10 Leadership lessons

Why Leaders Fail
Personal Growth
In Pursuit of Potencial
Leading leaders
Repacing Complacency
Leadership
The Enspirational Leader
Lesson Learned
WORDS TO LEARN BY
Navigating Change 
Credibility
Joy at Work
Confidence

Succesful leadership

Leading toward the imposible

Leadership Development is Character Development

from Larry Bird

Lesson #1

Surround yourself with good people and good things always happen.

The best way to ensure success as a leader
is by picking the best people you can find.

Not only does that make your job easier,
but a vibrant, hard-working staff
will challenge you to be a better leader as well.

Lesson #2

If they love what they're doing, they'll love their job.

The quickest route to discord in the workplace
is when someone doesn't love their job.

Even a person who is good at their job but doesn't love it
will eventually get bored and unmotivated.

Lesson #3

Believe in your team.

Believing in the character and abilities of your colleagues and staff
gives them confidence in themselves.

Browbeating, as distinct from firm leadership,
only bruises egos, and depletes the confidence necessary
to get the job done well.

Lesson #4

Hide your weaknesses, play to your strengths.

The nature of competition is such that any number of people invariably
have their eyes on the same prize you do.

Recognize your assets and employ them to the best of your ability

Weaknesses are what the competition is looking for.
Don't ignore them, but don't shine a spotlight on them either.

Lesson #5

Winning IS important.

It sometimes isn't very PC to say so, but winning is important,
and feels pretty good.

It's what keeps you moving forward.
Play to win.

When in doubt, just remember how bad losing feels.

Lesson #6

Make sure everybody is on the same page.

Even if everyone can't always agree, it's important to make sure
everyone backs the decision once it is made.

Heavy-handedness will not ensure this.
Fairness, communication and conviction will.

Lesson #7

Make choices based on what is best for the team.

Do it with confidence.

And once you've done that, move on the next thing.
Don't dwell on decisions you've already made.

Lesson #8

It's all about preparation.

Just like going in and taking a test in school,
you know if you're ready or not before you've even sat down!

It's the same in basketball,
the same in business
and the same in life.

Lesson #9

Your staff is depending on you.

They have kids, grandkids and families to support.
Your actions affect them and their livelihoods directly.

Don't let it pressure you, but don't forget it either.
Acting with integrity on their behalf
is imperitive to good leadership,
and ensures respect.

Lesson #10

The bottom line is what your fans want.

Read: customers.

They pay your salary, they're your raison d'être.
It's your job to keep them happy.

Don't let anyone on your team lose sight of this.

 

Pareto's Principle - The 80-20 Rule

How the 80/20 rule can help you be more effective

In 1906, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto created a mathematical formula to describe the unequal distribution of wealth in his country, observing that twenty percent of the people owned eighty percent of the wealth. In the late 1940s, Dr. Joseph M. Juran inaccurately attributed the 80/20 Rule to Pareto, calling it Pareto's Principle. While it may be misnamed, Pareto's Principle or Pareto's Law as it is sometimes called, can be a very effective tool to help you manage effectively.

Where It Came From

After Pareto made his observation and created his formula, many others observed similar phenomena in their own areas of expertise. Quality Management pioneer, Dr. Joseph Juran, working in the US in the 1930s and 40s recognized a universal principle he called the "vital few and trivial many" and reduced it to writing. In an early work, a lack of precision on Juran's part made it appear that he was applying Pareto's observations about economics to a broader body of work. The name Pareto's Principle stuck, probably because it sounded better than Juran's Principle.

As a result, Dr. Juran's observation of the "vital few and trivial many", the principle that 20 percent of something always are responsible for 80 percent of the results, became known as Pareto's Principle or the 80/20 Rule. You can read his own description of the events in the Juran Institute article titled Juran's Non-Pareto Principle.

What It Means

The 80/20 Rule means that in anything a few (20 percent) are vital and many(80 percent) are trivial. In Pareto's case it meant 20 percent of the people owned 80 percent of the wealth. In Juran's initial work he identified 20 percent of the defects causing 80 percent of the problems. Project Managers know that 20 percent of the work (the first 10 percent and the last 10 percent) consume 80 percent of your time and resources. You can apply the 80/20 Rule to almost anything, from the science of management to the physical world.

You know 20 percent of you stock takes up 80 percent of your warehouse space and that 80 percent of your stock comes from 20 percent of your suppliers. Also 80 percent of your sales will come from 20 percent of your sales staff. 20 percent of your staff will cause 80 percent of your problems, but another 20 percent of your staff will provide 80 percent of your production. It works both ways.

How It Can Help You

The value of the Pareto Principle for a manager is that it reminds you to focus on the 20 percent that matters. Of the things you do during your day, only 20 percent really matter. Those 20 percent produce 80 percent of your results. Identify and focus on those things. When the fire drills of the day begin to sap your time, remind yourself of the 20 percent you need to focus on. If something in the schedule has to slip, if something isn't going to get done, make sure it's not part of that 20 percent.

There is a management theory floating around at the moment that proposes to interpret Pareto's Principle in such a way as to produce what is called Superstar Management. The theory's supporters claim that since 20 percent of your people produce 80 percent of your results you should focus your limited time on managing only that 20 percent, the superstars. The theory is flawed, as we are discussing here because it overlooks the fact that 80 percent of your time should be spent doing what is really important. Helping the good become better is a better use of your time than helping the great become terrific. Apply the Pareto Principle to all you do, but use it wisely.

Manage This Issue

Pareto's Principle, the 80/20 Rule, should serve as a daily reminder to focus 80 percent of your time and energy on the 20 percent of you work that is really important. Don't just "work smart", work smart on the right things.

Maxwell Moment

The Seven Demands of Leadership By Dr. John C. Maxwell

An earnest young man once approached me during a Q & A session, and asked, “What is the ONE THING I need to know to be a great leader?” as if he was searching for the hidden key to unlock the universe. Amused by the simplicity of his question, my answer was equally simple: “To be a great leader, there’s more than ONE THING you need to know about leadership.”

Leadership is not easily reduced into a formula. However, I understand the urge to try to wrap our hands around effective leadership by breaking it down into a manageable set of principles. In my research and study of leadership, one of the better simplifications I have found was developed by the team at the Gallup Organization. After conducting extensive research on leaders across a broad spectrum of careers, Gallup boiled down leadership into seven essential qualities. Their in-depth study culminated in the article, The Seven Demands of Leadership, appearing in the Gallup Management Journal.

In this edition of Leadership Wired, I’d like to review the findings of Gallup’s research, and supplement them with additional thoughts.

The Seven Demands of Leadership

1. Visioning.

“Successful leaders are able to look out, across, and beyond the organization. They have a talent for seeing and creating the future. They use highly visual language that paints pictures of the future for those they lead. As a result, they seem to attain bigger goals because they create a collective mindset that propels people to help them make their vision a reality.” ~ Gallup Management Journal

The foundation of a vision is reality. Develop a reality statement before creating a vision statement. The reality statement should explain the present situation, the process of pursuing the vision, and the price which must be paid to realize the vision. Be careful not to diminish the vision—it should be bold and daring—but refine the vision until it is realistic and achievable. A lack of realism in the vision today costs credibility tomorrow.

Leaders take the vision from “me” to “we.” They enlist others in a common vision by appealing to their values, interests, hopes, and dreams. Teamwork makes the dream work, but a vision becomes a nightmare when the leader has a big dream and a bad team.

When we lose sight of the distinction between our plans and the vision we are pursuing, we set ourselves up for a large dose of discouragement. A vision is a picture of what could and should be. A plan is a guess as to the best way to accomplish the vision. Failed plans should not be interpreted as a failed vision. Visions don’t change, they are only refined. Plans rarely stay the same, and are scrapped or adjusted as needed. Be stubborn about the vision, but flexible with your plan.

2. Maximizing values.

“By highlighting what is important about work, great leaders make clear what is important to them in life. They clarify how their own values – particularly a concern for people – relate to their work. They also communicate a sense of personal integrity and a commitment to act based on their values.” ~ Gallup Management Journal

A principle is an external truth that is as reliable as a physical law such as the law of gravity. When Solomon said, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger,” he stated a principle that is both universal and timeless. Principles are important because they function like a map allowing us to make wise decisions. If we ignore them or deny their reliability, we become like travelers refusing to use a road map because we dispute its accuracy.

While we may acknowledge the reliability of many principles, we only internalize those we deem important. When that happens, the principle has become a value that serves as the internal map we use to direct our lives. A value, then, is an internalized principle that guides our decisions.

3. Challenging Experiences.

“By galvanizing people with a clear vision and strong values, the leaders we studied were able to challenge their teams to achieve significant work goals. In fact, those leaders themselves had been assigned significant challenging experiences at key points in their careers while being given the freedom to determine how they would achieve outcomes.” ~ Gallup Management Journal

When others run from the challenge before them, leaders rise to the challenge before them. English historian Arnold Toynbee has said, “Appropriate response to challenge is the basis for the rise of any society or organization.” A leader’s value to others is to lead them through difficult challenges by providing hope and bestowing courage.

4. Mentoring

“The leaders we studied consistently had a close relationship either with their manager or someone in the best position to advise them. This is often someone from outside their organization who serves as their mentor.” ~ Gallup Management Journal

Relationships define who we are and what we become. Stick to the confines of self and you’ll remain immature and small. Have the humility to learn from those around you. Identify people’s strengths and uniqueness and inquire about them. When learning is your passion and you value people, teachers will crop up all around you.

5. Building a Constituency

“Beyond close one-to-one relationships, leaders also create rapport at many levels across their organization and beyond. They know the benefits of building a wide constituency…These leaders understand networks and the importance of networking.” ~ Gallup Management Journal

Relationships are precious resources, and leaders accumulate social capital. As it is said, “Your network determines your net worth.” Networkers share experiences, opportunities, and advice, and they connect relationships. By investing in the well-being of others, networkers naturally earn a return as they benefit from the reciprocated generosity of those they have helped.

6. Making Sense of Experience

“In all their relationships, effective leaders enlighten others because they can make sense of experience.” ~ Gallup Management Journal

Experience is to be cherished and absorbed. It comes at a price and once bought, experience should be explored until all its treasure is uncovered. Experience is not the best teacher—evaluated experience is. Reflection turns experience into insight.

“When a person with experience meets a person with money, the person with experience will get the money. And the person with the money will get experience.” ~ Leonard Lauder, president of Estee Lauder

7. Knowing self

“Effective leaders have an acute sense of their own strengths and weakness. They know who they are – and who they are not. They don’t try to be all things to all people. Their personalities and behaviors are indistinguishable between work and home. They are genuine. It is this absence of pretense that helps them connect to others so well.” ~ Gallup Management Journal

Productive leaders have matured to the point of honest self-awareness. They couple knowledge with understanding. They have resources and means, but their grasp of meaning separates them from the pack. They have know-how, but more importantly they know why. Their sight generates insight.

Review: The Seven Demands of Leadership:

• Visioning
• Maximizing Values
• Challenging Experience
• Mentoring
• Building a Constituency
• Making Sense of Experience
• Knowing Self

To read the Gallup Organization’s article, The Seven Demands of Leadership, written by Barry Conchie, go online to: http://gmj.gallup.com/content/11614/default.aspx

Leadership @ Large

Flying through the Storm

“Nothing says ‘I love you’ like being held hostage on a frozen plane with the man you love, 99 strangers, 4 other people you happen to know, 4 screaming babies and 3 rambunctious kids running about, nothing but chips and soda for sustenance, faulty power, unreliable direct TV and overfilled sewage system for 11 hours.” ~ Gen, a JetBlue passenger stranded on Valentine’s Day (www.jetbluehostage.com)

JetBlue Airways continues to dig out of the public relations hole caused by a pileup of snow in the Northeast. Grounding 1,096 flights, Jet Blue’s cancellations affected an estimated 130,000 passengers. The company has heard a flurry of complaints from furious customers. One disgruntled customer even started a blog, www.jetbluehostage.com, for those inconvenienced by JetBlue’s letdown.

Prior to the February flight fiasco, JetBlue ranked at or near the top of the airline industry in customer satisfaction. Now, the company finds itself struggling to salvage its identity. The unfolding story has been dubbed as a case study in crisis management. Thus far, JetBlue’s CEO, David Neeleman, has responded admirably in the midst of trying circumstances. His actions speak volumes about leading amidst crisis.

Assume Responsibility

Leaders presiding over crisis situations are faced with the decision to accept the blame or point fingers. Perhaps nothing is as unpalatable to an aggrieved customer as the refusal of a business to own its mistakes. An offended patron may forgive an honest error, even an egregious error, so long as the business at fault admits its culpability.

In the aftermath of JetBlue’s horrific delays and cancellations, Neeleman stepped forward to apologize to his people and clients for JetBlue’s lack of operational preparedness to deal with severe weather. He didn’t blame the blizzard, but accepted full responsibility for the mess. In the week afterwards, he appeared on CNN's American Morning, Today, Fox and Friends and Squawk Box, NPR, CNBC, and the CBS Late Show with David Letterman. At every opportunity, he justified the outrage felt by JetBlue passengers and described his personal humiliation for JetBlue’s inability to serve its customers.

Respond Proactively and Generously

The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Contingency planning cannot account for every conceivable scenario. At some point in business, an organization will not reach its desired level of performance and will fall short of its customer’s expectations.

In the case of JetBlue, the company swiftly reached out to the customers it had angered. Within a week of the cancellation ordeal, the company had posted its strategy to reimburse the people it had stranded in an effort to regain their trust. Neeleman went so far as to meet with the founders of www.jetbluehostage.com to listen to their concerns. He was wise to take measures to alleviate the issue rather than waiting for litigation or public disapproval to force his hand.

JetBlue has gone the extra mile in its plan to repay the time and travel they lost during the flight cancellations. In his communication, David Neeleman’s has repeatedly demonstrated an appropriate attitude of generosity and contriteness. The company is bracing to spend upwards of $30 million to adequately make up for its operational breakdown. By offering its passengers “fair value” for their inconveniences, JetBlue will likely retain the majority of its customers.

Reassure Customers

Having assessed the crisis, JetBlue has taken action to prevent future service disruptions. Standby reservations and rebooking agents will be on call in New York for emergency scenarios. Updated equipment will more readily match crews with planes during times of heavy volume and delays, and increased staff training will better position JetBlue employees to excel under duress. Undoubtedly, these improvements will be advertised to the public as JetBlue rebuilds its image.

Of all the changes, the biggest measure taken by JetBlue to win back passengers is its Customer Bill of Rights. This document enumerates JetBlue’s commitment to its passengers in the event of overbookings, cancellations, and delays. For each scenario, the Customer Bill of Rights spells out the financial responsibilities JetBlue will incur, such as reimbursements and vouchers, whenever mistakes by the airline inconvenience its travelers.

Summary

When a crisis hits and organizations, its leadership must labor intently to reestablish trust with customers. The first step is to assume responsibility for mistakes. Then, leadership must respond proactively and generously to customers who have been wronged. Finally, leadership must reassure customers that the crisis has no chance of reoccurring.

To read more about JetBlue’s response to the flight cancellation crisis, visit Forbes online: http://www.forbes.com/leadership/2007/02/20/neeleman-jet-blue-lead-cx_tw_0220jetblueceo.html

LEADERSHIP IN THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

Manufacturers are closing their doors. Assembly lines are disassembling. Dilapidated farmhouses sit in empty fields. Mills and mines dot the countryside as historical relics. Why? Technology, technology, technology.

Human minds continue to replace human hands as more sophisticated machinery, equipment, hardware, and software are applied to the workplace. In 1949, about 40% of workers in the USA were employed in the service sector of the economy. By 1967, that percentage had grown to 55%. In 1986, 66% worked in the service industry, and presently, 75% of the nation’s employees are in services.

With the share of manufacturing jobs steadily shrinking, and the knowledge economy in full bloom, the landscape of leadership has changed shape. What implications does this shift have on today’s leaders?

Spinning Plates

Remember typewriters? It’s hard to believe they dominated office documentation for most of the 1900s and were standard into the 1980s. As we reach the 21st century, a regional office in Beijing can have a videoconference with associates in New York. Via the internet, schoolchildren in Houston can see and speak with “pen pals” in Amsterdam free of charge. Information that sailed across seas in bulky packages less than 100 years ago can be digitally transferred in nanoseconds today. Decisions traditionally made in consideration of customers in a local county now affect clientele on several continents.

What do these changes mean for leaders? Not only must they juggle more plates, but the plates are spinning faster than ever. Today’s leader is surrounded by incessantly buzzing or beeping devices relaying mass quantities of data. With the influx of information and more rapid pace of change, leaders are successful when they keep the mission clear. A leader focused on purpose and values acts as a compass in the maze of complexity.

The leader who spins the plates successfully:

• Sees with Clarity
• Repositions at Light Speed
• Navigates a Flexible, But Focused Path

What Happens in Vegas…

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas…unless someone recorded it on their camera phone…and uploaded it to their computer…and posted it on a blog for the world to see.

The proliferation of information in the knowledge economy has made leaders more visible than ever before. Leaders should not be surprised when a speech given in a closed door meeting filters through the grapevine of the company’s interoffice email system. Nor should they expect to dam up the flow of information internally or externally. In today’s world, news travels at light speed and will find its way around artificial impediments.

The downfall of companies that cooked the books (i.e. Arthur Andersen) generated a movement toward greater corporate transparency and accountability. When communicating to media, shareholders, and boards of directors, leaders are demanded to be accessible and open. In an era in which leaders are held accountable for their promises, every executive misstep will be dissected and scrutinized.

Successful leaders in the knowledge economy:

• Keep No Skeletons in the Closet
• Communicate Forthrightly
• Underpromise and Overdeliver

Collaborator-in-Chief

In the words of Marshall Goldsmith, “The role of leadership has changed from the top-down – ‘I'm going to tell you what to do approach’ – to a more asking, listening, and participating [approach].” The antiquated model of a supervisor commanding underlings has been supplanted by a relational model in which managers collaborate with teammates.

In the knowledge economy, organizational charts have flattened. Today’s employees have a knee-jerk distaste for hierarchy. They won’t respond to authority leveraged solely by position, but they will respect a leader who cares about them, is honest, and expresses gratitude for their contributions.

Leaders excel as participatory managers when they:

• Listen
• Show Appreciation
• Match Words with Actions
  

Leadership Development is Character Development By JIM KOUZES and BARRY POSNER

Jim Kouzes Barry Posner

    Leadership is a relationship between those who aspire to lead and those who chose to follow. Sometimes the relationship is one-to-one. Sometimes it’s one-to-many. But regardless of whether the number is one or one thousand, leadership is a relationship.
We’ve been conducting research on this relationship for over two decades. We’ve asked people to tell us what they look for and admire in a leader, someone whose direction they would willingly follow. We’ve asked this question in every type of organization. We’ve asked it of men and women, young and old, and individual contributors and executives. We’ve asked it around the world. You might expect we’d get a different set of responses over a twenty-plus year period.

    What’s been most striking is that we don’t get a different answer. People keep sending the same message. They want leaders who are honest, forward-looking, competent and inspiring. What this adds up to is personal credibility. Credibility is still the foundation of leadership.

    People want to have faith and confidence in their leaders. They want to believe that a leader’s word can be trusted, that a leader is personally excited and enthusiastic about the direction in which we are headed, and that a leader has the knowledge and skill to lead. If people don’t believe in the messenger, they won’t believe the message.

    But somewhere along the way to the New Millennium notions of ethics, morality, honesty, character and personal discipline came to be viewed as quaint — at least by those from the me-first, free agent school of corporate strategy. People got sucked into the idea that leadership was all about extrinsic rewards, and they started offering very creative ways to attract talent to the good life. The intrinsic reasons for doing something important —really caring about the people and the purpose — too often got lost in the hyperbole.

    Certainly the context of leadership has changed, but given what we’ve all experienced, we’ve come to see how necessary it is to be reminded of some fundamentals that do not change.

Fundamental No. 1: Character Counts

     At a recent character education conference at Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Thomas Likona, author of Educating for Character, began his talk with this anonymous poem:

     Be careful of your thoughts, for your thoughts become your words;
     Be careful of your words, for your words become your deeds;
     Be careful of your deeds, for your deeds become your habits;
     Be careful of your habits; for your habits become you character;
     Be careful of your character, for your character becomes your destiny.

     Strategy is not a biological imperative. It begins in our minds, gets expressed in words, and then gets translated into action. Over time those actions become who we are, and what you do repeatedly will determine the legacy you leave.

    Teaching people to use the tools of commerce is necessary but insufficient to creating a healthy and prosperous society. The right tools in the wrong hands invite evil ends. The more we study leadership, the more we’re persuaded that leadership development is not simply about “how to’s.” It’s also about character development.

Fundamental No. 2: Individuals Act, Organizations Create Cultures

     Organizations don’t act, individuals do. Organizations don’t save lives, individuals do. Organizations don’t create breakthrough products, individuals do. Organizations don’t defraud, individuals do. Leadership is personal.

    It’s important to make this distinction, because ultimately everyone of us must take personal responsibility for what we do. Actions have consequences, and we all have to account for our own.

    What organizations do is create cultures. Culture is the organizational equivalent of a person’s character. The behavior that is modeled becomes the behavior that is followed. This is good news and bad news. Good news because solid cultures can be built around ethical behavior. The bad news is that cultures can also be built around the opposite, at least for a while. It really does matter what you choose to believe in.

Fundamental No. 3: Our System Is Based on Trust

     As a result of the corporate malfeasance, fraud, and deceptions that were revealed in 2001 and 2002, the outrage grew into a call for reform of the laws and rules that govern corporate accounting and stock options, along with demands to separate auditing and consulting. We’ve reached a point where an executive’s word is no longer sufficient. Legislation has been passed requiring CEOs of large publicly traded corporations to sign a document swearing their financial reporting is truthful. What was once implicit now has to be made explicit.

    Whether you like these changes or not, they just prove one thing: our entire capitalist system is based on trust. It’s not based on an investment model that’s taught in business school. It’s not based on the price earnings ratio. It’s not based on an income statement or a balance sheet. It’s not based on any of these rational concepts, and it’s not based on the numbers. It’s based on whether people believe in the numbers and in the people who are supplying them. If people don’t trust those who handle their money, their livelihoods, and their lives they’ll just refuse to participate.

    We’re all asking ourselves, When will this end? We can’t give you a date certain, but we can tell you that it’ll only come when people feel they can once again trust the system and the people in it.

Fundamental No. 4: The Legacy You Leave Is the Life You Lead

    Much as compelling words are essential to uplifting spirits, exemplary leaders know that constituents are moved by deeds. They expect leaders to show up, to pay attention, and to participate directly in the process of getting extraordinary things done. Leaders take every opportunity to show others by their own example that they are deeply committed to the aspirations they espouse.

    Leaders are judged by how they spend their time, how they react to critical incidents, the stories they tell, the questions they ask, the language and symbols they choose, and the measures they use. Nothing fuels the fires of cynicism more than hypocrisy, and leaders will need to be constantly vigilant about aligning what they practice with what they preach. If you dream of leaving a legacy then you’d better heed the Golden Rule of Leadership: DWYSYWD: Do What You Say You Will Do.

Fundamental No. 5: You Can Make a Difference

     Despite everything that has happened over the last few years, people still want and need leadership. They just want leaders who hold an ethic of service and are genuinely respectful of the intelligence and contributions of their constituents. They want leaders who will put principles ahead of politics or profits and other people before self-interests.

    Leadership matters. Success in initiating or responding to change, however, is inextricably linked to the credibility of those leading the efforts. Constituents will become willingly involved to the extent that they believe in those sponsoring the change. It is wise, therefore, for leaders to begin every significant change with a “credit check.” It’s not just “Do my constituents believe that the new CRM system will improve our performance?” Or, “Do they believe that this risky policy is for the greater good?” It’s also “Do they believe in me and my ability to lead this effort?”

    Even so, unquestioned integrity is not enough. Leaders can’t do it alone. Neither can companies, communities, or countries. Everyone — leaders and constituents alike — shares responsibility for getting extraordinary things done. Leaders need constituents’ energetic involvement as much as the constituents need leader’s boldness of vision and courage of conviction. Leaders also need understanding. Responding to the demands of highly diverse populations is a social challenge and a personal struggle. Respect must run both ways.

    Leadership should be everyone’s business. By making leadership our business and not just their business, we all contribute to the renewal of mutual trust and understanding. By making leadership about us and not about them, we all take responsibility for the doing what we say we will do. In this process we all become more credible.

 

Portions of this article are adapted from Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People Demand It.  (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003.  Copyright © 2003.  James. M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner.  All rights reserved.

Books by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner:

By Being a Leader you will Improve your:

-Decision making

-Focus

-Performance

As you  learn to: 

1.        Set an Inspiring Example:

(Meet & exceed the standards you ask others and lead from the front.)

2.        Think fast on your feet:

(Make timely decisions and find Solutions.  80/20 rule.)

3.        Stop making excuses:

(Seek to take Responsibility before you begin to place Blame.)

4.        Take care of your Team…so they’ll always take care of you:

(The Leaders Dedicate themselves to Service! Don’t confuse caretaking with coddling, pampering and always indulging.)

5.        Respond with out over reacting:

(Think before you act.)

6.        Stay cool while dealing with a crisis:

(Navigate and communicate.)

7.        Have the courage to achieve your goals:

(Courage + Initiative + Perseverance + Integrity = SUCCESS! It is all about…. OBSERVABLE BEHAVIORS.)

8.        Control what you can control and if you can’t change it.  Change the way you think about it!

9.  Say you’re SORRY only when you’re at fault:

(Be solution oriented rather than problem oriented.)

10.         Always lead as you are:

(Leaders look for opportunities to lead and set an example.  To be effective you need to work on enhancing your strengths and improving your area of weakness.)

It’s easy to spot people who aren’t Leaders.  They expect others to treat them with respect, but don’t behave in a manner that warrants it.

They want to Build Strong, Trust Worthy Teams…. But gossip about the Team behind their backs.

They want Positive affirmation and Encouragement but provide only insults and criticism to their teams.

They just can’t understand why others aren’t treating them the way they expect to be treated. 

The Problem: They aren’t leading from the front!

If you’re not leading from the front, you aren’t Setting a Higher Standard and establishing how you expect those around you to behave.  Leading from the back means you’ve relinquished control over your team and are much less likely to Be Successful.

Successful leadership remains remarkably consistent across the entire range of organizations, business-related and nonbusiness ­related alike.

All great leaders know you can't just talk about good character; you have to live it. To become an extraordinary leader, you must build your own personality skills. This comes first. You must be what you want your followers to become. No shortcuts, no magic, no easy formula. Effective leaders build themselves fundamentally. They develop healthy personality characteristics. They love people, care about them, are interested in them, and enjoy interacting with them. Instead of avoiding people, they move toward them. They become good psychologists. They learn to work well with all kinds to people.     

Good leaders don't fool themse1ves they can work with a large variety of people, but not with everyone. Some bosses may say of someone they don't like, "Well, I don't like him or enjoy be­ing around him, but I can make myself work with him. After all, I don't have to go out to dinner with him." Don't deceive yourself be­cause that line of thinking usually doesn't work well. A leader doesn't want to see such a person, much less work with him. If the boss doesn't like employees well enough to enjoy going to dinner with them, he or she shouldn't hire those people in the first place. Running a business or a profession is hard enough when the boss likes his or her employees. Why complicate matters? It's almost im­possible to respect someone whom you don't like or don't respect.

The greatest leaders I've known are absolutely devoted to their people. There's no way to fake it. They put their people in the cen­ter of their thinking. They treat their employees with dignity and respect, and they don't embarrass them or berate them. Even though they have a knack of bringing out the best in their employ­ees, conflicts still arise, and turf battles surface. It's inevitable when you're leading human beings. Effective leaders know how to ref­eree these conflicts and render fair, quick decisions. They quickly pick up clues that allow them to anticipate problems and deal with them before they rage out of control and damage their companies. They're able to do this because they have humility and effective communication skills.

A leader won't accomplish much, or even be happy, unless he or she is willing to compete. Leaders should love competition and not be stifled by it. They must give everything they have to achieve their personal and companies' goals, as long as it's done with hon­esty and integrity and within the rules. Good leaders enjoy putting themselves on the line. Instead of backing off and becoming cau­tious, they raise their own level of work when the competition rises its. They have a passion to succeed, but they don't believe winning or losing defines their worth as human beings. While win­ning is the goal in business, effective leaders understand that some losses are natural. They don't give up because of failures. In fact they are uncommonly resilient and become more determined to succeed the next time. Setbacks do not devastate them.

 

Modesty is also a trait of good leaders. They accept criticism and understand their limitations; it helps immunize them against flat­tery and the egomania that success can breed. Good leaders love sharing credit for success and understand why it's important. They routinely deflect credit to others, downplay their own accomplish­ments, and admit to their mistakes. They take blame for the losses and give employees credit for the victories. Effective leaders do not believe that they're more important or valuable than others. They communicate this by their actions, treating others with respect, sharing credit, being able to laugh at themselves, and resisting any urge to brag. Modest leaders put their colleagues and employees at ease.

Maxwell Moment

PERSONAL GROWTH By Dr. John C. Maxwell

I vividly remember a conversation I had many years ago in 1974, which marked a turning point in my leadership journey. I was sitting at a Holiday Inn with my friend, Kurt Campmeyer, when he asked me if I had a personal growth plan. I didn't. In fact, I didn't even know you were supposed to have one.

Up until that point, the best term for my growth would be "accidental growth." I didn't grow on purpose, but I loved people and worked hard so that I caught a few things along the way.

That night with Kurt, I realized that to grow like I wanted, my personal development couldn't be hit-and-miss. I needed to initiate and activate. I made a decision to devote myself to personal growth. I literally made personal growth my personal mission.

In my book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, I talk about the Law of Process, which says, "Leaders develop daily, not in a day." Our natural inclination is to overestimate the event and underestimate the process. We wait for a special occasion or an intense experience to boost our growth instead of appreciating the process. In the words of my friend Kevin Myers: "Everyone is looking for a quick fix, but what they really need is fitness."

We don't mature momentarily, but over the long-term. As we continue on our quest to become more skillful as leaders, let's look at seven statements about the growth process.

1. Growth is not automatic. Paul Harvey said it best: "You can tell you're on the road to success; it's uphill all the way." You can't coast uphill. Growth doesn't happen by itself; it requires an active investment of time.

Earl Nightengale said, "If you'll spend one hour a day, every day for five years on a given subject, within five years you'll become an expert on that subject." In 1974, I made that decision—to set aside one hour per day for personal growth. Over thirty years later, I find that the more I learn and grow, the more precious that hour is to me.

2. Growth is the great separator between those who succeed and those who do not. When I see a person beginning to separate themselves from the pack, it's almost always due to personal growth. As Bennis & Nanus say, "It is the capacity to develop and improve their skills that distinguishes leaders from followers."

When I went to college, there was no gap between me and my peers, none at all. Since 1974, I have diligently followed through on my commitment to grow an hour every day, and now the gap, in most cases, is wide. Am I smarter than my former classmates? Not at all. Many of them danced circles around me academically. The growth factor—my long-term commitment to personal development—made the difference.

3. Growth takes time, and only time can reveal certain lessons to us. We've all heard, "Experience is the best teacher," but it never has been and never will be. Evaluated experience is the best teacher. Reflective thinking is required to turn experience into insight. If you're a young LW subscriber without a wealth of personal experience, borrow the experience. Ask questions, listen, and learn from a successful leader that has gone before you.

4. The more we grow, the more we know we need to grow. In other words, when you start developing yourself, instead of feeling wise, you'll be struck by how much you don't know. Alvin Toffler, in Future Shock, once observed, "The illiterate of the future are not those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."

5. Growth equals change. To develop, we must step away from comfort and welcome fresh and challenging experiences. Growth demands a temporary surrender of security. It may mean giving up familiar but limiting patterns, safe but unrewarding work, values no longer believed in, and relationships that have lost their meaning.

6. Growth inside fuels growth outside. The highest reward of our toil is not what we get for it, but what we become by it. At the age of 17, I decided to read extensively, file my favorite articles, and prepare lessons. Little did I realize that out of the simple discipline of reading, filing, and preparing lessons, I would receive content, develop creativity, begin to speak, and eventually author numerous books.

7. Choose to grow in the areas of your strengths, not in the areas of your weakness. There are only four things I do well, just four, and I focus exclusively on them. I lead, communicate, create, and network. That's it. I spend all of my time on one of those four strength zones. The secret of successful people lies in their ability to discover their strengths and to organize their life so that these strengths can be applied.

Benjamin Franklin personifies the spirit of inventiveness of the modern world. His accomplishments read like an almanac of greatness:

Inventor; poet; philosopher; pamphleteer; distinguished member of three national academies of science; America's first Postmaster General; founder of Philadelphia's first police force, lending library, and the academy later to become the University of Pennsylvania; founder of the first fire insurance company; delegate to the Constitutional Convention; Drafter of the Declaration of Independence; one of America's most effective statesmen and ambassadors.

Yet for all of his achievements, the epitaph that Franklin wrote for himself simply reads, "Here lies the body of Ben Franklin, printer."

In honoring his humble roots as a printer's apprentice, Benjamin Franklin reveals the mystery to his greatness. It was in the world of printing where Franklin was first exposed to new books, writers, and ideas. His fame, accomplishments, and accolades would never have been possible without the love of learning and habits of growth imprinted in his life during his early days as a printer.

Widely recognized as the greatest basketball player in the history of the game, Michael Jordan separated himself from the competition as much by his confidence as by his talent. Never intimidated by an opponent or fearful of failure, Jordan's aura of confidence infected his team and paved the way for the Chicago Bulls to win six NBA Championships. While other performers may have faltered on the game's biggest stage, Jordan's supreme confidence led to stellar personal performances in the NBA Finals for which he was named the Most Valuable Player in all six of the Bulls' victories.

Confidence was the title and theme of Rosabeth Moss Kanter's bestselling book, released in 2004. Recently, Stuart Crainer from the European Foundation for Management Development, interviewed Kanter to discuss how her research for the book had impacted her view of leadership. Among Kanter's responses, two thoughts stand out. Kanter found that confident leaders expect success, and learn from losses.

Expect Success

In the interview, Kanter describes confidence as "the expectation of a positive result." She believes the anticipation of success gives leaders the resolve to work diligently and to endure hardships. Ultimately, confident leaders are willing to put orth effort because in the end they expect their effort to reap rewards.

In the words of Michael Jordan, "You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them." Jordan always expected to win, always expected to make the game-winning shot, and always expected himself to be the best. His confidence inspired him to practice rigorously and sustain his intense conditioning because he believed the hard work would pay off in victories and trophies.

Learn from Losses

In writing Confidence, one lesson Kanter learned was that "you learn more about winning from losing." She found the response to setbacks to be the main separator between successful and struggling leaders. Leaders prone to panic in crisis were frozen by failure. Sidetracked by difficulty, these unconfident leaders had limited effectiveness. On the contrary, confidently composed leaders weathered the storms of tough times to achieve success.

In high school, Michael Jordan was not deemed a good enough ballplayer to make the varsity team. Rather than quitting or blaming the coaches, Jordan worked tirelessly in the off-season to make the team the next year. The next year, he not only started on the team, he starred on it. Likewise, after five years in professional basketball, Jordan's Chicago Bulls had not yet won a title. Rather than blaming his teammates, coaches, or management, Jordan continued to hone his game. Adding new skills to his already prodigious talent, Jordan would carry the Bulls to a string of championships.

For the complete interview with Rosabeth Moss Kanter, visit the European Foundation for Management Development by clicking here.

---

Book Review

Joy at Work: A Revolutionary Approach to Fun on the Job By Dennis W. Bakke (PVG, 2005)

In many job experiences, "joy" and "work" are absolute strangers. Work is seen as drudgery, stress, and obligation, and the only glimpse of joy comes at 5 pm on Friday.

Depending on your sleeping patterns, you have between 112 and 126 waking hours in a week, and likely spend 40 to 60 of them at work. This means anywhere from 30-50% of life is work. If you account for commute time, after-hour emails, etc., the percentage grows even higher. With work playing such a substantial role in our lives, wouldn't it be nice to enjoy our employment?

In Joy at Work, Dennis W. Bakke explores how to make the workplace fun. Drawing from his 20+ years of experience as co-founder, president, and CEO of the AES Corporation, Bakke advocates an innovative approach to corporate decision-making that empowers employees to make choices and increases their personal investment in results.

At times bland, the book reflects the businesslike nature of its author and lacks the creative spice to be highly engaging. At the same time Bakke's depth of experience brings immense credibility to the book. The principles he espouses are not merely theoretical, but developed from the decades he spent crusading a value-laden and enjoyable work environment.

LW readers will benefit from a look at the argument set forth in Chapter 2, "The Miserable Workplace." In it, Bakke points to absence of control as the root of worker frustration. In his words: "Lack of freedom may be the single most debilitating and demoralizing factor in the workplace today." The more an employee feels like a puppet on the strings of management or a pawn to the schemes of executive leadership, the greater that worker's dissatisfaction will be.

Chapter 4, "‘Honeycombing': Dynamics of a Joyous Workplace," is the heart of the book in which Bakke suggests his solution to a dull and cheerless workplace. "The primary factor in determining whether work is joy or drudgery in the workplace, is the degree to which they control their work...making decisions and taking responsibility for them."

LW subscribers in management positions will find tremendous value in digging through Bakke's practical approaches to uplift employees by entrusting them with greater decision-making responsibilities (Chapters 4-7).

Joy at Work is particularly relevant in a today's business market, where jobs are less stable than ever and employees increasingly follow fulfillment rather than searching for security. Companies without the ability to create an enjoyable workplace run the risk of a talent drain as the best workers leave for more pleasurable places of employment.

If you wade through word by word, Joy at Work may not be a joy to read. However, Bakke's passion for making work better shines throughout, and LW readers can glean much from his commitment to invest greater control in workers on the front lines. Specifically, managers holding the authority to shape the climate of their workplace will walk away with innovative ideas to consider.

A leader's panorama reveals a cluttered landscape of shifting realities and future uncertainties. The diversity of options can paralyze a leader who is unable to focus amidst the boundless possibilities.

In his December 12, 2005 article for Fortune Magazine, Richard S. Tedlow chronicles the leadership journey of Andy Grove, the man who piloted Intel during its meteoric rise during the late 80s and early 90s. A brilliant leader, Grove's experiences in managing change and conquering complexity are a treasure trove of life lessons.

Two main themes emerge from an examination of Grove's leadership.

1) Today's leaders must be evolutionary—expecting change and flexibly adapting to it.

As Tedlow writes, "Change is not only constant but accelerating, reality will transform itself more swiftly than most humans—or most companies—are hard-wired to handle."

Amidst the blur of advancement in the computer industry, Grove epitomized evolutionary leadership, "forcibly adapting himself to a succession of new realities." Interpreting oncoming changes and confronting their significance, Grove was able to foster an attitude of adaptation.

In today's business climate, the rapidity of change may have reached all-time high, and the capacity to adjust to advancement has become a vital quality of successful leaders. Leaders, like their companies, must have the agility to realign perspectives at an ever-increasing pace of change.

2) Today's leaders must reduce complexity and navigate shifting realities with a simple and unwavering vision.

Grove was able to capture the essence of vast quantities of information, and clearly navigate a complex environment with clarity of thought and action. As a young leader, Grove was inspired by a Time Magazine excerpt about movie directors:

"Any director must master formidable complexity. He must be adept at sound and camera work, a soother of egos, a cajoler of the artistic talent. A great director has something more: the vision and force to make all these disparate elements fuse into an inspired whole."

Under the clipping, Grove marked "My job description?" At an early age, Grove identified the need for simplicity and cohesion in his leadership. Throughout his career, he led with the awareness that truth was to be prized and fought for. He was skilled in cutting through the haze of myriad data and focusing on essential facts.

For the complete text of Richard S. Tedlow's article on Andy Grove, click here.

Maxwell Moment

REPLACING COMPLACENCY
By Dr. John C. Maxwell

One of the biggest temptations leaders of successful organizations face is to stop thinking big. After a taste of success, even the best and brightest leaders suddenly start to think complacently. When a company gets on a roll, some leaders tighten up and start playing it safe. They stop playing to win and begin playing not to lose. Where they once thought big and new, now they think incrementally.

This temptation is a reality with a lot of sports teams. How many times have we seen teams lose their momentum and then lose the game because instead of playing to win, they began to play not to lose? They get ahead, but then they pull back and stop playing with the intensity that earned them the lead.

The same temptation traps company executives. With the organization exceeding expectations and making record profits, the leadership gets excited. The organization appears to be cruising toward its best year ever, when all of a sudden the focus shifts from gaining momentum to sustaining momentum. The moment leadership changes focus, momentum vanishes.

I like to think of momentum as the great exaggerator. When you have it, people think you're better than you are. You're on a roll and everybody is amazed by your success. When you lose momentum, people think you're worse than you are. Momentum magnifies your performance, and positive momentum can be a potent force to push you forward.

When things are on a roll, don't sit on the ball�run up the score! In other words, when you've got momentum going for you, put the pedal to the metal. Take off. Ignite momentum. As I wrote in "Thinking for a Change", "We are today where our thoughts brought us, and we will be tomorrow where our thoughts take us." When we stop thinking big as leaders and dwell upon protecting past successes, we start to think conservatively. The big thoughts that gave us a big year are replaced by conservative thoughts which will give us a mediocre year.

Let me give you four strategies that will keep your momentum moving in the right direction.

1. When you're doing well, go shopping.
When you're doing well, instead of patting yourself on the back, go shopping. Look around for somebody that's bigger, better, faster, and smarter than you are. Study their successes and benchmark your results against theirs. I did this as a young leader, because very quickly in my field I had successes. Instead of being content as the number one leader in my organization, I started going to other organizations where I wouldn't be in the top 100. It was an exercise in humility; but I immediately realized the way to refocus wasn't to compare myself against everyone I was beating, but to compare myself with somebody better than I was.

2. Stir up inspirational dissatisfaction.
Inspirational dissatisfaction does not mean you are never pleased or satisfied. Nor is it a license to beat yourself up or come down hard on your people. Instead, it's a creative awareness that you can do better. You can do more to improve personally and to invest exhaustively in the growth of your team. This state of mind unlocks your comfort zone and prompts you to keep on stretching.

3. Develop a daily dose of paranoia.
There's a difference between a daily dose and an overdose of paranoia. An overdose makes you and everyone around you miserable. A daily dose is an inner rustling�a pebble in the shoe�that creates just enough discomfort to keep you continually alert and engaged. In fact, the best leaders act as though someone is out to get them, like they're on the verge of losing every customer every day.

4. Continue to set goals that stretch your team.
If you can reach your goals with a "business as usual" approach, then your goals are too small. A goal is only effective when it forces changes, big decisions, and bold action.

The thinking of a leader is contagious to the team. As a leader, you broadcast your way of thinking to your people, and they are going to pick up on your signals immediately. Unsuccessful leaders focus their thinking on survival�"If I can just make it through the year." Average leaders focus their thinking on maintenance�"If I can just hold on to what I have." Successful leaders focus their thinking on continual progress.

If you're a manager who concentrates more on holding your own than on moving forward, then it's time to seize the offensive. Don't settle for what conditions force upon you. As Marcus Buckingham says, "The only thing that leaders have in common is leaders break all the rules." Great leaders don't just buy into what everybody else is saying, and they don't follow the beaten path. Great leaders are constantly creating their own conditions for success by blazing new trails.

by Mark Goulston

Motivating or inspiring employees isn't enough. Great leaders must lift people up and give them direction as well.

"Second star to the left and straight on 'til morning."
- Peter Pan enspiring Wendy to go to Neverland

One key difference between lousy leaders and good ones is the ability to motivate or inspire people. But these days, that ability, rare as it is, simply isn't enough. Given the skeptical and cynical times we live in--and despite a widespread hunger to feel motivated and inspired--people often respond with reluctance or opposition.

Why so? If you look at the concepts of "motivation" and "inspiration" through the lens of emotional intelligence, you begin to understand why neither has lasting power for the people they are meant to energize and activate.

To motivate is to pump people up (or from a cynical point of view, puff people up). It aims people toward a goal (usually the CEO's) and then fires them toward it like a rifle shot. Too often, the people listening do not have the courage (or compensation package) of the leader who is doing the pumping and aiming. When the pump's away, the people deflate. After such calls to action I have heard people inside a company--who lack job security and have to work harder for fewer benefits--essentially say to each other, "That's easy for him to say. He just got a raise, while we're having our jobs cut. You know, he should save his 'selling' for our customers. He should know better than to think he can sell us insiders." Too many people are too far down and too weary to buy into being pumped up momentarily.

More people need to be lifted up than pumped up. This is what inspiration does. Whereas motivation seeks to mobilize you by telling you to take action, inspiration accounts for the notion that if you are too wounded you may need some compassion and healing before you get back on your feet. That compassion is not wasted. It feels good to be understood--to have others know that sometimes you're not being lazy; sometimes you are too hurt to do anything other than lick your wounds after a truck has hit you. But as with motivation, inspiration, although more satisfying to the spirit, can also fall short of helping people reach a goal. Too often, inspiration lifts you up but doesn't give you specific steps to take. So you are left feeling better, but still just as lost about what to do next.

If trying to motivate or even to inspire falls short of helping people reach a goal, what's a leader to do? He can enspire his people. To enlarge is to make larger; to enable is to make able; to ennoble is to make noble. To enspire is to both lift up and direct. Enspiration makes something happen. It gives people the will to find the way and also the way to sustain the will.

To enspire as a leader takes several steps:

• Step 1: Get where people are coming from vs. only focusing on where you want them to go.
• Step 2: Communicate to them that you get "it" so that they feel "got," i.e., understood and connected with, from their position not yours. Think of the "I feel your pain" mantra of President Clinton before it became overdone and seen as a joke.
• Step 3: Pause before you throw the "bum's rush" at them; allow them to exhale and feel the relief of finally being heard and understood.
• Step 4: Having exhaled and released their distress, they are now open to listening to your call to action and are now ready to "inhale" their new marching orders. You have earned their allegiance and commitment by going to their pain and pausing to comfort it.
• Step 5: And this is very important and where mere inspiration falls short. They need to see your goal for the company very clearly, understand it fully, and be given the chance to enroll in it rather than have it forced down their throat. To do this, they don't get to pick the goal, but they do get to choose with you the best way to reach the goal. When they participate in the decision making about how to get there, they will participate in the implementation.

Enspire Learning out of Austin, Texas is doing just this. Under the leadership of founder, Bjorn Billhardt, Enspire Learning's mission is to "inspire and motivate, leading learners to retain, internalize, and apply knowledge more effectively." Key to all their approaches is a high level of interactivity. They don't use a cookie-cutter approach, which would just be fodder for the skeptics and cynics. When they customize their approaches, it is more from an inside-out than outside-in direction with their clients. As such they not only get great "buy in" they get great "trying" (i.e., implementation) of the approaches that are developed.

Enspirational leadership is an idea whose time has come. The enspirational leader knows that when you get where people are coming from, they'll let you take them where you want them to go.

A good leader has a servant heart

A good leader accept responsibility for their actions

A good leader words and actions are consistent

A good leader shows courage

Good leaders do not emphasize themselves

Good leaders recognize false teaching and boldly combat it

Good leaders are consumed with doing what is right

Good leaders demonstrate their maturity, both in their actions and their knowledge

Good leaders are not threatened by skilled subordinates. They gather skilful people around them.

Good leaders have others who hold them accountable

Find strength by realizing your weakness

Find authority by being under authority

Find direction by laying down your plans

Find vision by seeing the needs of others

Find credibility by being an example

Find loyalty by expressing compassion

Find honor by being faithful

Find greatness by being a servant

 

"Why is the sea king of a hundred streams?

Because it lies below them.

Therefore it is the king of a hundred streams."

Tao Te Ching

                                         

It’s happened to all of us. We’re blazing through conversation when we realize we’re not getting cues, (uh-huh, yeah, yep, ok), from our friend on the other end of the call. Uncertain, we ask whether or not our buddy remains on the call: “Hello? Are you there? Can you hear me?” The ensuing silence prompts us to look at our phone. Sure enough, the call has been dropped.

As frustrating as a dropped call can be, given the complexity mobile phone communications, we are not overly surprised when we occasionally are cut off from a conversation. At some level, we understand the limitations of network bandwidth, battery life, and signal strength.

While dropped calls are explainable, few experiences are as demeaning or insulting as being dropped in face-to-face conversation. When we’re talking to a person who tunes us out, we feel worthless. When a listener’s posture or facial expressions show boredom or disinterest, we feel insignificant. Similarly, we are annoyed by ceaseless interruptions or being cut short when speaking.

Something inside of us demands to be heard, to be acknowledged, and to know that our ideas and opinions matter. Great leaders have mastered the art of listening, and by doing so, they gain wisdom, earn respect, and win friends. In its February 2007 edition of Leading Effectively,, The Center for Creative Leadership summarizes six listening tips from author Michael Hoppe.

Paying Attention

One of the greatest gifts a leader can give is his or her undivided attention. As simple as it sounds, in practice, paying attention can take a heavy dose of discipline. Whether we’re thinking about an upcoming meeting or an urgent phone call, our minds are cluttered with dozens of thoughts at any point during the day. To offer full attention in conversation, Hoppe suggests:

• Allowing time and opportunity for the other person to think and speak.
• Being present, focused on the moment, and operating from a place of respect.

Holding Judgment

By nature, leaders initiate action. However, when listening, leaders must be wary of jumping in too soon with their assessment of a situation. Being overeager to voice an opinion communicates self-importance. Instead, Hoppe proposes the following:

• Be open to new ideas, new perspectives and new possibilities.
• Suspend judgment, withhold criticism, and avoid arguing or selling your point right away.

Reflecting

In reflecting, the listener affirms the person speaking by matching their emotional tone and restating important themes from the conversation. Reflecting reinforces a listener’s involvement and interest in a conversation. Hoppe weighs in with the following tips on reflecting:

• Mirror the other person's information and emotions by paraphrasing key points.
• Don’t make assumptions.

Clarifying

In communication, when intent differs from interpretation, the misunderstanding can have troubling consequences. Hoppe recommends clarifying by:

• Clearing up confusion.
• Inviting reflection and a thoughtful response instead of telling others what to do.

Summarizing

Without outlining action steps or assigning responsibility, many meetings conclude in confusion. As a conversation draws to a close, be sure to review promises made and to write down commitments given. Hoppe’s tips on summarizing include:

• Restating key themes.
• Being clear on mutual responsibilities and follow-up.

Sharing

Leaders are confident, decisive, and quick to volunteer advice. However, when listening, a leader’s first job is to gain full understanding of the person speaking. Then, and only then, should the leader begin to coach or instruct. Hoppe proposes two tips to remember when sharing:

• Seek understanding before seeking to be understood.
• Use similar experiences to introduce ideas, feelings, or suggestions.

“The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer.”
~ Henry David Thoreau

To read more about active listening, browse the Center for Creative Leadership’s website: http://www.ccl.org/leadership/enewsletter/2007/FEBbig.aspx

The enemy of great is good. The primary reason so few leaders or organizations ever become great is because they get good and then stop. They stop growing, learning, risking, and changing. They use their track record or prior successes as evidence that they've arrived. Believing their own headlines, the leaders in these successful organizations are ready to write it down, build the manual, and document the formula. This mentality shifts their business from a growth to a maintenance mindset.

Neither you nor your business ever "arrives." We never get to the place where there's nothing more to be done and nothing more to be said. In the words of my friend Dave Anderson, "Yesterday's peacock is tomorrow's feather duster." What you strutted yesterday, the next day is just cleaning dust off of shelves.

I like to distinguish between a "goal mindset" and a "growth mindset." A person with a "goal mindset" has very tangible, numerical goals to achieve over a specific period of time. Nothing is wrong with clearly defined goals, but there's a better way of thinking that I call a "growth mindset." A growth mindset recognizes goals on the journey, but only as part of a process—not as the end results.

When goal-oriented people hit a milestone, they have tendency to settle very quickly, but when growth-minded individuals hit a goal, they blow right on by because they're constantly learning and growing.

Success has a brutal side: It can make you arrogant, it can make you complacent, and it can close your mind. To survive the temptations of triumph, we must realize that success is not the point and should never be the ultimate objective of an enterprise. The goal of business is to strive to reach full potential. I define full potential as focusing on seeing how far you can go, how good you can get, and how many people you can bring with you. Reality dictates that you will most likely never reach your full potential, but the journey keeps you humble, hungry, and focused. What you become in the process helps you and your organization make the leap from good to great. Use your success as a stepping stone, not a pedestal.

Leaders of successful organizations are tempted to stop working on themselves. They continue to work hard on their job, but they have a tendency to neglect personal growth. They use their experience and track record as a license never to read another book and an excuse never to attend another developmental course in their field. They point to their acclaim and accomplishments and decide to rely on the skills they have learned in the past to run the rest of their career. They develop an arrogance of intelligence that creates a disabling ignorance. This ignorance disables them, their people, and, as a result, their business.

Growing people grow people. But when you don't grow, you plateau. It's just a matter of time. Once this happens, you plateau everyone working for you. When I as a leader go flat, my influence with everybody in my organization fizzles and fades. When the leader doesn't grow, the people don't grow. It's the Law of the Lid; a stagnant leader stunts the growth of the organization.

Let me give you four benefits of pursuing your potential, even during seasons of success.

We have higher self-esteem. People that are constantly learning and growing have a good self-image.

We are willing to change and risk. One of the obvious evidences of growing people is that they are constantly changing and risking. Show me a person that doesn't change, that doesn't risk, and I'll show you a person that's not growing.

Our passion increases. When we begin to grow personally, our passion for life and learning begins to increase proportionately.

We lift the lid for others. What a leader does determines what everybody else is going to do. The people don't pass the leader. An organization's growth doesn't outpace the leader's progress. As I lift the lid for myself, I lift the lid for others.

One of the most amazing things to me is how much room there is at the top. On the other hand, it's jam-packed and crowded at the bottom. On the streets of average, there's traffic and congestion, but success has so few people on the roads. It's amazing how the higher you go, the less people there are. Three percent of the people in the United States have a library card. Six percent of Americans believe Elvis is still alive. Trust me, there's a lot of room at the top.

As a leader you should learn like you'll live forever and live like you'll die tomorrow. Either way, you're covered.

 

Leadership@Large

LESSONS LEARNED FROM MOVING THE COUCH

Toting around furniture can be a drag, but who knew it could shed light on leadership? In his October article for Fast Company, Mark Goulston lays out a three-step progression to encourage enthusiasm and arouse support from a team: 1) motivation, 2) inspiration, and 3) enspiration. Let's look at each step through the simple analogy of couch moving.

Motivation

Have you and a friend ever tried to move a heavy couch by sliding it? As much as you push and as much as you strain, sometimes you can't get the blasted thing to budge. Continue to work at it, and your only results are frustration and fatigue.

At times, motivating a team can feel a lot like an experience with a stubborn couch. No amount of prodding and pressing seems to have any effect�other than wearing you out.

Inspiration

Even with two people, sliding a couch is difficult due to friction with the floor. The friction works against you by counteracting the force of your pushes. The task is made much easier by lifting the couch, since the friction is entirely eliminated.

In an era of skepticism toward authority, employees feeling coerced or manipulated will resist every effort to motivate them. Unwilling team members can create friction and undermine the team.

Leaders move from motivation to inspiration when they lift up those they lead. Realizing team members may feel underappreciated or misunderstood, leaders inspire when they are attuned to the needs and emotions of their followers. Willingness to understand and lend a helping hand to a team member undergoing trying times can build a mountain of respect.

Enspiration

One of the greatest challenges of moving a bulky sofa is finding the best way to navigate doorways. Have you ever been moving a large couch through a door when your buddy starts to go in the opposite direction of what you intended? The failure to show your friend which way to enter the room generally results in smashed fingers or a dent in the wall.

Leaders advance from inspiration to enspiration when they show the way. Energizing employees and attending to their specific needs is no longer enough. Leaders must make sure everyone has the goal in plain sight and is moving in the same direction. In the words of Goulston: "To enspire is to both lift up and direct. Enspiration makes something happen. It gives people the will to find the way and also the way to sustain the will."

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MAKE THE MOST OF MENTORING

In our quest for growth and improvement, the most valuable resource may be sitting in the office next us. If experience truly is the best teacher, then we would be wise to study the life lessons and expertise of a mentor.

As an advisor, personal coach, evaluator, and sounding board for ideas, mentors can be of benefit in a variety of roles. Recognizing the tremendous merits of mentoring relationships, companies�both large and small�have embraced mentoring programs as an employee development strategy.

In a recent article for Forbes.com called Help Wanted: Mentors, Julie Watson shared a few thoughts about mentoring:

"Mentoring is a two-way street"
Remember: mentors offer you their valuable time and a precious glimpse into their life's experiences. Give them something in return. It may be as simple as buying them lunch. Perhaps it's volunteering time to assist them with a project. Likely, you will feel unable to repay your mentor for all of their time and attention, but a small gift or act of service will go a long way in expressing your gratitude and respect for them. Keep in mind: mentoring is not all about getting. Look for mentors, but take the opportunity to be a mentor as well.

"Your mentors will change"
As your goals evolve or you enter a new stage of life, your mentors will naturally change. You may relocate or decide to pursue a different career path. You might grow to a point where you reach or surpass the proficiency of your mentor. Be prepared to end mentoring relationships (always with grace and appreciation), and be willing to initiate additional ones.

"Don't rely on just one mentor"
Searching for the all-knowing, fatherly mentor with all of the right answers is like chasing after a lamp with a genie inside. Unfortunately, no one person can grant us all of the knowledge and tools we require to maximize our potential. For the greatest benefit, seek out mentors with specific skills you desire to acquire. Maybe it's the company's top strategic thinker, the salesperson with the charming people skills, or the teammate who consistently wows the crowd with presentations. Target their strengths and learn what makes them the best in their particular area of expertise.

l Moment

By Dr. John C. Maxwell

In my years studying leadership and evaluating leaders, I have stumbled across a leadership shortcoming that continually amazes me. Leaders will manage a team, work with the same individuals every day, yet hardly know anything about their people! These leaders have never prioritized acquainting themselves with the dreams, thoughts, hopes, opinions, and values of those they lead.

The best leaders are readers of people. They have the intuitive ability to understand others by discerning how they feel and recognizing what they sense.

I have found that leaders overestimate the amount of time and effort needed to get to know someone. In fact, in only one hour with you in private conversation, I could, probably by asking three questions, find the passion of your life:

What do you dream about?

A person's dreams are powerful revealers of passion. When a person starts to talk about their dreams it's as if something bubbles up from within. Their eyes brighten, their face glows, and you can feel the excitement in their words.

What do you cry about?

Passion can be uncovered by peering into the hurts deep inside a human soul. The experience of pain or loss can be a formidably motivating force. When listening to a story of grief, you hear a voice thick with emotion, you see watery eyes flooded with feeling, and in that moment you glimpse the intense connections between a person's deepest pain and their greatest passion.

What makes you happy?

I have fun hearing what makes people tick and seeing the smile that comes when they talk about where they find joy. Enjoyment is an incredible energizer to the human spirit. When a person operates in an area of pleasure, they are apt to be brimming with life and exuding passion.

If you can uncover a person's dreams, hurts, and joys, you've discovered the central dimensions of their life. This lesson is designed to show you the types of questions that can draw out the passion inside of a person. I've included my own answers to give you an understanding of how the process works. Try to limit your answers to one or two words. Also, notice how each question is asked both positively (what makes you happy) and negatively (what makes you cry). I have found that by expressing opposite feelings and emotions, you reveal your true inner self.

To maximize this lesson, I'll give you four easy assignments.

1. Ask yourself and answer the questions posed in the lesson. In doing so, you'll enhance your self-awareness.
2. Share your answers with your team to allow them to learn about you.
3. Ask your team to answer the questions to encourage their self-discovery.
4. Ask your team to share their answers with one another. This practice will bring team members closer together.

What is your biggest asset?
My greatest asset is my attitude. I discovered this when I was in high school, and the coach of my basketball team appointed me as team captain at the beginning of the year.

I was surprised, because I wasn't the best player on the team. John Thomas was the best player. I was the second or third best player, but I wasn't the best. I was sitting on the floor of the gymnasium with my teammates, and I think the same question was in all of our minds—why is John Maxwell going to be the captain of the team? Anticipating our questions, our coach gave an explanation, "Of all the players on this team, the kid with the best attitude is John Maxwell. He doesn't get discouraged, he believes that we'll win the game, and he's going to be the captain of the team."

What is your biggest liability?
My biggest liability is unrealistic expectations. As with many weaknesses, my unrealistic expectations are the Achilles Heel of my strength.

Many years ago I quit hiring, and I have stayed away from it ever since because I'm a terrible hirer. Why? Because I naturally look for the best in people. When I see a potential employee, I see the raw talent, and I begin thinking how I can help shape the person into a star. I've had numerous failures hiring lousy leaders because I convinced myself I could mold a flawed leader into a top performer.

What do you like most from others?
For me, it's encouragement. Encouragement is the oxygen of the soul, in that it allows you to breathe. Encouragement supports and sustains leadership, especially during the hard times.

What do I like least from others?
I cannot stand people who make excuses—blamers, complainers, and explainers who refuse to accept responsibility for their mistakes.

I admire a person who will admit their faults since it shows me the inner character of that individual. I can accept another's imperfection if they take ownership of their errors because we're all human, and we all fail from time to time.

What is the best thing to have?
I think the best thing to have is friends. For me nothing compares to the joy and fulfillment of going through life with friends you can laugh with, cry with, and celebrate alongside.

What is the worst thing not to have?
I can't imagine a life without hope. Even if my health is failing or my financial situation is grim, if I have hope, I can see a way out of my difficulties.

Hope is the foundation of all change. When people come to me as leaders and they say, "I want to create change within my organization. What should I do?" My response is the obvious answer, "You have to create hope." Nobody changes unless they think life is going to improve. Hope is the motivation that allows people to change.

Leading Toward the Impossible: What People Believe Makes a Difference By STEVE COATS

Steve Coats

Have you ever heard other people complain about the size of the goals they have to achieve at work? There have been times in my past when I was certainly one of them. I figured if I was lucky enough to get someone to take pity on poor little me, my objective might be reduced, whether it was really too big or not. That might make it easier to exceed, which could result in a bigger bonus, or at least make it easier and less stressful to reach. Over the years, I have known or worked with many, who were able to turn this crafty complaining ritual into an art!

 

Today, the number of people lamenting about their goals seems to be on the upswing, but for a very different reason. Their moaning is not just a sly attempt to get off easier. It is because their goals are really tough. In fact, in their minds, the results expected of them are on the verge of impossible. How can anyone be expected to grow net income at 20% or more year after year, especially when customers are cutting back? How can a distribution process be streamlined when there is no IT support? How can top-notch players be attracted or kept, when they are treated and paid like basic commodities? Do any of these examples sound familiar to you?

 

More than ever, people are being asked to produce at a level that has never been done before, at least by them. As a leader, what do you do when attempting to lead a group toward something that seems unachievable? And does it make a difference if they are trying to accomplish something that has never been attempted or successfully done before by anyone, vs. trying to accomplish something that has, but not by them. Here is my point.

 

Think about the early test pilots attempting to break the sound barrier, not knowing if it was physically possible. The closer they got to Mach One, the more their aircraft shook, until it felt like it would literally break apart. One could only imagine what went through their minds as their jets wanted to self-destruct far short of the target. Would you have been standing in line to take a chance when sacrificing your life was a very real consequence?

 

Then one day the barrier was broken and another invalid belief was laid to rest. Now the issue for a pilot attempting this for the first time shifted from can it be done, to can it be done by me.   In your mind is there any difference between the two? As a leader, do you need to address these two situations differently?

 

Logic tells us that people won't devote much energy to something they consider to be impossible. It probably doesn't matter whether people feel the goal itself is impossible or that they themselves are just unable to achieve it. If there is no hope for success (and no real benefit for the effort), why pursue it. If you do not believe in the "The Force," chances are good you are not going to spend much time in Jedi training.

 

Yet history often defies that logic, showing us that people do attack and conquer the impossible all the time. What is the difference between those that take on the impossible and those that don't? And what are the leadership implications?

 

Pursuing the Impossible

 

People who are willing to go after something that has never been done before will often find the energy to act based on a couple of different reasons. The first is, they are stubbornly unwilling to accept the fact that the task is impossible, for whatever reasons. The other is they have no choice but to act.

 

Think about those who refuse to believe that a given task or goal is impossible. They display a great deal of passion about disproving the worldview and demonstrating it can be done (whether it might be reaching the summit of Mt. Everest or getting people to use an ATM for the first time). They are truly committed to their challenge. Sometimes their relentless work may be for personal accomplishment-other times to improve the world. Whatever the reason, they find a way to stay with it.

 

To our knowledge, these people are not born with a couple of extra genes in persistence. Nor are they obsessive "whacko's" with no sense of reality- although they might appear that way at times! There is, however, something very important about them, that does tend to fuel their dogged drive to persevere. These determined explorers tend to find some deep gratification or meaning in every small step they take, whether that step succeeds or fails.

 

Frankly, they do not need to be totally successful in the eyes of others. As long as they are continuing to significantly increase their own or the world's knowledge about their passion, they will often stay with it. Think of the researcher whose life is guided by a clear mission of finding a cure for pancreatic cancer. That is not just what she does, it defines who she is. In her mind, every single success she achieves or brick wall she hits has purpose. Each of those efforts is a step closer to a highly desired goal, which provides great meaning in her life.

That complete devotion to discovery will sometimes lead to astounding successes and a dramatic change in beliefs. There are inventions or breakthroughs too numerous to count that have resulted from people who have been willing to commit themselves to conquering the impossible. As one example, consider Orville and Wilbur Wright. One hundred years ago, they erased the belief that it is impossible to fly, and that led to conquering the impossibility of breaking the sound barrier, which ultimately led to Neal Armstrong's first steps on the moon (which some conspiracy theorists still believe has never truly been done). We should all be thankful that these kind of committed people exist.

 

Alexander Graham Bell is another example. Can you imagine trying to convince people that a person standing in New York could easily be heard by someone in another town or state? I would bet that Mr. Bell constantly heard criticism that sounded something like the following: "Excuse me, Sir, but people are incapable of shouting that loud. That is a physical impossibility for a human being." So Mr. Bell, like all great inventors, just found a way to get around that impossibility. Think about that, the next time you are talking to someone across the country on your cell phone!

 

Tackling a goal that is currently considered impossible, is not an easy course to take. Everyday these people must accept the risk of looking like a failure. They must demonstrate courage and experiment frequently. They must look at their work from every angle possible. They must take natural laws of science or human behavior and apply them in different ways. They must learn from experience and be resilient. All of this is hard work. That is the reason a lot of passion and devotion is required. Without those, the energy to persevere quickly runs dry.

 

Should we then be surprised that people in the workplace might be a bit hesitant to go after goals that seem impossible? After all, the risks can be huge, the work is very difficult, and often, the goals do not have enough meaning to bring forth the level of commitment necessary for success. Do you believe commitment can waver if the goal is producing yet another year of almost unimaginable financial results, so that Wall Street's endless, insatiable appetite might once again be temporarily satisfied?

 

Lack of Choices

 

The other reason people become emotionally committed to pursuing the impossible involves a different set of circumstances. It is because they have no choice. Failing to act will lead to devastating consequences. You might be familiar with one case in point. In 1989, on a seemingly doomed United Airlines flight, the crew found itself in the following predicament. They had lost their hydraulics, and if they did not figure out another way to control the airplane, they were going to crash. As you might recall, the plane's hydraulic systems had been damaged, and without them, it was impossible to fly, and more importantly, land the plane. It had never been done - until that day over Sioux City, Iowa - when a small group of very committed people somehow figured out how to get the plane back on the ground, saving a large number of the passengers.

 

You are also, no doubt, familiar with the unbelievable story of Apollo 13. One impossible situation after another was somehow met with triumph. There are examples like this everyday, during combat in war, in the aftermath of natural disasters, even in the competitive battlefields of corporate survival. In these cases, failing to take some kind of action is simply not an option.

 

Whether it is because of an individual's personal wiring, or a no choice situation, it does not require a lot of leadership to inspire people to take on seemingly impossible dilemmas when they are very deeply connected to the challenge. The leadership challenge comes when that emotional connection does not exist, and you must figure out a way to get people to find it.

 

Questioning One's Own Ability to Succeed

 

Up until this time, we have focused on examples of first time breakthroughs. But what about those situations when you need people to step up to a challenge that has previously been accomplished, although not by you or them. That is, the task for them still appears to be impossible. In that case, does it really matter that Everest is being conquered every year, or that every month, some sales team somewhere in your industry is somehow able to produce numbers that seem unreachable?

 

Perhaps you have found that not everyone approaches these seemingly impossible situations with unrelenting zeal and devotion. If a prevailing belief of a team is, "it doesn't matter if others have accomplished this, we can't do it," they will stop giving their all to a goal relatively quickly. The rationale is, "The only outcome is failure, so why kill ourselves trying," or something similar. They will go through the motions and might even appear engaged, but their passion and commitment will lie elsewhere. No doubt you have experienced this situation firsthand.

 

Yet leaders find themselves in circumstances like these all the time. They have to accomplish tough goals against some extraordinary odds, with people who are pretty well convinced that they can never reach the target. So what can a leader do to get people to wholeheartedly get after something which they tend to believe is an impossible undertaking? The simple answer (which is really not so simple) is to help them find ways to believe that they, too, can be successful. And that is one of the key tasks of a leader. If you are unable to reshape the limiting beliefs that today hold your people back, your efforts to achieve the really challenging goals will most likely prove only frustrating and fruitless.

 

Reshaping Beliefs

 

So, how do you go about trying to influence what people believe about either their own ability, or the value of pursuing a seemingly insurmountable challenge?

 

First, you have to be clear on what they believe right now. If your team is not producing at the level you hope, is it because they do not believe in (or buy into) the goal, or that they do not believe they can achieve it, (regardless of whether other teams can or cannot). It is crucial that you know what beliefs you are trying to reshape.

 

If people do not believe in the goal itself, it probably doesn't matter what they believe about their own abilities. Continuing to tell them that you know they can do it, and providing them all kinds of tools and resources, is still not likely to improve results. What if your team believes that the only way to close enough business to achieve the quarterly goal is to go on the road and live in different hotel rooms every night for the next three months? You can upgrade the rooms, provide slick laptops, and keep reminding your people what great salespeople they are. But if they are at the end of their ropes from traveling and don't really care if they make the numbers or not, those enticements are not going to do much good. Somehow, you are going to have to get them to believe that the sacrifice is worth it, or find another way to generate the business.

 

On the other hand, imagine you have a team who deeply believes in the value of the goal and desperately wants to achieve it. But they just do not believe they can ever do it. Continuing to re-emphasize the importance of the goal could motivate them to think and act in different ways. But it might also create some unintended harm. It might make them feel more and more worthless or inadequate, because what they now cannot do has even bigger consequences. Think about which is worse - you feel unable to put out a fire and save your house, or you feel unable to put out a fire and save your family?

 

Let me repeat: you must be clear on the beliefs your people hold and which ones might be holding them back.

 

A second thing you must do in influencing beliefs is to keep reality in the picture. Sometimes a constraining belief is very valid. Speaking from experience, you could pour money into me for around the clock voice lessons and the very best coaching - and I will still never sing the lead in a professional Broadway musical. I know for a fact that many others will - and I am just as convinced that I will never be one of them. You might say my belief is limiting my opportunities. I would say it is not an issue of beliefs, but talent.

 

Part of the art of leadership is getting better at determining what someone truly can or cannot do. This is a real challenge, because it is so easy to underestimate another person's true capabilities. But limiting beliefs are not the only things that can hold people back. Identifying when beliefs are the cause, and when they are not, requires a great deal of effort and attention.

 

A third and very important thing you must remember and act on, when attempting to reshape what a person believes is this-beliefs are forged, and therefore altered through experiences. You cannot merely command people to change what they believe and expect them to do it - even if you keep harping at them to do so. They must have some kind of encounter that allows them to question their current beliefs and opens the door for them to begin to accept new ways of dealing with the world.

 

Be mindful that people can and do change their beliefs. When computers first made their way into the workplace, many people resisted them out of fear. "It's too complicated - I'll never be able to do it." Funny thing, you will hear these exact same words uttered today, by teenagers frustrated with first learning to drive a car with a manual transmission. Yet somehow in both cases, they have been able to hear the voices in their heads change from "I can't do this" to "I think I might be getting the hang of it." These different words are an indicator that the person's beliefs just might be shifting.

 

Once you have a better picture of the beliefs you are attempting to reshape and the reality of the task at hand, you can then determine the kind of experiences you need to create to instill or reinforce the beliefs that you want others to hold. You must figure out what you can do to enable others to see things differently, through a new, more believing pair of eyes.

 

If your people are questioning their collective ability to succeed at something brand new or to achieve a breakthrough, you must give them opportunities to learn to do it. You have to actually sit them in front of the keyboard or in the driver's seat! You have to give them freedom to try things, reinforce what they are doing right, immediately point out what they are continuing to do wrong, encourage them to keep trying, reward them for progress and so forth. It is through these experiences with you that they will be able to move ahead and, most importantly, see it themselves.

 

If they don't believe in the value of the goal (be it the need to implement a new accounting system, or to work collaboratively with people who never give back), you must help them find meaningful intrinsic and extrinsic rewards in staying the course. You must continue to reinforce the value of their effort and get them to see more clearly, everyday, why the daunting task is so important to pursue. You have to help them see how their progress and setbacks are making a meaningful difference for themselves or others they care about.

 

Some Final Lessons

 

As a leader, you always need to be working at inspiring your people to reach greater heights, equipping them to be successful, and providing constant recognition and reinforcement in all aspects of their work, whether their goals seem achievable or appear beyond hope. When the challenges are extraordinary and the stakes are high, you must be even better at this work.

 

You must recognize that what a person believes directly shapes his or her perceptions of reality, and that directly impacts the actions he or she will take and the results that can be produced. When those beliefs hold people back, you must figure out a way for them to question and willingly let go of those constraints. If the beliefs are enabling, you must help your people continue to see positive and desired outcomes from them.

 

People discard old, accept new, and strengthen current beliefs through experiences. According to published reports, there were people at NASA who were completely convinced that a falling piece of foam could in no way cause the catastrophe of the shuttle Columbia. Today, they know that it did. Not too long ago, employees at companies like Enron and WorldCom believed in the integrity of their executive officers. Today, people everywhere have lost a lot of faith in corporate officers and big business in general.

 

However, it is vital to remember that to affect a belief, the experience must have some punch. We all know people who never miss purchasing their weekly lottery tickets. Yet, one would think after hundreds, maybe even thousands of consecutive losing experiences, they might give it up. But the dollar or two loss every week has little real impact. Therefore, they still believe that one day, their ships just might come in!

 

Finally, you cannot make assumptions about peoples' beliefs. You may think that a task is quite doable and assume that your people believe the same. They may not. When the results are not there, you could easily draw the conclusion it is because of a lack of focus, or that they just don't care. You might be totally wrong. If they view the challenge as unachievable, they may feel frightened, overwhelmed, or even hopeless. Those are much different factors than a lack of focus or not caring. And, they must be dealt with differently.

 

Getting people inspired about tackling the impossible is a true test of leadership. Unfortunately, it is not an easy one. So please remember the following three points.

Your people will be able to deliver better results for you, the more you can help them:

 

1) believe in the goal, by discovering meaning in the challenge itself

2) believe in themselves, by helping them see how their efforts are making a valuable difference, and

3) believe in your leadership, by being there to support, recognize and encourage them when they most need you.

 

Simply telling people that, "impossible or not, it's your job to accomplish the goal and that's just the way it is," is not likely to achieve the results you are looking for. It may be the truth, but it is not very helpful. And if your role as a leader is not to help your team conquer enormous, even impossible challenges, then just why are you in your position anyway?

Contact me with your comments and suggestions!
Thanks,
mike kompani
senseikompani@yahoo.com