Keep On, Keeping On

Author Unknown

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http://www.AsAManThinketh.net

Colonel Sanders went to more than 1,000 places trying to sell his chicken recipe before he found an interested buyer. The fact that we can buy Kentucky Fried Chicken today attests to his perseverance. Thomas Edison tried almost 10,000 times before he succeeded in creating the electric light. If he had given up, you would be reading this in the dark!


The original business plan for what was to become Federal Express was given a failing grade on Fred Smith¹s college exam. And, in the early days, their employees would cash their paychecks at retail stores, rather than banks. This meant it would take longer for the money to clear, thereby giving Fed Ex more time to cover their payroll.

Sylvester Stallone had been turned down a thousand times by agents and was down to his last $600 before he found a company that would produce Rocky. The rest is history! To truly succeed requires a total commitment to your goal. Too many people make the mistake of quitting just short of success. Keep going no matter what. If you really believe in what you are doing, give it all you’ve got and don’t give up.

You will succeed. There is no such thing as failure. Every action produces an outcome. It may not always be the outcome you are looking for, but it is an outcome nonetheless. If you monitor the results of your actions and keep correcting what is not working, you will eventually produce the outcome you are looking for.

Be Persistent . As was said about President Calvin Coolidge: “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with great talent. Genius will not. Un-rewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”


Don’t quit before the miracle happens!

This is a great reminder to never give up your dreams….GTR

Lessons From A Big Leadership Mistake

If you have been following this Italian cruise ship disaster, it was reported that the ship wreck was caused by poor leadership judgment. Eleven people are dead and 21 are still missing in the Costa Concordia cruise ship accident off the Italian coast. When leaders make mistakes, assessing the full nature of the problem is critical to executing a proper response.

Results of Leadership Mistake

Look how this captain handled this huge mistake:

Mistake #1 – The crew made repeated announcements saying, “There’s no problem. Nothing is wrong. We just have an electrical problem with the generator.” http://www.kcra.com/r/30265121/detail.html

Mistake #2 – Captain abandoned his post: “I was trying to get people to get into the boats in an orderly fashion. Suddenly, since the ship was at a 60 to 70 degree angle, I tripped and I ended up in one of the boats. That’s how I found myself there.”

Leadership lessons from this disaster:

1. Honesty played a critical role in getting timely help.

2. A leader can’t escape his responsibility to lead – even if he doesn’t want it.
3. Leadership failure is usually the result of poor discipline and/or bad procedures.

 

What else would you add to the list from this story?

 

Work for Those Who Work for You

I recently purchased a leadership book at a local ministry store when I went in to donate some clothes. The book was called “the Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership” by Steven B. Sample. He was a very successful college president at the University of Southern California. The title of this post is one of the chapters in the book. It has some great principles that I have followed as well in my career.

One of my earliest introductions to real leadership came when I became a school principal in Atlanta at age thirty. The chapter stated that hiring direct reports, evaluating them and praising them should only take 10% of your time. The remaining 90% of your time should be spent doing everything you can to help your your leadership team succeed.
This means:
- returning their calls promptly
– answering their email promptly
– listening carefully to their plans and problems
– calling on others at their request
– help them to formulate goals and finally helping them to develop strategies for achieving those goals.

Photo courtesy of Stock.xchng

Great leaders know effective day-to-day leadership isn’t much about himself , as much it is about those to whom you lead.

“The best executive is the one who recruits the most competent men or women around, tells them what he wants done, and then gets out of the way” ~ Teddy Roosevelt.

I believe this quote too but actively assisting them and forge them into an effective team can be better. Throughout history, the best leaders have not been the one who operates high above their followers but ones who could recruit great talent and could mold it into a collective and compelling vision.

A challenge for most new leaders is hiring people who are “not” similar to themselves, but rather hiring skills that make up for the leader’s own weaknesses. The advantage of having this talent diversity is worth the pain and effort.

One of the greatest gift you can provide is to protect your direct report from their own support team. Many people have good and bad intentions in communicating up the chain of command. It is not uncommon for a leader to quit because of followers are getting the attention of his/her boss too often.

I will never forget the complaint letter that I was sent by my Atlanta boss who was responding to a school parent. My boss’ letter indicated that he was directing them back to me and I would given the first opportunity to address the problem. It is easy to skip the leader in the chain with email today. It is not good practice for leaders to take on problems that have skipped your direct report. We should try to show them respect in the way we respond.

Great leaders work for those who work for them.

Making Impact Decisions

This is my 100^th post since I began this leadership blog in March 2010. I have put some serious thought on what topic to write on for this particular post milestone.  Great leaders are created from making impact decisions.  One of the toughest decisions you make as a leader is which ones to delegate and which decisions you should step up to make yourself.

There is a fine balance of not taking decisions that your leadership team is capable of making or even should be passed on. However, there are decisions that can have great impact on the organization. You know them when you get them because they make you uncomfortable.  In some cases, they can be controversial because they can impact workloads, job security, and even profit margin for the company.

“It doesn’t matter which side of the fence you get off on sometimes. What matters most is getting off. You cannot make progress without making decisions.” ~Jim Rohn

Photo courtesy of Stock.xchng

Impact decisions are moments when others expect you to draw on their input and your own past experience to make a tough call. The quote that says “it is lonely at the top” means that you take ownership for the outcome. Navy ship captains understand this principle well. This doesn’t mean you should make tough decisions alone. It means you are willing to own the decision publicly after making the final call with all the information possible.

Great leaders build teams around them that encourage honest feedback even if it is opposite of what the boss is thinking. This level of communication provides the “check and balance’ that is necessary to making impact decisions.

Tips for making tough decisions

1. Learn to think “gray” in making decisions – this means you try not to form a decision too early until you have all the facts from both sides.
2. Waiting to make a decision, if it is possible, will often reveal new important information that will help you to make the right decision. Use this additional time when you can.
3. Making impact decisions means you are always thinking what is best for the long term vision. Some decisions will impact future decisions – so always consider that in the process.
4. Some advice you get will be in what is best for them and may not be best for the company. Be tough enough to take a new direction when needed.
5. Finally, always ask yourself if there is a direction that is not on the table that could be considered. In some cases, it will be the best or only option.

What advice would you offer in making big decisions?

The Price of Change

The difference between what we pay for something and the price we would sell it is called the endowment factor. The value of something may vary widely among different owners.

The value of a selling price may vary

Let me give you an example. Let’s say you drove a Ford Mustang in high school and you decide to buy another one just like it years later. You find a great deal on the car and really enjoy driving it. A year later someone offers to buy the car at a price that is more than you paid. You turn down the offer but quote a much higher price. The big difference in the selling price can be related to our values, ego or past experiences.

Leadership style is developed the same way. There are things that you hold onto because they have proven successful. In most cases, they are simple things or methods that many others don’t see why they have higher value. These values or habits are often the things that help you to be successful or a failure.

The key to long term leadership success is knowing when to make a change. Somethings really do need to change – while others should never change.

What habit or method are you holding onto that will never create the return you expect? 2012 is a new opportunity for change…

Running to win, …GTR

Cheaper is Not The Easy Path

Traveling during the holidays, it is easy to spot the veteran travelers. They have the routine down to a fine art. They navigate the airport like skilled pilots who make it look easy. Their attention to details and routine has avoided them many delays and some real time saving over the years. They have even learn to spot those who “don’t travel well” and seem to avoid their lines.

Do You Travel Well?

The $25 -$30 bag check fee has created real dilemma for some folks. This choice can make a trip pleasurable or a nightmare. I see folks parking in $19 a day parking and and then refuse to check a bag. It’s a choice we all have to make.

My point is these little decisions can have big impact on what we can accomplish. They will cost you either time or comfort on the journey. Deciding when to make these kinds of change are very critical to any type of leadership success. In leadership, too often our personal choices have profound impact on those who follow us too. Are you making choices that others would want to follow or respect… Does your team think you travel well?

Little things matter in everything…they are related
Eating and weight control
Exercise and energy levels
Exercise and stress management
Good decisions and chronic problems
Respect from others and your attitude
Giving and receiving
Being a friend and having friends

Leaders understand this principle and discipline themselves in the little things. Those decisions allow them “travel well” in their leadership journey.

What new decisions do you need to make in 2012?

Running to Win…GTR

Leaders Are Actually Suppose to Lead, Right?

When the important decisions come to your desk —they don’t care if you’re afraid, exhausted, or even if you didn’t do your homework—the choices you make daily do matter? They determine your future success? Just like if I chose to over eat today – then I will gain weight tomorrow? Your choices do matter…on your outcomes.

Do you give in to people who are too pushy? Do you ever overlook bad performance by employees you like? Do you give up pushing folks to obtain a higher level of operation because it becomes too difficult? Or maybe your people don’t really support or agree with your future direction so you give up to settle for what the group is comfortable handling. Is this leading?

Do you let bad news or minor set-backs take the wind out of your sails? In the long run, you can actually only control only a small portion of what happens in the workplace. However, you are always free to choose either good or bad choices.

Leading in Rough Waters

Successful leaders are not “more visionary” or better at taking bigger risks. They tend to be more practical and disciplined in their leadership style, always relying on data driven decisions. These leaders usually prefer modest gains and will not be influenced by risky untested over-the-top winners.

They called this type of improvement the “Kaizen Principle.” Kaizen (改善^?), is Japanese for “improvement”, or “change for the better” refers to philosophy or practices that focus upon continuous improvement of processes in manufacturing, engineering, game development, and business management (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen )

Most successful leaders manage to balance the amount of “innovation” or change —they insist on introducing change gradually while testing the data and market performance. They’re not afraid to move quickly to capitalize on a project or direction that shows a greater return on investment. They can spot opportunities clearly and will capitalize on them.

These are difficult days in leading any organization. What else would you recommend that actually works in leading others to success in tough times? It all starts with little choices and not big bullets. Little things matter to gifted leaders.

How “little” can you focus? Running to Win…GTR

Information Overload, Why Leaders Struggle for Real Productivity

Many great leaders struggle to manage the use of smart phones, voice mail, email, texts, phone calls, and office meetings. Then you throw incoming sales calls, webinars, proposals and challenges….this can lead to information overload. People are so connected to information that they are now sending text messages while driving or checking their social networking sites at work.

Information Overload

There are times when you feel like you have a water hose in your mouth and you can’t drink it fast enough. You so overloaded that you become impatience in your approach to real engagement.

Information overload never allows you to really focus on a single issue with your total attention. We treat our work like we are surfing the web, never fully reading anything. How many meetings have you been to where they have assumed you have read the memo or their email? You go to a one hour meeting and you come back to the office and you have 100 emails that arrived in your inbox while you were away. The cc feature is out of control with email. Checking your email too often during the day can hinder your productivity.

IT company Atos has revealed plans to ban emails, despite having around 74,000 employees in 42 different countries.
The ‘zero email’ policy comes as the chief executive of the company believes that 90% of the emails sent and received are pointless and a waste of time, reports Thierry Breton, 56, explained: “It is not right that some of our fellow employees spend hours in the evening dealing with their emails. (Article Link)

How do you tell when you cross that overload line? You can spot those people who never really engage in the dialog. They sit in a location in the meeting room where they can check their email if the conversation becomes boring or doesn’t seem to engage them. They sit at red lights waiting and they have to check the email on their phone. They take phone calls in the middle of a conversation with you. They take their phone to the restroom. They are a junkie for the next information fix. They go to meetings unprepared and never give their work the right focus. Mistakes are usually created by their lack of attention to details.

Are you operating on a “mile wide” and an “inch deep” focus? Maybe your technology habits could be the problem…

How do you manage your incoming information – share your best tip?

Running to win…GTR

Why Tim Tebo is Passionate About His Faith & Leadership

Tim Tebow was born in Makati, Philippines. His parents were Christian missionaries from the Baptist denomination and they were serving abroad when he was born. His mother, Pamela Elaine Tebow, while pregnant suffered a life-threatening infection with a pathogenic amoeba. The drugs that were used to help awake her from a coma and to treat Dysentery caused her fetus to experience a severe abruption. Doctors expected a stillbirth and recommended taking the baby to protect her life, but his father said he prayed on a recent radio interview and they remained strong in their desire to have the baby. His birth was a miracle.

This explains why Tim Tebo has worn the scripture John 3:16 on his black eye tape during his college games. His dad spoke of that prayer and told God he would raise a minister if he needed one.

Tebo became one on the best high school quarterback in the nation and went on to play for University of Florida. Florida won two national BCS college football championships and Tebo was the first quarter back to run for 20 TDs and throw for 20 TDs in a single season. In 2007, Tebow became the third Florida player to win the Heisman Trophy, joining Spurrier and Wuerffel.

Many talent scouts said he could not throw well enough to be successful at the NFL level. However, he was drafted by the Denver Broncos as the 25th pick in 2010. Kyle Orton was Denver’s starting QB but after a 1–4 start and poor performances, Orton was replaced by Tebow at halftime during the game against San Diego Chargers. Tebow nearly led the Broncos back from a 16-point deficit, as he passed and ran for touchdowns in the fourth quarter. The Chargers still won the game by a close margin. Shortly after that loss, Broncos head coach Fox announced Tebow would start in the next game against the Dolphins.

Now 7-1 as a starter, Tebow has shown great success despite the ongoing remarks of his critics. He has proven them wrong. Leaders don’t listen to their critics. They inspire others around them to become better. His work ethic has also showed extra dedication. Tim has been humble with his recent success and always gives his team the credit for the win. In the world of NFL players – it is refreshing to see a leader who doesn’t approach life from a selfish stand point. Money and fame can destroy the most talented people. It is rare to see someone use that talent, while balancing their faith. The college rules have now banned the wording on the eye shadow tape. Many called it the “Tebow Rule” since he wore a different scripture each game. Many want him to tone down his faith while he is playing. Great leaders always hold on to their values. No matter where they are – those core values become the driving force for all their decisions. This lesson is important to all of us as leaders.

Source for Tebo facts: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Tebow

What leadership lessons could we learn from Tim Tebo?

Running to win….GTR

The Top 2011 Leadership Posts Ranked by 21,000 Readers

2011 has almost come to a close. It is good to look back and reflect on the leadership lessons I’ve learned this year. Here are my top ten ranked posts of 2011 in rank order.  I look forward to the challenges of 2012 and wish to thank you for reading my leadership blog this past year.  Website hits reached over 21,000 in 2011. Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

My Top 2011 posts according to the readers

10. The Next Leaders – What the Future Demands Click here 

9. 10 Mistakes That Can Kill Your Career Click here

8. Ways to Guarantee Failure with People Click here

7. Best iPhone Apps for Busy Leaders Click here

6. The Goal of Striving for Excellence Click here

5. 10 Work Tips That Will Make You More Productive Click here

4. Excellence Demands Accountability Click here

3. The importance of finishing strong Click here

2. Seven Great 2011 Leadership Articles Worth Reading Click here 

1. Ten Things You Should Never Do in Leading Others Click here

Still running to win the race…GTR