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.

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!

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.

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?

Creativity in a Box

Michael Eisner the former head of Disney does not believe that throwing money at a venture breeds creativity. He likes to describe the need for creativity in a box - ie creativity but one that must come in on budget. He tells of the Raiders of the Lost Ark. This was a film that had been rejected many times but they decided to go ahead with it - on a strict budget.

Harrison Ford on the day of the sword fight was ill - and kept running to the toilet. They could not afford the delay with the filming - so changed the scene from a sword fight to Harrison Ford getting his pistol out and shooting the guy! This became a famous comic scene and added to the film...the creativity was forced on them by constraints.

I never mind a small budget for anything...because I know that others would fail, but I love the challenge of creating something wonderful with little resource.

Positive Thinking

People are attracted to positive people, people are attracted to bosses who see what is possible....

One xmas morning a little boy came downstairs to find a pile of horse manure on the floor....Does he cry, no....he shouts "Fantastic, all I have to do is find the pony"

How do you react to the manure on your desk...do you see the smell of a problem or do you see the opportunity to show your leadership form?

Carnival of Anecdotes and Stories for Business

Welcome to the July 19, 2007 edition of anecdotes and stories for presentations. Thank you to all the people who have submitted articles - anecdotes are a great way of presenting information to employees.

Charles H. Green presents Leadership and Folk Wisdom posted at Trust Matters, saying, "Folk wisdom aften contains nuggets that work well for presentations."

Chris Russell presents Turning Coal into Diamonds: A Case Study on Customer Complaint Tracking posted at Productivity Planner, saying, "In order to reach the goal of fully utilizing customer feedback, a more comprehensive system for managing customer complaints is needed."

TherapyDoc presents At What Age Do You Start to Teach about . . . posted at Everyone Needs Therapy, saying, "Work this stuff into your presentations and you'll captivate more than a few who might otherwise nod off."

Marc and Angel presents Email Communication Problems: How To Communicate Effectively posted at Marc and Angel, saying, "Email is an extremely popular form of communication in both the business and personal communication landscapes, but it can often lead to major problems if the underlying tone of the email message is misinterpreted at one end."

Jason Rakowski presents How To Avoid Common Pitfalls When Using Music On Hold For Your Business posted at Learn Good Customer Service, saying, "While on hold messaging is not a complicated product, it can be somewhat confusing for beginners because of all the available choices. This article will help you avoid the most common pitfalls that can trip up a newcomer who is looking to make the best decision for his - her business."

Cade Krueger presents 3 Easy Steps On How To Create A Productive Life posted at Write To Right.

Michael Haaren presents The Pony in Sunglasses -- Home-Based Careers Meet the Future posted at Rat Race Rebellion, saying, "Michael Haaren, President of training and development firm Staffcentrix, relates how going online into "Webkinz World" with his 7-yr.-old daughter opened his eyes to the "workplace of the future."

Stacey Derbinshire presents Three Life Saving Tips For New Businesses posted at Starting a Small Home Business, saying, "While entrepreneurs that are starting their new business typically look for ways to save money on everything from office space to consulting services, there are some things that are worth the splurge and more often then not, can give you the competitive edge you need to succeed."

Jack Yoest presents Management Training: The Collected Sayings of Benjamin Franklin?s Grandfather posted at Yoest.com, saying, "The lineage of Benjamin Franklin is a bit murky. So Bill Oncken, Sr. would regularly attribute management training quotes to make a point more memorable - “It’s hell to work for a nervous boss — especially when you are the one who is making him nervous.”

Sue Massey presents Leadership - Managing Time For Maximum Profit posted at Business Management Life, saying, "In this article I'll tell you some ways to focus on what is important to maximize your profit in your business"

Chris Tackett presents Effective Direct Marketing posted at Direct Marketing News, saying, "I knew a guy that owned a vacant house once, and he always laughed at the amount of postcards he received every week. He said they all looked the same and he just threw them away."

TherapyDoc presents The Collar on the Shirt posted at Everyone Needs Therapy, saying, "Why do I feel there's a story in here that will work for you business type people?"

edithyeung presents 7 Phrases Successful People Would Never Say posted at Edith Yeung.Com: Dream. Think. Act..

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

Carnival - Business Stories and Anecdotes

Here is the latest carnival of stories that can help you in your business life.

Charles H. Green presents Trust Tip 57: Don't "Handle" Objections posted at Trust Matters, saying, "What my dog taught me about sales."

Michael Anuzis presents How to Negotiate a Pay Raise with Game Theory posted at Empowering People Through Information.

Anna Farmery presents Environment Leadership posted at The Engaging Brand

David presents Just Change Your Mind posted at The Alexander Report

David presents Enhancing Customer Shopping Experience posted at The Alexander Report, saying, "Business strategies to make your retail location stand out and increase sales."

wilson ng presents The Science or Art of Price Setting posted at Reflections of a BizDrivenLife

Anja Merret presents anja merret - chatting to my generation » Searching for Excellence posted at anja merret

Cardin Lilly Routh presents Keeping Your Precious Things Precious posted at OptmistLab.com,

John McCrea presents The Secret Sales Power of Underwear posted at The Small Business Leap, saying, "Mix together women’s underwear, music lessons, and the U.S. Postal Service and what do you get?"

Vinu Shankar G presents Management thru stories - Story #1 posted at Story World, saying, "This is an ancedote from a book I read. I hope this brings out a business management moral. "

TherapyDoc presents And Another Thing: British Air and Behavior Mod posted at Everyone Needs Therapy, saying, "Use this story to learn how NOT to do customer service."

Brandon Peele presents Marketing: The Authenticity Fallacy posted at GT.

John Crenshaw presents The One Idea That Took 23 Years To Understand And Changed My Life Forever posted at Dominate Your Life

Dianne M. Buxton presents Persisting Through Tedium to Success posted at manifestingsuccess, saying, "Relating back to a small event that made a lasting impression on me..."

Silicon Valley Blogger presents 6 Ways We’re Managing Our Finances and Our Emotions While Starting A Business posted at The Digerati Life.

Steven Silvers presents Rankles over U.S. News best colleges list hint at bigger issue with media rankings. posted at Scatterbox at stevensilvers.com, saying, "A lesson in how social media is not business as usual"

Erek Ostrowski presents Ease Up and Don?t Swing So Hard! posted at Verve Coaching

Rickey Henderson presents A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Stadium... posted at Riding with Rickey.

Hugh Hollowell presents Customer service done right posted at A Politically Incorrect Entrepreneur

Terry Dean presents Do You Grab Your Audiences Attention? posted at Integrity Business Blog by Terry Dean.

Cade Krueger presents Visions of Excitement posted at Write To Right

Wanda Grindstaff presents It's All About Having FUN - Living with Intent posted at Creating Abundant Lifestyles,

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of
anecdotes and stories for business
using our
carnival submission form.

Demand the best

Somerset Maughan said
"It's a funny thing about life - if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it"

Remember Steven Spielberg who found a deserted trailer at Universal Studio and put his name on the outside! He put his dream into action, he believed in his talent.
Look around at the talent that exists in your team. What they need for you is to stretch them, to make their dream reality, to treat them as talented people......treat people as successful and watch the confidence flow...

Carnival - Business Stories and Anecdotes

Welcome to the April 20, 2007 edition of anecdotes and stories for business. I would love you to tell people about this carnival as I want to build this as a hub for stories and anecdotes. I have turned down posts that are about how to lead rather than a story or a painting of a picture.

Barbra Sundquist presents How One Woman Went from Olympic Champion to Motivational Speaker (Part 1) posted at HomeBusinessWiz.

Evil HR Lady presents When Making it Confidential Defeats the Purpose posted at Evil HR Lady I love stories! This one is about confidentiality run amuck."

Anna presents Do You Have an Atlas Mind at The Engaging Brand

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Should You Quit School Because You’re Brilliant? posted at The Digerati Life.

Anja Merret presents The Brand of Harry Potter posted at anja merret,

Charles H. Green presents What if You Played Music and Nobody Listened? posted at Trust Matters, saying, "Would you know the best if you saw or heard them?"

Craig Harper presents A Mildy Amusing Story about Fear. posted at Renovate your life with Craig, saying, "I remember my first 'public speaking' gig about twenty years ago.

Editor - Dave Prouhet presents Small Business Success Story - Eggs and Advertising posted at Business Advice Daily

Al Nye presents The Power of Nice posted at Al Nye The Lawyer Guy.

Paula Kawal presents The Truth About Clutter posted at paula kawal.

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

Talent is all around you

This is a true story. Yesterday I was speaking to a manager who ran a team of 65 people. He was depressed because he had been looking to extend some social media tools to help communication across his team. The trouble was that budget was tight, and IT had different priorities. Then a junior member of his team came in and resigned. He said he was leaving to use more of his IT skills, he had a passion for social media and wanted a role that used his skills that he had developed in his spare time.

The manager was depressed, he had never asked the question to his team, he had never thought that the talent might be in his team. People are paid to excel in their role but never forget that might NOT be the extent of their talent. Get close, be curious, look for that hidden talent....before that talent looks for another manager.

Blog Carnival of Business Stories and Anecdotes

Welcome to the March 31, 2007 edition of anecdotes and stories for business.

Alan presents The Worst Boss Ever - Sound familiar? posted at Made to Be Great.

Lead Optimize presents Flower Shop Model posted at Gravity Unknown . Com,

Anna presents Leaders, iPods and employee engagement posted at The Engaging Brand

Editor - Dave Prouhet presents Business Success Story posted at Business Advice Daily

Laura Ricci presents Two Steps for Change posted at Laura's Winning Ideas

Sudhanshu presents Entrepreneurship and 300 posted at Gyaan Sutra

Murad Ali presents Studies Says Executives Believe Fundamental Change is Only A Couple Years Away. posted at The New Business World.

Marcy Nala presents Is Your Life Working For You? posted at The Abundant Life

Jack Yoest presents Managing Management Time: Harvard's Monkey Paper by Oncken posted at Reasoned Audacity

wilson ng presents Choose your Battles posted at Reflections of a BizDrivenLife

Priya Jestin presents 50 Tips To Retain Customers posted at CRM Lowdown.

Ruth Mitchell presents Why Revitalization? posted at Buy Outside the Box

Ybother presents Top 10 Surefire Ways To Come Up With A Million Dollar Idea posted at TodaysTen.com: Daily Top Ten List to jumpstart your knowledge

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of
anecdotes and stories for business
using our
carnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our

blog carnival index page.

10 Lessons from the Tibetan Monks

Leaders can learn a lot from the Tibetan monks ability to control their emotions. Here are 10 lessons

1. When you lose, don't lose the lesson
2. Follow the 3 R's: Respect for self, respect for others, responsibility for all your actions.
3. Spend some time alone each day.
4. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
5. Love as if you've never been hurt.
6. Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.
7. Once a year, go somewhere that you've never been before.
8. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
9. Don't let a little dispute ruin a great friendship.
10. Open your arms to change but don't let go of your values.

Wonderful lessons that we could all learn and develop from.....

What are your ten sentences as a leader?

One of my favourite authors is Mark Sanborn who has recently written the book "You Don't Need a Title to Be a Leader". He simplifies and writes in a way that makes total sense. One of the great parts of his writing is that he pulls from personal experience - he adds colour by adding stories.

In his latest book he points out that the Gettysburg Address is one of the greatest speeches in American history and yet it only contains 10 sentences. In those few words Abraham Lincoln was "able to convey great truths in a powerful and unforgettable way".

Mark adds that great leaders are not evaluated on the length at which they speak, but on the impact of their message. So "What are your 10 sentences as a leader?"

Making a difference

Here is a quote from George Bernard Shaw

"People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who look for the circumstances they want and if they can't find them, make them"

This is a powerful quote - how often do we blame everything around us for not being "successful"?

I believe that we all make a difference, if we want to.....making it happen can be hard but that is what makes achievement feel so great. So if you are faced in your team with people who say "I can't because...." then ask them "How can we create the circumstances.... or What do we need to do to ensure success"

Carnival of Management Tips

Welcome to the February 6, 2007 edition of carnival of management tips.

Jane May presents Career Ramblings » Blog Archive » 8 Things Employers MUST Do To Find New Talent posted at Career Ramblings.

Anna presents Work/Life Balance at The Engaging Brand

Alexandra Levit presents The Age of Under-Empowerment posted at Water Cooler Wisdom.

Murad Ali presents What Type of Training and With Whom?: Getting a Return on InvestmentThe New Business World.

Benjamin Yoskovitz presents Fire Your Crappy Customers - The Homestead HubbubInstigator Blog, saying, "Looking at what it means to fire a customer and why you might do it.

David presents Crossing the IT and Business Divide posted at Worldwide Success.

Scott Lee presents Project Management:: Part 1 - 5 Key Phases of a Project posted at Dirty Mechanism.

Scott Lee presents Project Management::Part 2 - Building and Using a Team posted at Dirty Mechanism.

Murad Ali presents Psychology and Sales: Making them purchase. posted at The New Business World.

Mike Buckley presents Improving Your Game posted at Mine Your Own Business.

David Maister presents Sad Truths for Leaders posted at Passion, People and Principles, saying, "Great managers follow these 4 rules."

Charles H. Green presents Seth Godin vs. Peter Drucker posted at Trust Matters, saying, "Who is right about management issues: Seth Godin or Peter Drucker?"

Sagar Satapathy presents 5-Minute Tips To Improve Efficiency posted at Project Management Source.

Debra Moorhead presents How to Determine Your Top 20 posted at Debra Moorhead.com

Vahid Chaychi presents Time Is Passing. Are You? posted at Internet and Search Engine Marketing,

Heather presents Overcoming the fear of podcasting at WomeninPodcasting

Brian presents Manager Toolkit: Dialog posted at Brian Nick.

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

blog carnival index page.

Do you see what you want to see?

When we see only what we expect to see, we may miss what we should see.

An example, a study was undertaken at an airline desk. An agent began checking one traveller's tickets after a while he dropped a ticket and bent down to pick it up. A different agent who had been hidden behind the counter, stood up and continued checking tickets. Many of the travellers didn't notice the change. They were expecting a ticket agent, as long as one was there, their eyes were satisfied.

Think of how this could be affecting your behaviour. Do you see what you want to see? Are we missing a simple answer, or cutting through the complexity because we are used to the complex system. Are you missing a development opportunity in a team member skills?

Open your eyes, see what is there not what you want to see

Continuous Improvement is Key to Business Success

A curse of business can be complacency, of taking the foot of the gas when things are going well. Here is a story to show you the importance of focusing on improvement as a manager/leader.

"A hunter said to his guide 'This seems to be a very dangerous cliff. It's a wonder they don't put up a warning sign.' The guide replied ' They had one up for 2 years but no one fell off so they took it down!"

See the danger here?? However, how many times do you do this at work. For example maybe the employee or customer surveys come in great...so you feel confident and take your focus away from keeping them happy. Results over time need continuous focus, continuing dialogue....management succeeds just like money - the more you put in, the more you get out.

So ask yourself today, "What area have you lost focus, because you think it is OK?"

Facts or Communication of the facts?

Often at work it is not the facts that are important it is how we portray them.

An example

A company always held a summer picnic, which included a hugely contested softball game between 2 departments that had developed a great rivalry over the years. They only played one game every summer, but argued over it all year!

Dept A won the game, but Dept B posted the following write up..." Department B is proud to announce that following this year's softball game, we finished in second place, having lost only one game all year. We also offer condolences to Department A who finished next to last, after only winning one game all year"

Truth - yes! But what a great way to turn a potential negative into a positive...

Podcasts to Inspire the Mind

Podcasting is a fantastic tool and one which I had known about earlier. I have learned so much from listening to some of the great shows out there. Here is my pick of podcasts but feel free to add more

The Engaging Brand (affiliate to me, but still think it is a great listen)

Manager Tools

Harvard Business Review

Daily Thoughts on Business

Motivation on the Run

The great thing is that these are "free resources". Why not look through these as part of your development ideas for your talented team?