The Importance of Effective Leadership

The cost of ineffective leadership is enormous.

• Some industries report as high as 65% annual employee turnover as a result of ineffective leadership.
• Disengaged workers, often caused by ineffective leadership cost American business over 300 billion dollars a year.
• Lost and wasted time, often due to poor or disconnected leadership averages 2.9 hours per employee per day.
• Over 70% of CEO dismissals cite ineffective leadership as the reason for termination.

The economy is challenging and budgets are tightening. Those who act tomorrow will be too late. The time to improve the effectiveness of your organization leadership is now…and always!

Effective leadership is one of your organization’s most valuable assets. One of the hallmarks of any leader is a dedication to continual self-improvement and perfection. Like mastering a martial art, leadership is a skill. A martial arts master dedicates a lifetime to self-perfection. Those leaders who recognize that perfection is not a destination but rather a never ending process are those who create the most effective and productive organizations.

What would a Black Belt do?

The Sensei or martial arts master is an iconic symbol for one who embodies inspiration, wisdom and respect. The relationship of master to student engenders loyalty, respect and effectiveness. A Sensei earns respect and becomes an effective leader by honoring the relationship of teacher to student. The measure of an effective Sensei is not just in personal accomplishments, but more importantly in the accomplishments of his students.

An organization is most effective when leadership provides teaching, mentoring, coaching and motivation to empower every individual to perform most effectively. You can apply the techniques and traits of the Sensei to increase your effectiveness as a leader at work, home and in the community.

The fundamental reason that a Sensei enjoys the loyalty and dedication of his students can be found in the unique relationship of teacher to student. I’ve found that effective leadership is accomplished through two major disciplines:

1. Gratitude.

2. Generosity.

An effective teacher praises and supports the efforts of his students. This praise and support is recognition, a form of gratitude for the efforts and results produced by the student. At the same time the effective teacher shares experience, knowledge and wisdom unconditionally. It’s the job of the teacher to share; it’s the responsibility of the student to learn. To accomplish effective teaching, the teacher must share unconditionally with no expectation of return. When there is a return, it’s the role of the teacher to provide recognition, acknowledgement and reinforcement. That’s the cycle that creates the student to teacher bond.

Leadership is fundamentally teaching. A leader must communicate information and enthusiasm. A leader is more effective when can demonstrate experience and share the fruits of that experience by sharing wisdom. The more effective a leader is as a teacher, the more respect and loyalty he will earn.

In business this respect and loyalty translates directly to increased productivity and decreased losses due to disengagement, uncaring workplace practices and lost personnel.

Not everyone will feel comfortable teaching to large groups or motivating an auditorium full of people. Every leader can teach effectively at some level and the most effective leaders will develop skills at all levels. This includes one-on-one coaching, training small groups or teams and networking with peers.

One of the most valuable traits you can emulate from the Sensei is that of “Beginner’s Mind.” The martial arts master’s personal development is never finished. He approaches each day with a sense of wonder and curiosity and a longing for continual self-perfection. The greatest leaders are never those who rest on past accomplishments or current position. The greatest leaders are those who continually embrace the process of self-improvement.

After all…

“Perfection is not a destination, but a never-ending process!”

Become a Sensei in your workplace and in your community and you’ll enjoy a new level of effectiveness and power that will translate into greater success in all areas of your life, materially, emotionally and spiritually! There is no greater gift you can give another than a continually improving you!

Join me for the most unique webinar on Business Leadership you’ll ever attend!

Sensei: The Art of Effective Leadership by Teaching

• Where? On your DESKTOP! Through the unique gateway offered by Business Expert Webinars you’ll attend this event by phone and view the presentation on your computer!
  
  
• When? Wednesday, September 10^th at 11:30 AM Eastern Time
  
  
• Registration? $79…No travel expenses! Bring your own lunch! In fact, why not book your conference room and bring your entire team?

For complete details and registration click here! Includes download link for session audio!

The Bull by the Balls…Literally!

Walking up Broadway in the Financial District of New York City I happened upon a crowd of tourists posing with one of the huge bronze bull statues that represent the power of Wall Street. Of course the bull represents a profitable, charging marketplace.

At this particular monument, the bull’s horns are pointing up the hill toward the heart of the District while those of us walking up the grade are treated to the rear end of the bull revealing a bowling ball size set of, well, bull balls! That’s not the funny part. Something a little unusual caught my eye as an Asian woman who looked to be about 60 years old crawled under the hind end of the bull.

As soon as she got underneath the bull’s bottom, she turned around, smiling grandly at her husband who was ready with his camera. Grinning ear to ear she cupped her hands and pretended to support the bull’s massive family jewels!

That’s when it hit me! I wish I had my camera; I would’ve snapped this picture and made a deal with this woman to produce a complete line of motivational posters & t-shirts. In one spontaneous moment of fun she summed up exactly what we’ve all got to do when the bull is turning his backside to us: We’ve simply got to take the bull by the balls!

We can waste time bemoaning the high-price of energy and the struggling economy, but haven’t we been through this before? We’ve faced hard times as a country and most of us have faced hard times as individuals. What should we do? It’s certainly our right as Americans to bitch and moan; but I don’t remember that tactic doing me any good in the past. I’ve done my share of complaining but this time I’m simply not going to do it.

I’m going to take the bull by the balls and focus on what I can do. I can make myself better. I can make myself more valuable. I can market myself better. I can look for opportunities where others see disaster.

This time around I’m not looking back; I’m going to be the bull.

For more thoughts on dealing with difficult financial times and, gack, reccession, listen to recent PowerPOD episodes with William R. Patterson, Joan Sotkin, George & Mary-Lynn of BiggSuccess.com and Marsha Petrie Sue.

When to Quit

Never! I know that sounds trite. Everyone says “never quit,” but sometimes you’ve got to know when to fold ‘em, right?

I’m not even going to try to be funny here. Most of us have been through times when it seemed the only sensible option was to quit. Sometimes the decision to keep going seems too painful and even at times vain. Most of us will experience this moment of decision again; should I keep going or would surrender be the better part of valor?

The problem is that when you keep going in the face of adversity there is absolutely no guarantee that you’re going to succeed. Yes, I did say that! You want me to be nice or you want me to be honest? No matter what secret movie or seminar you’ve watched that’s the truth. As an author I can’t guarantee that you’re going to succeed just because I told you that staying the course greatly improves your odds of success. If I’m speaking to you I may be able to share some of my enthusiasm for the battle but if I were to tell you that if you keep going despite all odds you will succeed I’d be lying.

The fact is that no amount of positive thinking or even positive action can absolutely guarantee a successful outcome. There are no guarantees at all!

There’s only one way to guarantee a predictable outcome: QUIT! When you quit you know the results instantly: Failure (note the capital “F”).

There are alternatives to quitting:

1. Tactical re-deployment: Take your resources, drop back and re-deploy your energies in a new direction.

2. Retreat: Sometimes it’s best to lay low for a little while, put some distance between you and your enemy and rest your troops. I don’t like this option, but I’ve learned to honor it!

3. Full Frontal Attack! Damn the torpedoes and all that; simply put your head down and charge into the line. Sometimes the extra push will get you through.

Finally, you can decide that your tactics or strategy should change. There’s no shame in recognizing that a particular strategy didn’t work. You can take what you’ve learned into the next campaign.

Some people might say that all I’ve done is mess around with semantics. Guilty as charged! However, if you’re of the mindset that words are not powerful you better find some new words! Have you ever marked yourself as a quitter? How does that feel? Change the language to “tactical re-deployment” and suddenly you’re looking for new opportunities. Words are important; words are the connecting point between ideas and realities.

Next time you feel like quitting just apply these three steps:

1. Assess the situation; sometimes it’s useful to retreat to do so.
2. Re-deploy or change your strategy.
3. Get back into the fight.

You may choose to fight a different enemy, on a different day on different ground. Once again there will be no guarantee of success; but the only way to assure a specific outcome is to quit. Personally, I will not accept that outcome; I’ll take my chances!

Have you listened to PowerPOD? Great guests...Powerful conversations on a range of topics to help you enjoy a Powerful day! Click here for PowerPOD!

The Two Disciplines...

When I'm speaking people often ask me what is the most important Dynamic Component? I'd have to say: DISCIPLINE.

Discipline makes all the other components work. Discipline means developing the habit of doing what it takes to create your personal vision of success & happiness. Simple, not easy!

There are two particular Disciplines that are extremely important if you want to generate Power:

1. Gratitude: With gratitude your focus is on abundance, not scarcity. It doesn't matter what you don't have right now. Whatever you want, whatever you're going to do starts now; and you're going to start with whatever you have right now! Practice a simple Gratitude Discipline and you'll automatically take an inventory of your material, emotional and spiritual resources.

2. Generosity: Power, love and respect only multiply in your life through sharing. Trying to protect Power is really an attempt at control, not an expression of Power. Control is the resource of the dictator. Generosity is the treasure of the leader. To increase Power, love & respect you've got to share them unconditionally with no expectation of return.

It takes practice to express Gratitude and Generosity. It's sometimes difficult to stick to these disciplines, especially when times are tough. Greater minds than mine have said that it's more meaningful to give when you have little to give. I suppose you could add it's more difficult to be grateful when you have little to be grateful for!

That's OK; challenge is fuel for success. Practice Gratitude and Generosity when things are scarce and you'll open your eyes, mind and heart to the abundance that's all around you; but not always apparent! Practice the Disciplines of Gratitude and Generosity when it's most difficult and it will be natural when your resources are more tangibly abundant.

Best thoughts for success & happiness!