Leadership

Leadership has a formal aspect (as in most political or business leadership) or an informal one (as in most friendships). Speaking of “leadership” (the abstract term) rather than of “leading” (the action) usually it implies that the entities doing the leading have some “leadership skills” or competencies.

Types of leadership styles

The bureaucratic leader (Weber, 1905) is very structured and follows the procedures as they have been established. This type of leadership has no space to explore new ways to solve problems and is usually slow paced to ensure adherence to the ladders stated by the company. Leaders ensure that all the steps have been followed prior to sending it to the next level of authority. Universities, hospitals, banks and government usually require this type of leader in their organizations to ensure quality, increase security and decrease corruption. Leaders that try to speed up the process will experience frustration and anxiety. (more…)

 It’s frustrating when your co-workers, audience members, teenager or even your dog (!) won’t listen. While you can’t control how they receive what you say, you can control how you send it. Here are a few tips on why people don’t listen and what you can do to change it.

1. Short Attention Spans

When asked to guess the average adult attention span, most people say around thirty minutes. According to statistics, however, the average adult attention span is actually only seven seconds. That’s right! Every seven seconds you go away somewhere. You think about something else. In fact, you could actually be taking a mental break right now! It is a normal part of how the brain integrates external stimuli like when your computer starts defragging for a moment while you type. (more…)

Ponder what it takes to be a true leader with these practical quotes that will lead you to a more precise understanding of the secrets to successful leadership…

“A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the quality of his actions and the integrity of his intent.”
–Anonymous

“No person can be a great leader unless he takes genuine joy in the successes of those under him.”
–W. H. Auden

“Good leaders make people feel that they’re at the very heart of things, not at the periphery. Everyone feels that he or she makes a difference to the success of the organization. When that happens people feel centered and that gives their work meaning.”
–Warren Bennis (more…)

Have you ever heard someone say, “Actually, I have to admit that I think I am really bad at managing other people. My staff all hate me and I’m incapable of doing my job”.

The answer is no, of course. No one says this either because they don’t believe it, or because they don’t want to appear incompetent. Unfortunately research tells us that from the employees’ perspective, there aren’t that many terrific managers out there.

What should we take out of this dichotomy? Perhaps at the least, we could all admit to ourselves that there is room for some improvement in the way we lead others. After all, it’s not the sort of skill that is easy to get 100% right all of the time. It might just be that we don’t specifically know what improvements to make, so here’s 10 ways to start: (more…)

I am fascinated by problems. I like to think of myself as a solution oriented individual. However when problems creep into my life as they always do I know that I am in for a major learning experience.

I just finished reading a book this week that belongs on the bookshelf of every entrepreneur. It is called “Juice, The Creative Fuel That Drives World-Class Inventors by Evan I. Schwartz.” This book allows you to take a peek inside the labs of the brightest minds and better understand how they relentlessly question and discover the infinite number of ways that we can imagine and create solutions. The book is an awesome expose on how world class inventors on the planet search for problems, seek to understand them and develop solutions that can only come about by perceiving the problem in a different manner. Every entrepreneur should read this book! It is chock full of wisdom that we can apply to our business lives.

Albert Einstein once commented that the most fundamental question we can ever ask ourselves is whether or not the universe we live in is friendly or hostile. He hypothesized that your answer to that question would determine your destiny. (more…)

While reading my latest book on politics and economics, I came across a reference to a bible story called “Parable of the Talents’. In this story three servants are each give ‘talents’ (a monetary denomination used by the Greeks). To the first, the master gave 5 talents, to the second he gave 2 and to the third he gave 1 talent. The master gave each a different amount of money (talents), according to their ability.

Two of the servants doubled their money and the master was pleased with their results. The third servant, fearful of losing it, buried his money where no one benefited from it, including himself.

When the master summoned the third servant to get an accounting of what he had done with his talent, he was angry and displeased to find out the servant had simply buried it and where the money had no opportunity to earn interest. (more…)

I had the good fortune (or misfortune depending on your climate perspective) of living in Minnesota for ten years. The Summers were beautiful, Fall was spectacular with the changing colors of the leaves on trees and winter was, well, damn cold.

My neighbor, Harold was a nice old guy who had retired many years ago who hibernated all winter but loved to garden during the summer. The only time I saw Harold come out of his house was to put some bird food in the feeder he’d setup on his tree in the front yard.

Every year, as winter began to set in, I would see squirrels all around our front lawns gathering food. They’d scurry around digging and prodding hoping to fill their jowls with some food and return to their hole.

One day I saw Harold putting some metal sheets around the base of his tree where he kept his bird feeder. I didn’t understand why until another neighbor explained to me that Harold was trying to keep the squirrels from eating the bird food. By putting the metal sheets around the base Harold thought the squirrels wouldn’t be able to climb up the tree. The next morning, the food was gone. (more…)

I was invited to do a Leadership workshop at a well known Fortune 100 company out in New Jersey. The all day event was geared toward their new crop of interns. At a point in my presentation I talked about the many reasons we come up with for not taking action. The many excuses we create in order to delay or defer acting on our plans to achieve success.

I talked about how we have a bad habit of ‘rationalizing’ why something can’t be done or be accomplished. We procrastinate because we convince ourselves that: It can’t get done, I don’t have enough time, I have too much to do already, I’m short on money so now isn’t a good time, My dog’s sick so I’m not in the mood to start anything right now, I’m not smart enough, I’m not qualified, on and on, blah, blah, blah. You get the idea! We rationalize why we can’t get going.

Did you ever break up the word ‘rationalize’? (more…)

All of us join professional organizations for a reason-a friend belongs, we need to for credibility, etc. Many times we let years slide by and we don’t stop and review those reasons. Unless something sets off a boundary–lack of funds, the organization runs itself into a ditch, or a leadership problem.

When doesn’t it fit any longer? Is there a pattern to you dropping a membership?

I know, as an accountant for 15 years, I joined organization after organization. Without knowing it, and after delegating it to my assistant, I realized that I belonged to 32 organizations. Yes, at one time. Yes, I know this is probably exceptional. Yes, I can blame it on my assistant or being too busy. But I’m not. It wasn’t until I began to take a complete review of those memberships that I realize many no longer fit.

During the review process, I learned to ask different questions. Let me share with you a 6-step process that I’ve used for the last 8 years that I know will help you: 1) choose more wisely in the future; (2) set your intention and expectations first; and (3) know what you want to give back.

This 10-minute exercise will save you time and money as well as make money and create time with smarter choices in the future. (more…)

Many people end up in a supervisory position or SOHO ownership almost by default. In today’s workplace, if someone stays on their job long enough, they will probably be promoted as others, more senior to them or higher up the chain of responsibility, leave for other opportunities.

The prevalence of this type of promotion can lead to people with little or no leadership skills being promoted into positions of responsibility.

This type of promotion can have many unexpected and negative effects on the current work force if the newly promoted supervisor is lacking basic leadership talent. Since a supervisor’s skill level is visible immediately to those under their stewardship, a lack of leadership aptitude can be catastrophic to the productivity of those now working for the new supervisor. (more…)