Eliciting excellence in others is the essence of leadership, and one of the most effective means of eliciting excellence is to instill a sense of pride in those around us. Instilling pride has a myriad of benefits – quality of work and workmanship improves, creativity and innovation increases, collaboration is facilitated more easily, and people [...]
The Zen of Leadership
July 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment
There are many aspects to leadership that parallel the philosophies, concepts, and perspectives of Zen Buddhism. I don’t profess to have a great depth of knowledge regarding Zen Buddhism, but from the insights I do have, I can see the application with respect to effective leadership. The parallel exists within the concept of leading without [...]
Most Companies Get Leadership Wrong
June 2, 2010 By 3 Comments
Most companies take a good approach to developing leaders, but generally miss the point. There’s a lot of emphasis placed on good decision making, effective communication, and team building. And all those are important, but don’t address what matters most. When you get right down to it, the essence of leadership – the thing that [...]
Does Success Change You?
May 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Imagine this scenario… You spend years working hard to succeed. During these years, you have some success, mixed with lots of false starts. But you never really reach the level of success you dream of. And then something shifts. Everything begins to work, and your fame and fortune take off. Here’s the question: Does success [...]
Don’t Bother Setting Goals
March 9, 2010 By 3 Comments
Don’t bother setting goals. It’s a waste of time. Let me explain why I feel this way about goals and then offer a better alternative. See if this scenario sounds familiar…
Stop Trying to Be Normal
February 9, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Stop trying to be normal. It undermines your success and keeps you in a state of mediocrity. It’s an interesting phenomenon.
If You Want Things The Way They Were…
January 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment
If you long for “the good old days” the way they were a couple of years ago, then things have to change. I’m not talking about the economy or the politicians. I’m talking about us and our business. If we want to regain the success of days past, then we need to change our marketing [...]
Stop Managing Your Agents
December 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment
I’ve seen it repeated over and over again. Sales managers managing their agents. Or more accurately, sales managers “trying” to manage their agents. And it never works. This is especially fruitless with respect to teams of independent sales agents. You see… people can’t be “managed”. Things get managed. People get led. It’s not simply a [...]
Three Stages of a Sales Agent
November 30, 2009 By 2 Comments
Sales agents and advisors have a life cycle, similar to that of the life cycle of a franchisee. There’s a beginning stage, an intermediate stage, and the final result stage. Most agents and advisors behave in a similar fashion during the first two stages, but their behavior can differ dramatically in the final result stage. [...]
Manage Stress to Boost Productivity
October 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment
We live in a time when it seems like we’re regularly put into situations that cause us stress. Sometimes we feel a little stress for a short time and sometimes we feel a lot of stress for a long time. The fact is that when we feel stress, especially for extended periods of time, not [...]
