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Category: Leadership
Leadership in the extra mile
I’ll never forget that day. It was one of the most important defining moments of my life: I was in 6th grade and had just started the second week of class. Our teacher, Mrs. McGinnis, had a very special announcement: She said, “We are going to have an exciting project that we are starting today: It is a class magazine. It will contain all the events and highlights of the class plus special stories and other contributions from the class members”
As I listened to this, I thought, “That sounds like a lot of work. I don’t think I’m interested”. Then came the clincher: Mrs. McGinnis concluded by saying “I am pleased to announce that the editor is going to be Steve Brainerd” Hmm… No problem, I thought. I can talk her out of it.Read More…
Float your idea to success
Have you ever come up with a great idea to solve a problem only to have it shot down right away? If this happens to us enough, we could become discouraged and hesitate to share a future idea. Good teams respect the principle of “idea fluency”. Everyone should feel comfortable and confident in sharing their ideas.
If we have a good idea that we believe will solve an important problem, we need to prepare ourselves to sell our idea. That requires that we work through these four basic problem solving questions that have been time tested for over 100 yearsRead More…
Struggle…It’s all in the game
When it comes to leadership or parenting, we can learn a lot from a duck. A few years ago I was out walking during my lunch break. As I was walking back to the office, I noticed a mother duck and her chicks walking across the parking lot. I could see the duck and her chicks were headed for the curb, and I just had to stop and watch how the entourage would get over that barrier.
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Leaders learn to love problems
We are paid to solve problems. Selling is commonly defined as problem solving. Management is problem solving. A technician is a problem solver. Here is the intriguing part: If solving problems is what most of us are paid for, why does “We’ve got a problem” hit us like a sour note?
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Good communication means less resentment
“What we have here is a failure to communicate”
– Cool Hand Luke
According to Webster’s dictionary, negotiation is defined as “a discussion with an intent to reach an agreement”. Notice that is doesn’t say, “a shouting match” or “temper tantrum festival”. The reality is, that most effective negotiators are clear, consistent, calm communicators who possess the “Four F’s”. That means they are firm, friendly, frank, and fair.