“The best leaders I know wrestle with words until they are able to communicate their big ideas in a way that captures the imagination, catalyzes action, and lifts spirits.” Bill Hybels

“Develop the leadership mind-set that embraces innovation as a life force, not as a technological improvement.” – Frances Hesselbein

[Our “imageneering” process can bring your business’s innovation to life! Contact us to find out more.]

“It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.” - Henry David Thoreau

[Thoreau had it right - what we see is the key! Even in challenging times, opportunity abounds. Let us help you create strategies that maximize your organization’s team, its strengths, and its emerging opportunities. Contact us for an initial “off-the-clock” meeting.]

My friend Jim Seybert recently celebrated his 10^th Year in business by penning the following “lessons” that he’s learned over that time period:

1) Patience and impatience each have their uses, and knowing when to wait or push ahead is sometimes impossible to ascertain.

2) Being flexible is a good thing, unless the situation calls for standing your ground.

3) The plural of focus is focii and focii is a one-word oxymoron because you really can't focus on more than one thing at a time, even though you must to survive.

4) Sometimes the most stubborn person is the one who refuses to stand still and allow a new idea to just pass by.

5) Taking time to rest has greater long-range value than having too much to do, but it's important that you have something from which to rest.

6) Even the most pompous of asses will occasionally have something of value to share.

7) It helps to have more than one Plan A.

8) A vast majority of the seeds you plant will never take root and you won't know which will until they do. So scatter as many seeds as you can and ignore the ones that never sprout.

9) Keeping up with all the social media channels is an annoying pain and probably not worth the effort - which is essentially what they've been saying about all advertising channels since advertising began.

10) Doing "more of the same" is never a good recipe for successful change - unless you haven't been doing enough of it in the first place.

11) All change boils down to one of two things: You can do a different thing, or you can do things differently.

More and more business owners are being influenced by the generosity message. There is a grow­ing need for practical insight on how to create a generous business. If you’re considering making the move, here are “Top 10 Tips” to help to jump-start your thinking:

#1. Make Sure the Business is Strong and Respected

You can’t have a successful giving program without profits. Taking care of your customers and providing great service and products is im­perative if you want your customers to support you in this endeavor.

#2. Lead by Example

Make a personal commitment of your own time, talents, and money. Don’t ask your staff to do something you aren’t willing to do yourself.

#3. Include Stewardship in Your Mission and Vision Statement

Make your goals more powerful and meaning­ful by going beyond just being number one in your market.

#4. Set Giving and Relationship Goals

You may want your initial goal to be ambitious and fun (e.g. percentage of profits, total dollars, involvement, alliances built, vol­unteer hours). You use business metrics, so why not use giving metrics? Measure results, not just dollars.

#5. Empower Your Staff and Their Families

A “generous business” starts with the owner and leadership team but cannot be accomplished without broad staff involvement. True transfor­mation happens as your whole staff and their families become owners and shapers of the vision.

#6. Be Creative, Take Risks

Get creative, when it comes to giving programs, and add them progressively as the giving cul­ture grows and skills are developed. Support new ventures and passionate people.

#7. Develop Guidelines for Focused Areas of Giving

Be careful about where money goes because your reputation goes with it. Draw boundaries that you and your staff can live with.

#8. Recognize That It’s Not About the Money

It’s about building relationships and changing the hearts of your staff, your change partners, and the lives of people you are reaching.

#9. Learn from Mistakes

Don’t be afraid to experiment and change. Find what works for you. Use mistakes in grants or programs as opportunities to learn.

#10. Celebrate Giving Successes

Develop programs to recognize the impact of your company and staff. Bring out the joy for everyone!

We’ve helped a few business successfully implement “generosity” into their business plan and corporate culture. We’d love to help you and your business too.

[Material for this post taken from an article by the National Christian Foundation.]

 

In the workplace, leaders are often so busy trying to keep up with their workloads and the responsibility of taking the organization forward that they fail to spend the quality time with their staff necessary to support, guide and build relationships. While the team may be profitable, over time it will lack the depth and quality necessary for long term success.

Effective leaders..

• Appreciate the value of spending time with their team members in support, training and things not related to work.
• Realize that their time is limited and valuable and so think about how and who they will spend their time with. Often it's the "creaky door that gets the oil" and the leaders' precious time is taken up by exceedingly needy and problematic team members. This will impact on the effectiveness of the team, as the team members who want to grow and develop can miss out on this time with their team leader.
• Manage their time well and can say “No!” at the right time.
• Know that for long term success it is important to find a balance between time at work and time at home. What is the value of being successful at work when all of our personal relationships are falling apart?

So, who are the people in your team (and in your family) you need to spend some more time with? How are you going to set this up so that it happens regularly? Are there people in your life that you should be spending less time with?

• Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink*
•  Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip & Dan Heath*
• Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust by Chris Brogan & Julien Smith
• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• Permission Marketing : Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers by Seth Godin*
• Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presenting Design and Delivery by Garr Reynolds
• Freakonomics and SuperFreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
• The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century by Thomas L. Friedman*
• Crush It! Why NOW is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk*
• The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss*
• Shogun by James Claville
• Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
• The Knack: How Street-Smart Entrepreneurs Learn to Handle Whatever Comes Up by Norm Brodsky and Bo Burlingham

 

I’ve only read 6 of the 13 (see “*” on the list). What about you? And what would you add to the “blow your mind” list?

Here’s a great article from FastCompany about why investing in your team requires a long-term focus, and is the only thing that will bring long-term results. William Yost argues that if we’re going to succeed, we need to change what we measure (at least the exclusivity of what we measure) and the time frame in which we measure it.

"Every good journey begins with knowing where you are and being willing to go somewhere else." Richard Rohr

“It is easy to trust someone who has never let us down. But if we are taking any level of risk at all there will be breakdowns, some of which will be caused by us. And rarely do we act fully alone – some breakdowns will happen because we have pushed the boundaries of what is possible given the dynamic of our existing relationships. Unless we use the inevitable breakdowns in an uncertain, rapidly changing world to learn how to trust each other more, we won’t grow to meet the challenges we face, let alone be prepared to take the risks required to do the extraordinary together.

 

“The opportunity of leveraging breakdowns in trust to fuel breakthroughs in relationship is not just a nice possibility. It is an essential skill for thriving in a world that increasingly depends on or ability to cooperate and collaborate to be successful.” - Susan Mazza

“You need to be authentic as a leader — to behave in a way that is consistent with your values. You earn the right to lead. You need a leadership philosophy that's grounded in self knowledge, and that begins with your purpose or passion. Why are you a leader? What do you intend to do as a leader, and how do you bring your values to that intention? Today's environment calls for visionary leaders who have a firm knowledge of themselves — knowledge that can translate into authentic, forward-focused action. The origins of your leadership style are in your life experiences. Determining the meaning of those experiences, and how they have shaped you, will transform the way you lead.”

Todd Henshaw, retired U.S. Army Lt. Colonel

“We need to accept risk as a normal condition.” – James Champy

“Every effective leader I’ve know is passionate about what he or she is doing. The time and energy devoted to work demand a commitment and conviction bordering on love.” - Warren Bennis

“If you lack the courage to start something, then you have already finished.” – Anonymous

Jimmy Wales is a catalyst. As founder of Wikipedia, he has built a life and business around engaging, empowering, and collaborating with a community of people. Wikipedia takes its name from the word “wiki” (from the Hawaiian word wiki, meaning "quick") and encyclopedia (from ancient Greek meaning "the circle of arts and sciences"). Wikipedia's 15 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world, and almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site. Said Wales, “I couldn’t write and encyclopedia by myself. From the very beginning, Wikipedia was a community.”

Actually, it didn’t start out that way. The venture began as Nupedia, an online English-language encyclopedia whose articles were written by experts and reviewed under a formal process. But Nupedia languished for almost a year, unable to generate compelling content and to compete with existing encyclopedia powerhouses such as Encyclopedia Britannica.

Releasing control of the tool is the thing that actually led to its success. But just because Wales is not in control doesn’t mean he’s hands-off. Jimmy is a catalyst for Wikipedia. He focuses his attention on maintaining the health and energy of the community, solving disputes, and keeping people engaged. He empowers people and gets out of the way…letting go, trusting people, and relying on others to effectively build the site. And it’s working – quick!

So, would you characterize your leadership as “catalyst” or “controller”? Is it working?