Posts from — June 2008

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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