Stuck between mediocrity and excellence

A book that I listened to recently was How to Pitch Anything , by Oren Klaff. As you move up through the ranks of any business, what you'll realize is that leadership and management effectiveness becomes less about what you know and more about how you deal with people. Consider this common scenario: You have a boss that's been around for many, many, years that's grown up through the system and still operates in a world of 20 years ago. He is unopen to new ideas and invokes behaviors and an attitude that is all about maintaining the status quo. Because you bring a new and fresh perspective, you get more and more frustrated as he continues to dismiss your point of view. An epiphany that you'll have along the way of your career is that people are irrational. Data, logic, logical structuring, fact-based messaging -- that's all bullsh*t unless you can get through the croc brain of your target audience or executive.  The croc brain is that part of the...

"A leader is anyone who holds her or himself accountable for finding potential in people and processes."  - Brene Brown "A leader sees greatness in other people. You can't be much of a leader if all you see is yourself." -Maya Angelou "The person who is not a master of himself can never be a master of others." -Napoleon Hill Bonus "Effective leaders have the ability to consistently move themselves and others because they understand the invisible forces that shape us!" -Tony Robbins  References: Daring Greatly    Awaken The Giant Within  Think and Grow Rich

Jim Collins has a quote in his book, Good to Great that says,  "If you have more than three priorities, then you don’t have any." Effective leaders do a great job of filtering through the noise and constant demands on their time by letting their priorities dictate what they need to address. If you are growing a business, it could be growing the top line.  If it's delivery excellence, it could be emphasizing quality of work.  If it's talent retention, then it could be reducing the attrition rate.  If you, as a leader, don't have any priorities at all, then it's up to the employees to freely interpret what they think your priorities are. It's the proverbial inmates running the asylum scenario which is never good unless you believe that holacracy  works for your company or organization. Whether you are leader or manager, write down what your three priorities are and post them wherever you can.  Then do your darnedest to communicate what ...

What's the difference between management and leadership?  My opinion is that too many people behave as if the terms are synonymous as soon as an important sounding title is bestowed upon them. But that's a discussion for another day.  Here are my definitions: Leadership: The ability to create and advance an environment where followers, teammates, or employees grow professionally to reach their full potential.  Management: The act of prioritizing, coordinating, and shepherding processes and people in order to meeting certain goals or objectives.  There are plenty of others that have written countless books on the difference between the two terms.  But I've learned that you don't internalize something until you make it your own.  How do you define the two? 

In June, I'm going to try something different.  Each week, I'll choose a theme and try to blog every day ( Seth Godin style) on the theme of the week.  Weekly topics will be as follows: Week 1: Leadership & Management Week 2: Storytelling & Presenting Week 3: Business Strategy & Operations Week 4: Other (In honor of the circle under "race" that I always had to shade in with my #2 pencil when I was taking standardized tests)  Let's see what happens. 

It's easy to get comfortable in a miserable situation or environment.  Work environments draw no comparison to POW camps, maximum security prisons, or bad inner city neighborhoods, but I think that from a sociological perspective, people that are in these environments learn to deal and adapt.  People that are in terrible work environments make the best out of the situation and eventually fall into one of three categories. Depression with little to no hope of getting out Frustration and trying everything they can to get out Comfortable with a self-fulfilling prophecy that how it ends is how it ends The difference between a POW camp and a work environment is that you have a choice when it comes to work environments.  You may not think you do, but you do. And you have to seriously consider what limiting belief or fear is holding you back from saying, "f*ck it, I'm done." Is it a fear of what other people will think?  Is it the fear of losing your six figu...

Have we all become order takers?  Look at your inbox. More importantly, how much time do you spend in your inbox?  Is it a list of to-do items that someone else has set for you?  Look at what you are selling.  Are you selling a checklist or are you selling a story to a problem that matters?  How much time have you spent thinking about why you are doing something?  How much of your time is spent working on someone else's agenda based on his or her rules?  For a minute, offer up a point of view and see if it sticks. If you believe in it and it doesn't seem to stick, tweak it and try to get it to stick.   Eventually someone will listen.