Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Leadership is for today

There is a wonderful quote from Mother Teresa that says

"Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has yet to come. We have only today. Let us begin"

Leadership needs you to balance that short term and long term thinking. Creating that dream of tomorrow...the vision of where you want to take the company or the team. However, what we do have for certain is today....dreams without actions become nightmares within the business world.

So....be thinking about tomorrow, but be taking action against your goals today.

Monday, February 25, 2008

A Thought on Leadership

I was at a conference last week and someone said

"Remember, well behaved people seldom make history"

It made me smile - I am not encouraging bad behaviour! - but I love the idea that conformity does not necessarily bring success. When you think of businesses, or successful leaders, they have that ability to play within boundaries however to think differently. To think how could we make this successful, what if we did this......etc and not find reasons or problems that would stop progression.

So today...see if you can make history..see if you can behave as someone who wants to make history!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Breaking a bad leadership habit

Do you that if you moved a light switch from the right side of the door to the left side, it would take about 21 days before your brain stopped telling your right hand to turn on the switch ?

You see we are human, for instance I have a set routine for getting up or when I arrive at my desk. Habits somehow give us a comforting experience.

The problem is that as a leader we can pick up bad habits, feel comfortable with them and keep doing them despite the negative effect on others. The best way to spot them...is to ask what they are...

Always remember you are asking the question, which means that you need to LISTEN and ACCEPT the truth as THEY see it. Don't argue, just take in the feedback. If more than one person is giving you the same feedback then the time to act may well be now!

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Carnival of Leadership Development

To succeed in business management we need to have a constant learning mentality. So each fortnight, I bring together articles to help with your leadership development - hope they help to inspire your mind.

Anna presents Do you see your business as human at The Engaging Brand

Ed Rivis presents Powerful Marketing Tactic. posted at Ed Rivis.

Jay M presents Role of entrepreneurship in conceptual economy posted at 4 entrepreneur, saying, "What is the role of entrepreneurship in conceptual economy?"

James D. Brausch presents Turn Off The Tube & Turn On Your Business posted at Internet Business Blog.

Cindy King presents Consistency For International Business Success posted at Get International Clients.

Alvaro Fernandez presents Brain Fitness/ Training Newsletter: January Wrap-Up posted at SharpBrains, saying, "How can we Maintain our Brains in top shape? Here goes a selection of articles on cognitive and emotional training."

TherapyDoc presents What Faking it Til You Make It Really Means posted at Everyone Needs Therapy, saying, "You can't be a leader unless you can bring out that hero."

Adam Pieniazek presents Ray Anderson: Personal, Corporate, Societal Leader | Adam Pieniazek posted at Adam Pieniazek.

CMOE presents Executive Leadership Development: Choosing the Right Leader posted at Teamwork, saying, "This is a great article that talks about how to chose the right leaders."

Amy S Quinn presents 17 Ways to Stop Being a Perfectionist and Get More Done posted at Bootstrapper.

Karl Goldfield presents Coaching sales champions: Building a plan part 6c – Execution - Prospects – Climbing the mountain posted at Coaching sales champions.

Mark Riffey presents Righting a wrong: How business owners show they give a rip. posted at Business is Personal.

Galba Bright presents Tune up your EQ : The Most Important Thing Productivity Experts Don’t Teach You About Success posted at Tune Up Your EQ.

Sagar presents The HR Bible: 100 Articles Every Human Resources Pro Should Read posted at Bootstrapper.

GreatManagement presents As A New Manager, Don’t Spend 57% of your Time Dealing With Difficult Staff posted at The GreatManagement Blog, saying, "The majority of new managers waste around 57% of their time dealing with difficult staff? Why?"

James Feudo presents Leadership – How to get experience posted at Overnight Sensation, saying, "Getting leadership experience when you're not in a formal role at your current job can be difficult. Here are some tips for geting this experience outside of work."

Bruce Kuykendall presents The Leadership Compass posted at brucisms.com.

Derrick Markotter presents Time For A Change posted at Online Business Blog.

Wally Bock presents What do you do with the rest of your leaders? posted at Three Star Leadership Blog, saying, "There are lots of leaders who are important to your business but who aren't "high potential." How you develop and support them has a lot to do with your long term profitability and competitive advantage."

Warren Wong presents What Commiting To Something Means And Why You Should Do It posted at Personal Development for INTJs, saying, "Here are good reasons why you shouldn't be afraid of commitment."

Rich Vosler presents How to get more belief in yourself posted at Sales Training Tips.

Raj Sheelvant presents Managing Complexity due to Globalization posted at IT Strategy, saying, "Leadership challenge to manage complexity due to globalization"

Dan McCarthy presents New Leader Integration Process posted at Great Leadership.

American Entrepreneur presents The Benefits of Management By Walking Around (MBWO) posted at American Small Business News.

John W. Furst presents Can One Share Overmuch? posted at E-Biz Booster Blog, saying, "Ever being ripped off? You had the idea, but someone else stole it! What's the right balance between sharing and keeping your secrets in today's attention age. Information age was yesterday, but that is a different story."

CMOE presents “Whack -a -Mole” Management posted at Teamwork, saying, "This is a great story about different manager styles. It gives a few great tips on how to be a good leader."

Leon Gettler presents New global management rules posted at Sox First, saying, "Why is it that certain methods like pay for performance fail to catch on in all countries? Why is that cross-border mergers, like the DaimlerChrysler "marriage of equals" , fall in a screaming heap? The global economy is challenging claims of business schools that there is only one way to manage."
Al presents How to Make People Follow You posted at 7P Productions, saying, "You want people to follow you? Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way anymore. Instead, do you want to share a new dream, a new vision of a better world for others to pursue with you? OK, now you’re talking."
Jim Logan presents The importance of customer loyalty and its three element foundation posted at Accelerate Business Group, saying, "It's hard to disagree customer loyalty isn't a strategic success factor for most businesses. So, what makes a customer loyal?"
Joe Hungler presents Orientation-Start with the End in Mind posted at Uncle Joe's Leadership Blog, saying, "We spend a lot of time recruiting the right staff people-but not enough time making sure that they get off to a good start. How can we best position our new hires to succeed and hit the ground running?"
Mindful One presents Why Goal Setting Really Works posted at Mindful Source.

Adrian presents 5 Easy Ways to Fake Your Personality posted at Path to Your Destiny, saying, "Sometimes when we need to lead a group of people, we feel as if we don't have the greatest personality to be most effective. This post goes into five ways to fake your personality and make you more charismatic and likable, for those times when you don't feel quite that way. Enjoy!"

Louise Manning presents The mandate for leadership posted at The Human Imprint.


Alan K Rudi presents Dealing with Difficult People Tactfully | Successful Business Leadership posted at Successful Business Leadership, saying, "Communicating, especially with "difficult" people, is crucial to developing leadership skills."

Joe Hungler presents Employee Engagement and Retention posted at Uncle Joe's Leadership Blog, saying, "A major part of leading is listening. We can't lead our employees until they are engaged. Check out the survey that we use to measure retention and other indicators."

DotLobby presents Neurolinguistic Programming 101 - Rediscover Yourself! posted at DotNLP, saying, "Neuro, meaning mind, and linguistic, meaning language, combine to make NLP one of the most powerful techniques to change the way you see yourself and your world..."

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of leadership development using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

A Thought on Achieving Success

I have always enjoyed listening and reading the thoughts of Zig Ziglar. I love this business quote that I believe people should print out and put prominently on their desk...

"Success is one thing you can't pay for. You buy it on the installment plan and make payments every day."

Monday, February 04, 2008

Information OverloadLessons by Einstein

Albert Einstein was once asked his home address but answered that he did not know and had to refer to a notebook. When asked why Einstein supposedly replied, "I make it a point not to keep anything unnecessary in my head that I can find elsewhere."

A lesson for leaders is that in a day when we have so much information at our fingertips, it is easy to become overloaded, it is easy to concentrate on the insignificant or easy data. But leadership is more than having information or data, it is about translating and filtering that information both for yourself and others so that the data can be used to create business success in the future.

What information do you hold, do you even pass on via email that is filling inboxes and brains? Do you spend your time on data and information that will inspire change?

Friday, February 01, 2008

Carnival of Leadership Development

Welcome to the January 31, 2008 edition of carnival of leadership development. I love trying to develop talent, I love trying to help people see the talent they have inside of the...here is this fortnights look at articles around the web.

Anna presents 10 Social Media Tactics for Finding Talent posted at The Engaging Brand

ioventuresinc.com presents Pull Your Team’s Wagon posted at Teamwork, saying, "This is a great article about how co-workers need to work as a team."

Tash Hughes presents Negative comments and controversary « Word Constructions posted at Word Constructions.

Sagar presents 10 Ways Lazy Stupid Coworkers Can Help Boost Your Career posted at Bootstrapper.

Edith presents How to Maintain a Positive Attitude posted at Edith Yeung.Com: Dream. Think. Act..

Praveen presents RIP Richard Knerr - Thanks for the Business Lessons! posted at My Simple Trading System, saying, "Richard Knerr, the founder of the toymaker Wham-O, died at 82. His story holds lessons about business success and innovation."

Mark Runta presents Managerial Courage posted at Career Progression, Management & Global Sourcing, saying, "Strong leaders consistently demonstrate the conviction to pursue what is right and important."

Joe Hungler presents Mistakes happen . . .Then What? | Uncle Joe's Leadership Blog posted at Uncle Joe's Leadership Blog.

James D. Brausch presents Your Natural Genius posted at Internet Business Blog.

Sarah presents The Girl's Guide to Kicking Your Career into Gear posted at SARAHSPY.

Warren Wong presents How To Gain An Edge In Business posted at Personal Development for INTJs, saying, "Describes three things you can do to gain an edge in business naturally."

Dave Origano presents The Characteristics Of a Highly Successful Entrepreneur posted at Online Marketing & Exponential Business Growth Blog.

Steve Rosenbaum presents Thriving on Chaos - The Road to Creativity posted at Learning at Light Speed Weblog, saying, "This is a technique that Leader's can use when facilitating team meetings or strategic planning sessions."

Alvaro Fernandez presents Looking inside the Brain: is my Brain Fit? posted at SharpBrains, saying, "How neuroimaging and the brain reserve theory support the value of education, lifelong learning and stimulating hobbies"

David B. Bohl presents If You Don?t Assume Responsibility, Who Will? posted at Slow Down Fast Today!, saying, "I would rather that I was the cause of a problem."

Frederic Patenaude presents The Power of Rituals: How to Build Positive, Energizing Daily Rituals posted at Frederic Patenaude Talks, saying, "Great blog entry about how to use personal ritual (habit building) to get results regarding personal change as a whole. The What, When and How."
Shamelle presents If You Want To Be Understood....... posted at Enhance Life, saying, "People go to extreme lengths…. in order to be understood. In my opinion, there is one main factor that determines it all. Are you aware of it?"

Richard McLaughlin presents The Manager?s Cheat Sheet: 101 Common-Sense Rules posted at Internet Marketing Tools and Tips.

James D. Brausch presents TMI (Too Much Information) posted at Internet Business Blog, saying, "To succeed, avoid procrastination and analysis-by-paralysis and TAKE ACTION."

Stephen Dean presents Stop Assuming So Much posted at Stephen Dean's Copywriting And Internet Advertising Blog - Copywriter, saying, "In advertising, business, and life in general, your assumptions can cost money. Always test them"

RacerX presents Performance Review Time posted at Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Money, saying, "The annual review process is were a lot of new managers fail, both in how they review and how they prepare for there own review. This post gives tips for the manager and the reviewee to follow and build a more cohesive team!"

FitBuff presents Power of the Mind - Much Stronger Than Your Biceps! posted at FitBuff.com's Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog, saying, "The power of the mind is a truly remarkable phenomenon, but don't let books like "The Secret" fool you into thinking it does everything for you. When you add in the ACTION, then amazing things will follow!."

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of leadership development using our carnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.