Business Leadership Advice

Leadership Lesson: Lead By Example By Ty Bennett

Josh Hinds — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:23:12 +0000

Over the last couple of weeks I have had the opportunity to speak to several groups on leadership and influence. These groups ranged from teenagers to hospital recruiters to government employees and executives of a fortune 500 company. As we discussed leadership it was interesting to get their differing views on what makes a leader influential, but they all agreed that a leader must lead by example.

One of my favorite leadership stories is about Mahatma Gandhi and a young boy – Many years ago hundreds of people were lined up in the town square area for the opportunity to visit with Mahatma Gandhi. On this particular day a young mother and her son waited for hours to be able to visit with him, and when the opportunity arrived, the young mother asked Gandhi if he would speak with her son about his eating sugar in the hopes that his words would encourage the young boy to stop eating sugar.

Gandhi looked intently at the woman and said, “Please come back in two weeks, and I will speak with the boy about his eating sugar.” As she and her son walked away from Gandhi so the next person could speak with him, she wondered why he didn’t just speak to the boy but also realized that Gandhi was a man whom she should obey, and so she obliged.

In two weeks they returned to the town square, and after waiting for a couple of hours once again, she was able to approach Gandhi. Upon her request, Gandhi immediately spoke with the boy, and the boy agreed to begin the journey of not eating sugar. The woman thanked Gandhi for his wisdom, compassion, and words and then asked him why he asked her to return two weeks later versus just speaking to him on their first visit. Gandhi replied profoundly, “Upon your visit two weeks ago, I too was eating sugar.” And he went on to explain that he could not speak of or teach the young boy to not eat sugar if he himself had not taken that journey.

As a leader it should be a regular activity to look in the mirror and make sure that we are leading by example.
_____________________
Ty Bennett is the author of The Power of Influence. Described by Peter Vidmar as “How To Win Friends & Influence People for our day.” To learn more or get a copy of The Power of Influence — click here.

Recommended…

Leadership Lesson: The Challenge of Change By Dr. John C. Maxwell

Josh Hinds — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 17:00:00 +0000

The history of Henry Ford and the Model T illustrates a fundamental truth about leadership: leaders never outgrow the need to change.

On his way to dominating the automotive market with the Model T, Henry Ford embodied innovation and progress. By pioneering the assembly line, Ford slashed the amount of time needed to manufacture an automobile.

He installed large conveyor belts in his factory, allowing workers to stay in one place rather than roaming around the factory floor. He also shortened the workday of his employees from nine hours to eight hours so that his factories could operate around the clock.

The efficiencies Ford introduced allowed cars to be manufactured at a fraction of their previous costs. In under a decade, automobiles went from being luxuries affordable only to the wealthiest Americans, to being standard possessions of the average American family. Ford profited handily from the popularity of the Model T, and Ford Motor Company grew into an empire.

However, the dominance of Ford Motor Company was short-lived. As competitors changed their operations to copy Ford’s concepts mass production, Henry Ford made a tremendous leadership blunder. With cars rolling off assembly lines like never before, consumers began to demand a variety of colors. However, Ford stubbornly refused, uttering the famous line, “The customer can have any color he wants so long as it’s black.”

In Ford’s mind, producing multiple colors was foolhardy since black paint dried the fastest and could be used most efficiently. Amazingly, Ford did not comprehend the human preference for variety. Customers flocked en masse to other producers who catered to their color preferences, and Ford Motor Company never regained its grip on the market.

For so long, Henry Ford had focused on moving from inefficiency to efficiency that he refused to move in the opposite direction – from efficiency to inefficiency – even when doing so would have been wise and profitable. Ford’s genius in sparking change had catapulted him to the pinnacle of American commerce, but later, his inability to change cost him dearly.

In this article, I’d like to overview the central challenges faced by leaders when they try to make changes in their lives. In doing so, I have drawn upon the wisdom of my friend, Sam Chand, author of the book LADDERShifts, and a prominent thinker in the field of leadership and change.

Issues That Make Change A Challenge

Critics
Along the journey of leadership, you’ll meet all sorts of people, and I guarantee you’ll bump into a few critics. Early in my career, I didn’t know how to handle disapproval, and I bent over backward to keep everyone happy. In spite of my best efforts, I failed. Some of my people still didn’t like me.

Trying to appease everybody invites trouble. Appeasers end up being average because they always gravitate to the middle of the road. They’re afraid to make waves, and therefore, they avoid changes. My leadership began to take flight when I allowed myself to press people to change – whether they thanked me or cursed me.

People You Have Outgrown

As we climb the levels of leadership, we come to the sad realization that most people aren’t committed to personal growth. Friends who once shared our dreams begin to settle for second best. Members of our inner circle quit when the journey gets hard. If we are to change ourselves for the better, then we need to change the company we keep.

Eventually, we must change our relationships by disengaging from the people we’ve outgrown. Disassociating from colleagues can be especially painful given your history together, the contributions they have made in your life, and your personal feelings toward them. Disengaging is painful because you care about them. It’s painful because they may not understand why you’ve drifted away from them. It’s painful all the way around, but remember, unless you are willing to endure these pains, your own growth as a leader will be limited. Leaders only grow to the threshold of their pain.

The Weight of Responsibility

When we’re young, leadership has an idealistic appeal. We yearn to be in charge and out front, making the decisions. However, the reality of leadership involves the heavy burden of responsibility. Missteps by a leader can affect people’s livelihoods or an organization’s sustainability. The fear of getting it wrong can paralyze a leader.

If we, as leaders, want to make significant changes to increase our impact, then we must be willing to shoulder progressively greater loads. Although added responsibility gives us a greater opportunity to exercise leadership, it also magnifies the consequences of our mistakes. To be a change agent, a leader must be willing to take ownership of key projects and pivotal decisions.

Personal Inadequacies

As we grow in our leadership, we advance into uncharted territory – areas beyond our comfort zones. Such occasions give us growing pains by confronting us with our inadequacies. Our wisdom fails to solve a problem, or we stumble into a situation requiring more wisdom than we possess.

Facing our limitations can be daunting. At times, we’d rather stick to familiar roads than blaze a new trail and risk failure. Ultimately, pushing our personal boundaries is the surest way to grow, improve, and expand the scope of our influence.
_____________
John C. Maxwell is an internationally respected leadership expert, author, and speaker. Dr.Maxwell is the founder of EQUIP, a non-profit organization that has trained more than 5 million leaders in 126 countries worldwide. He is author of many best-selling books and audios including his Lessons on Leadership Program. Visit him at www.johnmaxwell.com

-what is the biggest leadership lesson you took-away from the ideas above?

Leadership Lesson: 10 Ways to Improve Your Credibility By Darryl Rosen

Josh Hinds — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 06:41:47 +0000

Leaders and managers spend a lot of time and effort figuring out how to develop their people’s talent, shape their performance, and motivate them to improve.

But when was the last time you focused on yourself? Specifically, how’s your credibility? Does it need some attention? Here are 10 ways to boost your credibility with associates, customers, and everyone else within your sphere of influence.

1. Demonstrate ownership and a sense of urgency. Your associates and customers want a quick turnaround when they have a problem or concern. Show them they matter.

2. Be clear on when you will respond. When a problem or concern arises, quickly communicate details on how you will fix the issue, and ensure it doesn’t happen again.

3. Return calls and emails promptly. Don’t let emails sit in your inbox unanswered, and don’t hide behind your voicemail—especially if you’ve made a mistake. Be reachable.

4. Meet face-to-face when possible. Email is handy, but it isn’t the right mode of communication for resolving conflicts, having discussions, or expressing feelings.

5. Be open, candid, and transparent. Don’t withhold information that you should be sharing. Don’t force others to ask for the truth; volunteer it. Being open instills trust.

6. Earn trust—don’t ask for it. The worst thing a manager can say is “Trust me!” Build credibility with your actions and you’ll never have to ask for it.

7. Follow through with agreements. If you say you’re going to do something, do it. Never make others beg for information that you said you would provide.

8. Admit your mistakes. Be accountable for your actions. Nothing destroys credibility more than blaming everyone else and refusing to point your finger at yourself.

9. Restate commitments. If a customer or associate agrees to anything, restate back to them what they’ve just agreed to. That way there will be surprises—from you or from them.

10. Set a good example. If you blame others, worry, get hysterical, do things in a mediocre way, have disorganized methods, or fail to see others’ potential, so will your associates.
______________
Darryl Rosen has many years of experience running an internationally renowned company and is now a leading performance coach for managers and sales professionals. His newest book is Table for Three? Bringing Your Smart Phone to Lunch and 50 Dumb Mistakes Smart Managers Don’t Make! Learn more at www.tableforthreethebook.com

-What are some things you might add, if any to the ideas above?

Words To Learn By – From John C. Maxwell

Josh Hinds — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:00:00 +0000

In my years of 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 they 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 about 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.
______________
John C. Maxwell is an internationally respected leadership expert, author, and speaker. Dr.Maxwell is the founder of EQUIP, a non-profit organization that has trained more than 5 million leaders in 126 countries worldwide. He is author of many best-selling books and auudios including his Lessons on Leadership Program. Visit him at www.johnmaxwell.com

-What is your biggest leadership strength? And what is your biggest area you could use improvement in?

5 Tips to Help Your Team be More Creative By Mark Miller

Josh Hinds — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:53:30 +0000

In today’s challenging economic times, creative thinking is more valuable than ever. Not creative for creativity’s sake — creativity to solve real business problems. Many of the ideas of the past are no longer relevant. As a seasoned leader shared with me recently, “The half-life of ideas is decreasing rapidly.” So what’s our response? We need more and better ideas.

The good news: creating new, value-added ideas is what teams do best. However, creativity in a team environment is not automatic. There are some things that leaders can do to increase the creative output of their team. Here are a few ideas to get you started …

Expect it – When you establish the role of your team, be sure to highlight the expectation that the team will create fresh, new solutions to the problems you face.

Train it – The skills of creativity can be learned. To learn them, they must be taught. Schedule time to conduct training for your team. This can take many forms. It can be as brief as a micro session on effective brainstorming (before your next brainstorming session) to multi-day training sessions and everything in between. The point is simple — train your team on the skills of creativity.

Practice it – Creative thinking and problem solving are skills — just like golf, tennis or a foreign language. Like any skill, you get better with practice. Look for opportunities for your team to practice the skills you’ve learned. Practice builds competence and competence builds confidence.

Recognize it – The actions that you reward will be repeated. That’s human nature. That’s one reason you need to recognize not just the successes but the effort as well. Not every creative endeavor will be successful. That’s normal. If you’ve been operating in a culture in which creativity has not been valued, recognizing creative effort will be even more critical. People are paying attention. They want to know if it’s really safe to voice new ideas.

Model it – People always watch the leader — whether we want them to or not. Do your people see you embracing creative ideas? Do they see you engaged in the process of creating new ideas? You can accelerate the adoption of creative thinking as a skill if you personally get in the game. If you don’t, you’ll need to temper your expectations of groundbreaking new ideas from your team.

Teams are probably at their best when they’re engaged in the creative process. They are leveraging their collective wisdom and experience to create what previously did not exist. One of the most satisfying and productive things leaders can do is create the conditions to harness this creative potential. Start today and get ready to be amazed at what your team will do!

© 2012 Mark Miller
_____________
Mark Miller, co-author of Great Leaders Grow: Becoming a Leader for Life, is vice president, training and development, for Chick-fil-A. During his career he has served in corporate communications, restaurant operations, quality and customer satisfaction, and numerous other leadership positions. He began his Chick-fil-A career in 1977 working as an hourly team member. He is the author of The Secret of Teams and the coauthor of The Secret.

-What if anything would you add to the ideas above? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Leadership Lessons From Jeremy Lin – Linsanity for Leaders By Kevin Eikenberry

Josh Hinds — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:10:35 +0000

Perhaps you’ve heard of Jeremy Lin and “Linsanity”, or perhaps you don’t follow sports at all. In case you haven’t or don’t, let me give you some background.

Jeremy Lin is a 6’3″ basketball player. He went 32-1 as a high school senior and helped his team win a California State Championship, and even though he was first team All State and Northern California Player of the Year, and a 4.2 GPA student, he got no Division 1 scholarships – not even from his hometown, dream college, Stanford.

Harvard offered him the chance to play, but as an Ivy League school, without a scholarship. He went to Harvard, graduated with a 3.1 in economics and played basketball. Very well. He was Second Team All Ivy Leagues as a sophomore, and First team as a Junior and Senior. In that senior year, Harvard set records for wins, conference wins and road wins, and Jeremy, according my research, finished his career as the first player in the history of the Ivy League to record at least 1,450 points, grab over 450 rebounds, make over 400 assists and produce over 200 steals.

The NBA draft came and went – and he wasn’t drafted. Maybe that shouldn’t be a big surprise since the last player from Harvard to play in the NBA had been in 1954. While he wasn’t drafted, he eventually got offers from several teams and signed with his hometown Golden State Warriors for the 2010-11 season. During that season, he played in 29 games for an average of less than 10 minutes per game. One reason he didn’t play more games is that he was “demoted” to the Developmental League a few times during the year (where he excelled with extended playing time).

This season, he was released by the Warriors and eventually signed by the New York Knicks. According to the New York Post and Wikipedia, the Knicks were considering releasing him before February 10 of this year when his contract would become guaranteed. They could release him and sign a new player – after all he was the third string point guard and had only played 55 minutes in the team’s first 23 games.

Then it happened.

Given the chance to start a game after a particularly poor team performance on February 3rd, Lin made the best of his opportunity. In the next five games – all Knick wins (not bad for a team playing with missing stars and a losing record) – Lin scored 25, 28, 23, 38 and 20 points. These were the most ever in the modern NBA for a player in his first 3, 4 and 5 starts of his career. He became the first NBA player to score at least 20 points and have seven assists in each of his first five starts.

Linsanity is the word people have been using to describe what has happened.

Much of the popular press story here has been about the fact that Jeremy is an Asian American, and there haven’t been many players of Asian descent play in the NBA. While there may be parts of this story that could be explored from that perspective, that isn’t my goal here.

Wise and talented scouts didn’t sign him to a scholarship – it’s not like no one knew he existed, they just didn’t believe in him.

Every NBA team could have signed him – its not like they never saw him excel at Harvard.

Kobe Bryant, 11-time NBA All-Star said, after Jeremy guarded him and outscored him 38-34 in a recent game, ”Players playing that well don’t usually come out of nowhere. It seems like they come out of nowhere, but if you can go back and take a look, his skill level was probably there from the beginning. It probably just went unnoticed.” [italics mine]

Coaches and scouts thought they knew Jeremy’s skills. They had decided he was a third string guard, and so he was.

Or was he?

Story time is over, now this is about you as a leader.

Who is your Jeremy Lin? Who on your team have you “decided” on? I’m not talking about your high potential person on that list in the succession plan. I’m talking about your third stringer, the person that you “know” will always be a marginal performer.

What do you really know?

Have you given them reins and a chance to perform?

Or are you stifling them with your assessment of their potential?

Jeremy Lin is a basketball player. He has, and is, working hard at his craft. He certainly hasn’t given up or felt sorry for himself, but this story is as much about coaches and scouts and leaders as is it about Jeremy.

The best leaders look for and see the potential in their team members. If you don’t see it, you won’t give people an opportunity to use it, develop it, and move towards that potential.

Do you see third string guards or Jeremy Lins?

Be careful what you look for, you are very likely to find it.
______________
Kevin Eikenberry is a leadership expert and the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group, a learning consulting company that helps Clients reach their potential through a variety of training, consulting and speaking services.

-What are some ways you identify and develop those hidden gems in your organization, and help them to develop into the best they can be?

How to Evaluate Your Leadership Style By Ken Blanchard

Josh Hinds — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:13:46 +0000

Today, I’m going to give a short, one-question quiz. Here’s the question: How do you rate as a leader?

I don’t ask this question flippantly. It is a question I’ve asked countless people at the leadership seminars we conduct.

As leaders, most people rank themselves as being very close to a minor deity or at least Mr. or Ms. Human Relations. Seldom do leaders give themselves low marks. Strangely enough, when the tables are turned and people are asked to rank their boss’s leadership style, we often find many supervisors graded as being adequate, merely OK, or at worst, office autocrats who depend heavily on the often-referenced “seagull management” technique as their sole line of attack — they leave their people alone until something goes wrong, and then they fly in, make a lot of noise, dump all over everyone, and fly out.

More often than not, we find that leaders lull themselves into thinking they are top-flight leaders because they think they use a supportive or coaching style, which someone told them are “good” leadership styles. Not too surprisingly, this isn’t the way they are seen by those in their department, office or store.

To get a true and accurate answer about the question above, it is necessary for you as a supervisor to honestly determine how your employees perceive your leadership style. These are the folks who know you best. They have first-hand experience with your leadership style and operate on their own perceptions about it. They are the best judges of your managerial effectiveness. However, getting an employee or subordinate to give his or her honest feedback on your leadership style is difficult. People fear being the messenger who will get shot for bearing bad news. Hence, they are naturally reluctant to be totally candid.

Employees are sharp observers. In the past, they may have gone to their leader and made an honest suggestion such as, “Ken, I think our Thursday afternoon meetings are a waste of time.” If the supervisor answers with an outburst by saying, “What do you mean a waste of time? Are you kidding? Those meetings are important,” it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that one thing the leader doesn’t want to hear is the truth.

It is important to remember that when people you supervise tell you what they honestly think about your style of leadership, they’re really giving you a gift. When someone gives you a gift, what is the first thing you should say? “Thank you,” of course! Then it’s a very good idea to follow up by saying, “Is there anything else you think I should know?” When a person learns that you won’t become defensive or hostile when he or she gives you an honest evaluation about your style, you’ll find that you’ll be given many nuggets of truth which are extremely valuable. My advice would be to encourage people to give (feedback) at the office, and to give often!

Just remember, what you think about your own leadership style really doesn’t matter. In addition, there is no one correct style, nor is there a “good” or a “bad” style. Rather, style is judged by those immediately influenced by it. It’s your people’s response to your style that matters. If you are getting the right response consistently — high productivity and morale — then you’re doing just fine. If not, then perhaps it’s your style that needs changing, not your employees.

* originally published on “How We Lead”

(c) 2012 Ken Blanchard, co-author of Great Leaders Grow: Becoming a Leader for Life
_____________
Ken Blanchard, co-author of Great Leaders Grow: Becoming a Leader for Life, is cofounder and chief spiritual officer of the Ken Blanchard Companies. He is the author or coauthor of 50 books that have sold more than 20 million copies, including the iconic One Minute Manager®. Connect with Ken Blanchard at www.kenblanchard.com

- Share your thoughts on the advice above in the comments below. Your participation helps to create better leaders!

What Can Leaders Learn From Tim Tebow By Mark Miller

Josh Hinds — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:46:46 +0000

Some of you are Tim Tebow fans and some of you are not — got it. Regardless of your feelings, let’s not miss the chance to learn something here about leadership. Here are a few things I’ve observed watching Tebow this season that may help you on your leadership journey.

Leadership Matters — Team sports require leadership. In the NFL, there is an expectation that the quarterback will provide that leadership. Business, ministry, government and academia are all TEAM SPORTS. If you are going to win, someone must lead. Tim provided leadership for the Broncos.

Passion Matters — The intensity of the team is always a reflection of their leadership. If the leader is not passionate the team won’t be either. Tim gets this. This was a critical ingredient in 6 fourth quarter or overtime victories this season! How high is your passion for what you lead?

No Style Points on the Scoreboard — Winning is the ultimate measuring stick in the NFL. Pretty or ugly, it doesn’t matter. Tim knew the goal was winning – not his QB rating. What does a win look like for your team? Is everyone on the same page?

Leadership is a Platform for Influence — When you and I lead well, our influence will grow. What we do witth that influence matters. One of the things Tim does is host disabled young people to attend both home and away games. He says that it inspires HIM to see their courage and helps him keep the game in perspective. How will you steward your influence?

Skills Still Matter — Tim has a lot to learn as an NFL quarterback. His skills are not where they need to be. Heart, passion and drive are huge — but insufficient over the long haul without the skills. Tim knows that. That’s why he’s so excited about the off-season. He plans to grow before next year. What’s your plan to grow this year?

Tim Tebow is not perfect — as a football player or as a human being. However, I know he can teach me a lot about leadership. I look forward to learning from him for years to come.

(c) Mark Miller, all rights reserved
_____________
Mark Miller, co-author of Great Leaders Grow: Becoming a Leader for Life, is vice president, training and development, for Chick-fil-A. During his career he has served in corporate communications, restaurant operations, quality and customer satisfaction, and numerous other leadership positions. He began his Chick-fil-A career in 1977 working as an hourly team member. He is the author of The Secret of Teams and the coauthor of The Secret.

-what are your thoughts on the above article? What additional skills would you include in your list of great leadership attributes?

Leadership Lesson: You Are Not the Deal By Bob Burg and John David Mann

Josh Hinds — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 13:30:00 +0000

You’ve seen it happen again and again.

A corrupt government is toppled by revolutionary forces, marshaling the will of the people, the dictators fall, happiness reigns once again … but then something weird happens. The revolutionaries start looking a lot like the tyrants they just deposed.

It happens in business, too. A fresh new leader comes along, an innovative start-up comes out with something brilliant that mixes up the marketplace, an organization galvanized by someone new at the helm leaps inspired into double-digit growth …

Until a few years later that new leadership starts resisting change, digging in its heels, and acting a lot like the old leadership.

What happened?

There are all sorts of academic insights and lessons visible in the succession of power. But at the root, quite often there is something personal and internal happening here, a process that blunts the edge and sabotages the positive influence of once-great leadership.

It happens to kings, presidents, heads of religious organizations and great corporations, leaders and people of influence in every domain. It can happen to anyone with a following of any size or number.

It is this: after a time, they start getting it backwards.

L E A D becomes D E A L.

As a leader, you become the container of others’ hopes. When we say people put their trust in you, that is not just a figure of speech. People place their hopes and dreams, trust and faith, even their fears, in your hands, because these things feel too fragile, too big, too important, too valuable to hold onto by themselves.

You become the trustee of their intangibles. You hold them, believe in them when they forget how to believe in themselves.

But — and here’s the key to it — you are not their dreams, you are only the steward of those dreams. And leaders too often get it backwards and start thinking they not only hold the best of others, but that they are that best.

After a time of absorbing all that trust and faith, the sense of all those people looking to them for guidance, inspiration and constancy, they confuse the container with the contents.

They start thinking they are the deal.

And the moment you begin thinking that it’s all about you, that you’re the deal, is the moment you begin losing your capacity to positively influence others’ lives.

In a word, to lead.

If you are in a position of influence, here is a simple way to avoid this classic tragedy of leadership: every day, remember what it’s about.

Great parenting is not about the parent. Great teaching is not about the teacher. And great leadership? You’ve already filled in that blank.
_________________
Bob Burg and John David Mann are coauthors of the new release It’s Not About You. You can download two sample chapters at www.INAYBook.com.

Leadership Lesson: The Substance of Influence By Bob Burg and John David Mann

Josh Hinds — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 16:00:00 +0000

You’ve probably heard those talks, the ones where the speaker gets everyone all worked up to a fever pitch with an emotional story, and then rallies them like drunken sports fans around the corporate mission.

It’s a bit like a political stump speech. The idea, of course, is that the people in the audience will be inspired to greater and more productive action.

You’ve been in that audience. You’ve heard that speech. Heck, maybe you’ve given that speech. (We know we have.) How well did it work? How long did its effects last?

There’s got to be a better way.

And there is: harnessing the substance of influence.

If you want to influence people, what is it you’re actually trying to create? In other words, what is influence? What is it made of? Or let’s ask it this way: what is the difference between convincing others to do something, and influencing them to do so?

Convince means “to overcome by argument.” It comes from the Latin word for “conquer.”

Dale Carnegie famously said, “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.” And is there really any other way to be convinced—conquered, overcome by argument—than against your will?

The word “influence” means “an unseen flow of power.” It was first used in the Middle Ages as an astrological term, from an old French word meaning “a streaming ethereal power from the stars acting upon our character or destiny.” By the fifteenth century, the word was being used to mean “an exercise of personal power by human beings.”

You could say, it describes how we exert gravitational force on each other. Like stars.

Influence is a flow, like air flow or the flow of a river. (Flow, flue, influence — they all come from the same root word.) So what creates that flow?

When water pours downstream, is there some force pushing it from above? No, it flows downstream because of the pull of gravity.

Imagine you have an ordinary window fan blowing air into your room. How far can it blow? Not very far at all. But reverse the fan’s position so it’s now blowing outward—and you can pull a column of air from a single open window clear on the other side of the house, from even hundreds of yards away.

Or think of it this way: How far can you push a rope?

That rah-rah speech given to rally the troops around the flag? That’s like blowing a column of air into a room. Yes, you’ll stir the air and create some movement. But how far does it go? And how long does its influence last?

Instead, turn the window fan around. That’s what great leaders do. They don’t seek to convince; instead, they utilize the substance of influence.

They listen more than talk. Rather than exhorting others to do those actions the organization most needs to move ahead, they personally do those actions themselves. They don’t push the troops toward a goal — they magnetically, gravitationally draw us toward that goal.

That’s what influence is made of. That’s what gravity does. That’s what stars do—they pull. That’s why we don’t talk about how much push we might have with someone, but rather, how much pull.

Pull is the substance of influence. Not push.
_______________
Bob Burg and John David Mann are coauthors of the new release It’s Not About You. You can download two sample chapters at www.INAYBook.com.

Business Leadership Advice

Leadership Lesson: Lead By Example By Ty Bennett

Recommended Reading

Leadership Lesson: The Challenge of Change By Dr. John C. Maxwell

Recommended Reading

Leadership Lesson: 10 Ways to Improve Your Credibility By Darryl Rosen

Recommended Reading

Words To Learn By – From John C. Maxwell

Recommended Reading

5 Tips to Help Your Team be More Creative By Mark Miller

Recommended Reading

Leadership Lessons From Jeremy Lin – Linsanity for Leaders By Kevin Eikenberry

Recommended Reading

How to Evaluate Your Leadership Style By Ken Blanchard

Recommended Reading

What Can Leaders Learn From Tim Tebow By Mark Miller

Recommended Reading

Leadership Lesson: You Are Not the Deal By Bob Burg and John David Mann

Recommended Reading

Leadership Lesson: The Substance of Influence By Bob Burg and John David Mann

Recommended Reading