New Beginnings and Big News!

July 26, 2011 by

Sometimes life can throw you for a curve.  I think it is those moments in life that can either bring anxiety and dread; or they can bring clarity and direction.  Recently the company I was employed at, was acquired by a slightly larger company.  There were some great people at this company.  The CEO struck me as one that really understands the precepts of leadership. The project manager and service manager that reported to me were awesome people.  There were many others, but ultimately I realized, with great clarity, that it was time to move on. 

I had made my decision many months earlier, even before the acquisition, but life and work dragged me kicking and screaming back to my firefighting reality. My resume and resignation were prepared a month before I resigned and I had some potential options that I was considering, although nothing was firm.  When it finally came down to it, I knew that if I wanted to accomplish my career goals, I needed to move on.

When I resigned and returned home after meeting with our CEO, who I reported to; my wife looked at me and said “Wow, you look less stressed then I have seen you in a long time.” The truth was I felt happy and not stressed at all. Although maybe I should have felt anxious, I was and continue to feel happy and positive about the future

I have reflected on this for the past couple weeks. Why did I wait so long?  I had several colleagues reach out to me after they heard my news and say things like, “I am not surprised”, or “I expected this a while ago.”  People always say stuff like that, but the truth is in my heart the decision was made long before, and my actions supported the decision. 

So I move on… Despite the problems that exist in our world, there are great opportunities all around us.  As leaders, it is important, both within our companies and our lives that we seize those opportunities and act on them.  If we wait, they may just slip away. Who knows if I missed out on any opportunities while I stuck around. But I know that bigger and better things are coming.

So I am a few days from being officially unemployed. That sounds so weird.  I prefer to call it a vacation. 🙂 At the present time I am entertaining 3 offers that are all pretty dang good.  I have also been appointed to a handful of Board of Advisors and I am excited and positive for the future. 

(Side Note – If you know of other great opportunites, let me know.)

Oh Yeah………….my big news.  Well in July of 2010, I started writing a book.  It is called Revitalize – Getting Things Done Through Aligned Execution.  I am uber-excited about it.  I recently began sending the book out to some advanced reviewers.  I was completely floored when I started getting the reviews back from people. I actually had to double back with a few people and say,  “Please do not do me any favors, but umm…is this the truth?” I will share some of the reviews in another post soon.  It took a lot of work and determination and I am hoping it will be published later this year.  I will keep all my blog followers apprised of the “happenings” with it.

For those of you sitting in a leadership position that you may find  unfulfilling, just know that the world is full of opportunities. Sacrifice is often necessary and work is not always fun, but don’t sit-around and think you are stuck in work or life.  Take a stand, be decisive, and as my friend Kris Cavanaugh says, “Become CEO of your life.”

Filed Under: Opportunities Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

The Anti-List of Leadership Qualities

June 24, 2011 by

NO, this is not another list of qualities you must have in order to be a great leader.  There are numerous books, articles and blog posts written about the qualities that make up a leader… they drive me crazy.  Whenever I see these I cringe.   They seem to describe this fantastical immortal persona of which none of us will ever be worthy to eat the crumbs off their cloud of perfection, let alone achieve their glorious state of existence.

These lists, if looked at the wrong way, can be demoralizing as we measure ourselves against them.  To the small business owner, manager, executive or well….human being, these lists can be, misleading and squash one’s own leadership traits and styles into a mold that may not work for them or their organization.

There are many different kinds of leaders with often opposing traits.  I will not mention any names, but there have been great leaders, in the technical sense of the word, that have been downright immoral, even evil, yet have carried the many of the qualities that many would accept as being attached to a great leader.  On the adverse side of that there have been many great leaders that posessed many negative qualities that would normally be attached to a leader.

Additionally there are many leaders that have leadership qualities that might seem contradictory to many of the accepted leadership qualities that exist, yet they lead thriving organizations and employ thousands of people.  If a leader were to be dishonest in their personal affairs, have poor tact, be selfish, overly assertive, yet employ tens of thousands of successful people and produce a product or service that benefits society, does that mean they are a bad leader?  While reversing those attributes to be more positive “might” make them a better leader, they are still successful and may even carry great respect among the individuals they lead.

I saw an article that listed enthusiasm as a necesary quality of great leaders.  Would that attribute be helpful for a funeral director?  I read an article that listed openness as a necesary quality.  Would that serve as a benefical quality to a goverment military leader?  I saw another article that listed patience.  Would that serve the director of a hospital emergency room?

Another aspect of leadership qualities is that they can be thrust onto non-leaders who are then labeled as leaders.  I recently watched a video on the Internet about leadership and it featured Tiger Woods as a great leader because he had vision and determination.  Huh?  Just because an individual possesses important qualities of success, does not mean they are a leader.

I think a person can be a great leader with the right quality at the right time for the right organization and still be failing with many other leadership traits.  An effective leader, focuses on his/her strengths and surrounds themselves with people that can fill in the weaknesses.

So the next time you see a leadership quality list, I would challenge you to focus on strengthening what you are good at and then to selectively pick the attributes that you feel will be beneficial to your organization and then work on improving them.  Don’t be overwhelmed because you are not a perfect Boy Scout.  Focus on what you do have and make sure what you have is what the organization needs.

I’d love to hear your thoughts below.

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

Imagine Leadership

May 19, 2011 by

Nitin Nohria and Amanda Pepper of Harvard Business School’s Leadership Initiative collaborated with XPLANE to create this video in order to generate a discussion of the value and importance of leadership to address some of societys most pressing problems.

“It is my desire to inspire people of all ages and social demographics to think about leadership on a broad level, contemplate what it means to them and what individual impact they can have when it comes to leading,” says Nohria.

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

Resilience – Part 2

May 6, 2011 by

I had not planned on posting any more on this topic, but I had such a huge response to the Leadership Resilience post.  Then a good twitter friend, Tanmay Vora @tnvora, sent me this video below, I had to share it.  I can’t think of a greater example of resilience then Nick , @nickvujicic, http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org.  Watch the video below and think about what lessons you can learn from him on resilience in your own personal life and in your leadership life.

I’d love to hear your comments and thoughts below.

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

What a 2-Legged Dog Taught Me About Leadership Resilience

May 4, 2011 by

Several years ago I was in Argentina on a mission for my church.  On one particular day I walked down a dirt road in a small town called General Castex, located in the Las Pampas region of Argentina.  I spotted an animal at the end of this street, but could not figure out what it was.  It was walking on 2 legs, but did not appear to be a 2 legged animal.  As I got closer to the animal, I stopped and gazed in disbelief.  It was a dog, but no ordinary dog.  This dog had lost the use of both its hind legs in some kind of accident, but strangely enough, it was not immobile.  It actually had learned to walk on its front 2 legs.  When it walked, it would bring the back-end of its body high in the air and walk on its front legs.  It could go up and down steps and across the not so even terrain of a small Argentine street.

I snapped a picture (which I can’t seem to find) and knew that there were a hundred lessons to be learned from that animal.  But the primary one ……is resilience.  Resilience is the power or ability to return to the original form, position, etc., after being bent, compressed, or stretched.

I have often felt bent, broken, compressed and stretched as a leader.  I am not aware of too many leaders who have not.  Particularly at the level of start-ups and small business, the stress and problems can be too much for some to bear.  I know of hundreds of small business owners that struggle in one form or another.  Their lives are tough, they sleep little, they work a lot, their families suffer, and sometimes they wonder if it is really worth it all.

I have been there many times, and while I would like to say that those things are behind me, I know that my trials are most likely preparing me for something more difficult.  Only time will tell.   

I can’t say I have all the answers, but I’d like to share a few thoughts I have on how to foster resilience in your own life.

  1. Cling to Your Spiritual Side – If you are religious, cling to that.  If your “religion” is to get out in nature, do it.  In tough times I think we need to feel the hope that there is something, someone, or some force out there that can assist us.  It helps us to feel peace and to gain perspective.  Sometimes in the whole scheme of things, our trials really are insignificant.  The peace and perspective that is gained from spiritual renewal can help us logically think through problems and bounce back bigger and better.
  2. Learn – Reading and learning about others who have struggled, and learning ways that I can improve myself have been one of the most rewarding effects in my life.  It has also helped me find out-of-the-box answers, and better perspectives for many of my problems.  Sometimes I am the problem and I need to learn how to better myself, sometimes it is an operational or communication issue.  If you notice a weakness that you or your organizations has, don’t wait, buy a book, take a class, and start gleaning knowledge from others that will prepare you for life’s “bends”.
  3. Ask For Help – Entrepreneurs and leaders tend to have a built in pride gene that is hard to turn off.  I think it is just as important to accept help, as it is to help others.  Asking and accepting help, requires humility.  There are so many professionals out there that are more than willing to share their insight and offer assistance in many ways.  Get out there and ask for help, the worst thing that someone can say is “No”. 
  4. Manage Yourself – Manage your time, manage your energy, and manage your communication.  It is easy to get into bad habits when one is going through a hard time.  This could be bad eating habits, bad sleeping habits, bad time management, focusing on things that are not important, and poor or short communication to those who are central to your success.  You probably need every resource you can muster.  Don’t waste it by falling into common stress traps, which will work against you in bouncing back.
  5. Focus But Keep Proper Perspective – Stay focused on the problem.  Few problems go away by ignoring them.  It may require a lot of work that you do not enjoy, but things will not get any easier if you can’t bounce back, so you have to focus on the problem and not deviate.  But while you are focusing, keep proper perspective on other important things in your life.  If you work really hard to bounce back or solve a big problem, but in that time you completely ignore your family, or ignored an important part of your business or an important customer, then all you have done is fixed one problem and caused another.  You are not any better off.  Communicate with others about your problems and explain what your plan is.  Focusing does not mean you have to ignore everything else.
  6. Persist – I can’t imagine how how many times that dog must have fallen before it was able to balance itself and walk on 2 legs.  If it had just given up after a few falls it would probably have been dead.  Keep getting up!  Sometimes answers come in the final hour of struggle.
  7. Know When To Call It Quits – This may seem to counter the post, but we are talking about leadership resilience.  Sometimes you need to know that the effort to fix a problem isn’t worth it.  Maybe it will require too much money or too much time, whatever it is, you need to know when let an initiative die and move onto bigger and better things.   Bouncing back may just mean moving on.

 

Warren Bennis, a great organizational consultant and author once said “The leaders I met, whatever walk of life they were from, whatever institutions they were presiding over, always referred back to the same failure – something that happened to them that was personally difficult, even traumatic, something that made them feel that desperate sense of hitting bottom–as something they thought was almost a necessity.  It’s as if at that moment the iron entered their soul; that moment created the resilience that leaders need.

I hope that iron can enter all our souls so that we can be more resilient in our lives and leadership capacities and ultimately achieve all the goals we have set for ourselves and our organizations.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, experience, or comments below.

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

Leadership In War and Business…It’s not all that Different.

April 7, 2011 by

This is an inspiring video produced by the U.S. Army. It contains LTG Hal Moore’s four principles of leadership. It is a must-watch for any leader.  The thoughts that he shares are meant for a leader in battle, but his principles are not just applicable to war and battle, but are very applicable to leadership in business and life.

Filed Under: Battle Hardened Leadership Tagged With: , , , ,

How To Be A Horrible Leader – 50 Bad Leadership Traits

February 16, 2011 by

Bad Leadership

I have read so many books about how to be a great leader.  I thought it would be “fun” to make a list of the bad leadership traits to identify what a horrible leader looks like.  Of course this is done in the hope that one can avoid the ill effects on an organization from any of bad leadership behaviors.  We cannot all be perfect, but all it takes is a few of these in the right combination to kill moral and create a horribly run organization.

50 Bad Leadership Examples

  1. Belittling and condescending communication to staff.
  2. Little communication with your staff.
  3. Not empowering your staff to succeed.
  4. Asking them a hundred questions with every decision they make.
  5. Not admitting when you have made a mistake.
  6. Not giving raises to your staff or not compensating them appropriately.
  7. Not recognizing your staff for achievements they have made.
  8. Ignoring your staff.
  9. Not providing executive level sponsorship for your management.
  10. Not providing management with the authority to perform their jobs.
  11. Not providing the resources to your management staff in completing their objectives.
  12. Yelling at your staff.
  13. Forgetting common occasions. (Your staff gives you a Birthday/Christmas card or gift and you never do the same for them.)
  14. Using threats with your staff.
  15. Making your staff feel guilty if they do not do something extra.
  16. Using fear tactics to “motivate” your staff.
  17. Always having to throw in your 2 cents to every idea your staff offers.
  18. Playing favorites with your staff.
  19. Doing things that are self-serving.
  20. Incompetent in something critical to the organizations success and unable to improve or fill in that incompetence with other staff members.
  21. Lying to your staff—and then trying to cover it up.
  22. Making “examples” of a staff member in front of others.
  23. Disregarding the health and welfare of your staff.
  24. Not providing your staff the training to succeed.
  25. Not providing your staff opportunities to progress and grow.
  26. Being callous.
  27. Being unforgiving of staff mistakes.
  28. Holding past mistakes against your staff time after time.
  29. Not giving your staff adequate working environments.
  30. Analysis Paralysis – i.e. indecisiveness.
  31. Ignoring needed change.
  32. Being cheap.
  33. Not planning.
  34. Not setting a clear vision.
  35. Being a poor example of execution and accountability, but expecting others to execute.
  36. Butting into your staff’s responsibilities by doing things under their role without consulting with them.
  37. Not providing structure in your organization.
  38. Unwillingness to take risks.
  39. Poor management of oneself.
  40. Deceitful.
  41. Impulsiveness.
  42. Unable to take criticism.
  43. Unwilling to improve from criticism.
  44. Unethical business practices.
  45. Does not use conflict to correctly drive innovation.
  46. Believing your staff when they sing praises for you and then forming an ego.
  47. Misinterpreting signs.
  48. Disrespect for your staff.
  49. Unable to trust.
  50. Overly negative or overly positive.  (Overly positive meaning, ignoring bad signs and taking action, because you are so positive and hopeful that things will improve.)

I decided to limit myself to 50.  I am sure you have some more to add.  Please comment below and let me know your thoughts and add to the list.

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

From Bud To Boss – Transitioning to Remarkable Leadership

February 15, 2011 by

LeadershipI recently had the chance to review a pre-release copy of a book by Kevin Eikenberry and Guy Harris, called From Bud to Boss: Secrets To A Successful Transition to Remarkable Leadership.

I found the book to be one of the most detailed and functional books I have seen on the topic of transitioning oneself from an employee or manager to a real leader.  I had the opportunity to interface with Kevin and get some more information about the book.  Following are some of the questions and answers I received.   By the way, today happens to be the launch day of From Bud to Boss and they have some great gifts and contests running.  This is all listed at the end. 

——————————————-

Who will benefit from reading your book? (or Who should read this book?)

(Kevin)  – There are really three groups of people who will benefit the most from this book.  The first, as the title implies, are people in the transition, or have been living through the transition from being a peer to delivering a performance evaluation!  The second group is people who want to prepare themselves proactively for the role of leadership.  These people are anticipating or planning for their first leadership role.  The last group is more experienced leaders who are preparing or helping new leaders to be more successful.

The first section of the book is specifically about the transition, and the other five sections deal with the most important competencies to focus on building leadership competence and confidence.

What are the Remarkable Leadership Principles?

(Kevin)  – This book contains the ” Remarkable Principles” also mentioned in the book  Remarkable Leadership.  These are bite-sized truths that summarize pieces of the text, but they do much more than that.  They stand alone, informing all of us leaders of important and in some cases, profound truths about the work of leadership and what is most important about it.  Here is an example from Chapter 41 – “The single biggest reason to set goals is that they improve your chances for success.”  This reminds readers of an important principle, and we hope spurs all of us to act to not only set goals more often, but be successful in helping others set them as well.  After all, who doesn’t want greater success in some part of their life?

What was your first leadership experience? What training/support did you receive in the transition?

(Kevin) – My first leadership role was on our family farm and related business.  Often when people were hired to a specific task or season, I was responsible for supervising them.  In many cases (as is the case for many who will read the book) I was much younger than those I was leading.   I didn’t have any formal training.  Dad didn’t give me any book to read.  He was an example and role model.  We did talk about how things were going and answered questions.   He would have been the first to tell you he wasn’t the perfect leader, yet he was extremely supportive and aware of the need to coach others.

What are the core skills people need in order to make a successful transition to leadership in their organizations?

(Kevin) – Beyond the skills and strategies of the transition itself, we believe there are five big competency areas that need to come first, and we built the book around them.   They are:  change, communication, coaching, collaboration and teamwork, and commitment to success (everything related to goals and goal setting).

These aren’t the only competencies of leaders but we believe they are of prime importance for two reasons.
1.    They are highly important and complex skills to learn
2.   When someone first becomes a leader these skills take on a very different meaning or level of importance in their work and life.

What do you think is the biggest gap in training new leaders?

(Kevin)  – I think there are two gaps.   First, most new supervisor/leader training doesn’t talk at all about the issues of the transition. How do I lead the people I am friends with?  How do I deal with the team members who applied for and wanted the job I received?  How do I maintain and manage those expectations?  How do I build relationships with my new peers, new boss?  And much more.

Second, while there is lots of great training available publicly and inside of organizations, it is often available later than would best help the new leaer, and far too often doesn’t focus enough on application.  Learning can’t happen just by attending class (or reading a book for that matter) we must take that new knowledge and use it.

——————————————-

I think Bud to Boss is one of the most detailed and practical guides I have seen on developing leadership and refining one’s leadership skills.   I highly recommend you pick-up a copy.  You can buy From Bud to Boss at Amazon and other online retailers.   After you buy the book, you need to go to Kevin and Guy’s website and community and register your purchase. (http://launch.budtobosscommunity.com/#getstarted) By doing so you will receive a boat load of free gifts and be entered to win some great prizes.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments below.

Filed Under: Remarkable Leadership Tagged With: , , , , ,
«Previous Page
Next Page»