The Most Important Leadership Trait
One leadership quality, above all, motivates and inspires men and women into action. Do you know the one key trait that carries the day and ensures your success in business? Do you have it? Can you recognize it in others? All great leaders have this quality. Read about it next.
Years ago, I attended a seminar on leadership. The seminar leader offered a significant amount of cash to anyone who would come up to the podium and speak about leadership for ten minutes. No one took him up on his offer. Would you have? His challenge motivated me to want to learn and practice all I could about leadership.
The one indispensable quality all leaders must have is the ability to make decisions quickly. This one quality separates great leaders from lesser ones.
Leadership is a thing by itself. It requires far more than ability.
You can acquire and learn leadership skills but you must invite yourself into it. You are not born with it.
Dwight Eisenhower liked to show how the best leaders functioned. He would stretch a rope across a table. Then he would push the rope. Of course, the rope crumbled. Then he would pull the rope and it would follow his hand movement. That he said is what great leaders do.
In business and industry, network and MLM marketing, leadership is the one key trait that carries the day and ensures your success.
To be a great network-marketing or business leader, you must know, go and show the way. Leaders know where they are going and how to get there. They show the way. Their example inspires others to follow them.
A leader decides quickly; that is the one indisputable lesson of leadership and the first lesson one must learn about leadership.
Leaders must make decisions like referees. They must decide now. When an infraction occurs, the ref must make a decision then. A referee cannot always be right and neither can a leader. Referees will not have a job long if they cannot make decisions quickly.
Quickness is not wisdom, but it is a great advantage. A quick start wins many races.
People have more confidence in leaders who makes up their minds quickly. The fear is that those that deliberate will change their mind when they think of another idea.
Leaders must plan. They must think. However, they must not be like Rodin’s thinker sitting still and absorbed in reflection.
When an emergency comes, leaders take charge. They must give the orders. They must not sit and consider. Consider the great hurricane that swept through Louisiana. Look at all the inaction by government officials at a time of great peril to the people. The leaders were all missing in action; there was no timely action taken.
It has always been an emergency or a danger that has created our great leaders. While others wondered, looked, feared, hoped and wished, the real leader told people what to do and took charge of the situation.
I still have a vivid picture of Boris Yeltsin standing on that tank in Moscow staring down the military and attempted coup in 1991. Who can ever forget? We need more leaders that are decisive and bold.
Leaders are never one of those pro and con people. A leader never says maybe; never says perhaps or possibly I may. A leader cannot use these noncommittal phrases.
A leader never shifts the burden of decision to a committee; leaders never shift the decision to a conference or a commission. Why have leaders if a committee is to do the work? You had better believe Boris Yeltsin did not call a meeting at the time of Russia’s great crisis.
If the people you lead say, “Our Leader doesn’t know his own mind,” then at that moment their respect ceases. When respect is gone, there is nothing left.
If leaders are torn and pulled from right to left, and left to right, they cease to be leaders at all. This indecisiveness does not inspire loyalty. It breeds contempt instead.
Leaders know what needs doing. They instruct and assist others but do not go about, like a beggar with a hat, collecting the opinions of others. These are opinion-collectors! The political world is full of them; and there are too many in the world of business.
A true leader asks for advice, when he has time to think; but he never asks advice in a crisis. He acts. That is what leaders must do.
Leaders, in a word, are people of will. They must have a very strong will to survive and be effective.
They must say no and not quite possibly. Leaders must say Yes and Not if nothing occurs to prevent.
What leaders take up and do they must hold fast and see it through.
Indecision and procrastination clog the mind. Decide quickly to either, get a thing done, or leave it alone.
Above all else, in times of stress, leaders must be deciders. They must be in command and be decisive.
Leaders can be arbitrary all right, as arbitrary as a referee in the face of a hostile crowd.
Leaders must be hard, yes, as hard as a colonel on the field of battle must be.
Leaders must be fair, yes, as a judge must be when deciding issues of life and death.
Leaders must stand fast, yes, whether others think they are right or not. When a fight is on, what others think must not sway them.
Leaders must be loyal to their own judgment. That is what brings them to the top as a leader.
An important leadership tip then is to decide quickly. Speed is essential to leadership.
Bob Bergeth consults and leads thousands of home-based entrepreneurs. His specialty is recruiting, training and leading. He has a Ph.D., and is a former vice president of sales & marketing. You may reach him at http://www.mymangosteen.com/dream/w101/
The Elephant in the Room
The Blind Men and the Elephant
It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.
The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
-God bless me! But the Elephant
Is very like a wall!-
The Second feeling the tusk,
Cried, -Ho, what have we here,
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me -tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!-
The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
-I see,- quoth he, -the Elephant
Is very like a snake!-
The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
-What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain,- quoth he;
-Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!-
The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: -E-en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!-
The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
-I see,- quoth he, -the Elephant
Is very like a rope!-
And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!
John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887)
Well you are now probably wondering whether you have opened a poetry course or an article about management and management planning. Replace each of these wonderful men of Indostan with a member of your team. As a way of explanation lets look at a management team made up of the CEO, CFO, CTO and all the other Cs you can imagine. Each comes to the table with many years of experience and study behind them. They come with a thorough understanding of their role in the company but a limited understanding of the other Cs roles.
Now imagine your revenue is on a downward trend and you have come together to try and reverse this trend. Each member will see the problem and solution from their own familiar position. You will sit around and argue long and hard about how to tackle this problem. If each took a tour of the -elephant- and tried to understand each part and how each part makes the whole then it might become clear that the elephant has a thorn in his foot and therefore cant walk to get his food and water and so is becoming malnourished.
Understanding each part of the elephant and how they come together to make the whole is what Peter Senge calls -systems thinking- and is one of the five disciplines that make a learning organization.
We are not saying that the CFO needs to go and get a marketing degree and work in marketing. But if each member of the team listens and tries to understand the whole -elephant- rather than stating their position more and more firmly, then the team has more chance of reaching a true understanding. The team has more chance of fixing the problem and achieving success.
Open your eyes and see the whole -elephant- for what it truly is.
Graeme Nichol Arcturus Advisors (http://www.arcturusadvisors.com)works with business leaders to close the gap between great strategies and mediocre results. (Newsletter arcturusadvisor@aweber.com)
Why Create an Annual Business Plan?
Can you imagine going on a road trip without knowing your destination? Or, building your house without plans? The same can be said about running your business without a plan.
They say that -If you dont know where you are going, any road will do.- But if you dont know where you are going how do you know when you get there? Or if the road you are on is the right road or the scenic, roundabout route?
Planning is essential if you have somewhere to go. If you want to grow your business, if you want to have more free time, if you want to introduce a new product, if you want to enter a new market.
You dont need to plan if you have reached your destination, if your business is all you hoped it would be. BUT have you considered that the world is changing pretty rapidly these days. Even if you are happy with what you have, your environment is changing, which, if you like it or not, is going to change your business.
Therefore, we come back again to the need to plan.
What planning is NOT:
It is NOT that 120 page document you created when you tried to get funding to start your business. That document was essential to start your business and it might be useful every 5 or so years if you change your business focus but it does not work for an annual plan.
It is NOT a document that is placed on a bottom shelf and looked at once a quarter or once a year.
It is NOT a to do list
It is NOT a wish list
What is annual planning?
Annual planning is about creating a vision for the next 3-5 years and then formulating concrete plans to achieve that vision.
It is about deciding on a future and how you intend to obtain that future, one year at a time.
It is about creating measurable goals that can be tracked.
It is about tracking those goals on a weekly and monthly basis so that they are actually achieved at the end of the year. Goals can only be tracked if they are measurable.
Annual planning is about understanding what is working and not working and using that to set further action plans.
Annual planning should also be able to able to monitor the performance and effectiveness of your staff over the year.
A well structured plan will also have the ability to be used as an effective monthly reporting tool by managers. It becomes the common language.
Planning is not only for whole businesses but also for business teams, divisions, projects and even individuals.
Planning brings about focus and clarity of what is to be achieved. Equally when done effectively, planning brings about alignment between team members and people become accountable for completion of their goals.
Planning brings about business success and bottom line results.
Graeme Nichol Arcturus Advisors (http://www.arcturusadvisors.com)works with business leaders to close the gap between great strategies and mediocre results. (Newsletter arcturusadvisor@aweber.com)
Excuse Me, Have We Met?
According to the Harvard Business Review (Feb, 2007), self-awareness has just been recognized as the most important capability for leaders to develop. I would add that this is a quality that is beneficial for anyone to develop. After all, we are all leaders somewhere in our lives aren’t we? Emotions can play an important role in our careers, education, at home, in our community, and in all our relationships.
Ever find that you get upset easily or fairly regularly? Maybe you feel overwhelmed most of the time, stressed out, or even tired?
Remember the old joke, “Doc, my arm hurts when I move it like this. What should I do?” To which the good doctor quickly responds, “Stop moving it like that.” If your life, career, relationships… (fill in the blank) are not going the way you’d like…maybe it’s time you took a hard look at “yourself”… more specifically, your lack of self-awareness.
What is Self-Awareness
Self-awareness is knowing one’s internal states, preferences, resources, and intuitions, allowing us to plan our actions and develop proactive behaviors. People with greater certainty about feelings are better pilots of their lives, having a surer sense of how they really feel about personal decisions from whom to marry to what job to take.
Why is it Important
This is where constructive or critical thinking happens. As you work to develop your self-awareness you increase your self-confidence. A good leader knows when you understand yourself you are more likely to understand others. Now that’s a skill that can come in handy. Any one striving to increase their skills needs a solid plan.
How Do I Make A Plan
The process is not a quick fix rather it is a life long commitment. Change happens over time. So be patient with yourself while you are learning. Self-awareness allows us to take responsibility for our outcomes, plan our actions, and develop proactive behaviors. Here are some suggestions to get you going in the right direction.
1. Assessment- Assessments can identify your strengths, challenges, and personal style. Also, they mark a baseline and measure growth.
2. Goal setting- Now that you understand your unique style you can create a plan that identifies specific skills that are congruent with your preferences and tendencies yet challenges you to develop new behaviors.
3. Accountability- We all need to be accountable. Recruit a friend, a mentor, or hire a coach. Who ever you decide to work with, collaborate on a plan that spells out exactly what you need from them.
4. Support/Feedback- Feedback is probably the most important dimension in your personal development plan. It is through feedback we can learn to “see ourselves as others see us.”
By developing your self-awareness you are increasing your emotional intelligence. The knowledge and skills that you develop to accurately identify and express your emotions are vital for human performance not to mention, physical health.
Copyright 2007 Michelle Simms, personal development coach, works with individuals and groups worldwide at http://www.SimmsInternational.com
3 Compelling Rewards for Being a Coach /Consultant
Those who like to interact with different people and work towards the improvement of mankind in general, find the role of a business coach very satisfying and fulfilling. If you possess the right skills required to become an efficient coach, you can earn a name for yourself, even as you become a source of inspiration to others.
The very first benefit of being in this business is job satisfaction. Apart from the fact that this business pays well, there is also a sense of satisfaction that you are able to utilize your knowledge and skills to play a role that you really enjoy. Doing a job that interests you and helps you to achieve your goal helps to bring out the best in you. Work is no more a tedious task when you work at your convenience and enjoy the activities involved. You have the benefit of flexible working hours, to keep other appointments. In addition, you do not need to put in the average working hours, since you are able to earn more per hour than what average person does.
Another exciting aspect being of a business coach is that you get to interact with different people and this makes the job all the more interesting. A monotonous lifestyle and work very soon become repetitive and boring. However, if you are constantly interacting with different people, it makes your job interesting. Communicating with different people at different levels help to bring out the best in you and results in a profitable business. Meeting and teaching others is synonymous with the sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. People appreciate your effort, to motivate them to succeed in their efforts. You get a chance to converse and share information with others, about things that are of interest to both.
One of the best rewards attached to coaching people is the sense of achievement and satisfaction derived from the exercise. The fact that your teaching can help them to solve their work related problems and improve their personal and professional lives is very motivating, for a coach.
Coaching is a fantastic tool for helping people to develop a sense of commitment and enhance personal performance. A coach not only shares useful advice, but also relates to the problems of people. A good coach needs to develop certain personality traits like being a good listener, having a calm and positive attitude and understanding the issue in question, from the other persons point of view. He should be able to develop and instill confidence in the person and should never display negative emotions, like anger or irritation.
With the help of the famous GROW (goal, reality, options and will) model of coaching, developed by John Whitmore, an efficient coach can arrive at practical solutions to the challenges faced. Being a business coach or consultant can be a very rewarding and worthwhile experience because not only are you able to execute your expertise and knowledge to solve the problems of people, but you are also responsible for empowering them, to climb the ladder of success, confidently. If you have the right skills and enjoy your work, you can be assured of a successful career in the coaching industry.
Discover the secrets of success at http://www.businesscoach.com. If you are looking for a new career then Business Coaching could be for you. Invest in our Business Coach Training program