52 Easy - to - Implement

Leadership Tips

Thought provoking and practical stepping stones to guide you on your leadership journey.

eBook - Version 2011.2 By Randy Goruk

(Compiled and edited by Tyler W. Goruk)

Copyright © 2011. All Rights Reserved. The Randall Wade Group, LLC.

eBook Cover Design by Kimb Manson of www.senjula.com You may not distribute this eBook in any way. You may not sell, copy, share, re-sell or re-print this or any portion of this intellectual property without written consent from the author.

For permission, contact Mr. Randy Goruk: Email randy@LeadersEdge360.com or Phone 1.800.308.4002

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52 Easy - to - Implement

Leadership Tips

This eBook is intended to provide you with thought provoking and practical stepping stones to guide you on your leadership journey. It is my hope, that these leadership tips will inspire your thinking as a leader and where appropriate, can be implemented to help your organization achieve better results. To get most use out of this eBook, I recommend you read a single tip and if it seems relevant to you, print a copy of the tip, then think about the message for a day or two writing a few notes for yourself. Then take action. If you see value in these leadership tips, I invite you to register to receive my new weekly tips; they’re complimentary. Simply go to http://www.LeadersEdge360.com to register and to learn more about our leadership development services. Enjoy your leadership journey! Randy Goruk 1.800.308.4002

The Contents

Enabled below are hyperlinks to make navigating the tips easier and quicker for you. To use these hyperlinks, simply click on the desired topic and you will be taken to that page.

#1 - Be a Top 100 Company #2 - The Role of a Leader #3 - Make Your Dreams Come True Day #4 - Delegation #5 - Asking Tough Questions #6 - Creating a Focal Point #7 - Productive Meetings #8 - Weakest Link #9 - Caring for Customers #10 - Company Policies #11 - Thinking You’ve Made It #12 - Hand-Written Notes #13 - Paying Attention #14 – Get Out of the Office #15 - Embrace Accountability #16 - Movie to Inspire You #17 - Scheduling Your Future #18 - Making Your Decisions Count #19 - Work-Life Balance #20 - Keeping Up With Technology #21 - Crushing Time Wasters #22 - Mentors #23 - Mental Toughness #24 - Leadership Competencies #25 - Put Your Phone Away! #26 - Setting Realistic Goals

#27 - Eliminating Bad Habits #28 - Cheaters NEVER Win #29 - Being Prepared #30 - Dog Days of Summer #31 - Learning from Mistakes #32 - Achieving Results #33 - Dignity and Respect #34 - Getting Along With Your Boss #35 - Planning Your Business #36 - Firing Over the Phone #37 - A Leader’s Edge #38 - Inspiring Others #39 - Real Customer Care #40 - Lessons from Baseball #41 - Never Tolerate Mediocrity #42 - Following Your Dreams #43 - Netflix #44 - Reading Your Speech #45 - Make it a Special Day #46 - Thinking and Planning #47 - Giving Thanks #48 - New Challenges #49 - Write a Business Plan #50 - Innovation #51 - Never Drink and Drive #52 - Succession Planning

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Be a Top 100 Company What can you learn from these Top 100 Companies to work for in 2010 listed by Forbes? The quick answer is that many of the companies on the list

have put their employees first. Here are some examples; SAS, a computer software company built around co-founders Jim Goodnight

motto of “trust between our employees and the company." To show they care about their employees SAS provides unique benefits like child care, a gym and a library, medical staff, unlimited sick days and a summer camp for children. Grocery store Nugget Market offers employees a 10% discount on $500 dollars worth of groceries every month. DreamWorks Animation SK has a culture of collaboration and openness. So my tip this week is to spend a little time perusing through this top 100 list and see what makes these companies so special. Then implement some of their ideas in your company and work towards getting on next year’s list. Notes / Actions to Take: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#1

The Role of a Leader Ralph Nader once said, “I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.” Think about this … if you make an effort to produce

more leaders you will in fact gain more followers. You will earn the respect of those that you help in their career and everyone outside of your circle will want to be within your circle. My tip for you this week is to constantly ask yourself, “Am I doing what I need to do to produce more leaders? “ There are number of ways for you to develop those around you … are you doing all that you can do?

Notes / Actions to Take: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________

#2

Make Your Dreams Come True Day

Believe it or not, today is ‘Make Your Dream Come True Day’ – I don’t know who started this or why they started it … but let’s work with it.

This day should draw your attention towards doing something to realize your dream … but you need to make sure you have a dream first. After all, we all have a dream of doing or accomplishing something, or going somewhere to see something in this world … or at least we should.

So my leadership tip for you this week is to do something today (or tomorrow) that takes you one step closer to ‘making your dream come true. Then find someone else on your team that has a dream and do something for them that will help them take one step closer to making their dream come true.

Dreams are good stuff … this country was built on dreams so don’t let us or yourself down … dreams can come true if you work hard at achieving them.

Notes / Actions to Take: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#3

Delegation I learned early in my management career that you can’t do everything yourself – even though you think you can. You’ve got to learn how to delegate and empower others so that you can be more effective. Think about this phrase I coined … ‘The less I do, the more I get done.’

What this mean to me is, if I can delegate others to do the things don’t require my expertise but do consume my time, then I can spend more time on providing the necessary leadership to get the team to where I want to take them. My leadership tip for you this week is ‘do less – get more done.’ Here are my 5- top delegation keys to successful delegation: 1. Carefully select the right person (skills and capabilities) to complete the task

you are delegating 2. Make sure they understand the importance and relevance of the task 3. Let them select the deadline to complete the task 4. Follow up on an agreed upon schedule – hold them accountable 5. Appreciate and recognize their successful completion of the task

Don’t let the ‘delegation dog’ bite you … be very careful in what you delegate to others and how you manage it.

Notes / Actions to Take: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#4

Asking Tough Questions With the results of the January close at hand, ask yourself and key members of your team these 3 - questions ; 1. If we had the chance to do January over, what 3 - things would we have done differently to achieve better results?

2. What are the 3 - things that could prevent us from achieving our goals for the next six months? 3. Are you spending your time on the things that will deliver optimal results?

Challenging yourself and your team with tough questions will keep you on top of your business and increase the probability of success - provided you take appropriate action.

Notes / Actions to Take: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#5

Creating a Focal Point I'm not sure how the morale is in your company or business unit, but most need a boost right now and as the leader it's really up to you to deliver it. Try this tip; create a focal point and watch the magic return to your organization.

A focal point is simply a meaningful theme that everyone on the team can relate to and makes them feel their job is important to the success of the company. It must be designed in a way that everyone can contribute to it the focal point must be easy to understand and measure. Select a specific area to focus on ... safety - productivity - bottom line - top line - market share - innovation or anything that is critical to your company's success over the next six months. Notes / Actions to Take: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#6

Productive Meetings Meetings, meetings, and more meetings ... how effective are your meetings? Regardless of how effective you think your meetings are today, my tip is for you to search for new ways to make them more productive and worthwhile for the

attendees … don't be afraid to mix in an element of fun. Your meetings must have a meaningful purpose and relevant content. Have you tried to calculate a ROI on your meetings lately? Have you determined the true cost of your meetings and asked how many sales dollars it takes to pay for the meeting you are holding? You’re the leader ... spend your money wisely. Notes / Actions to Take: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ROI= [(Payback - Investment)/Investment)]*100

#7

Weakest Link As you think about your team, can you identify the weakest link? You know, the one person, who if you were forced to reduce your team size by one person, you would let go. If you view them as your weakest link today, it is important for you and the future of the organization

to take the steps necessary to give them all the help they need to succeed.

Although, they probably have a personal development plan or personal improvement plan in place, I suggest you take it to a higher level. My tip is, over the next two or three weeks schedule an additional hour with that person and work specifically on the area that you feel they need the most help in. If you can't get to it, find someone else to work with your weakest link. Remember, if they fail - you fail. Notes / Actions to Take: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#8

Caring for Customers

Every so often a story comes along to remind us not to take our customers for granted. Here is a link to such a story.

We have to remember that we need to earn our customers business every day and that no matter how

long we've had a relationship with them they can still take their business to someone else tomorrow.

As the leader, it's imperative that you continuously challenge your team to pay attention to your customers growing and changing needs.

You need to make sure that your products and services are in alignment with your customer's sales, marketing and positioning efforts.

Don't just assume your team has the relationship with your customers under control; you need to know everything is good.

My tip is to make yourself available and visible to your customers, seek regular informal and formal feedback from them, respond, ask the right questions and never lie to them or take them for granted and you will have customers for life.

Notes / Actions to Take: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#9

Company Policies When was the last time you looked at the practicality and appropriateness of your company policies and procedures?

It is quite possible that you've got policies that are outdated, or they don't work for your customers or employees anymore.

I'm sure that you may think you have better things to do than review all your policies and procedures.

But here is a tip and a fool proof approach, ask several people in your company this question;

"If it were entirely up to you, what one policy or procedure would you get rid of or improve upon that would make this a better place to work or be better for our customers?"

You may be surprised with the outcome.

Notes / Actions to Take: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#10

Thinking You’ve Made It Are you growing professionally as a leader or do you think you've already made it? If you think you've made it, you could be making the biggest mistake of your career. Take JFK's advice; "Leadership and learning are

indispensible to each other” … and keep learning. There are many ways to determine the areas of greatest opportunity for your professional growth. A few examples include; asking your boss what he / she thinks you should work on to get to the next level, you can complete a 360 degree feedback survey or you can do leadership self-assessment online.

Try our free leadership self-assessment here: http://www.leadersedge360.com/survey.php

Go through the assessment and be brutally honest with yourself. Identify the area(s) that you need to continue to work on to continue to grow as a leader. Then find the best way to improve or develop your leadership skills. If you really want to get to the next level tomorrow – my tip is for you to get to work on it today. Notes / Actions to Take: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#11

Hand-Written Notes of Appreciation Have you ever received a hand written note of appreciation, encouragement or congratulations from someone? Do you remember how it made you feel? Good? Great? Important? Or maybe a feeling that the

person who wrote the note, really cared about you? After all they took the time to write you a handwritten note that was focused on you. As the leader, ask yourself - Do I care? ... Do I really care? If you do care, sending handwritten notes of appreciation or congratulations should be part of what you regularly do. I challenge you to seek out opportunities to make someone feel real special by sending them a genuine, heartfelt note expressing how you feel about something they did ... or something they're doing. It's a pretty good use of your time - if you are genuine and sincere you will build loyalty. Notes / Actions to Take: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#12

Paying Attention You will soon find out whether your first quarter results are on target, ahead of target or behind target. You may have a pretty good idea where you stand now, but the tip for you this week is to make sure everyone knows you are paying attention. Develop a 'stump speech' commenting on your 1st

quarter results and deliver it to every single member of your team. A 'stump speech' is a clear, concise and consistent message that you deliver in person or by broadcast voice mail or by video. The focus of the 'stump speech' needs to be on the results of what is most important to you. It could be sales volume, bottom line, safety, productivity, customer satisfaction or anything else you measure and view as important. You want your team to pay attention ... and to get your message - whatever it is. When the boss pays attention, everyone pays attention. Notes / Actions to Take: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#13

Get Out of the Office I once heard (and have often used) the quote "80% of success is just showing up" - I'm not sure whose quote it is, but I like it and I believe in it because it's worked for me. What it means to me is, if you want something good to happen you have to get out of your office. So my tip

for you this week is to get out of your office - make a spot in your calendar that takes you away from your desk, computer and telephone. Travel with one of your company's sales professionals and go see a few customers - thank them for their business and ask them what areas they'd like to see your company improve in. Then go see a prospect - find out what has to happen to earn their business. Hang out with your people in the warehouse, in the manufacturing plant, in the office and wherever else you might have them. Check on their morale, their attitudes, their problems, their concerns, their feelings ... you get it. Ask great questions. The success part comes when you identify an opportunity to improve and then you improve upon it. As a result your business gets better and you've demonstrated leadership not management. Notes / Actions to Take: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#14

Embrace Accountability I thought I'd share an action item in my recently published book - 'Sparks - A Business Fable' which contains over 90 different leadership action items. You can learn more at www.SparksTheBook.com There always seems to be someone in the news that is refusing to take accountability for their performance,

actions or behaviors. The constant theme seems to be 'it's not my fault.' This is a good reminder for leaders; you are accountable for the results of your company ... and if you don't achieve the desired results you can't blame it on the economy. Don't blame it on your team either, because although you can delegate responsibility, you can't delegate accountability. However, you can hold people accountable for not successfully completing tasks, projects, assignments as well as their actions, behaviors and performance in their normal responsibilities. Surprisingly, many leaders have a difficult time with this. Your tip of the week is to always do the right thing by embracing accountability and be certain to hold others accountable for their performance, actions and behaviors ... mindfully create a culture of accountability. Notes / Actions to Take: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#15

Movie to Inspire You I do half and full day workshops on this topic ... but you may be able to do it yourself. Get your team together and watch this movie. It's only 3 minutes or so. Then together, discuss what you all can do to become

tougher competitors. Notes / Actions to Take: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#16

Scheduling Your Future My guess is you're real busy right now. But are you busy working on the correct things? Are you wrapped up working on the challenges of the day, when as the leader you should be working on what's important to your business six to twelve months from now?

My tip for you this month is to get out from under today's challenges and begin to spend your time on your business; 3-months, 6-months and 12 months out. Look at the pile of things you're working on today and ask yourself; "Who else could be working on this instead of me?" Delegate and make the necessary calendar adjustments to put yourself in a position to spend most of your time 'in front' of your business, instead of spending your time 'in' your business. Don't get me wrong, spending time 'in' your business is important ... but it should be a smaller percentage of your time than the time spent 'on' your business. Another way to look at it is ... are you managing or leading? Notes / Actions to Take: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#17

Making Your Decisions Count One of the great things about being the leader is that you get to make final decisions on issues that have an impact on your company's future and the people within it. Not all leaders are comfortable with making decisions so they don't. Or at least they don't on the big issues, but they do on the smaller issues.

Sometimes the decisions leaders make seems to take forever. They need to research the issue, they need to gather feedback on the issue and they need to think about the issue. I repeat, sometimes the decisions leaders make seem to take forever. My tip for you this week is to learn to be decisive on all issues. Become grounded and consistent in your decision making. No procrastination and no hesitation. The three simple things that can help you achieve this are; • Use your company vision, mission and business values as your guiding light to

decision making

• Position yourself to think things through in advance • Never play favorites ... remember it's always business never personal Decision making can make or break you as a leader... make it count. Notes / Actions to Take: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#18

Work-Life Balance The month of April was tough on us personally. We lost two friends to heart failure and another friend / client business leader was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He'll be down for awhile but he won't be out - he's too tough.

So your leadership tip this week is to 'count your blessings and be mindful of your work-life balance.' You never know when it will be your turn ... and when it does come, you don't want to feel like you gave too much at work and not enough at home. As the cartoon reads; "When you are on your death bed, you'll never wish you spent more time in the office." Get your medical check-ups regularly and maintain a work-life balance that works for you. We need you to lead! Notes / Actions to Take: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#19

Keeping Up With Technology Technology is coming at us at a rapid pace, but are you leveraging technology to enhance your competitive position? The tip for you this week is to set some time aside to think more thoroughly about how you can leverage existing and upcoming technology to blow away your

competitors. You may have looked at technology and what it could do for you sometime over the past year, but did you really figure out how you can use it to your strategic advantage? It's time to get excited! Notes / Actions to Take: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#20

Crushing Time Wasters It always seems that as the year progresses, we find 'Time-Wasters' creep into our day. 'Time-Wasters' are those things that simply rob us of our time ... they distract us from doing the important things we need to do.

'Time-Wasters' are things like; fire-fighting a problem that should have been avoided, interruptions from a co-worker or vendor, waiting in traffic, waiting in line somewhere, looking for something among our cluttered desk / office, procrastinating on an issue, unnecessary email messages, clarifying misunderstandings and the list goes on. Your tip this week is to identify at least one thing that consistently wastes your time and crush it. Crushing it means make a conscious effort to eliminate it from your day. After you crush one 'Time-Waster,' find another and crush it too ... then repeat. Having the extra few minutes available to you each day should enable you to do what we need you to do ... and that is lead your team. Notes / Actions to Take: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#21

Mentors Yes, I'm assuming that you have a mentor or coach to provide you an objective view on career, skills, challenges, performance and / or other issues important to you or your business.

If you don't have a relationship with a mentor ... set yourself a goal to begin a formal relationship with a mentor within the next 60 days. If you have a mentor relationship that's working well, drop me a note and tell me why the relationship is a success. If you think the relationship could be better, then it's time to fix it or abandon it - You want to receive value from the relationship with your mentor.

There are many things to consider when establishing a relationship with a mentor ... here are my top three:

1. You must absolutely trust the mentor / coach you select ... you want honest feedback instead of them telling you what you want to hear.

2. The mentor / coach must have the time and interest in helping you ... they have to be there for you when you need them.

3. You must agree on working guidelines for the relationship that work for both of you ... it's important that these be established at the beginning so each of you know what to expect from each other.

If you have an existing relationship with a mentor ... just make sure you are fully satisfied that you are getting everything you want / need from them. If you don't have a mentor / coach and don't feel you need one because you believe you're doing fine without one ... you're kidding yourself. Everyone needs a mentor ... even the leader.

My leadership tip for you this week is to evaluate your mentor relationship.

Notes / Actions to Take: (use separate sheet)

#22

Mental Toughness It's a good time of the year to perform a mental toughness self-evaluation. Every manager is faced regularly with a myriad of stressful situations. Their mental toughness in dealing with these situations is critical to the success of their organization and to the credibility of the manager.

Exceptional leaders remain level headed in these situations. They learn to evaluate the situation, ask the right questions, and ultimately make the correct decisions. But how do you know if you are really mentally tough? 1. You know you are mentally tough when you are not distracted by any situation 2. You can remain clear and objective during turmoil 3. You have discipline of focus 4. You are personally productive 5. You constantly strive to eliminate time wasters in your life 6. You stick to your plan 7. You have excellent work-life balance 8. You do not allow stress in your life 9. You are confident 10. You are consistent in your actions and decisions 11. You can deal with conflict 12. You follow the rules but know when it's time to change them 13. You don't take things personal 14. You don't let situations you can't control bother you

Ask yourself two questions; Do I need to improve in any of these areas? And how can I get better in each of these areas? Notes / Actions to Take: - (use separate sheet)

#23

Leadership Competencies The fine folks at the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals (NAWDP) have been kind enough to occasionally publish an article of mine in their Association newsletter. I thought I would share this month's article entitled 'Leadership Competencies Every Manager Should

Possess' here. The tip for you this week is to work hard at making these competencies a part of who you are as a leader. BTW > I presented 'Making the Transition from Manager to Leader' at the NAWDP national conference in Virginia Beach ... see the evaluation summary here. Notes / Actions to Take: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#24

Put Your Phone Away! Last night my wife and I were out for dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. I couldn't help but notice a young couple and their children settle at a table near ours. Mom and kids were dressed in summer attire and dad was still in his business clothes complete with white shirt and tie.

The kids, ages two and six were well behaved ... but the dad wasn't. Dad sat there at the table, working his 'smart phone' pretty hard. Seemed to me he was looking at and responding to email while ignoring his wife and kids for about ten minutes - quite the multi-tasker. Dad isn't the only person multi-tasking these days. Have you ever seen a television camera shot of the fans at a major league baseball game? There always seems to be a handful of people on their cell phones or testing, tweeting, emailing or something - maybe they're playing a game? We see these preoccupied multi-tasking people everywhere. While we're driving, shopping, at movie theatres, walking down the street at social gatherings ... seemingly everywhere! Maybe dad should put his phone away and engage in conversation with his family. Maybe he should listen to what they have to say and answer their questions instead of those from an email message that can probably wait until later that night or first thing in the morning.

#25

My leadership tip for you this month is to put your phone away. Engage in conversation with those around you - listen ... watch the ballgame or the movie. If no one is around, take the time to think ...yes to think ... and to plan. There is too much 'doing' and not enough thinking or planning going on these days. Great leaders are masters of thinking and planning. If you can be disciplined to put your phone away ... others will follow your lead. Notes / Actions to Take: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Setting Realistic Goals Consider this quote from American philosopher and writer Elbert Hubbard; "Many people fail in life, not for lack of ability or brains or even courage, but simply because they have never organized their energies around a goal."

We are quickly approaching the mid-point of the year ... so as a leadership coach who holds people accountable for their performance; I have a couple of questions for you: • Are you likely or unlikely to achieve your 2011 business goal(s)?

• Are you likely or unlikely to achieve your 2011 personal goal(s)? If you answered unlikely to either of these questions, the follow up questions to help you think things through are:

• What is causing you to fall short of achieving your goal(s)?

• What are you going to do about it? My leadership tip this week is to be sure that you are set with realistic business and personal goals for the second half of the year ... and that you organize your energies around achieving them. It's easy to say but hard to do. So here is a collection of 13 other quotes to help inspire you. Notes / Actions to Take: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

#26

Eliminating Bad Habits Great leaders are always looking for ways to improve themselves personally and professionally. This continuous effort of self-improvement is part of the leadership journey and at times can be hard to do ... particularly when it comes to self-critique.

My leadership tip for you this week is to drop at least one bad habit by the end of this month - think of it as a 'second half resolution' instead of a 'new year's resolution' ... by eliminating a bad habit, you will have accomplished an important step towards becoming a better leader. Wouldn't it be great if you could eliminate one (or more) bad habit(s) this month? What are you thinking? ... That you have no bad habits? Heck, we all have bad habits! Here are a few classic examples:

• Interrupting someone when they're talking • Taking days to return a phone call • Checking your personal email while working • Using inappropriate language • Not accepting the feedback of others

Or, maybe you use one or more of these over used and annoying words or phrases?

• "Absolutely" • "At the end of the day" • "24 - 7" • "Here's the deal" • "Think outside of the box"

#27

Still think you're clear of any bad habits? Then I challenge you to ask someone in your organization this question; "What one thing would you like to see me stop doing?" They'll tell you! I don't think there is anything such as 'eliminate a bad habit month' ... but wouldn't it be great if you could eliminate at least one bad habit this month? Notes / Actions to Take: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Cheaters NEVER Win I really don't know what's going on in this world ... but once again, cheaters never win!

From my book ˜Sparks - A Business Fable' I share this segment with you:

'I never want to be in a situation where so many business leaders have been lately-where they were caught doing something wrong and their actions were made public,' he mused. 'Adultery, stealing from the company, ripping off a customer, knowingly put out poor quality or dangerous product for personal or company gain or even anything as simple as lying to someone. It just isn't worth it.'

And then just in the past week;

• We've had a number of Atlanta police officers fired and suspended for lying about the details of a case they were involved in.

• Also in Atlanta we've had the Atlanta Public School superintendent resigning her leadership post because of a cheating on school test scores scandal.

• So now we don't need to worry about kids cheating at school, we've got to worry about the teachers and their leaders cheating on behalf of the kids and then lying about it. - read more here

• I don't know who was lying in the Casey Anthony trial ... but with all of the accusations being thrown around ... it's logical to think that somebody was lying.

• Roger Clemens, a famous major league baseball player is at trial for lying to Congress ... and to top it all off, this past weekend we've had a couple of professional football players in trouble with the law - but they're denying all charges ranging from DUI to resisting arrest.

My leadership tip for you this week comes from 'Sparks'

You must lead your organization with unwavering character!

#28

Trust and respect in a manager is earned and essential to organizational success. Exceptional leaders consistently demonstrate their true character in their words, actions, and behaviors. They are sincere, truthful, fair, embracing of diversity, respectful of the rules, non-hypocritical, and quick to give credit where credit is due. People want to work for someone they trust and respect.

You should also surround yourself with people of high character and integrity - hold them to a high standard and hold them accountable for their behavior.

Finally, learn to pay attention to the signals that liars send you. - here is a great article to help you identify when someone is lying to you. The world will be a better place if we could get everyone to realize that cheaters never win!

Do what you can - it's not a one person job.

Notes / Actions to Take: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Being Prepared In my opinion, one of the most neglected attributes of a leader is 'preparedness'. I see too many leaders' 'busy doing' with plenty of reacting and fire-fighting happening, but little thought given to effective implementation or preparation for

the future. Think about this ... as a leader of your business or your family, there will come a time when you will be looked upon to solve an unexpected and likely unwanted problem. It could be an accident on the way to the office or a flat tire-yours or someone else's. The problem could be a short-term financial challenge you or someone else incurs. It could be a key employee who quits unexpectedly or a serious illness. Regardless of what the world delivers, an exceptional leader must be prepared to demonstrate leadership by taking action and creating a solution quickly for any and every situation. The leadership tip that can help you prepare for the unexpected is to allow yourself a minimum of 20-minutes a day to be alone to slow down and think ... think without distractions. Think about the scenarios that you could be faced with and mentally prepare what you would do if they were to materialize. Or if your plans don't turn out the way they were supposed to.

#29

In the words of Benjamin Franklin, "By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail." Never put yourself in a position where you’ll say, "I never saw that coming." Notes / Actions to Take: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dog Days of Summer

Have you, your team or those that you work with entered 'the dog days of summer' yet? You know that hot, tired, muggy time when everything seems to be moving in slow-motion or not at all ... add to this the latest news in this country that is bound to

get you down. If you haven't got there yet ... you still may, so keep reading. If you have, I'm hopeful that the following tips will give you a few ideas that will pick up your spirits and inspire you and your leadership.

1. Before you get in your car in the morning, walk around the yard and enjoy the freshness and fragrance that nature is sharing with you.

2. Keep a photo(s) of something, somebody, or someplace that constantly makes you smile near your side.

3. Phone someone you haven't talked to for a long time, and make them smile. I guarantee you'll feel good about it too.

4. Turn on some music, and dance like no one is watching!

5. Watch a funny movie and you'll come away from it feeling good and happy ... nobody loves action, thrillers and Alfred Hitchcock movies more than I do, but there comes a time when funny is more important.

Albert Schweitzer once said, "In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit".

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As the leader, you are the other 'human being' who needs to 'rekindle the inner spirit' of your team. I hope these suggestions can help you and those you care about get through 'the dog days of summer.' Notes / Actions to Take: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Learning from Mistakes As leaders we should be constantly learning on our journey. There are many ways to learn, however the secret for the most affordable and most cost effective method of learning comes from Eleanor Roosevelt. She once said;

"Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself." Your tip this week is to pay attention to what's going around you and document at least three separate leadership mistakes someone else has made that you can learn from. Then share those mistakes with your team, or your mentor / coach or your peers... BTW ... I have begun a more robust effort with Facebook for my business. If you like my leadership tips of the week and would like to benefit from additional leadership development material, visit and 'Like' the page at http://www.facebook.com/LeadersEdge360 Notes / Actions to Take: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Achieving Results

Following is an excerpt of an article I wrote that was published in a leading leadership development magazine - 'Leadership Excellence'. You can read the entire article here. Having an article published in this magazine is special to me because published in the same issue among

others is Marshall Goldsmith, Stephen R. Covey and Barack Obama. To achieve maximum results, you must get the most out of all team members. Sincere and genuine interest earns loyalty-critical to the success of your team. Caring means that you care about the people on your team personally and professionally. You care about their performance, growth, advancement, success, role, health, safety, culture, work-life balance, and the resources they need to do their jobs. You also care about aligning your values with company values, preserving the culture, satisfying customers, improving product quality, and engaging all stakeholders. More ...

The leadership tip of the week is for you to look for opportunities to emphasize and practice safety at your work place. Extend that to employees' homes where practical. As an example, find ways to introduce camping or boating safety guidelines during the summer or cooking safety during the holiday season. There are just too many unnecessary accidents that occur every day ... you can make a difference. Notes / Actions to Take: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Dignity and Respect

At some point in your career as a leader, you will be challenged with circumstances or issues that will be personally hard for you to address. When you do, always remember to treat everyone with dignity and respect.

It is much easier if you are in the habit of treating everyone with dignity and respect when there are no issues to address. Notes / Actions to Take: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Getting Along With Your Boss

Baseball is a fun game, it's also a business ... and there are plenty of leadership lessons to be learned from it. In baseball - just like at work - on occasion, the player (worker) doesn't get along with the manager (boss).

You can read here what happened last week in a game involving the New York Yankees. What's important to the boss's credibility is how they handle 'situations' that arise. Put yourself in the New York Yankees manager's shoes ... what would you have done differently? An important element of leadership is to embrace accountability while holding others accountable. When you hold yourself and others accountable for results, behaviors, and performances, you become a more effective leader. Your leadership tip this week is to look around your organization and ask yourself if you are holding others accountable for their results, behaviors and performance - if not, do you really know the damage being made to your credibility? Notes / Actions to Take: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Planning Your Business Great leaders know the difference between action and activity. Think about the first 8 - months of this year ... have you and your team been busy with activities or have you been busy creating and implementing action?

As you begin the process of planning your business for next year, or the next 3 years, my leadership tip for you is to build your plans around the creation of meaningful action. Don't be confused with creating activities. Activities don't typically create results - action does. Let me know if I can help you this planning period ... getting a third party perspective is always a healthy thing to do. Notes / Actions to Take: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Firing Over the Phone

You may have heard the other day that the CEO of Yahoo - Carol Bartz - was fired ... over the phone... if interested you can read more here. Over the phone? Why would someone fire someone over the phone?

No matter the circumstances, there is no excuse or plausible argument for firing someone over the phone ... unless you are a weak leader. My leadership tip for you this week is to never fire someone over the phone. To learn why, read the blog I wrote a few years ago - "The True Character of a Company." Notes / Actions to Take: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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A Leader’s Edge In many of my leadership presentations I incorporate this quote from JFK; "Leadership and learning are indispensible to each other." ... you may also remember the same quote from week 11 of my leadership tips of the week. I find it to be a great reminder about the importance

of continuing to grow professionally, regardless of where you are on the organization chart. My tip for you this week is to set aside a minimum of 10 percent of your time to dedicate to professional development ... Just think about this; 1 hour per day for 5 days per week = 5 hours 5 hours per week every week of the year = 260 hours 260 hours = 32.5 days per year A whole month of professional development.... How's that for gaining a 'leader's edge' on the competition? You're probably thinking that 'this is nice, but I don't have a minute a day left over now, so how can I commit to 5-hours per week for professional development'? You can do this. As a leadership coach I help people do this all year long ... they are the ones that recognize 'leadership and learning are indispensible to each other.' Notes / Actions to Take: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Inspiring Others In the past, you've either heard me say or read something from me that states you can always learn from others ... good or bad. This week we learn something good from the 6th President of the United State, John Quincy Adams.

He said at some point in the 1800's ... "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." So how do you rate yourself as a leader on JQA's definition of a leader? My tip for you this week is to pay attention to your actions towards others ... Ask yourself, do my actions: • Inspire others to dream more? • Inspire others to learn more? • Inspire others to do more? • Inspire others to become more? Always remember, as the leader everyone is looking to you for direction. They will always follow your lead if your direction is sound and your actions inspire them to achieve the short list above ... applicable at work and at home!! Notes / Actions to Take: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________

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Real Customer Care Almost everywhere we look, we hear company after company, regardless of industry, claim:

• "We provide the best Customer Service in the industry • "We are committed to your complete satisfaction" • "We love our Customers"

• "We are always here for you" • And the slogans go on and on

Most of these businesses actually believe in what they say ... unfortunately, the reality is they aren't really as good as they think they are. Without naming names, I see many companies that are good on intention, but fall way short of delivering what they say they will. Last week I was privileged to experience firsthand what a true "Customer Focused Culture' looked like as I was invited as an 'industry partner' to a 'Customer Appreciation' dinner event. Again, I won't mention names but as a guest I felt 'special'. Not because of the extravagant location, outstanding meal, refreshments, gifts and entertainment, but because of the 'human touch and interaction' by everyone from the company that was there - they genuinely cared about me ... and I'm not even a customer. The Sr. Managers' of our host company spoke briefly and eloquently about how everything they do is centered on their 'Customer Focused Culture" and their drive to grow their customers' market share, productivity and profitability. They then cited examples and recognized contributors to their success. My tip for you this week is to find a way to formally measure how you are "really" doing when it comes to meeting the needs of your customer base and find a way to demonstrate meaningful appreciation for their business.

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A Customer Focused Culture, is easy to say but hard to do ... but for those leaders who want to 'walk the talk' when it comes to customer service, believe me when I say you probably have some walking to do. Notes / Actions to Take: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________

Lessons from Baseball I love the spring and fall seasons and I love the game of baseball ... put them together and you have me in a good place mentally. There are a number of leadership lessons we can learn from baseball throughout the season, but what happened in September to the Atlanta Braves and

Boston Red Sox should be a good reminder for all of us. Both teams had comfortable leads in the standings at the beginning of the month, but before the month was over, their competitors caught up and eliminated them both from the playoffs - ouch! My leadership tip this week is; never think you've made it. Think about how many people you know who've lost their jobs over the past year or so. Just like the Braves and the Red Sox, many of them never saw it coming - ouch! Remember, you are not entitled to the position you have. You need to be fully engaged to perform at a high level and you must constantly demonstrate your value to your organization. So keep learning and growing as a leader - coasting is not allowed on the road to success - and keep helping others grow and develop too ... it's what great leaders do. Notes / Actions to Take: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Never Tolerate Mediocrity One of my coaching clients asked me the other day. "Should I tolerate mediocrity?" I asked them a few more questions and I coached them through their issue. I thought it might be worthwhile to share a portion of

an old blog I wrote below that addresses the same topic. As the leader of any organization, you are responsible for many things, including the development of your people. If you have an individual who is performing poorly or who has behavior problems, you must understand what the problem is and then go to work on a solution. They, in addition to you, are accountable for their performance and behavior. Usually, the problem is a result of poor training - or a "round peg in a square hole" - or a "square peg in a round hole" - or a complete toxic work environment - or just plain incompetence. The solutions for poor training are easy... more training - better quality training - a coach - a mentor - an individual development plan - a 360 degree feedback survey and a boss who pays greater attention to the development of an employee. The solutions for someone who is in the wrong position - find a better fitting position for them in your company or find them a better fitting position for them outside your company. The solutions for the bad work environment - find out exactly what the problem is by getting feedback from others and fix it - if you aren't sure how, hire yourself a leadership coach.

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The solution for incompetence- do what you can to find them another job somewhere else and do a better job of your recruiting, interviewing and selection process If you do nothing and you elect to tolerate mediocrity, you will end up with a problems you wish you didn't have. You will lose credibility / trust and respect as a leader - you will likely experience productivity, quality and morale challenges ... and the list could go on. So for the leadership tip of the week ... Bottom line - do not tolerate mediocrity in the workplace - fix it - you are accountable. Notes / Actions to Take: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________

Following Your Dreams For many leaders, vision is a challenging attribute. It seems to me that the biggest challenge is not in their ability to dream but in their fear of failure. As a result the vision for their organization is not clear, inspiring nor worth pursuing.

Frederick W Smith, founder of Federal Express once said, "I'm not afraid to take a swing and miss." Imagine building a vision from nothing to something small, to something remarkable! Consider 'The Field of Dreams, movie inspired by writer W.P Kinsella ... in the movie a Dyersville, Iowa farmer had the vision of turning his cornfield into a baseball field ... clearly a wild dream - but think about the conviction and passion of achieving the vision. I recently visited the "Field of Dreams" movie site in Dyersville and experienced something special. It wasn't just a tourist trap, or ball park, it was a vision come true. Even if you aren't a baseball fan, you can still feel the community bonding together and implementing someone's dream by building a baseball park from a cornfield through hard work and sheer determination. People visit from all around the world to this special place to experience a historical community that was brought together because of someone's vision see my 'Field of Dreams' photos on my business facebook page. So, how are you doing with creating and articulating your vision? Does your vision excite your organization? Is your vision something that your team will work hard to achieve - or will they just come to work?

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Will we be talking about your vision in the future? My Leadership Tip of the Week is to 'take a swing and don't be afraid to miss ... and find time to visit the 'Field of Dreams' with those that you care about and experience firsthand a dream come true. Notes / Actions to Take: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Netflix You may have heard about this - after losing a pile of customers (over 800,000) and a big hit to their stock price ($298.73 to $75.28 since July 13th), 'Netflix' is in recovery mode. The problem according to CEO Reed Hastings ... "Companies rarely die from moving too fast, and they

frequently die from moving too slowly ... When Netflix is evolving rapidly, however, I need to be extra-communicative. This is the key thing I got wrong." - read more here. Sometimes we are anxious to implement a competitive strategy, or a policy change, or an organizational change and we forget that we can use communication as a strategy to achieve thorough understanding and 'buy-in' of our decision by stakeholders - customers, employees, shareholders. The leadership tip this week is to develop the good habit of creating and implementing an effective communication strategy around the decisions you make. Think. Think about who is affected by your decision and determine the most effective way to reach them. Maybe it's a phone call in advance of rolling out the decision or a series of pre-emptive messages ... it could be any number of different ways - but a good quality communication strategy will keep you from wasting valuable time and money in 'recovery mode' Notes / Actions to Take: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Reading Your Speech The World Series ended in St. Louis the other night with the home team winning the championship. Did you see the ceremony to present the championship trophy to the winning team at the end of the game? You can view it here.

Watch the commissioner of baseball in the first 90-seconds or so as he reads his congratulatory remarks ... all I can say is 'pathetic'. As leaders we are often required to make a presentation. Either to our direct reports, to the entire organization, at a board meeting, at a shareholders meeting, to a customer ... there are plenty of opportunities to be on stage. When we are called upon, we need to be ready. Our presentations enable us to establish credibility as a leader with the audience - so we better be good. Now I've made a few presentations in my life that I'd like to 'do over' but I can't. All I can do is learn from the mistakes I've made and not repeat them. There is no excuse for the commissioner of baseball to have to read the words he spoke. Watch and you'll see no one else on stage had a script ... they spoke from the heart ... and knew what they wanted to say - they call that authenticity! The leadership tip for you this week is to not underestimate the importance of your presence on stage. Your credibility as a leader is at risk - your team wants a leader they can be proud of, so take some time work on your presentation skills - but remain authentic in everything you do. Notes / Actions to Take: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Make it a Special Day

I came across this striking photograph the other day and it reminded me that regardless of the circumstances, there is always somebody, somewhere, who tries to make it special for someone. In the photograph, it's a vendor. At home it is, or at least should be a parent. At work it is, or at least

should be the leader. My tip this week is for you to adopt a 'Make it a Special Day for Someone' mindset and approach to your leadership. It will go a long way to earning loyalty and respect from your followers ... it will also improve morale, engagement and performance. The great thing is, there is virtually no limit to the number of different things you can do to make it a special day for someone. It takes minimal effort and it doesn't have to cost you a bundle to be effective. All you have to do is to remind yourself to look for opportunities and I promise you they are there and there is no shortage. A good way to develop the mindset comes from this excerpt from my book - Sparks - A Business Fable; Jack was so committed to this simple, but important task, that his electronic day planner was programmed with a "Make It a Special Day for Someone" in the 7:00 am time slot everyday of the year. Be a great leader and 'Make it a Special Day for Someone' ... you'll feel good too. Notes / Actions to Take: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Thinking and Planning With next week being a short week, it's a great time for thinking and planning... something I'm a big advocate of - we need more thinking and planning from leaders. So my tip this week is pick one of the following three 'road blocks to productivity' to think, plan and do

something about it ... specifically, your personal productivity can be impacted if; 1. You hire the wrong person - what can you change in the hiring process to ensure this is not a problem for you going forward? 2. You provide poor or inadequate training - you can't do it all, so invest in the growth and development of your team. 3. You don't empower your organization - empowerment is critical to organizational growth, be completely certain you are doing this in a way that elevates your productivity level If you have other productivity issues in your organization, think about them and what you can do to improve the situation ... your team is counting on you. Notes / Actions to Take: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Giving Thanks

For many, Thanksgiving is a time to reflect and give thanks. Great leaders however, reflect and give thanks every day. In the words of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy; "As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to

live by them." Do your words and actions demonstrate your appreciation and respect every day? Do you put your cell phone away at meal times? Do you give to the less fortunate? Do you do the little things that make a huge difference to someone? Do you reflect and give thanks every day? My leadership tip for you this week is to be mindful of this very important leadership trait and identify opportunities to demonstrate genuine heartfelt gratitude at home and work every day. The most successful leaders do. Notes / Actions to Take: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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New Challenges

For many of us, December is a time when we like to set new goals for the coming year. It's an opportunity to take a fresh look at the exciting challenges we're faced with and to set targets and plans to overcome those challenges ... personally and professionally.

To give you inspiration and a new perspective on this process, I highly recommend a great little book entitled 'GOALS - The 10 Rules for Achieving Success' written by Gary Ryan Blair. No matter what you want to achieve in business or life, Gary's book on Goals can be your roadmap for success. It's helped me a great deal ... and I've always prided myself as being a goal oriented person. You can learn more about the book here ... and you can watch a short video about the book here. My leadership tip for you this week is to be sure you have meaningful goals for 2012 - business and personal - and be certain you are set up to measure your performance against those goals. Finally ... as any great leader would, be sure those you touch do the same. Notes / Actions to Take: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Write a Business Plan

You probably are already aware that December is 'National Write a Business Plan' month ... I don't know it's origin but it's out there. As leaders we are involved with all kinds of plans related to our business; long range, strategic, product development, product launch, marketing, sales,

succession and so on. Often we think we know what we're doing and we hurriedly go out and execute our plans ... without ever putting the plans in writing. Sometimes things work out and sometimes they don't. My tip for you this week is to make certain all of your plans are in writing. There are many reasons that you should put your plan in writing, but here are my top three:

• Forces you to organize your thoughts in advance of your actions so you can

set priorities

• Brings increased commitment and accountability

• Allows for measuring results and a base for celebration One other thought, don't create an 'on the shelf' or 'in the file cabinet' type of plan ... you know the plan that just sits there. The plan that you create should be a living, breathing roadmap that helps guide your organization and provides everyone with a solid basis for decision making. Notes / Actions to Take: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Innovation

As a leader, do you think you do a good job of fostering innovation in your organization? One of the easy things to lose during slower economic times is a focus on innovation. Think about how innovation in this country has

changed the world and what has been made possible because someone followed their dreams, and were encouraged to pursue their dreams. Here is a twentieth century timeline of inventions if you're interested. This weekend, December 17th to be exact, is the 108 - year anniversary of the first flight of the 'Kitty Hawk.' If you're interested, you can learn more about the Wright brothers dream, failures and success here. This and a few other things got me thinking about how we may be missing opportunities because of our current economic challenges and how as leaders we cannot allow this to happen. We must continue to dream, innovate and we must encourage others around us to do the same. However challenging it may be for you, my leadership tip for you this week is to find ways to keep innovation alive in your organization and inspire those around you to follow their dreams. Where would we be if the Wright brothers and the many others before and after them didn't follow their dreams? Anything is possible when there is encouragement and passion. Notes / Actions to Take: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Never Drink and Drive The Holidays are right around the corner. It's a great time to spend with family and friends while enjoying and celebrating the season. It's also a time where we all can make foolish mistakes that can change lives and careers forever. My leadership tip for you this week is to avoid one of

the biggest Holiday mistakes - don't drink and drive ... and watch out for those that do. Many people will have a few drinks, think their fine and they won't get stopped anyway. If you don't think you'll get caught just ask the head of Federal Aviation Administration (F.A.A), Randy Babbitt who earlier this month tendered his resignation over being DUI, if he thought he'd get caught. You can also ask, ESPN Analyst, Mathew Barnaby who was fired this month for his DUI charge, if he thought he'd get caught. Luckily no one was injured by their actions, but it does cause me concern with people driving their vehicles drunk, maybe even talking on the phone. Protect yourself and your loved ones by assuming everyone else driving on the road is drunk ... drive cautiously and defensively because according to MADD someone dies in a drunk driver crash every 50 minutes. Here are more alarming MADD statistics. If you find yourself in a position where you've been drinking and are about to get behind the wheel, I want you to stop and think about this tip and hand over the keys to someone who hasn't been drinking or take a cab ... your family and team needs you. I hope you and your family have a safe and enjoyable Holiday. Notes / Actions to Take: (use separate sheet)

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Succession Planning The end of the year often brings leadership change for many organizations. Sometimes this change is initiated by the leader - retirement / health reasons / career change ... and sometimes the leader doesn't initiate the change, someone else does.

Regardless of how the change has come about, the most important thing is there is someone ready to take over the leadership position being vacated ... and the funny thing is the leader being replaced is typically responsible for having someone ready to replace her / him. It's called succession planning or succession development. As you head into the New Year, my leadership tip for you is to make succession development a priority throughout your organization in 2012. This could be the year where we see aggressive movement in many layers of management throughout many industries. Most organizations have depleted their bench strength and not done a great job of grooming key people for the next step in their careers. In 2012, you want to spend most of your time on profitably growing your business instead of scrambling to put out fires caused by inadequate succession development - let me know if I can help. Enjoy your leadership journey!

Notes / Actions to Take: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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