- Project Manager in Oil and Gas Industry
One of the best books I ever read on leadership was John Maxwell’s 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. In fact, I recently gave a copy to a young man who just graduated from high school as a gift.
28 years ago, I was a recent high school graduate as well. I was a brand new cadet at West Point. I was handed the plebe handbook called Bugle Notes. Continue Reading…
What is the definition of character?
Character is our habitual way of operating.
Our character is ultimately determined by our habits. If I am in the habit of doing what is moral and right, I am a person of high character. If I am in the habit of cutting corners, telling “small lies”, or any other morally questionable act, that is who I am as well.
This video is a clip from a training session on leadership I did for a group of salespeople. It is only a few minutes long. Take the time to watch it and see how your habits stack up towards forming your character.
How do the words you hear me speak cause you to evaluate your habits? Do you see changes you can make at work or at home? Do you see a path to teaching your kids about character?
I was a wimp for three years. I was a coach for twelve more after that. Add it up and I spent fifteen years in sales leadership at a Fortune 50 company. Not surprisingly, my success as a leader came in those final twelve years. I realized, with the help of the people I was leading, that they wanted candor not coddling. Continue Reading…
Just like any organization, every family needs a set of values. The values in a family may not be on a website or on a poster in the breakroom, but all families would do well to determine what values they hold dear.
Values help organizations and families understand what is most important and what they believe. The time to figure that out is not in a crisis or in the face of temptation. I need to be prepared and my children need to be prepared before the crisis or the temptation comes. Continue Reading…
The team was sure their boss had emotional issues. “He could fly off the handle at any minute! If he doesn’t like you, your life will be hell. He really has a bad temper.”
The leader was losing his team. He called it passion. They called it unpredictable. He did not want to ignore his feelings. They wanted him to be more predictable.
As a leader, there are times when my feelings are irrelevant. I give up the right to be controlled by my emotions when I take on a leadership role.
There was always a lot of talk, but there was rarely any progress. I was worn out at the end of every meeting. The leadership team was stuck. Therefore the whole company was stuck.
Leadership through risk avoidance inspires nobody! If a leader wants to have committed followers, the leader must be willing to take some risks. Otherwise, the whole organization will be stuck in a quagmire of fear and doubt. Continue Reading…
“Sorry. It’s policy.” This comment may be true, but it can also be a sign of a weak leader. Policies are not perfect - especially personnel policies. Leaders need to be willing to stand up and fight when needed.
Most companies have personnel policies, and the larger the company the more rigid the policies usually are. But, the rigidity of the policy does not always make it right. Continue Reading…
It had been 12 months since I hired Tracy. During the interview process she wowed me with her passion and drive to succeed. I wasn’t just moderately hopeful for her. I thought she would be doing my job some day!
But 12 months later, that person was nowhere to be found. Tracy turned out to be very average - average work ethic, average skills, and average results. She did her job and that was about it. I rarely saw the passion and drive that made me hire her. Continue Reading…
When meat is marinated, it is soaked in a marinade for an extended period of time. The marinade sauce penetrates into the meat and not only keeps the meat moist and edible when it is placed over a fire, but it also changes the flavor of the meat. That flavor is maintained during the cooking process.
When I forget to marinate the meat and just place the sauce on the outside right before hitting the flames, the heat of the fire often burns the sauce. There is a charred flavor on the outside, while on the inside the meat is dry and flavorless. The fire damages the meat instead of adding to its flavor.
A Low Maintenance Team (LMT) has a culture developed by the leader actively marinating the people in the principles the leader wants the LMT to embrace and emulate. This is how a LMT Culture is created and maintained. Continue Reading…
The Zone, Body For Life, Atkins, South Beach, and Vegan are all different eating plans I have employed to lose weight. They all worked too. That is, they worked as long as I executed the plan!
I’ve spent many hours in conference rooms developing business plans. Some companies will take three months out of 2014 to plan for 2015. Very few businesses or business people ignore planning.
But, some businesses thrive and some just survive. Was it truly a better strategy that made the difference or just better execution? Continue Reading…
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