for Unleashing Leadership Potential in Everyone

What makes a good leader? Are good leaders born or are they made? These are age old questions we have heard for many years and continue to ponder today. The leader of the 21st century does not necessarily resemble the leaders of the past. The characteristics, expectations, skills and competencies have changed over the decades. Leadership is a required competency of every successful manager and executive today. Business executives are recognizing that success is largely dependent on their ability to identify, develop and retain leaders within their organizations. The fact that these potential leaders can be found at all levels of an organization and within all disciplines, however, is not yet equally recognized. On-going talent assessment is a key part of building a pipeline and preparing your organization for the future.

Leadership - The Top 10 Competencies Spelled Out

Leadership skills and competencies are a requirement for most professionals in this competitive marketplace. The ability to bring out capabilities in others and realizing their utmost potential is one sure way of measuring your leadership capabilities. Every organization differs on the specific skill sets and competencies needed for success but there are many leadership competencies that are relevant in all cases.

Giving Feedback: do the old rules apply?

In today's world it is increasingly clear that respect has to be earned: it is not automatically given. In today's world it is increasingly clear that authority can quickly be lost if the person giving feedback makes a mistake - and the almost instant availability of information by phone or internet makes it almost certain that any such errors will be quickly discovered (and if the person giving feedback isn't respected or hasn't engaged with the people involved then the probability of someone actively seeking out errors is high.)

A Business Network Makes You Powerful – Article 5 of 8
With proper planning and strategy, you can populate your network with the right type of people in a reasonable amount of time. People who make the effort to constantly develop and nourish their networks will find that it is fun and rewarding. The following are 7 ways to build your network whether you are in sales or just want to further your career.

Remove Distractions to Ignite Sales Growth – Part 1

The most common thief of sales growth is distraction. Based on my experience, I estimate that on average, employees lose 40% of their time to distractions. This number ranges between 30% and 60%, depending on the company they work for, and can reach as high as 70%, depending on the individual. Distractions can be classified into two types: 1) leadership and organization; and 2) individual-specific. The leadership and organization distractions can be categorized into poor sales support, customer service mishaps, products that do not meet client needs, bad sales management, and poor communications. “Individual-specific” distractions refer to daily mental or situational conditions faced by the salesperson. Part I deals with leadership and organization because these have a more dramatic impact on growth than most companies realize

Leaders Can't Resist Change
There is no way we can expect a permanent position in any area of business. The marketplace moves with the winds and stops at nothing. We must always be ready to adjust our actions and abilities, as society deems necessary. It makes no difference the scope of our endeavor change will be inevitable.

Trust and Respect
Trust and respect appear to be so colsely linked that when you have one, the other is naturally always present. I do not think this is true. This article discusses these two concepts in enough depth to separate out the concepts into a hierarchy.

Keeping People in the Loop
On the surface, it seems like a simple matter to keep people in an organization informed of things they need to know. Unfortunately it is a conundrum that is rarely mastered, even by the most talented leaders. This article explores the issue of keeping people informed.

The Difference Between Managers and Leaders is A Lot & Not Much

Debate has long surrounded the topic of whether managers differ from leaders and vice versa, and if so, how. Meanwhile, the reason that we never seem able to settle on a single answer is because they are both different and the same simultaneously. What I mean by this is that managing requires getting work done. It’s the nitty gritty of the day-to-day - organizing people, logistics, communication, etc… and making sure that things run smoothly like how the moving parts of a machine work together to create a functional whole. Leading on the other hand is about inspiration, the epitome of ideals, having vision and being able to effectively communicate its tenets. Implicitly workplace leaders have followers. Managers don’t, not necessarily.

Vision is more than a destination
Vision in real leadership doesn't just means seeing where you want to go, but also seeing how you are going to make it happen. Seeing the process, the entire path, the things that you need to do to make it happen. The things you need to do to make that vision a reality. What you need to do to make it happen. What you need to do and the when, where and how.

Building Fires - What Leaders Do
Teaching, demonstrating and motivating through positive reinforcement are just a few of the examples of what leaders do to encourage the greatness in those they mentor. When properly done they can build followers into fiery leaders themselves. We can draw many parallels between developing the character of a leader and building a fire.

Create a ‘No Excuses’ Sales Environment

What is your company’s sales culture or environment? Can that question be answered quickly and articulated consistently across your organization? The foundation for creating a clearly defined sales environment begins with the leadership - how they set sales standards and then demonstrate, communicate and inspect accountability to those standards. What sales standards do you set and communicate? Are they extraordinary? If we followed you around for 30 days, what would we observe about your actions and interactions with your team?

Adjusting Your World
Is work-life balance something you think about on a regular basis? Is balance possible? Does it really exist?

How to Use Barriers to Entry to Your Business Advantage
According to Cisco Innovators Forum guest blogger Bob Goedjen when we refer to barriers to entry for a business we are not talking about such issues as normally required start-up costs of business but rather about those things that are inherent in the industry or selected market place that impede a small business or any business from entry.

The Five Most Dangerous Trends In Australian Small Business Today!

It's safe to say most business owners have attended seminars on everything from leadership to sales and marketing and they say they know their importance. Some have paid business growth gurus thousands of dollars to show them how to grow their business and increase sales; they all say they know the importance of ongoing staff training and business innovation. They attend networking events to make new contacts to grow their business. However, there is plenty of evidence to show that while Australian SME owners are talking the talk, they are not walking the walk.

12 Steps to Implementing Anything in Your Business: Step Seven: Make Demands Effectively
Successful execution requires making demands in ways that generate productive responses. You will really need to call on your demand making capabilities during the hard work of caring out your implementation plan. That is when the forces of complexity, inertia, diversion, and even opposition assert themselves and the strengths of your leadership as a business owner or manager are heavily tested.

A Lesson For Managers From The World Of Sales
Just as successful sales people identify their customers' needs, managers must learn their employees' motivators—wants and fears—and then try to satisfy these, in return for the required performance.

BOOK REVIEW: A Leader’s Legacy (By James M. Kouzes & Barry Z. Posner, Jossey-Bass, 2006, ISBN #978-0-7879-8296-6)
As a leader, would you say one of your goals is to leave a legacy? If so, this book speaks to you. Two very well known and respected experts on leadership offer up their own legacy, sharing some conclusions that comes from their research, consulting and writing on the subject for over several decades.

BOOK REVIEW: Finding Our Way: Leadership For an Uncertain Time (By Margaret J. Wheatley, Berrett-Koehler, 2005, ISBN #978-1-57675-317-0)

Finding Our Way challenges us to see the enterprises we lead in new light. It presents our organizations as living, substantially self-organizing systems of interacting human beings, not elaborate machines. Tools such as performance standards, metrics, missions, goals, project plans and job descriptions can certainly guide and influence employee behavior but they cannot force it or control it. This reality can frustrate the control-oriented manager. Wheatley offers several strategies to lead effectively in such systems.

BOOK REVIEW: Influencer: the Power to Change Anything (By Kerry Patterson et al., McGraw Hill, 2008, ISBN #978-0-07-148499-2)
I like this book because its six strategies are comprehensive. They provide an excellent road map for managers who want to induce change in an individual employee, a unit or, indeed, an entire organization.

BOOK REVIEW: Joy at Work: A Revolutionary Approach to Fun on the Job (By Dennis W. Bakke, PVG, 2005 ISBN #0-9762686-0-4)

An engaging saga about one corporate leader who decided to operate genuinely according to some universal beliefs about people and about what he felt was important in a corporation. So many of us talk this stuff. He lived it! As a result, the company experienced great business achievement and he encountered stiff push back from his Board…when economic times got tough. If nothing else, this book will challenge your thinking: what does your organization say it values? Does the enterprise really believe it? Do you?

BOOK REVIEW: Leadership from the Inside Out: Becoming a Leader for Life (by Kevin Cashman Berrett-Koehler, 2008, ISBN #978-1-57675-599-0)
The bottom line of recent research–and of this book–is that to achieve a significant degree of mastery as a leader we must attend to mastering ourselves. This book provides a lot for all of us to consider…and then take action upon!

BOOK REVIEW: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (By Carol S. Dweck, Random House, 2006 ISBN #1-4000-6275-6)

The author presents the "fixed" and "growth" mindsets, the "internal monologues" that accompany each of them, and how they can either limit or boost a leader's potential effectiveness. She chronicles the tales of several noted growth mindset leaders: Jack Welch (GE), Lou Gerstner (IBM) and Ann Mulcahy (Xerox). The book offers a useful lens through which to appraise your managers–and, of course, yourself–and focus their development.

BOOK REVIEW: Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence (By Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis & Annie McKee, Harvard Business School Press, 2002, ISBN #1-57851-486-X)
While a leader's technical and cognitive skills can be developed in a fairly straight forward manner, the critical competencies based in emotional intelligence (EQ) take longer and require more persistence and, frequently, courage. This book offers steps to enhance your own EQ so that you create greater resonance—vs. dissonance—in your dealings with your staff and others in your organization.

BOOK REVIEW: Quiet Leadership: Six Steps to Transforming Performance at Work (By David Rock, HarperCollins Publishers, 2006, ISBN #978-0-06-083590-3)
A thorough and disciplined presentation of on-the-job, real time, coaching techniques to lead employees through the discomfort of new learning and back to comfort again, n the process growing them to a higher level of competence, self-understanding and confidence. These approaches merit a place in every manager’s “coaching toolkit.”

BOOK REVIEW: The Dynamic Path: Access the Secrets of Champions to Achieve Greatness (By James M. Citrin Rodale, 2007 ISBN #978-1-59486-358-5)

Drawing from the world of athletics and the success (or not) of superstars in their lives after sports stardom. The major “dynamic path" shift they had to make was to now apply their fame and wealth to something beyond themselves. Sports stars find this especially difficult but so do star individual contributors, professional specialists, salespersons, etc. when they move into a significant leadership role.

BOOK REVIEW: The Extraordinary Leader: Turning Good Managers into Great Leaders (By John H. Zenger & Joseph Folkman, McGraw Hill, 2002 ISBN #0-07-138747-1)

This is an important contribution to the field of leadership development. It presents pivotal research that shows how investing in just a few current strengths (note, not the so called "weaknesses") of your average managers can rapidly move them toward becoming extraordinary leaders. In addition, the authors make a strong case for how this shift pays off handsomely in terms of business and organizational performance results.

BOOK REVIEW: The Practice of Adaptive Leadership (By Ronald Heifetz Et Al, Harvard Business, 2009)
Dealing with change and problem solving–these tasks are at the core of what leader/managers do. But there are two distinctly different types of challenges that precipitate change and bring on problems for managers.

BOOK REVIEW: The Set-Up-To-Fail Syndrome: How Good Managers Cause Great People to Fail (By Jean-François Manzoni & Jean-Louis Barsoux, Harvard Business School Press, 2002, ISSBN #0-87584-949-0)

Totally unaware, managers can become complicit in the failure of an employee. Describes the negative self-fulfilling cycle where an employee's mistake or lapse begins to shape his/her manager's overall negative view of him/her. In turn, the manager starts treating the employee as if they fit that image of a poor performer. The employee lives up (down?) to those expectation and and the relationship spirals down and down. The book offers some suggestions for managers who see the situation in action and want to "crack the syndrome."

BOOK REVIEW: True North: Discover your Authentic Leadership (By Bill George with Peter Sims, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2007 ISBN #978-0-7879-8751-0)

How do you become and remain an authentic leader? Author Bill George tracks a number of remarkable leaders who have a number of things in common. They experienced what he calls a "crucible," a significant event or challenging situation earlier in life that set them on their purpose, and primarily, they successfully made the mindset transition from "I" to "WE," dedicating themselves to a deeper cause beyond their own self-interest. This is the "True North" compass setting, the source of authenticity. Provocative food for thought for all leaders.

BOOK REVIEW: Why Pride Matters More Than Money: The Power of the World’s Greatest Motivational Force (By Jon R. Katzenbach, Crown Business, 2003, ISBN #0-609--61065-1)

The book's thesis, in a nutshell: an intrinsic feeling of pride based on the relentless pursuit of worthwhile endeavors is a lasting and powerful motivating force. Reveals the powerful connection between employee pride and the effort they expend, even more the case the farther down you go in the hierarchy. Some good business examples and stories are included. Offers a valuable perspective for managers who are wondering how to motivate individual performance in their unit or enterprise.

BOOK REVIEW: Why Should Anyone Be Led by YOU? What it Takes to be an Authentic Leader (By Rob Goffee & Gareth Jones. Harvard Business School Press, 2006, ISBN #1-57851-971-3)
People want to be led by a person, the authors contend, not by someone with a fancy job title or a manager who has amassed a vast chunk of organizational turf. Employees will choose to follow only a real, live, breathing human being who reveals at least some of their humanity, values, personality and, yes, vulnerability.

Delegation: The Forgotten Management Tool
Six reasons why managers resist delegating tasks and decisions, three excellent benefits that will accrue when they do delegate, followed by a six-step approach to doing the hand-off effectively.

Down the Slope and Up Again: Seven Strategies to Lead Your Team through the Recession
Seven strategies to provide highly effective leadership at all levels of your organization, leadership that keeps employees engaged, focused, and productive during turbulent economic times.

How to Build Accountability in Your People

Every manager wants his or her employees to take on personal accountability for their work performance. Here are seven concrete actions you can take to foster that sense of responsibility in your staff. The benefits of this include greater productivity, confident, engaged employees who more rapidly reach their full performance potential, and less stress on you because you know you can count on them. The big bonus benefit is that you will have more time to focus on tasks that are strategically critical to the success and growth of the enterprise.

Kickstarting a Brand New Team
Especially for a project team or cross-functional task force, there is great downline benefit from addressing, right at the beginning, group process fundamentals such as purpose, leadership, members' agendas, and team operating guidelines (norms).

Ouch! It Hurts To Think This Much! Communicating Performance Targets
Why are so many managers unclear about what performance results they expect from their employees? The prime reason: it requires concentrated mental effort and time, upfront. Make that investment. It will be worth it.

The Other Way… Beyond Technology to Leverage Your Investment in Your People
Proposes a comprehensive learning curriculum to enhance so-called soft skills and attitudes at three distinct leverage points in an organization: managers, teams, and individual contributors.

What to Do When Your Team Gets “Stuck”: 7 Ways to Get It Moving Again
When a team becomes "stuck" it saps energy, costs money, and hurts results. How do you know when your team is, in fact, stuck? And what can you do to turn it around? Here are seven most common pitfalls teams and working groups encounter and a practical strategy to overcome each one.

You Gotta Get’em To Wanna: 6 Roles the Modern Leader Plays
The "leader" aspect of being a manager in today's competitive market for top talent has become absolutely critical. Managers, therefore, must master the skills and attitudes that support six specific roles that an effective leader plays.

BOOK REVIEW: Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us (By Daniel H. Pink, Riverhead Books, 2009, ISBN# 978-1-59448-884-9)

In his new book Dan Pink (1) consolidates some major social science research around human motivation into clear, straightforward discoveries and (2) challenges the current thinking and practice in the vast majority of our organizations. Employees in the more complex, knowledge-based jobs of the emerging post modern economy do not respond well to "carrot & stick" forms of motivation (Pink refers to this as "Motivation 2.0"). Rather, they are propelled to deliver superior performance by three principal motivators: Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. ("Motivation 3.0").

Are You a Maverick Thinker?
Are you a maverick thinker? As a leader, supporting these thinkers while at the same time moderating what they actually fly with will make a difference with regards to payback. That's a key role of leadership.

Basic Understanding of Our 'Personal Operating System'
Is it time to pay attention to your 'personal operating system' and perhaps upgrade it if it's buggy? What ARE you thinking?

How to Drive Traffic from Articles without Mentioning Your Business

Article marketing is one of the many strategies used today to drive traffic and generate leads for an online business. Through the use of articles, an author can establish a leadership rapport and build a level of confidence with their audience. For many new online business entrepreneurs, the idea of creating an article will seem as an impossible task. Little do they realize that not only is article marketing not difficult but also that an author can drive traffic from articles to a website if formatted correctly.

Sensationalism is not Expertise!
Anyone can be sensational. You don't need experience, intelligence, savvy or much else to throw mud.

Run Your Business Like Dan Cardone...
Dan Cardone is the Athletic Director at North Hills High School. Shortly after the tragedy in Haiti, he felt compelled to find a way to help those in need locally in his community of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He focused his initiative on the concept of showing appreciation for others via the Five Good Deeds On Game Day program. Imagine the impact this simple concept could have on an organization.

Staging Your Next Leadership Act - 4 Tips for Success

If the world is a stage, what roles are you playing? Are you the star of the play or cast member supporting the vision of the play? Either part is one of leadership. It may appear that the star player is the strongest leader, but the supporting member of the cast is also a strong leader when viewed from their personal goals. It doesn’t require one to be reach fame and celebratory status to be a leader. This is your play, your next act to create.

Leadership from the Soul
What does it mean to lead from soul? Why would one want to lead from soul? What difference could and does this make?

Detox Your Corporate Culture

Just because people don't leave your organization doesn't mean the culture is constructive. In high-paying, benefit-rich industries employees can feel obligated to stay even though they are dying on the inside. Instead judge your culture on the level of sick days taken, the enthusiasm with which employees conduct themselves, the amount and pace of change and innovation. If these areas are lower than you like, chances are your corporate culture is sapping the life out of your employees.

How Leadership and Corporate Culture Impact Profitability

Turns out leadership isn't just a feel good thing. It drives the bottom line. A constructive culture is one where there is a sense of achievement, challenge, growth, encouragement and humanistic relationships. Organizations with a constructive culture had consistently higher profit margins. Aggressive cultures (very task/numbers driven without support/encouragement) have the most erratic profit margins.

Selling Value Vs. Being a Commodity
Buyers and sales reps are in a constant battle. The buyer is trying to strip away the perception of value to drive down prices while the sales rep is left to defend why the buyer should be willing to pay more. The sad truth is that sales people are often lacking in the skills required to sell value. These tips will help you defend your profit margins from erosion.

Dealing with Prima Donnas in the Workplace
Do you have some employees or co-workers who think of themselves as extra special, indispensible and untouchable? Their superior attitude often ticks off the people who work with them. Here we look at what you should do and should not do to be more effective.

Leadership Malpractice: What to Do When Leaders Don't Lead
What if we were to apply the same coaching, confronting and correcting method to the leader who is not doing what is expected of him or her? By definition, should a supervisor, manager or executive who doesn't carry out his leadership responsibilities effectively be expected to suffer the consequences of his action or inaction?

Want to Grow Your Business? Stop Blaming the Customer
If the staff in your company constantly complain about customers it could be limiting your growth. After all, the customers write the checks that pay the bills. Challenging customers may be difficult to serve but they also need what you provide and may even be willing to pay more for the priviledge.

Want Greater Success? Be Ready to Work Harder and Smarter

Take an inventory of the people in your life who you consider to be "successful". Were they an overnight success? Likely not. I can't think of one person who has achieved success who hasn't had to work very hard to achieve it. They might make it look easy but behind the scenes they worked their butt off to get where they are. And likely they are still working their butt off to get to the next level or simply maintain what they have.

Check Mark Thinking Gives Executives False Sense of Accomplishment

Achievers can fall into the trap of check-mark thinking. They view corporate change as a to-do list. Mission statement - check, Vision - check, Told them what I expect - check, Metrics in place - check. The busy executive then moves on the other things because he or she thought they had "done" everything on the list. Then they begin to see things start to unravel and quickly blame others for not executing properly.

Need More Innovation? Foster a Culture of Curiosity
In organizations, curiosity fuels innovation and the solving of stubborn problems. Foster curiosity in yourself and others and you will be on the way to getting breakthrough results.

Dealing with Abrasive Personalities: Is it them or you or both?
When coaching abrasive managers and executives I have discovered that in some cases they are only abrasive in the context of an overly passive culture. Before labelling a problem employee or manager, examine the context of the department, division or company.

Practicing the Golden Rule Has Limitations
Treating people as you want to be treated assumes that they are like you in terms of their motivation. Instead, you may want to adjust your approach to treat others as they want and need to be treated.

How Do You Know That You Have Found the Best Online Home Based Business?
I have done some due diligence and some soul searching of myself and have figured out a few key elements that let me know that I had found The Best Online Home Business. 1. Training 2. Leadership 3. Growth 4. Personal Development

Leaders Lead, Executives Execute - Responsible Communications Is The Difference
Peter Senge starts the article with this quote: "Leadership shows up when no one in the room knows who has the authority." Obviously the leader has the authority, and therefore in his/her communication does not have to "prove it". This article provides 5 ways leaders can maintain authority and still be respectful of every participant.

Managing Change: Engage people to implement change
Change is constant and accelerating. The only thing we can be certain about is uncertainty. And we need to get used to it. Why is it then that many change initiatives are more stressful, time consuming and ineffective than they should be?

Delegating in a Distributed World: New Demands on the CEO
In a distributed world, a CEO is called upon to adopt new methods of delegation. There's a higher level of writing, documentation and communication skills demanded of the CEO. I recently interviewed Mark Levi and Mark Henricks for a Cisco BizWiseTv interview: "Keys to Delegating in a Distributed World".

Crisis Creates Leaders

What a profund statement. Crisis creates leaders. Crisis is certainly more prevalent and dramatic during tough economic times. It is no wonder that we are all being tested during these tough economic times. We must recognize and understand crisis and change management during these times to become more effective leaders to reposition our companies to thrive during recovery. This requires specific recovery and repositioning strategies.

Are You Doing the Moon Walk --- Going Backwards While Moving Forward

The death of Michael Jackson recently was a tragic event. No matter what you thought of Michael personally, there is no doubt that he was one of the most talented entertainers of all time. His singing and dancing talent showcased so effectively by his performance in the video and album “Thriller” will be remembered forever as the Capstone of his career. I, like millions of his fans, mourn his passing. However, the one thing that I remember the most is his invention of the “Moonwalk”. The “Moon Walk” is a dance move that looks as if you are going forward when in reality you are moving backward. Michael made that move famous. His tragic sorrowful death reminded me of that move. The Moon Walk itself brings to mind how many businesses often struggle to achieve success; doing things that are supposed to gain market share and create success.

Crisis and the “Black Swan”

Black Swans are important events, either good or bad, that are highly improbable but happen nonetheless. Using the term Black Swan is a metaphor for an event that just is weird or unexplainable before hand using logic. None the less, Black Swans are explainable after the fact. Most are rare events that have extreme impact on the business. (Taleb, Nassim Nicholas. The Black Swan. New York: Random House, 2007.)

Don’t Let the Media Kidnap your Intellect

These days it seems the message being sent to everyone is how to survive in this turbulent economy. However, if you are following best practice you should be looking for ways to thrive instead. Media sensationalism tries to kidnap your intellect through continuous coverage about the economic downturns; lay offs, and stock market fluctuations. How you react to this attempt to smother you with negative information is what will determine your success or failure.

Empowerment – The Rewards are Greater Than the Risk

Employees must take ownership in the success of the organization. This means they must become part of the strategy employed by the company. Acknowledge their presence and contributions, and praise them at every opportunity. But, be sincere. Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, had a favorite method of sending personal handwritten notes to employees who demonstrated some form of success. This is an employee issue that cannot be emphasized enough. Employees want to know how they are doing and they want to be held accountable. Winning organizations continuously build leaders at every level in their organization. Leaders, who actively attempt to mentor, coach and build other leaders gain respect throughout the organization and transfer knowledge, ideas, values and an attitude about success.

First Call --- Last Look

A former colleague of mind was fond of quoting what he considered "less competent" sales people who claim--- "My customers don't give last looks." His response; "Well, that just means someone else is getting it - Batman!" I really love that quote. Unfortunately it doesn't go far enough. The real question is what do you do when you get last look? Do you automatically match the low price? Unfortunately, that is the first response of most sales people. In fact, it is often the first response of many managers. The real test is how you maintain the business at a price that is profitable, acceptable and meets your margin objectives. Can you sell the customer at a higher price when he has a lower priced quote staring him in the face?

Future Shock

Adam Toffler wrote a book by this title about change in 1970. Many of the principles he explained then still apply today. But... this article isn't about change. This article is about compassion, leadership, integrity and "Mentors". Do you remember who your mentors were? Do you currently have a mentor? Is there someone in your organization that you really respect, someone you look up to, someone who's actions and words have a real impact on how you live your life, perform your job and think about your future? If you do, whether you or they know it or not, they are mentoring you. Or, you may be mentoring them. Of course it is much more effective if it is done in the conscious state and both of you acknowledge your independent obligations to the process.

Its Time to Revisit Strategy

This year has been a tough year. Even the most respected economists can’t say for sure when we will see the real recovery. The good news is that there are positive signs. Even better news is the fact that you made through one of the roughest recessions in our history. That means you have cleaned out your closets, weeded your garden, upgraded your work force and created a team of employees that are the best of the best.

Why Would Anyone Want To Step Outside of Their Comfort Zone?
Successful Entrepreneurs understand the importance of continually stepping outside their comfort zone. Why is this important? Let's first take a look at what occurs within the comfort zone.

Leadership Is The Most Powerful Commodity On The Planet!
Leadership Is The Most Powerful Commodity On The Planet, but unfortunately, most people have been conditioned in our society to follow the herd - do what is safe.

How Do I Fire My Son Toby? My Wife Won’t Allow It

"I love Toby. He's my oldest son, he's Vice President of Sales but he just doesn't get it. My daughter should be running this business, she's brilliant but she's married to a surgeon and doesn't want anything to do with wholesale distribution. She's quite happy with all the charity work she is involved in. My youngest son has potential but he's only twenty two and just isn't ready to take over a 0 million dollar distribution business. Two events have occurred recently that are wearing on me a little. First, I transferred 75% of my stock equally to my three kids, 25% each. All three receive a salary although my daughter rarely appears at the office due to her charity work. The second event occurred after I hired a succession consultant to help me transition into retirement. He told me that Toby was incompetetent.

Leadership Courage --- Don't Get Bit by Your Own Rattlesnake

Honest negative feedback is difficult to accept. It takes tremendous courage. I learned that twenty years ago. I thought I knew just about everything there was to know about running a company let alone a smaller $100 million dollar division. I had owned and sold several successful businesses and that success certainly enlarged my ego even though I didn’t realize it at the time. I was a little too self-indulged and my self confidence bordered on arrogance and stupidity. I even had a rattlesnake sitting on my desk with a statement that can’t be printed exactly as it appeared, due to censorship.

Let’s Face It --- The Economy Sucks

Let’s face it --- “The Economy Sucks.” But, being in a recession is not something most of us havn’t ever experienced before. Simply put, there are good times when things are going well and it’s easy to make money, and there are bad times, when it’s much more difficult to make money. When this recession started, officially at the end of 2007, we enjoyed an extended period of exceptionally good business conditions. Revenue and profits exceeded most of our expectations. During these times leadership and success often came much easier than it should have. Too much good can often dull the edge necessary to excel in tougher times.

Blind Spots

In my classes and consulting work on leadership, I often discuss the concept of a blind spot where the worst leaders are often blissfully unaware of their problems. My own observation in numerous organizations is that this is abundantly true. Hr Managers and subordinates are often frustrated at not being able to communicate how leaders undermine the very cause they wish to pursue due to this blindness. Daniel Goleman, who invented Emotional Intelligence, observed that leaders who are most deficient in EI are the ones who have the biggest blind spot. They simply cannot see themselves as others do, so they are deceived into thinking incorrect thoughts about how they are coming across. How can you remove the blind spot of a leader who has low Emotional Intelligence? My own ideas on this topic are contained in this article.

Maximize Performance through Understanding

The most effective leaders seem to have both a unique ability to pick the right people for their team and they are superior in reading and understanding people. Getting to know and understand people really doesn’t take an enormous amount of time or effort for effective leaders. I often perform business assessments and one of the most effective tools in determining the challenges facing the business is simply meeting with individual employees for an hour and listening to them. I mean really listening. It is amazing what employees will tell you by asking a few precise questions and having the discipline to then shut up and listen.

Profit Covers Many Sins --- Cleaning Up the Mess

Simply put, there are good times when things are going well and it’s easy to make money, and there are bad times, when it’s much more difficult to make money. Prior to 2008 we had a run of good times that exceeded most of our expectations. I have often said that it didn’t take a genius to make money during that run. However, “Profit covers many sins”. That means that many of us got a little complacent. Maybe we didn’t quite run our business following absolute best practice. Maybe some of us overlooked less than the best performance expected from our employees. Maybe we were a little too compassionate regarding employee effectiveness and as a result we haven’t “weeded the garden” to allow our good employees to flourish.

Recession --- Its Time You Ended

We should have recognized the signs. We should have seen the red flags. Thousands of employees were being laid off. Now, we are told things are starting to get better. We are in recovery, albeit a "Jobless Recovery". Give me a break. Every time I hear that term I want to puke. Until the unemployment rate decreases in the majority of our states - we will all feel the results of the recession. Tell those people in the unemployment line that the recession is over and risk getting punched in the face.

Reduction in Force needs to be a “Surgical Strategy”

During tough economic times a reduction in force (RIF) often becomes a necessity for many companies. Let’s face it; payroll expense is probably the biggest expense for the majority of companies in business today. Unfortunately, many leaders have a tendency to panic and make across the board cuts without regard for the long term effects, including employee morale and the overall health of the company and its ability to weather the economic storm.

Stay Calm --- Don’t Panic
Forest Gump once said – “Stuff Happens”. Yes it does -- anytime and anywhere. You can prepare for just about any type of economic disaster by developing a Contingency Plan and being prepared to execute under even the most difficult circumstances. What people usually do not prepare for is how to be effective leaders when a crisis begins.

Success is Unattainable Without Documented Goals

Past studies indicate that the top three percent of successful companies all have written goals. Most companies have an idea of what they are trying to accomplish but the question becomes how many of these objectives are actually documented in detail. I mean documented beyond the typical objective of growing sales by X percent. In other words, every goal should have an attendant action plan with the desired results listed for each task, a time line for completion and assigned individual accountability for completing each task.

Success Isn’t a Mystery in any Economy

My first piece of advice on success today for anyone willing to listen is simply to turn off the news. Don’t listen to CNN. Turn off the Fox News network, NBC, CNBC and all the other networks that are sensationalizing everything that is happening in our economy on a minute to minute basis. I have made a conscious decision not to listen because a high percentage of what you see on television today is pure garbage designed simply to improve ratings. I refuse to listen to a constant diet of negativity. In fact, I refuse to even associate with negative people. I suggest that each and every one of us has an obligation to protect our attitude.

Succession ----Have You Taught Your Son or Daughter How to Swim?

If it is your true desire to keep the business in the family and pass it on to the next generation, you have an obligation to yourself, to the business, to your employees and yes to your son or daughter to make sure you are doing everything you can possibly do to help them prepare to take over the business. I can offer one simple piece of advice; when they are ready, back off and get out of the way. There are all kinds of published recommendations on this subject regarding family qualifications etc. If Dad is a typical old school autocratic type of leader who believes that sweating blood, an exceptional work ethic without concern for balance and shows no interest in discussing the emotional feeling side of succession, the kids will have difficulty maintaining a clear sense of expectations for themselves.

Ten Tips to Avoid Micro Management

Micro managing may make you feel in control but in reality you are only hurting yourself and the company. It only limits an employee's ability to be innovative and creative. This can cost the company thousands of dollars because it is the creativity and innovation of your employees that maximize the profitability of your company. Micro Management is often just a symptom of ineffective planning, too much compassion and the inability to judge performance and develop bench strength. Developing a strategic plan for your company is a very effective way to address any or all of these challenges. I often tell my clients that the most valuable part of a strategic plan is the development process itself. Running a company with a shoot from the hip mentality often encourages micro management and does not allow employees to develop their skills.

The Consequence of Leadership Incompetence

How do you identify a member of your management team that just doesn’t get it when it comes to getting their employees to release their discretionary energy that is critical to success especially during the turbulent times we are facing in 2009-2010? Sometimes these individuals that don’t get it exist simply because they have been around a long time. I often have CEOs tell me about problems with specific managers that aren’t promoting the vision, values or core principles of the company. The majority of the time these managers have been around a long time.

The Service Factor during Economic Turbulence

Improving and maintaining good customer service is not an exciting endeavor. It involves detailed study and steadfast execution rather than temporary brilliance or inspiration. Therefore, customer service improvement is fundamentally an effort of continuous improvement. You must develop a basic competency in process improvement to attain and sustain high levels of customer service. This means that it is absolutely critical during tough economic times that you don’t make the mistake of cutting resources that support service excellence in your attempt to control operational costs.

The Sky Isn’t Falling

Some of you may be taking the attitude that now is the time to hunker down, cut costs and go into a cautious no risk taking mode while putting duct tape on your wallets and purses. Although I believe caution is prudent and contingency planning may be essential I’d like to stress that you shouldn’t make blind assumptions and react too quickly without doing a complete analysis of your independent customer base and markets.

Training and the Cost Cutting Dilema during Tough Times

Most company executives decide to spend money on training because it's popular, especially when economic times are good. There is a view that it's “good," and it's also something that responsible leaders are “supposed to do” to prepare for the future. Unfortunately, training becomes the first activity to be cut when times get tough. There is also no objective measure that calculates the business case of return on investment for training. Actually, training, education and coaching should be the absolute last consideration when investigating cost reductions during difficult economic times. However, continued spending of money on training isn’t the only answer. Training alone will not produce the kind of results that training combined with coaching and education can produce.

You Survived Economic Crisis ------ Now What?

Is the recovery on its way? Some will have you believe the signs are there. At any rate, you have survived what seems to be the worst that can be thrown at you from an economic stand point. What now? We can’t possibly believe that its time to return to business as usual. That questionable beginning glow of the recovery beam, although welcome, must not cloud your judgment in preparing to face an entirely different business landscape that requires that we run our businesses differently.

Don't Let Strategy Puzzle You

We sometimes have a tendency to try putting our strategic plan together without having a real picture of where we want to go, and what we really want the business to become. It's like driving in the dark or putting that puzzle together with no reference at all. Often times action plans are even written, segment and product initiatives are developed and the management team attends a retreat where they come up with fifty four grand ideas, drink the same Kool Aid and sing the same motivational song. Six months later they have accomplished very little, and they can't figure out why they aren't achieving great success.

What Ice Climbing Has to do With Business
Leadership on ice and leadership in business seem to be one in the same.

Paddles, Portages and Pings on Leadership
After 3 long days of a very intensive workshop in Toronto, a group of us decided to go canoeing for a day, up in Barre, Ontario (an hour north of Toronto) on the Nottawasaga River. It was a warm day, the water was warm, and no one else was on this pristine flat-water river winding through a protected swamp.

Change what you do

January is named after the Roman god, Janus who had two faces - one looking back and the other looking forward. Now is a good time for you to do both. Review the past year to list and celebrate your accomplishments. Also review your setbacks armed with hindsight to crystallize the wisdom you gained. Looking ahead - set your goals and map your path. But don't expect to keep doing what you are doing and get more. Prepare to change your approach just to get the same results. If you want to improve - do something dramatically different.

Avoiding Dangerous Pits of Dysfunction Faced By Leaders
Leaders are especially vulnerable to dangerous pitfalls of dysfunction that can derail their personal and professional lives and careers. Read on to review 12 of these dangers and learn what you can do to help avoid them.

10 Keys for Reducing Turnover

One of the most daunting problems in any organization is turnover. It can cost a business millions of dollars a year and is incredibly disruptive. Reducing turnover should be a high priority activity for every organization, and it is not hard to figure out ways to do it. 1. Develop People 2. Recognize Good Performance 3. Build Trust 4. Reduce Boredom 5. Communicate More 6. Cross Train 7. Don't Overtax 8. Keep it Light 9. Feedback Performance 10. Train Leaders The following article describes some of the reasons why these steps can help cut down turnover significantly.

People Are Your Greatest Asset

People are your greatest asset. This is always true, but it is even more important during times of economic stress. The right people doing the right jobs can make the difference between success and failure. I think most business owners already understand this principle, but finding the right people, keeping the right people, and getting people to perform at their highest levels are constant concerns for business owners at all levels.

Quality is Not an Action, It is A Habit

Small Business Owners, have you ever faced this situation? You develop or improve your systems for product or service delivery. Along with your new systems you establish quality standards and measures, and then you train your employees to make sure that everyone knows how to do what they need to do to get the job done to meet the new standards. You feel good about what you have put in place and so you go about looking at other areas to grow or improve only to find out later that the employees go right back to the old way of doing things as soon as they can. How frustrating is that?

Leadership and How to Keep Good People
I had been in the retail industry for 17+ years and had come across many types of people, people that were just introducing themselves into the work environment and other that were ready to retire. One of the focuses I had during my course in the retail industry was Leadership and how to keep good people

Business Coaching for Effective Leadship
While leadership is easy to explain, it’s not so easy to practice. Leadership is about behaviour first, skills second. Good leaders are followed chiefly because people trust and respect them. Leadership differs to management, which relies more on planning, organisational and communications skills.

Key Management Insights - Achieving The Vision Needs People
Whatever your goals, aspirations and longer-term visions, you cannot make reality come true without people around you to make them come true. The challenge is taking them with you...

Reducing Cultural Bullying in Schools
Many school districts can use this leadership technique to ensure reductions in cultural bullying which will ensure that they reduce opportunities for law suits.

The Steps of Leadership
Through the ages of time the question constantly surfaces, do I have to be born a leader or can I be taught? Well, it's never been proven that you have to be born a with a "leadership" gene, although many leaders do have alike genes.

CALL TO ORDER ©

11 Common Faults of Meeting Management:¡¥How To Meet Less and Achieve More¡¦ plus having everyone look forward to your meetings. Conducting meetings is a requirement of leadership. A key competence in how to run a business successfully, whether you¡¦re the owner of the company, a manager or a team leader; if you want to really get good at being a successful leader, motivating others to higher performance, then you want to learn to avoid 'death by meeting'.

Dumb is Smart and Smart is Dumb

Leaders have a propensity to share their thoughts too early in conversations, especially when there is a decision to be made. Being forthright and decisive are qualities that are generally thought to be advantageous. I think speaking too soon is often a mistake. In many situations, it is better to act a little dumb and let others voice their opinions before weighing in and cutting off creative discussion. Many leaders have a tough time doing this. This article describes the problem and gives an antidote.

On the Making of Great Business Leaders
When the management genius of the twentieth century, Peter Drucker, died at age 95, two very different articles about his contributions were published back to back. The first article was in Fortune magazine where he was often quoted over the years. The Fortune article pointed out 4 golden rules of management he espoused:

Twenty Attributes of a BE DiFFERENT Leader
There are always conversations going on about what a leader is and what attributes they possess. I have participated in these on an opportunistic basis; here is a taste of my consolidated view.

Mother is an Example of Six Sigma Leadership

Mother is an example of leader-manager at home. She serves breakfast, lunch and dinner just in time, with a smile, prior to anybody asking her to serve. She strictly follows Time Management mathematics of 24*7*365 at the rate of 100 percent success. Customer satisfaction ratio is 100%. For all these ordeals, she neither takes salary, incentive, promotion nor any medals. Indirectly, she is proving that internal motivation is everything. She constantly serves for 40 to 50 years at home, non-stop without a single expectation. In most of the cases, family is unable to recognize the quality of high value leadership in her.

LEADERS SPEAKS ONLY ONE LANGUAGE:" RESULT"
Leaders love one word " RESULT".High potential leaders never allow be causes, reasons, excuses and arguments.They never play game of " blame" in the organization .Leaders always devote their life to create results.In today's world, result is everything and only thing.True leadership believe in execution.They just deliver.Even , true leaders have attitude of " under commit and over deliver."

The Plight of the Pleaser
What happens when emotionally laden words are presented to you? Can one word make a difference in how you react?

Beware of Mangers of Irrelevance
When strategic progress is lethargic, look for managers hanging on to old stuff…

LEADERHIP: IF NOT NOW ….THEN…WHEN……????

Time is the greatest resource available to mankind .Come to think of it, when our planet earth was formed millions of years ago and thereafter for many centuries, there was no concept of time. The reason probably was that there was no need for measuring the activities performed by the creatures then in terms of the results.. The sole motive of the living creatures was just that-Living. And to do any other activity connected to survival.

My simple guide to creating an Extraordinary Life
Eight valuable ideas on how to create a more extraordinary life!

Discovering the Entrepreneurial Spirit within you
Sharing of some profound insights on Entrepreneurship after a week end seminar with Michael Gerber.

Increasing Success in Life and Business by Embracing Insecurity
Valuable insight in how to successfully deal with insecurity and 3 steps to get you started.

The Purpose of having a Vision
Gain clarity on the difference between Vision, Mission and Purpose and how they interlink.

Striving for Greatness

Being an effective leader, striving for excellence and being inspirational is essential to creating a great company. There is no doubt that during these tough economic times that average is not good enough. Look around, if you have average performing employees that can't seem to reach the level of performance that is in alignment with your vision, "Now is the time" to do something about that. However, don't let great be the enemy of good. Good employees are not easy to find or replace. Yes, great employees are what we all would like to have but everyone can not be great. Sometimes good is good enough. Remember that when evaluating individual performance in your organization. Good employees can make your company great.

Surviving the Narcissist Leader

CEOs or Presidents, who attain positions of power, reach these positions for a variety of reasons. The reasons are not always a result of competency and hard work; these positions are not always earned. As a result employees find themselves under the rule of various kinds of leaders. Even those leaders that have earned their position can be impossible to work for and it’s difficult to be happy and satisfied doing it. I personally have worked for two Narcissist CEOs during my career. Both of them were extremely vain, egotistical, conceited, selfish and paranoid. Each demonstrated one or more of those character flaws to an extreme. One actually threw a stapler at his secretary. Another had bugging devices installed in his executive team's offices. Both were believed to have Bi-Polar personalities by many.

Silo Busting

In the old days we had sales guys and we had marketing guys and we had purchasing guys. The sales and marketing guys hated the purchasing guys. They never bought enough stuff, right? The wagon was never full. A common quote coming from some sales people: . "Our purchasing department sucks; I know there is an extra 5% discount out there. Purchasing is forcing me to sell at these high prices; we are just not buying right." The purchasing guys, in the mean time were saying; "Our sales guys are goofy. They keep saying they can't sell from an empty wagon. They want the wagon so full the wheels will come off. They say-"Put this in and I will sell it" and they never sell it. These kinds of feelings, these quotes were like a tradition. It describes a natural silo between sales and purchasing. It's not really supposed to be funny.

Accountability - The Secret Ingredients for Execution

We all "Talk the Talk". We understand that we must introduce accountability into the organization if we have any hope of achieving our objectives. Yet, many companies struggle, some unknowingly, with this concept for many different reasons. Long term employees can become complacent, competencies can be limited, a free pass is sometimes given for a variety of reasons and the "Peter Principle" is still alive and in existence today; Promoting people beyond their ability to perform. That's not to say that many employees, often the majority, understand the concept and want to be held accountable. But, what about those that don't?

Interviewing Techniques to Improve Your Success

The first thing we need to establish before we go through any interviews are the objectives of the selection process. Interviewing should not be just about filling an open position. Anytime you have an opening to hire someone, you have an opportunity to build bench strength, organizational effectiveness and the opportunity to introduce fresh ideas and new insights into the organization and it doesn't matter what level in the hierarchy the opening exists in. Consider the following key objectives of the selection process.

Creating Personal Success

Creating Personal Success ---- Every manager, every employee and every leader that has any drive at all strive to be successful. Success starts with self awareness. That means understanding your personal strengths and weaknesses. It also means having enough humility to work on those weaknesses. Both the Democrats and the Republicans were preaching change in the presidential election. I only mention that because I really like the buzz words --- "Yes We Can" that have been used by both campaigns during the Presedential election process.

Empowerment - Ten Tips to Avoid Micro Management

I deal with a lot of leaders that confuse delegation with empowerment. I am often told, "I don't micro manage, I empower my employees." However, when we start digging into specific situations, we often uncover the difference between delegation and empowerment. It is really not that difficult to ascertain the difference. Delegation is simply getting someone else to perform a specific task for you. "Tom, can you move these for pallets for me to make some room for a new shipment coming in tomorrow?" Empowerment sets a little higher expectation that encourages the employee to use their own creativity and innovation.

Leadership is about Taking Action

Leadership is often measured by your ability to take action. Yes, sometimes that means shooting from the hip by taking "calculated" risk. It becomes a function of how fast you can analyze a situation, take action and make things happen. The more proactive you are, the more productive you will become. This earns trust and respect. There is no greater reward than accomplishing a difficult task. However, you can't complete a project if it never gets started.

A Self-Assessment Leadership Test
In this article, I look at what I called 'leaderless leaders' in an organization. Who are they? Why don't they have 'followers'? And for yourself, take the self-assessment leadership test to know yourself better.

Coaching Managers to Deal with Conflict
Coaching as a strategy for organizational managers to deal with conflict.

Getting Feedback from an External Coach
This article looks at the role/s an external coach can provide for a CEO to help him bring himself, the company and the business to greater heights.

Hard Skills Alone Are Not Enough!
This article examines the role that coaching can play in helping technical managers to be successful leaders in their organizations.

Flinching is for Sissies, Right?
Asking for help is not a sign of weakness....

3 Leadership Rules to Get Employee Buy-In
Did you ever surprise someone with a gift and did not get the response you were hoping for? This happens all the time. Part of the reason is we can only get inside someone else's thinking and emotions to a point; no matter how well we know them. It's the same at work. You will find 3 leadership rules to get employee buy-in, that if followed will create inclusion in the workplace.

Creating a Quality Sales Culture

Sales culture has a large impact on any organization. A quality sales culture that is adopted by every individual within an organization creates efficient practices and consistent results. Sales leaders and upper management must understand that people are inherently resistant to change. New practices must be introduced over time to ease transition and ensure their new envisioned culture is accepted within the organization.

Networking For Relationships Or Transactions?
As leaders, we must recognize that we play a vital role in keeping the larger community strong by being generous with our networks, our knowledge, and enthusiasm, not just to close the next transaction. That’s networking at its best.

LEADRSHIP: STORY OF TRUE FRIENDSHIP

Leadership is a true friend to his team members. He accepts the friends as they are and love them and motivate them to accomplish the mission. True leaders wants to see there team members at the highest position in there life.True leader understand the need of a team player and satisfy it without occurring words .Real leader lead his team player to a peak level of performance by becoming their true friend. In Indian Wisdom , Krishna become true friends of Arjuna during the most needed time of life and drive him through wisdom to win over all evils of life.

LEADERSHIP: FROM ROLE PERFORMANCE TO ROLE MODEL

Do not worry about holding high position; worry rather about playing your proper role.Real leader plays multi role. Whatever role requires played by him is an essence of leadership. People in to the world have to learn that they are role models. They have that quality that which admired the people, society or organization that made them want to be like them. Leader behaves as role model in all the situations. Tough, but leaders are born to meet challenges.

INVENTORIES CAN BE MANAGE BUT PEOPLE SHOULD BE LEAD.

Keep your fears to yourself, but share your inspiration with others."Your presence, it self is an example and power of motivation to the people. Real leader have Omni present. Leaders take people where they ought to be. The greatest return to the leader is place in the heart of the people and bringing smile on the face of the team. Role of a real leader is to give hope to his team and bring down them to the "YES WE CAN" status.

LEADERSHIP: AUTOGRAPH YOUR WORK WITH EXCELLENCE

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." A Man cannot be complete without his work. Fixing an appointment with work is a real spirit of a leader. Consistency and continuous performance helps the leader in discharging his accountability.I think work is a great coach. Work trained the leader constantly by various experiences and enhances his skill and polishes his attitude. "Never work just for money or for power. They won't save your soul or help you sleep at night" said by Marian Wright Edelman. Leader always put his head heart and hands in his smallest t act. He understands this secret from the day one.

RAY: Leadership is never quiting

Leadership is never quitting. Failure is nothing but a feedback to your efforts, quitting for life time is true failure. Hope is the ever best medicine for mankind. Society must learn form the story of actress Lisa.Ray also plans to continue efforts to raise awareness for multiple myeloma. Some 20% of proceeds from ticket sales to the "Cooking with Stella" screening at the Indian film festival in Los Angeles will go towards the Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research which works on designing new drug therapies for the condition. "Obviously, it is in my benefit. But we also we have to understand that cancer, not just multiple myeloma, is reaching epidemic proportions and we need to take action," she said.

Being assertive is good for business

Not everyone knows how to be assertive, that is, being confident and firm without being aggressive. It is especially useful in the working environment, as greater assertiveness can help to get the best out of yourself and your people, yielding returns in all areas of your business. Assertiveness encourages those who are shy or less vocal to become more involved, and helps the more extrovert or volatile to fine tune their dealings with customers, suppliers and colleagues. An assertive person is a positive, resourceful presence in your business.

POSITVE AFFIRMATION : POWER TO LEAD
Positive affirmations are proven technique to get the start. To start is most important than to still stand. Power of positive affirmation can be realize only by experiences. Affirmations pass with emotions can make huge difference in the life.Dr. Joseph Murphy has contributed in the book "Power of sub conscious mind. I believe 3 words "CAN", "FUTURE" and "RESULT" are the best friends of leader.

ALWAYS BE A FIRST VERSION OF YOUR SELF.

"If you don't brand yourself, other people will. And I can guarantee you that they won't brand you in the way that you want to be branded."What we are not at all have complete value. I mean weather I am a CEO of the MNC or I do laundry wash of the clothes in a small shop. It has a lesser value. We have to lead our selves with pride even if we do not have any title. We have to live in a day and building our tomorrow on our today with pride is the essence of BRAND YOUR SELF. We have to do our best to prove our worth to the world, everyday. The ever worst situation we have to face or we are at the top of the world. Never stop branding your self. There is just one life for each of us: our own.

“Nobody listens to me!”
This is one of the most common complaints you will hear from employees. It occurred to me that what they are really saying is simply “acknowledge” me. The following excerpt from our new book, Cracking the Code to Leadership on acknowledging may help you listen and acknowledge more effectively.

Taking the lead – gaining commitment and co-ownership.

“Leadership is the ability to gain wholehearted followers for a common course of action.” Although much has been written about leadership when you boil it down to the basics, a leader is the person with followers. You may consider yourself inspiring but if you look around and nobody is coming with you, you are not a leader. In previous articles I have stressed the importance of good communication and while that is an essential component, it is not leadership. So how do you inspire others beyond a logical agreement and into a wholehearted commitment to co-own the idea or course of action?

The Science Behind The High Five (and how to make it work at work)
Organizations invest thousands of training dollars on verbal and electronic communication. Yet, even in this wired world, the most important connection is the human connection. The most significant aspect of this connection surprisingly is often unspoken. Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley have proven this on, of all places, the basketball court.

Is It Training or Education?

The word Training has been used to describe so many activities that the word has lost its meaning and value. In reality, most of the training in corporate America is education. Education provides knowledge but training provides the enhanced ability to perform. Consider this: Which gives the greatest return on investment – Education or Training – when it comes to leadership, teamwork, supervision, coaching sales and service? Training is the process of bringing a person to an agreed standard of proficiency by practice and instruction. Yet what is actually performed is mostly instruction with little to no practice.

There is a huge difference between see and foresee

The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. There is more to us than we know. If we can be made to see it, perhaps for the rest of our lives we will be unwilling to settle for less. A vision is not just a picture of what could be; it is an appeal to our better selves, a call to become something more. Vision gives you the impulse to make the picture your own. There are always flowers for those who want to see them. There are miles to go for those who want to reach at the top.The difference between dream and goal is that goal have deadline. To accomplish great things we must first dream, then visualize, then plan... believe... act. We all need big and clear picture for ourselves to leave legible foot print on the map of the world. We cannot settle down with low achievements in the life as we have narrow vision.

WISDOM IS KNOWING IT,VIRTUES ARE DOING IT

I know what I have .I have to master my self. Knowing others is not wisdom. True power lies in knowing your self. Wisdom has nothing to do with schooling. University intelligence is far away from true wisdom. History has given more than 500 leaders in last 2000 years who have hardly experience of formal schooling. The ever live gurus Socrates have hardly experience of formal schooling. Actual life is not learned between the boundaries of four walls of classroom. Real leader knows intelligence has nothing to do with wisdom. One serious effort require in studying the detail of graduates and master of management of business schools. How they all are in the life in the contest of happiness, success, accomplishment.

Socratic Struggles

Using the Socratic Method to guide discussions is a well known tool. The method is frequently used in educational situations, but it can be a powerful tool at work if used well. The caveat is that it can be dangerous if used poorly. What has been your experience with using the Socratic Method? Are you alert to when other people are using the method with you? The attached article has some of my thoughts on this subject and gives a list and examples of the six types of socratic questions. 1. Questions of Clarification. 2. Questions that probe assumptions. 3. Questions that probe reasons and evidence. 4. Questions that probe perspective. 5. Questions that probe consequences. 6. Questioning the question

Managed Chaos
Could be an oxymoron couldn't it? Chaos is disorder, confusion, commotion, disarray and turmoil. When a leader manages something, it's an effort to handle, cope, control, or direct it. For absolute clarity in this situation, here are two practical tips

Delegate to Significantly Increase Your Success

Delegation refers to the assignment of responsibility to another person in order for that one to carry out a chosen project. It allows staff members to develop their skills to full potential and entrusts authority to someone else. You are giving that person the right to act independently, under the power of your name and your firm. You are held responsible in delegation because you are recommending this subordinate as a capable leader. The staff member has the right to react to situations, making his or her own decisions, and not being required to report back to you for verification or advice.

Effective Ways in Building Trust
Whether you are a group leader, or a storeowner, or even an ordinary man walking down the street, one thing is for certain: people don't trust you. Why should they? They don't even know who you are. Life experience (not to mention ghastly news coverage) has warned them not to be naïve about life or about strangers that they meet.

The First Law of Building Trust

All leaders want to build higher trust in their organization, but few are able to accomplish it consistently. I believe the ability to reinforce candor is a powerful skill that can help leaders improve trust, even in these draconian times. Reinforcing candor is the ability to make people feel glad when they bring up an inconsistency or error. Most leaders cannot do this. For some additional thoughts on this topic, you can call up the attached article.

The 7 Deadly Sins of Organizational Leadership Communication

Effective communication is a key to effective leadership, yet there are seven common mistakes that leaders make that subconsciously sabotage their effectiveness and kill employee morale, motivation and productivity creating a negative and toxic work environment. This article provides an overview of the seven most common communication habits in which many leaders engage, along with the source and impact of each.

5 Ways to Limit Workplace Frustration

Make a list of the things that annoy you most at work. I bet they would include things we could all classify as "petty". Many of us often compartmentalize and say they are not bothered. Others, more often than not, will want to discuss with a friend yet never go directly to the person or persons that caused the upset. Our past experiences pop up to haunt us in a thousand small ways and rarely are we prepared to see what is super old, and what is from just today. This article has 5 ways to limit the frustration in the workplace.

Monkey See, Monkey Do
The old idea of Monkey See, Monkey Do doesn't just apply to monkeys.

Leadership Takes Balance

The Wheel of Life is a workshop I have taught for years. It’s a personal assessment tool of the balance in your life, and your satisfaction and development in each of eight areas of your life. My eight areas are: Career; Money & Life Planning; Health – Physical, Emotional, Spiritual; Family & Friends; Significant Other; Personal Development & Contribution; Fun & Relaxation; and Physical Environment. The idea is to develop all these areas equitably to meet your needs.

Leadership Is Influence
Discover how you can become a leader of influence, its a sign of excellence. Exponentially increase your bottom line by influencing the people who work for and with you, enjoy the journey.

Lead by Example – Do the Important Things Better
Modern management practices are often imposed by the forces which require short term results. Back in the 1980s, W. Edwards Deming, a statistician by training, led the charge in seeking to implement a positive alternative for transforming management from this short-sighted objective. We now remember Deming as the philosopher of the “quality movement".

Moving to a 'consequential corporate culture'

In any organisation it is the behaviour of its’ people that lead to success, mediocrity or failure. Behaviours stem from a set of values that the organisation must understand and that leadership must role model. Behaviours must also have consequences for the values to have any credibility; an up side for good behaviour in terms of recognition and reward and a downside for poor behaviour in terms of challenge, coaching, training and development and perhaps even having to leave the organisation. In the article we provide 10 areas that you must focus on to embed values and the right behaviours in your business.

Why Tough Times Are The Perfect Time To Move Forward And Thrive!

What do most individuals, companies and even countries do when tough times come? Most take shelter and try to ride the storm out. Fear takes over and decisions are made from a less than useful state of mind. Procrastination, which is a decision, becomes the norm. But not everyone. Some bold souls see great opportunity in the challenging circumstances and take action to move ahead. Soon, they find themselves ahead of the storm. That's when their momentum really picks up...

Leading Up by Example

In my work with leaders across the country, I frequently run into a perplexing question. When working with management layers in the middle, I will frequently hear, “Bob this is great stuff on building trust. I am anxious to build the kind of environment you describe. I have only one problem, my ogre boss does not go for the soft stuff, so I am stuck.” My advice is twofold. First, there is nothing soft about building trust. It is a hard-edged measure that has more power than any other business variable to impact performance. The skills needed to build trust are not “touchy feely,” they are pragmatic, concrete behavioral actions that can be taught and learned. Second, you are not “stuck” even if your boss is a dyed-in-the-wool curmudgeon with negative Emotional Intelligence; it does not prevent you from leading by example.

An Iron String: The Power of Trust

Trust pervades nearly every aspect of our daily lives. It is fundamental in the healthy functioning of all of our relationships with others. In today’s uncertain climate, it is not surprising that study after study shows a decline in the trust level individuals have of business and political leaders and institutions. If lack of trust is an issue which causes you concern in your leadership, what can you do to manage perceptions of trust in an unstable and slippery environment? This article provides 12 actionable steps.

Degrees of Giving: Leading by Generosity

When we think of generosity, our thoughts automatically drift to gifts of money or charity. In the context of leadership, there are other gifts that don’t have a monetary value, but whose value is beyond price. These include giving someone a chance; giving someone the benefit of the doubt; and giving others a reason to want to work for you. It entails giving others latitude, permission to make mistakes, and all the information that they need to do the job. It’s giving them the authority that goes with responsibility – it’s giving them due credit for their ideas. In a nutshell, all of this translates to generosity of spirit, a quality we admire in leaders.

The Most Beautiful Word in the English Language

We often confuse humility with timidity. Humility is not clothing ourselves in an attitude of self-abasement or self-denigration. Humility is all about maintaining our pride about who we are, about our achievements, about our worth – but without arrogance. Humility is one of the admirable characteristic of Level 5 leaders. These leaders direct their ego away from themselves to the larger goal of leading their company to greatness. These leaders are a complex, paradoxical mix of intense professional will and extreme personal humility. They will create superb results but shun public adulation, and are never boastful. What does it take to be such a leader?

Dissension in the Ranks
Popularity is not the most important part of a leader’s job description. Sometimes the decisions are tough. When we don’t step up and make the tough calls to ditch the dissension, our business and all of our employees suffer.

Business and Life Lessons From "The Apprentice"ª
Donald Trump knows a few things about business success and leadership. Here are five lessons you can put to use immediately to move forward faster at work, business and life.

LEADERSHIP IS CREATIVE THINKING NOT REACTIVE THINKING

We are in the era of "creative thinkers" versus "reactive thinkers". Leaders are active never reactive .I must recall Ram Charan by his contributive comment: "leadership means execution, execution, execution." Results and talent will be on the top of the cake of leadership. Creative thinkers thrive on the question "What's Possible?" Reactive thinkers ask, "What's wrong?" or "Who's to blame?" Reactive thinkers live in reaction and response to circumstances. Creative thinkers go beyond circumstances and situations. Leaders never play blame game. Leadership of new era is not to react but to act. Leaders never play blame game.

What is your DNA of leadership?

I would like to write about the 5 secrets of resiliency. 1) Understand yourself 2) Controls your immediate response and make a plan 3) Embrace change 4) Be courageous 5) Never give up! Usually we live in the outside world. Only few dig deep in to inside of themselves. Know yourself first instead of knowing world. Mutual discovery is a long travel in my eyes and I appreciate people who are involved in it.

leaders are the sales man of fun

The company's slogan early on was "Do what's crazy, but not stupid!" Yang and Filo understood the importance of creating a fun atmosphere at work. The employees work long hours, but management is all too aware of that. As such, they make sure that the work environment caters to their every need. From video games throughout to catered lunch programs, Yahoo!'s internal culture is one of the company's top priorities. Yang and Filo wanted their company to be a place where people loved coming to work, just as they did. By focusing on creating a culture that makes employees feel at home, they have begun finding many employees who prefer staying at work over going home, simply because it is more fun.

LEADERS TRAVEL ON THE PATH OF MAKING PATH.

I'm a big believer in doing versus talking. Leaders are focused on making changes from the inside out and they will get out there when the time is right. Brain is responsible for the growth of us. In the end, leaders have to prove that it was inside - out. Remember, the rule of life is treating your brain as a partner in the life. Leaders focus on their team, structure, resources, strategy and communication. These all always bring them to next level (Living at same level is dying).Leader do homework in solitary to bring significance change in the life. "Stepping onto a brand-new path is difficult, but not more difficult than remaining in a situation, which is not nurturing to the whole woman" profoundly asserted by Maya Angelou.

LEADERS HAVE BLOOD GROUP OF FIRE POSITIVE.

21st century is an era of fire. Steve Jobs have fire inside. It is constantly burning. Bill Gates has fire inside to bring Microsoft to new level .Blake Beery is putting 100 percentages to put his place in the world with the inner desire. I- Phone is pursuing to capture global market. Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a fire inside. My favourite quotation is "PUT FIRE IN TO MIND OR PUT MIND IN TO FIRE." Leaders love to die with his fire instead of ice. A whole life is live and is so cold that had never warmed me or my neighbours or peers or society is useless and totally wasted opportunity.

leadership: problems or possibilities

Face the best challenges to grow constantly. Avoiding challenges and problems leads us to an average talent. Problems are a perception to a situation. Creative people see it as an opportunity to make things happen. Tough time always helps individual and organization to grow. A problem certainly makes us better and more confidence. Trust me; people are built up by their saddest experiences. Never share your problems with people because 90 percentages are not interested in the listening and remaining 10 percentages are not ready to help you. Problems are not to share or sale .So secret to lead in tough time is to face it and win over. Remember, the rule of success is to win over stumbling blocks as an opportunity to build up future.

Leadership means better not bitter
Nick Vujicic is an example of leadership. He was born without arms and legs. He asked God, why you have taken away my hands and legs? Why you have not born me like others? Why you have leaved me on the planet in handicap situation? Now, I am challenging you .I will show you my power to lead and strike in the life.

Leadership is only doing .

Leadership is to bring out genius from within. It is always at all level we work. It takes iteration. It takes devotion and determination and results. Like the best performance which we all have seen last night in 20-20 over matches of cricket at west-indies. Australian player Hussey transfers the game in last 6 balls which was almost impossible for most of the players. But he creates miracle results on the ground.

Leadership means not buying applause and money

Money can certainly give me luxury but not peace of mind. Money cannot buy mothers love. Money can certainly offer a luxurious bedroom but not sound sleep. Money can help me in eating hundreds of items but ability to digest those items won't buy. Money can put me in front seat by donating but cannot make me legend. Money cannot buy feelings of relationship. Money cannot create gem in the deep sea. Money cannot stop tears of eyes. Money can create spectacles with golden ring but cannot buy insight. Mother has demonstrated in the world that money is not a source of motivation. I laugh on the people who spoil of relationship for the money.

Leaders knows the value of present.

We know price of everything but we do not know value of present. "No man is rich enough to buy back his past." Endorse by Oscar Wilde. Present is gold gift from the nature. I think there is no time like present. The only necked truth of time is present. Even to live in past and to cherish golden memories are again a wasting of present. We can create one more everlasting moment in that present.AHH! YES!!! Using present at fullest with 100 percentage energy is living. We should spend all those moments for contributory chapters of the life. Finally, life is gifted to all of us to live not to become successful.

3 " c"s are making difference in the leadership

I like three words in video conference session of Dave Ulrich on the subject "Emerging trends in talent development". A/ COMPETENCE B/ COMMITMENT C/ CONTRIBUTION Competency means an event, can be made possible. You're inside guts to occur an event. Slowly you are doing your work and world comes to know slowly. Commitment means willingness to do the work. Trust me life is only results. Life is movement not statuesque. I like words of Vince Lombardi "The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor."

5 Temptations of a Leader
Leadership can be simple and also highly complex. Whilst it can be learnt it develops over time with application and making mistakes!

Innovation and Leadership Tips from Jack Welch
Jack Welch may be the most talked about and widely emulated manager in business history. Using instincts and unique leadership strategies, he increased the market value of General Electric by more than $400 billion over two decades. So when Jack talks, I listen.

Your Reputation: A Dozen Ways to Protect It

Preserving our reputation ought to be a top priority for all professionals. We unwittingly do things on occasion that damage our precious reputation. The rules for enhancing reputation are all common sense, unfortunately they are not always common practice. I have developed a dozen things to remember about preserving your reputation, and I would be delighted to have suggestions of things to add to the list. What would you add? 1. Follow the Golden Rule 2. Be positive 3. Do more than your fair share 4. Admit mistakes 5. Be kind 6. Listen more than you talk 7. Be humble 8. Be reliable 9. Read Body language 10. Offer and ask for assistance 11. Operate from a sense of values 12. Keep your ear to the ground.

Leadership Strategies and NO to Burnout

Entrepreneurs are constantly reinventing themselves, often on a daily basis. As high energy business people it is often hard to keep up with you. And then the inevitable happens. One day, for no obvious reason brains stop working; not in the sense that you forget how to drive a car, more like creative ideas have flown the coop. When this happens to me I tend to freeze, worried that I'll never have another good, let alone great idea ever again. Did you ever stop to think about the best way to handle these moments of brain drain?

Hermaphrodite: The Power of Both
Among its many gifts, our business offers a the opportunity to integrate our feminine and masculine qualities: we can learn to be the follower and the leader, the nurturer and the implementer, the listener and the speaker. As we learn to flow between opposing energies, we can access the power of both and reclaim the wholeness that is our source and our destiny.

Talent Development and The Wheel of Becoming

In the Buddhist belief, the Wheel of Becoming is a representation of life, death, and rebirth. The energy produced by one’s past actions (karma) are paid forward into future outcomes. Practitioners can determine their place within the concentric circles of the wheel, which delineate the various realms of being (see the graphic above). In talent management terms, think of the Wheel of Becoming as transitioning from one level of personal development to rebirth at a higher level. There are many models of human development (see Jane Lovinger’s “Stages of Ego Development”, or Robert Kegans “The Evolving Self” to name but two). One that fits neatly with the concept of Wheel of Becoming, however, is “The Leadership Pipeline” by Charan, Drodder, and Noel.

Are You a Real Leader or Just an Imitation?

The easiest way to suppress discretionary energy, the energy given willingly - no matter what it takes, is a style often used by "Imitation Leaders" that scrutinizes every decision an employee makes. It can kill the employee's spirit. It destroys trust. Leadership imitation is often just a symptom of ineffective planning, too much compassion and the inability to judge performance and develop bench strength. The "Imitation Leader" usually has a shoot from the hip mentality that encourages micro management and does not allow employees to develop their skills and maximize their potential. One of the many warning signs is a high turnover rate. The reason is simple; good employees just won't tolerate micro management and they will leave to find employment that will challenge them and help them grow.

Consultants Can Be Scary but Do They Provide Value

As a CEO before I became a consultant ten years ago I had very little time for consultants and did not have a high opinion of them. One of the things that always stuck in my craw - and still does for that matter -- is to see a consultant conduct sales training that never actually carried a bag themselves. Some have very little if any experience in the field as an outside sales person. Even more concerning is to watch a consultant give leadership or business acumen advice when that consultant never had to meet a payroll or run a company personally. Consultants can provide real value on many occasions but they can also be your worst nightmare.

Today's Employees Hold Leaders More Accountable

Times have changed, leadership has evolved. The days of the "Lone Wolf" leader at the top who dominates with power are gone. Successful privately held organizations have gone through the leadership evolutionary process. They understand that today's leader must create change in the organization to meet the needs of their customers, to meet the needs of their vendors and most importantly to meet the needs of their employees. Today employees hold leaders more accountable for their actions. They ask tough questions; sometimes very quietly, sometimes boldly. They want to know where you are leading them. Do you have a vision? Can they trust you? Do you respect and trust them? Will you empower them? As a leader in your organization you are held accountable by a variety of people on a regular basis.

Shoot From the Hip Sales Mentality - Ten Steps that Focus on Sales Success

Sales people all do what they do with good intent and because they believe... it is the right thing to do! However is it the most productive thing to do? Remember, sales people will sell what you pay them to sell. If you want them to sell shovels but their incentive is based on selling hammers --- they will sell hammers. We as human beings are habitual; and habits form routines. As sales people we all form a subconscious sales approach or routine. During tough economic times sales people do not change. Instead they become extreme in their behavior. They may run faster but not work smarter. The solution is not simple but it's obvious that doing more of what isn't working is not the answer.

Winning Organizations

Effective leaders must have an edge. They must be courageous enough to take risk and have an unrelenting readiness to act. Popularity is not a requirement, but the ability to generate respect from the employees is, without a doubt, one of the most critical attributes. They must be relentless in their efforts, unconcerned about personal sacrifice of their time, and willing to go beyond normal expectations. Tough decisions are commonplace; uncharted territories will be the norm. Honesty and impeccable character are musts.

Manage your Assets but Lead your People

I have had suggestions made to me by owners, presidents and CEOs that would baffle the mind of most professionals that have integrity. For example, I once was asked to fire an individual because his wife's illness had caused the company to reach their catastrophic cap in their insurance program. This same owner would intentionally run mail that contained checks to his vendors through the meter at two cents so they would arrive with postage due. He thought this was a great cost savings idea until the government sent him a cease and desist letter.

Success Starts with Self Awareness
Every manager, every employee and every leader that has any drive at all strive to be successful. Success starts with self awareness. That means understanding your personal strengths and weaknesses. It also means having enough humility to work on those weaknesses.

Check Your Attitude to Avoid The Pygmalion Effect

The wrong attitude can create a Self Fulfilling Prophecy. It's called the Pygmalion Effect. You must believe in yourself. You must believe in your own ability, the ability of your team. You must have the will to succeed even though times are tough. You must openly demonstrate the desire to succeed. Look inwardly at your own thoughts. Thoughts are powerful as they shape your attitude and your attitude shapes your beliefs which control your actions. Hard work is a direct expression of your beliefs.

Developing Your Management Team

Your management team must have an edge. They must be courageous enough to take risk and have an unrelenting readiness to act. Popularity is not a requirement but the ability to generate respect from the employees is without a doubt one of the most critical attributes. They must be relentless in their efforts, unconscious about personal sacrifice of their time and the willingness to go beyond normal expectations. Tough decisions are commonplace; uncharted territories will be the norm. Honesty and impeccable character is a must. Being decisive, doing the right thing, setting clear objectives, motivating and inspiring employees and creating a sense of urgency are challenges that must be met by all members of the management team. Every single member of your management team has to make a difference.

Time Honored Truths
Challenging our status quo beliefs, actions and processes is important as we reach for sustainable growth. The truths we hold dear may be holding us back. The truths we've forgotten, or ignored, may indeed be our key to success.

If You are a Leader, are You a Peacemaker?
A good leader creates an environment of peace that compels people to walk in that direction...Here are characteristics that make leaders effective peacemakers.

Honesty Speaks Loudly in Many Languages
Honesty being a component of integrity is a leadership characteristic with a universal value...leaders looking to lead effectively will not overlook its significance.

Operate ahead of the Power Curve

Do you suffer from deadline panic? Many people struggle in a world where they seem to get important things done just at the last minute and often feel rushed and not able to do their best work. A wise mentor of mine taught me a simple trick that has profoundly changed the way I approach work and provided many benefits to me over the years. His advice was to "operate ahead of the Power curve." This means get the bulk of work on any project or assignment done immediately after it is known, then you can relax and finish the work having a high quality job done early. For some examples of how this theory works and descriptions of the benefits, see the attached article.

How do You Stay Focused When Things Get Tough?

There are so many distractions out there that it takes intellectual effort to stay focused. Focus in on goals and rewards not the difficulties. Focus on results and you will succeed. Don't live in the past. Learn from it and let it go. The ability to forget is a talent of greatness. You cannot afford to look behind. Don't let little things bother you. Embrace and accept the fact that focus takes work. Leadership is a precious commodity. 3%'ers make the difference.

Re-vector HR Practices to Lift your Service Strategy
Many leaders in organizations don't get the critical relationship between HR Programs and the ability to deliver a Service Strategy in a BE DiFFERENT way. Why is HR so important? Because Programs built for people have an automatic influence on how they behave on a day-to-day basis which, in turn, has a profound impact on delivering a dazzling service experience to customers.

Crisis Leadership Lessons

Leadership in normal times is relatively easy. The real test of a leader's ability is how he/she reacts in time of crisis. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has provided the disaster and the media has provide the snapshot of leadership or the lack thereof. While there are many lessons that current or prospective leaders can learn, let's start with the most glaring error and the easiest one to remedy.

Leadership Essentials
Leadership is the most important element required to build a strong organization, community and family. Much has been written about the qualities required to be a great leader. Realistically, the essential elements are quite simple but may take years to fully develop. This article explains these simple yet essential qualities for developing solid leadership.

How to Influence Employees to Get Things Done Correctly on Time Without Using Positional Authority
While influence is a powerful tool for getting work done, there are barriers that can stand in your way of influencing others...

Looking with Fresh Eyes
There are times when we need to take a fresh look at our business and our lives in general. When is the last time you took a fresh look? This holiday weekend provides all of us with a unique opportunity to take that step.

Become Your Problem

Mahatma Gandhi once said "You must become the change you seek in the world." I believe the same logic can be applied to solving problems. If you become your problem, you actually stand a better chance of solving it. As I watch the drama of the oil spill and clean up unfold, I am reminded that some problems are particularly nasty to resolve. One technique that often leads to helpful and creative insights is to personify the problem and try to analyze it as if you were the object. This is particularly helpful in team environments. This technique was useful in the remarkable rescue of the Apollo 13 Astronauts. Once you attempt to act and feel like a stuck valve or an overheated radiator, you can elicit some highly creative solutions to challenging problems. The attached story is a cute reminder of this principle.

Leave your Lizard Brain behind.
How do we combat our biological tendencies to be fearful, hesitant and doubtful about our own actions?

Create A Culture of Consistency!
First published in Food & Drink Magazine in January 2010, this story focuses on 6 steps to create a choiceful business culture. Choice: High performance, engaged team members; nothing less.

Want High Performance? Look In a Mirror!
The days of do what I say, not what I do, are dead. You and I better be walking our talk! This article was first published in Food & Drink Magazine in 2009.

3 Tips for Healthy Change at Work
The only constant at work is change. So why do we spend so much energy clinging to doing the same things over and over and expecting different results. Below you will find 3 tips for healthy change in the workplace.

How to Delegate Effectively
A key piece of the puzzle of leading a championship support team is to learn to delegate effectively so that more of the detail tasks come off your plate, and the crises don’t occur as often. Then strategic planning can take its rightful place as an important use of your time at the helm of your business since effective delegation frees you up for more important pursuits that can raise profits.

3 Steps to Avoid Gravity
Gravity’s a given – just like Change. But we get to choose how much Gravity we gather.

Purpose & Values are Verbs!
Forget "touchy-feeley" Using your core sense of purpose and values as an active tool set is as tangible as a financial statement or any spread sheet you could build. See how in simple terms from this article by Rudy Miick, FCSI, CMC

The Power of Vision!

Vision of what can be creates functional pull against the gravity of lowest common denominator, "just doing my job." This is quantum physics married to newtonian physics. Everyday we don't engage our teams with vision, sense of purpose, tangible using values, we lose opportunity and get pulled back to the common place... read more here in the "power of vision", first published in Food & Drink Magazine, 2009.

The Impact of Culture by Choice, Not Chance!
You have a business culture. It simply exists. The question is, are you happy with the results your culture's achieving? If the answer's no, you have an opportunity! You can CREATE Culture actively and choicefully. Read more to find out how. This article was first published in 2009 in Food & Drink Magazine.

Embodied Leadership
Becoming an effective manager involves understanding your own work ethic and habits and learning to utilize the skills of your team in a collaborative manner. Cooperation and communication are key to achieving individual and team goals. A successful team creates a successful manager.

Most Companies Get Leadership Wrong
Most companies take a good approach to developing leaders, but generally miss the point. There's a lot of emphasis placed on good decision making, effective communication, and team building. And all those are important, but don't address what matters most.

What Successful People Avoid in Their Communication

There are key, unbelievably overused sentences you must make efforts to consciously avoid in your communication, especially in these uncertain economic times. Check those who use these sentences frequently and chances are they are not on your list of the people you consider successful in any endeavor of life. I call them de-motivators and dream busters or responsibility deflectors. The moment you utter any of them, you surrender your desire for immediate action and “borrow” time to wallow in self pity-which is a dangerous move that will never bring either tangible or intangible results.

Whose Feather Are You Flying With?

As a leader, there is one fact you can't deny: you are in your position partly because other people helped you, with their talents, skills or resources, to achieve your vision. Emmett Smith, the Dallas Cowboys' running back who broke records and will one day join the elite NFL Hall of Fame Club, took the time when he retired to recognize 187 people who provided him with the "feathers" to be a star in football.

Top 7 Leadership Lessons Learned From Gardening

Gardening has tips that can be applied in Gardening has tips that can be applied in leadership strategies, parenting and spiritual issues. My mother gave me a small plot to garden when I was ten-long before she bought me my first underwear and shoes. It was mine to cultivate, plant and care for my crops before harvesting them. Sugarcane was my crop of choice. I could harvest one at a time without asking for my parent's permission. At that tender age, I discovered a source of tranquility and moments for creative thinking that are rarely experienced in our fast paced world. Up to 1985, I gardened whenever schools were closed. What many consider manual labor was an interconnection of mental, physical, and spiritual aspects that always left a sense of significance words cannot describe.

My Father's Leadership

Today's decline of the social structures in America that hold families, corporations and other institutes together is largely attributed to ineffective leaders. As I reflect on the importance of quality leadership, I think of my father, Johnson Kituku Musoo. My father is a living testimony that what you don't have should not stop you from achieving what you want. His mother died before he turned ten, leaving him with a younger brother and sister to care for. I learned about his struggles from other people. I never heard him complain--although I once saw him cry, wishing that his mother was still alive.

Leading Amateurs to Success: What Leaders Can Learn from Mt. Borah
If, as a leader, you have said, "I wish I heard more talented people our production would increase" or "The reason we fail is because we don't have experienced people" think twice.

Inspiring People for Maximum Productivity

It is amazing to learn and witness an ordinary teacher inspire average students for outstanding performance. There are numerous outstanding coaches who were never star players in their day. And there are the average employees who became leaders and turned organizations around-on the positive side. What one sees among these leaders, regardless of their background, is individuals with a vision, burning desire to turn that vision into reality, ability to communicate that vision to others in a way that inspires positive attitude, determination and action from the listeners.

7 Must Know Motivators Employees Appreciate at All Times
So often when I am contacted to work with a group of leaders I am asked, "What can we do to keep our employees motivated, focused and increasing productivity?" Then that question is followed by the comment, "We have goals that we want to achieve."

9 Top Inspirational Attributes Great Leaders Use to Motivate Employees

Are you one of the leaders who think that some employees only work for money? Do you spend sleepless nights worried that your good and talented employees might be looking for "greener pastures?" Do you wonder why there are employees with negative attitudes about your organization, its goals and expectations? Are you concerned that there are bright and talented employees who are less likely to share new ideas and/or are afraid of change? In my more than ten years of conducting hundreds of surveys on what employee consider their leaders' strengths (or wish their leaders had), and makes them want to work under that leader, the findings are consist across industries and across public and private organizations.

Be a Positive Outlier and Change Your World

When you think of it, George Washington was an outlier and so were characters such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Galileo, Mother Teresa, Joan of Arc and Nelson Mandela. Are you a positive outlier? When an outlier is removed from a set of data, its influence is gone. In your sphere of life or work, can your absence be noticeable? Would people wish you were still available to affect their work or life in a positive way? You don't need talent to be an outlier. You need vision of the future you want, decisions to get you started on a path toward your vision and actions that bring you results.

Dealing with the Failure Within an Organization
The best advertisement for any organization is the genuine enthusiasm portrayed by employees. That enthusiasm is a byproduct of how employees feel valued, how they perceive their input is appreciated and how much fun they have doing what they do.

Discover and Use Your Personal Strengths
Once you become consciously aware of your key personal strengths and make it a lifetime goal to use them all the time, you will increase your productivity, be more pleasant to work with and save yourself the pain of trying to improve non strengths. We don't succeed by using our weaknesses. We thrive by using the full potential of our strengths.

Make Your Story Add Value to Your Clients Bottom Line
The purpose of your story for a workplace audience is to improve the bottom line. Even in those employee appreciation programs where entertainment may seem the focus, there is an undeniable expectation of increased productivity after your story is heard. The question to ask yourself when using your story is: What is the point of the story and how does the story improve a client's bottom line?

The Importance of Increasing your Personal Impact
The impact we make is vital in all areas in our life and work. Are you making the impact that you would like to make? Here are two steps you can take that will help you be more powerful.

The Values of making Mistakes
A variety of useful insights of how to use your mistakes as stepping stones to success.

How to navigate around the Fear of Public Speaking

Many of us need to speak in Public sooner or later by giving presentations, participate in seminars or simply by having to convince others to come on board. You may never loose the Fear completely, but there are many steps you can take to navigate around it. The first and most important one in to understand what is the source of your fear. The next step is to identify what helps you to feel more confident on the big day. Here are a few tips that have helped me change course in a big way

Hiring Right
Have you ever hired someone and found out the person you hired is the evil twin of the person you interviewed? Have you ever hired someone and subsequently had to fire that same person? If you have answered yes to either of these you read on.

Are Leaders Born Or Are They Made?
It is possible that we had a defining moment in our personal life that can help define us in our professional environment and of course that also works the other way around. A defining moment at work can impact our personal life.

Powerful Communication: Apology Do’s and Don’ts
Article explaining the importance of the appropriate delivery of an apology and tips on what to do and what not to do when it comes to apologizing

How to choose your executive coach -1

Executive Coaching centers around the learner on the job. An executive coach helps the learner in identifying key areas of focus and helps in developing an action plan. Executive Coaching deals with the person, the job challenges, and the skills needed. Therefore executive coaching is very effective in developing leadership skills. The question is how to select a good executive coach? The "How to choose your Executive Coach?" series deals with this crucial question.

Operational Innovation

There is an opportunity for almost every company to gain advantage through operational innovation. Operational innovation simply means identify key business processes and innovating in them to achieve faster throughput, or to provide some new convenience or wow factor customers, or to bring cost of offerings down in a dramatic fashion.This article explains operational innovation with help of an example.

How To Be the Leader of Your Own Destiny

Being a leader may be something you are not interested in being or doing. But if that is so, then you are shortchanging yourself and the world of the gifts you have to offer. Leadership is to be of service to self and others. We are all called to lead, but few answer the call. Why? One reason could be from the negative self-talk diminishing our hopes. Self-talk can keep one in the forest only seeing the trees without seeing the whole forest and all it has to offer.

The One Main Thing

The one main thing is what drives the business. It is a critical lead indicator that reveals the health of a business. What is the one main thing that your business needs to focus on? In this article Steve helps you to understand why the one main thing and one main measure is so important to your business. He provides some key questions to ask yourself so that hopefully you might be able to identify what the one main thing is that your business needs to focus on.

Spin and Story, two different things entirely
Having a compelling story is the first of my eight critical factors for success in modern business. Your story must be authentic and compelling without spin.

Empathy 101: Ten Commandments of Human Relations

These ten commandments of human relations aren't original to me, and I don't know the source. At the same time, they don't go out of style or out of date if you are in business. Everyone in your business must imbue their efforts with these commandments. They are required in every type of relationship be it marketing or selling to clients, providing customer support before or after the sale, working with and negotiating with vendors or your support team and of course internal to your organization.

What does that word motivation mean?
Merydith Willoughby hears the word motivation bandied far too often. It concerns her on many fronts because people get the wrong idea about what it is. It is clear to her after having worked with many people that being motivated is a small component of success. This article details what else is required.

Lesson #4: Develop a Strong Sense of Leadership
“The ability to deal with people is as purchasable a commodity as sugar or coffee and I will pay more for that ability than for any other under the sun,” said Rockefeller.

Dave Thomas Quotes
Dave Thomas Quotes

Lesson #5: Teamwork is an Essential Tool for Success
“When I was trying to think of what the key management principles were to build into the culture, I started talking about the Ps,” says Case. “The P's were things like passion, perseverance, perspective and people. I think the people aspect is really the most important one.”

Lesson #2: Make The Best With What You Have
“I didn’t have a video background, but my husband and I borrowed video equipment and started to shoot scenes on a tabletop in my basement,” says Aigner-Clark. “I put a puppet on my hand and plopped my cat down in front of the camera. My husband and I used our home computer to edit our first video.”

Lesson #1: You Have To Spend Money to Make Money
Steinbrenner may be one of the most famous faces behind the New York Yankees, but that is only because he has made it his mission to bring on board the best possible people to support him.

Lesson #1: “Everybody likes something extra, for nothing.”

When Wrigley Jr. first arrived in Chicago in 1891, he knew that the $32 in change that was jingling in his pockets was not going to take him very far. But Wrigley Jr. had something else going for him that could rival even the deepest pockets: he had enthusiasm, energy, and talent as a salesman. It was those qualities that were going to help him come up with the idea that would get his company off the ground to a running start.

Lesson #2: “Getting out of the way is really important”
One of the reasons why Craigslist has become such a success story is because Newmark has understood the importance of getting out of the way where and when it mattered. From content to overall management of the site, he knew that it was not going to be him who always had the best answers. And, where it counted, he was willing to step back and hand over the reigns.

Lesson #4: “There are no shortcuts”
“Occasionally great wealth is created in a short amount of time, but it’s through a lot of luck in those situations,” says Hastings. “You just have to think of building an organization as a lot of work. It may or may not turn into great wealth.”

Sustainability Driven Innovation

Sustainable innovations are creating new business models, opening up new markets and providing competitive advantages. Sustainable innovation is also improving profitability. Companies around the world are demonstrating how innovative sustainable practices are bettering their bottom line. A focus on sustainability is enabling organisations to innovate, differentiate themselves and succeed. Although sustainable practices were once dismissed for being too costly, increasing numbers of companies are coming to the realization that sustainable innovations are a gateway to growth. Visionary business leaders who anticipate the winds of change and creatively develop sustainable products and processes will thrive in the rapidly changing economic landscape.

Letting go of our rule books
We all have rules. A key question is do they treat us well or do they actually hinder our progress?

Hunger Pains

Can mediocrity dull the hunger pains for excellence? Can accepting the status quo doom your team to mediocrity? Staying hungry for that which provides the most benefit is extremely challenging and often illusive to many organizations. There are many factors that contribute to lost hunger. This article will focus on some common reasons we lose the drive toward excellence. Though not exhaustive, your team can certainly reach break-through by addressing these individually and collectively.

Do Your Values Drive or Derail Leadership? Part 1
The world needs strong, competent leaders now more than ever before. Effective leaders are needed in big and small businesses, as well as in communities and civic organizations.

Can you describe the strategy for your business growth in 6 words?
Most strategies fail to get executed because the folk charged with execution don't understand the strategy or it has not been personalised sufficiently for them to take appropriate action. Being able to describe our strategy succinctly increases the likelihood of buy-in and personalisation.

Orient Yourself Towards Others And Relieve Pressure In The Workplace
Do you orient yourself towards others or yourself? To inspire trust and innovation, it is obvious which type of person is most successful.

Do Your Values Drive or Derail Leadership? Part 2
Our values affect the way we conduct business too. For example, a leader who grew up during the depression and values security will make low-risk investments whereas someone a bit younger may be less risk-averse. One business owner may value being debt-free while another business owner may believe debt is a necessity for growth.

Change Management Led Zeppelin Style

Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, tells us that: “Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.” Organizations choose a wall against which to lean their ladder. The ladder represents the work that needs to be done to get to the top; the wall represents the field of endeavor – the product or market selected to work in. The thing is, once your ladder is against a particular wall and you are half way up it, it takes a lot of extra effort to climb down again and move the ladder to a different wall (metaphorically speaking of course).

Balance the art of leadership with the science of management and watch your profits soar
Sadly leadership has become a buzz word and despite all the fuss about it very few people get it. Of equal concern is the spin-off; many people have forgotten about management. Real leadership needs real management if it is to be of real benefit.

Three “A’s
An empowered leader makes being accessible a priority. Some ways that one can be accessible is by holding regular office hours, open corporate meetings, walking around the organization periodically just to create a bonding with the staff and employees. A huge key is simply regularly returning phone calls and emails; being accessible requires a sincere intention to be open and available to others.

Do CEO\'s Overcompensate for Their Strengths?
As I sit in the Seattle airport waiting to board my delayed flight to Anchorage (Dear Alaska Airlines: Since it’s a “mechanical delay”, please feel free to delay it as long as you want until you are absolutely sure the airplane works), I was pondering a conversation I had at the very end of Gnomedex with an entrepreneur that I’d met for the first time.

A good father

From leadership expert Jim Citrin's new column at Yahoo! Finance... "Just about everything we do in both our personal and professional lives is dependent on other people. And how you interact with those people has a direct effect. Even such seemingly "non-relationship" things as learning from a teacher in school or getting a ticket from a police officer are directly affected by your relationship skills."

Recruiting a New Director
In the life of most companies with an active board of directors, it occasionally becomes necessary to recruit a new director.

Getting Corporate Sponsorship

"I run an event management and promotions company and put on seminars and events for small business owners. I'm trying to attract major corporations to sponsor my events. I have a strong value proposition and a targeted community of small business owners who attend. I don't have any connections into these large corporations. How do you suggest I break the ice to introduce my company to them without a warm lead in?"

We need more Antonio Lucios in this world
Antonio Lucio, PepsiCo's Senior Vice President of Insights and Innovation, sent me this brief list of beliefs after reading Never Eat Alone.

The Road to Wisdom
There are many roads to wisdom, and many wonderful books to educate us on our way.

Two Important Qualities
There are a lot of similarities between business and baseball, and in ways they are interchangeable. I played baseball in high school and became captain of the team. I learned a lot about how teams can excel with the right leadership and with regard to the specific talents of each player. It was a great education.

Leaders Are Communicators

There is an old saying, “That which can be misunderstood will be misunderstood.” This resolution, passed by the Board of Councilmen in Canton, Mississippi, in the mid-1800s brings that into focus. “Number one: Resolved by this Council that we build a new jail. Number two: Resolved that the new jail be built out of the materials of the old jail. Resolved that the old jail be used until the new jail is finished.”

The Benefits of Pissing People Off
Right alongside the cash and credit cards, I keep a number of strange things in my wallet.

Running on Empty?
Leslie leaves her job after 18 years for another that pays about the same amount of money. Raymond leaves his new job of six months for another job that pays 25 cents an hour more with a longer commute. Sarah is looking for a job in another field because she is tired of all the negativity at her current firm. What do these three have in common? They all did not feel appreciated at work.

How to Communicate Like a Good Manager
This article shares valuable tips on effective people management using the 3Vs of communication: verbal, vocal and visual. It also shares some tips for those leaders and managers who use English as a second language.

Labels for a Frontline Leader
The Frontline Leader is THE most strategically critical position in an organization. Here are the labels that apply...

Addressing the gender in -balance in leadership
Do you remember the saying, “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus”? We all know that men and women are different. While acknowledging that the early feminists made great strides to improve a woman’s lot it is now time to dispense with the rivalry. The focus needs to be on how men and women can work along side one another in the work place, and how they can embrace diversity.

Discovering your leadership potential
How do you stay on the front foot when managing your career today? It’s a problem faced by both men and women, but I want to address those issues facing women in particular.

Horses for courses

We hear a lot about diversity in the Press. What a great country Australia is for embracing all our different cultures and promoting “a fair go”! But diversity at work means a different thing. How good are you at recognising diversity amongst your staff? Do you know what their strengths and abilities are? Can you get the best out of them, thus enabling the business to grow and prosper? A lot of the work I do for businesses is to provide clarity when their management team has become dysfunctional. Each team player is at odds with the next, the team leader has no idea how to progress, and the business is stagnant.

Listening between the lines.
Have you seen the tee-shirt with the slogan, “Talk to the hand ‘cos the face ain’t listening?” Do you feel it’s like this sometimes when you are trying to get through to people? But just how good a listener are you? Do you actually “listen between the lines?”

United, we stand. Divided, we fall.
Most of us need other people. Whether it is a good friend, a lover, or an astute business colleague, most of us need to maintain relationships with others.

What’s ‘open space’ and how do you use it?

It’s the start of a new year, which, for many of us, means the start of a new school year. Are you one of those parents who hold your daughter’s hand as she crosses the road? Who walks into the classroom to put her bag on the peg? Who finds the teacher to explain why little Katie did not do her homework? Not a great look if little Katie is 14 years old! And yet some parents are not able to let go. They jump in to fix every problem a child has. Your child will be safe but is she learning anything about resilience?

Wising up to the world today!

“What the world needs now is wise leadership.” These were the opening remarks of Peter Webb, Coach Psychologist Consultant, whose lecture I attended at a recent conference for leadership coaches. Move aside emotional intelligence! The next big thing to hit the work place is how to acquire wisdom. Peter’s comments were both provocative and insightful. I should like to share some of them with you.

Charismatic Leadership and a Piece of Cake

Think about when you have met someone who you have described later as "spectacular" or "electric" or "amazing". What do you think the one special thing was about him or her? Most of us think charisma belongs to someone who is an extrovert, who has a strong handshake, who tells a great joke. That may well be. Yet, if that is all that is there the attraction will become dull and boring after the second or third encounter.

Leadership by Serving Around
Management by Wandering Around is ok, but I believe the concept needs to go further and be more focused....

Challenge or Opportunity: How to Communicate for Optimum Outcomes
Constructive communication doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time. It also rubs off on the people around you. When you can see each obstacle as an opportunity and focus on identifying and delivering the best solution, you build a habit of win-win for everyone.

Leadership, Fame, Success, and Jon Gosselin

Did you ever read a blog, check news headlines, watch a television program and have quick thought, sort of like, "what a jerk" or "they messed up"? We all do; mostly without having the whole picture in mind. We make statements about success, failure, winners, and losers. Wonder what people think of you? Have you ever had employees complete a 360 feedback evaluation about you? Anyone ever blog about you, your company, your products; leave comments on Facebook or LinkedIn? The web and social media have changed the ways we communicate. It's a new world, new rule of conversing, and we are all in a steep learning curve about what is fair, right, ethical.

Are you making the most of Psychometric Assessments?

Many of us actively recoil when we see the words ‘Psychometric Assessments’. This may be due to fear of the unknown, seeing them as ‘tests’ or just tedious questionnaires. While you would not be alone in this, we on the other hand are advocates (of the right Assessments). At Barrett, we spend much of our time demystifying what Assessments actually are and how businesses can benefit from using them. So even if you have been brave enough to use Assessments, most people do not know how to get the most out of them. Often the Assessment process is seen as an isolated event with the final report being put on the shelf or in a draw out of sight and out of mind.

Why Sales Managers need to work on the business, not just in the business

Playing “catch up” is a common challenge for organisations of all sizes. Whether you have enjoyed a period of rapid growth and prosperity, or encountered some unexpected obstacles or losses, with little warning, businesses can discover that their decision making and activity has become very reactive. Too much time is spent putting out spot fires and reacting to situations, while too little time is spent on pro-active and strategic activities. The very real and legitimate day to day business pressures result in many (if not most) decisions being made on an ad-hoc basis, with each one disconnected from the next.

Selling is not a dirty word

We are not born with our beliefs or values, they are taught to us. Our thoughts, feelings, views and opinions about the world are shaped by our experiences of many people and many things. They are coloured, rightly or wrongly, by our perceptual filters which we learn from others. ‘Watch who you let near your mind’ is a statement that is often quoted in my articles and for good reason. It takes between 6-8 weeks to unwittingly pick up and adopt another’s views, beliefs and perceptions and own them as your own if we do not question and thoroughly examine the consequences and impact of these beliefs and perceptions on our own thoughts, feelings, behaviours and actions.

Is internal competition eating away at your sales results?

Many sales cultures are traditionally based on respect for authority, status and success, and encouraging competitive, challenging and achievement-oriented atmospheres. Although this is not true for all businesses, especially in the 21st Century! There are a growing number of businesses adopting more collegiate, lead team approaches. However, despite different types of cultures, sales performance and results are usually derived from the efforts of individuals. Harnessing those individual efforts to achieve synergy (the sum is greater than its individual parts) is a key task of management, yet so many get it wrong. Let’s take a look at one case study and see why.

The Elevator to Success is Out Of Order
You'll have to use the stairs... one step at a time. Quote by Joe Girard

The Leadership of Giving
One action that sets a leader apart from those who claim to be a leader is their giving. Real leaders give without attachment to getting back. Fake leaders just take or give with an attachment to getting back.

Recognize Success
To inspire innovation in your organization a leader must recognize the success of others.

Business Growth Requires Individual Effectiveness
When we read about business growth in the top business periodicals, they always refer to the multi-national corporations. I’m not a large corporation. I’m not even incorporated.

The Zen of Leadership
There are many aspects to leadership that parallel the philosophies, concepts, and perspectives of Zen Buddhism. I don't profess to have a great depth of knowledge regarding Zen Buddhism, but from the insights I do have, I can see the application with respect to effective leadership. The parallel exists within the concept of...

Human Resource Heroes – Do they exist or have they all Sold Out?
CEOs come from three functions in most companies - sales, finance and operations. Ever wonder why so few human resources (HR) executives are chosen to sit in the corner office? Has the position of HR been devalued to an ancillary function on the executive team? If so, how did it get this way?

Leadership and Love
Do all employees hate their jobs? Is it possible to love your job? What can a supervisor do?

Leadership and Facebook
In times past, leaders did not really take the time to nurture our competence and sense of self worth. Sure there was positive praise but Good leaders provided us with security, guidance, vision and the opportunity to be a part of a group that gave us purpose.

Six Competencies to Covet
You want to build a successful organization. You want a strong team to deliver "Gaspworthyness' to you Fans. What should you be looking for in the people you recruit?

When I Grow Up I want to be a Leader or Maybe a Manager

Well which is it? Do you want to be a leader or a manager? What’s the difference? Can’t I be both at the same time? Why are you asking all these questions? Good question! Many ambitious people starting out in their career have a somewhat fuzzy notion of eventually becoming “the boss”. After all “the boss” seems to have a great life, earns lots of money, and tells other people what to do. Not bad! Then one day it finally happens-you get that promotion and wham!! You made it; you’re “number one”, “the head honcho”, “the big cheese”. Trouble is you are not really sure how to do it; no one has prepared you and you kind of feel out of your depth. So if you are in this situation (or coaching someone who is) here are a few tips to get you started:

Dealing With Idiots At Work
Why can idiots at work drive away your best employees? How do you describe a person with a bad or negative attitude? Can you do anything about it? Stop and ask your self these questions and do they affect you and your work team?

Exploring The 3Rs of Leadership
Sometimes we get so focused on getting things done that we don't take time to remember that activity is not necessarily accomplishment. In fact, the most important thing is often what you don't do.

(Another) Six Competencies to Covet
Hope the first six-pack was useful. Here are six more traits to acquire in your Competency Coveting journey....

Leaders Invent Themselves

Look at the mess we're in. Why doesn't somebody do something? When was the last time you heard or even thought that? Look! Up in the air, it's Superman! We're saved. What a hero. If only I had his powers I could be a hero. If only I was born a leader. Wrong! The big myth is that leaders are born. The reality, in the words of Warren Bennis, author of On Becoming a Leader, is "Leaders Invent Themselves".

What I Learned About Leadership as an ANC Commissioner
Recently, I got a lot out of a a conversation at the supermarket about my leadership skills.

Six Steps to Managing a Negative Work Environment
How to manage and decrease negativity in your life and environment

Telus’ Leadership Lesson in Brand Mismanagement
Telus, Canada’s second largest phone company, decided to be the first wireless provider to offer to sell downloads of pornographic images and videos. I’ll leave it to others to debate the morality of pornography on the Internet. The issue I want to tackle is how ‘leadership’ in such a large company decided this was a good business decision…

Becoming a Leader – 5 Fountains of Motivation
Proper motivation is necessary to becoming a leader. True leadership respects the source and flow of motivation and maintains balance by ensuring the wells that feed the fountains never run dry.

The Positive Leader, Put Your Mind To It
James Dicks examines the importance of positive leadership

Creativity is just for those Agency types, right? Wrong! (Although they are quite good being creative!)

Creativity IS your competitiveness. If you are doing exactly the same as everyone else, then why would anyone use your company? You need to get the most out of your people. How do organisations release the creativity of their people? As sure as eggs is eggs business leaders don’t have all the answers, and the best businesses manage and lead their people in a way that empowers them to want to come up with the ideas, develop plans and own their implementation. This article gives you 10 steps to release the creativity in your people.

Do You Have a Chief Serving Officer?
If Serving Customers is so critical to creating customer loyalty (and it is) why is the chair vacant at the executive table?

BE DiFFERENT YOU! Covet the Fox
Winning on the Inside is all about the Fox and building trusted relationships with them...

Are Your Prepared to Lead?

To lead is a verb. It implies action. The leader acts, the follower reacts. The leader is the one who steps out in front and says "Follow me; I know a better way." If he's convincing or trusted, those who relate to the message will follow. There are those who say leadership can be learned -- and I definitely agree with that. There are, however, natural strengths and talents within each of us which are not the result of learning.

Stop Managing People – It doesn’t Work
People do not like being managed, they want to be led”. Leading is not easy but it’s not rocket science either. Let me give you a few important tips on leadership and leading people.

Truck Drivers --- Some of our Best Sales People

I can't tell you how many times I have heard people say exactly that --- "Our Truck Drivers are some of our Best Sales People." In fact, I often made that statement myself when I ran my own Steel Processing Distribution Center. During seminars and association meetings I still often hear CEO's and other executives make that comment over and over again. But ------ When I ask for a show of hands as to how many people actually train their truck drivers on sales techniques very few hands go up.

What if Your Boss is a Jerk

So, if your boss is a jerk, so what. He can not control your attitude. Keep things in perspective. Life is too short to let someone else determine your level of happiness. When you get up in the morning, look in the mirror. Don't scream, put some clothes on first and then tell yourself that you are the best at what you do. Tell yourself you are a success and you will help someone else become a success. Now, Go to work and no matter what happens during the day keep that upbeat attitude and search for opportunities to make a difference. Remember what Zig Zigler said. "You can get everything you want in life by helping someone else get what they want." That includes your boss. Focus on positive thoughts, success thoughts. You are what you think and if you think the day will be a great day, chances are in your favor that it will be.

Why is Sales Management so Tough

This question has challenged every business and leader since even before the days of "The Death of a Salesman" a great book by Arthur Miller. Managing a sales force is quite different from selling to a customer. It requires different skill sets. And yet a common mistake we make when filling the Sales Managers position is that we take our top sales person and promote them to Sales Manager. That decision fails more often then it succeeds. The reason is simple --- "A Sales Managers primary responsibility is not to focus on selling". The Sales Managers primary responsibility is to focus on the promotion of sales. It's about leadership.

Leaders: Get Off Your Butts

My favorite saying is "The highest calling for any leader is to grow other leaders." Observation: There are too few outstanding leaders in this world because of the lack of great mentors to bring them along. Top level leaders are so consumed with trying to optimize performance in a frantic and messy world, that often they do not take the time out to nurture the next generation of leaders. I believe that is a huge mistake.

Where Is Your MLM Market?
Your MLM market isn’t comprised of friends and family members or even neighbors, old acquaintances or strangers. Your MLM market is the lead list you compile from specific individuals who fit within a well defined niche.

We All Need Mentors
Almost all successful individuals in sports, film, and business have had mentors.

Effective Leadership - Your Personal Performance Scorecard
In any leadership role in business, many other people are judging you on your effectiveness every day. If you run a small business, a home office or a solo consultancy, or have a virtual team of independents, the same standards apply to you too.

Creating a Strategic Vision - Are You Making These 3 Mistakes Most Organizations Unknowingly Make?
Lack of a commonly understood strategic direction leads to misaligned efforts and poor decisions - and this can end up fatal to your business.

Slowing Down to the Speed of Thought
By the time you figure out how to respond to things, are you getting killed by those wanting an answer and now? Maybe it's time for you all to slow down to the speed of conscious thought and choice before diving into the deep end...and sinking.

The Execution Solution: Five Trade Secrets of Leaders and Companies That Consistently Get Things Done
What differentiates the results-getters from the can’t-get-it-done-ers? It’s not strategy or vision or quality or any of the other usual suspects. It is five research-based “bridges” that set companies up for success.

Instilling Pride ~ A Key to Eliciting Excellence

Eliciting excellence in others is the essence of leadership, and one of the most effective means of eliciting excellence is to instill a sense of pride in those around us. Instilling pride has a myriad of benefits - quality of work and workmanship improves, creativity and innovation increases, collaboration is facilitated more easily, and people are willing to "go the extra mile" to do their best.

Thank you, Steven Slater and Jet Blue for Highlighting One Thing!

I have been reading about Jet Blue's flight attendant's meltdown, and whether or not Steven Slater started the affair or the passenger did, it still highlights something that we can all probably agree on. People in general have lost their manners, and society needs to get back to basics. Whether we are on the road, in an airplane, in the workplace, shopping, or at home, people are not treating each other properly and in many cases are just downright rude and disrespectful.

Leading from Authenticity is a Beautiful Thing
The past holds us back when we use the same tools and skills that got us to where we are. If we keep doing what we have been doing, even though relationships and events may change, we get the same results with an only slightly new picture, still encased in the old frame.

3 Challenges to Maintaining a Systems Perspective
Watching leaders and managers in action, Iâ€™ve observed that there are three major challenges to maintaining a systems perspective.

7 Steps for Defining Your Organization's Core Values
Here are seven specific steps for defining your organizationâ€™s core values .

A Formula for Flawless Decisions
A simple formula for flawless decision making, even for tough decisions.

A Strategic Vision Exercise
Hereâ€™s an exercise that Iâ€™ve found helps people think about vision.

Autocratic Decisions
The easiest type of decision is autocratic: Itâ€™s a decision you make yourself.

Be Aware of Your Behaviors
Leadership is not something you learn once and for all. It is an ever-evolving pattern of skills, talents, and ideas that grow and change as you do.

Change the Trust Equation
Some people are inherently reluctant to change. Others embrace it. To accelerate the pace of change, you may need to change â€œthe trust equation.â€

Effective Leaders Clarify Expectations
Leaders who want to build high levels of trust need to clarify expectations all the time.

Clarifying the Strategic Focus
Effective leaders who want to generate lasting, sustained success in their organizations need to spend a considerable amount of time and energy clarifying and communicating the strategic focus.

Common Mistakes Made in Delegating
How you delegate speaks volumes about your leadership.

The Decline in Trust & Confidence in Leadership

We are wintnessing an alarming trend of public distrust and disrepect of leadership. This trend can have significant consequences on the future as it is our leaders that we look to for vision and hope and guidance. Without faith in leaders where do we go? How do we restore trust & confidence back into this once revered profession? Join LiftOFF Leadership in discussions of a leadership renaissance.

A New Measurement of Leadership Success
The incorporation of ethical and foundational values into the measurement of a leader's success will help ensure that organizations and institutions operate in ways that contribute to society in meaningful ways. One such measurement is VOP.

Ten Things You Can Do To Be a Better Leader

As a leader your role is to bring about change, to have things be in a new state not to maintain the status quo. The change is your responsibility. You will ultimately measure your success as a leader by the amount of lasting change that you have successfully implemented. Vision, charisma, power all mean nothing unless people have enough confidence in your ability to get to a place they haven't been before. The moment they stop following, you stop leading.

The Most Important Sales Leadership Discipline to Motivating Sales Teams

Sales team motivation can be an easy task, especially when appropriate disciplines are demonstrated by the sales leader. That is when employee motivation happens naturally. It is kind of like “monkey see, monkey do” approach. Motivation, no matter if it is self motivation or employee motivation, is defined as a motive to act. What motivates you and gets you to act, does not necessarily mean it will work for others, or lead to employee motivation. No one can motivate you, only you can motivate yourself. You cannot motivate others. As a sales team leader all you can do is demonstrate appropriate behaviours and create an environment where employees motivate themselves

Assumptions
How often do assumptions step in to define our beliefs, our actions and our very lives? We all know the old rule about what happens when we assume. Yet, I find in my own life that no matter how much I say I won't make assumptions - I still do.

What is Leadership Theory
A leadership theory that the great man theory books frequently various leadership states that there are two basic beliefs, that leaders are born and not made, and the other coming when there is a notion that great leaders data needs.

Quotes on Leadership
These quotes on leadership by famous people, even children lead can be used as quotes. Here's a dose of effective leadership to you better than you did yesterday inspired quotes.

Leadership Theories Pros and Cons

Leadership Theories Pros and Cons - Leadership in management theory, different types of thought developed over time with their own lines. Each theory effectively an organization provides a model of steering. The article's lead - and the principles discussed pros and cons of a comparison between people in business management implements. The Business Leadership contains the three basic principles. There are many more specific theory is that these three people, which led to a coherent whole and have developed the basic principles of management are present in the mixture.

Legitimate Power in Leadership
Before I define leadership legitimate power, I understood the concepts of what is lawful and what exactly would mean power. So we can understand what is meant by lawful authority. This good practice to show any clear about the basic premises on which we have argued, as the base, there is no room for confusion. We define what we consider the power and legitimate power by legitimate means' lead

Results Based Leadership for The Future Generations
Being a results-based leader to do so well because it focuses on things to come for future generations. But we do how to become a leader on the basis of the results? First, we identify that we are after is the result. Before any small or big decision, we should identify what kind of end we want for this project. What results that you want others, plus himself, to obtain?

Showing Appreciation - Learning From Watching Your Team
One of the simplest management tactics you can use to build trust and positive morale is where you find a small amount of time in your day to appreciate your people.

Trust Keeps Leaders off the Slippery Slope

There are numerous advantages when leaders can build an environment of high trust. One important one is that the employees in the organization become helpful watchdogs to help prevent ethical dilemmas, but that is only one advantage. Here are 10 key benefits of building a high trust organization: 1. Lower risk of ethical debacles 2. Higher productivity 3. Lower costs 4. Less conflict 5. Focus on the vision 6. Trust is evident to customers 7. Focus on development 8. Improved communications 9. Better reinforcement 10. More efficient problem solving

Situational Leadership Theory, What Every Effective Leader Knows...
Leaders are more effective when they apply situational leadership theory and skills. What is this and why should you care? It is very simple AND very powerful AND it will make your leadership style more influential.

A Leadership Checklist - 7 Self-Awareness Questions

No matter how successful and talented you are, you've made mistakes and have acquired some bad habits. Some are old; others have seemingly popped up overnight. Behaviors that may have worked well for you in the past can render you ineffective in the present. The best way to make swift adjustments is to periodically step back, observe and ask yourself several key questions. Some experts advise doing this every three to six months; much depends on the nature of your business.

Leveraging Your EMT (Executive Management Team)

First of all we need to define exactly what an EMT (Executive Management Team) is. Your EMT can be anything you define it to be. Predominantly it should be made up of your most trusted Managers currently playing an important role in the company's success. The top managers in your company are the ones to carry the message and insure execution of your plan. If you have high level managers that you don't trust or you don't feel can contribute to the team effort --- you might just have the wrong person in that position.

Recovery or Double Dip Recession

Recovery or double dip recession; That issue is sharply dividing many economists, because no one is sure what impact the current nonsense we keep hearing over the airwaves will have on the overall market and the broad economy. What impact will the November elections have on our economy? What about the Bush Tax cuts, Cap and Trade and the impact of "Health Care Change"? These four questions alone represent a lot of uncertainty. Terms like "Jobless Recovery" -- "The Summer of Recovery" and "Jobs Saved" almost make me want to puke.

Whine or Shine ---- Sales Management

Jimmy Jo Bonds was hired by ABC Heating as their new Vice President of Sales. ABC Heating and Air Conditioning has seventeen branches across the Midwest. Jimmy is replacing the former VP of Sales due to stagnant sales (zero growth) that did not improve for five years running. Jimmy has quite an impressive resume as a "Product Manager". Jimmy's primary challenge was stated very clearly by his boss the President...... "I need you to focus on Growing Market Share!" The president went on to promise Jimmy all the support and resources he would need to get the job done. Jimmy has eighteen sales people and a National Accounts Manager reporting directly to him.

Puddles in the Parking Lot

It was a cold October morning in Dayton, Ohio and as I left my house at 7am the skies opened up and it began to pour. It wasn't cold enough to turn the rain into ice but it was still chilly enough that I turned on the heater. Today we were having customers in. Not just any customer - General Motors was visiting our branch and we were going to make a presentation trying to secure all the distribution business for two of their local manufacturing facilities. We had a plan and we had rehearsed our game plan over and over.

Entrepreneur's Success Center- Why Businesses Fail
Businesses fail in great numbers. The more recent the start-up date the more the odds of success are against you. The odds of success are slim and you will need to be prepared. In this series of Entrepreneurial insights and helps you will increase your chances of success.

A Bridge Builders “Cheat Sheet”: Tips & Tricks to Help You Traverse the Execution Gap

My research has found “Five Bridges” that enable a company to execute well. But how do you go about building them? First, you get comfortable with the fact that it’s a never-ending process. Then, you put certain time-tested tools and techniques in place and implement them relentlessly. Here, excerpted from Closing the Execution Gap, are some of my favorite tricks of the trade for getting these bridges underway.

Revolutionary Leadership in Today's Economy Part 2
In a revolution, a leader’s greatest weapon is the ability to inspire others to act from their own heart. When people act because they believe in something, they are acting from passion which is far more powerful than acting from obligation.

Merger Miseries One

Most companies I work with are going through or have recently gone through some sort of restructuring, merger, acquisition, or other major discontinuity. Also, units within organizations are frequently merging and changing structure. I observe incredible stress and anxiety when groups are trying to accomplish these changes. It is common knowledge that the process of assimilating a merger is much longer and more painful than most CEOs recognize going in. I have several observations and theories about why that is and ways to approach the merging of two cultures that might prevent some pain for many organizations. This article is the first in a series.

Without Motivation We Look for Reasons Not to Change
Recently, a client contacted me and asked for help in moving a sales opportunity along. After careful consideration of the facts, we realized that his current circumstances left him no opportunity to get this deal.

Integrity First : Living the Honor Code in Business
Integrity first. The U.S. Air Force core value # 1 ... Embraced by our leadership, taught in our training programs, and commitment, and men and women serving our country, a symbol of the character.

New Leadership Challenges in the Workplace
New technology and 'old school' CAN mix in a multi-generational workplace.

Getting Fired In Voicemail
A co-worker is fired in voicemail. How does that affect the remaining team members?

Keys To Leadership Success
If you think you can become a successful leader, then you can. Discover what it takes to become a successful leader, chances are you're more than capable of achieving success as a leader.

Six Solution Steps to Employee Retention
What's your organization's turnover or churn rate? Has it increased over the last 18 months? If you are like 40% of firms surveyed, you too have noticed a significant up tick in voluntary resignations.

Why is there a growing interest in managerial and executive onboarding?

Research shows up to 40 per cent of promoted leaders fall short of expectations in the first eighteen months and the figure is higher for newcomers to the organisation. There is a growing awareness that the cost of failure is too great to leave successful transitions  to chance. Executive onboarding programs improve retention and reduce the risk by providing a formal process beyond orientation, giving new leaders the best start possible.

Timeless Wisdom for Modern Leaders - Lead With the Wise Use of Time
Universally acknowledged as one of the world's wisest leaders, King Solomon, applied leadership principles that are as relevant and powerful today as they were in his own time. This article explores the importance of planning in the wise use of time.

Why Supervisors Suffer
I always considered the job of the Shift Supervisor to be the most challenging position in my organization. This article describes why being a supervisor is no picnic and gives some advice on how upper management can lighten the load.

Being Accountable to Yourself in Leadership (Part II)
8 tips for practicing accountability in leadership.

What's Empathy Got to Do with it?
Empathy is valued currency. It allows us to create bonds of trust, it gives us insights into what others may be feeling or thinking; it helps us understand how or why others are reacting to situations, it sharpens our “people acumen” and informs our decisions. This article provides 10 tips for exercising your empathy muscle.

Use Meetings to Communicate Your Values
It is important to have a list of personal values, and it is just as important to share your values with others. This article focuses on the process of generating personal values and sharing them in a meeting format.

Four Keys to Building An Effective and Powerful Culture!
If you want to grow you business, make more money, sleep better at night, and enjoy the crazy economy, then you need to build a culture where people thrive, work hard, and are as passionate as you are about growing your company.

Making Your Leadership Your Life
The point is that you should make sure you work on leadership traits to carry out many of the qualities you live your life, you enhance your leadership and your quality of life.

Change Leadership: The Keys to Success

Responding to and initiating change in today’s organization is a prerequisite to maintaining or gaining competitive advantage. Yet many organizations fail in bringing about worthwhile change. If you are tasked with leading a change initiative in your organization, then this article is essential reading. Leslie Allan provides a starkly honest and compelling overview of what it takes to be a change champion in today’s business environment.

10 Easy Steps to Developing Your Leadership Skills
Apply our 10 Easy Steps to Developing Your Leadership Skills and your leadership quality development

Merger Miseries Three - Clone Yourself
Part three of the Merger Miseries has to do with what happens to employees when they are asked to assume two jobs after one person is let go following a merger. It is not a pretty sight.

7 Steps on how to Stress Less, Manage Easier ...and Have a Life
Seven powerful Steps to help you Stress Less, Manage Easier, Achieve More and make the Vision for your Life and Business Reality.

Do you struggle too much for too little?
Connecting to the way we FEEL about something is the most effective way I know to find substantial solutions, struggle less and achieve more. 10% of life is what we do and 90% is how we feel about it.

Sucess and Profit by leading from your Heart
The best leadership involves the head as well as the heart. But what do we mean by 'leading from the heart?'This articles looks at the qualities such leaders may have.

Why Vision matters!
During a discussion with friends I claim that our life is mostly the result of our visions. Our visions are shaped by our beliefs, concepts and ideas about who we are and what is possible. So what about aiming for the (in our mind) impossible?

Merger Miseries Four Do Do Diligence

Due diligence is a process used in mergers and acquisitions to reduce the potential for surprises or miscalculations in purchase price. The process is more of an art than a science. One observation I have made is that there is heavy emphasis on the tangible assets like buildings and inventory. Less emphasis is typically placed on the critical human resources assets. I believe that is a mistake. This article explains why and suggests an alternative.

Why Leaders Are Successful In Network Marketing And Others Aren't

All successful leaders have the same attributes and they stay focused on the project at hand. Most people are very fickle jumping from pillar to post and not really knowing why or what they are doing. They tend to blame every other person or thing for their failures instead of looking at themselves and searching for the real problem which usually comes from within. It's not easy having a network marketing or home business, particularly when you're used to answering to a boss. It's very easy to get sidetracked with doing menial tasks that aren't remotely related to productivity for your business because you have no-one to answer to at the end of the day, only yourself. Lets face it you can easily let yourself of the hook if you don't finish a task. Are you going to sack you? Not likely! Here are a few tips that will keep you focused...

Reverse Mentoring and the Leader-Follower Theory

Navigating through the rapidly changing world of blogs, podcasts, social networking, tablet computers, smart phones and other technologies can be a daunting task for anyone. Managers and business owners find themselves facing the reality that they are increasingly out of touch with these modern technologies and the lexicon of the under-35 crowd. Equally challenging and frustrating is paying for specialized training in technologies that are sure to be out of date the moment you leave the classroom. One solution to this managerial quandary is “reverse mentoring.” Reverse mentoring helps managers to effectively use the skills and knowledge of their employee base without stepping outside the confines of the organization. Understanding the process of reverse mentoring is the first step to successfully embracing emerging technologies and ideas

Leader-Follower Theory and the Transformational Organization

Leaders often seek the secret formula of leadership theory in their pursuit of effective organizational transformation. They desire a method that will aid them in efficiently moving their organization towards specified goals and objectives with the least amount of resistance. The goal of this paper is to address the leader-follower theory and its use in the transformational organization. This paper will address the attributes of humility and servant leadership and its contribution to the effectiveness of the leader-follower theory towards organizational transformation.

Build a Financial Plan “as you see it”
My goal is to help you achieve that kind of discipline, so that you can move from where you are to where you want to be. That means slightly different things for different people-there's no "one size fits all"-but that is the fun and beauty of financial independence.

Using your dreams and goals to create wealth Part 1
I thought, you can go where you want to go and do what you want to do, when you want to do it. What I had to discover-and in fact didn't discover for many years-was that having the money wasn't as important as knowing what to do with the money once I got it. In reality, as it turned out, money was only a tool.

First Step-Using your dreams and goals to create wealth Part 2

To take your first step and set your mind on the course to financial success, you must begin to dream. You must begin to envision the kind of life you desire. For some of you, this will be easy, because you have dreamed all your life. For others, it will be more difficult. Why? Some people simply don't know how to dream-they've never tapped into their imagination deeply enough to let their thoughts run free.

How to build a brilliant team
In the coming weeks, Prime Minister Julia Gillard will face a challenge that entrepreneurs know only too well - how to make teams work.

Multiply Your Leadership Magnetism to Win over your internal customers

Marketers, do you love your job, love your business but there are some very challenging people who you must serve who take the shine off your day?Now I know this can drive you crazy and/or leave you totally deflated and undervalued. However, if your internal customers do not respect your expertise and opinion, its time to ask yourself what YOU can do to change that. How do you begin to adapt and find approaches that win them over? Here's how:

Leaders Can't Be Trained
Despite the hundreds of books, programs and websites devoted to leadership, the truth is that leaders can't be trained. Leaders need to be developed. Hopefully this doesn't seem like a simple matter of semantics, because it isn't. Let me illustrate this distinction...

Using the Principles of Neuroscience to Sustain Long Term Transformational Change

How can any leader, even one with transformational skills, sustain a change without intense labor? Neuroscience, as well as information from the positive deviants, provides a means of achieving sustainability with minimal, but critical, leadership involvement. This article is from our collection Executive Operations articles about using the latest science to integrate human support and persuasive technology to produce extraordinary performance. Our focus is to provide information to quickly and efficiently create a high performance corporate culture.

Your Leadership Love Cup
How well do you do in getting the best out of the people you lead? Can you "read" them well enough to know if you are being successful in stimulating their strengths and productivity? And "What Does Love Got To Do With It?"

How to Be a Rockstar Leader

When you hear the word “rockstar,” what comes to mind? Does it conjure up visions of a stage performance where adoring fans groove to the pounding vibe of a mega-celebrity with massive adoration? Does it evoke images of limousines, red carpet struts, and mega-attention? Perhaps it makes you think of an indulgent lifestyle where someone “gets” everything in lavish doses because of their huge persona, swelling fan base and their ability to command an army of servants to grant their every wish? Maybe an image of Mick Jagger, Bono, or even Hannah Montana? What about in a corporate setting? Have you ever heard of an executive on a rocket ride to the top in the organizational structure being referred to as a rockstar? If you have, does the image make you think of what that person gives, or what he or she gets?

How to Lead with Peace

Management Question: Do you approach each new day with a set of logical convictions in your head that help you attain your goals? Are you focused intently on achievement, winning, and gain? If so, bravo! You have a great sense of objective management skills and behaviors. You are being important. This is needed for results. Leadership Question: Are you also checking that “gyroscope” in your heart to see if you are being an actual caring, empathetic, and understanding human being while you achieve your results? Are you getting your results through healthy relationships? If so, then even better! You have a great sense of subjective leadership skills and behaviors. You are now being influential. This is needed for excellence!

Leadership and Management Understood
Many people confuse the ideas of what is true leadership and what is management. Many people think the two words are interchangeable and give little thought to the important differences between them. If, however, you take a quick moment and understand their unique differences, you will be better equipped to get better results through better relationships.

Management vs Leadership Whats your take
To help people get an understanding of the differences between "Management" and "Leadership," a question was posed on the popular business networking site LinkedIn.

On Leadership and Doing Dishes

Leadership is something that has a starting point in everyone who takes up the charge to get something done through and with other people. For some, the starting point in their leadership journey is subtle, progressing and steady. For others, it comes at a moment's notice with a call to duty. For me, it came from leading from the middle of the pack when I was 9-years old. And it all started from a deep hatred. The hatred of doing dishes!

On Leadership and Egg Cartons
To Serve, Protect, and Defend! Do you think of your boss as a superhero? Someone who will keep you from harm, provide a safe place for you to perform, and help carry your career to higher places?

On Leadership and Laundry Tags
People you work with have a picture image of who you are as a leader. But is it accurate? Here is how you can insure that you are perceived correctly.

Soft Skills Training Seen as Needed More Then Ever

Corporate soft-skills training is increasing as companies are experiencing global growth and cross-cultural communications challenges. Getting a handle on effective training for some "old school" management-types can be even a greater challenge. As domestic and global markets change and employment dynamics shift, organizations need to be effective in how they roll out this type of training. A focus on interactive training can turn the "Knucklehearted" leader into someone that is magnetic and effective in influencing others.

Merger Miseries 5 Mini Mergers
Every day we read and hear about the mergers or acquisitions going on between the behemoth companies. They show up on the international radar due to their size and impact. Less visible, but equally impactful in the aggregate, are the hundreds of thousands of small restructurings that go on within organizations every day. This article discusses the smaller mergers and their impact.

Leadership is a Choice
A person’s position or title has very little to do with leading others.You can grant someone a title but you can’t grant them the ability to lead. Our beliefs, attitudes, state of mind and consistent actions determine our ability to lead. These are all choices we make

Employee Freedom, A New "Old" Paradigm

In 1994 Jim Belasco and Ralph Stayer wrote Flight of the buffalo which focuses on learning to let employees lead. In 2009 Brian Carney and Isaac Getz wrote Freedom, Inc. which focuses on how to free your employees and let them lead your business to higher productivity, profits and growth. These are two examples of books that explain why a "flat organization" is better and how to build or transform an organization with it. As Gen-Y begins to take over leadership in the majority of American business, these concepts of employee empowerment, self-management and flat structure will be their demand. They care more about work-life balance than money, and they just might be able to salvage the mess we boomers have made of things. Success in the 21st century demands employers embrace this new "old" paradigm.

Business Growth and The Peter Principal
A business can rise no higher than the level of its leadership.

The Role of Core Values in Business Strategy, Leadership and Success
In a Tale of Two Brands, we explore the written core value statements of two famous companies. In the end, the fate of each company was decided the actions that either supported or violated their written words.

Business Leaders: Here's a Simple Communication Strategy to Improve Employee Performance

This article identifies an important aspect of leadership communication. Many leaders continually focus on trying to change poor behavior in the workplace by telling people what they don't want them to do. They focus on the negative undesirable behavior. There is a better way that will get significantly better results, that is focusing on just the opposite and this article outlines strategies to do just that.

Principles of Wealth Creation

To accomplish your goal of becoming financially free, you will need to master specific principles of wealth creation. No, these aren’t some magical set of principles we found scratched in papyrus scrolls in the ruins of an ancient temple. They’re contemporary, commonsense principles. At the same time, though, they are magical, because they create the basis for a sound foundation of wealth creation.

A millionaires dreams

Financial freedom is your dream. As long as you can dream, you can continue to succeed. Show me a person who has no dream, and I will show you someone who is poor. A millionaire dreams, and then sets out to make those dreams real. Once you stop dreaming, you stop the magic. That’s because you have created the world you wanted. You stop moving forward, because your dreams have ended. Either you are content to live with what you have or you are constantly frustrated because you don’t have enough-or you learn to dream again.

Dreaming is fun, isn’t it? Part 3

Someone once said that what the mind can see, the body can achieve. I believe it. I go a step further. I believe that the mind must see it before the body is able to work for it. Look at another realm of human endeavor: sports. When Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile, he saw it long before he did it. Over and over in his mind, he later recalled, he visualized doing what had been deemed to be impossible. Interestingly enough, once Bannister did what no one else had ever done before, others quickly succeeded in doing it.

But It Never Rains...
"Never" is a very long time. It's also a high Gravity word. "Never" clouds our vision, limits our growth and leaves us just plain blindsided - standing in gravity, clueless and completely unprepared. This Gravity impacts our business and personal lives.

Beginner's Mind
Beginner’s Mind is an amazing way to prepare yourself to learn. Being able to let go of any suppositions and simply be a sponge is a gift beyond explanation. But we must also be selective when it comes to Beginner’s Mind. We all have expertise in some areas. And those areas often overlap with areas of Beginner’s Mind.

Develop Your Business Leadership KnowHow
Being a business leader is not a matter of charisma, presence, or motivational skills. It is about making good decisions and taking sound actions. Know-how is the substance of business leadership, and many leaders are failing for lack of it.

10 Common Leadership Mistakes
While there is significant benefit to understanding how leaders make good decisions, there is also powerful insight in how to become a great leader if you know the pitfalls and trouble spots they face. You can learn by what not to do!

Four Essential Strategies for Effective Communication
In this article, Mike Friesen describes describes effective communication as an engaged, useful exchange of information. With this in mind, great communication must engage compassionately, logically, with presence, and systematically and Mike explores each strategy in turn.

Characteristics of Personal Mastery (Part 2 of 2)
Personal mastery means excelling in the areas of heart, legacy, mind, action, and treating others well. In this second of a two-part series, Mike Friesen explores the last three characteristics in detail.

LEADERS NEVER LET THEIR DIPLOMA FOR DEALTH CERTIFICATE

We don't have to be the models of what is offered to us by the left, by the right, by society. We have the ability to be unique, because originality is who each one of us is. That's our vocation. The real adventure of leader is to be alive. Leaders are alive and live. They never die before their actual death.Revisit the question what do I want? Keep revisiting. It's a question that can take some time to really answer. Leadership is keep visiting in the life and replans the life to prove that you really have master and you deserve master. In life span, you have to show that you are real master. Life battle does not stop at the door of university of intelligence but finished at the accomplishment level of life with the help of university intelligence.

How Managers Undermine Employee Performance

Are you working in an organization where managers know how to motivate people? Are managers held accountable for listening to their employees and addressing any complaints? I coach a number of managers who consistently complain about certain employees, but don't take the time or make the effort to address any underlying concerns. Effective managers listen to their employees, and are open to any feedback that will improve work place performance. Spend enough time in meetings or the executive lunchroom, and you're destined to hear your fair share of managers' complaints about their employees.

All Talk and No Action? – Turning decisions into commitments
How can you walk your talk? Five key steps on how you take decisions and then act accordingly,keeping in mind that decisions are not effective without action commitments.

Broken Promises
How do you react when people promise to do something - and then don't?

Expecting Excellence - A Key to Effective Leadership

The idea of expecting excellence isn't new, nor is the premise that every leader should expect excellence from his or her team. But just like everything a leader says and does, it's not so much a matter of "what" he or she does as much as it is about "how" they do what they do. There's a significant difference between establishing an environment where excellence is expected and one where excellence is demanded.

Five Leadership Secrets of an Aviator
A former fighter pilots suggests five lessons from aviation that link directly to leadership.

Resolving Conflict
The value of conflict is a controversial topic in many circles. Some organizations thrive on conflict for its own sake while others avoid conflict at any cost. Either extreme is dysfunctional as conflict can play a vital role in a healthy organization. The challenge is to focus, use and defuse conflict.

Character and Competence

When hiring for and growing employees within an organization, it is essential to consider both character and competence traits. The single best strategy for helping a company improve results starts with hiring the right people for the right business needs. It is far better to leave a vacancy unfilled rather than fill just because “any warm body in the chair will help.” The pain and cost of making poor hiring decisions is unnecessary. Sprinkle the hiring process with a bit more deliberation and patience and watch the long-term results take an upward course.

Disagreement and Disrespect
An important concept for successful leaders is to recognize disagreement and disrespect are two completely different concepts. Confusing or combining the two concepts guarantees a dysfunctional organization.

Leadership Acumen
What is leadership acumen? Leadership always yields tangible business results in the long-term. Since acumen is about insight and wise action, let’s consider it in context of great leadership and excellent business.

The Dangers of HindSight
Don't assume Hindsight is 20/20. That will send you reeling every time.

Managing Your Organization with a Positive Attitude
Running a successful company starts with a can do attitude. Your thought process filters down throughout your entire organization eventually finding its' way to your customers. By developing a strategy to lead your company or department with a Positive Mental Attitude, it can make all the difference in the world.

LEADERS TRY TO GET BETTER EACH DAY

Big changes and higher achievements in a day are almost difficult. That's why small change in right direction along with speed is a need of an hour. Small changes are possible therefore progress is possible. Lesser promises and higher delivery is an attitude of leader. Leader become more significant and prominent after experiences of decade in the field .But he can become authority and legend with learning attitude.

GOSSIP: GOOd NEWS FOR LEADERS
Gossip can benefit individuals and organizations, though managers often consider all of it to be derogatory and tend to punish gossipers with lower performance ratings.Gossib can absorb large time of your team members? Gossip means half truth and consists of hearsayGossip is a real way to spread anxiety and fear in the organization. . Can it really valuable?

Focus Your Dreams to Make Them Come Alive
What will you be interested in after you buy all of those lavish things you always thought you wanted? What’s beyond the bigger car, the faster boat, and the fancier house? Whatever they are, those are the really important things.

Is Fear Really a Great Motivator?
The idea behind Provocative Selling is basically to scare the heck out of your customer by creating Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt about their business and its future. Since when did fear become the primary motivator for customer relationships?

Qualities of Leadership Part 1

This is the first article in a six part series which discusses the Qualities of Leadership. Why six parts? Most people to under time compressed these days and don’t have the time to sit and read at length. On the other hand, everyone can find 3 minutes if they had to. So we decided to divide this series into six three minute “sound bites” if you will. In this article we will discuss leadership in general terms. Then in the five articles which follow, we will explore the Ten Qualities of Leadership in a bit more detail.

Three Big Lies About Networking
Once you know the truth about networking, you can build connections that provide continuous business opportunities.

Leading From a Distance: Five Best Practices for Virtual Team Leaders
It shouldn’t surprise you to hear that quality leadership is essential for a virtual team’s success. Unfortunately, leading virtually is not an easy job and it can be hard to find leaders who have both the technical and interpersonal skills necessary to get the job done right. We studied 48 virtual teams and their leaders to find out which behaviors differentiate the best from the worst.

Virtual Team Failure: Six Common Reasons Why Virtual Teams Do Not Succeed
The popularity of virtual teams in today’s business world keeps growing. Mostly because new and emerging technologies have made it easier than ever and the potential cost-savings of virtual teams is perfect for companies trying to reduce their budgets. Unfortunately, too many companies fail to take the steps necessary to ensue their virtual teams are successful.

Leading By Example

Leading by example is one of the popular terms used by Presidents, Premiers, Popes and Professionals to describe the integration of attitude, philosophy and practice toward a specific goal The person doing the leading is, by definition, engaged in a pattern of behaviors that embody the symbiotic relationship between the values of the organization and its leaders. This, unspoken, agreement is reinforced by way of the organizational history, the mission statement, the culture and the hundreds of sustainable practices that are a natural part of the organization’s existence.

Leadership and Making It Special

There is a lot of talk, these days, about what a leader should do, ought to do, needs to do and do be do! Opinions from mainstream, midstream, downstream and upstream media are as diverse as there are people on the planet. Each stream of thought is equally convinced that their assessment of the ‘leadership’ event is anchored in a compelling, narrow focus of wisdom that drives their point of view. The leadership literature is abundant with personal testimonies, ‘pop culture’ analysis and perspectives that offer a very thin slice of a very large pie

Self-Development

The practical side of self-development is rarely viewed through the lens of business outcomes. It was, typically, angled as a nice-to-do, fuzzy-wuzzy activity that ranked just below the corporate Nerf Ball tournament. Occasionally, it was dusted off during the annual performance appraisal discussion as a checklist of unrelated tasks that lend further credence to it being taken as seriously as a Flava Flav critique of the Six Wives of Henry the VIII. During the years of corporate benevolence, millions of dollars were allocated to the pursuit of knowledge enhancement, skill acquisition and self-improvement as part of the employee benefit package.

Looking Beyond the Short-Termers

The search for life lesson’s goes beyond the boundaries of a specific discipline, expertise or interest. Few would argue that, in recent years, the world of business and sports have operated less like Mars and Venus, separate but equal, and more like Twin Peaks, separate, but connected by a common base. The most recent NCAA basketball tournament has been a bizarre display of predictions gone wild. Yet, what has been interesting has been some of the surrounding dialogue that pertains to building blocks, teamwork, consistency and the ultimate prize. In doing so, the NCAA basketball tournament has provided some unique insights that have a direct bearing on how a business can achieve consistent success.

Transcendent Leadership
This article discusses the importance of leading beyond the day-to-day, but with a focus on the long term.

Nine Ways Johnny Carson Can Help You Run Outstanding Meetings
Many times we fear going to meetings because we feel, based on past experiences, that they are going to be boring, not relevant, lack information, and we can’t wait until the meeting ends. Here are my eight techniques used by Johnny Carson to make your meetings outstanding for all involved:

Leadership Techniques: Seven Secrets to Being the Leader Everyone Wants to Follow
In this changing, challenging, and competitive workplace, we can’t overestimate the importance of good management. Good managers will consistently motivate you to perform at higher levels of productivity. The following are seven secrets to being the “perfect” leader everyone wants to work for.

Leadership Starts with Tough Decisions: Five Leadership Skills for Outstanding Team Building
The following five leadership skills will keep you on the leadership track during challenging situations, no matter whether your organization is for profit or non-profit, so that you can achieve your goals.

Five Team Building Secrets to Gaining Credibility with Your Team for Outstanding Results
The following are five secrets that will increase your credibility with employees and produce outstanding results for your organization.

Eight Leadership Techniques for Outstanding Teams
Apply the following eight leadership techniques to create highly motivated, self-directed, and extremely productive employees and teams.

Priorities
If you think you're too busy to question your business legends and knowns about your products your value and your business - stop and ask yourself "Why am I in business? Who am I here to serve?"

I Need Some Help
How often do you ask for help from others? If you're like me, it's a hard thing to do. Many of us are taught that asking for help equates to not being capable, to admitting some kind of flaw or weakness.

Five Keys to Effective Leadership
Whether you’re responsible for managing two people or twenty there are certain principles that effective managers must adhere to in order to be an effective leader. These principles or keys are rather straightforward and easy to remember. More importantly they should be easy to follow.

Leadership: Is there an app for that?
When I accepted my first management position, my new boss told me his secret to managing people was to treat them like whiny children. I asked him if managing people was his thing, and he bluntly said, "No, because I hate dealing with people and their petty issues." Despite his revelation, we had a good relationship because I didn't ask him for leadership advice and he didn't have any to give.

Creating Organizational Change, Motivation and Momentum

Change is the one constant that businesses can rely on today. Navigating such change can be a challenge to organizational leadership. Helping employees understand the need for change must be a focus of leadership. Understand the motivational needs of the employee base while clearly communicating the needs of the company will become a much-sought skill for leaders today. This article addresses some challenges faces by organizations within the ever-changing business environment and offers insight into the change process, organizational communication and motivational attributes of the employee base.

Leading by Design - The Pursuit of Perfection
What is the secret to creating successful businesses that marry passion, purpose and profits? Unleash peoples' passions by clearly communicating what you believe and why.

How to Get Your Results Though Others
Gaining cooperation is important to managers, salespeople and leaders. Here are 6 points that get the job done.

A key to your turnaround
Self-development is a challenge, yet if one understands what is needed, success can be yours, here are some insights.

Cornerstone of Business Growth
Running a business is a challenge, but this is what so many miss and creates just that many more challenges, is this missing in your business?

What do CEOs and turtlenecks have in common?
What do chief executive officers (CEOs) and turtlenecks have in common? The changing landscape in business is going to reveal some strange adaptations in the future of the American business enterprise. A more youthful workforce will most definitely have a significant impact on both the environment as well as the management that occupies the typical corporate boardroom.

Motivational Leadership - Creating Loyalty

There are leaders, and then there are those who actually lead. Every executive who supervises others must be prepared to motivate-a skill that really isn't difficult. It requires you to create loyal customers and workers who link themselves to your higher cause. General Motors so successfully motivated people to buy their cars, for example, they sold more than any other automaker in the world for over 77 years. Although they were first in their industry, they did not inspire loyalty.

Business Leaders and the Three Brains of Neuroscience

Business leaders continuously evaluate their business results and their business tactics to ensure optimum benefits for the business. They want to know what works best in terms of costs and of profits. When making this evaluation, leaders usually follow up with an evaluation of their personal strengths and weaknesses, because they know that the quality of their interpretation of events has a direct effect on business results. This sort of orientation is more or less standard for most progressive business establishments.

Ready. Set. Check!
Only when we continuously and consciously shift our perspectives - from Gravity to Growth, from Known to New - will we reach for and attain sustainable growth.

Maturity in the attitude of the business leader
The mature business leader knows his strengths and wants to develop them, and he also knows his weaknesses which he endeavors to control.

Developing People ~ A Key to Eliciting Excellence
There is tremendous opportunity and satisfaction as a leader in developing others. By effectively developing the people around us, we elicit excellence in a number of impactful and far-reaching ways. Developing others is an important function of effective leadership.

Timeless Wisdom for Modern Leaders - Lead by Example
Universally acknowledged as one of the world's wisest leaders, King Solomon, applied leadership principles that are as relevant and powerful today as they were in his own time. This article explores the importance of leading not only by words, but by deeds.

How Inspired Leadership Creates Dream Jobs
Studies have shown that more than 80 percent of U.S. employees don't believe they're working in their dream jobs. What if leaders could change this? What if they began to inspire their people with why they do what they do, instead of the what and the how of company policies and procedures? What if 80 percent of your workforce actually thought they had landed their dream jobs?

Set Us Free
We sometimes dread stepping up for the truth - especially when it's an unpopular position. We fret and fear, wonder how people will react and then finally - when we do step up - we feel so much better. And usually people embrace the truth much better than we expected.

Inspired Leadership - The Brain Science of Inspiration
Leaders who want to succeed should clearly communicate what they believe and why they're so passionate about their cause.

The Significance of Customer Service
The quality of a business’ customer service to its customers is one of the most visible and significant aspects of organisational performance. Many organisations however find customer service to be one of the most challenging and neglected areas of management. Gary discusses in this article the significance that customer service has to the success of a business.

Commitment
You are your word and others pay attention as to how well you keep it. It's all about commitment to being authentic in all your relationships.

Leading Without Bullying

How often do you observe leaders and managers acting like bullies at work? The same people who would condemn a school for allowing bullying behavior on the part of some students toward their offspring are often guilty of doing the same thing in the adult world. People in power positions do not realize how easy it is to slip into bullying behavior because they can get away with it most of the time. That is how bullying works after all. We teach our kids to stand up to a bully, yet few people have the gumption to do it at work. This article highlights ten ideas to reduce bullying on the part of managers.

The Art of Relationships within Organisations
Building relatinships with the [right] people in organisations is vital to success. Leadership and friendship do indeed go hand in hand.

Lost in Space
Here is a question for you. If I were to go after five of your employees in different areas about your business strategy and goals - would they all tell me the same story?

Trust – The glue that holds a team together

Mistakes can be forgiven and forgotten, but what about betrayal? I think it can be forgiven but not forgotten. Why do you think that is? It is because of the key difference between the two. The former is not done intentionally (otherwise it would be called sabotage) and the latter is. It’s because of this it cannot be forgotten. And worst thing of all, you don’t get a second chance. Ask Judas if you doubt that.

Trigger Events - The Anatomy of Sales Wisdom
When a prospect says or does something it should trigger the salesperson's time machine, bringing him back to an important sales event where something like the current scenario took place before.

Giving Thanks to Our Top Performers

In honor of Thanksgiving, this edition of Astronology will examine how to identify, and more importantly, to thank top performers within an organization for a job well done. Considering the economic conditions that many of us are experiencing, thankfulness shown through monetary exchanges may not be feasible. No matter your budget, it is critical to acknowledge those who go above and beyond their assigned capacity. Such behavior demonstrates loyalty and dependableness…key assets for any organization!

Giving Constructive Criticism

It’s a fact of life we can’t avoid. Whether it’s working in a professional environment, learning in the educational realm, or interacting with friends or family, at some point in time we all have to face criticism. How we may perceive that criticism depends on whether we are on the giving or receiving end. When done right, constructive criticism is not meant to hurt or humiliate a person. Rather, constructive criticism is meant to build a person and push them to reach the next level of success. Learning how to give constructive criticism makes a difference in regards to how others view an individual and also how he or she demonstrates leadership. This issue of Astronology takes a deeper look into how to give constructive criticism in the workplace.

Lesson #5: “The world is not static and a brand has to constantly adapt its concepts, products and DNA to the changes”
Before Omega entered the Chinese market under Biver’s leadership, it was largely overlooked by the rest of the world.

FIVE WAYS TO GET YOUR SENSE OF HUMOUR BACK
Having staff that can laugh at their mistakes is just good business.

Leaders can’t afford to make mistakes
I, and my colleague decided to visit certain retail outlets today. We decided to take our own cars and drive in a convoy fashion. I told him to take the lead, and I would follow. All was well, till...

How can failure and thought leadership go hand in hand?
The very nature of true thought leadership means that you will fail at some point. If you are leading the conversation, debate, research, commentary in your sector there will always be detractors. Don't let fear of failure hold back your thought leadership campaign.

How to Manage Change - Tell Your People Why the Need For Change
How to manage change - and at the speed of change? How to deal with the turbulence? This is challenging and of all the current strategies for managing change it's a perspective that is increasingly relevant in the current climate.

Successful home business, is it just luck?
Wanting your MLM business to work, and believing it will work are two different things. Does luck dictate who will become a success home business owner?

7th of the 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions
There isn't a person in the company who must work more on developing relationships than an individual in a sales management role, whether it be a line level sales manager or the World Wide VP of Sales. But developing a relationship does not mean that one should become friends.

Evolve Your Strategic Mindset
Get your mind right and your business will follow

Don't Break the Eggs
You can't be dynamic without breaking some eggs and tipping the boat. It's impossible.

How I Chose My Internet Marketing Company

I researched many opportunities when I went looking for a direct sales and Internet Marketing company to start my new business venture. There are many available, from the traditional Network Marketing and Multi-Level Marketing companies to those companies doing Internet Marketing. I was primarily looking for an internet marketing company that had good training and a strong reputation for success. I have been working over the last several months at transitioning my mindset from being a life-long employee to starting and building my own business, ultimately putting me in control of my own destiny. Many successful people, including Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki, have said that starting a business in Network Marketing is ideal because it will teach you how to build a business, how to sell yourself,sell product, and how to take rejection.

Personal Responsibility: Marva Collins
Marva Collins doesn’t focus on her students’ challenges, even though she teaches children often labeled as “disabled” or “problem” children. Instead, she challenges teachers to examine how they can prove instead of focusing on problems with others. That way, teachers can help students reach their potential.

Why Choose Network Marketing and Direct Sales to Build a Business?
Network marketing at its core is about an individual working to build their own business, and to develop a model that attracts other like minded people to want to come work for them. It’s about entrepreneurship – breaking out of the traditional ‘employee’ mold and mindset, and then developing a business that you have control over its – and your – destiny.

Practical Tips to Turn Around A Failing Business
I have witnessed numerous companies go belly up. But what should have prevented them from being a ruin.

The Most Important Consideration When Looking To Join an Internet Marketing, Mlm or Direct Sales, Top Tier Company
The most crutia element when choosing to join a Internet Marketing, Mlm or Direct Sales, Top Tier Company.

Serving Up Employee Engagement in the Restaurant Business
With the enormous buzz in the restaurant industry, what can managers do to promote growth and maximize profitability?

Are You Following Me?
One of the tests of good leadership is being able to meet the needs of different people in your team. To do this requires an understanding of why people follow you in the first place. This article reveals all.

Do You Have What It Takes to Lead?
Why is it that some people become leaders and others don’t? There is no simple answer to this question; it depends on a complex mix of variables. Let this article de-mystify things for you.

How to manage the stress of being self employed
Running your own business hve you overwhelmed? Here's a few tips to regain control.

Sales Leads...
Looking at a familiar phrase from a different perspective, how does your organization's leadership lead or impact the selling process?

Characteristics of the entrepreneurs
Dream a big dream, big dreams attract a lot of people!

Management vs. Leadership: What Do You Turn To For Transformational Change?
When a company seeks to make transformational change – the type of change that is defined as an organization-wide cultural shift that takes place over time as the result of a change in the organization’s underlying strategy and processes.

Trivita Review - A Look At This Home Business Company
If your here your probably looking to join Trivita, or have already joined them. Well you have to come to the right place because I'm going to give you my opinion on everything related to Trivita.

The New Rules of Leadership and How to Win in the Information Age
The rules of leadership are changing as the new economy emerges. Do you know the traits needed to keep up with the changes?

The Connected Leader: The Key to Understanding Your Employees
Leaders who have strong connections with the people who work with them have a much better chance of motivating them and building a strong organization. How well are you connecting with the people who work for you?

Renegade Leadership: Being a Trailblazer

Do you ever get the feeling that perhaps you weren't made for the rules of the "real world?" You have your own ideas about how things need to be done, and you know that people would just listen to you that you could set the world afire. You sometimes get accused of being rebellious or not being a team player or of being "idealistic." If any of these sound familiar to you, then you'll be comforted to know that there's nothing wrong with you.

Leadership and the Worm's Eye View
When a leader has a clear and empathic understanding of both the bird's eye and the worm's eye view, they earn the respect of their team members and inspire them in a way that transcends their formal title or position as a leader.

How to Raise Up New Leaders: the Power of Self-Duplication
Learn why duplicating yourself is an important leadership tool and how to put it into action.

Growing Under Pressure: Where Leaders Are Born
It's been said that pressure reveals character. You can tell more about someone by the way that they respond to pressure than almost anything else. Some people focus and maintain their integrity while under pressure... others collapse. This is what makes the difference between leaders and followers.

Hollywood and Teamwork
Movies are one of the greatest ways to grow and develop. That's right movies, and I don't mean training movies although they do have a place in growth and development. I'm talking about the movies you can get from Blockbuster or Netflix. Hollywood and Teamwork

Leader First Impression
When you are transferred or assume command of a new unit, what happens in the first few hours, or first few minutes, will determine your success for at least the first year of your tenure. Reason: People form an opinion of you very quickly (first impression), and that vision stays with them until supplanted by ideas from events that play out over time.

Who is On The Bus After a Merger
If you have ever been through a merger, acquisition, or even just an internal restructuring, you know it is a tense time for most people. One topic that fills the airwaves is who is going to survive and who will be let go. This article gives three tips for how managers can keep the right talent in the organization.

Emotions - The Secret Sauce of Leadership
Emotionally intelligent leaders know that creating a workplace culture and climate where emotions are appropriately expressed increases productivity. In order for employees to be fully engaged, they need to feel they can bring all of themselves to work.

Accelerating Referrals
If you want better referrals, stop talking demographics and start talking about the values that drive your and your customers success.

Is "leadership" dead?

"Leadership" now seems to be a catch-all term (a bit like "communication"). That being the case, has the time now come when we should be considering whether the term "leadership" has lost its impact and whether we need to radically rethink the whole concept by moving out of all the traditional concepts like "servant leadership", "situational leadership", “contingency leadership”, “leadership habits” etc that are based on attitudes and behaviours?

The Traits That Define Good Leadership
Numerous books and articles have been written on the subject of leadership. When it comes to the world of business there are certain traits that all successful leaders share. This article will present these key traits and serve an opportunity to ask yourself how you compare.

When should we appoint a Sales Manager?

For many start ups and small businesses having a full time sales manager in place is not a viable option. Firstly, there is usually no one to lead and manage in the sales function however, the function of sales management should be on your â€˜To Do Listâ€™ as a business owner/manager even if you are sales managing yourself. Paying attention to your sales activities and results, developing your sales strategy and plan, knowing who to target, etc. all form part of a sales manager's role.

Making The Rubber Hit The Road- "Re-Branding" HR
Description of how to rebrand Human Resources.

Diminished Value and Gap Insurance “Know your Rights”
Did you know that if you are in an accident that you can get a second check from the insurance company for diminished value on your automobile? There are numerous financial strategies that can and will assist you and your family achieves financial success.

TRUST

It is popular amongst successful entrepreneurs to talk about certain intangibles that make for good business. Intangibles such as leadership, innovation, persistence and follow- through. I say this, because I too speak of these things, both passionately and often. Their importance goes without questioning. Each cannot be given, and consequently must be earned. Each is intrinsically valuable in and of itself, and may stand as a singular example of character.

Network Marketing Tools You Need to Be Successful! Fast Success Guaranteed!

The network marketing tools you need to be successful are rarely discussed and this is why 97% of people online quit in their first 90 days or are spending more than they make. There are some specific things you need to know to guarantee your success and that is exactly what I'm going to share with you here. Enjoy this article by Omari Taylor and learn the network marketing tools needed to guarantee your success online.

Top 10 Qualifying Fact Finding Questions That Will Earn You the Sale for Consultative Selling
Qualifying fact finding questions are directly connected to your industry, your products, your services and most importantly your customers. In consultative selling, I find that asking these 10 insightful qualifying questions early in the selling phase of the sales process saves me time.

A Culture of Leadership
One thing is certain though, for any organization to be successful in the current business culture of "get more done quicker, better and with less", everyone has to be thinking leadership. Leadership isn't an "It's all about me" game, it's a "how can I grow the people to higher levels of competence" game.

Structure For Success
Success in business comes through leadership and the right structure.

Project Execution through Successful Leadership: How to Lead Like a Fighter Pilot

Successful leadership is a concept measured by benchmarked success and project execution, and is also indicated by one's actions and influence upon others. While innate values and personal characteristics lend themselves heavily toward the development of a leader, these traits do not primarily form the core of a true leader. Leadership is defined by a combination of values, thoughts, and the ability to inspire others to emulate your actions.

The 2010 Execution Round-Up: Six Companies That Couldn’t “Get It Done” This Year (and Two That Did)
No doubt about it: 2010 saw its share of losers (and the occasional winner) in the business arena. Here are a few of this year’s headline makers and the lessons that can be learned from each of them.

A Legitimate Work From Home Business Teaches Be, Do, Have
Be, Do, Have. A simple phrase, yet so valuable when looking to operate a legitimate work from home business. Learn more about this interesting phrase as expert author Jeffrey David Nelson dives into the philosophical world of "Be, Do, Have."

5 Principles of Successful Leadership in Small Business

When we think about leadership,especially in regard to building and growing a successful small business, it's easy to envision the traditional top-down leadership that so often goes along with the term. We often think about leadership along the lines of being a major political leader or being the chief executive of a major Wall Street company. And while this certainly is a respectable vision of leadership, when it comes to small business, we've got to see beyond this traditional view. Following are the top 5 principles of successful leadership that I've found make THE difference in whether your business flies or flops.

Green Rush
The the economy is dead - long live the eco-nomy.

Leadership Starts With Giving: Three Secrets to Attracting More Success in Your Life by Making a Difference
I share this story to illustrate the power of the leader within us. We are all leaders, and we can make a difference in our lives by giving more. The following are three leadership secrets to being more successful by giving more.

Profitable Online Business Ideas and the Recession; Building Relationships

In the online internet based industry it is very easy to forget that we are still in the people business. People by the millions from all over the world want to create their own profitable online business. They all have fears and concerns. Which system do I choose? Which MLM is more reputable? The list goes on and on. But the biggest fear or concern that they all have in common is; the need to be associated with caring and honest people.

MLM Downline Building Secrets: How To Master Building A Profitable MLM Dowline
Now more than ever is the most riped time to absolutely explode your MLM downline. Why? Within the next 5 years over 70 million people are looking to start a home based business. But you will not be able to capitalize on this unless you read this article.

Finish Strong in 2009 and Set Up for Success in 2010
A new business season is upon us and with it comes some old challenges and some new ones. Here are three action steps to achieve a strong finish in 2009 and set your organization up for a great year in 2010.

Does MBWA Really Work?
MBWA - Management by Walking Around. Many of today's front line leaders do not do their MBWA because they say it is not their style or how they choose to lead. Hogwash!

Sales Management Training Tips: Sales are down. What can you do?

I faced a similar situation in Q1 2003. As VP of Sales of a Canadian pharmaceutical organization we faced the SARS crisis. Access to our customers became limited. Hospitals and physicians were also limiting sales rep visits. Marketing started calling the sales numbers down for the year, blaming the SARS crisis. As head of sales I had few options. What I did know was that I had to utilize my resources where they were going to generate the greatest revenue. What would you do?

6 Qualities of a Great Leader in a Virtual Team
There are many benefits of going with virtual teams. One of those is that virtual team members produce projects for the company, locally, nationally and internationally, not to mention the cost savings.

Saving Selling Time
How simply set expectations with others can save an enormous amount to time for both.

Six Characteristics of Leaders

A friend invited me to hear Rudolph Guiliani, the former mayor of New York City, speak at a local college. The list below captures what he spoke about. Guiliani told us that after September 11th he had to make many decisions very quickly. He would make 4 or 5 and then close his eyes and pray, "Please make this right." The first characteristic "Strong Beliefs" speaks to that as does my song title above.

Attack!
Why Going on Defense Is NOT an Option.

PRECISION-Guided Leadership
How to Move Your Team With Purpose…On Purpose.

Fasting and Feasting
Your Classroom Exercise to Creating a Business and Life Mentality that Keeps You On Top.

The Key To Your Success Is In Your Mind
Having a successful mindset is the most important tool someone wishing to be successful can have.

Is Your Management Causing Employee Issues and Slow Business Growth?
Employee issues are most often symptoms of inconsistent or failing management; deal with supervisor/manager competency and impact and you not only have engaged employees but also an effective, productive and efficient organization.

Baton Leadership Lessons From LA Philharmonic Conductor Dudamel
Maestro Gustavo Dudamel is a much loved orchestra conductor who has some outstanding leadership skills to share. Learn how his philosophy of "love the music and the musicians who play it!" can apply to your industry.

Emotions Matter for Leadership - An Action Plan
Emotionally intelligent leaders know that creating a workplace culture and climate where emotions are appropriately expressed motivates people and increases engagement and retention. In order for people to be fully engaged, they need to feel they are following leaders who inspire them emotionally.

11 Leadership Resolutions for 2011
11 New Year's Resolutions for 2011 to help Leaders Keep your Main Thing, your Main Thing, discover What is your Joy, take a Ruthless New Year's Personal Inventory, and Get Perspective among other top 11 thought-provoking touchstones to take you from Now to Wow! in the New Year.

Pride and Progress
Lessons from Great Leaders.

“Hard to Get” Selling
How Indifference Can Often Make the Difference.

Good news sales stories

You don't have to discount price to win good business and good customer relationships even in tough markets. I mentioned earlier this year my team and I are working on a large sales fitness training assignment in the finance sector around Australia. These guys are hard up against it when it come to ‘price' being a key target at the moment. A number of their competitors are trying to buy market share with discounted prices. The market is being hammered with ‘discounting' of all sorts - some clear, some not so clear and some very dubious.

Butterflies and Thinking
Allow your employees to breath and let them grow their own wings.

Leaders Live in the Spotlight
Leaders' actions,reactions, amd moods are being carefully monitored by the employees around them. Your level of responsibility to maintain a positive attitude and tone.

Why Ethics
Increasingly, commnents are made about the uneithical leaders we have. Who said? "If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity, nothing else matters." Read to find out.

Morale is King (and Queen) of the Workplace
Here are four important ways to keep employee morale at a high point. What you are looking for is that mystical win/win that sounds better on paper than it usually plays in real life. So, pay attention and whether you have one employee or many, these tips are worth their weight in gold.

8 Ways Leaders Build Culture
The culture of an organization is something that is highly impacted by the actions and words of leaders. This article describes what makes up the culture and 8 things leaders can do to improve it.

Ten Commandments of Leadership-Not Being a Wimp

Wimp. Wiener. Coward. Spineless. Jellyfish. And more not fit to print. All are words used to describe someone who lacks courage. The courage to do the right thing. The courage to confront. The courage to object. The courage to take risks. The courage to take a different path. All of these are needed characteristics of effective and winning leadership. In all types of settings and in all organizational structures, leaders need courage and, more importantly, the good judgment when to utilize courage and when to stand down. As important as courage is, the ability to not fight a battle is equally important.

How To Become A Leader.
Leadership is a skill you must master in order to become successful in online marketing. If you are to build a team that will stick with you after the hype has died down then you will need to be a great leader. If you are a great leader people will follow you and duplicate your successes which ends in a win-win situation for all.

Sales Management Training and Focus
In a strong economy just showing up to play is enough to achieve your sales objectives. In today’s economic environment sales leaders are facing sales force downsizing and poor sales rep morale. Sales reps are frustrated by longer sales cycles, dropping demand, unrealistic quotas, concerns about declining income and losing their jobs.

4 Keys to Achieve Success With Your Virtual Teams
Virtual teams are the way of the future. Businesses no longer need to tie in full time employees at exorbitant costs when they don't have to - they can hire virtual employees/contractors to do the same work at a fraction of the cost. So how do you make the most of hiring virtual staff and make this work for you?

Walk of Gratitude
Practice your 'Walk of Gratitude' and experience very positive 'what goes around comes around'!

Does Integrity on the Internet Really Matter?
Is the subject of integrity even worth our time considering when doing business online? What's the point when people are separated by vast distances? There may be more at stake than you realize ...

How Not to Lead
There are things you may be doing every day that undermine your ability to lead, if not -- eventually -- your position in your workplace. There are big differences between managing and leading. You can manage to hold back a flood but doing so doesn't mean you can lead the water to where it needs to go.

How Focus Helps Sales Management Effectiveness
In a strong economy just showing up to play is enough to achieve your sales objectives. In today’s economic environment sales leaders are facing sales force downsizing and poor sales rep morale. Sales reps are frustrated by longer sales cycles, dropping demand, unrealistic quotas, concerns about declining income and losing their jobs.

Front Line Leaders in a Merger
During a merger or acquisition, the first line leaders in an organization are particularly vulnerable. This article highlights why that is and gives some antidotes to the problem.

Ledership Vs. Followership
A strange paradox; America wants better leaders but invests nothing in followership.

String Me Along Why Don’t You
How do you avoid being strung along by customer and prospects? Why does this happen, how can you position yourself to minimize this aggrivation and what questions could you or should you be asking?

Team Building Tips for Proactive Leaders
Team building can help organizations get more done with less effort and create happier workplaces. Find out key ways to develop a culture of team building that helps your leaders lead better and your employees be more productive. Practical team building tips for proactive leaders.

Entrepreneurs and Leadership-How Important Is It?
Leadership is not essential to early phases of a start-up. Passion, planning, vision and attention to detail are more important.

A Mentor Is Important, But A Coach Is Invaluable

Both terms, mentor and coach, are used interchangeably, designating leadership in guiding others to excellence. But there is an important distinction between the two terms. A mentor lays the foundation for success to their student or client. A mentor gives advice and answers questions but rarely, if ever, follows up to check on the progress of their client. A mentor sees the people they help as clients, while a coach sees them as students with the goal of turning them into either partners or coaches themselves. While mentors have helped millions of entrepreneurs get their businesses off the ground, coaches inject themselves into the process and guide the entrepreneur from business start-up to profit. Mentors generally take a hands-off approach while coaches are definitely hands-on.

Living from our Higher Values

The basics of human behavior requires that we live to our highest values, thus in so doing we are congruent with our true selves. Higher values always dictate to us from within whereas our lowest values are motivated from outside forces. When we live to our higher values we will operate/work spontaneously, we will be working on what we love and we will have a smile on our faces. We will be self-driven when aligned with our highest values. On the other hand, when we are operating from without, we need constant motivation and push. Our days are a “drag” and our whole lives can be described as “unlived lives” in that we are not doing what comes naturally to us. When we set goals aligned to our highest values we are inspired and will succeed.

The Leadership Management Scale
I often get into conversations with students about the difference between leaders and managers. I have written another article on this topic. This article suggests a visual sliding scale that can help you understand your natural tendencies on this topic.

2011 ---- Ten Success Reminders

The market forces have been very tough the past few years. However, 2011 is a brand new year and there are encouraging signs of growth in our economy. Creating acceptable levels of growth and profitability in 2011 is a goal that I am sure is shared by virtually 100 % of the individuals and companies that read this article. So, let's review some principles that can help us maintain our focus and create the kind of success in 2011 that you can be proud of:

A Common Purpose
A leader has to win the hearts and minds of his management team to create a Common Purpose. This doesn’t happen by accident. It depends on values, beliefs that create the foundation for how the team works together. It is imperative that the leader understands these values and beliefs.

Bosses Gone Wild

The reason people follow any leader, especially in the business world, is due to trust. The only way to develop trust is through communication - talking to people with respect to gain their respect. Respect is a key ingredient in developing trust. Trust is gained when people think their employer cares about their welfare and recognizes the role each plays in creating a profit. People have to think that the company not only cares about their problems, but that the company will make every effort to solve them.

As a Leader Choice Is In Your Control
Leadership is about making choices and not the choices make you. Read about a personal experience and how choices and control build leadership.

Leader's Success Secret: Celebration
A valuable and insightful nugget about delegation, leadership and business growth from an entrepreneur who built a 3,200 employee organization. Learn his epiphany and breakthrough moment as a leader.

Five Resounding Reasons to Review Your Strategic Plan
Events of the past three years have rendered many business plans either partially or completely obsolete. Here are five quick potential wake-up calls to help you determine if one of your most important leadership tools is in need of repair.

Focus on the results - not the problem
Where is your focus? Is it on the problem or the blessing? On what you can do, or what the news says is going on? On the bad economy or on how you can create great success because of the economic situation?

The Final Ingredient in Success is - Sharing
Sharing your success. Sharing what you learned. Sharing your abilities. Sharing your money. Sharing your time. And just plain sharing what you have with others.

Stretch beyond what you think you can
Are you going to stretch or are you going to give up? Are you going to keep going because you have the passion, desire and knowledge that you will make it work? You will do what you need too in order to make it happen. Are you going to listen to those who gave up, or are you going to listen to those who went before you and made it? Those who gave it all they had to and more.

Real Leadership Requires Absolutes
You can't lead by being afraid of what people will think of the decision. You have to learn early that leadership requires some people not liking the decisions you make. You can't lead from a seesaw - you have to be able to stand firm. Nothing worse than a leader who keeps changing his/her mind and never seems to stand for anything. Leadership requires earned respect.

Stress, stress and even more stress!

I was stopped at a Wawa the other day, just grabbing some coffee and as I started to back my car out, a fellow walk right on the side of my car and I almost hit him. The anger on his face was unbelievable as he smacked my car and yelled a few choice words and stomped off. Now, I know the normal reaction, get out of my car and start screaming. But instead, I backed my car out, drove over to his car and was actually going to say that I was sorry and wish him a better day. I rolled down my window to talk to him, he screamed some more choice words, slammed his door, gave me some hand signals and drove off. I would not want to be in his way today.

Leadership - Some Thoughts About Greatness
Of all the qualities needed for leadership, only one is indispensable - courage. Without it, all the others are more or less useless. Courage has been shown by all who we recognize as true leaders, from Alexander The Great to Margaret Thatcher.

Holding Effective One on One Sales Coaching Sessions
Coaching sessions are the most important duty of a sales manager. How you go about delivering a coaching session will define your leadership. Get your mind right! Are you there to help, or are you there to catch someone doing something wrong? Remember "Cool Hand Luke"? Boss: Sorry, Luke. I'm just doing my job. You gotta appreciate that. Luke: Nah - calling it your job don't make it right, Boss.

Career Search – Ask yourself ‘What Can I Offer?’
When seeking a change in career the most crucial question to ask yourself is, what do I have to offer a new employer? Consider your work history as a whole and identify the transferable skills you’ve learned in an effort to put yourself ahead of other potential jobseekers.

Results! Why leaders need to be great coaches

Coaching represents the most significant trend in leadership development within organizations in the last 25 years. Organizations of every size are interested in increasing bench strength, improving succession planning and elevating performance of employees at all levels. With tight budgets in a tough economic climate, organizations are looking for internal solutions. Instead of hiring external coaches, can managers perform this vital function? While most managers intellectually know the value of coaching, they aren’t necessarily convinced that the payoff is there. Citing time challenges and increasing workloads, managers wonder if coaching is any more effective than directing and giving advice. The answer is clear: coaching works ~ By Kathleen Stinnett

COACHING ACCELERATES SUCCESS
Coaching is for everybody. Coaching helps professional growth and career development. Executive Coaching is more widely used to rapidly increase leadership influence and effectiveness.

The Entrepreneur's Attitude is his/her Route to Success

Your attitude is something that is completely within your control. When you leave your home each day, the attitude with which you enter the world is entirely for you to choose. Enter the world with a positive, determined attitude and it’s like having a crystal clear windscreen in your car, you can see everything clearly and far into the distance. Your attitude is your window to your world nd to your success.your attitude can determine what you will accomplish today, as your attitude is what can keep you positive and focused on the task in hand. Your attitude is something that you can never just take for granted. To keep a positive attitude, you need to keep feeding it with positive experiences.

Who's Driving
Who is in control - and who is driving culture in your company?

Differentiation-Based Leadership: Three questions that every leader must ask

The more competition you face, the greater the need to highlight the differentiation -- the unique advantage of your product or service -- in order to succeed in the marketplace. Differentiation-based leadership places the onus of grasping, defining and communicating that differentiation on the shoulders of the leader, and extends the concept to encompass every area of business -- including the leader him or herself. Using differentiation as the central principle of strategic competitive advantage, these are the three questions that every leader must ask.

Are You Genuinely A Leader Or Merely A Manager?

Without managers, the visions of leaders remain dreams. Leaders need managers to convert visions into realities. For continuous success, organizations need both managers and leaders. However, as most seem to be over-managed and under-led, they need to find ways of having both at the same time. Perhaps the best way to handle this paradox is for managers to aim to be managers when viewed from above, leaders when viewed from below and to remember that the need for leadership grows as we move up the organization. This is only one of the challenges that can make working life fun.

Courageous Leadership
How TO Be Flexible as a Leader. How to Cultivate Courage by Saying Yes.

Be the new kind of Boss!!
It used to be the boss was the boss and she told you what to do. But now there’s a New Boss in town. This New Boss says we’re not operating from a bureaucratic model any more. We’re into lateral management and we want you to think for yourself. Think for myself? When did that become part of the job description?

How Self Confidence Impacts your Leadership

Coaching clients in senior roles is often necessary because they lack self confidence. As a result, they are not seen as leaders. Instead, they all seem to have one quality in common. They all have a fear of making the necessary decision required of their position. Self perception affects everyone in both their personal and professional lives. However, for individuals in positions of authority, it’s important to understand how self confidence impacts your leadership.

Your Brand of Leadership

What does a ‘brand’ mean? In simple and historic terms it is asserting one’s right to ownership. Think about cattle being branded on the plains of the ‘Old West’. What the owner is saying is, this mark is my mark and anything or any animal that wears it is owned by me or originated from my ranch. Do you know what your leadership brand is? To develop your leadership brand requires you to know what you stand for.

Great Leaders Among Us
There's nothing like blending leadership and the power of Zero Gravity thinking to make a huge difference - in life and in business.

The Top 5 reasons that sales people quit.
Do what you must to attract & retain good sales people

What Can We Learn FromThe Greatest Leader That Ever Came On God's Earth Bar None?
Sir Ernest Shackleton has been called "the greatest leader that ever came on God's earth bar none" for saving the lives of twenty-seven men stranded with him on an Antarctic ice floe for almost two years... what lessons can we learn from his leadership style?

The Next Level of Leadership

If someone told you that humility is the key to being a more competitive company and influential leader, how long would it take before you tuned out and started waiting for the leadership training to end? As it turns out, humility is one of the ultimate competitive advantages in business. In Jim Collins' Good to Great research, he discovered two unique traits of leaders who moved companies from average performance to great: 1) intense professional will, and 2) extreme personal humility. But while humility is an nice trait, who wants humility if it’s incompatible with winning? For most people, tradition holds that the opposite of excessive ego is humility, when in fact having too little ego is as dangerous and unproductive as having too much. Humility is the equilibrium between the two extremes and catalyst for healthy ego.

Be True To Yourself As A Manager
There's a way of sensing when a manager is 'putting it on'. It's a sense many, if not all employees have, to some extent or the other - and they will quickly sniff you out...

How To Be A Management Legend
Being a management legend in your own lifetime might seem to be something of an impossibility. A dream you sometimes dream when you are having one of those spare moments (like you do!). So, here's the skinny on how to make this possible, with the minimal of effort.

Problem Solving the Coaching Way
One of the challenges of being a leader is dealing with the many issues that face us on a daily basis. Most of these issues are those that come with people. How many times a day do you spend trying to solve other people’s issues? Want to free up more time during the day to get to the things that you want rather than the things other people want?

CREATING ONLINE MASTERMIND GROUPS 6 BASIC STEPS
If you want to create and run your own mastermind groupsâ€™ online, here are some six basic guidelines to help you get started:

How to Earn Respect at the Office
Many struggles at work can be attributed to one major symptom: a lack of respect from your co-workers, subordinates or supervisors. But, if you feel there is a lack of respect, how do you go about regaining or earning that trust from those in your workplace? Do you go around demanding that others respect you because of your title or position?

Decision-making and double-edged swords
Use a simple yet thorough decision-making process to assure that you are covering all the bases, being collaborative and looking at all the angles

Don't Be a Byron

Byron runs a very old and historically successful business. His twenty-five hundred employees have seen good times as well as bad times. Business has boomed and business has gloomed in his twenty-five years with the company. Unfortunately, lately has been more gloom and doom than boom. Byron has made millions of dollars on stock options as the company has moved up and down with the energy sector. The predictability of the stock is amazing when looked at historically. He is very wealthy with all the promise and challenge fortune brings. He feels very deserving of his spoils.

The Secret to Business Happiness

A recent study revealed that the key to human happiness is the ability to live in the moment and place less emphasis on both the future and the past. This unique tendency of the human animal and our obsessive preoccupation with the past and the future are significant burdens that limit our happiness during life. The study indicates that both our stress over past events and worry about the future have a negative impact on our current happiness. Furthermore, the ability to live in the current moment and search for the contentment of the present is a critical key to deliberate joy and happiness.

Leader Interrupted

The concept of leadership within the protection of this book or the walls of any classroom is much different in execution. Too often, leaders understand the factors that promote effective leadership yet still fail to execute at critical opportunities. Why can leaders say (and even believe) the right things and then contradict the very same statement with their teams? Why does leadership theory get diluted in application on the job? How can we develop leaders to execute properly? These simple questions and the answers are in fact a revelation for most organizations.

If it isn't Broken, Break it!

Peter Drucker stated that obsolescence must be planned into products and processes in order to stay ahead of the competition. A company or product that is stagnant only creates fertile opportunity for competition. In other words, your competition will always replicate the success you have achieved in the past. This simplified premise makes innovation the competitive advantage that most successful companies lack over sustained periods of prosperity.

The Two Facets of Leadership

Why do we follow others? The word leadership logically implies followship. Someone must decide to follow the leader for some reason. But why do we follow another person? When you boil down the complexities of human behavior, the primary reasons we follow someone else are very basic. First, we see a personal benefit to the behavior or actions of the other individual. We see the methodology they utilize as better than our current method or we see an easier way to accomplish a given task. Second, the leader actually influences our thinking to personal see value where it did not exist in the past. This cognitive influence is the more complex of the two pillars of leadership.

#1 Reason Top Performers Leave
Survey results.

Engaging Your Employees During Difficult Economic Times
Tips for keeping your employees engaged when times are tough.

So, You Think You Can Lead?
Whether you work alone or have staff, you are a leader to someone - somewhere. You are expected to be a leader for your employees, your children, your association committees, your church group............you lead every day, in everything you do whether you know it or not.

Seven Team Development Ideas for Team Leaders

Team development by team leaders is one of those responsibilities that fits into the category of continuous improvement. It therefore takes effort and planning to implement it effectively. This article is therefore written for team leaders to assist and encourage them in their ongoing planning and practice of developing their team. This practice is a marathon and not a sprint, so the seven developmental areas discussed here should give enough content to help team leaders plan up to a year's worth of strategy.

A Leaders Prime Objectives
The Four areas a Leader MUST attend to for success: 1.Personal growth 2.Bottom-line goals 3.Efficient works systems 4.Human Relations

The Influential Leader

Leadership has traditionally been defined as getting people to follow your vision. However, in today’s mega-matrixed world, leaders often do not have directly authority over those they need to realize their vision. Today’s leader must frequently lead through influence – a more subtle yet powerful approach to getting things done. One of the most important aspects of influencing others is spreading and soliciting new ideas.

Choose Your View

Our experiences are much less important than how we choose to think about them. The way we interpret our experiences shapes our beliefs about the past. Furthermore, our interpretations either limit or enable our future success. For example, a mission-critical project you are leading has “promotion” written all over it, but it bombs – it’s over budget, past its deadline… the works. How you choose to interpret those facts is where you can shape your future. Are you a failure, a poor leader who is maxed out and on her way out? Or, are you a great leader in the making who is learning some tough lessons that will help ensure success on the next project when your true colors will show? Facts are facts, but the view you take is your choice.

What If You Are a Jerk But Don't Know It?
Each of us is guilty of acting like a jerk from time to time. Some people we know have it down to a fine art! The thing I want to explore in this discussion is a kind of blind spot where people who are acting like jerks have no idea how they are coming across to others. This article discusses how you can tell if you are being a jerk too much of the time.

I Resolve...
Does your company set goals for the coming year? Are you measured (and paid) based upon the attainment of these goals?

Leader or Liar?
Do you think leaders are liars? A recent PBS show investigated the question - "Are leaders good liars?" According to psychologist Carrie Keating's experiments in human behavior - "the findings seem to demonstrate a correlation between persuasive abilities and dominant behavior."

Lonely at the Top
Are you "working through it?" Lately it seems that so many people in leadership positions are taking inventory of what it means to be a leader. Some are fleeing the role.

Will Someone Please Disagree?
When was the last time you openly disagreed with someone above you in your company? When was the last time someone openly disagreed with you? Why has it become standard practice for many to act as drones and nod their heads in unison, even at the most senior levels?

How Do You Define Success?
The modern dictionary defines success as: to gain wealth or fame. Early American leaders held a puritanical belief that success was a sign of God's favor. Ben Franklin wrote that "the pursuit of wealth was virtuous and would lead to success."

We Have an Ethical Dilemma!
Our finest business schools are beefing up their ethics programs in response to the erosion of corporate ethics that has resulted in the recent high profile debacles, right? Guess again...

Get Your Priorities Straight!
Lately, I have been amazed at the answers I get when I query executives about their priorities. Many utter a reference to "objectives" that sounds good, but soon they discover that their answers do not clarify what their priorities are that day. They often are not clear on what actions they need to focus on today that will lead to success tomorrow.

Finding True North With the Help of a Child
"Dad, I want you to have this" my young son said as he held up a toy compass to place in my hands. "You can keep it on your desk so that you'll always know where you are and what direction to head in." It was one of those priceless parenting moments.

Crisis Reveals Human Potential
It's impossible to describe the terror I felt as the car began to slide sideways. Even going only 2-3 miles per hour I was helpless to stop the car.

I Need You For a Mission!
What is your Mission in life? Yes, it's a heavy question but one worth asking yourself. Have you spent time thinking about what gifts you possess and how to utilize those gifts to the best of your ability?

Decisions, Decisions

Do you ever wonder why decisions you make foster reactions that you never dreamed of? In a Hay Group research brief entitled "Executive Blind Spots," the results of a large survey concluded that the higher executives rose within an organization; • The more they over-rated themselves compared to how they were rated by others, and; • The wider the gap between how they saw themselves and how their peers, subordinates, and managers viewed them. Individual contributors and lower level managers, in contrast, showed no significant gaps between how they and others rated them.

The Coaching Fallacy What it is and what it isnt
There is much confusion about what Coaching is- and isn’t. Many consulting firms have simply gone through their marketing materials and changed the word “consulting” to “coaching.” For many in the business world, that sums up what they perceive Coaching to be, a new word for consulting. Nothing could be farther from the truth!

Its not fair!
As a leader or manager do you aspire to be fair? If you do, stop!

You didn’t say I’d be fired!
Do you get frustrated when something you say which is obvious gets misinterpreted?

Always isn’t every time
As a manager, do you and your employees have miscommunications?

Just the facts
Do any of your direct reports (or for that matter, anyone at all!) continually challenge you in an unproductive way?

My employee seems to be sick on Fridays and Mondays
Do you have an employee who takes advantage of the system?

That person has a difficult personality
Does it irritate you when one of your employees, peers, or boss is very difficult?

Gen X, Gen Y, Gen whatever
Do you have opinions on someone based on their age?

The Facebook Revolution
Do you wonder what your employees are doing on their computer?

Not listening can be catastrophic
Do you feel your reports are not listening to you?!

Dealing with Morons
Do you ever think you’re working with people who don’t know what they’re doing?!

The $64,000 Question
Do your questions lead to solutions or more problems?

Dirt on the car
DO YOU STRUGGLE TO EFFECTIVELY MOTIVATE ANY DIRECT REPORTS?

Questions, Jeopardy Style
Do you find yourself stuck no matter what questions you ask yourself?

The questions which lead to nowhere
DO YOU FIND YOURSELF STUCK NO MATTER WHAT QUESTIONS YOU ASK YOURSELF?

Lead by Example: Do As I Do
The rules of modeling are not just applicable in parenting, but also apply to leading a great sales team. Great leadership starts from the top down. Make sure you are following these rules in managing your team for success.

My Door is Always Open
Do you ever commit to things which you possibly can’t achieve?

The Most Successful Leader
The difference between perception and reality of a successful leader.

Build Bench Strength through Personality Assessments
The value of any personality assessment comes in using the insights it provides along the entire continuum of a career. The test itself should decipher an employee's underlying needs with emphases on sales rep hiring, development, opportunities for growth, behavioral coaching, team building, conflict resolution, succession planning and diversity training.

7 Secrets To building your Internet Network Marketing Business
Building an Online Network Marketing Business is in many ways like building any online business. It takes certain skills, a level of motivation and probably most important of all, a willingness to learn and to be ‘coachable’.

Six Essential Ingredients for Teams in Transition

With change becoming the new constant in today’s workforce, more than ever teams are now in transition – sometimes with new leadership, sometimes with new team members, often with both. How do you create an environment for a team to go from 0-100 (or at least 60) with limited budgets, resources and time? This article explores six essential ingredients for teams in transition. The article also provides strategic questions managers and teams going through change can consider to foster proactivity and results.

The Essential Qualities Of Leadership
Although there are many qualities necessary to be a genuine leader in a specific situation, these qualities should be common to all....

The Secret Formula of Confident Leaders
Today's successful businesses know that it isn't micromanagement or bribes that attract and maintain a happy and productive workforce, it is the confidence and ability of their key leaders that makes the difference.

How to Be a Better Boss
The best bosses keep chipping away at a huge pile of tasks-some interesting, others dull but necessary. Their leadership prowess is measured by how well they handle the frustrations associated with people and performance.

The 3 "C's" of Leading with Confidence
What are the "3 C's" of confident leaders? Do all leaders have them? Do they need them? How can you tell if you have them, and if not, if you need them.

Success - Where are You Aiming?
We all yearn for success, whether we define and measure it with things or outcomes or feelings. The choice is ours. There's no right or wrong answer - just know where you're aiming.

Two Incredibly Powerful Words
Are you fueling recognition, leadership, collaboration and results? Are you creating employee engagement? Two little but oh-so-big-and-powerful words can make all the difference! Are you using them wisely,well and often?

What Impact Are You Having On Others?
An article of 1432 words explaining how to make the impact you want in the lives of those you meet along your journey through life.

Creating the right ‘Value Perception’ for your Customers
Value Perception (VP) is the opinion your potential and current customers have of your product or service. This perception determines the value it adds to them in line with the problems it needs to solve or aspirations they want it to fulfill. Also evaluated is your offering’s relevance and importance, over and above that of your competitors.

Tips to Working with Virtual Teams
Organizations are decentralizing. People are working off their smart phones and laptops and often tele-commuting. How can you effectively lead virtual teams?

The Power of Thought Control
Your ability to think in a focused and clear way, keeping your attention where your intention is, distinguishes the long term successful leader from the pack.

5 Must Do's to Create Change on College Campus
As a student leader you have a vision that helps shapes the campus community. Be sure to use these 5 Must Do's to help create and sustain change through your leadership. Student leaders can be successful with change on campus by incorporating these into any change initiative. Student advisors can help student organizations be more successful by using this change model as well.

LEADERS: DISCERN THEIR CLIENTS NEEDS
Leaders earn the privilege of having others follow them by their ability to discern the needs of those they serve. This is an invaluable skill that will ultimately determine the effectiveness of their leadership

Leadership Thrives in Any Economic Time
Leadership is the ability to adapt and thrive in any circumstance. Our articles detail how to make such reality in your professional and personal life

How to Connect With People
A leader's effectiveness is entirely dependent upon their ability to connect with people. This is a skill that either makes or breaks a leader and must be mastered.

Connecting With the Right People
The ability to discern between those who will assist you in your leadership and those whose motives are otherwise, is a skill not to be overlooked by leaders. This article is designed to provide practical suggestions on how to remain focused on the positive influences in your life.

5 Ways to Redefine Your Focus
Leaders are expected to be the example of focus and strategy from those who follow. Redefining your focus on long task is a valuable skill that will define the difference between a true leader and one who claims such in name only.

5 Keys to Your Personal Mission Statement
When asked directly, most cannot define their professional and personal mission. "Making money" is not a mission statement. It is an objective. This article defines how to create your own mission statement and core values that will define your character and leadership for a lifetime.

HOW TO “GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE SAND” AND FACE REALITY WITH POWER
Facing Reality. That is one of the most difficult task for people today. Facing reality requires accepting it for what it is, whatever it is.

5 Reasons Why Professionals Fail
Regardless of your industry, the reasons for success and failure are based on the same key factors. Find out what those factors are and how to avoid the ones that will cause you to ruin your career.

Leadership Thrives in Any Economic Time - Part 2
Leadership is the ability to connect, adjust, and adapt to people and current conditions. Leaders thrive regardless of the economic state of the world around them.

Eliminating the Fear of Failure
All who try to step out in Leadership quickly find themselves subject to making many mistakes. Learn how to expect these challenges and failures, as well as how to turn them around for your long term benefit.

Developing a Positive Attitude
Attitude is everything. Being able to develop a positive attitude helps you achieve the success you want in life. Successful leaders know this, it's time for you and I to practice this so we too can create a vision and inspire success - for ourselves.

Positive Attitude is Power for Leadership
80% of your success is tied to your attitude regarding it. Take step by step actions to improve the way you view your challenges.

Discerning how to Connect with the Right People
Leaders not only have the ability to connect, but they also possess the skill to be discerning with whom to connect with. Learn this skill with the practical steps in this article

Building A Firm Foundation For A Strategic Plan
Executives almost always overlook the fact that a strong organizational foundation must first be laid within the company in order for a strategic plan to be effectively implemented. Otherwise, the process of strategic change is like a skyscraper built over a swamp - it won’t take long to sink under its own weight.

What Leadership Was And What Leadership Has Become
In the macho era, support was for failures, but now there is a growing realization that leaders are human after all, and that leadership is as much a human art as a rational science.

3 Ways of Leading
This is when there were way too many frustrations. It was the biggest paradox at work. They loved it when he left them alone and hated it when they asked for his help and he would shrug and say "You take care of it. That's what I'm paying you for."

Leadership: The Successful Use of Conflicting Principles
“The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.” -Niels Bohr, Nobel-Prize winning scientist

The Trusted Authority - Out Care the Competition
And become customer obsessed. Consumers would pay 5 to 25% more to ensure a superior customer experience

Realizing and Breaking your "Glass Ceiling" - Part 2
SERIES PART TWO: The legacy behind every successful professional, entrepreneur, and personal achiever is a storied history of breaking the "glass ceilings" in their leadership journey. These are the subconscious restrictions you place upon yourself as reasons for not achieving your goals. Take these proactive steps to begin your journey of achieving higher levels of Leadership.

Know yourself before you decide to buy someone else

According to a survey conducted by the Hay group and published in 2007, 91% of all M&A efforts fail to meet their pre-transaction goals. How many activities can a business undertake that fail 91% of the time, yet keep doing them over and over again? That is what happens with mergers and acquisitions. The sad truth is making these growth strategies work is not hard - it is complicated, but not hard. If you do your due diligence, and pay close attention to all the myriad of details, you will succeed. This article talks about what you need to know about your business before you try to buy someone else’s!

Leadership and Entrepreneurship

Seth Godin's newest book "Poke the Box" is like an entrepreneur's bible. He encourages all of us to instigate, innovate, reinvigorate. Isn't that what entrepreneurs do? yup, that's what we do all the time! So is that the same as leadership? Sometimes entrepreneurs, the real on the edge pioneers forget to bring along those who can't think as fast, be as visionary, move as intently. That is where a different kind of leadership needs to kick in.

What evidence do we need to see in order to take action?
It takes passionate truth spoken by trusted individuals to change the status quo.

New Times
About community and how important we all are in creating these support systems of the future

The Secrets Of Inspired & Inspiring Leadership Revealed
In a survey of more than one and a half thousand managers, people were asked what they would most like to see in their leaders. The most popular answer, mentioned by 55% of people, was 'inspiration'

Leadership - The Skills You Must Cultivate
No one has all the skills of management or leadership to the same degree, any more than they have the personality traits to the same degree. However, it is much easier to learn or acquire skills than it is to develop new personality traits. There are five basic skills and the degree to which any individual cultivates those skills may well determine the degree of their success.

Moving The Focus Away From The Leaders To The Followers
More than ever, today business executives have to operate as both leader and follower in the daily rounds of their job. Those who study leadership begin to take more interest in the 'psychological contract' between leader and followers. In other words, they began to ask what makes people prepared to follow one leader and unwilling to follow another.

Self-Programming For Successful Leadership
Veteran leaders can pass along valuable advice from their experience. In your leadership, you can accelerate your effectiveness if you utilize basic tips such as the following ....

The Five Main Drivers For Improvement Within Any Organization

Whatever got you where you are today will not be sufficient to keep you there. A rapidly changing environment is the regular background against which organisations must develop.Change is continuous and will become more rapid as we move forward over time. Senior management must be capable of reacting to those changes and be prepared to take advantage of them and yet stay within the overall framework and agreed strategy.

Make the Most of 2009
New Year’s Resolutions are easy to make and easy to break! Here are my twelve suggestions to make more time and enjoy life in 2009!

Neon Hypocrisy
Many organizations have a value that states "employees are our most important asset." The value hangs in the lobby on a plaque, but it is not reflected in the actions of leaders, so it shines like a neon sign that lowers trust. This article suggests some things that can change the pattern.

Four Surprising Things That Will Grow Your Network (and Net-Worth) Now, from Tahl Raz?
In a recent Harvard Business Review blog post, leadership expert Dr. Cleve Stevens contrasts traditional leaders with transformational leaders - leaders for whom the employee-boss relationship is more than a money-for-labor transaction.

Psychology and Leadership: Activity and Methods

According to the Perceptual Styles Theory, there are six different psychological styles that have everything to do with who we are and the way we see the world. While traditional notions of leadership encompass only a few of those styles, the truth is that each of them possesses a unique set of leadership qualities. Here, we examine the leadership qualities associated with the Activity and Methods Perceptual Styles.

The Job Market is Tough – Does Your Cover Letter Stand Out?
Knock Knock. “Who’s there?” “A unique amazing cover letter” “That’s a rarity - come on in” Your cover letter knocks on the door of the hiring company. When that door is opened does your cover letter get asked to “come in” or is the door slammed shut?

Leadership and the Media

Why do so many people follow Charlie Sheen? So what if Lindsey Lohan goes to jail? Why do we care what happened to Tiger Woods? Do we care if the same thing had happened to a next door neighbor? What is the reason we salivate and wait for the next bit of news about celebrities and their private lives? Maybe we are just getting ready to accept the fact that it is an illusion to want to separate who we are at home from who we are at work from who we are in the media from who we are at a party from who we are at the gym from who we are......get the point.

2 Leadership Mistakes That Will Cost You!

Leaders take pride in being logical and accurate. This is good. Yet, there are two big mistakes that all leaders, all individuals, make over and over that are easy to remedy if you only pay attention. First, check assumptions! I'm sure most of you know the saying that if you merely "assume" you "make an ass out of you and me". It is the habit of believing on the basis of limited evidence, or trusting another individual or circumstance without asking enough questions.

Focus On the Basics for Survival
When a company is facing challenges, the key to survival is a focus on a few key areas. The two most important areas for success are your staff and your performance against pre-determined key performance indicators.

40-Year Old Communication Myth Busted, Words Not Body Language, Are the Foundation of Successful Communication
Join the debate about whether words or body language are the more powerful form of communication. People can fake body language signals and they can tell verbal lies, so which of the two forms really are the most powerful and reliable?

Home Business Expert: 5 Fundamental Income Producing Activities
These are the 5 fundamental income producing activities that are essential because they can ensure that your home business would be a success.

Business in 2009 - Do you really need to be a Fortune Teller
No know really knows how the overall economic climate will play out over the coming months and possibly years. What we can say is that individual businesses will be defined by the decisions they make and the actions that they take.

Top 7 Reasons Why Business Networking Organizations Fail

Business networking is a great way to meet your business to business target market. These groups or organizations can literally become an unpaid sales force for the small to mid size business owners depending upon their industry, After being involved in several business networking groups, I have observed these 7 common traits that separate the truly great business networking groups from the failed ones.

Pursuit of Leadership Happiness
As we grow we have a right to pursue education and for many that is where happiness lies, for others it is being an entrepreneur, taking risks and going into uncharted territory.

Making Friends is Part of Leadership 101
The ability to connect with people in an honest, real way is one of the biggest attributes in leadership.

The Brain on Teambuilding
Two companies booked the same beautiful park for their team buiding exercises, what happens next is what makes great comedy.

Finding Hot Products That People Really, Really Want
You’ve got your new business up and running but no one seems to be buying from you? Are you sure that you are selling stuff that people want? There are ways to ensure that what you are selling is what people actually want.

Executive Leaders: Hire for Attitude

One of the senior executives in a recent Total Leadership Connections program was downsized and "upsized" all within six weeks .The group went through the lows and eventual highs with him, it was quite a ride. He is in the process of moving his family to a small town in the Midwest from a large city in the South. As he tells, it, let's call him Mike, as Mike tells it, when you have prepared for change you can sleep at night.

Breaking Boundaries in Leadership
The Broadway best musical "Memphis" is a foot tapping barrage of singing, dancing, and thinking. It takes place in the 1950's when racial equality was still a seed just planted and yet to sprout. Blacks were "different" than white folks and there was nothing to question, merely accept. Except.......

Let it Snow: Leadership in Winter

I'm looking out the window at the marshmallow world for the second week in a row; beautiful, pristine, and quiet. I remember in the long ago past, oh maybe ten years ago when snow days really meant stop; work, school, community. Not that way anymore. Computers have been buzzing along and work is getting done. Every so often the ring of the landline or the cell phone interrupts and a human voice feeds the need for a different kind of connection.

What Is The Foundation for Your Vision?
Who we are often manipulates what we do. The values we hold dear should represent the way we conduct business. But do they? Learn more about the foundation or your vision...

How Management’s Promotion Policies May Create Super Failures
Have you considered how promotion policies, such as promoting from within, could be setting employees up to fail?

Leadership Leapfrog

Make a list of the five most important things that constitute leadership. Okay, now pick the top two. Good, circle the one quality that you can't do without. I bet that if you compare what you have circled with lists of leaders and high potentials around the world, the answer would be variations on the theme: know yourself! On the walls of the great mystery schools of ancient Greece it commanded "Know Thyself", and Buddha was quoted as saying "Imagine that every person in the world is enlightened but you, they are all your teachers, each doing just the right things to help you learn patience, perfect wisdom, and perfect compassion."

A Leader who Understands His Responsibility to Lead

Leaders have a unique role. They must be willing to step out when others are too afraid, risk more than others think wise, and strive for more than others think is possible. It is this type of Leadership that has shaped our world, and therefore is the one thing that makes a leader's role among the most coveted. It is also for this reason that we must proceed with caution when being given such a privileged position.

Leading In A Down Economy - Crisis Or Opportunity
Yes, most often the buck does stop with you the leader when it comes down to the big or final decisions; however, using your best organizational talent can “turn your crisis into their opportunity.” What keeps you up at night can keep them up at night and this can be a good thing.

Avoiding Pitfalls in Mentoring Relationships, Part II of III
Creating mentoring relationships

Money (and a Nice Boss, Benefits and Career Development) … That’s What I Want
Learn new strategies and tips on how to land your dream job

Extraordinary Success
When we think of extraordinary success we often think of the multi-million dollar companies with multiple branches covering many cities. Many times we forget that the key to all major successes is people.It takes people to sell products and it takes people to get results.

The Best Home Based Business establishes trust!
Where there is no trust, there is no opportunity. Gaining trust will depend on how well you can establish an emotional connection. People buy with their hearts and justify with their heads.

Leadership Predicament: Promotion by Anointment
Corporate leaders need to make the critical investment in management training programs to develop their current and future leaders. Those that do not will suffer the consequences.

17 "HOT" Leadership Best Practices
17 "HOT" Leadership Best Practices

Improving the bottom line

Within 100 days it is possible to achieve outstanding improvements to revenues and profits. Organisations have increased revenues by as much as $27 million in this time and both large and small organisations have proved that the results are sustainable. The key lies in the way that we lead - moving to a leadership approach that is based on engaging people both within and outside of the organisation.

The Customer Can't Say Yes When You Are Talking
It doesn't matter if you are selling a product, a concept or yourself. If you are sales person trying to sell the product or service, a husband/wife trying to convince your spouse, or an employee trying to convince your boss. The sooner we learn to shut up and listen, the faster we will get to the outcome we are looking for?

What can the movie- Due Date, with Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis, teach you about your leadership style?

Leadership comes in all different styles. This article explores the contrast between the iron fist and the wet noodle approach. By comparing the very different characters in the movie Due Date, we can see how their extreme differences would give them the chance to learn from each other, translate this into leadership styles and we can do the same. More importantly, we can learn about our own style and how we can improve. Mix in a little comic relief, and we will all soon be laughing at ourselves, or not. Enjoy.

Senior Management and Critical Information
When did Senior Management become sacred?

5 Practical Ideas to Keep Your Employees Motivated
Many leaders are skilled at getting results and productivity from their employees but are at a loss about how to keep people motivated. Learn five key things you can do to motivate your employees and reap the rewards of a happier workplace.

The Power of Words
In the business world and in real life, the words you use matter. Words are powerful. They can inspire confidence or they can have the exact opposite effect - create a lack of confidence. Let me give you an example, using the current presidential campaign.

What You Are Doing To Undermine Your Authority
The session was to begin at 8:30 AM for the executive leadership team. At 8:30 AM we were missing two of the key members and the CEO asked me to wait for them. At 8:45 the CEO got up and went to look for his two team members that were missing. He came back at 9:00 and said, “They’re big boys so let’s get going.”

Firing Without the Headache or Heartache
It is Friday afternoon and you call John Thompson in to your office.

How to Lead and Influence Change
You know for years we have held the majestic eagle as our sign of a good leader. It soars so high above everyone else, has a beautiful wingspan, eyes that can see its prey from miles away and uncanny accuracy in getting its food.

The Building of a Leader
“I am organizing an Easter Egg Hunt for the neighborhood today and I wanted to know if your children will be coming?” said the confident voice on the other end of the phone. With a smile on my face I told Megan that absolutely Rory and Ce’Anna would participate. I was told to bring nothing but the children and to be there at one o’clock.

Leadership: A Way of Thinking, Not a Position
Leadership is not a position but a way of thinking. When you recognize and embrace that it will change how you view yourself as well as others.

Where Do You Stand As A Leader?
45% of your company’s reputation is based on the public’s view of your CEO. Staggering isn’t it?

Does a Leader’s Communication Really Impact the Corporate Culture?
I have watched many corporations tumble due to the communication and character of their leaders. Why is it that just a few people can have such a big impact on the culture of an organization?

Building Strategic versus Tactical Leaders
IQ is your intelligence-your ability to capture information and store it in your brain and then extract it when needed. But all of us have run in to people that are highly intelligent but that lack common sense. So if you are looking for a great leader what are the essential ingredients that make a great leader?

Your Invitation to Greatness: The Top 10 Traits of a Leader that Instills Trust and Accountability
Are great leaders born or made? That is a question that has been plaguing people from the beginning of time. It is the issue discussed in books such as “From Good to Great” and “Winning.”

Feet in the Fire or Feet on Fire?
The missing secrets to making your corporate culture come alive!

What Do Leaders And Winter Have In Common?
I love Summer, I enjoy Spring, Fall is okay but Winter, man I am not a fan. For me Winter is too cold and too long. In my mind, I think let’s just get rid of Winter.

Critical Thinking and the Wizards
What's Feeding Your Thoughts? Do you look at the news, read books or magazines that stretch your thinking?

Do you invite thinking or evict thinking?
It amazes me how many people feel the necessity to strongly inflict their opinions on others. For me that is always a clear signal that they need to have other people validate them.

How to Lead a Transformation of Your Team
Carol Ann Tomlinson said, “Excellence in education is when we do everything we can to make sure they become everything that they can.” The same is true about leading a team to transformation.

Why What You Say Is NOT What Your Employees Hear

He walked into the room to deliver the news that the company was going to be looking at the possibility of outsourcing parts of their IT services. It was actually a part of their database management that IT hated and openly talked about hating. So he knew they would be glad to hear that the company would consider outsourcing it. He walked into the room, delivered his news, and was soon flooded with the resignations from his top talent.

How to Make a Decision That Sticks Rather Than Gets You Stuck
One of the most frustrating experiences we can all face is how to make effective decisions especially when you feel there is a lot of risk at stake. You wonder how much risk you should take on without putting yourself out on a limb or how much risk you share without looking like you are trying to pass accountability or be too cautious.

7 Steps to Developing Principles, Values and Premises
“Why can’t people just do the right thing? I sometimes feel like I am babysitting!”

Which are you, the Ant or the Grasshopper?
Do you live with the Pain of Regret or the Pain of Discipline?

When You Should Promote From Within And When You Should Hire From Outside The Company

Their company was on the rise. They had gone from $50 million in sales to $250 million in just 10 years. They had a softball team, a family picnic every year, and a Christmas party that was so loved by everyone that groups of people would get blocks of rooms and stay the night to party together. Almost every Thursday the entire office would end up at a local bar for a few drinks together. Most of the Senior Vice Presidents made it on Thursday night as well. And then the CEO decided to retire.

The Body of a Leader: What is Said Without You Speaking a Word
As an executive it is crucial that your body language always matches your words so people correctly interrupt what you said. If people have to chose between your body language and your words they will intuitively listen to their gut reaction to your body language, not your words.

The Tipping Point of a Great Leader
What does the movie Coach Carter, the book The Tipping Point, and great leadership have in common?

How much does good training really cost?
I just completed a weekend of training that cost me $13,000. Sounds like a lot right? I mean really, can’t I find the same information at a lower cost?

Can a garden produce top fruit if it is never weeded?
There is an eerie phenomenon going on in our society. It is starting at a tender age and creeping into the business world as well. If left alone, it will eventually lead us to mediocrity.

Creating a new inspiring mood
Leonardo da Vinci said “Sometimes genius does best when it works the least.”

Can you have high accountability if you don't have consequences?
"What should I do if the leaders in the company whom I need to make the decision come in late to the meeting?"

Helping Others Achieve Extraordinary Success

When we think of extraordinary success we often think of the multi-million dollar companies with multiple branches covering many cities. Many times we forget that the key to all major successes is people. Ordinary people, who are inspired, motivated, trained, and encouraged to live up to their full potential. It takes people to sell products and it takes people to get results.Billy Cox shows you how to help yourself by helping others achieve extraordinary success.

Women Entrepreneur Academy, Resilience 101
Successful business women no matter what industry or career path they choose, share many similar qualities and personality traits. Women entrepreneurs are able to overcome adversity and bounce back quickly. They are resilient.

Courageous Conversations
For the purpose of leadership, courage is defined as a reconciliation of the consequences of failure. A courageous conversation is then the interaction between people when the leader has defined the consequences of failure and is alright with those potential risks.

Asia Rise in Global Crisis - Managing post-crisis and Trends to watch

The sub-prime scheme conceived in the 1990s to make homes more affordable was filled with potential pitfalls. Socialistic measures simply could not fit into the capitalistic system. Furthermore, eager homebuyers were fooled by Wall Street sophistication who expounded the false assumption that home prices would keep on rising at an average 8% per year in the United States. Expectations were boosted by easy loans with cheap interest.

2011 - The NEW Normal

It’s not a great depression, neither is it a great recession we’re going through now. It is a great compression, as economy built on perceived value reconciles with actual value. A great restructuring of the economy and society, starting with a fundamental change in our relationships - how we are linked and intertwined and how we act. This financial crisis forced many to change their lives in ways large and small. It's with more belt-tightening, less income and, in many cases, a newfound gratitude for the most basic human comforts: family, home and health. After all, life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it. There are a lot of aspects of the situation that are really unique to this recession that we haven't seen in recent decades. We don't know how fast we pull out of it, although it does look like we have hit bo

Preparing for the NEW Normal.

The new normal is the new ways to solve old problems on an individual’s new state of mind. The new normal is about connecting future, creativity, new social media into our present life, hobbies and business in the new web 3.0 age. It is a new way of life. Facebook, linked-in, twitter, google, speed, multi-tasking, giving, CSR, global warming, skype … is the new normal. Building on networking and platform, building communities, active, lack of time, interconnectedness and individual power is the new normal. If you are in Human Resource, you now not only looked in the applicant’s resume, you will be asking, how fast can you learn, what are you reading, who are your connections, how many friends do you have ….

Are your people better off when they leave than when they got there?

In today’s ever changing and often turbulent economic environment, you are facing challenges that your predecessors would not have been dreamt about. How do you ensure that you have the leadership tools and strategies on hand to ensure you come out on top? Any time two or more people are gathered together for a purpose, an organization exists and there is an opportunity for leadership. There are many thousands in leadership positions today know that they are failing their people and desperately desire help in developing effective leadership skills. Many have long ago recognized that the old ways of leading through command-and-control and barking orders are largely ineffective when working with a diverse workforce.

Building better performance expectations

Ask yourself: on a scale of 1-10, 10 being high, how effective are the staff in the business? Chances are you will offer a number between 6 and 7. If extra effort is put in by the leadership that can be lifted to perhaps 7.5 maybe as high as 8 for short periods, then when the extra effort stops, as it must, performance slides back to where it was that is about 6.5. Our research states that 65% is about as good as you will get with the current set of performance and HR tools; to achieve consistently better staff performance, without extraordinary leadership efforts requires much better thinking about how staff are supported to be successful and perform as well as they are able.

Lasting gains in staff performance

Leadership does make a difference. Leadership pays back in many ways, first better business results, second, people more satisfied, more stable in their jobs and obviously more committed to doing the right things at the right time. For these reasons the search is on for the holy grail of leadership, what is it, how to do it, and how to train people so they do it more often and better than they do now?

…but what do I do?
All this theory is fine, but what does a team leader actually do to develop improved human performance?

Leadership and people versus task
Over the years there has been discussion on the leadership issue of people versus task. What exactly was the balance, when should the leader be concerned about people and when about task, and what is the difference between these two sorts of activity. The OPD model does not eliminate this distinction between people versus task, but it does give it clear and definite focus.

Increase Sales Coaching Tip: Understand How the Nos Get You Closer to the Yesses
Does a No derail you in your attempts to increase sales? Consider, this sales tip to increase sales.

Paying Attention To Your Level of Impact
Are you paying attention to how far reaching and powerful you impact can be? Not only is attitude contagious but your reach can spread like wildfire if you do it right.

Tribe, Nation, Business Unit – Are we not are all the same?
We often look to cultural diversity when considering organizational processes and strategic leadership. This article notes the need to understand cultural differences as they relate to business operations.

Leading Is Like Playing the Guitar
When you want your teams to play beautiful music, you need to teach and encourage them to fine tune themselves.

The 5 Cs of Change

Understanding how to coach, challenge and inspire others around us to change is so valuable in our daily lives, whether we are at work or play. You can have the most compelling personalities or the most extraordinary creative ideas driving the change – yet to no avail, without coupling them to the ‘5 Cs of change'. LiveChange’s 5 Cs of Change help any change to take place in our lives, be it in or out of the workplace – and you have to navigate all 5 steps in the right order….or you risk wasting your time. So what are the 5 Cs of Change?

Is Being a “Mind Reader” Part of Your Organization’s Job Descriptions?
Tired of second guessing and making incorrect assumptions in your organization and then being punished for it?

The overuse of "people" as competitive advantage
A short piece focusing on having the right systems in place to effectively manage your talent, and thereby provide competitive advantage, rather than constantly focusing solely on the recruitment of individual talent alone.

The Most Successful Home Based Businesses Available Today
There are a number of opportunities you can venture into on the internet. Some of them are the most successful home businesses around, but you have to be careful about joining a program because of how much the internet fluctuates.

Don't Shrink RETHINK!
Creative brainstorming for keeping afloat during difficult times. Eileen offers some alternatives to economic turbulence rather than the knee jerk reaction of cutting costs and laying off employees.

AoM Presentation: Studies on Developing Leadership / People Skills
At the Academy of Management in 2008, three professors shared their experiences and studies on the impact of a leadership simulation, vLeader.

Five Strategies for Personal and Professional Success in 2011

As we begin each year, getting back to basics and revisiting our goals is an effective way to clarify our vision and set the stage for success. As with everything in life, the foundation for doing so is having a positive and optimistic outlook to moving forward. During difficult times, it can be easy to lose focus and be distracted by the obstacles that get in our way. It takes a lot of resilience to stay true to ourselves and face the challenges head on. Organizations strive to attract the right mix of talent, develop them and keep them engaged to fulfill their business goals and objectives. Leadership can and should be developed at all levels of a company. Each individual can have a plan that empowers themselves to initiate their development and take charge of their career - follow these five strategies.....

Is Your CFO REALLY a Chief Financial Officer

No offense to all those dedicated, competent, excellent performing CFO’s out there but I have to admit that I run into a number of individuals in business that hold the respectable title of CFO (Chief Financial Officer) that shouldn’t be the Chief of anything. Oh, some of these CFO impersonators do a good job as an accountant and some may even qualify as a Controller. But, there are some that just shouldn’t hold the title of Chief Financial Officer. “The chief financial officer (CFO) is a corporate officer primarily responsible for managing the financial risks of the corporation. This officer is also responsible for financial planning and record-keeping, as well as financial reporting to higher management. The CFO is also responsible for analysis of data”. So…… ask yourself; is your CFO really a Chief Financial Officer.

Don't Drive in the Dark

We recently utilized our airpower against Libya arguably by numerous people from both side of the aisle without an End Game. To me, that is like driving in the dark. At that point we have no idea of the outcome. Without lights, euphuism for an End Game, the odds are not in our favor. You don’t get up in the morning and get in your car without knowing exactly what your destination is. That is what an End Game is all about; what exactly is your destination. You can’t run a company effectively, maximizing all opportunity without creating a long term plan. And, there is no such thing as a long term plan that will work without a defined End Game. The Libya situation reminds me of what I often see in companies every day. It’s either a lack of serious long term planning or the lack of a defined End Game.

Demonstrating Leadership when Handling a Disgruntled Employee
"Are you kidding me?" ---- "I can't believe you are doing this to me!" -----"This just isn't fair" Have you ever heard those words or similar words from an employee? Have you ever had to handle a situation where an employee is so upset they become very emotional? If you haven't and you are in management, you will. It's just a matter of time.

PRICE OF LEADERSHIP

We all know that the world is starving for individuals who are prepared to step up and lead us. Men and women who are capable of rising above the mediocrity and narrow mindedness that seems so pervasive in the world, men and women who possess the strength of character, the vision, charisma, passion and energy to take us all to a better place. Much has been written and will be written still about leadership; what it is, where to find it, who can lead, even how to grow it. But you do not often read about or even witness the incredible cost that leaders often have to pay for their willingness to lead.

CANADA IS A COUNTRY OF MEDIOCRITY

Having been closely watching the American presidential race with a great deal of interest, and have to say being fascinated even enthralled by a number of the speeches, I recalled having read an article in the newspaper last year quoting a study or report that concluded Canada was a “country of mediocrity.” It stated that we are not particularly innovative, creative or willing to step up and take risks to move our society forward and become more of a leader in the world. Just what is really being talked about here?

Believe in Your Product

Selling is only a transfer of belief; it’s simply helping others believe the same way you believe about a product or service.To sell anything, you have got to be sold on it yourself. If you don’t believe in your products and services, how can you convince others? In this article Billy Box gives specific steps to help you get rid os self limiting beliefs and replace them with positive uplifting beliefs.

What makes Third Generation Leadership “different”?

The Canadian singer-song writer, Leonard Cohen, has a song “Everybody Knows”. In this Cohen is pointing out everybody knows what is going on – especially when things aren’t working – but no-one is prepared to do anything about it. We continue doing the same things – possibly with some “tweaking” but basically still the same – and wonder why there is no real improvement. The issues of leadership and employee engagement are no different.

How Great Leaders and Their Companies Get Results Every Time
If an organization cannot effectively execute, nothing else matters. Despite the importance of execution to business success, OnPoint Consulting’s Annual Pulse Survey found that 37% of leaders believe there is a gap between their organization’s ability to develop a strategy and its ability to execute that strategy. And, even more surprising, 62% lack confidence that the gap can be closed.

Keys to Leadership that Breed Success - Every Time
In order to lead effectively. You must understand the needs of those you are leading. This will qualify or crush your efforts every time, almost immediately. See how to develop this skill in this breakthrough article

Are You Leading a TOP Team?
As a leader you are only as good as the team you lead. A TOP Team is a team performing at: “Team Optimal Performance”. Find out how to become a TOP Team and take the Leadership and Team Reality Check Up.

Be Coached to Coach

It is lonely at the top unless we have an executive coach to share the struggles and challenges we face as leaders. Gone are the days of the lonely executive with none among them to trust and confide the challenges and insecurities that exist in us all. In today's medicated, Prozac era, more and more business leaders are finding (and sometimes being required to utilize) great success from the services of a business or executive coach. Past perceptions of the word "coaching" and the negative stigma associated with a last chance effort to save a faltering manager are fading fast. Today's high-speed and information intoxicated business climate screams for more and more business coaches to listen to and offer advice for an overloaded, oversaturated and often overwhelmed executive.

What Is A 360 Employee Performance Review

"A 360 is where a person gets feedback on their performance from their peers, their subordinates, their boss and in some cases even suppliers and clients. That's why it is called 360 – you get feedback from all around you." A 360 is a very intense tool and not to be messed with. I have seen it create miraculous shifts in previously stuck managers and I have seen it plunge people into a major stress crisis. I have even seen people totally ignore what all the facts are telling them and stay on their track. It is only a tool for a mature organisation willing to take it seriously and implement it correctly.

The Three Conversations of Leadership: Management Leadership Training
The Three Conversations of Leadership: Management Leadership Training. Please visit www.ihhp.com for more information.

Looking In All the 'Right' Places
What do you need to strengthen your leadership? Are you looking in all the expected places? What aren't you thinking of?

Ethical Transformation of a Leader

Ethical Transformation of a Leader explains the ethical standards necessary for leadership transformation to take place. This process opens leaders to intrinsic transformation through interactive experience, which often entails personal sacrifices. It is the leader’s responsibility to create a culture in which people are treated properly and where an open-door policy is not an empty phrase but a reality. Therefore, if a leader oversees fundamental principles, such as fair play and honesty, success will follow.

What Can Be Changed In Management To Improve Bottom Line Results
It is easy to pass blame down the line when things don't go right and profits suffer, and often blame is passed up the line to upper management where the buck stops. The truth is middle management is every bit as responsible.

Managing the Manager
While the shareholders are watching the CEO who is trying to keep an eye on everything and is focused on the forrest rather than the individual trees, and management is focused on the employees at shop floor level... who is keeping an eye on the managers?

The Work Yourself Happy System
Businesses who mistakenly believe they no longer have to put in an effort to keep their existing employees happy because they should be grateful just to have a job are businesses who will be spending a lot of money recruiting new staff to replace disgruntled employees. Even in tough times, people have their limits and will always be looking for greener pastures.

Combating the Effects of War
Employees with family fighting overseas are the hidden quantity of employees for whom usual morale boosting techniques might not be enough.

Strategic Thinking for Leaders

The business environment today is constantly in flux and on the edge of volatility. No longer can business simply be the best at making a widget without also considering how to best transfer widgets to market before the competition. Superiority in the widget market is backed by an organizations ability to think and act strategically. This article explains the concepts of strategic thinking and planning and provides some practical competencies needed to develop the skills of strategic thinking.

If You Don't Know, Ask...Then Ask Again
First impressions...how quickly do you make them, hold onto them and judge everything by them? Making a judgment based on first impressions won't serve you. Paying attention to how and why you make those judgments will. Should you judge a book by its cover?

Goal Setting for Students
No matter your age, goal accomplishment is a life long process. Goal accomplishment is the backbone of creating hopeful, engaged, and thriving lives. Learn about Rising Stars, a program designed for youth development, in this article.

Own Your Clients' Experiences
Creating memorable, client-focused experiences creates loyalty. Hold yourself accountable for this and make this the focus of everyone in your organization.

Leaders. Read Your Hat!

Some leaders profess one philosophy verbally but behave in ways inconsistent with that concept. It would be like wearing a "no nukes" baseball cap to a ground breaking ceremony for a nuclear power plant. That sounds like a stupid example because no executive would be shallow enough to do that. Well, many leaders come painfully close to that kind of hypocrisy. This article describes the problem and offers a solution.

The Top 5 Lies about power...
Is power good or evil? Does power inevitably lead to corruption? If power is so bad, why can't we do a damn thing without it? Power is no more or less than your ability or capacity to act or perform effectively. You determine whether you'll apply your effectiveness for good or bad, for cultivation or destruction...to control others or to create authentic personal and professional success!

Leadership: The power of compassion & respect
Nearly every time I speak I ask for a definition of the word "respect." Nearly every time I ask that question whether it's for a group of middle school students or a conference for executives I hear some very consistent responses.

Wanting
Summary It is not things that are going to make us happy but our willingness to grow as a human being and share that growth with others. In this way we will make our small mark on the world. Grow through your reading, writing and listening.

LEADERS ARE COMMITTED TO THEIR PEOPLE
Leadership is a servant's role. Success is obtained through committing yourself to the success of those you lead. Change your attitude in this area, and you will positively impact every objective necessary to succeed.

When Should You NOT Start a Business
There are many entrepreneurs out there. Sometimes, a person can get too excited and plan to start a business when they shouldn’t. If you want to start a business to get rich quick, looking to work only a few hours per week or someone said you should, then here are five reasons why you should not give up your day job yet.

Contain The Complainers!

Great leaders don't assume that they know all the answers or what the future will hold. They don't want to miss out on the next big thing and their culture tolerates, and even rewards, complaints. Keith R. McFarland writes in his book, "The Breakthrough Company", that one of the characteristics of the $250M rapid growth companies he examined is that the leadership was very tolerant of dissenters and even let people pursue ideas for new business even when they thought they were wrong.

Zero Tolerance Means Zero Leadership

We have all heard the horror stories regarding zero tolerance policies in the past. Stories about a teenager being expelled for having a Tylenol in her purse or a five year old removed from the classroom for bringing a toy gun to school are recent examples that have generated buzz in the press. Most of us laugh at the ridiculousness of such examples and consider them to be the exception rather than the rule for today's society. Why do such policies exist and what purpose do these extreme measures provide the organization? Do such extreme positions provide any benefit? How does such a policy reflect on the leadership within these organizations? And finally, what might be the cost for an organization that must act upon the violation of such a policy?

7 Reasons Bully Managers Last

A leadership student asked me why bully managers are able to remain in power. Their destructive impact is well known, yet many of them are allowed to abuse people for years. It seems logical there should be some force to either change the behaviors or remove them from power. Often this is not the case. This article describes 7 reasons why bully managers last and gives some antidotes to the problem.

Ways to Manage Low Morale in the Workforce
Sometimes the methods organizations can use to boost staff morale don't have to be expensive... sometimes a smile and kindness works wonders, and other times counseling.

Create Leaders for Business Sustainability
Is your business not growing as quickly as you like? The answer may lie in your leadership. Leadership in sustainable organizations is about results. Here is a commonsense approach to developing organizations.

Leaders Aren't Leaders Based on Their 'Say So'
Can you be a leader independent of organizational performance? One can be a success in one organization and a bomb in the next. What is the determining factor?

The Importance of Character
Character is what is deep inside us; it's who we are on a daily basis, when things go well and when things go wrong. It's who we are when no one is looking. 5 tips to help you display character in your leadership.

The Avoidable Bane of Incompetency

"A surprisingly large number of people claim to have worked for a manager who was clearly incompetent. Some people even believe, that in certain sectors, the incompetent outnumber the competent. This book looks at when, why and how managers become incompetent and what to do about it. It does so with both science and humour by reviewing what we know about competences, about personality theory and about various salient psychiatric disorders."

Unleashing Power and Potential
“Who have you influenced to unleash their power and potential, helping them evolve into their level of excellence?” Is it something you consciously think of every day when interacting with staff or identifying ‘rising stars’?"

Anatomy of a Success Strategy
Your success strategy is not simply what you do. It’s at the source of what you do. It’s an expression of who you’re ultimately being as a person and a leader. The purpose of this exercise is to identify who you’re already being. From there you can you move beyond the limits of it.

Lessons in Leadership: What NOT to do...from a Canoe!
Eileen shares the wonderful lessons on how leaders can unknowingly screw up that she learned from her husband during a canoe trip on the Boundary Waters in Northern Minnesota.

Wanted: A Dictionary-Perfect Leader
Eileen McDargh uses the American Heritage Dictionary definitions for the word "leader" to discover performance standards for leadership in any type of organization no matter what size or industry.

Psychology and Leadership: What Does Your Style Say about You?
According to the Perceptual Styles Theory, there are six different psychological styles that have everything to do with who we are and the way we see the world. Traditional notions of leadership only encompass two of these- but every psychological style has a unique approach to leadership. Here, we’ll examine the first two attributes of effective leaders, across the board.

Leadership Responsibility
The degree to which you lead your organization or team to success lies in your hands. Your ability to lead both yourself and others will enhance the quality of your work as well as your life. The quality of your leadership not only determines your future, it determines the future of your organization and the lives of all those who follow you.

Four Steps to Direct Communication
An article of 1075 words focusing on the four steps needed for developing your communication muscles.

Focus On Results Not Personalities
An article of 1053 words focusing on how to get people to work together and be productive, to respect one another regardless of whether they like one another, and to communicate in a supportive and positive manner.

What Attracts More - Selling or Helping?
It’s been said that people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care, and it’s true. The interesting consequence is that when you take your focus off of selling and place it on helping, you’ll attract more clients, generate more referrals, and sell more insurance.

Leadership – Is Everyone Trainable?
Can anybody be trained (or perhaps better phrased, can anyone learn) to become a leader? Who's trainable and who's not?

Is Supervision Part of Leadership?
Do employees really need to be supervised? Most employees prefer to be led. They want leaders supporting them not supervisors prodding them. However there is an appropriate time and place for leaders to exercise their supervisory responsibilities

CEO's are Becoming More Sustainable

CEO's taking on sustainable leadership and thinking will pierce the green ceiling opening the door tho innovation in the new economy that will produce sustainable organizations, energy efficiency, environmentally awareness, reduce waste, optimize capital (human, intellectual and economic)and optimize resources to produce value and a greater return on investment for companies and their supply chain.

Lack of Confidence Causes the Costly “Avoid & Tolerate” Leadership Style
Avoid and Tolerate leadership stems from a lack of confidence in one's ability to lead and communicate effectively. What do companies need to do to create stronger, more confident leaders?

How To Get Change Management on the Project Management Agenda
Change is successful when it is seamlessly integrated into the way the organisation operates... the essential ingredient for any successful change program is management and leadership commitment to the proposed strategy.

How Do Successful Entrepreneurs Become Successful?

Brian Tracy is a personal development coach; his talks and seminar topics include leadership, sales, managerial effectiveness and business strategy. In short, he helps people become successful. He said that the most successful entrepreneurs have a flight plan, and in a moment, I’ll describe what it looks like. In MindValley, we look at things differently and we have a different attitude for failure. Although not everything we do works, when we do something and it turns out a disaster, we don’t put shame on it. We celebrate it and say ‘thank you’ because we’ve learned how NOT to do it, and we’re going to change course. I hope you find Brian Tracy’s words as instructive and motivating as I did.

Meeting Reality Checker
Have you been in meeting hell lately? Meetings really can be the best use of time if handled wisely. What is that exactly? The do's and don'ts of holding and attending meetings.

LEADERSHIP REQUIRES EXCELLENCE, NOT PERFECTION

In your personal and professional life, this message should serve as a cornerstone to your core values. The tendency of most who are striving for a goal is the belief that perfection must line the pathway in order to embrace success. In reality, the opposite is true. Goal setting is a path lined with challenges. If you do not expect to encounter these along your way, then you need to seriously evaluate the value of the goal being pursued. While worthwhile goals are always met with challenges, it's the challenges that make the goals worthwhile.

What Turns The Young Entrepreneur Into A Leader?
Growing up, I could be described as very sensitive and at times even shy and introverted. I always thought that leaders were very loud, extroverted, had great senses of humor and that they had to be very arrogant.

Habits: Good or Bad, they drive current performance

It is what people do and how they do it that creates the current state of an organization, especially those in leadership and management positions. If one does not question both what and how we do things, we will continue to do them the same way.Here are the steps to changing a habit or creating a new one. These same steps are related to learning a new task as well, and can be applied to developing a new way of thinking or attitude as well as to a physical action or behaviour. All new learning or change must go through this process.

Slow Down to the Speed of Caring
Mindful Leadership is at the core of an engaged workforce

Perceptual Style, Psychology, and Leadership
According to the Perceptual Styles Theory, there are six different psychological styles that have everything to do with who we are and the way we see the world. Traditional notions of leadership only encompass two of these-but every psychological style has a unique approach to leadership. In this article, we’ll examine three attributes of effective leaders, across the board.

Are We There Yet?
Successful business executive’s possess a vision for their organization’s developmental journey. They are tuned into the business strategy and know what milestones they expect to see; holding predictions related to how long each should likely take to be reached. But what if the top executive’s vision for the journey was more widely disseminated and fully understood?

The Rise and Rise of Difference Makers
Difference makers are bobbing up everywhere, everyday. They are famous people, and non famous people, just like you and me. To me at least, it seems, that difference makers are making themselves known at an ever increasing rate.

Barrier to Growth Is Change Stressing You Out by W Vito Montone

Change is on my mind. It is everywhere inside our own businesses. I mean EVERYWHERE. I recently remembered that I want it that way. But... there are definitely times that I forget. How do I forget you ask? Simply, I let stress slip in. But that’s not change’s fault. Somehow change has acquired a bad rep. We try to keep things calm, even, familiar...stress-free that’s the ticket. It’s all change’s fault. Right?

Back down to Earth after the boss returns

The scenario: Your immediate supervisor is returning to the job after an extended leave. It means you will no longer be the acting department head and will have to revert to your former second-in-command status. How do you make the adjustment in terms of your ego and desire for responsibilities? Instead of viewing this situation as a step back, view it as a step aside, with potential for two steps forward from there. Keep your professional future in mind by concentrating on the few areas outlined below.

Global Citizenship in the 21st Century
A perspective from a young person about global citizenship and how it will affect leadership at a global level. Having in mind that many entrepreneurs are coming together locally to build global products/businesses, it's important to understand where the world is moving.

THE “SECRET RECIPES” OF LEADERSHIP
How do you display the type of leadership that gets REAL results? How do you avoid the temptations that shipwreck the effectiveness of a leader? This article begins that journey for anyone seeking a position of authority in their professional and personal lives.

Do You Want to Train Your People or Do You Want to Fix the Problem?
Training is not a panacea for all the ills of an organization. Often companies consider training to solve their problems but sometimes it is just a bandaid fix which only lasts as long as the bandaid!

Indirect Communication and How It Undermines Trust in Organizations
One of the most destructive communication sins when it comes to matters of trust within an organization is "indirect communication". Do you know what that is and how to deal with it?

A healthy organisation
Providing cash flow is positive, there are key areas that will determine whether or not an organisation is healthy. Answering these questions will highlight possible “ouch” points that need to be addressed.

Leadership Branding (Redux)
Since you began your small business, franchisee, or investment how focused have you been on your unique brand of leadership – be it, direct or indirect approaches? To lead others around you is to express and assert your influence. Influence is about applying your ability to persuade via facts or education.

The Relevance & Reality of Education

We cannot deny that education is important and useful. A good education is critical for navigating through today’s, often times, confusing world. A better quality education may spell the difference between more opportunities and missed opportunities. Education arms us with the knowledge and know-how, married with the know-who we will build and develop. Education helps eradicate ignorance, and the prejudices and discrimination that it breeds.

Leaders Are Fairly Outnumbered!
There are more managers and supervisors out there than leaders. And, there are even less practising leaders out of this smaller group. A formal title of ‘Team Leader’ or ‘Manager’ needs to be backed up by behaviors that demonstrate your competency, clarity, confidence, credibility and commitment as a leader (the 5 ‘C’s). It takes a lot to live up to the ‘L’ word.

Psychology and Leadership: Flow and Goals
According to the Perceptual Styles Theory, there are six different psychological styles that have everything to do with who we are and the way we see the world. While traditional notions of leadership encompass only a few of those styles, each of them possesses a unique set of leadership qualities. In this article, we examine the leadership qualities associated with the Flow and Goals styles.

3 Steps to Act Like a Successful Director at Work
Sylvia Lafair explains how good leadership skills make one of the best directors of all time successful at claiming Academy Awards/OSCARs time and time again.

The Toxic Manager

Most managers are not comfortable with a simple truism that the current condition of any organization is direct reflection of leadership. In other words, managers are accountable for the current success or failure of the team. This epiphany is a rude awakening for some and a sad reality for others. The challenge faced by most aspiring leaders is the brutal accountability that accompanies autonomy. In other words, team performance is directly related to "who" is on the team and "how" they are managed. The wrong people certainly influence performance and this quantification of talent is the primary measure of success and failure.

To Grow Your Business, Surround Yourself with Experts: Charles Schwab
Throughout Charles Schwabl’s career he has always pulled together people with very, very different skills and a wide variety of backgrounds to compensate for his deficiencies. I asked him to share his strategy regarding the kind of people that he, as a leader, brings around him.

The Wiggler, The Stickler, and The Hermit

Understanding the tendencies of managers can be very entertaining and humorous. Learning to identify the common challenges faced by many managers can enlighten us to the point that we improve our own performance. Labels can help us identify both the success and failure we all experience when assuming a leadership position within an organization. As you read this, I encourage you to examine these labels for both intrinsic and extrinsic value. In other words, do you sometimes exhibit behavior that can be indentified with each label? Have you worked with others that fit these descriptions?

Managing Change in Organizations: Lessons from the Best
IBM's Making Change Work Study survey draws some very powerful lessons on how best to bring about successful change in your organization.

Why Providing Content Should Be Your FIRST Priority – Not Starting Conversations!
Conversations create a deviation from your targeted audiences' business needs – and it doesn't give you the business relationship you need to get more clients and sales.

What have I learned in 6 months of management? Part 1
I asked one of the managers I was coaching what he learned in six months of re-focusing on management skills. Each response deserves its own soundbite, because they all incorporate skills managers should use to avoid traps and pitfalls.

What have I learned in 6 months of management? Part 2
I asked one of the managers I was coaching what he learned in six months of re-focusing on management skills. Each response deserves its own soundbite, because they all incorporate skills managers should use to avoid traps and pitfalls.

What have I learned in 6 months of management? Part 3
I asked one of the managers I was coaching what he learned in six months of re-focusing on management skills. Each response deserves its own soundbite, because they all incorporate skills managers should use to avoid traps and pitfalls.

What have I learned in 6 months of management? Part 4
I asked one of the managers I was coaching what he learned in six months of re-focusing on management skills. Each response deserves its own soundbite, because they all incorporate skills managers should use to avoid traps and pitfalls.

The loud woman at Starbucks
Do you find any of your employees irritating?

Managing techies
Do you need to come from a technical background to manage technical people?

Motivation with consequences
How do you motivate someone to do something they don’t want to do?

Jumping to Conclusions
As managers and leaders, how do we put aside our beliefs and experiences when we’re listening?

Great Leaders Master \"The 3 Levels of High-Performance Leadership Communication\"
Level 3 Leadership Communication is about connecting with the individuals on a team so that the leader understands what uniquely motivates each. Discover what Level 3 entails and what the major roadblock to its successful implementation is.

Customer Service - again
Great customer service ought to be the norm - but all too often it is the exception. In this article Doug Long uses two recent Australian experiences to discuss the issue of customer service.

Are You Trying To Make Pigs Fly (or Expecting Employees to Do Things They’re Not Cut Out to Do)?
Do you employees fail to live up to your expectations? Are they aware of your expectations? Or are you trying to make pigs fly?

Psychology and Leadership: Vision and Adjustments
According to the Perceptual Styles Theory, there are six different psychological styles that play a major role in who we are and how we see the world. While most traditional notions of leadership encompass only a few of those styles, each possesses a unique set of leadership qualities. Here, we examine the leadership qualities associated with the Vision and Adjustments styles.

Leadership fails without management
Could you achieve better harmony between your leadership and your management? We all lead and manage. It is a matter mostly of getting the harmony between the two right for us.

How Are Your Followership Skills?
Organizations are spending massive amounts of money developing leaders and almost nothing to develop the followers. Being a good follower is tough-probably tougher than being a leader.

Engage my emotions and I'll follow your lead
Creating engagement and change in people requires the ability to tap into their emotions, rather than presenting facts and figures. This article explains why this is an essential skill for todays leaders and how they can go about it.

A New Kind of Resolution for Uncertain Times

“The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.” (Albert Einstein) At this time of economic crisis, there is a tremendous pull towards making decisions built on a model of data analysis and information gathering. We are, after all, in the Information Age … that period of our history in which there's been a global focus on the manipulation of information. Despite our intelligence and despite the wealth of information available, we seem to have hit a wall on the information highway. Something’s not working. In fact, it sometimes seems that nothing is working.

Your Internal Board of Directors ... Part II: Red Flags, Green Lights and Wisdom
If you are not paying attention to your gut, a built-in resource, you are ignoring a wise member of your Internal Board of Directors. To do so can be at great peril to yourself and/or your business.

How to Be a Better Leader: Lessons from a Puppy

Learning about puppy training has taught us more about leadership and how to be a better leader. Here are but a few lessons. Leaders lead by example and earn true loyalty. You can influence behaviors through proper rewards, sometimes you can inadvertently create unwanted behaviors. Give constructive feedback, not criticism. Help your employees learn how to do things properly. Every leader needs good followers. Understand what your team needs to do their job and train the next crop of leaders to be successful.

Martial Arts, From a Relevant Perspective

While it is possible to open a dojo with some punching bags, hand targets, a few jump-ropes and seedy business sense, martial arts is an ancient practice which, in the right hands, can offer a whole lot more to a student. Read on to see how we have not only accomplished a program which can train world champions in martial arts, but have also achieved a complete, holistic experience which can improve your understanding of health, fitness and mental strength.

Being All That We Can See

There is no objective reality. We don't see the world as it is, we see the world as we are. Sean was filling out a university questionnaire to help determine roommate compatibility. Beside the questions, "Do you make your bed every day?" and "Do you consider yourself a neat person?" he checked "Yes." Later his mother reviewed the questionnaire. Knowing those answers were far from the truth, she asked Sean why he'd lied. "What do you expect me to do," he retorted. "I don't want to get stuck living with some slob!"

Assessing Our Ability to Influence Others

In our personal and leadership development workshops we often conduct a 'degrees of control' exercise. We ask participants to come up with examples in the following areas: 1. Direct Control; 2. Influence; and 3. No Control. While there's often lots of debate and not always full agreement, examples under No Control generally include things like the weather, the economy, natural disasters, freak accidents, and the like. Discussions about my degree of Direct Control usually boil down to just one thing - me. However, some autocratic people fool themselves into thinking they have direct control over their teams, kids, or people reporting to them. Many other people are quick to surrender to the Victimitis Virus and declare they have no control or even influence over the behavior of anyone else.

A Tale of Two Managers: Command versus Commitment

Joel views himself as a "realist." As a manager, he has little time or patience for, as he puts it, "making nicey-nicey." Coming from a deep technical background, he hates meetings ("they get in the way of real work") and resents having to sell changes or get people on board. "I don't care if they like me," he's fond of saying, "I only want their respect and compliance." He likes nothing better than solving tough technical problems with practical, well-designed solutions. He runs his organization "by the numbers." He focuses on continuously improving existing processes and technologies. He sets high targets and relentlessly drives everyone to meet them.

Key card electricity control
It works like a charm in Europe - what's holding America back?

Memorable Advice
10 pieces of advice to consider.

Is the Organization Managed or Led?©
There is a lot of confusion in management circles these days about leadership. Most managers assume they are also leaders. However, that is definitely not the true. Here is why knowing the difference is critical for every organization.

Why Problem Solving Doesn't Work in the New Era
When you focus on a problem you can actually get...more of the problem! As we enter into a new era of how to create successful businesses its time to upgrade our skill sets. Discover how you can shift out of a problem by using a new strategy.

The Leaders Role in Innovation
Ninety-eight percent of business leaders believe that innovation is important but less than thirty percent take an active involvement in making it happen! What do business leaders need to do?

Double Your Profits and Your Productivity With The Right People
What is the no. 1 asset in your business beside yourself? It's your people. Then why is it they often fall to the bottom of the list when it comes to doing anything to help them improve their performance and look after them? If you want your business to run more effectively and/or make more money then you must invest time and energy into your no. 1 asset otherwise you will eventually lose them.

You Get What You Reward
More often than not an organization says one thing in its literature, on nicely formatted signs in hallways and conference rooms, but unfortunately does not practice what it preaches. As your organization decides what it wants its culture to be, look closely at what it will reward. Remember…You get what you reward.

Do You Pass The Leadership Test?
The quality of performance in any organization is a direct reflection of the quality of leadership. The quality of morale, loyalty, retention, relationships, and business performance is directly related to how individual team members respond to the following questions:

RETHINKING THE ORGANIZATION OF THE FUTURE

The future lies in creating and inventing tomorrow. This can mean inventing new and exciting markets, products, services and methods…and an organizational culture capable and driven to take advantage of opportunities as they appear. These new organizations must become acutely sensitive as to who they are, what they are all about, what their culture is and then work hard to adapt to a new flow of ideas.

Here Is A Quick Way For New Managers To Turn Around Negative Attitudes
All organizations have negative staff and as a manager you will have to deal with them. Here are the steps you can take to turn that negativity around...

Aggressive Recruiting And Retention
Recruiting and retention are one of the major concerns of organizations of all types and size. It will take new ways and much more aggressive action to hire and retain the talent required to be remain competitive in today's environment.

Leadership and Employee Recognition
Whether you are the head of a large organization or the leader of a small team, you have a critical role in employee recognition. If you were thinking that recognition was someone else's responsibility, you need to read this article.

How to Raise Your Planning IQ

Many brilliant strategies founder in the execution. However, there is an effective way to maximize the chances of success in implementing strategy by raising your "planning IQ." Whenever there is a need to implement a new strategy or intent, or even if confronted with a novel situation, it is always best to take some time to conduct a planning assessment. This can be done deliberately or hastily, formally or informally, individually or by a team. The important thing is to have a method that ensures you are considering all the likely scenarios and courses of action to achieve your goals. The following steps provide a template that can be applied to just about any situation and that ensures your plans will be well considered.

Are you a Mega Manager?
Managing a team in today's environment means more than telling your team what to do! I believe that there are managers out there who already know this and exhibit a leadership ethic that promotes a healthy and happy team. Obviously there are different ways to "manage", finding your comfort zone is crucial, but you are not able to do that unless you truly know "yourself".

Downsizing Mistakes
When organizations need to downsize, it is not a fun time for anyone. There are so many ways to do it poorly, and they detract from critical objectives. While there is no magic wand to make downsizing activities happy times, I believe the behavior of higher transparency is one best practice that should be used more often.

No Trust = No Leader
How to earn trust as a leader and boost your team’s performance

Crossing Your Street Of Success

Regardless of what we read about in periodicals or hear on TV, none of us really know where our economy is going. While I have studied economics and on occasion have made some sound economic predictions, I am not an economist. Therefore, I cannot, nor am I going to, predict when we will see an upturn. I will, however, go way out on a limb and predict we will see some form of an upturn soon, followed by what could be many years of peaks and valleys.

Three Habits Of Successful People I Know
Lately, I’ve met and heard from a lot of people that are really excited about rebounding their business and personal lives in 2011. I honestly don’t recall seeing this much enthusiasm in awhile. I think I’ve got goose-bumps!

Are YOU Walking The Talk?

When you create vision and mission statements for your company you are communicating to your customers, vendors, prospects, employees, and the entire outside world. When we create these visions and missions, we are creating value statements, and as an owner or manager you have to deliver, with those values, results! I like to call that “Walking the Talk”. There is no doubt that companies that consistently “Walk their Talk” do better than those that don’t.

More To Walking The Talk

When you and your team are committed to your mission daily through the right activities and you keep your vision in view, “walking the talk” should be a piece of cake, right? It’s really not that easy. Last week, we discussed five characteristics I believe a company must exhibit to follow through on what it says it’s going to do. Today, I’d like to add a few more ways you can ensure you and your company is “walking the talk.”

Get In The "Effectiveness" Groove
As a leader, it’s important to have a well-organized and disciplined approach to your work and your personal life. Taking time to organize and prioritize at work and at home will help ensure you have the energy and focus you need to lead effectively.

A Perfect Next Career for Recent Retirees and Seasoned Businesspeople
This article discusses the reasons why business coaching and consulting are an ideal career for retired businesspeople and seasoned executives in transition.

Time For Your Check-Up!

If you care about your health, most likely you see your physician for a check-up, at least once per year. As your coach (well, at least through my writings), I’d like to complete a goal check-up with you today. If you are like most business owners, you set some sort of 2011 goals for your business, either in late 2010 or in January of 2011. Unfortunately, if you are like most, you also haven’t paid attention to those goals much.

Fire-Up Your Employees

Do your employees need a boost of energy? Are they lacking motivation or inspiration? Could they use some fire underneath them? Sometimes motivational words just won’t cut it. Employees are looking for much more. Investing in the good ones can go a long way, today and in the future. If you can truly energize employees, they will drink the company kool-aid and your bottom line will be better off for it.

Reap Rewards with the Right Reputation

We’ve all heard the old cliche, “Under-Promise and Over-Deliver”. It’s easier said than done, isn’t it? Today, in these challenging economic times, many people tend to promise prospective customers more so they perceive the value as better than what a competitor can offer. Those same people also enjoy over-promising to make themselves feel more valued. Do they not think these actions will come back to haunt them? The overall point I’d like to make today is that we cannot build a reputation for ourselves or our company by what we say we can do. We build good reputations by delivering what our customers need.

Recruit and Hire the Right People for Success

Your people are, without a doubt, your greatest asset. As Jim Collins so eloquently put it in his book, titled Good to Great….”To be successful you have to get the right people on the bus with you”….and as I like to say, you need to be the person with the steering wheel in your hands.Most small businesses get in the habit of hiring people when they need them TOMORROW, rather than recruiting people all the time and having a pool of ready to go prospects...

Leading Through Challenges
Today, we are facing many challenges in our business and personal lives. As leaders, these challenges come at us constantly and to be effective we must ensure we are “doing the right things” to lead through them. Sometimes challenges come at us, like a storm that comes from nowhere on a summer evening, and you’re in the middle of a lake (not that it’s ever happened to me).

The Business Coaching Perspective

Often I am asked general questions around coaching, so I thought I would be a good idea to commit a few columns to some general education about Business & Life coaching, from my perspective. As you may remember from some of my prior columns, I define marketing as “the constant education of your target audience.” I remind you of this, so you understand that I am not deliberately marketing to you through this educational piece.

What Coaching Is
Last week I introduced you to coaching and started to outline for you what coaches do and how coaching works. I explained that coaching is an intangible service, that it’s future driven, how important the relationship is between a coach and client, why passion is required from both of them, and how educational coaching can be. Today, I am going to continue with more of what coaching is:

What Coaching Isn't

I hope over the past two weeks you’ve gotten a good idea of what Business & Life Coaching is. I know I’ve sparked some new interest, as several readers have called and/or emailed me. Thank you for your interest. Marketing is all about education and I believe education is something we all must be getting constantly. Think about that and your business. Today, I would like to share with you what I believe coaching isn’t. I know what you’re thinking right now. You’re thinking, why would he have to write about this, isn’t it just the opposite of what coaching is? While some of that may be true, let’s look at what coaching truly isn’t:

Are You Ready For Coaching
If and when you are considering whether or not to hire a coach, you are actually deciding if you are ready to embark on a grand adventure. Coaching is not for everyone and even highly coachable people have times in their lives when coaching may not be what they really want or need. Here are a few important questions I ask prospective clients to ask themselves before making a decision:

Get The Most Out Of Coaching
The past four weeks, I have outlined for readers what I believe Business & Life Coaching is and isn’t, and also challenged you by asking if you’re ready for coaching. Today, we complete this series by assuming you are ready. So, here we go!

Networking 101: Are You Networking Smart?

I’ve always enjoyed and borrowed the phrase, “If you’re not planning, you’re planning to fail.” In regards to business, I like to say, “If you’re not networking smart, your networking is a waste.” Today, I’m sharing with you, free of charge, some of what we teach in our SMART NETWORKING Module. These are absolute networking MUSTS for anyone serious about meeting the right people...

Market Strategy Essential Today!

The great Thomas Jefferson once said, “The man who stops advertising to save money is like the man who stops the clock to save time.” My twist on that is, “The business owner, sales professional, self-employed professional, salesperson, etc, that stops marketing is a person guaranteed to fail. I have found the biggest failures around marketing are due to the general misconceptions around what marketing really is. The truth is, there is a big difference between advertising and marketing. In our Sales to Marketing Bootcamp, we clearly define and separate the two.

Three “A’s” to Total Success

While personally I don’t see our economy changing much at all this year, any of you who read my column on a regular basis know how I feel about the economy helping us with our business lives. If you wait for the economy to help your business, chances are your business won’t be around; if and when the economy rebounds. So what can and should you do? Adopting these three habits will get you off to a strong start toward changing your business and your life:

Leadership Styles - the Ten Top Qualities the Best Leaders Show
Leadership Styles vary enormously, but there is one overriding quality that is vital in all top leaders... "The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves" Ray Kroc - founder of McDonalds There are many sorts of Leadership Styles out there, some of them are brilliant, some less so! Here are the best traits of the best of them:-

Easy Team Building Tactics - Making The Most Of More Of Your People
Unexpected recognition for a job well done is very, very validating for your people. It's how you do it that counts...

Recruitment Standards You Must Have To Build Your Business
Recruitment standards are a critical component of assembling a strong management team to fit your company's needs. Maintaining recruitment standards ensures you are getting qualified people, who fit well into the mechanics of your business. Why is this important and anyway, what can you do about it? Read on...

Management Fundamentals - Gordon Ramsay and Kitchen Nightmares
Ever wondered what was wrong with your business and how you can sort it out. It's great to have a second pair of eyes run over it and tell you what needs to change. Here's a guy who does just that...

Set a Standard of High Expectations With Accountability
In everyday life a person should always set high goals for themselves to accomplish. The same thing should happen in business too. When in leadership, set high expectations for your employees so your results are higher as well.

Just Because You Are "Listening" Doesn't Mean Your People Feel "Heard"
Listening is not the same as hearing and paying attention. As a leader you must learn to not only listen but ensure your staff know they have been heard.

Leadership – Let Me Give It To You As Straight As I Can
Five traits to help you become an effective leader

Moving from Mediocre to Magnificent
To stand out amongst the plethora of businesses that exist, you have to be strategic. It's just not ok to be good, you need to be great. This article will help you step into your greatness.

4 Killer Tips for Building Effective Teams
People in every workplace talk about building the team, working as a team, and my team, but few understand how to create the experience of team work or how to develop an effective team. This article will help you do exactly that.

Responsibility And Support
This article talks about what it takes to bring people together to work as one when you might be walking into a tense situation.

Make 2012 Your Best Year Ever
It's been a tough year for many of us. This classic work gives specific suggestions to create your own economy. Look for the complete self-guided booklet to download.

Three Secrets to Getting a Promotion
No matter what type of industry you work in, no matter what level of position you currently hold, if you want to move up to a more fulfilling position with more pay and opportunity, there are three things you can do right now to grow your career.

How to avoid the most common mistakes which professionals make in their presentations?
You can avoid the most common mistakes which professionals make when giving presentations if you incorporate these ideas.

Uniqueness Can Add Tremendous Value to You and Your Business
Adding value, from a business standpoint, is supposed to be all about giving more to your customers, putting more into your products, and increasing and/or improving your services. Done properly you would think a well-tooled business should be able to beat the competition, increase market share, and increase profits. But, that is not always the case...

Leadership Insight: The Balanced Leader
Workaholics need not apply. Throughout the late seventies, the Charlie Sheen Wall Street eighties, and even through a good part of the nineties, work ethic was defined as living at work, living work and committing every waking moment to work. To be a boss, you had to commit your life to the organization and outwork your peers and potential competitors for promotion.

Leadership Insight: Recover Your Leadership Mojo

I’ve been there. You’ve been there and there is a high probability that all people in a leadership position have been there sometime during their career. Some people will call it malaise, cruise control, mailing it in or going through the motions. For our purpose, we will call it Mojo Deficiency Syndrome. Whatever label it gets, it is the blocks of time where you just don’t have the passion and desire to move forward and you are content with managing the status quo. Unfortunately, leadership is really not about keeping things the same. It is much more about making it better.

Leadership Insight: Skin in the Game; Are You Interested or Invested

Most often attributed to the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffet, the phrase “skin in the game” probably originated in a California newspaper in the summer of 1912. Regardless of origin, the phase has been quoted millions of times in baseball dugouts, football huddles, board rooms and corporate meeting rooms. One of the more famous recent uses of the phrase came from Barrack Obama prior to his being sworn in as president of the United States. The president-elect was describing the shared sacrifice needed by all Americans to resurrect the economy.

Leadership Insight: Stump the Dummy
A game for the entire organization to play. And many do play it regularly. Stump the Dummy goes something like this: “How are you doing with that Smith file” says a senior level manager to a mid level manager. Or the company president asks a unit executive “where are we at with the remodeling of the meeting rooms?” Or the mayor asks a department head about the pothole on main street.

Leadership Insight: A Culture of Tattling

When we were all five years old, we couldn’t wait to tell on someone. Our job as little kids was to make sure than someone was held accountable for their buffoonery and with a little luck, it made us look good along the way. Unfortunately, that same behavior at age five can become pervasive and very destructive in the modern working environment. Team members telling on each other. Supervisors and leaders that validate the behavior. The creation of a culture of tattling.

Leadership Insight: Drama Queen and Emotion King

I know you know them. You may work with them. They may live in your neighborhood or even your own home. Drama Queen and Emotion King. To Drama Queen (DQ) and Emotion King (EK), every event is worthy of sharing and over sharing. Every small thing that the rest of us brush off and rack up to another day, they turn into a major crisis. As we work to calm others, they work to stir up others. When we try to fix a problem, they tend to make it worse. When they exist in the workplace they offer some significant challenges to leaders.

Leadership Insight: Social Networking for Leaders

Social networking has had a more profound effect on the business community than anyone could have imagined a mere two years ago. News travels quicker on Twitter than on the wires of Associated Press. Personal relationship status changes are known to thousands within the blink of a keystroke. Holiday and birthday greetings over the internet have put Hallmark on the defensive. Millions have been raised for both worthy and shady charities. Images have been enhanced and careers have been ruined on the unfortunate tag of a picture.

Leadership Insight: The Great Turnover Bubble

It may well become the great turnover bubble of 2011. Or maybe 2012. The turnover bubble that is referenced has been created by economic conditions that began largely in 2008 but have been festering ever since. The bubble relates to a great number of people that would like to change jobs but cannot because other jobs are not available. When those jobs become available again, the bubble will burst and we will see a large migration of talent between companies and organizations.

Lead with Values
Living by your values ensures that you are free to be you and that you enjoy yourself.

4 Tips when Choosing a Coach
Starting a coaching process, starts with choosing the right coach for you. When choosing a coach need to look further than is there a click, the coach was referred to me. The intention of this short article is to help you choose the best coach for you.

What are the success habits that make up a great leader?
Election Day has come and gone. The president has been elected, and I would like to share something important with you. We're going to put aside the faults of both major candidates and talk about something more important. Leadership. Have you ever asked yourself “What are the success habits that make up a great leader and what can we learn from them?”

You Only Have Two Choices!
You Have Only Two Choices! Jerry is the manager of a restaurant. He is always in a good mood. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would always reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"

Communication Strategies, Systems, and Skills

Communication is both a symptom and a cause of organization performance problems. Over the years, we've heard hundreds of managers use communication as a vague catchall for every type of organization and team problem imaginable. Generally, the root cause of many "communication problems" was deeper than that. Poorly designed organizations, ineffective processes, bureaucratic systems, unaligned rewards, unclear customer/partner focus, fuzzy visions, values, and purpose, unskilled team leaders and members, cluttered goals and priorities, low trust levels, and weak measurements and feedback loops all cause communication problems. Whenever a manager contacts us to solve a "communication problem," we always know we have some digging to do.

Great Leaders Master \"Level 2 Leadership Communication\" - Motivating the Team as a Team
Learn the 3 T's of Leadership Motivational Communication: what to say, when to say it and how to say it!

Taking The Helm Of Leadership
Casey got his first leadership position because he was one of the best at actually doing his job. Does that mean he is capable of teaching others how to do their jobs? Not at all!

Being True to Me

"Finding my voice" is a phrase often used by artists, writers, musicians, and other creative people to describe the often difficult process of learning from other artists' styles and, from these, developing the style that most truly represents yourself. This applies not just to artists, but to people in just about any walk of life. Each of us learns from what surrounds us - for example, the expectations and value systems of parents, society, institutions, friends, peers, our boss, or our organization. But then we have to ask ourselves whether these things really reflect our own personal values. And if they don't, we need to move beyond them to find what does. This takes a lot of work - and even more courage.

Beyond \"Near-Life Experiences\"

We will all eventually die. The real tragedy is failing to fully live. Too many people are having "near-life experiences." • "How many people work for your company?" "Oh, about half." • "I think you're confusing me with someone who cares." • "The most dangerous place in this organization is at the exit door around quitting time. You'll get trampled." • "Working is like a nightmare. I'd like to get out of it, but I need the sleep." • "I used up all my sick days, so I phoned in dead." • "I've developed a new philosophy, I only dread one day at a time." • "I feel better now that I've given up all hope."

Beyond Manipulating and Motivating to Leading and Inspiring

We've known for decades that money doesn't motivate most people to higher levels of performance. In his seminal 1959 book, The Motivation to Work, Frederick Herzberg identified money as a "hygiene factor." If we feel we're not fairly compensated, lack of money can de-motivate. But once we feel we're treated fairly, the promise of more money doesn't sustain higher energy and mobilize inspired performance.

Blame Management for Poor Service
Buried in the publicity of a nasty airline strike was a vivid example of how misdirected management's service improvement efforts can become. To improve service, the airline ordered all attendants to attend three hour "Commitment to Courtesy" classes without pay. "They told us the reason we were losing money was because we were rude to passengers," said one attendant.

Blazing Our Own Improvement Path
A timeless principle of inside out leadership is continuous personal growth. When U.S. Supreme Court associate justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., was hospitalized at the age of 92, President Roosevelt went to visit him. He found Holmes reading a Greek Primer. "Why are you reading that?" the president asked. The great jurist replied, "Why, Mr. President, to improve my mind."

Blazing Our Own Unique Leadership Path

There are about as many views and definitions of what encompasses "leadership" as there are experts in this field. There is one point that most leadership researchers and developers agree on; leaders are made not born. Leaders are rarely naturals. Certainly some are innately better at some aspects of leadership than others. For example, they may be more verbal or naturally "people-oriented" than their technical or administratively inclined management counterparts. But most highly effectively leaders have invested countless hours and long years in numerous forms of self-development.

Breaking out of Our Mental Prisons

W Mitchell is an outstanding example of someone who refuses to be a victim, despite being victimized - not by just one horrible accident, but two. The first left him burned over 65% of his body, including his face, arms, and hands. A plane crash four years later left him paralyzed from the waist down, sentencing him permanently to a wheelchair. Having overcome these setbacks, Mitchell is a very compelling speaker on taking responsibility for our choices in life - on what it takes to be a leader.

Bridging We-They Gaps

Ask any group of managers if they view themselves as an elite within their organization, and you can be sure they'll deny it. You'll hear comments such as, "I have an open-door policy" and "I take pride in always being accessible and approachable." And in most cases, these managers will really believe what they are saying. What they don't realize, however, are the many invisible barriers - the "glass doors" - they put in place. Management perks and privileges like parking spaces or special offices create separation. Similarly, employees find it hard to get any sense of partnership or collaboration when their bosses hold exclusive meetings or conferences, hang out in management cliques, use condescending or dehumanizing language, or withhold financial statements or other "confidential" information.

Bringing Values to Life

During the 1980s, when I was co-founder and leader of The Achieve Group, we worked with California-based Zenger Miller and Tom Peters to implement a culture-change process based on Peters' and Bob Waterman's book, In Search of Excellence. Adding to, and building upon, the work of their McKinsey & Company colleagues, Terrence Deal and Allan Kennedy, Peters and Waterman showed that the cultures of excellent companies are grounded in core values. The idea of clarifying core values was new for many management teams at the time. We helped hundreds of teams in centering their change-and improvement-effects around their vision, as well as a set of three to five core values that best defined the culture they were trying to reinforce, change, or improve.

Building Passion and Commitment the Wal-Mart Way

In response to the much-asked question "What is Wal-Mart's secret to success?" founder Sam Walton compiled a list of his business principles. Here are some of those which pertain especially to providing the leadership that creates passion and commitment: Commit to your business. Believe in it more than anybody else. I think I overcame every single one of my personal shortcomings by the sheer passion I brought to my work. If you love your work, you'll be out there every day trying to do it the best you possibly can, and pretty soon everybody around will catch the passion from you - like a fever.

Celebration is the Pause that Refreshes
After forty-five years of hard work, the grizzled old rancher decided it was finally time to sell the ranch, retire, and really enjoy the rewards of his toil and sweat. So he called a real estate agent to list the place for sale. The agent spent most of a day with the rancher, riding the range and getting a feel for the ranch he would be selling.

Change Checkpoints and Improvement Milestones
Many paths lead to higher performance. The high performance route is individual and unique for every person, team, and organization. There is no one or best way. What works for me, or anyone else, may not work for you. We can't follow someone else's path. We need to blaze our own trail.

Change is Life

"I hate all this change. Why can't things just stay the same?", Dirk shouted angrily at the TV news anchor. He threw a pillow at the TV screen and clicked it off with a snort. Suddenly a hissing noise arose from the corner of the room and green, shimmering mist filled the air. Dirk stood in shock as a one-foot tall, wrinkled old man emerged from the glowing cloud. The tiny, grizzled fellow had a long flowing white beard and was dressed from head to toe in green. His eyes twinkled with mischief as he flashed a gap-toothed grin. "Hi, I am Mike. I can take you to a place where people don't have to deal with change and things stay the same all the time."

Change Management Can Lead to Rigidity and Resistance to Change

Beware of formal organization improvement or "change management" (an oxymoron) plans. Like strategic plans, organization improvement or change management plans can reduce an organization's effectiveness. They can lead to rigidity, bureaucracy, and resistance to change. This sounds like an argument against planning. It's not. We have found that constant and ongoing personal, team, and organization improvement planning is vital. But too many "change management" and improvement plans are built on the same faulty premise as strategic planning - that there is a right path, which can be determined in advance and then implemented. We often hear managers declare that they have the right strategic or improvement plan, but the reason things aren't going according to plan is because of "execution problems." This is a deadly assumption.

Change Management is an Oxymoron

A dubious consulting industry and "profession" has developed, claiming to provide "change management" services. Those two words make about as much sense together as "holy war", "non-working mother", "mandatory option", and "political principles". Many of the books, models, theories, and "processes" on change have come from staff support people, consultants, or academics who've never built a business or led an organization.

Change or Be Changed

George was 53 when he had his first attack. He'd smoked for almost 40 years, was badly overweight, had an extremely high fat diet, and handled stress poorly. This warning shocked him into joining a smoking-cessation program. George and his wife also learned about healthy eating and improved their diets. Within a few months he'd lost his huge stomach, was very cheerful, and full of new energy. He was a changed man.

Changing Me to Change Them

I can think of all kinds of ways to change our kids, my associates, my wife Heather, and lots of other people in my life. But that's not the place to start. The place to start is with changing me. The Nobel Prize winning physicist, Albert Einstein, observed that we can't solve a problem with the same level of thinking that created it. The same principle applies to influencing and leading people around us. I can't influence others to change what they're doing with the same behavior that contributed to their current behavior.

Cheer Leaders Inspire Others

It has been said that there are only two types of people who thrive on being recognized for their achievements: men and woman. (I guess that covers most of us!) Reflecting on a life of pioneering work, 19th-century American philosopher and psychologist William James said, "I now perceive one immense omission in my psychology - the deepest principle of human nature is the craving to be appreciated."

Attracting Passionate Employees

Do you feel like it’s really hard to find great people? And after you find them, to keep them? Great people–people who are passionate about what you do and about their own contribution, and who have the ability to add value–have always been hard to find and keep. They have the most options, they’re the most in demand, and they know it. They are first rate and don’t have to accept a second-rate situation. This article will give you the basics on how to attract these in-demand individuals.

Choosing Our Poison or Choosing to Let Go

I am running late for an important appointment and speeding down a two-lane highway. Suddenly I come up behind a garbage truck lumbering along well below the speed limit. The highway is full of oncoming traffic, curves, and hills so I can't pass. If I start to get angry, pound the steering wheel, and really work myself into lather about this, who is in control of my emotions at this point - a garbage truck or me?

Choosing Our Reality

An optimist expects the best possible outcome and dwells on the most hopeful aspects of a situation. He or she believes that this is the best of all possible worlds, the universe is improving, and good will ultimately triumph over evil. An optimist believes no one ever ruined their eye sight by looking at the bright side of life. Research on Emotional Intelligence, Attribution Theory (see Martin Seligman's book outstanding book Learned Optimism), and related fields show that optimists not only go further in life, they also have a much better time on the trip. Optimists are generally healthier, happier, and leaders in their fields.

Clarifying Our Core Values
A key element of "knowing thyself" is sorting out what's really important to you. Without a clear sense of our personal principles and priorities, it's almost impossible to bring the picture of our preferred future or vision sharply into focus. Investing time and effort to uncover and articulate our personal principles has many important benefits.

Clarifying Personal Purpose

Thinking about death can produce a passion for life. Early in my career, I was introduced to the idea of clarifying my life's purpose through contemplating my death by Charlie Jones, a personal effectiveness and leadership development author and speaker. In his book, Life is Tremendous, he wrote, "You're not ready to live your life until you know what you want written on your tombstone". That's a powerful thought! It forces you to boil away all your goals, plans, and activities to get at the core reason you exist.

Control Your Own Destiny
Twenty years ago I came across a story (I don't know who wrote it) that illustrates the deadly power of the Victimitis Virus (the poor-little-helpless-me syndrome). Whenever I catch myself pointing "out there" to explain my poor performance, I pull out this story and read it again. I have since used it with many groups to make the same point.

Creating High Energy Environments

Imagine rushing to an emergency room with severe stomach cramps. Without any examination, no knowledge of your medical history, or asking any questions about your symptoms, the doctor who has never seen you before says "I know exactly what's wrong" and prescribes a powerful medication. Such treatment without diagnosis would be considered malpractice in medicine. The same is true in looking for ways to mobilize and energize others.

Customer Intimacy and Empathy are Keys to Innovation

Just because a company is spending money on research (such as markets, customers, or new technologies) and development doesn't mean they will get innovation. Innovation, as with advertising, training, or many other organization investments, depends on the quality of the investment as much as the quantity of resources put in it. A high proportion of innovative new products, services, and companies flop.

Customer Satisfaction is a Reflection of Employee Satisfaction

For most organizations, the goal of improving customer service levels is an article of faith. And so it should be, because there's an overwhelming body of research to show that building customer loyalty has a major impact on profitability. In fact, according to one study – based on 46,000 business-to-business surveys – a "totally satisfied" customer contributes 2.6 times as much revenue as a "somewhat satisfied" customer.

Decentralized Organization Structures Empower and Energize
The evidence is clear and overwhelming. Centralized, hierarchical organizations work about as well as the old Soviet Union. Despite all the evidence, we keep smacking into many variations on the centralization themes. What makes things even worse is how senior managers in these dysfunctional organizations proclaim empowerment, participation, teams, leadership, trust, and the like.

Deepening Our Discipline
During the 1960s, psychologist Walter Mischel conducted "the marshmallow test" with four-year-olds in the preschool at Stanford University to assess each preschooler's ability to delay gratification. Each four-year-old was given one marshmallow. They were told that they could eat it immediately or, if they waited until the researcher returned in twenty minutes, they could have two marshmallows.

Developing a Team or Organization Vision
As Mark Twain once remarked about the weather, there's a lot of talk about vision, but very few managers really do anything about it. Visioning is sometimes an innate natural skill just like leadership sometimes is. And the moon sometimes blocks out the sun - but none occur very often. Most people have had to consciously and with great effort continually work to strengthen their visioning.

Discipline Can Be Habit Forming
Good and bad habits are tiny daily choices that accumulate. Each choice is a small wire that is woven together with hundreds of other little choices. Eventually these wires form a strong cable. Like a child that grows a tiny amount each day, our tiny choices accumulate without much notice. By the time we realize we have either a good or a bad habit, the habit has us.

\'Do As I Say, Not As I Do\' Doesn\'t Cut It Any More

More and more, I hear managers express frustration over the behavior of the people they lead. They complain about their failure to take initiative and responsibility, grumble about lateness to meetings or lousy teamwork. But it's so much easier to point fingers elsewhere. For when it comes to their own behavior, many of those same managers aren't acting any differently than the people they complain about. Too few managers model what they demand from others. If you're a manager, ask yourself: How often do I seem to be saying one thing while doing another? How often am I practising what I preach? Managers who want to stop giving out mixed signals need to hold up the leadership mirror and make sure they are satisfied with what they see being reflected back.

Don\'t Promise Too Much
I've recently bought a computer system, taken my family to a theme park and flown on an airline that were all rated tops in their fields for service. They had won awards and were widely cited as leading examples of service quality in action.

Don\'t Wait to See the Blood

At my youngest daughter's sixth birthday party, a five-year-old boy hit her on the head. Asked to apologize, he politely refused: "Mr. Clemmer, I don't apologize unless I see teeth marks or blood." Many managers don't realize the problems they're creating unless they see the teeth marks or blood on those with whom they work. The most insensitive managers are those who lack good feedback systems and refuse to seek input on how to improve their own performance.

Education and Communication Build Commitment

Shortly after Vanessa, our second daughter was born, my wife Heather was talking with six year old Chris, our only son, about how much she liked having a boy in the family. "If you like little boys so much, how come you brought home another girl?" Chris tearfully rebutted. Chris and his sister Jenn had been hoping for a younger sibling of their own sex. When Vanessa was born, Chris felt like he'd lost. He didn't understand the process. He assumed his Mom and Dad chose the sex of their kids.

Education and Communications Pathways and Pitfalls
"Communications help to keep people feeling included in and connected to the organization...give people information, and do it again and again." - William Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change You need to establish the few core messages you want to communicate throughout your organization. Use any and every communication channel you can to review, remind, and reinforce them.

Emotional Empowerment Builds Commitment

What gets people really excited about their jobs? What inspires the passion and commitment that translates into exceptional performance? It isn't a process of management controls. It's a leadership function that instills in people an emotional stake in what they do. As Daniel Goleman and his co-authors report in Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence, "Great leaders move us. They ignite our passion and inspire the best in us. When we try to explain why they are so effective, we speak of strategy, vision, or powerful ideas. But the reality is much more primal: Great leadership works through the emotions."

Empowerment Through Passion and Commitment
The leadership vacuum found in many organizations often shows up in how managers try to buy passion and commitment. They push rather than pull. They manage rather than lead. This saps passion and reduces the "commitment culture" so vital to high performance. The Gallup organization found that only 29% of U.S. employees are engaged in their work.

Engagement is an Inside Job
When faced with major organizational problems, managers often hire consultants to help provide a solution. The consultant will usually interview people, run focus groups, and gather input from a variety of sources. Many good ideas are sifted through and the most relevant one presented to management along with the consultant's recommended action plan.

Exception is a Poor Rule
I once met an executive who proudly described his approach to recognizing employees' work as "management by exception." "If you haven't heard from me, that's a good sign," he explained. "That means I think you're doing just fine. I only deal with the exceptions. I look for problems and people that need correcting. Those are what I jump on."

Exploring Inner Space

An ass found a lion's skin, and dressed himself up in it. Then he went about frightening every one he met, for they all took him to be a lion, men and beasts alike, and took to their heels when they saw him coming. Elated by the success of his trick, he loudly brayed in triumph. The fox heard him, and recognized him at once for the ass he was, and said to him, "Oho, my friend, it's you, is it? I, too, should have been afraid if I hadn't hear your voice."

Feedback to See How Others See Me
An elderly gentleman went to the doctor and with a complaint about a gas problem. "But," he told the doctor, "it really doesn't bother me too much. When I pass gas they never smell and are always silent. As a matter of fact, I've passed gas at least 10 times since I've been here in your office. You didn't know I was doing it because they don't smell and are silent."

Focus and Context: The Hub of Leadership
It wasn't by accident that we chose to arrange the timeless leadership principles in the shape of a wheel. Of all the principles, there is one that is central, one from which the others emanate, much as spokes radiate from the hub of a wheel.

Forward Looking Leaders Know When to Step Back

Poor managers are like vampires. You hold up a mirror and they see nothing. At our youngest daughter's sixth birthday party, a five-year-old boy hit Vanessa on the head. Asked to apologize, he politely refused: "Mr. Clemmer, I don't apologize unless I see teeth marks or blood." Many managers don't realize the problems they're creating unless they see the teeth marks or blood on those with whom they work. The most insensitive managers are those who lack good feedback systems and refuse to seek input on how to improve their own performance.

From Phase of Life to Way of Life

Marti was driving through her neighborhood to work one morning when a genie suddenly appeared in the passenger seat and asked, "And what will your third wish be?" Marti was so startled, she almost hit a lamp post. After pulling over to the curb and stopping the car, Marti glared angrily at the genie and practically shouted, "How can I be getting a third wish when I haven't had a first or second wish yet?"

Goal Setting Can Limit Our Flexibility and Learning
Goals are precise and measurable objectives with exact time frames and targets. Goals are short-term steps toward our long-term vision. Goals are specific points along our journey to higher performance. They could be organization or team improvement objectives such as targets for cycle time, customer satisfaction, error or defect rates, new products or services, costs, or revenues.

Good Feedback Benefits Both Giver and Receiver
Effective leaders are effective communicators. And part of this skill is the ability to deliver useful feedback. Good feedback benefits both the giver and receiver. It nourishes growth and development.

Growing at the Speed of Change
Change happens. We can't control much of the world changing around us. But we can control how we respond. We can choose to anticipate and embrace changes or resist them. Resisting change is usually like trying to push water upstream.

Growing Others into What They Could Be

I was doing fairly well in grades one to three - especially in reading. Then I hit a terrible teacher in grade four. She made school so unhappy and unappealing, she almost caused me to drop out - of course I would have waited another few years to make it official. However, in grades five and six I came under the nurturing of Mrs. Westman. I vividly remember her saying after I'd read a composition to the class; "someday I won't be surprised to see your name on a book."

Growing the Leader in Us
Leadership is a verb, not a noun. Leadership is action, not a position. Leadership is defined by what we do, not the role we are in. Some people in "leadership roles" are excellent leaders. But too many are bosses, "snoopervisors," technocrats, bureaucrats, managers, commanders, chiefs, and the like.

Growing with Change
Change happens. And while we can't control much of the world changing around us, we can control how we respond. We can choose to anticipate and embrace changes or resist them. Resisting change is like trying to push water upstream. Generally we're quick to point to others who resist change. It's much harder to recognize or admit to our own change resistance.

High Performance Organization Structures and Characteristics
The search for an ideal or perfect structure is about as futile as trying to find the ideal canned improvement process to drop on the organization (or ourselves). It depends on the organization's Context and Focus (vision, values, and purpose), goals and priorities, skill and experience levels, culture, teams' effectiveness and so on. Each is unique to any organization.

Honesty and Integrity Build a Foundation of Trust
Seven-year-old first baseman, Tanner Munsey, fielded a ground ball and tried to tag a runner going from first to second base. The umpire, Laura Benson, called the runner out, but young Tanner immediately ran to her side and said, "Ma'am, I didn't tag the runner." Umpire Benson reversed herself, sent the runner to second base, and Tanner's coach gave him the game ball for his honesty.

Honesty and Integrity Produce Trust
Honesty and integrity are motherhood leadership phrases. And they should be. They are fundamental to leadership. Honesty and integrity produce trust, which produces high levels of confidence. High confidence encourages people to dream and to reach for new horizons.

How I Express My Personal Purpose
Thinking about death can produce a passion for life. Early in my career Charlie Jones, a personal effectiveness and leadership development author and speaker introduced me to the idea of clarifying my life's purpose through contemplating my death. In his book, Life is Tremendous he wrote, "you're not ready to live your life until you know what you want written on your tombstone".

How Many Companies Lose That Loving Feeling
Many successful companies were started by passionate zealots with a strong technical expertise matched only by their powerful vision and intense drive to succeed. This energy and excitement attracted like-minded people (team members, customers, partners, investors, etc) and fuelled their early growth.

How To Make Effort Rewarding
Rewarding and recognizing employees is a ticklish business. It can motivate people to explore more effective ways to do their jobs - or it can utterly discourage such efforts.

How Total is Your Quality Management?
Many well intentioned "Total Quality Management" improvement efforts aren't working. In their international study of Total Quality Management practices, the Conference Board of Canada found one study which showed that "seven out of ten North American companies fail in their attempt to execute a total quality strategy".

How Visioning Changed My Life

Visioning is where my personal effectiveness quest began. In 1974, when I was just starting my straight commission Culligan sales job, someone recommended I read Claude Bristol's book TNT: The Power Within You. The book sparked such an intensity of energy, excitement, and profound new awareness that I couldn't get a good night's sleep for almost a week. Even now, as I thumb through the book and recall that turning point in my life, a shiver runs up my spine.

How Visioning Helped My Passion and Persistence
Visioning creates passion. The clearer and more compelling the vision, the stronger the passion. And the more likely we are to hang in there during the inevitable downs and defeats as we reach for our dreams.

Hypocrisy and Egotism: Me-Deep in Fooling Myself
An entrepreneur decided it was time to give his daughter, a recent business-school graduate, a lesson "in the real world." "In business, ethics are very important," he began. "Say, for instance, that a client comes in and settles his hundred-dollar account in cash. After he leaves, you notice a second hundred-dollar bill stuck to the first one.

Improvement Planning for Taking Charge of Change
Effective learning and capability development doesn't happen just because we want it to. For example, empowering without enabling isn't just foolish it's unethical. It's like putting a complete novice at the controls of a clunky old airplane and "empowering" him or her to land in the middle of a ferocious thunderstorm.

Improvement Planning Infrastructure and Process
The high performing "born leader" is a dangerous myth. Few highly effective teams just fall into place on their own because the right people were thrown together. High performing organizations don't automatically emerge because somebody wanted them to, had a brilliant idea, or saw a great market opportunity.

Improvement Planning Pathways and Pitfalls - Part One

You can't encourage and support what you don't know is happening. The most interesting and useful local change and improvement initiatives rarely make it into reports or formal channels. That may be because they're "illegally" breaking corporate rules, deviating from the standard process, or failing to follow the official plan. It may be because local champions or teams (skunk works) don't realize the significance of their innovation to the rest of the organization or a potential new market.

Improvement Planning Pathways and Pitfalls (Part Two)
Celebrate, publicize, recognize, honor, thank, applaud, and otherwise encourage champions and local teams who take initiative to change and improve their part of the world.

Innovation and Learning Through Successful Failures

One of the more dangerous myths about entrepreneurship is that we have to be a risk taker to be successful. Speculators, traders, and deal making entrepreneurs might thrive on the risks and rush of "doing deals." But entrepreneurs building long-term businesses aren't risky gamblers. Successful entrepreneurs and innovation leaders are obsessed with developing new products, services, management systems, human resource approaches, markets, and businesses that will give them a big competitive edge.

Innovation and Organizational Learning Pathways and Pitfalls: Part One of Three
Make sure the "voice of the market" pervades every part of your organization. Bring customers into your company offices and plants for visits, joint problem solving and planning sessions, celebrations, focus groups, conferences, barbecues, presentations, and the like. Get everyone in your organization out to see customers or into the real world on a regular basis.

Innovation and Organizational Learning Pathways and Pitfalls: Part Two of Three
If your team or organization doesn't have a disciplined management system and supportive leadership culture, innovation and organizational learning is just wishful thinking.

Innovation and Organizational Learning Pathways and Pitfalls: Part 3 of 3

Make sure that you and people throughout your organization spend lots of time in external benchmarking and "corporate tourism" mode, looking for good ideas to swipe. Many of the opportunities or problems you're facing now are old hat to somebody somewhere. Learning from other people's experiences - both the successes and the failures - can take years and millions of dollars off your learning curve.

Innovation and the Law of Averages

Early in my sales career I was introduced to the Law of Averages. It's been a key concept of direct sales for many decades. The Law of Averages basically teaches salespeople that if you want to double or triple your sales, you need to double or triple the cold calls and sales presentations you make. I found that if I made ten cold calls to interest people in home water treatment equipment, I generally got one appointment for a sales presentation. Three appointments usually gave me one sale.

Innovation Calls For Leadership

"Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." Success is one of the leading causes of failure. Market and customer research is a leading cause of tunnel vision. • When trains were first developed, the King of Prussia confidently predicted,"No one will pay good money to get from Berlin to Potsdam in one hour when he can ride his horse there in one day for free".

Stop Making Excuses
Article explaining how constantly making excuses will put your courage, confidence, self respect and reputation at risk.

Fewer, Shorter Meetings
Wouldn\'t you love to have fewer, shorter meetings? For most of us, meetings are the most frustrating parts of our working life. How come we don\\\'t take the initiative and manage them better? The ideas are simple.

Innovation Champions, Skunkworks, and Organization Learning
Advertising executive, Charles Brower once said, "A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a quip and worried to death by a frown on the right person's brow." When innovations are in the exploration stage, they need a champion to take them through the rest of the developmental stages.

Innovation Means Looking Beyond What is to What Could Be

Customer and market research, competitive benchmarking, and focusing on market share could be detrimental to your organization's future performance. These approaches are critical improvement tools. Top performing organizations have turned them into a disciplined and useful science. But they can also lead to "me-too" followership or -- even worse -- commodity products and services that compete only on price.

Innovation Needs a Culture of Trust and Openness
The environment of most organizations is too poisonous for innovation and organizational learning to flourish. A mistake is generally a CLM - career-limiting move. Making a mistake in front of many managers is like cutting yourself in front of Dracula. So people become defensive. They cover up problems, set backs, and missed goals.

Innovation Through Accidents and \"Controlled Chaos\"
Mark Twain, once said, "name the greatest of all inventors. Accident." He was right. Most innovations and breakthroughs come from mistakes, serendipity, false starts, set backs, and misapplications. Many innovations were unplanned and unexpected.

Inspiring and Energizing with Strong Verbal Communications
We can't inspire and energize people with memos, mission statements, data and analysis, charts, goals and objectives, measurements, systems, or processes. These are important factors in improving performance. But that's management, not leadership.

Interested in Leadership, or Committed to Becoming a Leader?

Many managers in leadership roles have stunted personal growth. Their "years of leadership experience and learning" is formal education (usually technical and/or management) followed by a year or two of experience multiplied twenty or thirty times. Here's an all too typical dinner conversation I had with a senior manager in the middle of a two-day improvement workshop I was running with a senior management team. The company was in crisis. It was struggling just to stay even in its industry.

Just a Job or a Source of Deeper Joy and Meaning?
If we're going to be an effective energy leader, then our work can't be work. We need a job that isn't a job, it's a joy. When I love what I'm doing, I never have to go to work again. If I didn't love the personal and organization improvement field, I wouldn't study, note, and file hundreds of books and magazines each year. I wouldn't produce the dozens of columns and articles I've written.

Just a Job or Part of Our Deeper Purpose?

The owner of a car wash and gas bar was at a conference where he bumped into an old employee. "Hi George. I enjoyed your presentation. You had some great ideas and insights for the group." "Thanks Charlie. It's great to see you again. It's sure been a long time." Is this little Joey?" "Yep. Joe's grown a bit since you last saw him. He's going to be taking over for me next year. If there's any business left for him to run." "Great."

Just Go and Do It
Don't wait – initiate! That's the deeply embedded belief system of strong leaders. An ancient Chinese proverb teaches that "the person for waits for a roast duck to fly into their mouth must wait a very long time. Regardless of their position or role, leaders don't wait for something to happen or someone to tell them what to do. They go and do it.

Keep it Simple
A department manager in a struggling company recently summed up what's wrong with many organizations. Contemplating his firm's abysmal performance, he told me: "We have lots of projects, goals and priorities. We're constantly making lists and setting action plans. But we seldom see anything through to completion before some urgent new priority is pushed at us."

Keys to Personal, Team, and Organizational Transformation

Daniel Boone once said, "I can't say I was ever lost, but I was bewildered once for three days." Many team and organization transformation and improvement efforts are lost or badly bewildered. Besides riding in smelly cabs, eating rubber chicken (or guessing the day's mystery meat), and racing through crowded airports to catch a flight, another benefit of my consulting work are the opportunities I've had to work with hundreds of leadership teams trying to improve themselves and their organizations.

Level 1 Leadership Communication - Becoming the Leader You Want/Need to Be
You'd think a 26 year old would be thrilled with an early promotion to VP/GM, right? Find out why I wasn't and what I learned from the experience and what YOU can learn from my experience!

Entrepreneurs and the “Oh! No!” Trap

Ever hear of the “Ohno Circle”? It was started by Taiichi Ohno on the Toyota shop floor decades ago. Mr. Ohno was known to draw a chalk circle around managers and engineers and have them stand still in the circle to observe and document all the problems in that particular production area. They had to stay and stand for hours to see and understand what was not working and then figure out how to fix the issues.

Leaders are Learned Optimists
Effective leaders are "unreasonable" optimists. Optimists refuse to live in "the real world." They live in a world of hope and possibilities. They see an opportunity in every calamity. The pessimist sees a calamity in every opportunity. Optimists excite and arouse others to action by helping them see, believe in, and reach for what could be.

Leaders are Made, not Born

Imagine picking up your newspaper and finding these announcements in the "Births" section: BIRTHS Mr. and Mrs. Blue Collar proudly announce the birth of Jack, a construction foreman. At 13 lbs., 12 oz., he arrived with a bellowing cry and tattoos, and whistling rudely at the nurses. Wilma and Sam Klutz are sad to announce the arrival of an underachiever. Mia Klutz came complete with slumped shoulders, listless eyes and a whiny cry. Birth was by caesarian section.

Leaders Care for Organization Culture and Context

In many organizations (especially those with morale or motivation problems), management has created a sterile and passionless culture. Their strategies, budgets, and business plans are cold and lifeless. So teams and frontline performers go through the motions, put in their time, and go home. Technomanagers try to energize their people by using "leader speak" and imitating some of the things leaders do and say. They develop statements of vision, mission, values, "strategic purpose," and the like. However, improvement programs such as reengineering, service/quality, empowerment, teams, or new technology have no spirit. These programs may build up some speed and even get off the ground. But they never soar.

Leaders Control Their Own Destiny

Carl Hiebert tells uplifting stories with his lips (as a professional speaker), but the story he tells with his life is even more inspiring. Carl first made a name for himself (and aviation history) in Canada when he overcame huge odds to organize (that took years) and fly a successful 58-day flight from the Atlantic Ocean in Halifax to the Pacific Ocean in Vancouver - in an open cockpit ultralight. Everyone in our family have since been up with Carl in his two-seater ("flying lawn chairs") aircraft powered by a small 47-horsepower engine.

Leaders Focus on Reflection and Renewal

Very often we find that managers and their teams are so busy working in the business that they have little time to work on the business. Meetings, deadlines, full email in-boxes, phone calls - comprised mostly of operational activities - suck up huge amounts of time and energy. We've often tried to work with such ineffective managers to set up training workshops and off-site planning retreats. But they are typically too busy fighting fires to spend time on any prevention strategies. As they work ever harder, the fires burn ever bigger. Too often this leads to burned-out managers, demoralized frontline staff, and slipping performance.

Leaders Go First

The CLEMMER Group did an extensive assessment with a divisional manager to diagnose the strengths and weaknesses within his division and implement a major change and improvement process. Our assessment report showed that the problems in the division's customer service, quality, and productivity could be traced to one cause - the management team was dysfunctional. They were technicians and managers, not leaders. Their individual and collective leadership was weak. After reviewing the report with the division manager, we planned an off-site retreat with the management team to review the report and establish action plans.

Leaders Handle Performance Problems

A water bearer in India had two pots attached to each end of a pole. He would sling the pole over his shoulders to carry water from the stream to his house every day. One of the pots was cracked and leaked water. The other one was perfect. One day the cracked pot spoke to the water bearer about its shame and apologized for dripping water while the other pot never lost a drop. The water bearer replied to the pot, "Yes, you are cracked and do not carry water as well your brother pot. But you have an ability that he does not have.

Leaders Have Great Expectations
An old adage asks, "How am I expected to soar with the eagles when I'm surrounded by a bunch of turkeys?" This is a common victim statement, often heard from underperforming managers. Leaders see people as they could be - as eagles in training. Managers simply see them as turkeys. Research shows that both get what they expect.

Leaders Help People to Help Themselves

Remember the old television series, The Lone Ranger? A lot of traditional managers see themselves in a similarly heroic role. In the TV show, when the poor hapless townsfolk got themselves into big trouble, the Lone Ranger and his faithful sidekick would come riding over the hill. With the right degree of courage, wit, and cunning, he faced down the mean hombre or otherwise took care of the problem for the town. At the end of the nice, neat, half hour episode, our hero would leave the grateful townsfolk behind wondering, "Who was that masked man?"

Leaders Inspire by Example

It's when times are toughest that everyone most clearly sees authentic leadership. This is when much-repeated claims like "our people are our most important assets" ("leaderspeak") are proven true, or just so much hollow rhetoric. How managers handle economic downturns and sudden cost-reduction pressures, for example, speaks volumes about their leadership - or lack thereof. If an organization has strong leaders who truly care about people and want to build long-term trust, layoffs are always the very last, desperate step. Such leaders operate from core values of partnership and participation. They don't look at people within the organization as "heads," "FTEs (Full Time Equivalents)," "warm bodies," or faceless "human resources" to be acquired and disposed of like assets on a balance sheet.

Leaders Inspire Their Teams With Optimism

Seligman has found that pessimists fall into the trap of the three Ps when faced with negative change or setback. They make the issue Permanent, Pervasive and Personal. They avoid wearing clean underwear because it will only tempt car accidents. When faced with difficult change or problems, we have three choices. We can be a Survivor and just hang in there, hoping for the best, sitting on the fence, and waiting to see what happens. Or we can choose to be a Victim, using the situation as one more example of how these terrible things keep happening to us.

Leaders Invest in Growing and Developing People

Successful leaders understand the difference between things and people in an organization. They know that it's important to manage things, but that it's even more important to lead people. Leaders don't just mouth empty phrases like "people are our greatest resource"; they demonstrate by their actions that people - not strategy, products, plans, processes, or systems - are the most critical factor in an organization's performance. That's why leaders invest heavily in growing and developing people, while managers see people as objects to be commanded and controlled.

Leaders Make it Happen
After heated meetings and many warnings to clean up the community group's problems, the director was finally fired. While cleaning out his office, he met his eager new successor. "There are three sealed and numbered letters in the top drawer of this desk," he told the new director. "I left them there as my parting advice to you. Open them in order when you're really in trouble."

Leaders Make the Difference

All organizations have access to more-or-less the same resources. They draw from the same pool of people in their markets or geographic areas. And they can all learn about the latest tools and techniques. Yet not all organizations perform equally. In fact, there is a huge gap between high-and low-performing organizations. What accounts for this? Quite simply, it's people. As the venerable Peter Drucker points out, "Of all the decisions a manager makes, none are as important as the decisions about people because they determine the performance capacity of the organization."

Leaders Put Good Intentions into Action

A recurring nightmare haunted Peter to re-examine and change the aimless and drifting course of his life. In his bad dream he was standing before a severe judge and disapproving jury. "You are charged with wasting your life," the judge bellowed harshly down to Peter standing before the high bench. "How do you plead?" Restraining himself from fleeing the courtroom, Peter was finally forced to whisper, "Guilty." He appeared ready to say more, then stood lost in thought.

Leaders Take Responsibility for Their Choices

When our son Chris was four years old he desperately wanted to graduate from his Big Wheel tricycle to a real two-wheeled bike. He started with training wheels on the bike but soon wanted them removed and didn't want me holding the bike for him. The result was that each time he tried to ride the bike, he'd fall after going just a short distance. After his sixth failed attempt, his frustration got the better of him: He grabbed the bike off the ground and bit the front tire as hard as he could. Clearly, it was all the bike's fault!

Leadership and Learning are Indispensable

The great American founding father, author, and statesman, Benjamin Franklin, was highly devoted to life long learning and continual personal improvement. His book, The Art of Virtue (edited by George Rogers), is an inspiring account of Franklin's life and an instructive guide to his improvement process and personal effective system. Franklin once said, "If you empty your purse in your head, no one can take it away from you. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest."

Leadership Keys to Harnessing the Power of Teams

A scout leader was trying to lift a fallen tree from the path. His pack gathered around to watch him struggle. "Are you using all your strength?" one of the scouts asked. "Yes!" was the exhausted and exasperated response. "No. You are not using all your strength," the scout replied. "You haven't asked us to help you." Good managers have always fostered teamwork. But highly effective leaders are now showing the performance power of building a team-based organization.

Leadership on Purpose

If the main reason for a company's existence is profit, it is often not very profitable. When a company is fixated with the bottom line, there's a good chance it won't survive. The dollar sign isn't a cause. It doesn't stir the soul. Operating margins and return on investment don't excite and inspire. As an ultimate objective on its own, the pursuit of profits is hollow and unsatisfying. It is one-dimensional, without depth. It comes from, and leads to, the naked selfishness of "what's in it for me."

Leading from the Inside Out

A leader may or may not be appointed to head a group or organization - to be put in charge. Whether formally in the role or not, a leader makes things happen. A leader takes action. A leader doesn't say something must be done about this, a leader does something about it. Leadership is a verb, not a noun. Leadership is action, not a position. Leadership is defined by what we do, not the role we are in. We all need to be leaders, regardless of the roles we may be in.

Life Accumulates in Our Personal Choice Accounts
A farmer prayed fervently every night during harvest season for a fine crop. He pleaded for crops as fine as his neighbors. After one night of particularly strong lamenting and pleading, the Lord finally replied. "Ben," He exclaimed, "How can I give you a harvest? You didn't plant any seeds last spring."

Living on Purpose

Three women are killed in a car crash on the way home from a weekend excursion. Their souls are immediately whisked off to heaven for an orientation session. Each one was asked, "When you are in your casket and friends and family are mourning your death, what would you like to hear them say about you?" The first woman said, "I'd like to hear them say that I was a great entrepreneur and a terrific mother." The second woman responded, "I would like to hear that I was a wonderful wife and school teacher who made a huge difference in our children of tomorrow." The last woman replied, "I would love to hear them say...LOOK, SHE'S MOVING!!!!!"

Looking Back to Look Ahead

I am often asked to predict the future of leadership. That's a dangerous business. I am reluctant to join the economists, futurists, and others who live by the crystal ball...and soon learn to eat ground glass. However, as we enter the new millennium we can look back through history and discover the timeless leadership principles that have guided successful societies, organizations, and individuals through uncertain and rapidly changing times. Inner (leading ourselves) and outer (leading others) leadership has never been more critical.

Many Managers Disempower Themselves

In our leadership workshops most team leaders, supervisors, and middle managers agree whole-heartedly that far too many people in their organization succumb to the Victimitis Virus - the poor-little-me syndrome. This tendency is often revealed by statements like "they are doing it to me again," "there's nothing I can do," or "it's all their fault." Looking right past themselves, these managers then look for ways to change everyone else.

Mastering Change Through Continuous Growth, Learning, and Improvement

To master or thrive on change, we need to embrace perpetual growth and development, continuous learning, and constant improvement. That's the stuff true change leadership is made of. The surface issue is our rate and type of change. The deeper issue is whether we are learning and improving so that change is another step forward in our progress to a brighter future. Are we steadily striving to build a better self, team, organization, and world? I've seen very few effective, and especially lasting, "change programs." But I have seen, and personally experienced, the power and payoffs of constant and habitual personal, team, and organization learning and improvement.

You Have to Get the Cows Out of the Creek First
The importance of recognizing that there is a problem to be dealt with and the three most important steps to take to solve the problem, resolve the issues behind the problem and avoid any recurrence of the problem

Matching Team Types and Focus

Managers' growing understanding of the power of a team-based organization has created an explosion of teams. We're now seeing a profusion of high-involvement teams, high-performance teams, corrective action teams, service and quality improvement teams, project teams, task forces, steering councils, process management and improvement teams, problem solving teams, cross-functional teams, departmental teams, work teams, regional or branch teams, self-directed and self-managed teams, semi-autonomous teams...to name just a few.

Measurement and Feedback are Vital to Improvement
Joan, a coffee shop manager watched a customer get up and make his way to the pay phone beside the counter. "Hi. I am calling about the ad you had in the paper for a regional manager a few months ago," Joan overheard her customer saying on the phone. "Oh, I see, the position's been filled. Are you happy with the new manager," the man asked. "You are. OK, thanks."

Measurement Traps

Measuring employee or organizational performance can cut both ways. It can play a valuable role in improving organizations - or it can stand in the way of necessary change. Used effectively, measurement can provide vital feedback that shows whether approaches being used are moving the organization toward its goals. It can assess whether staff training, teamwork, empowerment, process improvement, re-engineering or other trendy ideas are producing real results.

Measuring Organizational and Team Energy Levels

We designed the "Energy Index" to help leaders dig deeper and uncover the root causes of why people they are trying to lead may not be mobilized and feel energized. The Index also points to areas that can be strengthened in order to further mobilize or energize a team or organization. The assessment is based on a five-point scale. 1 is extremely weak, 2 is fairly weak, 3 is moderate, 4 is fairly strong, and 5 is extremely strong.

Morale Problem? Look in the Mirror
Many Canadian organizations are experiencing deep and debilitating morale crises, just as they're trying to cope with a challenging business climate. Companies are finding that a large number of their workers, supervisors, managers and executives have quit their jobs - but they're still coming in to work every day.

More Change Demands More Leadership

Change is a fact of life. And as the pace of change accelerates, organizations are being pulled in many directions by factors such as new technologies, customer demands, e-commerce, workforce demographics, business model challenges, fierce competition, shareholder expectations, shrinking cycle times, and shifting work ethics. Now, more than ever, organizations need the bonding glue of a strong culture to hold everything and everyone together.

More is Said Than Done About Improving Customer Service

Effective teams, organizations, and leaders exist to serve others. And those who provide the highest levels of service/quality enjoy the richest rewards. That's not just some platitude or warm and fuzzy theory; it's become a well-proven fact. In Firing on All Cylinders I reviewed much of this evidence. I showed that those organizations with the highest service/quality levels have the highest levels of growth in revenue, customer satisfaction and retention, market share, productivity, safety, and employee morale while also reducing costs. So it's not surprising that the best service/quality leaders are also profitable leaders.

Moving Out of a Career Rut

Brian's head was starting to throb as he scrolled through the two dozen new voice and e-mails messages on his Blackberry while walking to his cubicle. Looks like another crazy day in the hamster cage he muttered to himself as he saw his phone message light blinking frantically. Brian, age 41, was growing increasingly frustrated. Despite working 50 hours and more per week (with an increasing amount of weekend work to "catch up") it felt like his career wasn't going anywhere. Work that once energized him now left him drained. Brian felt that unreasonable customers, managers, and co-workers were speeding up his hamster wheel just to watch him run faster. He had little time with his family and no time left to look after his health and fitness.

My Approach to Personal Time Management and Organization

Self-management, like self-improvement is highly personal. What works for one person may be ridiculous to someone else. Over the years I've evolved a personal management system that works for me. I think of it as PODS: Prioritization This is where goal setting has become the most meaningful for me - at the daily, weekly, or monthly level (I am awful at hitting any longer-term goals). Starting with a paper time management system (in a leather binder I took everywhere) and now on my notebook computer (which I don't always take everywhere), I make notes of things I want to do on a particular day, week, or month. These are recorded when I get an idea, make a commitment, or set plans.

Navigating Change and Adversity

"Embrace change" is a useless platitude mouthed by managers or motivational speakers who have not thought through its full implications - or they are masochists who enjoy suffering. Changes that bring new opportunities or propel us forward are easy to embrace. But many changes look quite negative and are tough - if not impossible - to welcome. This list might include loss of a relationship, a loved one, health, job, money, and such.

Nurturing Change Champions

When we look back at the successful team or organization changes we've been involved in, most - and certainly all major ones - were driven by "monomaniacs with a mission." Sometimes the champion, a passionate person pushing hard for a change or improvement, had a powerful organizational sponsor and someone running interference for him or her. Other times, he or she was on their own at first and built a strong change coalition or team of change champions.

Organization Structure Limits or Liberates High Performance

The CEO of a national retailer was very frustrated. His face grew noticeably redder as he told me how he had set up each store as a profit center and was attempting to hold store managers and their regional managers accountable for profitability. But when a store under performed the store manager would show that head office buyers were forcing them into stocking the wrong merchandise for their particular mix of customers. Or they would claim that the marketers hadn't put together the right campaign for their local market.

Organizational Measurement and Feedback Pathways and Pitfalls (Part One)

Far too many measures are designed to meet internal needs. They may satisfy management's command-and-control paranoia for "snoopervision" or they're designed to serve accounting information technology, human resources or other support departments. Numerous measures are also highly technical, production- or product What's often missing from these inward measurements is the customer. High performing organizations measure from the outside in along the customer-partner chain. They begin by measuring what's important to customers and pinpointing the performance gaps. Next on the measurement pecking order are the needs of those external and internal partners serving customers. Then attention turns to the people producing products or serving the servers.

Organizational Measurement and Feedback Pathways and Pitfalls (Part Two)

Get teams to develop their own measures. Make sure they're broad, balanced, and simple. Get the measurement points as close and as immediate to the activities being performed as possible. Move your team and organization to a 360-degree performance feedback system - starting with you. 360-degree feedback involves gathering data and performance perceptions from the people reporting to you, the people you serve in the customer/partner chain, your suppliers, and the manager(s) you report to. Your role in helping others on your team move to this approach, is that of a coach. You will provide your performance feedback as one of the many sources for your team and individual members.

Organizational Skill Development Pathways and Pitfalls

Despite clear evidence of the huge returns training provides, many organizations do far too little of it. Even within the training business, many companies are so wrapped up in operational pressures of maintaining today's cash flow that they neglect improvement efforts that build tomorrow's wealth. High performing organizations consistently invest from 3 - 5 percent of their payroll expenses in training. Many lesser performing companies fall well below that (1.5 percent of payroll should be the bare minimum level).

Organizational Visioning Pathways and Pitfalls
Visioning is sometimes an innate natural skill just like leadership sometimes is. And the moon sometimes blocks out the sun - but not very often. Most people have had to consciously, and with great effort, continually work to strengthen their visioning. Visionary leaders are seldom born that way. Nor are they necessarily charismatic. They have had to work at making visioning habitual.

Our Attitude More Than Our Aptitude Determines Our Altitude

Our society admires strength and power. Since the early games of the ancient Olympics, we've had contests of strength, stamina, speed, and the like. We've approached brainpower or intellectual abilities in the same way. We're in awe of intellectual giants with memory, reasoning, or complex problem solving abilities far beyond our own. IQ tests were developed to measure this intellectual strength and power. We've come to believe that highly intelligent people make the best professors, doctors, managers, scientists, and so on. Many people believe that high IQ and high levels of success and happiness go together.

Our Fate is in Our Own Hands

A few years ago a friend had Ned, a small independent contractor, do extensive renovations to his home. Being a very fussy craftsman and cabinet maker, Ned did an especially superb job on the extensive woodwork involved in the renovation. About a year after completing the renovations, Ned bumped into my friend at the local hardware store. "The recession finally caught up to me," Ned told my friend. "I've had to lay off my crew and try to wait out this slow period."

Our Values Set Our Priorities

Our values are what we value. Each of us has a hierarchy of values. This is our sense of what's most through to what's least important. Our values hierarchy is a lengthy one. It includes things like, health, family, security, wealth, cooperation, competitiveness, meaningful work, peace of mind, making a difference, friendships, innovation, status, happiness, freedom, adventure, spirituality, power, accomplishment, wisdom, love, creativity, integrity, participation, service, loyalty, pride, progress, teamwork, growth and development, helping others, physical or sensory pleasures, quality, order, control, respect, self-image, and the like.

Our Values Shape Our Character and Culture

When he spotted his grandpa asleep on the family room couch, the rambunctious ten year old saw his chance. With cat-like stealth, Jason quietly crept up on grandpa and gently smeared a small bit of smelly old cheese into his moustache. As grandpa mumbled and stirred, Jason bolted from the room. Peeking around the corner, Jason fought it hard to contain himself as he watched grandpa open his eyes and take a sniff of the air. "Whew! This room stinks", grandpa exclaimed. Rising from the couch he went into the front hall.

Passionate Leaders Rally People to the Cause
Too many people are indifferent about what they do and detached from their work. They drift through life like the bumper sticker, "I am neither for nor against apathy." Working with them, or trying to follow their lead, is about as invigorating as sitting in a cold drizzle watching your kid's team lose a baseball game.

Pathways and Pitfalls to Clarifying and Living Personal Values

Develop a comprehensive list of all possible personal values. Now rank each one as "A" (high importance), "B" (medium importance), "C" (low importance). Review your A and B values. Are there any that you feel are essentially the same value or one is an obvious subset of the other? If so, bring them together and rename it if necessary. Rank order the remaining list from highest through to lowest priority. You should now have your top five core values. Focusing on your core values: o Ask yourself whether these are your true, internal "bone deep" beliefs or an external "should" value. These are very tough questions to answer. We often don't recognize a lifetime of conditioning that has left us with other people's belief systems. Replace any "should" values with your own.

Pathways and Pitfalls to Clarifying Organizational Values
Effectively using values to care for the context and provide focus to a team or organization has two major steps: 1) clarifying and prioritizing shared values; 2) living and behaving according to those aspirations. Both can be very difficult leadership acts.

Pathways and Pitfalls to Giving Personal Recognition and Appreciation
Whether or not your team or organization develops a healthy recognition and appreciation culture depends to a large extent on the personal example you set. If you manage-by-exception or Gap-Zap people, most others will follow your lead. Energy and morale will be low. In this uncaring environment, recognition programs will be contrived and out of place. They won't work for long.

Pathways and Pitfalls to Leading Teams
The following Outstanding Teams Checklist outlines the key elements of top performing teams (and organizations). Use this to assess yourself and your team. Even better, get your team to do this assessment.

Pathways and Pitfalls to Living Organizational Values
Revisit and revise your values every few years to keep them alive and relevant. They can too easily become stale, stifling, or just ignored. In The Achieve Group's (my first training and consulting company) early years, we wrote a three page statement of Achieve's core values that were later named ACT - Attention to Service, Commitment to Quality, and Trust through Value.

Pathways and Pitfalls to Setting Organizational Goals and Priorities
Your management team must identify its three or four strategic imperatives for the next twelve months. A laundry list of urgent goals diffuses focus, spawns unproductive "busywork," and provides enough bureaucratic cover to justify any pet project or protect turf.

People Live Up or Down to a Leader's Expectations

"Tell me about the people at the organization you just left," said the senior manager who was screening candidates to fill a key leadership role. "They were uneducated and lazy," the candidate responded. "You always had to keep an eye on them because they were constantly trying to goof off or rip off the company. They were lousy communicators, resisted change, and only cared about themselves." "That's too bad," replied the senior manager, "I am sorry to say that's the same type of people you'll find here. This doesn't sound like a job you would enjoy."

Persistence Goes the Distance

In 1914 Thomas Edison's factory in West Orange, New Jersey, was virtually destroyed by fire. Although the damage exceeded $2 million, the buildings were insured for only $238,000 because they were made of concrete and were thought to be fireproof. Much of Edison's life work went up in smoke and flames that December night. At the height of the fire, Edison's 24-year-old son, Charles, searched frantically for his father. He finally found him, calmly watching the fire, his face glowing in the reflection, his white hair blowing in the wind.

Personal Education and Communication Pathways and Pitfalls
There is no one best communication style or magical speak-by-the-numbers formula that will make you a compelling verbal communicator. However, if you master the following steps, you'll become an above average communicator and leader.

Personal Feedback Pathways and Pitfalls
Ironically (and tragically) if I am a feedback-impaired manager, I am the least likely to realize it. I am not listening to what people have been trying to tell me. That's because I am too busy defending myself (or closing down feedback channels). If someone suggests I am defensive, I'll become defensive about my defensiveness.

Personal Goals and Priorities Pathways and Pitfalls (Part One)

What are you so busy doing? Are you working on high leverage activities that will catapult you, your team, and your organization toward your vision? Or are you just busy? In First Things First, Stephen Covey, Roger Merrill, and Rebecca Merrill write, "People expect us to be busy, overworked. It's become a status symbol in our society - if we're busy, we're important; if we're not busy, we're almost embarrassed to admit it. Busyness is where we get our security. It's validating, popular, and pleasing. It's also a good excuse for not dealing with the first things in our lives."

Personal Improvement Planning Pathways and Pitfalls (Part Two)

Develop or join a network of colleagues who are as interested in personal learning and development as you are. This can be a powerful source of learning from other people's experiences. It's also a great place for you to reflect on your own experiences and articulate your improvement plans. For the past few years I've run ongoing executive development sessions with groups of managers in each one. They've proven to be powerful sources of learning and personal development for all of us involved in them.

Personal Purpose Pathways and Pitfalls
Developing a personal mission statement is a discovery and learning process, not a problem to be solved. It takes a lot of time and thoughtful reflection to sort out what's most important to us. Our purpose is intertwined with our vision and values. Defining it is part of that same process.

Personal Recognition and Appreciation is an Inside Job

Like improvement efforts, effective reward and recognition is an integrated process, not a bolt-on program. Since you can't make your team or organization into something different than you, it has to start with you. Whose needs are your recognition and reward systems designed to serve? What are the goals? Are they to manipulate, control, and "motivate?" Or do they build an atmosphere of helpfulness, appreciation, and high energy? How do you know? As with beauty, quality, or customer service, reward and recognition are in the eyes of the beholder.

Personal Visioning Pathways and Pitfalls
My wife, Heather, and I have found that spending at least once a year in a quiet evening of uninterrupted time "daydreaming" has kept our marriage strong and our lives in focus. We look at family, house or home, our careers, our physical health, our financial health, community involvement, spiritual growth, and social life.

Pinpointing My Leadership Position

In 1707, Great Britain lost four warships and 2,000 sailors on the rocks of the Scilly Islands, located off the southwest coast of England. It wasn't that the location of the rocks was unknown; indeed, the maps of the area were clear and accurate. The problem was the ships' location. On that dark and foggy night, Admiral Clowdisley Shovell and his navigators tragically miscalculated exactly where they were.

Process Management Improves the Horizontal Flow

A group of sailors were out in an old boat. The boat hit a rock and sprung a slow leak. The group began to fight over whose fault it was that they hit the rock. Then they argued over whose responsibility it was to fix the hole. Those on the starboard side shouted that those on the port side, where the hole was, should be responsible for fixing it. All the while, the boat filled with water and floundered in the increasing heavy seas. As the shouting and finger pointing grew, a large wave swamped the boat. Everyone drowned at sea.

Process Management Pathways and Pitfalls (Part One)

Process Management Pathways and Pitfalls (Part Two)
Make sure all your process improvement activities are clearly and tightly linked to your strategic imperatives. Each effort should also have highly focused and specific improvement goals (that are an aggressive, major stretch) and measurements. Establish feedback and follow-up steps for each process management and improvement team.

Profits are a Reward, Not a Purpose
Why do you get out of bed in the morning? Why do you go to work? What do you want to be remembered for when you're gone? Why do you exist? What about your team or organization? Why does it exist? What's its value-add? What's its function? How do you want to be positioned in the market and minds of your customers? What business are you in?

Purpose Gives Us a Deep Sense of Meaning
Why do I get out of bed in the morning? Why do I go to work? What do I want to be remembered for when I am gone? Why do I exist? What about our team or organization? Why does it exist? What's its value-add? What's its function? How do we want to be positioned in the market and minds of our customers? What business are we in?

Purposeful Leaders Make Meaning

In our organization and team development consulting at The CLEMMER Group, we often bring groups of people together to get their perspectives on strengths and weaknesses, improvement opportunities, and the like. One morning, I asked a group of very quiet production and service people a series of these questions. I was getting very few responses. This was going nowhere fast. Finally, one grizzled veteran sitting at the back of the room with his arms folded said, "Jim, I think you're confusing us with people who care."

Recognition and Appreciation Inspires and Energizes

One manager proudly used this term to describe his approach. "If you haven't heard from me, that's a good sign," he explained. "That means I think you're doing just fine. I only deal with the exceptions. I look for problems and people that need correcting. Those are what I jump on." In a later conversation that same manager talked about his failed first marriage. "What really drove me crazy were her constant complaints that I never told her I loved her," he complained. "I married her didn't I? Obviously I loved her.

Recognition Do's and Don'ts to Inspire and Energize

Leadership Skill #1 – Strong Leadership
What is a strong leader? Perhaps the most important quality of a good leader and motivator is strength but often this term is misunderstood. Find out which qualities and attributes a truly strong leader should have. And learn to recognise, through a case study, what happens when strength is misread.

Five Golden Rules for Leadership
Having a framework for the most essential leadership skills will help you avoid quick fixes and business-book fads. While the scope of leadership may seem overwhelming, these five golden rules provide much-needed focus.

Women\'s Leadership Styles
Everyone needs guidance in their profession, even leaders. No one is perfect. Check out this article on "Women's Leadership Styles"

Reflection and Renewal

During the 18th century, two explorers set out with small flights of ships to find the fabled Northwest Passage that cuts through the Arctic Circle across the top of North America connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It was widely agreed that the first to discover this elusive passage to China and India would find fame and fortune. Captain John Smith was bold and impatient. He believed that speed was critical to winning the race against the competition led by Captain Henry Jones.

Retaining Top People
Attracting and retaining talented people is a growing challenge for many organizations. Demographic projections show that this issue will become ever more critical as the large group of people in the "baby boom" begins to retire. Competition for the best people will intensify. The most successful organizations will be those "magnet companies" that attract and hang on to good people.

Reward and Recognition Pathways and Pitfalls
Don't use money to try and shape behavior or boost performance. It rarely works. If you think it has in the past, what happened when you took the carrot away? No doubt, performance slipped and you were left with stimulus-dependent people looking for progressively bigger carrots. Unless people feel compensation and bonus systems are a major block, leave them alone.

Reward and Recognition Reinforce Paternalism or Partnerships
It seemed like a good idea at the time. As The Achieve Group (my first training and consulting company) was rapidly growing and hiring new people, I put together a sales incentive and recognition program. It had increasingly bigger prizes, bonuses, travel, and awards with each sales level or "club" achieved. At one of our meetings, I excitedly unveiled my new reward and recognition program.

Review, Assess, Celebrate, and Refocus: Personal Pathways and Pitfalls

If applicable, you and your life partner should get away at least once a year to review, assess, celebrate, and refocus the progress toward your vision, values, purpose, and goals. Using a journal to reflect on and record your deepest thoughts is especially important if you're going through a tough period and you don't have someone or a group of close people that you can talk and reflect with. At this point in the annual improvement process, look back through your journal entries to review and assess your progress.

Ringing True to Me
Once five fingers stood side by side on a hand. They were all friends. Where one went, the others went. They worked together. They played together. They ate and washed and wrote and did their chores together.

Seeing Only What Is or What Could Be

Joel was a realist. He prided himself in being practical and "down to earth." He was very skeptical about new ideas and changes. "You'll have to prove it to me. I'll believe it when I see it," he often said to his kids or team members. He believed that kids today were lazy, sloppy, and untrustworthy. Reading the newspaper after supper, he'd finish a story about some horrible crime or new violence with another comment on his pet theory that society was on a slippery slope of sin and destruction. At work, Joel often made cynical jokes about the stupidity of management and the direction they were trying to move the organization.

Seeing the World as We Are
We find what we focus upon. Whether I think my world is full of richness and opportunity, or garbage and despair - I am right. It's exactly like that - because that's my point of focus. By focusing there, I turn my expectations into reality. My focus is intertwined with the context of my life.

Signs of Stagnation
Personal growth, continuous improvement, lifelong learning...these are mantras for many people today. But good intentions often don't become action. Recognizing when we've slipped into the stagnant waters of stability and certainty isn't easy. Like putting on weight, it happens so gradually until one day we notice how out of shape we've become.

Soft Skills, Hard Results (Part 1)
Leadership deals with the world of emotions and feelings. It is more of an art than a science. Like artists, leaders have the ability to share their vision of the world. Leaders influence our perceptions and help us look at situations in new ways. These skills - and the leadership principles that guide their development - are critical to the success of an organization or team.

Leaders' Categorical Imperatives vs. Free Will of Employees
As long as you work, there will always be someone telling you what needs to be done. The message today is that regardless of how urgent and categorical a request sounds, keep your perspective and realize that you have more power and control than you think.

3 Techniques For Giving Feedback To The C-Suite
Real change in behavior, regardless of who is receiving it, is more likely to come from a delivery that is sincere and made in a respectful way.

Soft Skills, Hard Results (Part 2)
There's not a lot we can do about the processing power between our ears. For the most part, we're stuck with whatever intelligence quotient (IQ) we've got. The good news for many of us is that our IQ is dramatically less important to success and happiness than our emotional intelligence (EQ). What's even better is that EQ, unlike IQ, can be improved.

How Emotional Intelligence Affects Leadership Quality
Eight skills contribute to superior leadership. Emotional Intelligence is an essential ingredient to superior leadership but there are eight specific emotional intelligence skills that drive superior leaders. You can screen for these specific leadership skills and coach leaders to higher performance.

Are You a Push Leader, Pull Leader, or Both?
What type of leader are you? Are you a "just-get-it-done" leader or do you take "the get-them-to-want-to-do-it" approach. Each leadership style is effective, but it depends on what results you want. Check out this article and let us hear your opinion.

Lessons From Steve Jobs
The impeccable visionary from Apple past away from a dreadful disease but his passion and vision will leave lessons for us for years to come. Discover what Jobs taught and what he continues to teach.

Stepping Back to Step Ahead Through Reviewing and Assessing
Our performance results are determined by what we finish, not by what we start. But whether it's diet and fitness, investments, leadership development, or organization change and improvement efforts, many people search for the quick and easy technique or approach. When the latest improvement fad doesn't create a quick transformation, the next hot book, guru, theory, or change program beckons.

Stop Managing and Start Leading

Ask any group of managers if they view themselves as an elite within their organization and you can be sure they will deny it. You'll hear comments such as: "I have an open-door policy" and "I take pride in always being accessible and approachable." And in most cases, these managers will really believe what they are saying. What they don't realize, however, are the many invisible barriers - the "glass doors" - they put in place.

Stop Whining and Start Leading
We all know people who suffer from "Victimitis" - the poor-little-me syndrome whose verbal symptoms include: "They are doing it to me again," "There's nothing I can do," "It's all their fault." Indeed, many supervisors and middle managers agree that Victimitis is a big problem at work.

Stop Working and Start Living
Years ago I worked in a company with a powerful and emotionally intelligent CEO. A favorite motto of his was, "If you love what you're doing, you never have to work again." The wisdom of those words had strong and lasting effect on me. I hate work. It really is a disgusting four-letter word.

Strategic Measurements Guide Change and Improvement
"Crude measures of the right things are better than precise measures of the wrong things." Here are five core measurement areas that provide broad and balanced feedback loops for assessing and improving organization performance.

Strategic Planning Smothers Innovation
From a standing start, a financial services company had two decades of very strong growth. They were entrepreneurial and opportunistic. New products, services, and distribution channels evolved and developed as the leaders passionately pulled the organization toward their vision. But its growth wasn't always a pretty sight.

Strong Leaders are Strong Communicators

It was the dead of winter in the middle of a very cold snap. As we approached departure time, judging by all the activity outside the plane, we weren't likely to leave on time. In a few minutes the captain announced, "You can see a lot of activity on our left wing. This is a maintenance crew trying to replace a defective fuel pump. We find it's best to fix a problem like that on the ground before we're in the air. The good news is that there is another fuel pump available here at the airport. The bad news is that it will delay our departure by about 30 minutes."

Strong Leaders are the Real Deal

We all know that strong leaders are the real deal. They embody the leadership clichés like "walk the talk" or "lead by example." Strong leaders maintain a close connection between what they say and what they do. Their video is in sync with their audio. The vision (and values and purpose) they set out for their team or organization is no different from what they set out for their own lives. Leaders don't try to make others into something that they are not themselves.

Strong Leadership Builds on a Bedrock of Strong Values

Early in my career I found work that was a great fit for my skills and interests. I grew and moved through the company to ever-higher levels of responsibility. I was especially lucky to be mentored by a senior manager who coached and developed my skills, and brought out more potential in me than I realized I had at the time. Her trust and faith in me built my confidence and a strong foundation for future growth.

Successful Change and Improvement Needs Balanced Improvement Planning

As Yogi Berra would say, "It was déja vu all over again." Five years earlier I had conducted a few introductory service/quality improvement workshops for the senior management group and head office support people of a large distribution company. Performance and feedback surveys were conducted and reviewed during these and follow up workshops. The company clearly had problems with sagging morale and customer service, rising costs from inefficient processes and quality problems, and low innovation levels.

Successful Change Flows from Learning, Growth, and Development
Change can't be managed. Change can be ignored, resisted, responded to, capitalized on, and created. But it can't be managed and made to march to some orderly step-by-step process. However, whether change is a threat or an opportunity depends on how prepared we are. Whether we become change victims or victors depends on our readiness for change.

Successful Failures

In a small pub in the highlands of Scotland, a group of fishermen gathered one afternoon to swap tales over a round of ale. One of them stretched his arms apart to show the big one that got away. At that very point, a waitress walked past carrying a tray of full ale glasses. The fisherman's wild gestures sent the tray smashing against the wall. The dark brew splashed on the white wall of the pub and began running down. The waitress and the fisherman tried to wipe the mess off the wall, but it had left an ugly dark stain.

Systems and Structure Pathways and Pitfalls
Effective systems follow, serve, and support rather than control, direct, and dictate. The central structure and systems alignment question is "for whose convenience is your organization designed?" Is it to serve customers and those producing for or serving them?

Team Spirit Built from the Top
Team spirit is the catalyst every organization needs to achieve outstanding performance. Strategic plans, marketing, technology and capital investment are clearly important, but emotional commitment of the people using the tools and executing the plans is what determines whether companies sink or soar.

Technomanagement: A Deadly Mix of Bureaucracy and Technology
Far too many organizations are ruled by bureaucrats and technocrats either in management or staff support roles. One of their (often unconscious) driving motives is to "eliminate the human factor." They feel that their technology, systems, and processes would work so much better if it weren't for all the people always messing things up.

Test Your Career Health
Many of us invest time once a year for an annual checkup of our physical health. But what about a regular career checkup? Canadian author and literary icon, Robertson Davies, once wrote, "Weigh up your life once a year. If you find you are getting short weight, change your life. You will usually find that the solution lies in your own hands."

That Empower Word Again
Revisit and revise your values every few years to keep them alive and relevant. They can too easily become stale, stifling, or just ignored. In The Achieve Group's (my first training and consulting company) early years, we wrote a three-page statement of Achieve's core values that were later named ACT - Attention to Service, Commitment to Quality, and Trust through Value.

The Choice is Ours
A sociologist was researching the long-term effects of family violence. He interviewed two sons of an alcoholic and highly abusive father. Both brothers were now in their sixties. One son looked back on a life of alcoholism, violence, failed marriages, joblessness, prison terms, suicide attempts, and poverty.

The Coach's Playbook

Where do you find the highest levels of employee retention and productivity, customer satisfaction, and profitability? According to a major Gallup study (of more than 1.5 million employees across more than 87,000 divisions or work units), the answer can be found in how positively team members respond to 12 key indicators of the health of their workplace. These statements include factors such as recognition, clarity of goals, opportunities to use individual strengths, and having effective tools and equipment.

The Dynamic Power of Hope
Someone once said to the bestselling author and television pastor, Robert Schuller, "I hope you live to see all your dreams fulfilled." He replied, "I hope not, because if I live and all my dreams are fulfilled, I'm dead. It's unfulfilled dreams that keep you alive."

The Law of Improvement Displacement

In a dingy, unused warehouse down by the waterfront, a real estate agent found a curious old machine covered in cobwebs, grime, and decades of dust. As he was wiping the dust away and inspecting the old contraption, he found a few pieces of yellowed paper in a cracked leather pouch. He chuckled softly to himself when he pulled them out and found they were entitled "Operating Instructions for The Perpetual Money Machine."

The Many Faces of Love

Like leadership, love has many faces and forms. Both are states of being that defy easy definitions or how-to formulas. Pianist, Arthur Rubinstein, describes one face of love, "I'm passionately involved in life: I love its change, its color, its movement. To be alive, to be able to see, to walk, to have houses, music, paintings - it's all a miracle." Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia outlines another face of love when talking about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.

The Moose on the Table
Imagine a team meeting around a conference-room table. They are reviewing operations and making plans. Charts are reviewed, slides are projected, documents are handed out, and calculations are made. Now imagine that standing in the middle of the conference-room table is a great big moose.

The Motivation Myth

After six years at Universal Pictures, Harry Cohn formed Columbia Pictures in 1924. During the following decades he ran the company with an iron fist. His image as a tyrant was reinforced by the riding whip he kept near his desk to crack for emphasis. Cohn's form of "motivation" led to the greatest creative turnover of any major studio. At his funeral in 1958, one observer suggested that the 1,300 attendees "had not come to bid farewell, but to make sure he was actually dead."

The Myth of the Born Leader

The final level of mastery is to make it look natural. That's a key reason so many people believe achievement comes from winning the gene pool - either you're born with it or you're not. A tiny number of athletes, performers, artists, musicians, or leaders succeed without really trying. But the sad reverse is often even more true. We all know people with tremendous natural talent who do very little with it. More common are ordinary people with average talent who take it to extraordinary levels.

The Newest Pet Rock Needs a Firm Foundation
Process re-engineering is on its way to becoming the latest pet rock of management techniques. The reasons for its faddish popularity are clear: it is a way of tackling the enormous problem of flattening our overbloated, inefficient bureaucracies and streamlining the way work is done.

The Pause that Refreshes
As we approach the end of the year, it's my time to assess what I have achieved during this year, how I have grown as an individual, and how much I have contributed to my family and those I serve. After assessing this year's performance and celebrating significant achievements, it's then time to look ahead to next year. I complete this cycle for my work and family life.

The Power of Passion
The French call it joie de vivre, which means joy or love of life. We wrestled long and hard with putting into words the core values that brought us together and define the kind of organization The CLEMMER Group aspires to be. The first cornerstone of our four core values is Passion.

The Power of Recognition, Appreciation, and Celebration

Arden planted a 50-acre field of wheat that was now golden brown and very full for harvest. It was a sight to touch the heart of any farmer. Uncle Harry came to visit. Arden proudly took him out to look at the field of wheat. Harry looked around, put his hand over his eyes to peer into the distance, and asked "Is that a stone on the hill?" pointing to a boulder too large to move in the middle of the field. He said nothing about the field of wheat. Arden was crushed by his lack of enthusiasm.

The Purpose-Profit Paradox

Few people today want to buy from, work for, or partner with a company that's only out for itself. That's like taking a set of elaborate architectural drawings for a huge, luxurious dream home into your team or organization and saying, "if you all work real hard, someday this will be all mine." A few years ago we came across a mixed up manufacturer that had produced a slick little logo and published this mission statement - "In Pursuit of Profits." We haven't heard of that company for a few years now. I don't think they're in business any more.

The Tyranny of the Urgent Can Cause Priority Overload

A frantic manager burst into a travel agency and exclaimed, "I need an airplane ticket immediately!" "Where would you like to go?", the travel agent asked. "I don't care, just get me on a plane. I've got business everywhere," was the desperate reply. Time management author and consultant, R. Alec Mackenzie once observed, "Urgency engulfs the manager; yet the most urgent task is not always the most important.

The View from the Front Line
Employees who deal directly with the public are valuable players in building a customer-focused organization. Their potential, however, is often overlooked. Only a tiny fraction of customer complaints and suggestions ever reaches top management's attention.

Thermometer Manager or Thermostat Leader?

The late 19th century Irish playwright, critic, and social reformer, George Bernard Shaw, had a lot of useful things to say about personal effectiveness. A few of his comments have hung on my mirror or been posted in my day planner over the years. This one speaks to a core management-leadership choice we all have; "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends upon the unreasonable man."

This Crazy Period of Constant Change is Normal

In the middle of a meeting with a few colleagues I caught myself saying, "Once we get through this crazy period and things get back to normal..." Then it hit me. I had been saying something like that for at least a year or two. As we scrambled to move into a strong market leadership position we were initiating endless waves of changes and (we hoped) improvements throughout the organization. I interrupted myself with the question, "Do we seem to be consistently talking about change as if it's a temporary condition to be endured until calmer times return?"

Three Basic Steps to Focus on Customers and Partners

Getting customers or partners together in focus groups is generally the most productive. But we can gather expectations through individual interviews as well. We can gather perceptions and expectations from competitors' customers, people who've stopped doing business with us, and those who could but don't use our products or services now. We should always start with a blank sheet of paper, never a preconceived list. This begins by asking our focus group to brainstorm the factors most important to them when using our products or services.

Three Core Questions That Define Organizational Culture

Over the years we've been involved in too many "vernacular engineering" debates as management teams argue about whether the statement they've been crafting is a vision, a mission, a statement of values and goals, or the like. Often these philosophical labeling debates are like trying to pick the flyspecks out of the pepper. Unless we're lexicographers and our company is in the dictionary business, we shouldn't worry about the precise definition of vision, mission, values, or whatever we may be calling the words we're using to define who we are and where we're trying to go.

Timeless Leadership Principles in a Changing World

But the more things change, the more they really do stay the same. Those settlers were powerful leaders. The principles that both drove and guided their lives are as relevant today. They faced up to tough choices. They lived their values. They followed their dreams. They learned and adapted. They mobilized others to build a strong community. They persisted in the face of many heart-breaking disasters. They committed their lives to a greater cause.

True to Our Souls

One of the biggest social movements of our time is society's search for meaning. Books on spirituality, soul, and personal growth are continually popping up on bestseller lists. The Internet is filling with similar sites and discussion groups. Numerous surveys show that the vast majority of people in almost every society in the world believe in some higher power. Conferences on spirituality in the workplace and soulful leadership have become regular events attracting thousands of meaning seekers.

Two Keys to Adding Values

Just about every company today aims to be "value-driven." Executives are pushing their organizations to create grand statements, often known as "core values," "guiding principles" or "aspirations." Designing these lofty declarations are a good idea. Examples abound of high-performing organizations that have replaced stifling rules and policies with fundamental values supporting the culture they desire.

Use Strategic Imperatives to Set Improvement Priorities

It was a story with a plot line that's becoming all too familiar. I was meeting with the vice president of a large service organization and his quality improvement support staff. They were frustrated. After a few years of educating thousands of people in their organization, forming and training teams, mapping, analyzing, and "reengineering" a multitude of processes, and "empowering" everyone to improve quality and customer service, little was happening.

Values-Based Leadership Has Huge Pay-Offs
A number of studies that have shown over the years that companies with "high standards of ethical behavior," "shared values," or who are "socially conscious" have much higher than average performance. That's because when a team or organization identifies and lives its core values.

Vision at Work

Strong leaders make people hopeful about the future. As editor and writer Norman Cousins reflects, "The capacity for hope is the most significant fact of life. It provides human beings with a sense of destination and the energy to get started." Hope is a key activator. When faced with major changes, leaders optimistically focus everyone's attention on the possibilities. They look for signs of progress and reinforce those to build forward momentum. A compelling vision of the team or organization's preferred future keeps people from obsessing over present-day obstacles or getting stuck in the past.

Visioning Harnesses the Power of Our Pictures
I've been studying and trying to apply the power of positive pictures for over two decades now. These skills, habits, and techniques are often called visioning, imagery, and visualization. And they have a power for change, improvement, and energy creation that we're only beginning to understand.

Visions Provide the Energizing Context to Reach Our Goals
Like mission and vision statements and values, goal setting and visioning labels often get confused and used interchangeably. Generally that doesn't matter. As long as the people on our teams and in our organizations are clear and consistent with their meanings and approaches, we shouldn't get hung up on definitions and jargon.

What We Get is What We See
Your ability to develop an energizing vision for your team or organization determines whether you're be a high performing leader or a Technomanager, technician, supervisor, project manager, administrator, or bureaucrat. At the heart of leading others is your ability to develop and communicate a clear and compelling picture of your team or organization's preferred future.

What's Really Important?

The legendary inventor, Thomas Edison, had just come through a period of exceptionally hard work and even longer hours than normal. At dinner his wife said, "You've been working too hard with no breaks. You need a vacation." "But where would I go?" he asked her. "Think about where you'd rather be than any other place on earth," she replied. Edison thought for a few moments then said, "All right, I'll go tomorrow morning." The next day he was back to work in his laboratory.

When Choosing Our Thoughts We Choose Our Future
A wise old sage hosted a dinner. Toward the end of the meal, everyone was given fortune cookies and told that they're holding their future in their hands. The guests eagerly opened them to read the words of wisdom they contained. The paper slips inside each cookie were blank.

Why Most Change Programs and Improvement Initiatives Fail
Many team and organization change and improvement efforts are lost or badly bewildered. Decades of studies have consistently shown that 50-70 percent are failing. There are as many reasons that improvement endeavors lose their way, as there are people, teams, and organizations trying to improve.

Why Most Training Fails

Most organizations use their training investments about as strategically as they deploy their office supplies spending. And the impact on customer satisfaction, cost containment or quality improvement is just as useless. One of the biggest causes of wasted training dollars is ineffective methods. Too often, companies rely on lectures ("spray and pray"), inspirational speeches or videos, discussion groups and simulation exercises.

Why Real Leaders Pump Gas

Chief executives give great speeches on the importance of quality, leadership, teamwork, and employee participation. But in improving organization performance, as in golf, it's the follow-through that makes the difference. Consider the case of one Canadian company that had been "doing quality" for about two years. It followed the textbook perfectly. Trainers and facilitators delivered introductory workshops to the 1,500 employees. Enthusiasm and interest began to build as hundreds of suggestions poured in.

Why Smart Managers Master the Art of Listening Well
Many companies that talk passionately about being market-driven and customer-focused are overlooking one crucial ingredient - the ability to listen well. John McDonnell, chairman and chief executive of aircraft manufacturer McDonnell Douglas Corp. of St. Louis, summed up the problem: "We did not always listen to what our customers had to say before telling them what they wanted."

Wise Managers Treat Layoffs as Last Resort

Despite all the trendy rhetoric about the importance of people, leadership, and values, far too many managers treat people in their organizations with about as much care and concern as so many numbers on a financial statement. They are just one more set of assets to be managed. These just happen to have skin wrapped around them. Phrases like "head count" dehumanize and objectify people. That's how we talked about cattle on the farm where I grew up. And that's exactly how too many managers view "their people."

With All My Heart and Soul

Spirit and meaning is a missing link in many lives, teams, and organizations. Many who have material prosperity live in spiritual poverty. That's what's driving the rapidly growing number of meaning seekers in society. We want to know that our lives count for something. We want to make a difference. Our work and our lives become ever more meaningful the more they are in harmony with who we are and touch the very core of why we exist. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.

Yield of Dreams

n the early 1950s, Florence Chadwick became the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions. During her first attempt, she had been swimming for hours and was getting very near to the English coast. That's when the seas turned much colder and heavy swells developed. A dense fog settled in blocking everything from view with a chilly wet blanket. As Florence's pace slowed and energy drained, her mother called through the fog from one of the small boats following behind, "Come on, Florence, you can make it. It's only a little further."

You Can't Build a Team or Organization Different from You

Too many managers who aspire to lead and develop others haven't learned how to lead and develop themselves. They are trying to build organizations or provide services that are different than they are. These well-intentioned managers are trying to improve their teams or organizations without improving themselves. Many seem to be living along the lines of Mark Twain's observation, "Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits."

Leadership Mentors
There is no shortage of individuals who aspire to be really good leaders. There is also an abundance of leadership development programs, yet we still see a habitual shortfall in the number of really good leaders. I believe a major reason is a shortage of really great leadership mentors. This article shares the impact of this problem and gives the antidote.

3 Reasons Under-Performing Employees In Your Company Are Not At Fault
Learn the three primary mistakes business leaders make that prevent employees from being engaged in their workplace and contributing at higher levels.

Why 44% of Today’s Leaders Are Unhappy With Their Employees’ Performance
In a survey whose results were released this week, 70% of those struggling business leaders also believe they need a new approach to how they communicate.

Are you building bridges or walls?
The mantra of successful leaders and managers is “let’s find a way forward together.” The mantra of unsuccessful leaders and managers is “my way is the only way.” Successful leaders build bridges. Unsuccessful leaders build walls? Are you building bridges or walls?

Five Leadership Lessons Learned In A Canoe
A leadership expert shares five life and leadership lessons she learned during her fourth trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Consider and apply these lessons to your own leadership role.

How Top Management Views Performance Appraisal Systems
How important is your leadership team's support of the performance management system in your organization? A recent study into the views of HR professionals towards their appraisal system sheds interesting light on the value of top level endorsement.

The Situation

Preston is already late for work and feeling stressed by the fresh Monday morning that is upon him. He decides to stop for coffee anyway. The five mile drive to his office seems more like fifty. He is in his seventh month as production supervisor and it feels like seven years. "How did it get this bad so fast?" he thinks to himself. He used to love his job and his life. He is twenty nine years old with a three year old baby boy at home. His relationship with his wife Cindy is very good. And yet, he is so miserable. That faint, yet undeniable sick feeling is coming back and he ponders whether he needs to vomit again today.

Behavioral Attributes of leaders and followers within an Open Organization Structure.

Organizational design and its effects on employee behavior has become an important focus of the modern organization and its leaders. No longer can employers rely on the traditional models of design structure, function and employee interaction. The current business climate almost instinctively requires organizations and its members to become more agile in their response to the ever changing economic conditions. Organizations must learn to develop processes to share knowledge and resources across boundaries to achieve stated goals. The purpose of this article is to introduce the emerging concept of the Open Organization structure and the behavioral attributes of the leaders and followers within its system.

The Role of Organizational Design in 21st Century Organizations.

The world is pressed on all sides by a diminishing full-time workforce, differing cultural, generational, political, and religious views and the organization of the 21st century must be more agile than its 19th and 20th century ancestors. The role of organizational design is imperative to how the organization deals with challenges it now faces. Today’s organizational design will require an ability to share ideas, knowledge, resources and skills across organizational, generational and cultural boundaries within and outside of the organizational system for the purpose of achieving desired goals. This article addresses the role of organizational design in 21st century organization.

Setting Your Moral Compass to North. Why talking about ethics is not enough

Just mentioning the word ethics conjures up a number of thoughts on ethical and moral failings. The late 20th century and early 21st century is marked by an increase in discussions and scholarly debate of the subject. At times you cannot even so much as turn on the television or pick up a newspaper without some news on the ethical failings of an individual or organization. Could it be that we are less moral than we once were or do moral failings only appear more prevalent simply because there is an increase in awareness through education, training and discussion? This article discusses the potential reasons for such failings and what can be done to address the matter.

Words of Wisdom for Leaders and Wanna Bes
Leaders need followers to be what they are. Learn eight practical steps to becoming a superior leader. Boiling leadership down to eight everyday skills may be an exaggeration, but it is a beginning. Read it you will benefit.

Making the Transition
Consistency in any organisation is vital to ensure results. Leadership, structure, systems and consistent delivery create growth. But as organisational growth occurs and it outgrows its present structure and systems, then these need to change. A lack of change will cause instability and growth will stall.

The power of being an insider: thought leadership
Whether you are a selling professional or the head of a team of sales reps, if you want to consistently meet and exceed sales targets in your organization, there are fundamental business habits that you need to emulate every day. As a seasoned sales trainer and coach, I would like to share with you today one of those key habits, and show you how you can implement it right away in your work.

Great Stories Change Cultures

It’s always fascinating talking to clients and listening to engrossing, sometimes astonishing, stories about their organisations and their Brands – what surprises me is how few of the really good ones are used as company assets to strengthen their cultures and inspire their workplaces to positive change. Many change initiatives fail is because they rely too much on the classic ‘data gathering, analysis, report writing, and presentations’ instead of more creative approaches that use great stories to grab feelings and to motivate real performance improvement.

TQM Implementation Process
While Total Quality Management has proven to be an effective process for improving organizational functioning, its value can only be assured through a comprehensive and wellthoughtout implementation process. We will try here to outline key aspects of implementation of largescale organizational change which may enable a practitioner to more thoughtfully and successfully implement TQM.

Adoption of TQM
The analysis of the force field involves looking at which driving forces may be strengthened and which restraining forces may be eliminated, mitigated, or counteracted. If it appears that, overall, driving forces are strong enough to move back restraining forces, adoption of TQM would be worth pursuing.

The Art of Selecting Promising MFIs
The key question for MicroStart is whether it can equip and motivate those in charge of MFI selection to choose "small and promising" rather than "small and weak."

Great Leaders Ask Great Questions
Here is a fact: As a leader the more questions you ask, the more your people will develop and ultimately win. To help people develop, you must first help them become aware, on their own terms, of the need to change. To do that, you ask questions. Unfortunately most leaders do not ask enough questions.

What drives business failures or successes
How business lifecycles and leadership behaviours contribute to business successes and failures

1.9 Building local development through cooperatives: Working Out of Poverty
Participation and inclusion are central to a new approach to poverty reduction.

Motivation - Some Things Never Change
Motivation and our natural tendency to use 'carrot and stick' to motivate - and why it has the opposite effect!

Desk Audit
A brief article on getting ready for the new year.

Lost in Translations
Cross-cultural communication is challenge enough for leaders. Add to this challenge effective translation of material into other languages and there is virtually no record!

A culture of accountability is the key to business and organisational success
Nigel Griffiths gives a positive spin on accountability.

3 Simple Strategies to Improve Your Bottom Line by Tapping Your Most Valuable Asset, Your People
Learn the two issues that impact the bottom line of manufacturing companies today and what you can do about them.

Are you Empowering your Middle Management?
As a leader in your company, if you’re frustrated with your middle management, you have only yourself to blame. The success or failure of middle managers rests upon the support of upper management and how well both parties work together.

Executive Blind Spots

Blind spots can severely impact an executive's strategic vision, their course of action, and their rate of success. They impact decision-making and creativity (or lack thereof) in solving problems and they act to limit the strategic initiatives we are willing to consider. They even affect how we relate to others - hampering our leadership effectiveness, our political adeptness, and our executive presence.

Business Growth Begins With your Employees
Would governments be as despised by their citizens if they actually helped their citizens and tried to meet or exceed their expectations?

Christy’s Laws of Information Technology Leadership Law #2: Technology needs to be tied to business goals and results
Law of Information Technology

How to Recession Proof Your Business: 5 Steps to Freedom
With recession is in the air, the typical media flurry of doom and gloom is picking up momentum. US unemployment is nearing double digits, US debt problems remain unsolved, the Eurozone debt crisis continues, and world stock markets are falling as confidence in the global economy sinks.

How to Motivate Yourself: Part 1
Knowing what to do and how to do it is an important part of leadership, but is only two thirds of what makes any leader effective. The other third is motivation: the reasons for what you do. Consider what gives your life meaning, then implement self-motivation strategies.

The Illusion of Authentic Leadership: Where Did the Morals and Trust Go?
This article focus on Authentic Leadership, the role values, ethics, morals, and trust play in leading others. A must read for those who are seeking a deeper understanding of what it means to "Lead with Purpose" in an authentic and trustworthy way. How to separate yourself as a leader from the pack.

How to Motivate Yourself: Part 2
Self-motivation strategies give you the energy to pursue your goals in life. The seven strategies shared in this article include introspective activities like retreating to advance, mentorship opportunities, and scheduled growth-producing activities.

A simple structure in a complex world is stupid
In pondering whether Western thinking on organizational design is easily transferable to other countries and cultures I have to ask myself a core question: What influence does my own culture have on organizational design?

Trust Measurement: How to Measure Smarter

Trust is an attribute, a value and a character trait that is very much on every leader's mind. We are seeing more and more programs which focus on building and maintaining trust. Leaders want to be sure that they are getting value for money and therefore look at measures which can report the ROI. Sometimes, though, this focus on immediate or even medium term ROI misses the deeper meaning behind these kinds of efforts. When you are changing attitudes and behaviours, you are working at a deep level of change. You have to look at different performance metrics which don't focus on quantitative results but can look at the deeper layers of change. Dr. Dean Spitzer is my performance guru and has written a useful guide on Transformational Performance Measurement

How to Motivate Yourself: Part 3
Self-motivation strategies give you the energy to pursue your goals in life. The final four strategies shared in this article include enjoying the journey, clarifying your values, triumphing over circumstances, and looking for positive elements in every situation.

Why Leadership Coaching pays off for all stakeholders?
A new approach is needed when business becomes stagnant. The engine of any business is its people. Keeping the people engine tuned up, inspired, and well developed is the differentiator between business success and growth, or negative growth over time.

Who Is Motivating Who?
Why average employees can stimulate top performers

The Presentologist Learns in Future Tense
Predicting the future is easy, but predicting it accurately is the hard part. You can prepare today by learning for the future. When you consider your options, look into the mirror, the telescope, and the magnifying glass.

Dear Hiring Manager

Dear Hiring Manager, I am confused about your frequent complaints regarding the availability of talented people for your organization. You complain that good workers are difficult to find. Help me to understand your position and perspective because I just cannot understand your logic. Currently, there are people on your team that do not perform, do not show up, and do not appreciate the job they are asked to complete. Yet, you cannot seem to find the desire or ability to remove them from your team. What gives?

The 360 Degree Trap
Many organizations use a 360 Degree Assessment to measure the effectiveness of leaders. I have always been a proponent of this method as it provides vital information required to improve leadership and build trust. There is a potential trap in this method if the assessment is strongly linked to compensation.

Creating an Unhappy Customer
The customer may not always be right in what they are asking for – but rest assured they will always be right if they believe that they are being treated less than they ought to be. If your organization seeks excellence – it must include an obsession with great customer service.

Doing Customer Service Right!
The way to keep customer and grow your market share will revolve on how you treat both current and potential customers. It would seem that during the holiday season this notion becomes clearer to me. Unfortunately during the holiday months companies hire more seasonal workers and the quality of customer care (mostly in retail) plummets.

Lessons from \'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo\'
The best-selling book "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and its sequels were made into films in Sweden in 2009. Now, the U.S. movie version of the first book, starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, opens in theaters this December.

Alternative to Win/Lose Negotiation
Many people believe that negotiation means coming to the table like a tough guy, ready to squash the other side. True that it has happened many a time. Necessary however? No. Is there an alternative to win/ lose negotiating?

The 4 Inner Habits of Successful Leaders

Great leaders are powerful builders of enterprise. They have a knack for creating a clear vision, believing in its fulfillment with every cell in their body, and inspiring others through heart-centered communication to share their vision and act toward its creation. They can hold the vision in light, under all circumstances - especially during times of darkness, when it seems the world is against its fulfillment.

Leadership empowerment: what is it and how do you do it?
There is a significant amount of talk about the need to empower staff, but what do people mean by 'empowerment?' This article defines two different types of empowerment, and revealing the benefits. It also gives a quick snapshot of one way to implement it in the workplace.

Your Gratitude Affects Attitude
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” - William Arthur Ward What a great time of the year to think about what we CAN be grateful for! But alas, how much of our time do we spend thinking of “what’s missing” in our lives?

3 Things Business Owners Can Learn from Nicole Scherzinger's Indecisiveness
Indecisiveness causes you to live by default, and when you do ironically you'll likely get exactly what you're trying to avoid. When you're "The Boss" or the person that everyone looks to for leadership and direction there are going to be times when you have to make the choice that won't make everyone happy.

The 2011 Execution Round-Up: Six Organizations That Couldn’t “Get It Done” This Year
It’s that time of year when business owners and senior executives take stock of the past twelve months. What did 2011 look like for you and your company? The questions you could ask during your year-end assessment are endless. But, there’s only one that really matters: Did your company effectively execute its plans and initiatives?

Out With The Old; In With The New
With Newness come anticipation for both the new-hire and the organization

BUILDING A HIGH PERFORMING TEAM
When you see a high performing team, whether in sport or business, they really stand out. So what’s their secret? Are they just a better group of individuals brought together in one team, or is there something more to it? High performing teams don’t just happen by accident and there are always a number of common ingredients that they all share.

3 Things to Look For in a Life Coach

I recently was asked some questions about coaching since I am a Life Coach myself. Things have definitely changed over the years. Due to insurance companies getting more and more strict about paying for mental health help, I've found allot of social workers, psychologists in the field now. They have found that a top CEO has no probelm getting their company to pay for a Life Coach and there's no filling out of insurance forms in the process. And paid off human resource heads can now attend a "coaching University" and get certified to coach. So coaching is much more common. For me, I coaching evolved as a professional keynoter, when I was often asked if I would work with an employee privately. I've seen good and bad coaches over the years and have found you should be able to qualify and interview your coach before you make that huge tim

Increase Motivation by Using Questions to Lead Your Team
Leaders must treat people according to where they are on their learning journey. The individual in a new situation will require more leadership and guidance than one who is fully experienced. Asking the right questions allows people to be part of their own learning, to solve their own problems, and demonstrate their competence.

Remove Barriers to Happiness at Work
The main motivators that keep people engaged relate to the opportunity to learn, grow, and do their best work. Ask people what is getting in the way of them doing their best work. Eliminate those barriers to reduce frustration and make progress.

Assertiveness: You Can Do This!
“You can’t win if you don’t play.” Playing the game strengthens your assertiveness muscles. Saying yes to opportunities does have its risks. Yet consider the upside: you place yourself in a position to influence the final decision, learn something new, make new contacts, and gain experience being a spokesperson – all benefits of being assertive!

Ignite Your Beauty Business™ ¡V with the Winning Formula
Leadership is all about getting results out of people, which in turn means they have to be inspired, motivated and loyal to both you and the business. Learn the proven techniques that will inspire your team to work together seamlessly so that they can support you in accomplishing your business vision, improve productivity and increase sales.

6 Ways To Make 2012 an Inspiring Year
A new year, a new beginning. A time for contemplation. What did you accomplish last year? Did you evolve your business, your team, yourself? Where did you miss the mark? How can you improve this year?

Tell the Truth to Get Through Unhappy Times
Bad things happen even in the best organizations. What do you do when things go wrong? Be truthful. It will be easier to recover from a setback than from a loss of trust in leadership.

The Hall of Shame: Six Organizations That Couldn’t “Get It Done” in 2011

It’s that time of year when business owners and senior executives take stock of the past twelve months. What did 2011 look like for you and your company? The questions you could ask during your year-end review are endless. But, there’s only one that really matters: Did your company effectively execute its business goals? To learn from the “living laboratory” of real-world companies, here are six of this year’s headline makers and the lessons we can take away from their struggle.

Developing the Global Leader – Transitioning Leaders and Their Organizations to a Global Environment.

Entering the 21st century we find a time of unprecedented globalization of business and economies. The advent of the Internet and other technologies are linking individuals across cultures and creating collaborations unheard of in centuries past. Accessibility of information and goods via the Internet open the doors for nearly every business to have a global presence. Reality dictates that understanding geography, language, customs, values, ethics, varying laws and national psychologies will all determine the success of a leader within the global marketplace. Leaders who take the time to assimilate into another culture will best develop relationships that will positively impact their organization.

Assertiveness
Whether one is passive or aggressive assertiveness is a great tool.

Proactive risk management & compliance

Compliance and risk professionals spend a lot of their time demonstrating their businesses meet regulatory requirements through reviews, completing checklists and compiling reports. In today's world there is a need for professionals to spend more time focusing on preparing their businesses against unknown risks - or black swan events. To achieve this the regulatory compliance aspect of their roles needs to be simpler and more automated. This article describes one such way of achieving this.

Leaders Play a Major Role for the Employee
Think of the best boss you have ever had in your adult work life. Now what are the top three reasons you said this is your best boss?

CFO vs. Controller: Understanding the Differences

There are two primary types of financial leadership within top organizations: the CFO and the Controller. Many growing organizations do not have a clear understanding of the two positions, often overlooking the value that a CFO could bring to their business. To determine what level of financial leadership an organization requires, a Controller and/or CFO, it is first important to decipher the differences between the two roles.

What Does It Mean to Work Smart? - Quiz

Have you ever known someone who just seems to "have it all together?" Maybe that someone is you and maybe you could do even better. "Having it all together," is what many perceive as "working smart." But what does it really mean to "work smart?" Is it a mysterious quality that some of us are born with, and the rest without? Or is it a skill set that can be learned and mastered? Most business and relationship experts support that "working smart" is a skill set that enables one to achieve balance in life and be fruitful.

Change Your Job Search Strategy If...
You have often heard the saying, “If you always do what you have always done, you will continue getting what you have always gotten”, or something close. If that sounds like you and your job search or your career, then you may want to reconsider your strategy, regardless of your status or what stage of the job search game you are at.

9 Steps to Improve Performance

Sooner or later almost every leader faces the issue of a declining organisation. Things that once worked seem to be less effective and, invariably, the task of achieving desired performance becomes increasingly more difficult. Failure to satisfactorily address this issue leads to declining revenues and/or increased costs and/or reduced profits. Unless corrected this problem of a declining organisation can prove very career limiting for those involved.

Details, Extras & the Personal Touch of Extraordinary Service
Success can be an early warning indicator for failure. Extraordinary service delivery is simple in concept but difficult in execution. It means paying attention to the details, including the nuances of relationship. Remember that all business is personal so the personal touch is one of your most powerful tools.

Set a Standard of High Expectations
Advice for Women in Leadership Professional ball teams with a chance of getting to the championship set high performance standards for their team members. It is imperative that professional women in leadership positions do the same in business.

Coaching Training Part 1: Why You Can't Manage Your Way to Growth
Throughout history, leadership approaches have reflected the advancement of different industries as well as societal changes. Simply stated, as the world changes, so does the way in which we must manage, lead and coach people. This is the first of a three part series.

Coaching Training Part 3: The 3 Elements of Sales Coaching

To perform at the highest level, a sales manager cannot merely be great manager who drives processes, but never captures the hearts of employees. Likewise, even the best leaders who can effectively collaborate with those on their teams, but never pushes them into the high growth mode of complexity, will not be able to maximize results. It is only when sales coaches are able to effectively manage processes, lead collaboratively, and coach their teams into complexity that they will truly be able to enter the high performance zone.

Relationships are the new wealth of the global economy
There are certain barriers to consider in cross-cultural communication. Zweifel (2003) reminds us a global leader already understands the dynamics of language as the very reflection of the culture in which the organization operates (p 25).

Working With A Value Focus
We've all been there. It's the end of the day. Your schedule was jam-packed. You crossed 27 things off your to-do list. And still, you have that nagging feeling that the whole day slipped by before you got the chance to really accomplish anything at all. Being busy is one thing. Being productive is something else.

Choose Your Battles and Listen: Greg Foster
In an interview, Greg Foster explained that for movie directors to go from average to great, they need to have the humility to choose their battles and the humility to listen to advice. His advice is not limited to the movie industry, but instead applies to any leadership position.

Why Leaders Need to Read the News
I often read authors and hear speakers who warn their audiences not to read or watch the news. Why? Because newspapers and news shows are so full of negativity. While this is certainly true, the advice is neither practical nor prudent.

Jim Kouzes: Leaders Focus on the Destination
Jim Kouzes advised leaders to start by developing relationships and being credible. Then, stay focused on the goal and remind others of the goal, even if difficulties cause you to change your route on the way to your destination.

A Four Letter Word That Will Transform Your Business
I use to get annoyed by Valentines Day. I considered it a cash grab perpetrated by the greeting card, floral, lingerie and confectionary industries to get American consumers to pay $18.6 billion (according to the National Retail Federation) in order to materially express our love for our partners. A ritualized example of commercial hucksterism.

Personal Leadership and the Inner Work of Success

Personal Leadership takes practice and is vitally important if you are to live a life that is authentically meaningful, contented and expressive of your most natural self. How we assume a leadership role in our lives can take many forms. The one I’m focusing on in this e-zine is what I call the Inner Work of Success. This is the practice of developing a relationship with your inner world, to get to know and understand how your mind works, what your heart is telling you and to really LISTEN to that still small voice that is the truth of who you are.

Top 5 Reasons Managers Get Fired
One of the biggest costs companies are dealing with today is leadership. Are you choosing your leaders based on technical ability or their ability to lead?

Executive Effectiveness: Becoming Highly Productive
For an executive to be highly effective, they need to become highly productive. In addition, how they attain high productivity is as important as the productivity itself. High productivity is essential for executives because it serves three important purposes.

Purpose-Driven Leadership: The Bridge to What Truly Matters
Far from being touchy-feely concepts touted by motivational speakers, purpose and values have been identified as key drivers of high-performing organizations.

Considering high-context vs. low-context cultures and its impact on cross-cultural leadership communications.

Communicating in your own native language is difficult enough. Add to this the nuances of differing cultures and we have a rather complex matter. Such nuances create certain barriers to communicating in a cross-cultural setting. Today, more than ever, leaders must find ways to influence people in varying cultures. Further, leaders must begin to understand the implications of globalization and how the very patterns of thought are based on the individual’s culture of origin. This article seeks to outline the meaning of high- and low-context cultures; polychronic and monochronic cultures; and explain how leaders may begin to better communicate within the context of these differing cultural settings.

Shame Leadership - Communicating Across Cultural Boundaries
Understanding culture and its values aids the communicator in dealing with conflict resolution. There are ways we can be more culturally sensitive in handling conflict.

Managing Cross-Cultural Conflicts – Expressive or Instrumental
Understanding the nature of conflict is important to its management. Conflicts are inevitable and understanding the nature of conflict is critical to developing and maintaining lasting relationships.

Dining at the Idea Buffet
Idea buffets, such as seminars, are a great way to acquire many new ideas. After ingesting a buffet of ideas, make sure to exercise your mental muscles and apply the new information so you don't become "idea obese."

Interpreting culture and its impact on conflict resolution
To interpret the culture and its impact on conflict we must begin to understand inquisitiveness is at the core of effective global leadership.

FIRST LESSON OF LEADERSHIP: ‘THE BUCK STOPS HERE!’

Among Leadership Proficiencies, one is paramount. 'I Take Responsibility for my actions and choices.' we focus on 'what value does leadership provide to the followers, be they individuals or organizations, in or out of business. In the 21st Century, with the speed up of change, this proficiency is pivotal. It opens the door for individual and organizational learning, growth, and development. In its absence, stagnation and paralysis rule.

Leading Cross-Cultural Conflict Resolution
Interpretive misunderstanding is central to cross-cultural conflict resolution. When dealing with Asian culture, for example, Westerners often interpret their silence as consent.

Developing a Cultural Hermeneutic to Conflict Resolution
In dealing with conflict, leaders should develop a cultural hermeneutics that assist the leader and organization to function successfully within a given culture.

Is Your Leadership Limiting Your Organizations Ability to Grow?
Leadership capacity is more than simply skill development; it's about performance, growth, transformation and change. Great leaders not only understand how to engage and inspire their teams to get the best results -- they understand the need to create participatory and collaborative processes that develop the abilities of the next generation of leaders.

7 tips to be a good leader
A lot has been written about leadership and management so my intention is to explore 1. The 7 principles of leadership 2. The 7 habits of a good leader (S. Covey) 3. Give 7 tips to be a good leader

The LAW of MotionFirst = SUCCESS
It is my fundamental belief that success comes from movement - Motionfirst. To succeed, you must consistently take action.

3 Competencies of Leadership
The 3 things every leader should know.

Stuck in the Brain
When reading isn't informing writing, writers need to purposefully expose themselves to ideas that will stimulate their thinking. Improve your writing by choosing to read higher quality content.

10 Tips to Improve Your Customer Experience

Today customers demand a great customer experience and will not settle for anything less – companies need to create memorable interactions with customers that help establish a loyal relationship and promote brand advocacy. And, for it to be successful it needs to be clearly defined so that each one of your employees understands how to deliver the experience you want to create for your customers. Here are 10 ways that you can improve and refine your customer experience and improve your relationship with customers.

Enough Already.....Are You a Leader or a Follower?

I’ve been seeing a lot of “information” lately about being a leader or a follower. What I’ve come to understand is a lot of mentors, gurus and marketers need you to be a follower. Followers do what they are told. Which means followers will probably spend a lot more money with their “guru” and will implement exactly how they are told. Which means the “gurus” ego can be stroked, so they can capture the followers success and convince a lot more followers to buy.

Executive Effectiveness: Becoming an Effective Leader
Recently on LinkedIn I posed three questions that resulted in some very interesting conversations. Here they are: 1) An executive is only a leader if people choose to follow. How can you tell whether people are following or just doing their job? 2) Everyone says leadership is important, but why does it make a difference? 3) If an executive...

Are You Really “In Control”?
Prevailing wisdom says that leaders and successful people says they are proactive and in control, but no one really has control over circumstances. Instead, people can choose to interact wisely with circumstances to reach desired outcomes.

Internet Users Hbk - Appendix A Your Personal Assessment - Entrepreneurship

Appendix A. Your Personal Assessment In-Born Traits of an Entrepreneur A Successful Entrepreneur Is One That Challenges of an Entrepreneur Entrepreneurship Opportunities Are You Entrepreneurial? Are You Non-Entrepreneurial? Investigate – Why Are You Here? How Much Do You Know About Leadership? Do You Have A Passion for Business? Personal Believe and Confidence What is Your Attitude? Do You Have a Fear of Failure? Use Your Fear as a Motivator Overcoming Your Fears Are You A Procrastinator? Are You PREPARED For The Challenge/TO accept The Risk? Are You Considering a New Business? What Do You Know About The Following Topics?

Management Skills That Drive Performance
Sales Management 303 class was held yesterday down the road at the University of Nebraska, where 54 undergraduate students packed in room 212 of the stately looking College of Business Administration building. As a guest instructor I was supposed to bring some "gray hair" (I fit the description) wisdom and shed some light on the real world of business and sales management.

Going Against the Social Crowd IS the Secret to Success
Don't try to be the next Facebook but only better. Be the leader that everyone else tries to mimic. To be a copycat is easy, it takes boldness to invent something that doesn't exist. Being in business sometimes means you forge your own trails instead of following the ones well traveled.

Starting A Movement With Your Business, Gimmick or Genuis?
Business is no longer just about selling stuff. Customers want to have meaning behind the brand. Starting a movement with your business isn’t a side thing you do to draw attention, it’s a complete shift in how you interact with your customers and what you give back to your industry & community.

A Stuck Mind Can't Create a Successful Business
If creating a successful business was just about following strategies of other successful entrepreneurs everyone would be millionaires. There's millions of books on business and how to create successful ones so why aren't all businesses successful? It's a lot more about the business owner than just the business. How you think plays a bigger role in your success than you may believe.

Six Conversations for Team Success - Making Team Away Days More Valuable

Intelligent conversations create meaning and understanding for the people that take part. Conversations are an essential aspect of learning - with thoughts and ideas challenged, opinions exchanged and wisdom created. The most useful intelligent conversations for teams have two broad dimensions. The outside and inside worlds. The outside world is where stakeholders' expectations, opinions and decisions determine whether or not the team and its products and services are valued. The inside world is, in reality, of secondary importance. How the team works together is only relevant to delivering the business strategy.

Six Conversations for Team Success - Look Outside First

Just about every commercial team has experienced some kind of team building event or away day - unfortunately they often become just another project or progress review; what the team has been doing, with little or no attention to how the team is working. Of those that do take time to look at the "how" not just the "what", the focus is too often inwardly directed. "Team spirit", "good communications" and "shared purpose" are not wrong. However, they miss the fundamental truth of being a commercial team. Success is created outside not inside the team.

Neuroscience and Gender Differences

One remarkable difference between genders is the way that men and women tend to think. Psychologists report that when women cogitate, they gather details somewhat differently than men. Women integrate more details faster and arrange these bits of data into more complex patterns. As they make decisions, women tend to weigh more variables, consider more options, and see a wider array of possible solutions to a problem. Women tend to generalize, to synthesize, to take a broader, more holistic, more contextual perspective of any issue. They tend to think in webs of factors, not straight lines, so I coined a term for this broad, contextual, feminine way of reasoning: web thinking.

Who are the most mentally tough and resilient in the face of work and life stress?
Recent studies have explored the answer to this question for working women and men in many different industries. The studies used a validated set of scales measuring stress, mental toughness,coping, lifestyle practices, Type A behaviour, social support and happiness.

Leadership Lessons from Earnest Shackleton, The Great Antarctic Explorer
Imagine a leadership test while stranded twelve hundred miles from civilization on Antarctic ice for nearly two years in temperatures so low you could hear water freeze. Earnest Shackleton not only led every one of his twenty-seven Endurance crew to survival, but led them to survive in good spirits.

Servant Leadership: A Way To Authentic Power and Prosperity

Do you believe you can effortlessly ride the path to prosperity - living in a state of wealth, balance and ease? Over the past few months, I've been actively working on my signature keynote and book, A New Path To Prosperity, which is the first book to explore the psychological and social conditioning that causes destructive leadership behaviors (including CEO greed), while offering 7 concrete practices for transcending strife, and becoming a powerful leader that drives positive change.

Why CEOs Score Low in Emotional Intelligence (EI)
Because leaders achieve organizational goals through others, you may assume they have the best people skills. Wrong! CEOs, on average, have the lowest workplace EI scores.

Five Undeniable Laws of Leadership
Learn five undeniable laws of leadership.

How Being Beaten With a Stick Can Increase Your Blog Traffic By 1,000%
By voicing your opinion you are displaying braveness that others envy and admire. And by providing the content, you are the child who dares to answer first. A self-appointed leader, brave, because you voluntarily take a stand without following.

Six Conversations for Team Success - The Key Questions

Intelligent conversations for teams help them to focus on what really matters. Team development events, away days and team meetings are all opportunities to review how the team works. There are fundamental questions that any successful team or organisation pays attention to on a regular basis. These twelve questions cover six areas and together ensure a balance between an internal and external focus.

Stop Being Invisible - Why Everyone Wants To Be A GURU!
It’s irrelevant how COMPETENT a guru is…because you can think of their role, almost like an actor. As long as they play a convincing role in a production (like a launch or a product)…which inspires or draws crowds.

Six Conversations for Team Success - What To Talk About

Having intelligent and productive conversations helps teams and individuals recognise their strengths and weaknesses, knowns and unknowns, facts and assumptions. A structure or agenda for the conversations helps keep discussions focussed and purposeful. The really important conversations, those that are vital to survival and sustained success are about the outside world - where the customers, suppliers, investors, stakeholders, sponsors, partners and supporters live.

Hypotheticals, Scenarios and Foresight
Strategic foresight is about creating new perspectives on key issues concerning an organization today through an integrated approach to strategy which results in discovery and articulation of a preferred direction for the organization (Marsh, et al., 2002, p 2 – 4).

Nobody Trains to be a Follower
The importance of leadership

Wise Words: Successful Businesses Are Led More Than They Are Managed
Successful businesses are strategically led instead of forcefully managed. In the following article by Tom Welch, Bob Danzig advises to seeking and nurturing the best talent,celebrating your employees' achievements, and leading with skill to get where you want to be.

Six Conversations for Team Success - Ensuring Intelligent Conversations

Teams need to know how to work together and have conversations which help the process of understanding and optimising the knowledge, skills and attitudes available within the group. "Six Conversations for Team Success" is a framework to help teams structure their conversations so that the most important and relevant topics are addressed. Using a disciplined approach to talking with each other helps make for intelligent conversations where ideas occur, new thinking emerges and great things happen.

Leadership Development in Different Cultures - Not Everyone Thinks Like Maslow

When talking about leaders and leadership it's not very long before motivation as a topic arrives in the discussion and when you ask people what they know about motivation, Abraham Maslow and his hierarchy of needs will show up fairly soon. The problem is many cultures do not see the world that way and as we find ourselves in emerging markets some of our truths may need to be challenged or questioned

Leadership Development in Different Cultures - What Do we Want from Future Leaders?

As organisations find themselves in places where maps of past experience and cultural biases are not very helpful they need to think what that means for the leaders they want to appoint or develop. Future leaders need to quickly see and understand the underlying assumptions about how the world works in a given community or culture and make a judgment call on how to work with this if it differs greatly from how their own organisation "does life". ClearWorth's research with several major international organisations has revealed two factors or competencies that seemed to capture what they were looking for in the people who would be helping the organisation achieve its objectives in these "brave new worlds".

Leadership Development in Different Cultures - What's Your Leadership Model?

As organisations seek to recruit and develop talent in emerging markets, specifically in positions of leadership and management, the question of a culturally acceptable base model for such development includes considering what such things as "leadership" represent or mean to the host culture.Leaders need to learn how to have conversations with their people in ways that achieve the organisational objectives and respect the cultural influences.

Aligning Corporate Teams
How Individuals And Teams Get Aligned Fast With A Process Of Questioning, Energy Shifting, Self-Esteem Raising, And Confidence Building

The Torn Manager
How do you represent the views of the upper echelon and protect the interests of those who work under you at the same time?

Why Managers Cant Increase Productivity and What to do about It
Studies have proven that the morale of a company's workforce is directly linked to profitability. Surveys performed by Gallup have shown that the old-fashioned methods of offering financial incentives, company cars, etc. do not produce long-term benefits. Terri discusses what companies are now doing to reach new and higher levels of success.

Obama Leadership: 8 Ways to Lead in the 21st Century
Leadership perspective piece on President Obama's leadership style and leadership lessons learned for leading effectively in the 21st Century. Includes 8 Obama leadership development tips.

Integral Leadership - A Useful Model for Leadership Development
Managers and HR professionals concerned with developing leaders are inundated with leadership development theories, models, concepts and courses - Situational Leadership, Servant Leadership, and the Leadership Lessons of everyone from Attila the Hun to Jack Welch, to name but a few.

How to be a Real Leader Bottom of Form
If leadership is so important, why are effective business leaders so rare? Kevin Cashman, a Minneapolis-based leadership coach, thinks that he has the answer: “Too many people separate the act of leadership from the leader. They see leadership as something that they do - rather than as an expression of who they are.”

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