Be Better than the Rest

Leading isn't just about getting others to follow you. It's also about doing everything you do just a bit better than everyone else. Another aspect of this is to always exceed the expectations of your boss, your client, or your partner. 

Awhile back, my wife ordered a bandanna for our dog from an online vendor on Etsy. When it arrived, it was neatly folded and had a small plastic bag attached containing two tiny dog biscuits. The dog biscuits weren't necessary, as the bandanna was nice enough, but they certainly sent a message saying this was a vendor who wasn't just after our money. My wife has since reordered from that vendor.

In today's world of barely acceptable products and services, it doesn't take much to exceed client expectations, but you shouldn't lower your quality just because the rest of the world is providing junk. Rather, stand out above the crowd by providing remarkable products and services. It will deliver dividends for a long time to come.

To receive this blog by email, follow above. You can unsubscribe at any time. I hope to see headlines proclaiming how superlative you are!

Do You Want to Change the World?

There is no doubt that the world is a mess and getting worse. Conflict is pervasive, poverty is a way of life for millions, and a sense of personal helplessness to make things better characterizes the attitudes of many of us.

However, the problem is akin to the prospect of trying to eat an elephant. If you believe that you must eat the beast in one meal, the task is impossible. But if you set for yourself the task of eating a bit of the elephant every day, the scope of the program becomes possible. 

This is the way we must approach all large problems. Tackle small facets of the issue and resolve them, and eventually you will have solved the entire problem. 

Furthermore, you can't solve problems over which you have no control, so pick those immediately affecting you and work on them. And because one person usually can't solve a large problem, exercise leadership to enlist the help of others who are similarly affected by the issue.

If you persist in this approach, one day you will look back and realize that you have succeeded. As the proverb says, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

To receive this blog by email, just subscribe or follow. You can unsubscribe at any time. Thank you for reading and good luck with your change efforts. 

Listening Is More Important than Talking

When we offer our seminar on communication, we find that most who enroll want to get better at expressing themselves. It doesn't occur to them that they may need to improve their listening and reading skills as well.

Have you noticed how often you are asked about something in response to an email you sent that was addressed in a paragraph near the end of your email? Clearly the person didn't read all of your message or they wouldn't be asking the question. 

In face-to-face communication, notice how often you are thinking about what you want to say next while the other person is talking. You aren't listening, you're preparing a rebuttal. 

When I was an engineer, I found that many technical problems were taking inordinate time to solve because my colleagues weren't listening to each other when discussing the issue. I also observed that when conflicts occurred each individual was saying almost the same thing as the other, but neither of them was listening well enough to notice.

One of the seven habits of Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is seek first to understand before trying to be understood. Its a practice we should all adopt.

Note: To receive this blog by email, just enter it. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Learning to Lead

There are three ways to learn to lead. One is to just try getting others to do something you want them to do and continue trying different approaches until they comply. Another is to emulate someone who is a good leader. And then there is the classroom approach--you are taught by someone else.

This latter method is widely used and mostly abused. Leading is a set of behavioral skills, and a person cannot effectively teach skills that they can't perform. Imagine, for example, trying to teach a child to ride a bike when you've never ridden one yourself.

Unfortunately, classrooms are full of such instructors, especially in business schools. I have personally led social groups, work groups, and my own company for about 60 years (I'm currently 77, and began leading youth groups in my teens). In business especially, leadership involves dealing with followers who, for whatever reason, don't perform at acceptable levels. This requires skills that most people don't gain by trial and error, or even by observing others. They must be learned from an expert--someone who has actually performed them.

Professors can teach knowledge, such as math or science. But they can't teach the application of knowledge unless they have performed themselves. In fact, I've found that newly minted Ph.D. scientists and B.S. level engineers enter the workplace with no understanding of how to do proper product development or quality testing of their work. 

For that reason, I urge you to find out if an instructor has real-world experience leading people in a work setting before you enroll in one of their programs. 

And if you want to receive this blog by email, be sure to follow in the field above. Cheers.

Leaders Add Value

If you are a leader, your function is to enable the people you lead to achieve goals that are important to them. That means personal goals as well as organization objectives. Too many so-called leaders are disablers, rather than enablers. They rule rather than lead. You should ask yourself, "In what ways do I help my people achieve their goals? How do I add value for them?"

Vance Packard defined leadership as "the art of getting others to want to do something you feel should be done." The operative word in this is WANT. It can be really difficult to get people to want to do something that seems unimportant or valueless to them. On the other hand, you don't need to exert much influence to get people to do something they see as important and useful.

As a final note, your comments, suggestions, and requests for specific topics are welcome. Also, if you like reading this blog, be sure to enter your email address so you will be notified of all new posts. You can un-follow at any time.

Leaders Wanted

Do you want to be a leader? What kind? Thought leader, social change leader, team leader?

We need good leaders very much today. Leaders who inspire others, who challenge them to perform at their best. Leaders who lead by example. Young leaders. Elder leaders. And everything in between.

Perhaps more importantly, we need more women leaders. Men have dominated leadership positions for too long.

Ned Herrmann, who created the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument, discovered that the best performing teams are diverse and multi-gender. You need diversity to bring out new ideas, but you also need to value that diversity. Too often we feel threatened by it.

The beginning of a new year is always a good time for self-reflection and resolutions to improve oneself. It's also a good time to consider finding a coach or mentor. I'll have more to say about this as we continue our journey together.

If you want to receive email updates from this blog, be sure to follow it. Cheers!

Be Yourself. Everyone Else Is Taken

It's tempting to imitate others who seem to be or have greater success than your own. There is also strong pressure to conform to what everyone else is wearing, doing, or saying. Either way you deny your own individuality in deference to a way of being that you think is better than your way. 

The truth is, nobody else in the 7 billion humans currently on earth is exactly like you, and if they tried to be like you they would be a poor copy. You are unique! You represent a complex assortment of skills, knowledge, life experience, and views that can combine to produce outcomes in the world that no other person could duplicate.

Rather than trying to be a clone of someone else, be a dev!ant instead. That is, be different in positive ways.

You may not be familiar with Buckminster Fuller, who invented the geodesic dome, but he very nearly committed suicide following a series of business and personal failures. Fortunately for the world he did not, because he made significant contributions to the world over his lifetime. 

What saved him was the realization that if he worked on things no one else was doing, the Universe would take care of him, and it seems to have done so.

Like Fuller, dare to pave new paths, go in directions not yet taken. Always lead the herd, rather than following. Leaders get noticed. Members of herds are not.