Leading: Look and Listen
You can’t lead from behind a desk—or over the telephone. If you want to be a leader, you need to personally look at the front-line reality in your business, where your employees meet your company’s customers. In the military, it’s what leaders would call learning the “ground truth,” which can be very different than what […]
Leading: Details, Always
The third crucial leadership skill is paying attention to the details, always. Once you’ve assembled the right team (People First) and galvanized them into a cohesive group focused on your shared vision (Purpose Second), the key to achieving success is embedded in paying attention to the daily details that add up to make a huge […]
Leading: Purpose Second
Once you’ve put People First and have assembled the right core team, a leader must assure that he or she is working in sync with other team members toward shared goals. This depends on having a crystal clear vision of what you’re seeking to accomplish. Purpose Second. It’s not enough for an owner or business […]
Leading: People First
I learned a few things about business as an undergraduate in college, plus a few more in grad school. The combined curriculum of finance, accounting, economics, marketing, management, statistics, organization theory, business law, communications and other courses all provided me with a useful foundation for effective business analysis and decision-making. It wasn’t until I dove […]
From Many: One
Leadership is a Journey. Our 2017 Leadership Forum brought together Many from across our business for One Purpose: to drive positive changes in things that matter. Leadership has continuous improvement at its heart. As I listened, absorbed and processed the creative energy around me, I observed Many: Talented people from vastly different backgrounds; States and […]
Change the Rules!
If you can’t or don’t want to play your competitor’s game, change the rules! Just because that’s the way it’s always been, or the RFP says so, doesn’t mean that a fresh approach isn’t needed. In fact, that provides all the more reason to become proactive. Rules are necessary in most aspects of life. They […]
Next, or Higher?
Which do you aspire to reach: “The Next Level” or “A Higher Level”? The expressions mean two very different things to me. I just read an article about a leadership change in a local organization, where the board chairman commented about setting the organization up “for the next person to take it to the next […]
Best Fit
In our constant quest to hire people, find new customers and acquire business capital to support growth, it can be tempting and expedient to choose what first appears. If you opt instead for finding the best fit, and achieving the success that follows, it’s worth adhering to a process that enables you to get it […]
Leadership by Example
There are three types of people: 1. Those who Can and Do; 2. Those who Can and Don’t; 3. Those who Can and Do, without being asked. Of the three, the first are workers in the world of business. The second category, sadly, tends to decline into the sub-category of those who no longer can, […]
Personal Leadership
As we prepare to celebrate the somber Memorial Day holiday, along with the semi-official start of the summer season, we have an opportunity to show respect and pay our respects to those in uniform who have served this great nation.Thousands have come before us to protect the freedom we all enjoy and serve as a […]