Business Leadership Advice

The Three Types of Team Commitment By Kevin Eikenberry

2008-08-14T09:55:00.000-05:00

Larry, Michelle and George had been friends a long time. They met in college, and though they each went to work in different organizations, they committed to getting together once a year to discuss their careers, opportunities and challenges. Over the years they had each risen to senior leadership roles within their organizations. At their most recent annual retreat the topic of team commitment came up.

As it turned out, they were as puzzled after their conversation as they had been before they began. Why? Because they all believed that team commitment was important, and they all felt they had it, and yet the performance of their teams weren’t as strong as they hoped for or felt was possible.

Listen in to part of their conversation...

Larry knew something wasn`t connecting for his team in terms of productivity, but wasn`t sure just what. "If anything, we have great team commitment. People understand the organizational goals and have truly bought into that direction. It`s clear from their words and actions that they are committed to our organizational goals. And yet, something is still missing. I`m not sure what it is."

Michelle said, "We’re missing something in the productivity area as well, but my team is committed too. They are staunchly proud of the team - in fact they wave the team banner regularly - I`m surprised they haven`t had t-shirts made! They believe in the team`s role, they know that what they do is important, and like I said, man, are they proud!"

George concluded the comments of the trio. "My team is tremendously committed to each other. They are supportive, give each other great feedback and are always looking out for each other - more so than any other team I`ve ever seen. With all this commitment I`m baffled why they aren`t more successful!"

The conversation continued along a similar vein, with no real conclusions, until the next morning at breakfast.

The Morning Aha

At breakfast, Michelle said, "I was thinking about our team commitment conversation last night, and I woke up this morning with an idea! I think we do all have committed teams - but they aren`t committed to the same things. I think what we really need is a combination of the three types of commitments each of our teams have! Look at it this way..."

Michelle then drew three concurrent circles. In the inner circle she wrote "Commitment to Each Other." In the middle circle`s area she wrote "Commitment to the Team." And in the outer circle she wrote "Commitment to the Organization."

With this picture the group discussed the idea at great length and how to build the two types of commitment their teams didn`t have. They also decided to talk in a couple of months about their progress.

The Three Circles

Commitment is critically important to team success. Of course there are other factors for success (like relationships, clear goals and more), but commitment is one that often is overlooked. More specifically, teams need three forms of commitment to be most successful:

1. Commitment to each other and each other`s success. Teams that are comprised of individuals that actively support, believe in and care about the success of each other will be more successful. This type of commitment promotes the comfortable shifting of duties and responsibilities among team members as necessary and allows teams to have less stress and higher productivity.

2. Commitment to their team and the team`s success. Team pride and commitment is important to ultimate success. The commitment that arises from a team that understands their role and relishes achieving it is hard to undervalue. Teams with this type of commitment will overcome long odds due to their strength and unity and willingness to band together to get through a tough situation. Why? Because they see the effort as worth it for the good of the team.

3. Commitment to the organization and organizational goals. When teams see their work as supporting valuable and important organizational pursuits, this type of commitment is strengthened. This can`t be built without a clear understanding of company direction and goals, but with those in place this commitment can grow. Like the internal team commitment, this manifests in organizational pride and a clear sense of obligation to the greater good.

Thinking about each of these separately as a team leader or a team member will help you determine where gaps might be. Hopefully your team has high marks in each area. If not, this list gives you a place to start in building higher levels of commitment in the areas that might be lacking.

Potential Pointer: The important team commitments include commitment to the organization, the team and each other. The stronger and more balanced these commitments are, the more successful and productive any team will be.
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Kevin Eikenberry is a leadership expert and the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group, a learning consulting company that helps Clients reach their potential through a variety of training, consulting and speaking services. You can contact him to learn more about how he can help you or your organization improve your skills and results.

Sponsor: Dr. John C. Maxwell's Learning The 21 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership DVD Training Curriculum - This powerful training resource is designed to meet your leadership training needs! You and your team will get clear insight into timeless leadership principles and learn a process for continual growth in the life of your organization. Order your copy of this powerful leadership training program.

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A Leader Has High Ethics By Sheila Murray Bethel, PhD.

2008-08-13T09:05:00.001-05:00

A young executive recently said to me, "How can I worry about ethics when our company is involved in a hostile takeover and we're fighting for our very existence?"

My answer was, "You don't have to put ethics on the shelf while doing corporate battle. Without ethics, even if you win you lose."

Every time we say or do something unethical we chip away at the foundations of our moral character and the reputation of our organization. If we're going to make a difference we must set examples of high ethics for others to follow.

I'm sure that you agree that the prime purpose of businesses is to make profit. But when profits become the only measure of success, we've lost sight of our shared values. When unethical business practices create unfair situations that go beyond a healthy competitive environment we are in deep trouble.

In a competitive market, doing business often involves beating out the other guy, getting the best of the deal, turning one million into five million. In this adversarial climate clear definitions of ethics can be difficult. How do you know when an action is a brilliant tactic or unscrupulous double-dealing? One way is to ask yourself if this action might harm an individual or business.

No one ever said that being ethical is easy. We live in a world with more and more ethical gray areas. Circumstances pull at us every day urging us to take the easy way out, to twist something just a little, or to close our eyes for just a second. Acts of omission can be just as unethical as acts of commission. Saying and doing nothing can be just as unethical as the committed act. The distinction between what is legal and what is unethical has become blurred.

Human Values - Business problems are ultimately human problems and so, human values must be applied to their solutions. These human values and solutions come from you and me. The good news is that the profit motive and social responsibility can coexist and prosper when we operate with high ethical standards and compassion. The stronger our ethical behavior, the better leaders we become. Harry J. Gray, former Chairman of United Technologies said, "How we perform as individuals determines how we perform as a nation."

Situational Ethics - Each of us makes daily decisions about our ethical behavior in various situations; thus we live with situational ethics. Since we are not perfect, we rarely operate consistently at the highest ethical level. Instead, the best we can do is to try to develop the wisdom and judgment to get as close to perfection as possible. For example, absolute honesty means never lie. That sounds like a good idea. But all of us have told "white lies" to keep from hurting someone's feelings.

Remember the last time a friend ask if you liked his or her new clothing, If you didn't, there was little point in saying so. If you found a neutral comment that was appropriate but that did not tell the absolute truth, are you unethical? Most of us would answer "no" So we use our experience (wisdom and judgment) and our conscience (moral character and integrity) to tell us how far we stray from absolute honesty.

Situational ethics or not, if something is ethically or morally repugnant on a personal scale, it is equally repugnant in our jobs and professions. In both areas, our personal lives and our business lives, the leader sets the standards, tries to live by them, and communicates the same expectation to others.

Shared Values - In the United States our pledge of allegiance says, "with Liberty and justice for all." If our nation is to remain great we must reestablish what our forefathers created for us: E. pluribus Unum, one composed of many. In the new decade just ahead we need to work together for our common interests, hopes and values, more than ever before We must examine our personal standard of conduct -- our ethics, and have the courage to turn the spot light on our actions, habits and examples.

Our differences are part of our great strength. We are a melting pot of peoples, religions and ideas. Out of this wonderfully diverse mixture has come our shared values system of ethical values. You make a difference as a leader when you set an example of high ethics.
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Sheila Murray Bethel, Ph.D. is author of the bestselling book, Making A Difference, 12 Qualities That Make You A Leader, host of the Public Television series Making a Difference, and recipient of the CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame award. She can be reached at 800-548-8001, e-mail: Sheila@BethelInstitute.com, or visit at her web site: www.BethelInstitute.com.

-what are your thoughts on what you read above? Anything you would like to add?

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Vision: Help Your Organization See It by William Blades

2008-08-06T15:58:00.001-05:00

Many people regard the oak tree as one of the strongest. Actually, the oak tree began as a little nut that would not go away.

As business people, we need to take a lesson from the oak tree and be a little "nuts" ourselves in order to grow. Being "nuts" means that we must be willing "to go out there" once in a while. Why? Because very few organizational leaders have the vision to do so, which causes their teams to become boring and stale. Such a lack of vision is what ruins many companies.

Instilling vision in your group starts with the mind. After all, if you don't use it, you lose it. Stretch the way your people think and their minds will not go back to their original dimensions. If you don't stretch it, you'll wind up with premature dementia and the "death" of many managers and salespeople.

Consider the following vision questions:

What new value-added service will you add that no one else in your industry dispenses?

What personal services are your salespeople delivering, in a customized manner, to each major client?

As the CEO or sales chief, are you too caught up in the day-to-day routine of mundane administration, or are you leading a group of professional change agents?

Do you teach and then expect enhanced creativity from every manager and salesperson?

Are you flooded with resumes from top sales professionals because of your reputation for creativity, leadership, and fun?

Do your employees and prospective employees fully understand your vision?

There is only one correct answer for each of the questions above, and "I don't know" is not an answer. In general, only one to two sales groups out of every hundred truly have a belief in greatness. They can clearly answer the six questions above. The other 98 - 99 organizations only have a casual interest in greatness. Their thoughts and actions simply do not overlap.

All business leaders must take time to think - even daydream. If not, you may not see the opportunities that are too good to resist. Why daydream? Because what you see will be determined by what your are seeking. Daydream what your management / sales groups and revenues will look like in one, two, and three years. You won't hit the big picture if it is not clearly in sight.

As you set forth with your vision, consider how you can improve some critical areas, including:

The CEO - All company CEOs must be strong-willed. One person with a belief in greatness equals 99 who only have an interest in it.

In order to see the vision through, the CEO's initial mission is to obtain the right people and remove / reassign the wrong people. So, it's not a matter of what the CEO is going to do; it's a matter of who the CEO is going to get to do it. After all, a great vision without great people is irrelevant.

The CEO can delegate and empower the right people the absolutes they must accomplish. This removes the big list of "maybes" that are uttered daily in many businesses. CEOs must effectively communicate their vision throughout the organization and expect (and demand) buy-in. When the CEO's expectations are high, he or she builds trust and respect. As a result, the people follow the CEO's lead.

The V.P. Team - The CEO must have the best group of V.P.s to see the vision through. If any individual in this group does not have the respect and trust of his or her people, the CEO must act. Why? You can't be the best at what you do without great V.P.s. And you will never have the best sales team without a great V.P. of Sales. The CEO must have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of the company's current reality and know how to change that reality for the better.

At times, the CEO may need the assistance of an outside coach to facilitate a V.P.'s understanding of what he/she must do better. Often, people simply don't know what they don't know yet. That is not a crime, because they usually got the promotion without the prior education of how to be a great V.P.

Instead, they got a desk with the usual instructions to "go get after it." Without the necessary training investment to provide them with needed knowledge, your V.P.s will never accomplish physical speed or the ability to execute faster than your competition. Eliminate the gap that exists between "what" and "how."

You need leaders - not managers - in the V.P. role. Many V.P.s have ingrained habits that are unhealthy to the team and to your results. Are your V.P.s scoring a 10 with vision, discipline, communication, greatness, and results? The true enemy is always the ordinary. Attack the enemy.

Culture - Most firms have a culture (of whatever) and some have discipline, but very few have a culture of discipline.

Discipline means you develop a list of things you will stop doing (e.g.: being the low-ball vendor) before you develop a list of things to do. Hiring and educating well-disciplined people who do not have to be managed frees you to stay focused on the big picture.

You need people who will go to extreme measures to get things done right and fast. You need people who will pay attention to their part of the business. And, you need people who have a passion for self-improvement. It's that simple - and that challenging. Hard work has a future pay off, while laziness pays off now.

Ask yourself: For your vision to become a reality, does your group look like it should? What will it look like in two years? In three years?

Don't be lazy in designing your future.

Self Improvement - Benchmark against the best in your industry and decide you will be better than the best. Then, invest in the training and education necessary to accomplish the task. The biggest obstacle for your sales improvements will be to stop your managers and salespeople from teaching and acting on Sales 101. That teaching mode is five decades old. It's time for Sales 501.

A study conducted by Proudfoot Consulting revealed the following:

Of 225 (85% of capacity) work days in the U.S., 137 were "productive work days" while 88 were "wasted work days."

Causes of lost productivity were:

37% - insufficient planning and control.

28% - inadequate management.

15% - poor working morale.

8% - IT-related problems.

8% - ineffective communication

4% - other.

The results show that leaders need to focus on proactive management, delegation, processes, achievements, and communication both internally and externally. "U.S. productivity levels will rise dramatically if steps are taken to improve the management and supervisory roles, ensuring that managers tackle problems before they occur, spend their time on "managerial" activity rather than administrative and manual tasks, and communicate effectively to employees." (Source: Consulting, February 2002)

As we have heard many times before, it starts at the top. We can only regain productivity when the top level of the organization becomes more effective. The fact is that the average sales person in North America loses 3½ hours daily due to a variety of issues. They might look busy, but are they productive? Working on the right things will help their new-found knowledge work more effectively. Do the right things and then teach your team to do the same.

Innovation and Creativity - Organizations fail when they do not manage effectively - and when they don't innovate. Fall in love with innovation, not just with products, but with the ways you think, act, and do. The last frontier, other than searching further into outer space, is the human brain.

So to be super successful, we must think until it hurts. And that's our challenge, because most people get in the habit of just doing and not thinking. With that posture comes same-o, same-o, and in many cases same-o energy and same-o results.

To ramp up sales, an organization needs to be famous for something - and then something else. Salespeople also need to be famous for something - and then something else. If not, you are in the proverbial box. Fortunately, you can teach creativity. That's a good thing, as studies prove that only one out of one hundred people are creative. Start hiring creative, even eccentric people. Then, challenge these people to help bring new-found sparks to complement your vision.

What is creativity? It's linking two seemingly unrelated things. It's seeing an empty, transparent flower vase in a potential client's lobby. Fill it with exotic fish and decorations. And it comes with a year's supply of fish food - with your private label on it, of course. (At least tape your business card to the food container.)

Expose your people to creative and inspirational people. Get them to read more business books and novels (and even poetry). Encourage them to enjoy art and music that can't be found at Joe's Bar & Fun Joint. In a recent Businessweek article written by Robert Barker, the recently retired CEO and Chairman of Honeywell International, Inc., Lawrence Bossidy, said, "You've got to promote people who want to be creative and innovate. Drones don't have good ideas." He further says that we should resist the tyranny of the drones.

Is creativity in your organization? Ask yourself: What did each member of my management team do last week that they had not done before? How about the salespeople?

The bottom line is that you must recruit, select, train, and motivate better than anyone else. This is one rule you cannot break, as your successors will come from this commitment. And remember to look for - and teach - creativity. Being boring is out, if it was ever in. Even accountants can be creative. They could add this note to past due notices: "We've done more for you than your own mother. We've carried you 10 months."

Know Your Business - Rule number one is to keep it simple. Make it challenging and fun internally, and valuable and fun externally. Don't stray from your vision or your values.

Work smarter, not cheaper. Improve sales and profits through innovation and creativity. It's called "delivering joy and value." What are you doing to own the marketplace and at greater margins than all or most of your competitors? If you are caught in price wars, the value your team is bringing is woefully weak at best.

Focus on value. Realize that this doesn't mean just shipping on time. You're supposed to do that. What is the value you bring that no one else does? While it may not be easy to figure out, it is doable 100% of the time. So if one of your salespeople says your 2x4 piece of lumber is "just a commodity item," hit him on the backside with it. Ask your salespeople what they have done for their clients to bring joy and value to the transaction.

Are your salespeople targeting the right clients? Are they (and you) building loyalty? Are they making the same "pitch" at other places? Great leadership and education will keep everyone focused on the right things and right clients.. with the right margins.

Find Your Vision Today - Finding your company's vision is a lot like an old water pump. You have to put a little water in it and then pump it. For a little while, nothing comes out. Then a little comes out.and then a lot.

You cannot look for one single defining moment or action, not one single innovation, not one lucky break. Finding and maintaining your vision is a process like the pump. What you put in will determine what comes out. Prime and pump it every day.

Much of your vision starts with surrounding yourself with people who have vision. The right people will help you with strategy and tactics so you can put the vision in place and see it through. Great vision from the CEO, without great people, is just another visionary thing.

Vision - The good news is that many competitors just don't see it.
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Bill Blades, CMC, CPS
William Blades, LLC
1240 Red Tail Way
Cheyenne, Wyoming 82009
307-635-1989
www.WilliamBlades.com

Sponsor Message Dr. John C. Maxwell's Learning The 21 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership DVD Training Curriculum - This powerful training resource is designed to meet your leadership training needs! You and your team will get clear insight into timeless leadership principles and learn a process for continual growth in the life of your organization. Order your copy of this powerful leadership training program here.

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Smashing Paradigms - An Exercise of Leadership By John Baldoni

2008-07-18T02:21:00.001-05:00

The ability to look at the world as it is and envision something new and improved is a valued trait of leadership. An act of creation, however, as the literature of India tells us, is born of destruction.

Say the word "destruction" and you immediately think of blowing up bridges, knocking down buildings, or leveling factories-all physical actions. But sometimes the boldest form of destruction is one that calls for deconstructing existing paradigms, or mental models, that stifle progress. That form of destruction may be the most dramatic -- as well as renewing -- form of leadership.

Skeptics told Fred Smith his idea of an overnight delivery service would never fly. Experts scoffed at a college kid Michael Dell's plan to build a computer company that would sell direct to customers. Sophisticated analysts ignored Sam Walton as he built his Arkansas-based store into a national chain.

None of these entrepreneurs listened to the naysayers. Their personal leadership smashed an existing paradigm, the set of beliefs that framed the world as others saw it. Each of these business leaders replaced the shattered paradigm with another more dynamic and robust paradigm that embraced the needs of new and emerging groups of consumers.

Every entrepreneur has a bit of paradigm-smashing within herself. Entrepreneurs are those who look at the situation and say, "why not?" They seek new solutions to old problems, or new solutions to emerging issues. This mindset is equally true of transformational leaders. A transformational leader is one that envisions a tomorrow that is totally different from the present one. She persuades other to follow his vision, and in the process completely reinvents the organization.

When you run a business, or lead an organization, you learn very quickly that you need to experiment. Entrepreneurs and transformational leaders must be innovative, creative, flexible, adaptable, and yet, responsible.

Here are some ways to smash existing paradigms ...

* Re-frame the problem - Many companies have created multi-disciplinary teams as a means of doing business. Yet when serious problems occur, old behaviors often arise. Hand-shaking gives rise to finger-pointing as team members relate difficulties to functions. You hear things like: "That's a marketing problem… Or, that's the job of engineering." Henry Ford once said, "Don't find blame, find a remedy." And it's true.

The purpose of cooperative teams is to find solutions together. For example, a marketer might look at what is perceived to be a "logistics problem" and then adopting the perspective of the customer, come up with ideas to solve the problem. Equally so, an engineer, trained in root-cause analysis, might find a new approach to a "marketing" problem. The challenge is to bring different view points together to spark creative thinking.

* Look for ideas and solutions in unlikely places - The best solutions may require looking in places that are less than obvious. One manager of an apparel maker a practice of interviewing teens while they stood in line at rock concerts in San Francisco. By talking with the kids and getting to know their likes and dislikes in clothes, the manager was able to help the design department create clothes that would be more appealing to younger buyers.

Similarly, Nokia, the Finnish telecommunications company, sends its engineers to Southern California to get an appreciation of life in the trend-setting lane. By observing the way people use wireless communication devices currently, Nokia's engineers may be able to design new products that not only complement consumers' current lifestyles, but anticipate coming life changes and thereby position their company to be a next generation provider of leading-edge products.

New ideas abound. They are always in the air. The challenge is to put yourself into a place where you can breathe that "new air." When it fills your lungs, you may find yourself with a bold new vision of the future.

* Experiment - Success depends sometimes in serendipity, or being in the right place at the right time. 3-M's Post-It Notes occurred when Arthur Fry, a researcher working with adhesives accidentally got some "sticky stuff" on a piece of paper. Noticing how the adhesive allowed the paper to be stuck and removed several times, he pursued the idea further. It is for this reason, among others, that 3M actively encourages their research people to spend 15% of their time on developing their own projects. You never know where the next great idea will come from.

* Take risks - It's one thing to create a new product by happenstance, it's another to put it into production. That's where risk management comes into play. In the two examples of Hewlett-Packard and 3-M, both companies pride themselves on innovation and therefore are receptive to new ideas. These companies, I am certain, build a sense of risk into their business models. Try as we might to manage all of the variables, we know it's impossible. Sooner or later, a company must trust its instincts and invest in ideas that show promise, but are not yet proven.

* Do it again... and again! Our society lives on the cusp of rapid change. What works one year may not work the next. Therefore, leaders must be prepared to innovate on a regular basis. To do this, they must establish a culture of continuous innovation; in doing so, they enable their people to experiment as they create a new future.

These five steps demonstrate that a culture of innovation can be nurtured if we have the willingness to get beyond current thinking, or existing mental models.

While both entrepreneurial and transformational leaders can take a measure of satisfaction in smashing paradigms, they must create something worthwhile and positive to take its place. For example, Fred Smith dreamed of express delivery and fulfilled his dream by creating a hub-and-spoke system of air freight. Michael Dell imagined a better way of offering computers to customers, and in the process built a company to deliver custom-made machines direct to customers in rapid frames. Sam Walton envisioned a nationwide span of stores providing high-quality goods at low prices and made it happen with a network of rural-based hyper-markets.

The lesson for leadership is this: before you tear down walls, think about what will stand in their place. This lesson is particularly apt for transformational leaders. A leading example of this type of leadership is Jack Welch of General Electric. When he assumed the chairmanship in 1981, his mission was to establish leadership in every business category in which GE competed.

If this were not possible, GE divested itself of the business. His actions, which earned him the nickname "Neutron Jack," transformed a bloated Goliath into a competitively-lean enterprise that is number one or two in every one of its market. In the process, GE has become the most highly capitalized business in the world, worth in excess of $200 billion.

Not every paradigm needs smashing. Paradigms do serve a useful purpose; they frame our world in ways that affirm our values and our future. For example, the U.S. Constitution represents a paradigm of equality and justice for all. Anarchists may advocate smashing it, but most of our citizenry would opt for adherence, with an occasional improvement, such as the Amendments that abolished slavery, enfranchised women voters, and Prohibition. (The next time you hoist a pint, or sip a Chardonnay, murmur thanks to the paradigm-busters of the 1930s.)

Paradigm-smashing is a prerogative of leadership, but leaders must understand that de-struction demands con-struction. They must be reasonably certain their new paradigms will allow for a more viable, more improved, more just tomorrow. Good leaders understand this intuitively, which is why we look to them for guidance and direction.

(c) John Baldoni - All rights reserved
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John Baldoni is an internationally recognized leadership expert, executive coach, speaker and author of seven books on leadership. His newest book, Lead by Example: 50 Ways Great Leaders Inspire Results (Amacom) describes how leaders encourage others to follow their lead. John writes the "Leadership at Work" blog for Harvard Business Publishing and as well as his own leadership blog. John’s website, www.JohnBaldoni.com, contains coaching podcasts and videos, leadership articles, and information about his books and workshops.

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The Two Qualities of Top Leaders By Brian Tracy

2008-07-04T05:44:00.000-05:00

There are two essential qualities of leadership. Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric says that the "Reality Principle" is the most important of all. What this means is the practice of realism in all things.

Practice Intellectual Honesty ...
Realism is a form of intellectual honesty. The realist insists upon seeing the world as it really is, not as he wishes it were. This objectivity, this refusal to engage in self-delusion, is a mark of the true leader.

Don't Trust to Luck ...
Those who exhibit the quality of realism do not trust to luck, hope for miracles, pray for exceptions to basic business principles, expect rewards without working or hope that problems will go away by themselves. These all are examples of self-delusion, of living in a fantasyland.

See Things As They Are ...
The motivational leader insists on seeing things exactly as they are and encourages others to look at life the same way. As a motivational leader, you get the facts, whatever they are.

You deal with people honestly and tell them exactly what you perceive to be the truth. This doesn't mean that you will always be right, but you will always be expressing the truth in the best way you know how.

Take Responsibility ...
The second key quality of motivational leadership is responsibility. This is perhaps the hardest of all to develop. The acceptance of responsibility means that, as Harry Truman said, "The buck stops here."

Win By A Narrow Margin ...
The game of life is very competitive. Sometimes, great success and great failure are separated by a very small distance.

In watching the play-offs in basketball, baseball and football, we see that the winner can be decided by a single point, and that single point can rest on a single action, or inaction, on the part of a single team member at a critical part of the game.

Get the Winning Edge ...
Life is very much like competitive sports. Very small things that you do, or don't do, can either give you the edge that leads to victory or take away your edge at the critical moment.

This principle is especially true with regard to accepting responsibility for yourself and for everything that happens to you.

Refuse to Make Excuses ...
The opposite of accepting responsibility is making excuses, blaming others and becoming upset, angry and resentful toward people for what they have done to you or not done for you.

Any one of these three behaviors can trip you up and be enough to cost you the game: If you run into an obstacle or setback and you make excuses rather than accept responsibility, it's a five-yard penalty. It can cost you a first down. It can cost you a touchdown. It can make the difference between success and failure.

If, when you face a problem or setback, and you both make excuses and blame someone else, you get a 10-yard penalty. In a tightly contested game, where the teams are just about even, a 10-yard penalty can cost you the game.

If, instead of accepting responsibility when things go wrong, you make excuses, blame someone else and simultaneously become angry and resentful and blow up, you get a 15-yard penalty. This may cost you the championship and your career as well if it continues.

Lead Yourself, Be A Role Model ...
Personal leadership and motivational leadership are very much the same. To lead others, you must first lead yourself. To be an example or a role model for others, you must first become an excellent person yourself.

Action Exercises:

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, be completely honest and realistic with yourself and every difficult situation in your life. Resolve to face the truth, whatever it is. Don't wish, hope, pray, ignore or play games with yourself.

Second, accept complete responsibility, especially when things go wrong. Refuse to blame others or make excuses. You can tell the strength of your character when you are under pressure. Be calm, controlled and constructive at all times.

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Brian Tracy is one of the world's leading authorities on personal and business success. His fast-moving talks and seminars are loaded with powerful, proven ideas and strategies that you can apply immediately to get better results in every area. Visit the Brian Tracy web site.

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Leadership Lessons from AA By Joe Tye

2008-07-03T06:57:00.000-05:00

Almost every recovering addict I've ever spoken with eventually uses the word "miracle." And many of these people have been led to their miracle through the principles of AA. That's actually a pretty good metaphor for the very best that organizational leadership has to offer: helping people achieve the miracle of personal transformation.

In this article I'll share several lessons from AA that are directly applicable to being a more effective leader. If you find this to be thought provoking, check out the book The Spirituality of Imperfection, for more on story-telling as a pathway to authenticity. (Authenticity is Core Action Value #1 and Leadership is Core Action Value #12 because the one begins a journey that culminates in the other.)

Fake it till you make it: I was once speaking with a movie producer who told me about the time a young wannabe actor approached the great Spencer Tracy and asked him for the ultimate secret of mastering the acting craft. He said Tracy didn't even look up from the script he was studying, just said "Don't get caught at it."

To be the best leader you are capable of being means to be growing and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, and this means to be continuously rehearsing for roles that are (by definition) uncomfortable. So, you fake it till you make it, because if you don't, you stagnate.

Change your behaviors: In AA, they say that one definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome. By that definition, I know a lot of crazy people (you might be one of them).

For example, to always be complaining about how you never have enough money without taking action to earn more or spend less, or both, is crazy.

Lisa Bluder, head coach of The University of Iowa women's basketball team, closes her emails by saying that if you want to have what you've never had, you must be willing to do what you've never done. And thus do miraculous things come about.

Foster relationships based on mutuality: In AA, the relationship between the drunk and his or her sponsor is that of a mutually interdependent dyad, not of a supervisory paternalism. They both need each other - equally. In his Pulitzer Prize winning book Leadership, James MacGregor Burns wrote that "transforming leadership" is never a one- way street, but always a relationship in which both leader and followers are transformed. In other words, mutuality in action.

There's a lot more we can learn from AA, and we can be inspired by the courage and humility of those who transform the inner demons of addiction into guides for helping others grow (a journey Richard Tripp describes in his book Pleas e Underestimate Me). This is ultimately something all leaders must eventually do, each in their own way.
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Joe Tye is president of Paradox 21 Inc., which provides corporate training and culture change initiatives based on a proprietary curriculum of The Twelve Core Action Values of Personal Leadership Effectiveness. He is also the author of several books and audio programs on personal, career, and business success, and a popular motivational speaker. Visit www.JoeTye.com

*brought to you by BusinessLeadershipAdvice.com

Making A Business Movie By Brian Tracy

2008-07-02T08:16:00.001-05:00

Everything worthwhile is achieved by a variety of people coming together to perform a variety of jobs, all of which are coordinated and sequenced together to achieve a final result.

Today, this model of the virtual corporation or the virtual team is becoming the key to success in both individual and business life.

Assembling Your Team ...
A perfect example of the virtual project team would be the video crew that makes my video training programs. This crew consists of about 10 people, most of whom know each other but all of whom work independently from each other.

Selection is the Key to Success ...
This is the way this type of team comes together. When I decide to create a training program, I negotiate an agreement for the finished product with a person who becomes the project's executive producer.

The executive producer knows where to find the key people to make up the team. And here is an important point: selection is 95 percent of success in management.

Look for Previous Experience ...
For you to select the right people, you must be clear about the key result areas and the standards of job performance.

Most people judge themselves on the basis of what they feel they are capable of doing in the future, but you must only judge people based on what they have actually accomplished in the past. The inability to choose people well for a team can lead to under-achievement and failure.

Know Who You Need ...
The executive producer of the film crew will then begin hiring the individual members of the video shooting team.

First, he or she will hire three cameramen, who come complete with state-of-the-art camera equipment that they either own or rent for this project.

Then there will be lighting and sound specialists. A combination carpenter and designer will be hired to concept and build the set for the video project. A floor director will be selected who will coordinate the activities of the cameramen, the people appearing in the video shoot, the sound person, the light person, and the designer.

Select the Bit Players Carefully ...
In addition to these people, there will be an editor and mixer who will sit in the video sound booth and mix the project as it is shot and edit it afterwards. Finally, there will be a make-up specialist who prepares each of the performers for the shoot.

Field Your Team ...
This makes for a total of 10 people, all specialists who are brought together to focus on the production of a single video project. The actual shoot itself can take anywhere from two hours to two weeks.

When it is over and everyone has done their jobs, the crew shakes hands and disperses in different directions, going on to join other crews for other video shoots under other circumstances.

Continually Revise Team Responsibilities ...
In corporations today, the continuous formation and dissolution of these "virtual teams" is becoming the norm for achieving goals.

People who specialize in their fields are brought together under a team leader to perform a function or do a job and then disperse to become members of other teams performing other functions.

It is into this constant formation and reformation of teams that you must integrate yourself so that you can maximize your capacity to make a significant contribution wherever you work.

These same principles apply to you and to bringing together several people to complete a project.

Action Exercises:

Now, here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, think through the project in terms of the specific jobs to be done and the specific skills that people will require to do those jobs. Select your team on this basis.

Second, take time to discuss and agree on the role and expected contribution from each person. Be absolutely clear with everyone about your final goal or desired result.
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Brian Tracy is one of the world's leading authorities on personal and business success. His fast-moving talks and seminars are loaded with powerful, proven ideas and strategies that you can apply immediately to get better results in every area. Visit the Brian Tracy web site.

*brought to you by BusinessLeadershipAdvice.com

Thoughts on Leadership from a Graduation Ceremony By Lance Secretan

2008-06-13T15:58:00.002-05:00

After writing fourteen books about leadership, I sometimes find myself at a loss when I discover my writings in an unusual place. Often, I don't even remember writing what has been recycled!

So I was suprised to see something I had written some years ago show up as part of a graduation speech - the Internet is the uber-recyling entity!

These are some thoughts, written in 1999, about leadership, from my book, "Inspirational Leadership"…

Leadership is not so much about technique and methods
as it is about opening the heart.
Leadership is about inspiration - of oneself and of others.
Great leadership is about human experiences, not processes.
Leadership is not a formula or a program,
it is a human activity that comes from the heart
and considers the hearts of others.
It is an attitude, not a routine.
More than anything else today,
followers believe that they are part of a system,
a process that lacks heart.
If there is one thing a leader can do
to connect with followers at a human,
or better still a spiritual level,
it is to become engaged with them fully,
to share experiences and emotions,
and to set aside the processes of leadership
we have learned by rote.
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Dr. Lance Secretan is one of the world's foremost thinkers about leadership and a renowned pioneer in innovative methods of inspiring people and organizations. The former CEO of a Fortune 100 company and an acclaimed business school professor, Lance Secretan works with a gifted worldwide faculty changing the lives of people and transforming companies and revolutionizing the way they think about leadership. Visit him at www.Secretan.com.

Lance Secretan's book:

Napoleon's Key to Victory By Brian Tracy

2008-06-09T04:31:00.001-05:00

The only real measure of business leadership is results. This requires the ability to act boldly with no guarantees of success. The greatest obstacle to overcome is fear of the unknown.

The Key to Confidence ...
Most fear however, is rooted in ignorance. The more knowledge or skill you have in any area, the less fear it holds.

Napoleon Bonaparte is considered by historians to be perhaps the greatest single military leader who ever lived. More than 100,000 books have been written about him since his death on St. Helena.

Pay Attention to Detail ...
Napoleon's courage was legendary but it was not vain or impetuous. Napoleon was famous for his fastidious attention to detail, for taking pains to study and thoroughly understand every military situation he ever faced. He led the French army in hundreds of minor and major engagements and lost only three, the last one being Waterloo.

The more you know about what you face, the lower your level of ignorance, the more courage and confidence you will have naturally. The more time you take to think through a situation, the more capable you will be of dealing with it when it arises. Napoleon planned for every contingency.

Think About the Possibilities ...
He carefully considered and followed through to its natural conclusion every setback or possibility of defeat he might encounter and then he prepared against it.

To be caught unprepared for unexpected setbacks is a mark of weak leadership. Confidence comes from the constructive use of pessimism, thinking about what could go wrong long before it does.

Action Exercises:

Here are two ways you can apply Napoleon's strategy to your situation.

First, become an expert in your field. Never stop learning and growing. The more you know, the more confidence you will have.

Second, get the facts. Double check everything. Be prepared for unexpected setbacks and reversals. The more prepared you are, the more confidence you will have.
____________
Brian Tracy is one of the world's leading authorities on personal and business success. His fast-moving talks and seminars are loaded with powerful, proven ideas and strategies that you can apply immediately to get better results in every area. Visit the Brian Tracy web site.

Sponsor: If you're looking for a keynote speaker for your next event, seminar, or company meeting learn more about having Josh Hinds (your host here at BusinessLeadershipAdvice.com) speak to your group.

Management and Other People's Knowledge By Brian Tracy

2008-06-06T10:35:00.001-05:00

Be a Low Pressure Persuader ...
Management can be defined as "getting things done through others." To be a manager you must be an expert at persuading and influencing others to work in a common direction.

This is why all excellent managers are also excellent low-pressure salespeople. They do not order people to do things; instead, they persuade them to accept certain responsibilities, with specific deadlines and agreed-upon standards of performance.

When a person has been persuaded that he or she has a vested interest in doing a job well, he or she accepts ownership of the job and the result. Once a person accepts ownership and responsibility, the manager can step aside confidently, knowing the job will be done on schedule.

You Have Two Choices ...
In every part of your life, you have a choice of either doing it yourself or delegating it to others. Your ability to get someone else to take on the job with the same enthusiasm that you would have is an exercise in personal persuasion. It may seem to take a little longer at the beginning, but it saves you an enormous amount of time in the completion of the task.

The Best Form of Leverage ...
A key form of leverage that you must develop for success in America is other people's knowledge. You must be able to tap into the brain power of many other people if you want to accomplish worthwhile goals.

Successful people are not those who know everything needed to accomplish a particular task, but more often than not, they are people who know how to find the knowledge they need.

What Knowledge Do You Need?
What is the knowledge that you need to achieve your most important goals? Of the knowledge required, what knowledge must you have personally in order to control your situation, and what knowledge can you borrow, buy, or rent from others?

Two Calls Away ...
It has been said that, in our information-based society, you are never more than one book or two phone calls away from any piece of knowledge in the country. With on-line computer services that access huge data bases all over the country, you can usually get the precise information you require in a few minutes by using a personal computer.

Whenever you need information and expertise from another person in order to achieve your goals, the very best way to persuade them to help you is to ask them for their assistance.

Don't Be Afraid to Ask ...
Almost everyone who is knowledgeable in a particular area is proud of their accomplishments. By asking a person for their expert advice, you compliment them and motivate them to want to help you. So don't be afraid to ask, even if you don't know the individual personally.

Action Exercises:

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, multiply your output and rewards by persuading other people to do the job for you and do it well. Delegation is the key to personal leverage.

Second, identify the most important knowledge you need to do an excellent job and then concentrate on finding and using that knowledge.

The person who can find the knowledge in others is often more valuable than the person who possesses it.
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Brian Tracy is one of the world's leading authorities on personal and business success. His fast-moving talks and seminars are loaded with powerful, proven ideas and strategies that you can apply immediately to get better results in every area. Visit the Brian Tracy web site.

* What do you think of the ideas above? Anything you'd add? Use the comments to join the conversation ... Yours in leadership, Josh Hinds :-)

*brought to you by BusinessLeadershipAdvice.com

Extraordinary Teams By Robin Sharma

2008-05-27T22:42:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking about teams. Reflecting on wonderful team experiences and some not so wonderful experiences. The difference? It wasn't leadership--I've seen a number of well led teams fail. And it wasn't talent--there are immensley talented people that can't contribute to a team.

What I've learned is that truly Extraordinary Teams all have two things in common; Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs to borrow from Jim Collins) and Deep Trust.

Yes, talent and leadership are important but every successful team I've been on or worked with has had an almost impossible goal and an extraordinary level of trust between teammates.

Goals may not be sexy, but they work. And they are just as important for team success as they are for personal excellence. People want to be inspired by an important challenge. People crave the opportunity to make a difference. People need to do something significant.

A BHAG inspires creativity. It gives people a sense of pride. It generates the passion that it takes to achieve the extraordinary. So, make sure that your team has a significant, inspiring goal.

Innovation and creativity are always risky. That's why Deep Trust is crucial in a team. Without Deep Trust we worry that our teammates will laugh at our ideas or punish us for disagreeing. Yet, it is this participation and curiosity that is critical for innovation.

Only when everyone is contributing their perspectives and thoroughly questioning reality can a team come up a with a breakthrough. Otherwise the team just hides in the safe harbor of the known. And staying in the safe harbor of the known never creates new markets, never revolutionizes your work and never delights customers.

Here's the big idea; in order to develop trust you have to lead by being trustworthy. How do you become trustworty?
1. Do what you say you will do
2. Celebrate diversity
3. Treat teammates with respect (no gossip, no sarcasm)
4. Expect the best from them
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Robin S. Sharma, LL.M. is an internationally-known speaker on sales leadership, peak performance and creativity. The bestselling author of several motivational books including MegaLiving, he is the managing partner of Sharma Leadership International. He can be reached at RobinSharma.com.

Explore books written by Robin Sharma.

*brought to you by BusinessLeadershipAdvice.com

Take Time Out for Mental Digestion By Brian Tracy

2008-05-27T00:25:00.000-05:00

How to get support for your ideas more easily than ever before.

Many years ago a retiring executive gave me an old pamphlet he had carried throughout his career. It was entitled, "Take Time Out for Mental Digestion."

He told me that this little pamphlet had been one of the most helpful things he had ever read in his business life. At the time I spoke to him he was the president of a corporation with more than 10,000 employees.

The message of this pamphlet was simple. It said that people always resist new ideas and new courses of action, even if the ideas are good for them. However, if they have an opportunity to think about them for a few days, very often they will come around to the new way of thinking with both agreement and enthusiasm.

The pamphlet said that an individual needs about 72 hours to absorb a new idea. Effective executives are those who present their ideas in very casual way, rather than as a decision or a fact engraved in stone. They present their thoughts as ideas for consideration.

Effective executives encourage the other person to take the new idea or new way of doing things and think about it for a few days. They say that "we can discuss this later" and they just leave the idea with the other person.

Over the years, I have found this to be a remarkable piece of advice and a very important insight to communicating effectively with others.

People Will Resist Change...
It is normal and natural for people to resist change of any kind, even and including a change that they will benefit from. So, allow them to take time out for mental digestion. Present your new idea in a low keyed, non-threatening way and just encourage the individual to think about it for a while and then discuss it later.

Present Ideas As Possibilities...
In my early executive career, I was continually frustrated by trying to get my ideas, which I had thought through and which I, of course, thought were wonderful, accepted by my seniors and my co-workers.

When I started taking time out for mental digestion and just presented my ideas as possibilities, I was astonished at how much more readily people turned around and came to see the validity of the ideas. I also found that, if you present an idea with too much enthusiasm, you trigger natural resistance which soon becomes ego-based, irrespective of the validity of the ideas.

Present Ideas in a Low-Keyed Manner...
On the other hand, if you present your ideas in a low-keyed manner and just leave them for consideration, people can come around to accepting them in their own time and embracing your new ideas without any loss of face or without any ego problems.

The next time you have a great idea, mention it casually and ask other people what they think about it. Give people time to digest the idea, even if they are totally opposed to it at the beginning.

Action Exercises:

Now, here are two things you can do to use this principle in practice.

First, think your ideas through on paper before you present them to others. Expect natural resistance. When you do present your ideas, do it in a low keyed, almost indifferent manner so that it stirs up no resistance.

Second, expect your ideas to be rejected initially. When this happens, simply ask open ended questions to get feedback and then present your ideas again at a later time in a different form. It is amazing how effective this strategy will be.
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Brian Tracy is one of the world's leading authorities on personal and business success. His fast-moving talks and seminars are loaded with powerful, proven ideas and strategies that you can apply immediately to get better results in every area. Visit the Brian Tracy web site.

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Leadership Skills: Don't hit the brakes when you hit the gravel By Joe Tye

2008-05-01T09:26:00.001-05:00

If you're speeding along down the road on your bike and unexpectedly hit a patch of loose gravel, the temptation is to immediately hit the brakes. But if you do, more likely than not you will just as quickly hit the ground.

A much safer approach is to coast, to ride it out as you gradually slow down, keep your concentration and maintain your balance, and not even think about falling.

We're faced with similar challenges in our everyday lives. At the first sign quarterly profits might not hit the expectations of analysts and shareholders, the CEO might be tempted to slam on the brakes by slashing "discretionary" expenditures like advertising or staff training.

Although it might take longer for the effects to be felt than would a tumble from a bike, the damage can be very real, and it can take a long time to heal.

At an organization where I once worked, I was holding a staff meeting in a department characterized by low morale, marginal productivity, and lousy attitudes.

When I asked about this, a participant remarked, "It all started when 'the suits' decided to save money by canceling the employee picnic. It was the one nice thing they used to do for us." I'd been at the organization for a number of years, but I'd never heard about an employee picnic. "Picnic? How long ago was this?" I asked.

The response: "Oh, I don't know - five or six years ago." We on the management team were furiously pedaling away, wondering why our "knees" hurt so much, oblivious to the wounds that had been inflicted five or six years earlier when a previous rider hit the brakes on the proverbial patch of gravel.

The effects can be similarly traumatic at home. A teenager comes home way past curfew. Instead of riding it out until morning, when the situation can be handled with love, compassion, and understanding, the parent slams on the brakes: "You're grounded! Give me the car keys and go to bed."

Though it might not be superficially obvious in the morning, a wound has been inflicted that will require first aid if it is to heal properly. The danger is, like the long-forgotten (by management), long-remembered (by staff), cancelled employee picnic, what might have been a minor abrasion can turn into an ugly scar.

If you mentally rehearse your reaction to hitting a patch of gravel before it actually happens, you're less likely to panic when it does. So, too, in business and in life. If you anticipate the possibility of an economic downturn, or a rebellious teenager, and mentally rehearse your response, you're more likely to respond with intelligence rather than react in anger.

* The above is an excerpt from Joe Tye's e-book Learning to Ride the Bicycle of Life.
___________
Joe Tye is president of Paradox 21 Inc., which provides corporate training and culture change initiatives based on a proprietary curriculum of The Twelve Core Action Values of Personal Leadership Effectiveness. He is also the author of several books and audio programs on personal, career, and business success, and a popular motivational speaker. Visit www.JoeTye.com.

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Building A Successful Team By Jim Rohn

2008-04-21T20:44:00.001-05:00

Once you've set a goal for yourself as a leader-whether it is to create your own enterprise, energize your organization, build a church, or excel in sports - the challenge is to find good people to help you accomplish that goal. Gathering a successful team of people is not only helpful, it's necessary.

So to guide you in this daunting task of picking the right people, I'm going to share with you a four-part checklist.

Number One: Check each candidate's history. Seek out available information regarding the individual's qualifications to do the job. That's the most obvious step.

Number Two: Check the person's interest level. If they are interested, they are probably a good prospect. Sometimes people can fake their interest, but if you've been a leader for a while, you will be a capable judge of whether somebody is merely pretending. Arrange face-to-face conversation, and try to gauge his or her sincerity to the best of your ability. You won't hit the bull's-eye every time, but you can get pretty good at spotting what I call true interest.

Number Three: Check the prospect's responses. A response tells you a lot about someone's integrity, character, and skills. Listen for responses like these: "You want me to get there that early?" "You want me to stay that late?" "The break is only ten minutes?" "I'll have to work two evenings a week and Saturdays?" You can't ignore these clues. A person's responses are a good indication of his or her character and of how hard he or she will work. Our attitudes reflect our inner selves, so even if we can fool others for a while, eventually, our true selves will emerge.

And Number Four: Check results. The name of the game is results. How else can we effectively judge an individual's performance? The final judge must be results.

There are two types of results to look for. The first is activity results. Specific results are a reflection of an individual's productivity. Sometimes we don't ask for this type of result right away, but it's pretty easy to check activity. If you work for a sales organization and you've asked your new salesman, John, to make ten calls in the first week, it's simple to check his results on Friday. You say, "John, how many calls did you make?" John says, "Well..." and starts telling a story, making an excuse. You respond, "John, I just need a number from one to ten." If his results that first week are not good, it is a definite sign. You might try another week, but if that lack of precise activity continues, you'll soon realize that John isn't capable of becoming a member of your team.

The second area you need to monitor is productivity. The ultimate test of a quality team is measurable progress in a reasonable amount of time. And here's one of the skills of leadership: be up front with your team as to what you expect them to produce. Don't let the surprises come later.

When you're following this four-part checklist, your instincts obviously play a major role. And your instincts will improve every time you go through the process. Remember, building a good team will be one of your most challenging tasks as a leader. It will reap you multiple rewards for a long time to come.

To Your Success,
Jim Rohn
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Creativity by Bobb Biehl

2008-04-17T15:17:00.002-05:00

On a one-to-ten scale, how would you respond to these questions?

• How creative do you think you are?
• How competent are you at solving problems?

I believe that creativity for leaders is bringing together new, workable solutions to problems. It’s a fundamental misconception to think, “To be creative, I have to be artistic.” If you can solve a problem, you’re creative.

I’d like you to focus on the one thing you have the strongest desire to create. Asking yourself the following questions can enhance your ability to be creative:

Do I have an attitude of readiness for creativity?
I’m told that the director of the U.S. Patent Office in the late 1800s wanted to close that agency because he believed all the best ideas had already been patented. Do you believe the best has already been, or are you convinced the best is yet to be?

In the area I want to apply creativity, what is the need? As you think about this, how can you state the need—and then solve it using your problem solving skills? I’ve published a book called The Memories Book. Many people have told me the idea was creative. It’s a gift book (that includes 600 questions) in which parents or grandparents can record their memories. It lets them leave a priceless legacy for their descendents.

However, the Memories Book began as an attempt to fill many lonely hours for my wife’s elderly grandmother, Frances Shupe. I saw the problem and worked to solve it; the solution was a concept that could be passed on to others.

When a problem is “burning a hole” in your mind and you think, “There has to be a solution to this,” recognize that need as the soil for creativity. Reflect deeply on the problem, and the solution will “jump out at you.”

Should I try to find an original solution, or is there a model I can follow?

There are at least two types of human creativity. Both are valuable and effective.

• Original creativity is the process whereby you arrive at a solution without having seen anything like it previously.
• Adaptive creativity is the process in which you take existing models and tailor them to fit your situation.

How can I expand my perspective?

By temporarily adjusting the context within which you approach a problem, you may see new solutions. For example, if you’re trying to solve a problem with a budget of $100.00, consider what changes you would make with an unlimited budget. With more dollars available, you could identify a variety of solutions you hadn’t even considered. You can then identify ways in which some of those ideas could be pursued on a “scaled-down” version.

Another idea for expanding your view: Take five minutes to list as many options as you can. Don’t worry now about any drawbacks—just quantity. You may be surprised by your creative solutions.

When something is simple—keep simplifying it! (Make sure you have big sheets of paper to write on when brainstorming.)

Is this need worth a lot of time?

Make sure the problem is worth the amount of time and mental energy you’re exerting.

How do I feel about the problem?

Often, simply realizing how you feel about a problem will prompt creative solutions.

Has someone already solved this problem?

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. (On the other hand, never stop refining the tire!)

Who could help me think creatively about this problem?

Who’s the most creative person you know? Call that person, explain the problem, and ask for input. Expect to hear creative alternatives!

Could this solution be a “Big Winner”?

Some solutions are “ten-dollar ideas” while others might be “million-dollar ideas.” Identify and invest yourself in the “big ideas.”

REMEMBER...

Whenever you’re tempted to doubt your creativity, ask yourself:

• Do I have an attitude of readiness for creativity?
• In the area I want to apply creativity, what is the need?
• Should I try to find an original solution, or is there a model I can follow?
• How can I expand my perspective?
• Is this need worth a lot of time?
• How do I feel about the problem?
• Has someone already solved this problem?
• Who could help me think creatively about this problem?
• Could this solution be a “Big Winner”?

By knowing the right questions, you’ll continue to increase your leadership confidence.

Note: This material has been adapted from a book called LEADING with Confidence…available at www.BobbBiehl.com
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Bobb Biehl is an executive mentor. He is the founder of Masterplanning Group International. As its president, he has consulted personally with more than 400 clients. In that time he has met one-to-one with over 2,500 executives (board members, senior executives, and staff members) and spent an estimated 35,000 hours in private sessions with some of the finest leaders of our generation. You can visit him at www.BobbBiehl.com.

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Leadership From Confusion to Clarity By Bryant Nielson

2008-03-19T23:57:00.000-05:00

New leaders - and sometimes more senior leaders - can find themselves in organizations and situations that are very cloudy and confusing.

This problem could arise from changes in the organization's structure, new leadership, a lack of direction, or even a new team or organization. What can a leader do to create clarity amidst the confusion?

First of all, you must define the future for the organization. Many times confusion arises from just not knowing where the organization is headed. Define the future by determining a vision and mission for the organization - and be as specific as possible.

What goal do you want the organization to reach, and in what time frame? Do you need or want the organization to grow in size, revenue, or number of locations? All of these things must be described concisely in order to lift some confusion.

You'll find that by just painting a picture of what the future looks like, people will fall behind it and begin moving in the same direction. Remember that your vision is most likely a change, so expect the organization to react to change before embracing the new direction.

Next, be sure to clarify roles. This simple statement takes on quite a bit of complication because you must clarify the roles of everyone in the organization - from the front line to middle managers, as well as your own role.

As a leader, your role should concentrate on the big picture and you should communicate this to the organization. While you're clarifying roles, you may need to adjust them, as well. For example, if you're trying to move your organization into a more leadership-based organization, you may have to define managers as team leaders - and begin changing the hierarchy.

You may also find that you have to adjust roles within the organization - the person or team who was responsible for certain tasks may not be the best suited for those tasks and you may have to make adjustments.

As you move down into the organization, be certain that every person is aware of his or her role - and that their questions about that role can be answered by you or another leader.

With clarified roles, at least people can direct their attention to their tasks and not to the confusion that may be occurring.

Third, begin the process of developing leaders at all levels. Look at the training that currently exists in the organization. Is the training based on function only, or are there opportunities for people to grow as coaches or leaders?

Can you take functional training and adjust it to create functional leaders, that is, people who excel at their normal tasks and can be used to lead others in those tasks? Examine the organization to determine if any leadership is visible at the lower levels - and spend time developing those groups. But how does this create clarity in confusion?

First, creating a talent pool helps you to clarify roles. You may have emerging leaders who can now see their role within the organization - and the possibility that they can move up within the organization.

Second, you're making it clear that in order to reach the organization's goals, each person has a chance to become a leader. So not only can people concentrate on their own tasks, they can also concentrate on how leadership skill can improve the entire organization.

You must remove hierarchies and boundaries that may have caused confusion in the past. Sometimes you'll find that the organization may have quite a bit of redundancy in tasks and responsibilities.

This not only creates confusion but it also creates less than good will amongst departments and teams. By examining who's doing what, you can clarify the hierarchy and move to create an organization that functions efficiently.

Boundaries between teams and departments can also contribute to confusion. In many organizations, teams do not have a general awareness of how they fit in with the big picture and with other teams.

In fact, many individual team members may be keenly aware of his or her own tasks, but have no idea how those tasks contribute to the overall function of the organization. By breaking down the walls between teams and departments, you'll allow everyone to see how it all fits together, as well as to expose redundancy and ineffective processes.

Again, removing an old way of doing things is a change, so be sure to communicate the benefits the change at all times.

Finally, communication is the key to removing confusion - both formally and informally. On the informal side, you, as the leader, must be a constant champion of your own vision and goals for the future. In other words, you should talk about it whenever you have the chance.

Be sure that lower-level organizational members hear the words coming out of your mouth - prove to them that it's not just top-level talk. More formally, consider using a G.E. "Work Out" approach, where business units come together to solve problems and brainstorm on future efficiencies.

Allow the people who do the work to communicate with you and your team - you'll find that some of the best ideas come from that type of communication. You can also consider "town hall" type meetings, where you go to the groups and allow them to ask questions about the changes, the new vision, and the direction of the organization.

Remember that communication is a two way street, so just as you communicate to the organization, allow the organization to communicate with you.

By defining the future, clarifying roles, developing leaders, removing boundaries, and opening communication, you can create clarity in the midst of confusion - and move your organization ahead.

Copyright 2008 Bryant Nielson. All Rights Reserved.
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Bryant Nielson - Managing Director and National Sales Trainer - assists executives, business owners, and top performing sales executives in taking the leap from the ordinary to extraordinary. Bryant is a trainer, business & leadership coach, and strategic planner for sales organizations. You can visit him at www.BryantNielson.com

Sponsor: If you're looking for a keynote speaker for your next event, seminar, or company meeting learn more about having Josh Hinds (your host here at BusinessLeadershipAdvice.com) speak to your group.

Empowering Others By Brian Tracy

2008-02-19T19:45:00.000-06:00

Get the Cooperation of Others...
Empowering people is the key to building a high-performance team. Once you empower people by learning how to motivate and inspire them, they will want to work with you to help you achieve your goals in everything you do.

Your ability to enlist the knowledge, energy and resources of others enables you to become a multiplication sign, to leverage yourself so that you accomplish far more than the average person and in a far shorter period of time.

Determine the Key People to Empower...
There are three types of people that you want to and need to empower on a regular basis. They are, first of all, the people closest to you: your family, your friends, your spouse and your children.

Second are your work relationships: your staff, your coworkers, your peers, your colleagues and even your boss.

Third are all the other people that you interact with in your day-to-day life: your customers, your suppliers, your banker, the people with whom you deal in stores, restaurants, airplanes, hotels and everywhere else.

In each case, your ability to get people to help you is what will make you a more powerful and effective person.

Always Be Positive...
Empower means "putting power into," and it can also mean "bringing energy and enthusiasm out of."

So the first step in empowering people is to refrain from doing anything that disempowers them or reduces their energy and enthusiasm for what they are doing.

There are things you can do every single day to empower people and make them feel good about themselves.

Satisfy the Deepest Needs...
The deepest need that each person has is for self-esteem, a sense of being important, valuable and worthwhile.

Everything that you do in your interactions with others affects their self-esteem in some way. You already have an excellent frame of reference to determine the things that you can do to boost the self-esteem and therefore the sense of personal power of those around you. Give them what you'd like for yourself.

Continually Express Appreciation...
Perhaps the simplest way to make another person feel good about himself or herself is your continuous expressions of appreciation for everything that person does for you, large or small. Say "thank you" on every occasion.

Thank your spouse for everything that he or she does for you. Thank your children for their cooperation and support in everything that they do around the house. Thank your friends for the smallest acts of kindnesses. The more you thank other people for doing things for you, the more things those other people will want to do.

Action Exercises:

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, continually look for ways to make people feel more valuable and important. Say things to others that you would like others to say to you.

Second, express appreciation for everything anyone does for you, large or small. Say the words, "thank you" on every occasion.
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Brian Tracy is one of the world's leading authorities on personal and business success. His fast-moving talks and seminars are loaded with powerful, proven ideas and strategies that you can apply immediately to get better results in every area. Visit the Brian Tracy web site.

*brought to you by BusinessLeadershipAdvice.com

A Special Kind of Courage By Brian Tracy

2008-02-09T23:18:00.001-06:00

There are several different aspects of courage. Perhaps the most important is the courage to endure, to persist, to "hang in there" in the face of doubt, uncertainty and criticism from others.

Practice Patience in Adversity ...
This is called "courageous patience," the willingness and the ability to "stay the course" in the face of uncertainty, doubt and often criticism from many quarters.

Stay the Course ...
In my experience, there is a critical time period between the launching of a new venture and the results that come from that venture.

During this hiatus, this waiting period, many people lose their nerve. They cannot stand the suspense of not knowing, of possible failure. They break and run in battle, they quake and quit in business.

The True Leader ...
But the true leader is the person who can stand firm, who refuses to consider the possibility of failure. The turning points of many key moments in human history have been the resolution, or lack thereof, of one person. Courageous patience is the acid test of leadership.

To encourage others, to instill confidence in them, to help them to perform at their best requires first of all that you lead by example.

Allow Honest Mistakes ...
The second thing you can do to help alleviate the fears of failure and rejection in others is to encourage them to take calculated risks and allow honest mistakes.

Build People Up ...
Give the people who look up to you regular praise and approval. Celebrate good tries as well as success, large and small. Create a psychological climate where people feel safe from censure, blame or criticism of any kind. Then do things that make people feel terrific about themselves.

Become Unstoppable ...
Courage comes from acting courageously on a day-to-day basis. Your personal development goal should be to practice the behaviors of a totally fearless person until you become, in your own mind, unstoppable.

Action Exercises:

Here are two ways for you to develop courageous patience.

First, prepare yourself in advance for the inevitable disappointments and setbacks you will experience on the way to your goal. Don't be surprised when they occur.

Second, resolve in advance that you will bounce rather than break and continually encourage others to think and act the same way.
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Brian Tracy is one of the world's leading authorities on personal and business success. His fast-moving talks and seminars are loaded with powerful, proven ideas and strategies that you can apply immediately to get better results in every area. Visit the Brian Tracy web site.

Look: Save 20% on Brian Tracy's Leadership for Results Package! - in this program you will learn: powerful strategies for getting the most out of yourself and others.

*brought to you by BusinessLeadershipAdvice.com

Developing Leadership Skills Through Your Community By Barbara White

2008-01-25T16:27:00.001-06:00

If you want to progress in your career, and get promoted to a leadership role, it is important to be developing your leadership skills on an ongoing basis.

One of the most essential indicators of good leadership skills is the most obvious – the ability and willingness to take the lead and to motivate the team to follow.

This article will explore how you can develop experience in leadership and how your leadership skills can be developed through becoming a volunteer in your local community.

Generally speaking everyone falls into one of three categories:
1. People who make things happen
2. People who watch things happen, and,
3. People who ask “What happened?”

The role of a leader is to make things happen. A leader is the person, who not only develops the skills and abilities to make things happen, but makes them part of their lifestyle.

The role of a leader plays out, not only in the work environment, but in every area of life. A leader takes the lead at work, at home, with family, in their church, in their community, and often this is in a volunteer position.

Leaders are the ones who step up to the plate and do what it takes to get the results that are needed.

Here is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.

Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done. Who took the role of the leader?

It was Nobody

Part of the leader’s role involves leading by example. A leader is not just the person who takes charge or wears the “leader’s” badge. True leadership is about serving, and making sure the job gets done.

The role of a leader is to be a role-model for those who follow. You are there, setting the example by being part of the team. You start a little earlier, you work a little harder, and you stay a little later. You never ask anyone to do something that you wouldn’t do yourself.

As the head of the team, you continually look for ways to make it easier for your team members to do their jobs. You accept complete responsibility for the achievement of the overall goal, You are a leader because you continually lead.
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Barbara White is an author, speaker and trainer in leadership development. You can visit her site at LivingBeyondBetter.com.

*brought to you by BusinessLeadershipAdvice.com