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Archive for the ‘management’ Category
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009
A week ago, the Los Angeles Times printed an article about Barack Obama’s desire to postpone the United States federally mandated switch to digital broadcast television.
When I read the first few lines, I thought “Why postpone? Haven’t we been aware of the switch for years?” Haven’t we been bombarded by media making us aware of this transition, the approaching deadline, and what we need to do? This makes me think of holding people accountable.
 The Government created a program where individuals could request a coupon that would allow them to purchase a new digital antenna box for their T.V.’s at a low cost. According to this article, there are 1.1 million coupon requests that cannot be filled due to a lack of funding. Furthermore, as the article stated, 8 million households rely on antennas and are unprepared for the switch.
When I read this, my thought went back to the concept ACCOUNTABILITY. These 1.1 million people obviously waited until just a few months before the antenna box was required, rather than being proactive. They knew of the transition, they knew what was required of them, and they knew the deadline was February 2009.
From my perspective, these 8 million people need a little tough love and a lesson on accountability. The government shouldn’t be required to take care of every need or every issue facing society. Especially when it comes to funding the availability to sit in front of a television set. Shouldn’t these people either make do, or do without? What about your organization. Have you developed processes to have them put off or ignored?
Here are a few thoughts on accountability:
- Unaccountable behavior is costly for your organization. How much is it costing you?
- As a leader, you have a greater challenge when it comes to accountability. Not only do you need to model the behavior yourself, but you need to instill it in those you manage.
- People with integrity and accountability do make a difference in the organization’s performance which will translate to bottom line results.
- A culture of accountability will shift people from being reactive to more proactive.
- Accountability can be summed up as acting in a responsible way and following through on your commitments.
This article in the Los Angeles times is a great example of a lack of accountability. It reminds me of the woman who spilled coffee on herself while at a major fast food chain. She sued the organization for a few million dollars because she didn’t want to be accountable for her own foolish actions. What’s next? A 50 billion dollar Ponzi investment scheme? Let’s start holding people accountable for their own actions. If you have a good example of accountability or lack-of, post it into our comments section below.
Tags: accountability, management
Posted in accountability, management, performance, trust | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
Managers and leaders have many tools available to solve problems, improve quality, increase performance, and change employee behavior. Back when TQM wasn’t a four-letter word, managers also had Cause and Effect Diagrams, Force Field Analysis, and Flow Charts to solve problems and resolve difficulties. Actually, we still use these tools today, but don’t attach their use to TQM. Instead, we quote philosophies like Six Sigma and Process Improvement, new names, but the same old process.
Managers “empower” a team to sift through information and come up with workable solutions or transfer problem and solution ownership to generate personal responsibility and accountability. Another tool that managers can employ is to impose a solution without any team involvement. Yes, managers and leaders today have many tools that can be used in the performance of their jobs. The problem often is, however, deciding which tool to use and when to use it.
 When I explain to managers the importance in selecting the right tool for a particular situation, I tell a story that happened to me in 1966. I was about to build a cabin in the mountains east of Salt Lake City and needed to remove a large rock from our future driveway. The top of the rock was about four feet in diameter and about one foot of it was exposed above ground. It was late August and I needed the driveway cleared so the large trucks could make deliveries the next spring. However, since I am not a contractor, I didn’t know what tool to use.
My first tool was a shovel, but the more I dug around the rock, the larger it got. It seemed to grow with each shovel of dirt. Next I tried a sledgehammer. For the better part of a day I beat the rock with the heaviest sledgehammer I could find. At the end of the day, however, all that I had accomplished was a lot of scratches, a few minor chips in the rock and an aching back. The result was clear evidence that I had chosen the wrong tools.
A neighbor had hired a backhoe operator to dig his foundation, so I slipped the backhoe operator $20.00 and asked him if he would move he rock on his lunch break. By the end of lunch the rock was still there, only with a few more scrapes and chips. I got my $20.00 back.
Frustrated beyond description because winter was about to set in, I described my plight to an old farmer. He told me to drill a dozen deep holes around the perimeter of the rock and fill them with water. He explained that the freezing water would pop the top of the rock off before spring. The following spring I anxiously waited for the snow to melt, only to discover the farmer had also recommended the wrong tool. The rock was still intact.
 Now I was in trouble. Delivery trucks were going to arrive any day and I had to find a tool strong enough to move the rock. Because I had used dynamite the previous summer to remove tree stumps, asked the dynamite salesperson if I should blast the rock. I didn’t know at the time that the person selling dynamite knew very little about explosives. Being totally unaware of his inexperience I listened carefully to his advice. He suggested that I use 15 pounds of a new type of plastic explosive that had just arrived. He said to pack the plastic explosives and a blasting cap around the rock, and then cover it with several wet blankets and mud.
Now, luckily in today’s world, a common citizen cannot purchase explosives, but my rock experience took place in 1966 when our society was much different. So on a Saturday morning, with the full cooperation of the local police who blocked off traffic on a nearby road, I lit a 15-minute fuse and hurried a half-mile away to await the impending explosion. But 15 minutes came and went, and there was no explosion.
Do you have any idea how stupid I must have been to walk up to the rock and remove the blankets? The blasting cap had gone off, but for some reason the plastic didn’t explode. The police officer let the cars through the roadblock and told me that I had to make a quick decision.
Something I did know is that a blasting cap would set off a stick of dynamite, because I had done it at least 20 times the previous summer. So I guessed that the dynamite detonation would set off the plastic explosives. I quickly reset the explosives with a blasting cap, one stick of dynamite, and 15 pounds of plastic explosives. Then I lit a 15-minute fuse and hurried to my vantage point a half-mile away.
I remember looking at my watch because I was really surprised that we coincidently had an earthquake at the exact moment my watch indicated the 15 minutes were up. Indeed, a half-mile away the ground actually shook, but it took a couple of seconds for the loudest boom I have ever heard to reach me. When I looked toward our cabin site, I saw what appeared to be a small volcano. Tons of rock, dirt, bushes and trees had been blown upward several hundred feet into the sky. As I gazed at this unbelievable sight, I remember wondering how long I would be sitting in jail for blowing up the mountainside.
 That’s when I saw debris landing near me a half-mile from the explosion. In fact one rock about four inches in diameter almost hit me. Today, I have that rock in my office as a reminder that selecting the correct tool for a problem is critically important. Perhaps even lifesaving!
I learned later that the single stick of dynamite would have been enough explosive to remove the rock. If I had used the right tool, the explosion wouldn’t have flattened so many trees around the site. And it wouldn’t have required two dump truck loads of dirt to fill in the huge hole that was blasted into my future driveway. Even today, over 40 years later it is possible to see small rocks imbedded into the trees
that survived my application of the wrong tool.
The point is without effective tools managers can become handicapped and even powerless. The problem is which tools to use and how to use them. Clearly, not enough time is spent in today’s business world teaching about managerial and leadership tools. Without proper tools managers spin their wheels, create confusion, generate frustration, and generally become less effective than they could be otherwise. My advice: Be sure that you learn about the tools, and only use enough explosive to remove the rock. Remember, fill dirt is expensive.
Watch for upcoming blog posts on useful tools for managers and leaders. You can also browse past posts and find useful information.
Tags: choosing a leadership style, choosing management tools, leadership tools, management tools, selecting management tools
Posted in leadership, management | 1 Comment »
Monday, September 29th, 2008
 The unanswered question of all time is, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” While an answer to this question has yet to be determined, I will attempt to answer a similar question posed to me recently by a new manager.
CMOE is currently replicating its research on Coaching Skills, which was originally conducted in 1985. Last month, I was conducting the one-on-one interviews for this research project. During one particular interview with a very new manager, I noticed him ruminating when I asked him about his coaching style, experience, and effectiveness. I asked him to describe a specific example of one of his coaching conversations. He contemplated the question for a while before saying “When I meet with my employees on an individual basis, it is because there is a problem. These conversations tend to be more of a negative experience for both me and the employee I’m coaching. This is mostly because I’ve never clearly understood when to meet with my employees. Should I meet with them when a problem arises? Or do I spend my time conducting proactive meetings to hopefully prevent problems?”
Essentially what this person was asking is, “What comes first, coaching or the need to coach?” This is a very interesting question and one that has been asked before in CMOE’s Coaching Skills Workshop. If this question is one you’ve found yourself asking as well, please take some time to think it over or post your own thoughts and comments for others to view. Also, stay on the lookout for Part 2 of this blog that addresses this question in-depth.
Tags: , Coaching, coaching skills, managers, need for coaching
Posted in coaching skills, management | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008
 A few days ago, my son came to me with a difficult decision. He was debating whether or not to stay in his position. The problem was that he had been having some difficulty with his team leader. As a member of a team, he felt a responsibility to keep this leader informed about the project he was supporting. However, whenever my son met with this leader he became frustrated and often felt devalued. This leader is addicted to his Blackberry. He acts as though the device and what it was conveying was more important than any information my son had to give. Because of this lack of attention, this leader too often missed the important information my son tried to convey.
Dr. Steven Stowell and Ms. Stephanie Mead explain in their book, The Team Approach: With Teamwork Anything is Possible, there are eight internal forces that short circuit teamwork. Two of these, “excessive pursuit of self interest” and “inflated egos and intimidation” seem to fit the way my son felt about his supervisor. I have to admit when I first read these forces I assumed that the authors were talking about the executive who does anything (ethical or not) to get up the ladder.
Excessive pursuit of self interest covers much more than the narcissist; it also covers those who think they are so busy that they fail to acknowledge those around them. When you pay more attention to incoming calls, emails, and interruptions you are silently telling the one you are suppose to be talking to that they are not worthy of your time or not valuable in your estimation. In this case, the information that my son tried to share with the boss and was ignored, lead to an embarrassing situation when the boss was unable to explain why a project was behind to a major client. More importantly, this embarrassing situation happened in a group meeting with representatives from all the different companies involved in the project.
When this boss returned from the meeting, a memo was sent out that was both intimidating and unduly demanding. If only he had listened when my son met with him, he would have known the information he needed and the embarrassment experienced by the boss and the organization would have been avoided. Obviously, my son has a decrease of trust and respect for this person. Dr. Stowell and Ms. Mead state, “Trust and respect are fragile and are earned over time through genuine actions.”
If you don’t take time to listen and assimilate all the information you are going to be embarrassed or caught off guard. How can you assume that you know where to go or how to answer if you don’t have all the information about the situation ahead? To quote Joe Namath, “To be a leader, you have to make people want to follow you, and nobody wants to follow someone who doesn’t know where he is going.” Are you too involved with the activity beasts in your life to hear those people around you?
Sadly, while my son liked his job and wanted to stay, he felt that he had to leave the organization. Think about the costs to the organization when this lack of trust , respect, and courtesy is exhibited. How much does it cost to replace team members? How much transition time does it take to learn the business? How long will it take for your client’s confidence in you and your organization be restored? Isn’t it more cost effective to spend the few minutes of complete attention to a colleague?
A final thought. Communication between team members is essential to the success of the team. But just as critical is the basic recognition that each member is valued and important enough to be listened to. James Humes said, “The art of communication is the language of leadership.’
Tags: , devaluing your team, leadership, team confidence, teamwork
Posted in communication, management, teamwork | 2 Comments »
Monday, September 22nd, 2008
 A few weeks ago our Management Team had just finished our regular weekly meeting. As we came out of the meeting, other co-workers informed us about a wild fire at the south end of the valley on the mountain side. At first, we thought it was no big deal, even though another co-worker and I actually lived in that area. I wasn’t concerned about the situation because I don’t often think about having my home burn down. A few minutes later, my wife called me to let me know that she could actually see flames on the mountainside and while they were not very close to our home, she was becoming concerned.
Her biggest concern was if the fire authorities decided to evacuate people from their homes, there was no returning to the home until clearance was given by the fire emergency personnel. She asked that I come home for the time being while she ran an errand as a precautionary measure. At first I thought this would not be a necessary thing. I highly doubted the fire would get close to our home, besides I had several urgent things that needed to be accomplished at work. Several meetings had already consumed a lot of my time at work so far and working from home for an hour or two was going to hamper productivity even further. I just really didn’t want to do it; but I thought, “What is the most important priority right now? Is it my work, or protecting my family, home and most valuable items from the potential threat of a real fire?” I immediately headed for home.
It turned out to be a good decision. While our neighborhood was not evacuated, 75-80 homes just East of us were evacuated and we were warned that our neighborhood was next. At that point I was glad that I had focused on this priority.
Does this sound familiar? I mean, how many times at work or in life, do we have “fires” that distract us from the work we need to get done and our priorities. I feel that all too often we allow these fires to distract us and take us off course. I suggest that we turn those fires into a positive action rather than looking at them as a negative event. Just like in my personal experience, when the fire seemed like a threat, it helped me to focus on what was the most important issue at hand. I think we can use this in our daily work life. When there are fires at work, be aware of them and use them as a way to focus on what are the important priorities that you and your team are trying to accomplish. Sometimes in all the daily activity and” busy-ness” of business, we can lose sight of the goal. We get so caught up in doing things and prioritizing our schedule that we often forget to schedule in our priorities. We can take advantage of the fires or the threats that surface to help us refocus and re-energize our teams and our commitment to the end result.
Tags: , Good decisions, priorities, Prioritize
Posted in management, time management | 1 Comment »
Monday, August 11th, 2008
Hard Work
Here at CMOE we always have plenty of work to go around. I’m sure many of you can relate to this. On occasion, when we get overloaded during our busy seasons and we often bring in “temporary” people to help with a number of tasks. These workers help to reorganize the stock room and do landscaping beyond our normal service, or help with random projects that often involve significant physical labor.
On one occasion, we had the pleasure of working with a great individual who was helping to clean up after some remodeling. Benny was dependable, worked very hard and focused on the projects he was assigned to. Because of his dedication, we specifically requested his assistance from the temporary labor agency we were working with to assign him to us.
Background On Benny
One morning I was asked to pickup Benny on my way into work. During our drive to the office, Benny talked about his personal life. He was barely making ends meet it life and had some health issues. If I had to guess, he was in his late 50’s but looked much older. Benny had spent most of his life working on labor intensive jobs permanently in construction. While he liked this type of work, it was not very rewarding. Too many of the individuals he had worked with throughout his life were very autocratic and dictatorial and having spent some time in this industry myself, I knew the type he was referring to.
The Job Site
Benny worked on multiple job sites for us. One day a few of us decided to jump in and help Benny load some broken concrete into a dumpster. This would help get the next phase of this particular project a jump start and give Benny some much needed help and a bit of motivation to the backbreaking work.
After the dumpster was fully loaded, we took a break from the searing heat and dust. As we were sitting in the shade, someone said to him “Benny, you have been great! You’re such a hard worker and I appreciate your effort and attention to detail. I don’t know where we would be without you this week.” After the rest of us confirmed this comment, there was a pause for a few seconds. Benny responded with a quiver in his voice, “I really try to work hard and do a good job, but no one has ever told me that. Thank you. You guys have been good to me.”
The Impact
When Benny made this comment, you could see he felt undervalued for much of his life. I thought to myself, how unfortunate it is that no one has ever told Benny he does a good job. A simple “JOB WELL DONE” can go much further than we might ever think.
The Lesson – Talent Retention
As I think back on this, I wonder how many managers and organizations lost out on Benny? The concept of providing appreciation to employees is nothing new, but if it is not being communicated or taught to leaders and managers, organizations ARE and will lose great talent. It is not uncommon to hear that employees leave their managers and not their jobs. We can change this by providing some simple appreciation and recognition.
Application
Today, celebrate a success with your team.
Tags: , saying thank you, team appreciation
Posted in management, motivation, talent | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008
Currently, I am reading Daniel Goleman’s book, Social Intelligence. He begins his book with a story from the early days of the second Gulf War. For me, this story is a remarkable example of strong team leader and a well developed team.
 The story involves Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Hughes and a local mosque. His mission was to ask for help from the cleric in organizing the distribution of relief supplies.
However, fearing the soldiers were coming to arrest their spiritual leader or destroy their mosque, a holy shrine, a mob gathered. As hundreds of devout Muslims surrounded the soldiers, waving their hands and shouting, pressed in toward the heavily armed platoon. Hughes thought fast.
Hughes picked up a loud speaker and told his soldiers to “take a knee” meaning kneel on one knee. Then he ordered them to point their rifles toward the ground and “Smile.”
The crowd’s mood quickly changed. A few people still yelled, but the majority began to smile in return. Some people even patted the soldiers on the back as Hughes ordered them to walk slowly away, backward and still smiling.
Courage to Trust
Think about the trust that these soldiers had in their leader. A large group of people is moving towards their smaller group. The people are angry, frightened, and clearly agitated enough to cause bodily harm. Then their leader says, drop to a submissive position.
Would you do it? You are in high stress. Your body is telling you to fight or flee. You don’t want to hurt anyone; your purpose is to give aid. But you don’t want to be hurt or killed either. So, it takes a great deal of courage for you to follow this type of leadership. The deciding factor is your trust in this person, gained over time and with personal interaction. Trust is not developed in a moment. In their book, The Team Approach, Stephen J. Stowell and Stephanie Mead explain, “Trust and respect are fragile and are earned over time through genuine actions.”
Courage to Lead
Maybe more important to this incident was Hughes’ courage to ask his team to take a precarious position. It was possible that the situation would not have defused. It was a calculated risk. Dr. Stowell and Ms. Mead emphasize that, “Courage is primarily learned. It is something that team leaders must seek out, study, and emulate in response to specific obstacles and defining moments. Great leaders generate courage in the moment and recognize when action is required, regardless of the risks involved. Courage can be refined, and it becomes easier through regular practice.” Lt. Colonel Hughes’ courage was developed through dedication, conviction, and clearly defined values exercised daily. He was confident in his beliefs that he could respect the Mosque and what it represented. He was also not afraid to acknowledge the behavior that infuriated the local people and then take immediate action to rectify the error.
These qualities must have been demonstrated and observed long before this crisis incident. His team had to have seen his commitment, felt his conviction, and understood his values well enough to know that he would not easily risk their lives.
How does your team respond in a crisis? Do they trust you enough to follow a calculated risk? Perhaps it is time to re-evaluate your leadership style.
Posted in communication, leadership, management, teamwork, trust | 2 Comments »
Monday, June 9th, 2008
 Go back a few years and think about the things you did on a daily basis to get results and achieve goals. Would you say your daily tactics, assignments, projects are the same today as they were five years ago? In most cases people I talk to said no. In my own work, while some of the tactical aspects of my job have remained, almost every other aspect of my job is different. Now, think about what duties your job will require in the future. One year, three years, or five years from now, will you be doing the same things you are doing today? Probably not.
Managers who operate strictly in tactical mode are not focused on their people, their future success, long term goals and strategies, and have difficulty being a well rounded effective leader. Strategic Thinking is an important tool for success in any organization. I believe that everyone can be more entrepreneurial and can drive more value in contributing to long term personal and business success by improving strategic thinking. If your people focus too much on the day to day operations and just getting through their task lists, what will happen to your future? The first skill to being strategic is what we call “Taming the Beast.” The beasts are those things that keep us from spending some time on strategic objectives, keep us from preparing for the future, and blind us from what is on the horizon.
Successful strategic thinkers understand and develop ways to combat their beasts. They find ways around the roadblocks and are in tune with organization needs and objectives, future opportunities, creative and innovative ideas, as well as worst probable scenarios that might hinder future success.
So what are your beasts? How can you tame them? Beasts are different for each one of us. One of my beasts is email. I don’t know about you but I am quick to stop whatever I am doing just to answer an email that could easily be done later. When that icon pops up on the computer, I tend to stop whatever I am doing to look and see who has sent me a note. Email is a huge distraction in my work day, therefore to tame my beast I keep my computer off for the first 15 minutes of the day. I spend that 15 minutes planning for key strategic objectives that are longer term and need some attention and detail today. When my computer is on, I have established three different levels of distinction for email. Now, End of the Day, and Later files were set up in my email system. Any email that arrives which deserves immediate attention goes in to the Now file and get answered every two hours. Email that is less important goes into either the End of the Day or Later file. At the end of my day I will spend whatever time I need to in answering the email. This system works for me and it is not to difficult to come up with a systematic approach to taming the beast. Here are two suggestions to tame your beasts.
- Take some time and identify the beast that is distracting you most from strategic thinking time. Once you have identified the beast create a plan to tackle it.
- Try to curb your appetite for activity and regularly schedule some time during the week to focus on long term issues. By doing so, you will be more in tune and prepared for future obstacles and opportunities.
With a little focused effort, you will be surprised at how easy it is.
Tags: Coaching Employees, Employee Coaching, Strategic Thinking
Posted in management, strategy | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
In order to successfully position your organization in the marketplace, leadership teams must create a compelling and distinctive value proposition. Customers must believe you are there to champion their needs, not just to make a profit. However, defining a really attractive value proposition is actually the easy part. The hard part is getting the organization totally aligned and in sync with a customer focused value proposition. Everyone in the organization must understand and see that the customer is part of their personal responsibility. This customer-oriented culture relies on front line leaders that help people understand how they fit into the strategic management of the business and why they matter.
If you can get people to think strategically about the customer at an individual level and act in ways to exceed their current and emerging expectations, you can keep the organization well ahead of your rivals. However, developing a passion for customer problems and creating solutions doesn’t come naturally to most people and can be challenging to develop. Begin by thinking about your own experience. Ask yourself how well you like doing business with the last company that had lack of interest in your problem? In fact, you might even ask yourself if your current suppliers are anticipating your future needs and problems.
More than 30 years of strategic management and consulting experience has indicated to us that “customer acumen” is the heart of successful business strategy. However, creating this customer oriented culture is hard work and it is not an exact science. Here are a few tips to get started:
Insure everyone in your organization understands that giving customers value is a clear priority. Leaders at all levels have to instill a deep understanding and reverence for what the company stands for and what your value proposition is. In essence, knowing what the company is trying to be, why the company does the unique activities it does, and why these activities are hard to replicate by competitors. A customer centric culture is a function of the behaviors, attitudes, and training of each individual employee.
As leaders you have to preach customer value every opportunity you get. This movement must become part of the daily vernacular. Let people know that bringing value to the customer is the core goal of the organization. Then, coach employees to take responsibility and act in ways that show they embrace customer value.
Finally, give them honest and immediate feedback when they succeed and when they come up short. The end goal is to help members of your organization understand that creating value for the customer is the ultimate measure of their success. It is what keeps you in business and pays the bills. To do this, leaders need to understand their role as change agents and coaches. You must extend the call to all leaders to be courageous coaches and hold people accountable. It is also important that leaders receive development opportunities so they know what feedback and coaching looks like and feels like. These discussions are different than the usual business opportunity discussions. Robust coaching sessions will focus on strengths, weaknesses, and actual behaviors that are occurring on the job.
 With active strategic management you can achieve long-term sustained success for your employees, customers, and owners. Once people understand their role as customer advocates, they will begin to see opportunities to grow the business and serve customers by exceeding today’s needs, anticipating future problems, and creating innovation solutions. As leaders and employees alike become comfortable challenging the status quo, they will create a dynamic and rewarding organization for everyone.
Tags: Coaching, Strategic Management, team building
Posted in coaching skills, management, strategy | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008
A Year Long Process
This past year, I had the opportunity to spend five weeks with a group of twenty five middle-level managers from Latin America. We were involved in a program designed to help the group focus on a series of leadership skills that would ultimately add to their leadership development. This great experience culminated just this past week with some great training experiences. Even more exciting was what has happened in the lives of these participants over the course of a year.
The program started in Brazil and then made stops in Argentina, Uruguay, Honduras, the USA, and Mexico. The participants came from Brazil, Argentina, Honduras, El Salvador, Colombia, Venezuela, and Mexico. The members of this group were very diverse; in ages, in the work that they do, and the level of leadership experience. They brought with them cultural perspectives of different Latin American cultures and the unique challenges they each face.
It was obvious from the way that they interacted with others as well as in the way that they participated in some of the activities we did during the first week that some of the participants were hungry for new skills, yet others were quite skeptical and unsure of their need for this program. When we concluded this program, the maturation and confidence that each one in this group had developed, even in the one’s who thought that they “had arrived” was more than gratifying.
During the last session, participants shared the results of their personal business challenges that they agreed to accomplish during this year long program. Not only were the results of all their efforts excellent, some had very significant bottom-line impacts. We asked participants to tell us what specific training sessions and key learning’s they felt had a major impact on their ability to achieve the results that they did. Undoubtedly, one of the key things they gained was an internal change that takes place through self-reflection and application of the learning’s. This program definitely gave them the opportunity to do this. It also gave them a chance to see how leadership, even in small packages, affects the lives of those around them. There is no question that each participant was impacted by the contact they had with the others. It will leave a very long-lasting impression on all of their hearts.
More Than Just Business
Several life changing experiences had happened along this journey for these people – some became fathers, some lost family members, some faced major physical illnesses, and some moved families from one country to another. Many personal and private events helped to shape and form this future group of quality leaders. Leadership is not always about work and bottom line results. It is often about how we take our experiences to shape our future and the future paths of others. It is about how we share, teach and inspire. It is how we show kindness, thoughtfulness, and a helping hand at a time in need. Leadership is making ourselves a source for which to lift the life of another. This is where leadership really makes its mark. While it is important to see the business results; the way that you touch other people’s lives and the way that they will remember you is what makes a leader great.
Tags: Leadership in the Making Program means more than just B
Posted in leadership, management, organizational change | No Comments »
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