You Think Flip-Flop Leadership is Bad? – You Might Be Ignorant!

October 31, 2012 by

Inconsistent flipflop leadership
It’s frustrating to hear individuals complain about a leader who has changed their mind on a topic, when they haven’t taken the time to consider why the change of mind took place. They crucify this leader for “flip-flopping” and being inconsistent. The world is full of the stigma that consistency is an admirable trait and that to be a good leader you must be consistent, that’s just a bunch of hogwash. Consistency is only a good thing if you are perfect. I love the quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, when he said “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.”

Consistency is Not Necessarily a Good Thing!

Consistency is just another way to that one “could” describe the status-quo. If we all were consistent, we would all still be pooping in diapers and wearing onesies. I have met consistent sales people that pull in amazingly consistent below margin deals. I have worked with business owners who are remarkably consistent about not executing, and not setting goals. I have worked with employees that are bizarrely consistent about never growing their skills or reading a book that would help them.

Sure consistency could be described as a good thing …in some ways. But it also signifies the lack of change. The very definition of ‘consistent’ is: “(of a person, behavior, or process) Unchanging in achievement or effect over a period of time.” I don’t want to be a consistent leader, a consistent husband, or a consistent father; I want to be always improving – no matter how good I become. One of my core values in life is achievement. I’m motivated by achievement. If I was consistent I think I might shrivel up and into a lifeless, depressed corpse.

Embrace Flip-Flop Leadership

The definition of ‘Flip-flop’ in the context I am discussing is, “Make an abrupt reversal of policy.” So as a leader are you afraid of changing a policy or process for fear of being thought of as a flip-flop?

If you make a decision and it sucks, then make a better decision – FLIP-FLOP!

If you make a bad hire, hire someone better – FLIP-FLOP!

If your sales strategy is not bringing in the numbers you need, don’t ride the storm out for 12 more months; make a better strategy – FLIP-FLOP!

If it is not improving, change it.

One aspect of a flip-flop is correcting a bad decision. Another aspect though is flip-flopping because something has changed. Changes like: your industry, your market, buying patterns, a crisis, technology, competition, etc… There are thousands of things that could push the button for needing to change a policy, process, or way of doing things.

Good leaders are strong enough to make the right decision, despite what others think.” Tweet This

There is an art to the flip-flop. But it comes down to the ‘WHY.’ As a leader it is important to explain why you are changing your mind and explain the background information that led to the change.

Don’t be an ignoramus, embrace the flip-flop and achieve great things!

Filed Under: Flip-Flop Leadership Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Are You Making Your Employees Stupid?

October 29, 2012 by

Stupid-LeadershipAccording to Merrill Lynch, “50% of employee skills become outdated in 3 to 5 years.” WOW, when I read this statistic, it really surprised me. Many leaders think that the experience of just doing the required work, day in and day out, is enough to keep their employees knowledgeable to optimally perform their duties. Unfortunately that is not true at all.

On the job training, meaning training that is acquired by just doing your job, interacting with clients, and talking with colleagues is hardly enough to create productive and engaged employees that are on the cutting edge of their disciplines. Many leaders and managers struggle with training programs because they are often tasked with reducing costs. So training programs are often the first to go.

Consider this though, according to a Saratoga Institute study, “Workers who have good training and professional development paths average 12% turnover; workers who don’t have learning and growth opportunities average 41% turnover.” That is not even the worst of it; consider additionally that the average cost of replacing an employee is 150% of their salary.

Those numbers mean that eliminating a training budget will probably cost you much more than you can save. To support that statement, Motorola has discovered that, “…for every $1 spent on training, there will be $30 in productivity gains in 3 years.” Why then would anyone cut training?

There is a lot of hidden meaning in these numbers that whisper of leadership, culture, productivity, cost savings, and innovation; but they all point to the fact that an organization will be less successful if they operate without formal training and coaching opportunities for their employees.

There are a lot of different training programs available that can train employees on a multitude of things, such as: Leadership, Execution, Productivity, Customer Service, Management, Teamwork, Collaboration, Innovation, Social Media, Financial Management, Technology, etc…

These programs are not always expensive and really could just involve reading a book in a quiet room of the office to hone a specific skill.

I challenge you, before the year is out, to put together a training program for next year, for your employees that will make them, and you, more successful in building the organization. Don’t make your employees “stupid” by failing to give them proper training.

Shameless plug, but if you are interested in execution and leadership training, be sure to check out all my programs that are half-off until the release of my book about execution.

Do you agree with these statistics about training programs? Please share your experience with training and development programs that you have experienced or implemented.

Filed Under: Leadership Growth Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Wisdom & Prosperity on The Book Shelf | The Leadership Book Corner

October 25, 2012 by

Leadership Book CornerJane Hamilton, an American novelist beautifully said, “It is books that are the key to the wide world; if you can’t do anything else, read all that you can.”

I have taken that philosophy for a number of years and know it to be true. Some of the greatest successes I have had in life, were due to the knowledge I gained by reading a book. There is a book for just about every conceivable problem. In the business/leadership genre this is ever so true. Many companies struggle in these hard times, yet many of the secrets to solve these problem are locked within the confines of wonderful books.

I feel a little bit ashamed though, that I don’t really tell many people about the books that have impacted me. As I was staring at a pile of books recently and thinking about this; I realized that I should to start a book column on the site. Instead of just randomly posting a book I enjoyed, I needed to make it more regular. So I have decided to start the Leadership Book Corner every Friday at ToddNielsen.com to share and talk about some of the fantastic new books that are hitting the market, and some old classics that I love.

Here is my pledge to you:

Green Check MarkI promise to NOT share books just because some publicist or author sent me a book. I will only review books that I enjoyed reading, that I learned from, and that I feel provide value to my readers.

Green Check MarkI will keep the reviews short and sweet, so you can get on with your day.

Green Check MarkI will try and always share a few quotes from the book so you can get a taste of the content and writing style of the author.

Green Check MarkI will be honest if there is something about the book that bothers me. Keep in mind though that I will not share books that I don’t like, so a small flaw usually won’t make me not like a book.

Green Check Mark***Prizes – If I get cooperation from the Authors of the books I review, I will give away a book each week to the person with the most profound comment on the topic of the article.

The Leadership Book Corner, starts Friday October 26th, 2012 (Tomorrow). I hope you will join me. As always sign-up for email updates to stay up to date on all the articles and books I share.

Let me leave you with another great quote on reading:

A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.”
~ Henry David Thoreau

and for those that need a laugh:

There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.”
~ Will Rogers

 

Filed Under: Leadership Book Corner Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Climbing Out of Hell …& Into The Fire

October 18, 2012 by

Climbing-Out-of-Hell The last month or two of my life has felt like I have been climbing out of hell. I won’t go into all the gritty details, but needless to say there were many hard days, sleepless nights, and stressful moments. We all have those times in our life. They are times I think that prepare us to move into a new future.

The Hell

For those that are regular readers of my site, you will notice that the site has changed. My “hell” had a small part to do with this big change. I had two web design companies completely drop the ball over the last 4 months. I was beyond frustrated.

I had a discussion with my performance partner about a month ago, and he was relating to me a problem that he had, that he kept putting off, and scheduling , and rescheduling, and thinking about, etc… Finally when he did the task, he realized that he spent massively more time worrying about the task and rescheduling it over and over, than the few minutes it took to actually do the task.

At that moment I knew, what I had to do, but I really was not looking forward to it. I just finally accepted the fact that if I wanted this done fast, I was going to need to do it myself. Many years ago I created websites, so I knew how to build a website, but I did not know the ins-and-outs of programming and customizing a wordpress theme.   So for a week and half all I did was work on customizing the website. It was painful to complete amidst the other struggles I had, but I got it done.

I hope you like it and will explore the pages, as just about every page has changed from the old site.

The Fire

As the website work and some of my other problems passed, I was/am faced with a firestorm in the near future. On my desk are two publishing agreements that are awaiting my signature. The books:

  1. It’s All About Execution: Transform Your Organization by Creating a Culture of ‘Getting Things Done.’
  2. #Execution: 140 Ways to Transform Your Organization by Creating a Culture of Execution.

As you can clearly see, these books are about execution, and more specifically about creating a culture of “getting things done.” The first book takes the reader through the journey of a struggling outdoor equipment manufacturer, that uses the power of execution to revitalize their organization and get off the “ledges” that are holding them back from greater success. I have implemented this methodology at companies and have seen huge miracles happen as a result of it.

The second book is a collection of 140 bite-sized pieces of wisdom on execution that are each – 140 characters or less. This is an easy to read book that will help reinforce the concepts that I teach on execution.

Kevin Eikenberry, a leadership expert, speaker, and author of several leadership books, said this about my book, “There are many good books about organizational vision, goal setting and execution. None are any better than this one. It is the most clear, practical, and immediately useful book on this subject. If you want to revitalize yourself, your team, or your company, read this book.”

Mark Miller, the author of three leadership books says, “Todd has created what so many businesses need – a blueprint to build a strong and vibrant organization.”

I am super excited. Everyone who has ever launched a book or participated in a book launch knows that launches are crazy and chaotic. But there is more, because I want to help you and a lot of other people too. I have organized what I am calling the Uber-Magnificent 2.5 Book Launch, which is going to be an epic book launch for both books. In the launch I will be recruiting people like you, who I am calling “Uber-Masters” and “Uber-Apprentices” to help spread the word of the book launch; and in return for the help, I will be giving away HUGE rewards. I am truly turning the book launch world outward, instead of inward.

Here are a few things you should know and do:

  1. Read more about the Uber-Magnificent 2.5 Book Launch, and sign-up to be an Uber-Master, or an Uber-Apprentice, or choose an A-La-Cart option (You’ve Gotta Read the Rewards before you say no). Also if you want to receive a free speech or workshop on execution at your organization; you can see how on the Uber-Magnificent 2.5 Book Launch pages.
  2. Share the Uber-Magnificent 2.5 Book Launch with others that might be interested in helping. This is great for speakers, authors, bloggers, business owners, event planners, and other social media savvy persons that want to get great exposure during the book launch and earn some valuable rewards.

Lastly, remember always, that your hell might just preparing you for a future that is bigger and brighter. Tweet This!

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: , , , , ,

Mark Miller – Great Leaders Serve

October 9, 2012 by
Last spring a publicist sent me Mark’s newest book, Great Leaders Grow. I think I read a page into it before I knew that Mark and I were going to get along great. I loved the book, it is a philosophy that I embrace deeply. Mark, being the most gracious and kind person that he is, thanked me a lot for my book review. A couple of months later, we had the great pleasure of sitting down to dinner and having a great discussion in San Francisco. Mark is one of the most generous, kind, and humble people I know. He has been immeasurably helpful to me. I value his friendship and look forward to many years of increasing friendship.
Mark Miller
Name:
 Mark Miller
 Company/ Blog Name:
 Great Leaders Serve
Website: 
Click Here
 Home:
 Atlanta, GA, USA

BIO:

Mark Miller is a business leader, best-selling author and communicator.

Mark began his Chick-fil-A career working as an hourly team member in 1977. In 1978, Mark joined the corporate staff working in the warehouse and mailroom. Since that time, he has provided leadership for Corporate Communications, Field Operations, Quality and Customer Satisfaction, Training and Development, and today he serves as the Vice President for the newly formed Organizational Effectiveness function. During his time with Chick-fil-A, annual sales have grown to over $4 billion. The company has more than 1,600 restaurants in 39 states and the District of Columbia.

Mark began writing about a decade ago.  He teamed up with Ken Blanchard, co-author ofThe One Minute Manager to write The Secret : What Great Leaders Know and Do. Today, almost 400,000 copies of The Secret are in print, and it has been translated into more than 20 languages. Recently, he released The Secret of Teams which outlines some of the key lessons learned from a 20 year study on what makes some teams outperform the rest.  His newest book, Great Leaders Grow : Becoming a Leader for Life, was released in February 2012 and was co-authored with Ken Blanchard.

In addition to his writing, Mark loves speaking to leaders.  Over the years, he’s traveled extensively around the world teaching for numerous international organizations. His theme is always the same: encouraging and equipping leaders.  His topics include leadership, creativity, team building, and more.

Mark has an active lifestyle. As a photographer, he enjoys shooting in some of the world’s hardest-to-reach places, including Mount Kilimanjaro, Everest Base Camp and the jungles of Rwanda.

Randomness from Mark:

  • Mission/purpose: Encouraging and Equiping Leaders.
  • Passion: Helping leaders grow.
  • Favorite Quote: “Everything rises and falls on leadership.”
  • Family: Married to Donna for 30 years; Two sons, Justin and David, one daughter-in-law, Lindsay, one grand dog – Jackson.
  • Books: The Secret and Great Leaders GROW, both co-authored with Ken Blanchard. The Secret of Teams released in 2011.
  • Day Job: Vice President, Organizational Effectiveness, Chick-fil-A, Inc.

Links to Connect With Mark:

 

 

Filed Under: BlogRoll Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Kimunya Mugo – Lead by Choice

October 8, 2012 by
I originally met Kimunya on Twitter. He contacted me when I was looking for writers for the International Leadership Blogathon and wanted to write. He wrote a great post that brings leadership to the family. We have stayed in touch since then and have become very good friends. I have a lot of great respect for him and all he does. He recently published a great book on bringing leadership to the family.
Kimunya Mugo
Name:
Kimunya Mugo 
 Company/ Blog Name:
 Lead By Choice
Website: 
Click Here
 Home:
Nairobi, Kenya 

BIO:

Born in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley and now making home in Nairobi Kenya, Kimunya is first and foremost a husband and a father of three great kids. His family, he believes, is his first calling in life. During his free time, he works on his three passions: Communication, Leadership and Branding.

As a seasoned communication specialist, Kimunya has years of experience in communication strategy, publishing, branding, social media, development communication, media relations, campaigns, photography and filmmaking for development.

He started of as a scientist but his communication skills were accidentally discovered as he had a knack of digesting complex scientific information into popular script. Kimunya never looked back. Along the way, he noticed that there was something missing in his environment, intentional leadership. For a number of years, he explored what it means to be a leader. This finally inspired him to start writing a blog on intentional leadership Lead by Choice.

With a young family, he also noticed that he couldn’t become an effective leader anywhere else unless he started small, at home.  Together with his wife and another couple, they have facilitated parenting classes since 2007. It is their way to give back to community, as they prepare new parents [and sometime older ones] through the challenging maze of parenting.

Always one to try out new things, Kimunya pioneered Earth Hour in Kenya and has organized this global event in Kenya since 2009 (www.earthhour.org).

He will be publishing a book in December 2012 that looks at his struggle growing up with an absentee father. In it, he takes the reader through five steps that inspired him to bring leadership back home.

Randomness from Kimunya Mugo:

  • Mission/purpose: To work towards excellence, effective leadership, and creative thought that inspires and motivates people to sustainable action.
  • Passion: Passionate about family, leadership, communication and sustainable development in that order.
  • Claim to Fame: I shoot from the hip!
  • Favorite Quote: “People of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen. They went out and happened to things.” Leonardo Da Vinci
  • Biggest Fear: Fail as a father and husband. Everything else is redeemable…
  • Biggest Pet Peeve: People who don’t keep time
  • Weirdest Habit: Can scratch my pinky with forefinger, from behind the middle and fourth fingers!
  • Favorite Cartoon Character: Calvin & Hobbes!

Links to Connect With Kimunya Mugo:

 

Filed Under: BlogRoll Tagged With: , , ,

Dennis N.T. Perkins – The Syncretics Group

October 8, 2012 by
Dennis and I began developing a friendship following my review of his book, Leading at the Edge. It was an awesome book and one I think every leader should read. He was kind enough to help me on a few things and vice-versa and I hope it is the beginning of a long friendship. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of Into the Storm, which will be coming out soon. You can surely expect another book review.
Dennis Perkins
Name:
Dennis N.T. Perkins 
 Company/ Blog Name:
 The Syncretics Group
Website: 
Click Here
 Home:
Madison, CT, USA 

BIO:

For over twenty-five years, Dennis N.T. Perkins, Ph.D., has advised senior leaders in organizations ranging from Fortune 50 corporations to nonprofit associations. His current focus is on developing leadership in organizations, especially under conditions of rapid change, economic adversity, sudden growth, and other demanding environments. He has written extensively on leadership and organizational effectiveness and is a featured keynote speaker to groups and organizations throughout the year. Dr. Perkins is the author of Leading at The Edge: Leadership Lessons from the Extraordinary Saga of Shackleton’s Antarctic Expedition, and Into the Storm: Lessons in Teamwork from the Treacherous Sydney to Hobart Ocean Race.

Randomness from Dennis N.T. Perkins :

  • Mission/purpose: The Syncretics Group helps leaders, teams, and organizations achieve their greatest potential in demanding environments characterized by adversity, uncertainty, and rapid change.
  • Favorite Quote: Never give up – There’s always another move!

Links to Connect With Dennis N.T. Perkins:

Filed Under: BlogRoll Tagged With: , , , ,

Gone With Old …In With The New. The Soft-Launch of ToddNielsen.com

October 4, 2012 by

Todd-Nielsen-Out-With-Old-In-With-NewI am excited to go live on the soft launch of ToddNielsen.com. I have been planning on making this change for quite sometime, but ended having a heck of a time with web designers. In the end I had to do it all myself. Hence the reason I am calling this a soft launch. There are still lots of edges to grind down to get it into the shape I want it to be in.

I decided to retire A Slice of Leadership for several reasons. The main reason though was to emphasize more of what I do around execution and leadership. This site is dedicated to my new mission statement, which is to: Use the Power of Execution to Create Miracles. It will make more sense as I roll everything out.

Let me tell you about a few things you should check out. Everything is in a beta state and is in the process of fine tuning, but if you see something that does not look right please let me know.

First head over to the “About” link in the navigation menu. I think you will enjoy those pages. They are much more personable then my bio from A Slice of Leadership and you will probably learn a few things about me that you never knew. I also have a page there that describes more about the reason for the new website.

Also check out the “What Ledge Are You Stuck On” video. Please forgive the quality and anything else about it. I recorded it at 12:30 am, so I might need a redo. 🙂

The “Testimonials and Other Love” section is pretty cool. A lot missing there, but the “Friends from Around the World” section is going to rock. I have a bunch of other friends to put in there. These are people that I think you should know.

The “Speaking and Workshops” pages lists all speeches, workshops and seminars. I am offering a killer 50% off of all them until the launch of my books.

Oh, yeah, I will be launch 3, that’s right THREE books on execution at the beginning of the year. I am really excited to be working with an awesome publisher.

Ok, well it is 2:30 am on October 4th. Mark that as the birth of ToddNielsen.com. You might think I am going to bed, but nope, gotta do some more tuning on this baby!

Please leave a comment below and share the new site with your friends, I got some uber-cool things coming soon!

Filed Under: It Begins Tagged With: , , , , ,

Are You Sucking Every Last Drop of Their Blood? | Leadership

August 29, 2012 by

Leaders Sucking BloodLast week I wrote about my trip to the hospital, but there was a part I left out that ultimately resulted in me passing out, and getting lots of ‘fun’ stuff stuck into me. To recap briefly I went into the emergency room because I had an epic bloody nose that would not stop bleeding. After spending hours at home trying to stop it, I realized it was time to seek help. When I went into the emergency room, they escorted me to a little room within the ER. They put a clamp on my nose and said that I needed to wait a while until it slowed down.

The clip that they put on my nose was not doing much; it just made the blood go down my throat instead of out my nose, (not fun going either direction)…  After quite a while, at least an hour, a nurse came in with a needle and 4 empty vials. One of my eyebrows raised, I looked at my wife, and then at the nurse and said, “You’re joking right?”

By this time I had been bleeding for about 3.5 hours, and this was a not a slow little drip, this was a Texas rainstorm coming out my nose. So I was seriously worried about them taking even more blood, but they are the experts, so I conceded. They led, I followed. As she got to the last vial, the blood was barely dripping into it. I assume due to my blood pressure being so low, since I had lost so much already. About 10 minutes after they finished, I told my wife, “I’m dizzy, I think I’m going to pass out.” Moments later, I was out, she screamed and lots of alarms starting going off.

As I was lying there later, I thought about how stupid this was that I was in a bed for a dumb nose bleed. I thought about them extracting more blood when it was obvious, to me at least, that it was not going to lead to good a good outcome. Four days later, I had another epic nose bleed, but this time we went to an ENT. They cauterized the blood vessels in my nose and I was out of there in under 30 minutes.

As I consider this experience, my mind travels to employers I have worked for in the past, that similarly, sucked out every last ounce of my “blood,” i.e. my motivation, my energy, my desire. I once worked for an employer in which about 1/3rd of the staff had filed for divorce during their tenure, and it was rumored there was one suicide in the early days of the company. There was lying and manipulation galore from the CEO. Not a great atmosphere!

I specialize in creating a culture of execution, but creating that culture has nothing to do with being a hard-nosed task master that sucks the life out of your employees.

Employees are people, and they will work a lot harder for you if they respect you and have an inspiring purpose and an inspiring leader. Click to Tweet This.

So today, no lists, no wild headlines, no step-by-step plan to follow, just a challenge …don’t be a blood sucker.

I’d love to know your thoughts, please continue the conversation below.

Filed Under: Leadership Blood Suckers Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

The One About Making a Difference

August 24, 2012 by

I should have done this months ago, but it has been a busy summer. A few months ago I was invited to write in a Personal Banding Blogathon by a good friend, Peter Sterlacci. I spent a lot of time on the article and wanted to make sure that those who follow me got wind of it. The reason is because it was one of the most heartfelt posts I have written. The article has received over 1,200 Tweets, and 513 Linked shares as of this writing. It has generated a lot of chatter on various social channels. I truly believe that as we grow and become more influential, that we can create miracles in the world that help others and make a difference. The article is entitled: Screw “Dents” … I’m aiming for an Immense Gaping Hole!  Take a minute to read it and add a comment if it moves you.

Filed Under: Leadership Influence Tagged With: , , , ,
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