Read more about the article Leadership Lessons | Do you have the magic elixir of True Grit?

Leadership Lessons | Do you have the magic elixir of True Grit?

What Does It Take to be a Great Leader?

Nothing in life travels in a neat formation accompanied by bugles and cavalry. A lot of it shows up filthy and unkempt, prominent in the mess we’ve made around our foxhole. These lessons are typically the offspring of hubris, naivete and ignorance … or from overlooking the land mines hidden beneath our feet.

___________________

[pullquote]“Being in the lead and winning is not the same thing.” ~ Rory McIlroy[/pullquote]

What a dramatic Masters finish tells us about succeeding

No, really, I had no intention of writing about the Masters golf tournament — again. You might want to start by looking at Madness or a Masters in Business … but, this 75th anniversary “tune-a-mint” that ended a few weeks ago offered more lessons than a kindergarten classroom.

What is True Grit? Do you think you have it?

Most of us think of Rooster Cogburn, either in the persona of John Wayne or Jeff Bridges, when True Grit is mentioned.

But, what is true grit? Never say die? It’s never too late? All those, and more, applied to the crushing legion wrangling for the green jacket on that fateful Sunday. Eight players shared the lead over a few hours on Sunday. As in life, the contrasts were remarkable.

Rory McIlroy, who held the lead over 63 holes of the tournament, entered Sunday with a four stroke lead and watched it quickly evaporate as his game imploded — he shot 80 on the final day — as contenders climbed over him from every side. Eight players as far behind as seven strokes down tied for the lead at some point on that bucolic Sunday afternoon.

Life is perplexing blend of success and failure (more…)

Continue ReadingLeadership Lessons | Do you have the magic elixir of True Grit?
Read more about the article Personal Productivity | Don’t overlook the “Elapsed Time Effect”

Personal Productivity | Don’t overlook the “Elapsed Time Effect”

A Weekly Personal Productivity series to help you get more done!

Every Thursday, I’m sharing a new Personal Productivity Tip to help you get more done. Each Productivity Tip is a remarkably simple tool or concept that can be quickly implemented to make a real difference in your personal productivity. When you apply many of them together, they’ll make a big difference in improving productivity, achieving accountability and staying focused on the things that matter the most in your life.

You may want to check out some of the posts in this Productivity series, including the the value of checklists; the importance of getting rid of the crappy stuff;  the nightmare of the cluttered mind; and that feeling of being buried all the time. You can also leverage your resources and apply the lessons of the ARCI chart and the S.M.A.R.T. goals to boost the accountability of your entire organization.

____________________________________________

Which stuff are you working on first?

Don’t we all know there are many tasks or projects that require us to wait for something else to get done first … or for someone else to get something done before we can continue?

We know that “waiting for” stuff is a critical piece of our personal productivity program because it’s the linchpin of the critical “follow up” that we must always be doing.

So, that part is pretty obvious.

But, have you ever prioritized your tasks to make sure that you’re taking account of the “elapsed time” that something requires?

Here’s the simple hierarchy I try to use. See if it makes sense to you.

1. The 2 Minute Rule

If you can get it done in 2 minutes, do it, get it over with, move on. I think we all know this one.

2. The “Elapsed Time” Effect

Here’s a simple example of how this works. (more…)

Continue ReadingPersonal Productivity | Don’t overlook the “Elapsed Time Effect”
Read more about the article Business Finance | The Big River | Chapter 4 – What happens if we need an outside investor?
The Big River series is a 12 part installment about a company desperately seeking cash to fuel their growth and the struggles they face trying to find it.

Business Finance | The Big River | Chapter 4 – What happens if we need an outside investor?

The Big River series
The Big River series is a 12 part installment about a company desperately seeking cash to fuel their growth and the struggles they face trying to find it.

John Wilson, CEO of Ace Business Stuff, was thinking about several of the issues that he discussed earlier that day with his controller, Tom Sampson, and what Tom told him:

“Giving our customers an additional 30 days to pay, relaxing collections and neglecting the sale of inventory already on hand, isn’t a very sound strategy.”

Instinctively, he knew that Tom was right and that whatever bank loan they could obtain, it wouldn’t be enough.

What if bank financing isn’t enough?

Ted Deepockets, his long-time friend, had periodically needled John about the pros and cons of outside investors. He always seemed like he’d be interested in investing if the opportunity was presented. (more…)

Continue ReadingBusiness Finance | The Big River | Chapter 4 – What happens if we need an outside investor?
Read more about the article Leadership Lessons | Are Incentives the Cornerstone of Life?

Leadership Lessons | Are Incentives the Cornerstone of Life?

Does your incentive program REALLY drive performance?

You probably know someone, don’t you, who is a star performer who believes that her achievements go unrewarded?

If so, you probably also know an underachiever who gets more than he deserves.I

s there any greater disincentive to the high performer than knowing that under-performance seems to be equally rewarded?

Should there be a moratorium on bonuses?

I’ve talked about the value of incentives before, but it keeps coming to mind as I talk to senior executives who don’t seem to have spent any time at all considering whether their incentive plans are working as intended … or whether they need to be revised.

In some ways, it reminds me of the comment that Bloomberg attributed to Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, during the $20 billion bonus scandals during the 2008-2009 financial meltdown.

According to Bloomberg, this was his comment … (more…)

Continue ReadingLeadership Lessons | Are Incentives the Cornerstone of Life?
Read more about the article Social Media | LinkedIn’s 100 Million Members ARE a big deal

Social Media | LinkedIn’s 100 Million Members ARE a big deal

Leverage the Business Power of LinkedIn

It happened again the other day. I was chatting with a client and in the course of our conversation about someone they said: “I checked him out on LinkedIn.”

LinkedIn has become the de facto “go to” resource for researching companies and most especially people to learn more about them. And, if you’re very interested, you can usually find someone in your LinkedIn network to chat with and “get the scoop.”

LinkedIn now has 100 million members

LinkedIn doesn’t get covered as much in the media as its more glamorous cousins, Facebook and Twitter, but it has grown steadily as a powerhouse in the business environment and now stands at 100M+ members, adding 1 new member a second!

Unlike Facebook, people don’t hang out on LinkedIn for hours, they get in and get out – usually with a specific business purpose in mind. The information you get isn’t about a new restaurant or cute kid stories; people actually share information that’s useful to other business professionals on LinkedIn and use it as a research and networking tool.

LinkedIn is a powerful business marketing channel

Since LinkedIn members are there for business reasons, it’s become a highly receptive marketing channel for you to leverage for a variety of business purposes, including Business Development and Brand Management.

Business Development gets a boost when you leverage the capabilities of LinkedIn. (more…)

Continue ReadingSocial Media | LinkedIn’s 100 Million Members ARE a big deal