“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” – Albert Einstein In his book, Living Above the Level of Mediocrity, Charles Swindoll tells of meeting a man who once served on one of Walt Disney’s original advisory boards. The early days were tough; but that remarkable, creative visionary refused to give up. What…
DetailsI am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened. – Mark Twain In Bits & Pieces a few years back a story is told of Somerset Maugham, the English writer, who once wrote about a janitor at St. Peter’s Church in London. One day a young…
DetailsWhat makes a great Leader? We often think of the traits of strong personality, public speaking prominence, and convicted commitment. Vocal, Prominent, Confident, and Ever Present. Can it be said, however, that those who are truly admirable do not need to be in the public eye?
DetailsThe people’s capacity to achieve is determined by their leader’s ability to empower.– John Maxwell Bart Starr, the former quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, was describing to a group of businessmen how his coach, Vince Lombardi, held absolute power. He stated that, as you entered Vince’s office, you noticed a huge mahogany desk with…
DetailsOften when I suggest to salespeople that they do some telephone selling, a panicky look comes over their faces and you’d think that I’d suggested they pick up a hot poker and put it to their ear! Part of this fear and disdain comes from exposure to extremely poor telemarketers who are blight on professional…
DetailsThe latest issue of McKinsey Quarterly contains a case study titled Developing Better Change Leaders. Using the backdrop of a multi-national operations improvement initiative, it addresses leadership development and organizational change and highlights the factors that make it possible to drive and sustain profound transformation. The case study underscores a number of important change leadership practices. Below, we touch on…
DetailsA leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves. – Lao Tzu In 0.2 seconds after typing the word “selfies” into the Google search engine more than 17 million results turned up. To say that we live in a…
DetailsI’ve been thinking lately about how one really moves up inside an organization. Many might think it’s about performance or schmoozing. The former is hard, because not everyone gets an opportunity to produce measureable results. The latter isn’t really true, except for those rare situations where the leadership cares more about being popular than organizational…
DetailsIn my early years of selling, whenever I got an objection, my heart would sink, my stomach would go into turmoil, and my mind would shift into overdrive trying to figure out how to deal with it. All my early sales training and all the sales books I’d ever read made a big deal about…
DetailsI saw a LinkedIn group discussion in which the question was posed: Is Empathy Part of Leadership? I was surprised that the question was posed. I was more surprised by the responses. Folks in Management positions posed rhetoric masked in “never let them see you sweat” bravado. In his book, “Who’s Got Your Back”, Keith Ferrazzi proposes vulnerability as…
DetailsThe most significant change in the selling landscape in the last 10 years has been the way prospects buy; sadly, not the way salespeople sell. It is just as important to understand and master the prospect’s buying process as it is for salespeople to master a systematic sales process.
What I love most about the holiday season is that I get “present” during the month of December. My business typically slows down between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, which allows me to really focus on “being in the Christmas spirit.” I think it’s the stimulation of all my senses from the brilliant lights, colorful decorations…
DetailsNo man, who continues to add something material, intellectual and moral well-being of the place in which he lives, is left long without proper reward. – Booker T. Washington John Maxwell shares a story about a man who was enjoying an afternoon in a small boat on a peaceful lake. He fished as he munched…
Detailsby Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, & Marty Linsky Harvard Business Press, 2009 ISBN #978-1-4421-0576-4 Reviewed by Ian Cook Dealing with change and problem solving–these tasks are at the core of what leader/managers do. But there are two distinctly different types of challenges that precipitate change and bring on problems for managers. The authors of this…
DetailsYou start your day by hitting snooze twice, you yell in traffic, and your heart pounds as you approach the office door. It starts and ends with your boss and his/her ability to instill confidence in you! …Reset…. You leap out of bed ready to attack the day, rock out to the radio on the…
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