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Eric Hoffer tells us, “In a world of change, the learners shall inherit the earth, while the learned shall find themselves perfectly suited for a world that no longer exists.”
An objective my leadership teams and I shared was to offer learning opportunities to our team. Each year a specific amount of money would be set aside to sponsor any of our team who saw an opportunity to become better by learning more than what we were able to offer. To obtain sponsorship, the employee was asked to tell us 1.The specific training they sought. 2.How that training would help them be better at their specific job, or in career development. 3.How they planned to use the new information to perform at higher levels. 4.How they would share what they learned with the other team members. We learned that not everyone wants to learn new things, even to be better at what they do. We also learned that spending money to train people who didn’t want to learn was a waste of the valuable resources of time and money. Sol says… “It is senseless to pay to educate a fool, since he has no heart for learning.” ~ Proverbs 17:16 Make it a great day and keep being awesome.
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When my boss was kind enough to provide a lesson in leadership in my last post, he also showed me that when a cooler head prevails, progress can be made.
This leads me to the thought, “Is there a time and place for anger?” Sure, there is, when it is controlled anger, such as when used to show disappointment in an attempt to build up another. And there are also times when anger is inappropriate, such as an uncontrolled, emotional response which may be used to intimidate or belittle. The latter leads to loss of respect. Sol says, “Control your temper, for anger labels you a fool.” Ecclesiastes 7:9 Do you use anger or does anger use you? Make it a great day and keep being awesome. As a basketball player, I loved winning and hated losing.
Leaders, like athletes who love to win, focus on what it takes to win, not their competition. A friend of mine who owns an escape room business, loved it when new brands of that type business opened in town. He went so far as to welcome and offer support to the owners. He realized that the competition brought more recognition and credibility for their industry. The competition was good for him as it kept him focused on the things he could do better, which is why he was saddened anytime one of his competitors failed and closed. Competition is good for business. Sol says… “Don’t rejoice when your enemies fall; don’t be happy when they stumble.” ~ Proverbs 24:17 Make it a great day and keep being awesome. Are you coachable?
No matter where you are in life, it is important to learn from those who come before you. As a sophomore at The Citadel, I played for a coach who recruited ability and spent little time developing that ability, let alone character and team unity. I learned a lot about what leaders should not do from that experience. With that one exception, my playing career was blessed by some excellent coaches, leaders who shared excellent leadership and character building principles. Consider it a blessing to have good leaders, coaches, and mentors. When you do, Sol says… “Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair, and you will find the right way to go.” ~ Proverbs 2:9 Be sure to invest time to find those who can feed solid wisdom for the direction you should go in your life and career. Make it a great day and keep being awesome.  Do you know what customers and prospective customers say about your business because of the interaction they have with one or more of your employees?
It is one thing to think you have a good reputation for dealing with people in the marketplace and quite another to know. Hopefully, for the organization you lead, what you think what others say lines up with what the marketplace hears. Research tells us that 74% of prospective buyers are influenced by the recommendations of their family and friends. Since your family and friends may add up to a limited number, buyers go to the internet, where 92% of people who search for comments about you and your business trust those comments, both positive and negative, even though they don’t know who wrote them. Unfortunately, too few small business leaders have the time and resources to invest in learning what is being said about them online. Not knowing how your business’ reputation is affected by what is being said about your business online can increase or decrease your revenue. -> You can build messages on the positive comments, -> while responding in a professional manner to negative comments. Sol says… “Choose a good reputation over great riches; being held in high esteem is better than silver or gold.” ~ Proverbs 22:1 Reputation matters. Be sure yours is where you want it to be. Make it a great day and keep being awesome.  How do you feel about conflict?
While good leaders don’t go out looking for it, they relish conflict as a litmus test for the decisions and the trust level in the organization. Patrick Lencioni lists the absence of trust as one of the five enemies of a team. A leader’s willingness to be vulnerable builds trust. After all, isn’t trust required to deal with conflict? Don’t you know that life and the organization you lead are full of conflict; and that’s a good thing. What? A good thing? Conflict is good for your life and your organization. -> Conflict means that someone, somewhere, be it an employee, customer, or supplier is not in accord with something you are doing. -> Conflict means you have an opportunity to develop trust by engaging openly the cause of the conflict and determining a satisfying understanding. -> When you deal with conflicts consistently, using a standard that everyone understands, trust is built among the entire organization as well as with customers who enjoy being treated fairly. Conflicts that are left unresolved or where someone’s incompetence is not dealt with fairly result in a loss of trust, reducing organizational unity, morale, and productivity. Sol says… ”The Lord detests double standards.” ~ Proverbs 20:23 Be sure to lead with consistent standards which build trust and enable conflicts which strengthen the organization. Make it a great day and keep being awesome. Have you ever thought about your leadership journey and those who fed into you during your years of growth?
A great leader realizes that the process of developing leadership skills is filled with wise teachers and mentors who feed into them. When I reflect on my journey, the memory of Zig Ziglar feeding wisdom into me while leaning against his kitchen sink following Bible fellowship sessions that he and his wife Jean hosted comes vividly to the forefront. It dawned on me how having casual chats with Zig Ziglar in his kitchen, absorbing and digesting his words of wisdom as my mentor, was as important to my professional growth and development as eating the right foods were to my physical growth and development. Your personal and professional growth are enhanced by the nourishment you gain from the insights you take in from those wise mentors with whom you develop relationships. Growth is a never-ending opportunity and is enhanced when you continuously seek wise counsel. Sol says, "Get all the advice and instruction you can, so you will be wise the rest of your life.” ~ Proverbs 19:20 Seek wise mentors. Make it a great day and keep being awesome. Are you aware of the enemy silently seeking to steal, kill and destroy the achievements and success of leaders?
You can watch for it, but you won’t see it coming as it sneaks up on you and infiltrates you through your achievements. So, what is this enemy that wants to take you down? Pride! -> Pride inflates your ego, convincing you of the lie that the world cannot exist without you. -> Pride influences your thinking in such a way that you no longer look for solutions that don’t agree with your original thinking. -> Pride leads to rejecting the sound counsel from outside perspectives because, well, because they are outside. -> Pride blinds you to the point that you don’t see the traps into which you are about to fall. The best leaders, such as those highlighted in Jim Collins’ book, Good to Great, fight pride by showing gratitude to their teams and by shining the light of success away from themselves. Sol says… “Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.” ~ Proverbs 16:18 Search for ways to be a well-grounded leader. Make it a great day and keep being awesome. Have you ever worked for someone in a leadership position who was all gloom and doom, never seeming to see the good in situations or people?
I once played basketball for a coach who never seemed joyful around the team. He seemed sad, with a heavy heart even though he had the job that many basketball coaches dream of having, coaching a division 1 program in a competitive league, surrounded with talented athletes who loved the game. Even when we performed well, his message was that the performance was not good enough. Think about your work environment. How do your people respond if you fail to acknowledge good performance while complaining that it was not good enough? Exactly! The team loses heart, confidence, and a desire to perform at the highest level. Sol says… “A glad heart makes a happy face; a broken heart crushes the spirit.” ~ Proverbs 15:13 Think about those you lead and ask yourself, “Do my people see a glad heart in me or am I crushing spirits? Answer that question, then make it a great day and keep being awesome. #joy #inspiration #employeeengagement #smallbusinessowners #entrepreneurs #managers #hr #teachers Have you ever worked under the leadership of someone whose leadership style was to get results through intimidation and control?
What did that feel like? Two things happen in those circumstances. -> You become submissive and stop thinking things through due to a loss of confidence in your abilities, and -> you lose the initiative to become the best you can be with the gifts and talents you have. Whether you are searching for a career opportunity or developing relationships with new connections, good leaders remain aware of the things they say and how they say them. They have the wisdom to realize that their words reveal what is in the heart. Sol says… “Those who control their tongue will have a long life; opening your mouth can ruin everything.” ~ Proverbs 13:3 Make it a great day and keep being awesome. |
AuthorBrian Kennedy is an encourager who shepherds small business owners and entrepreneurs along the path of business success to preeminence by embracing time tested principles and executing the associated fundamentals daily. Archives
January 2023
Leadership
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