What do the major generals who are leading the war efforts in Iraq have in common with executives and entrepreneurs who are conducting business back home? When it comes to leadership, the answer is probably a lot more than you think.

In a recent study conducted by the Army War College, subordinates of the major generals who are leading the war efforts in Iraq were asked to rate the performance of their superiors.

The survey revealed that the best leaders:

• Keep cool under pressure
• Clearly explains the missions, sets standards and priorities
• See the big picture; provides context and perspective
• Make tough, sound decisions on time
• Adapt quickly to new situations; can handle bad news
• Give useful feedback; sets a high ethical tone
• Are positive, encouraging and realistically optimistic

According to retired Gen. Walter Ulmer, coauthor of the study, “The study showed that even when tactical and technical competences are excellent, interpersonal skills are critical.”

What’s that? People skills are critical in fighting a war? General Patton must be spinning in his four-star grave.

According to Ulmer the survey revealed that it is easier to teach technical skills than to teach people how to gain trust and build teams. In other words, trained tacticians are important, but the worth of a true leader may best be measured by how he leads, motivates, and treats his troops.

The study further showed that many key behaviors these generals exhibit were learned by example. Their former superiors displayed people skills and whether intended or not, taught those skills to their subordinates. This means that good leaders produced good leaders. I’m sure the flipside is just as true. Bad leaders often produce the next generation of bad leaders. We see it in business everyday. The recent rash of corporate scandals didn’t just involve the bad guys at the top. They often involved subordinate executives who were following the leader’s example and carrying out his not-so honorable plans.

Not surprisingly, the same traits found in the generals leading the effort in Iraq are the same traits found in many successful executives and entrepreneurs.

Keeps cool under pressure

Contrary to what many believe, being an entrepreneur is not always a walk in the park. There is constant pressure coming from many fronts. Pressure to make a sale, to meet payroll, to keep the doors open, to keep the employees in line, and on and on. The best entrepreneurs learn to thrive under pressure.

Pressure becomes a motivator, not a detractor.

Clearly explains missions, sets the standards and priorities

Successful entrepreneurs understand that the organization runs smoother, better, faster if everyone is on the same page. A good leader makes sure his subordinates understand the mission at hand. He makes sure that everyone understands the expectations, goals and objectives. He shares his vision and lays out the plan of attack.

Sees the big picture; provides context and perspective

Many executives and entrepreneurs can not see beyond the edge of their desk. Great leaders not only see the big picture, they make sure their team sees it, as well. They share their vision and perspective for the long haul, not just the battle being waged today.

Makes tough, sound decisions on time

One trait of the successful entrepreneur is the ability to make decisions soundly and quickly. You must weigh your options and choose a direction with minimal consideration time. Procrastination has no place in battle or in business. Procrastinating entrepreneurs will quickly become someone else’s procrastinating employees.

Adapts quickly to new situations; can handle bad news

In business some days are diamonds and some days are coal. Successful entrepreneurs are prepared to deal with the day no matter what it brings. They do not stick their heads in the sand and wait for the bad news to go away.

Gives useful feedback; sets a high ethical tone

A good leader listens more than he speaks. He takes input from the team and makes decisions based on that input and his own expertise. He sets the example that he expects his team to follow.

Is positive, encouraging and realistically optimistic

A good leader never lets his team see him sweat. He does not broadcast his negativity because he knows negativity is contagious and will spread faster than the plague. A good leader encourages his team to perform no matter the odds. He is the positive force that keeps everyone motivated to win.

Every entrepreneur should take a lesson from these generals, as should every corporate executive. I’m sure it would cut down on the time many of them are now spending in the stockade.

Here’s to your success!

Tim Knox

Tim serves as the president and CEO of three successful technology companies and is the founder of DropshipWholesale.net, an online organization dedicated to the success of online and eBay entrepreneurs.

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Leadership is motivational or it’s stumbling in the dark. The best leaders don’t order people to do a job, the best leaders motivate people to want to do the job.

The trouble is the vast majority of leaders don’t delve into the deep aspects of human motivation and so are unable to motivate people effectively.

Drill down through goals and aims and aspirations and ambitions and you hit the bedrock of motivation, the dream. Many leaders fail to take it into account.

Dreams are not goals and aims. Goals are the results toward which efforts are directed. The realization of a dream might contain goals, which can be stepping stones on the way to the attaining dreams. But the attainment of a goal does not necessarily result in the attainment of a dream.

For instance, Martin Luther King did not say, “I have a goal.” Or “I have an aim.” The power of that speech was in the “I have a dream”.

Dreams are not aspirations and ambitions. Aspirations and ambitions are strong desires to achieve something. King didn’t say he had an aspiration or ambition that ” ….one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’” He said he had a dream.

If you are a leader speaking to people’s aspirations and ambitions, you are speaking to something that motivates them, yes; but you are not necessarily tapping into the heartwood of their motivation.

After all, one might aspire or be ambitious to achieve a dream. But one’s aspiration and ambition may also be connected to things of lesser importance than a dream.

A dream embraces our most cherished longings. It embodies our very identity. We often won’t feel fulfilled as human beings until we realize our dreams.

If leaders are avoiding people’s dreams, if leaders are simply setting goals (as important as goals are), they miss the best of opportunities to help those people take ardent action to achieve great results.

When Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that “Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed,” he was writing about a dream. Not one European government at that time was a democracy. There had been few true democracies in the West since the fall of the Athenian democracy more than 2,000 thousand years before. But Jefferson’s “dream” motivated people to take action. In fact, that dream motivates people to act around the world today.

Understand the dreams of the people you lead. People will not tell you what they dream until they trust you. They won’t trust you until they feel that you can help them attain their dreams. Acquiring that understanding can cement a deep, emotional bond between you.

Dreams are not fantasies. Going to the mountain may be a dream. Standing on the mountain may be a dream. On the other hand, having the mountain come to us is a fantasy. Dreams can be realized, fantasies can’t.

Focus on dreams, on what is objectively achievable, not on fantasies.

Dreams are positive, uplifting. The Old English word “dream” means “joy, music, and noise-making.” But that positive, inspirational quality can have negative effects on an organization.

Negative dreams can damage an organization. For instance, union/management issues are often particularly inflammatory because of conflicting dreams, of both sides seeing the other as “the enemy.” Your audience wanting to go back to the “good old days” can be a negative dream. Only a trusted leader can help people reshape their dreams.

Most people have a dream for their life and work. Even people in abject circumstances, such as prisons and concentration camps, dream of a fulfilling existence beyond their present circumstances. If they lose their dreams, they lose an essential quality of their humanity.

People won’t be transformed by your leadership if you have a low opinion of and low expectations for their dream and/or if they are convinced that you can’t help them attain that dream.

Many people don’t consciously realize what they dream. But that doesn’t mean that they are not influenced by their subconscious dream. A subconscious dream can motivate people to act without their clearly understanding why they are acting. Have the people you lead be fully conscious of the content and meaning of their dream or risk having your organization’s activities be impeded by a dimly perceived yet none-the-less potent dream.

Each dream has a price. It’s one thing to think it. It’s another thing to do it. Know the price people will have to pay to attain their dream. Have them understand the price.

As a leader, dream with the people! Without hitching our wagons to stars, the wagons and the stars lose their true meaning in our lives.

Dreams give meaning to emotion and purpose to action. People who believe they’re living their dream see their jobs as part of a higher cause and will work accordingly. Conversely, people who see their jobs as antithetical to their dream, may see that work as oppressive; and they too will work accordingly.

Dreams are supreme reality. Dream graffiti on a Paris wall during the 1968 student rebellion said, “Be realistic: Do the impossible!”

2005 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.com

The author of 23 books, Brent Filson’s recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is founder and president of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. – and for more than 20 years has been helping leaders of top companies worldwide get audacious results. Sign up for his free leadership e-zine and get a free white paper: “49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results,” at http://www.actionleadership.com

Make no mistake—this article is about “Leadership”. A sometimes-confusing subject at best. It is not about being a BOSS. Academics can site numerous “Leadership Theories” that may or may not apply in real life. Hopefully, by the time you finish reading, you will have a better understanding of the complexity of leadership and be able to apply Street Smart Rational Leadership. Knowing when to be a mentor, when to be a coach, when to be a confidant and when to make strong, decisive, autocratic decisions is key to becoming an effective leader.

Good managers get employees to respect them, effective leaders get employees to not only respect them but more importantly they get them to respect themselves

“Effective leaders are driven by a model. A model is a tool used to predict future outcomes of current decisions. Effective leaders build their models on the sum of their experiences, knowledge and deeds as well as their mistakes.”

Effective leaders demonstrate a respect for employees recognizing their value as their most precious asset and the innovative use of planning and control systems demonstrates a unique ability to balance predictability with simplicity. A leader’s model may range from the elegant to the powerful to the simple but they all have several major factors in common. Effective leaders believe in their employees demonstrating that belief through respect and servant type leadership. They also have a keen sense of executive curiosity. Effective leaders believe in a culture that embraces empowerment challenging employees to be innovative and creative. The typical old school, Lone Wolf, B.O.S.S. mentality fails to recognize the value of employee involvement, employee commitment and employee empowerment.

“Employees will not have faith in their leader until their leader shows faith in the employees”

“Employees will not show respect for their leader until their leader shows respect for the employees”

Organizations increasingly will be characterized by a large and incredibly complex set of independent relationships between highly diverse groups of people. To be successful, you must determine how to get active involvement, innovation and creativity out of your employees. Success depends on more than just “best practice” success drivers with a BOSS mentality that dictates and demands compliance. Success demands a superior level of leadership—a level that requires deep commitment. This commitment will not flourish in workplace environments that are still dominated by the “slap & point” or the “carrot and stick” method of management often used in the past. The evolution to a Lead Wolf leadership mentality is essential to success

in the 21st century.

Our own expectations often shape our destiny and create the roadmap to what we become. This truth is at the core of learning how to be a winner instead of a survivor. Self-doubt appears most active in people with negative expectations. The culture and environment of the organization are going to have a major impact on self-expectations. This is a critical element that executives who are not successful fail to recognize. Organizational culture is extremely important to successful growth and culture is defined by the style of leadership that exists within the organization

Creating change, managing during turbulent times, fostering growth after restructuring, creating competitive advantage, or dealing with changing market dynamics all depends on a balance of this type of leadership. No one person can make a company successful. It takes a lot of people, but one person with a command of leadership can transfer enough influence, creating enough leadership amongst the management group to guarantee success.

Yes, effective leaders do have a vision and they support the concept of long term strategic planning. I know that some of us consider long term planning as what we are going to do after lunch but effective leaders look into the future with foresight and confidence in the team they have surrounded themselves with. Ask yourself these question?.

“Are you a BOSS or are you a Leader?”

“Do you have a Lead Wolf mentality?”

And never forget, an effective leader is only as good as the team that he surrounds himself with.

Dr. Rick Johnson (rick@ceostrategist.com) is the founder of CEO Strategist LLC. an experienced based firm specializing in leadership for wholesale distribution. CEO Strategist LLC. works in an advisory capacity with company executives in board representation, executive coaching, team coaching and education and training to make the changes necessary to create or maintain competitive advantage. You can contact them by calling 352-750-0868, or visit http://www.ceostrategist.com for more information.

Rick received an MBA from Keller Graduate School in Chicago, Illinois and a Bachelor’s degree in Operations Management from Capital University, Columbus Ohio. Rick recently completed his dissertation on Strategic Leadership and received his Ph.D. He’s also a published book author with four titles to his credit: “The Toolkit for Improved Business Performance in Distribution,” the NWFA & NAFCD “Roadmap”, Lone Wolf-Lead Wolf—The Evolution of Sales” and a fiction novel “Shattered Innocence.” Rick’s next book due in November is titled; Lone Wolf – LEad Wolf The Evolution of Leadership

J. Paul Getty planned to enter the U.S. Diplomatic Service, but, when he got out of college, the Oklahoma oil boom caught his attention. Since his father had already prospered in the oil business, he was irresistibly attracted to the prospects of wildcatting, and he decided to postpone his diplomatic ambitions for two more years.

He worked on other wildcatter’s rigs and borrowed money from his father to raise money for oil speculation. His father only gave him small amounts of money and demanded prompt repayment.

J. Paul Getty spent his money frugally, and also saved money through haggling over prices.

At first his speculations did not go well, and a diplomatic career looked increasingly inviting. Then, early in 1916, he secured a bargain price of $500 on a lease and the well he sank produced 700 barrels a day. Suddenly, at the age of 23, he made a fortune.

Years later, journalists would ask him about his lucky beginning. They wondered how he knew that the well was so rich. He responded that he

had gathered all the necessary geological facts from experts and the spot appeared to have been a good one.

“But,” he added, “ as for actually knowing what the outcome would be that was impossible. If there were a way to be a hundred percent sure where rich oil deposits are, nobody would ever sink a dry well.”

“Oil prospecting is like any other venture in life, from getting married to buying a car…there is always an element of chance, and you must be willing to live with that element.”

“If you insist on perfect certainty, you will never be able to make any decisions at all. You will simply paralyze yourself.”

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Saleem Rana got his Masters degree in psychotherapy from California Lutheran University. His articles on the internet have inspired over ten thousand people from around the world. Discover how to create a remarkable life

Copyright 2004 Saleem Rana. Please feel free to pass thisarticle on to your friends, or use it in your ezine ornewsletter. It’s a shareware article.

No matter what role you play in your company, becoming a more effective listener will help you get ahead in your position. It means fewer errors, improved accuracy, and enhanced working relationships. And, listening to your customers and referral sources will definitely help you in your marketing efforts. You will solicit better information from other people whether interviewing job candidates, solving work problems, or working to make a sale.

Contrary to what many people think, being an effective listener is not a passive activity. It takes concentration, effort, and active attention. Because our brains work much faster than our ability to speak, we often jump way ahead of the speaker in our minds and miss the opportunity to fully understand a person’s feelings, position, and perspective. Environmental distractions or personal biases can also interfere with our ability to understand what a person is saying.

When listening, you are giving a gift of your time and attention to the other person. Work to respond both verbally and non-verbally to the person who is speaking. This lets the speaker know that you are listening and that you understand what he or she is trying to communicate. Here are some ideas to help you hone your listening skills:

1. Don’t Talk. This may seem self-evident. However, many people listen with impatience. They are just waiting for their chance to speak, or worse yet they interrupt. Be courteous and give your listener your full attention. Avoid offering solutions if the speaker is expressing a problem. Just listen.

2. Listen Fully. A good listener looks interested in what the speaker is saying. Your body language speaks volumes. Maintain eye contact, sit still, lean slightly toward the speaker, and nod your head (but not too vigorously or you’ll look like a chicken!).

3. Ask Clarifying Questions. Wait for the speaker to pause, and ask clarifying questions. It’s a good idea to paraphrase what the speaker has said and to ask questions such as, “Did you mean…” or “If I understand correctly, you said…”

4. Provide Feedback. Remain engaged in what the speaker is saying and show this verbally. He or she will appreciate the occasional “I see…” or “Really?” or “I know!”

5. Keep Your Mind Open. The point of listening is to gain new information. Don’t just search for a point that supports your own opinions. Be willing to gain

new insights and learn about someone else’s ideas.

6. Be on the Same Level. Make sure you are at eye level with the other person. Avoid having an employee or customer stand in front of your desk. Have comfortable chairs available so that a desk is not a barrier between you.

7. Respect Your Speaker. If the conversation involves criticism from either party or contains personal information, go to a private room for the discussion. Make sure other people can’t listen to your discussion. This will help the speaker feel more at ease and demonstrate your respect for what he or she has to say.

8. Pay Attention to Cues. What isn’t being said is often as important than what is being said. Body language speaks volumes. Watch the speaker’s facial expressions, posture, eyes, gestures, and other nonverbal cues.

9. Avoid Invalidating Language. While you may not agree with what the speaker is saying, avoid defensive statements or phrases that argue with his or her points. Later, you can take time to review what was said and formulate a response. As an active and effective listener, your role is to allow the person the time and space to fully express his or her feelings.

10. Express Appreciation. Thank the listener for sharing his or her thoughts and feelings. It takes courage to speak up. True sharing builds trust and encourages further dialogue.

It takes time and energy to become a better listener. Be patient. As you begin to improve your listening skills, you may be surprised to find people will seek you out to share their thoughts and feelings. You will also find yourself involved in fewer conflicts and be perceived as a more positive and trustworthy person. Attentive listening is a rare skill that people respect and welcome.

ACTION ITEM: This week, concentrate on your listening skills. Do you finish sentences for others? Do you interrupt? Do you sneak looks at your watch? Pay attention to your listening habits and begin to bring conscious attention to improving these skills. Work to show others that you hear and understand them.

Wendy Maynard, your friendly Marketing Maven, publishes REMARKABLE MARKETING, a free weekly ezine for entrepreneurs, business owners, and freelancers. If you’re ready to skyrocket your sales, easily attract customers, and make more money, sign up for her FREE ezine and marketing report now at http://www.gomarketingmaven.com

Being able to de-escalate one’s own and the anger of others is an important skill to have in business. Hopefully, this is not something the reader deals with on a regular basis but unfortunately most people in business encounter either their own anger or the anger of others more frequently than they would like.

In order to be successful at de-escalating anger, a person must understand and become skillful in the following areas.

Prevention Steps:

1. Recognize that anger is a choice of a wide range of behaviors that could be used to get what one needs in a situation. It is a behavior that has benefit for its user. Anger can get people the attention they need, help them escape things they don’t want to do, help them gain control over another person or situation, or pump them up when they are feeling small and insignificant.

2. The person interacting with the angry person must identify his or her own emotion at any given point in time. If the helping person is also experiencing anger, then that person will not be very effective assisting others to manage theirs.

3. When potential interventionists are experiencing anger, they must be able to change what they are doing or thinking to get their emotions under control or seek the assistance they will need to manage the situation.

4. Perform a quick self-assessment. A potential helper must ask the following questions. Can I avoid criticizing and finding fault with the angry person? Can I avoid being judgmental? Can I keep from trying to control the other person into doing something he or she doesn’t want to do? Can I keep myself removed from the conflict? Can I believe that the people using anger have the right to make decisions and choices about how they meet their needs and that they have within them the ability to make those decisions? Can I try to see the situation from the angry person’s point of view and understand what need or needs he or she is trying to satisfy? And finally, can I remember that my job is to place the healing of relationships as my primary concern?

If the listener can’t answer these questions in the affirmative, then he or she will need assistance in managing the person who is expressing anger.

5. Recognize early warning signs. Many incidents of anger could be prevented if those who are around a person about to become angry notice the subtle change in the person’s behavior. Quiet people may become agitated; while louder, more outgoing people generally become quiet and introspective. Paying attention to these subtle changes and simply commenting on the change could help the individual talk about things so he or she wouldn’t have to become angry.

Prevention goes a long way. However, there still will be times when you don’t notice the early warning signs or when your first encounter with the person occurs when they are already in an angry state.

Also, it’s possible that you will do everything right in this prevention phase and angry people will still choose anger as their best chance for getting what they want. When any of these situations occur, the listener will need to employ one or all of the five de-escalation skills.

Intervention Steps:

6. Active listening is the process of really attempting to hear, acknowledge and understand what a person is saying. It is a genuine attempt to put oneself in the other person’s situation. More than anything, this involves LISTENING! Listening means attending not only to the words the other person is saying but also the underlying emotion, as well as, the accompanying body language.

By simply providing a sounding board and a willing ear, a person’s anger can be dissipated.

7. Acknowledgement occurs when the listener is attempting to sense the emotion underlying the

words a person is using and then comments on that emotion. The person may say something like, “You sound really angry right now!” By acknowledging and really trying to understand what the angry person is feeling, that person becomes able to release a lot of the aggression.

8. Agreeing—often when people are angry about something, there is at least 2 % truth in what they are saying. When attempting to diffuse someone’s anger, it is important to find that 2 % of truth and agree with it.

When someone is angry and the listener attempts to reason with the person, his or her efforts will be largely ineffective. When the listener agrees with the 2% of truth in the angry person’s tirade, he or she takes away the resistance and consequently eliminates the fuel for the fire.

9. Apologizing is a good de-escalation skill. I’m not talking about apologizing for an imaginary wrong. I am talking about sincerely apologizing for anything in the situation that was unjust. It’s simply a statement acknowledging that something occurred that wasn’t right or fair.

This can have the effect of letting angry people know that the listener is sincerely sorry for what they are going through and they may cease to direct their anger at the person attempting to help.

10. Inviting criticism is the final of the de-escalation skills. In this instance the listener would simply ask the angry person to voice his or her criticism of the listener or the situation. The person intervening might say something like, “Go ahead. Tell me everything that has you upset. Don’t hold anything back. I want to hear everything you are angry about.”

This invitation will sometimes temporarily intensify the angry emotion but if the listener continues to encourage the person to vent his or her anger and frustration, eventually, the angry person runs out of complaints. Just let the angry person vent until the anger is spent.

Even when using the above ten skills, there may be a rare occasion when the listener is unsuccessful in the attempts to decrease the other person’s anger. The listener’s safety should be the primary concern. The listener should not get between the angry person and his or her only means of escape and shouldn’t allow the angry person to block the listener’s only means of escape.

Anyone intervening in an emotionally charged situation should always have a plan or an established way to get help if needed and remember to always stay calm. An angry person is generally someone capable of getting out of control. When out of control people sense they are intimidating and scaring others, it can increase their sense of power and control, resulting in an escalation of the situation. The helpers must stay calm and act as if they are in control of themselves and the situation.

Should you want Coaching for Excellence to provide staff development for your employees in de-escalation skills, simply contact Kim at 708-957-6047, email her at Kim@CoachingforExcellence.biz or log on to the website at http://www.coachingforexcellence.biz.

Kim Olver has an undergraduate degree in psychology, a graduate degree in counseling, is a National Certified Counselor and is a licensed professional counselor. Since 1987, Kim has extensively studied the work of Dr. William Glasser’s Choice Theory, Reality Therapy and Lead Management. She was certified in Reality Therapy in 1992 and continued her studies to become a certified instructor for the William Glasser Institute. She is an expert at empowering people to navigate the sometimes difficult course of life—teaching them how to get the most out of the circumstances life provides them. Her website, http://www.CoachingforExcellence.biz, offers free chats, assessments, a blog and an eZine, as well as workshops, teleclasses, e-courses, counseling and coaching. Visit her website at http://www.CoachingforExcellence.biz or contact her at (708) 957-6047.

I would like to depart from my traditional articles to describe a great leader who was also a great friend. This departure is partly selfish, but I welcome an opportunity to describe a person from whom I learned many management and leadership lessons.

In the early 1990’s I met with the owner of the Fishel Company so that he and several of his executives from around the country could evaluate a system I had developed for process improvement. The meeting took place in Phoenix because The Fishel Company has a large presence in Arizona.

The Fishel Company has about 30 branch offices around the U.S. with most of its operations focused on either underground or overhead utility construction. The company motto says it all, “The World’s Best Ditch Diggers.” That is what they do – dig ditches and install pipes and cables. As you might expect, the majority of the workers in The Fishel Company are blue collar, hard working outdoor types, or as John Phillips the current company president once described them, “These people are absolutely the salt of the earth! There isn’t one of them you wouldn’t enjoy having as a relative or next-door neighbor.”

The meeting must have gone well, because I received a contract to implement a system of process analysis, teambuilding, leadership training, and process improvement in their many locations around the country. For several years I visited each branch office many times, which enabled me to learn a lot about the company history and some very unique corporate philosophies. It’s about the uniqueness of this company and its owner that I would like to describe in this article.

Ken Fishel, who built the company through old fashioned hard work and a commitment to providing the customer high quality at a fair price, founded the Fishel Company 66 years ago. Ken’s son-in-law, Jeff Keeler, joined the company in 1976 as part of a field crew. Later he moved to the office as an assistant to the Vice President. The combination of field and office experience enabled Jeff to learn the underground utility construction business from the underground up. Jeff was named president in 1977 and served in that capacity until 1998 when he became Chairman and CEO.

It is about J.F. (Jeff) Keeler, Jr. that I pay tribute. From the moment I first met him and later in dozens of meetings and leadership training workshops that he attended, I became his fan. He preached a concept called “Fishelosophy,” which distinguished his company form the competition. I had never seen a company like this before. At first I was amazed that “Fishelosophy” actually worked. But I soon realized that it was a different way

of treating people. And because the people (employees, customers and vendors) were treated differently, they in turn responded in like manner.

Let me give a few examples of “Fishelosophy.” There are no “employees” in the company; they are called Teammates. If you inadvertently use the “employee” word, someone will quickly correct you. It took me some time to break the “employee” habit; but when I did, it was obvious to my Teammates that I had embraced their passion for teamwork.

Jeff believed in sharing company profits. Each quarter eligible, Teammates shared a significant portion of the company’s profits. This sharing of profits helped each person think like an owner, because in effect, each person is. Profit sharing checks were typically distributed in meetings that would best be described as a pep rally. I’ll never forget the first one I attended in Phoenix; it was an exciting and fun event.

At the meetings Jeff would lead his Teammates in a company cheer! That’s right, I said company cheers. If you had told me that company cheers were possible in today’s sophisticated marketplace, I would have disagreed. But with Jeff’s enthusiastic leadership style, it worked exceptionally well. The cheers fostered a camaraderie among his Teammates that is without equal in my 34 years of business experience.

The Fishel Company believes in posters. There are posters espousing every corporate belief, value and initiative. At meetings, the posters are prominently displayed as a reinforcement of what they stand for. It was common to see half-dozen posters on easels for a leadership training workshop.

As I traveled with Jeff and saw him interact with his Teammates, many things impressed me. But one of the most amazing was that he knew not only the names of his Teammates, but he also remembered who they were as human beings. This attribute endeared his people with unparalleled loyalty and honesty.

Jeff Keeler lived teamwork, he had vibrant passion for life, he loved competition, he cherished friendships, and he made life more fun for his family, Teammates, and everyone he met. Unfortunately, Jeff recently passed away, a cancer victim. He may be gone, but I’ll never forget the lessons I learned from the “World’s Best Ditch Digger.” Leadership training makes a difference.

To learn about how Dr. Williams or CMOE (Center for Management and Organization Effectiveness) can assist your organization with leadership training initiatives, please contact a CMOE Representative toll free (888)262-2499.

Dr. Richard L. Williams is a retail consultant where he specializes in quality improvement, feedback, and leadership training.

In his 30 plus years of experience, Dr. Williams has conducted more than 3,800 workshops to more than 100,000 managers and executives around the world.

It’s not enough to declare that your selected candidate for promotion to supervisor is now a “leader.” You must provide him or her with three essential building blocks. And by the way, if you are the one being asked to take on the additional responsibility of leadership you should insist on having the same three building blocks:

Authority

After this time I surpassed all others in authority, but I had no more power than the others who were also my colleagues in office. – Augustus Caesar

Authority includes the personnel, money and materials that go beyond the title supervisor or manager. Your authority includes the sole determination of how the above assets are utilized or expended conducting the business of your department, section, area of responsibility or company. Your staff must be absolutely certain that you are in charge and your decisions won’t be reversed by your supervisor, within reason, baring anything unlawful or immoral.

If you aren’t given the decision making authority, don’t take the job. Having the authority to complete a job is very satisfying. Remember that your authority also means taking responsibility when things go wrong.

You are given the authority to perform your duties and responsibilities because of your supervisor’s confidence and trust in your abilities.

Responsibility

While an open mind is priceless, it is priceless only when its owner has the courage to make a final decision that closes the mind for action after the process of viewing all sides of the question has been completed. Failure to make a decision after due consideration of all the facts will quickly brand a man as unfit for a position of responsibility. Not all of your decisions will be correct. None of us is perfect. But if you get into the habit of making decisions, experience will develop your judgment to a point where more and more of your decisions will be right. After all, it is better to be right 51% of the time and get something done, than it is to get nothing done because you fear to reach a decision.- H. W. Andrews

This is the lonely part of leadership; every decision you make you make alone. While you want to have input from staff members and others as may be necessary but you will evaluate all the data and advice and ultimately make the decision alone. Leaders are responsible for making the hard decisions no one else wants to make or can make. Once you implement your decision everyone suddenly knows the correct answer. You have now opened yourself to criticism from every possible direction. You may even begin to second guess yourself-don’t. The decision you made was based on available information and in the best interests of the organization.

You always have the option of adjusting the decision as its consequences develop. As a leader you make decisions knowing

that they may be wrong but you take that risk where others won’t. You and you alone have the responsibility for making the decision. So make your decision with confidence and above all, trust yourself.

Accountability

The major way of doing anything with one’s self is to own one’s self. This means to take full responsibility and accountability for whatever I am doing at any moment, with anybody. It means, among other things, that I get rid of all the extra fingers that I point at people and situations to explain my behavior. When a person says “He made me mad” that is not accurate. It is “I made me mad.” When I permit myself the luxury of taking that full responsibility, then I’m on first base, at least, because then I can do something about it.- W. W. Broadbent, MD, PhD

Accountability simply put means you own it. The military teaches this concept better that any organization I know. It works like this. You are assigned a task; there are two possible outcomes, you succeed or fail. If you succeed, congratulations and move on. If you fail there is no excuse for failing, you just didn’t get it done. This short conversation sounds like this; Yes, Sir, No, Sir and No Excuse, Sir. The young leader learns very quickly that he or she is totally accountable for everything his or her unit does or fails to do.

I guarantee you will only make an excuse once.

Your reputation as a leader will be determined by how accountable you are in your daily business practices. By holding yourself accountable for all your actions and those of your department you will be way ahead of your contemporaries. It is an easy way to get noticed in a positive way.

Accountability is not just for the big stuff; it also important for the casual daily things. For example: You tell a colleague that you can’t meet with him at the moment but will call him in an hour. Make sure you call him in an hour. Or you are scheduled to attend a meeting at 10:00 AM. Show up at 9:55 AM not 10:05 AM.

Feel free to use this article, in your publications, in its entirety provided you include the following notice:

© Copyright 2004, Lighthouse CCUNIV Publications, Ltd., Lakeville, Massachusetts, USA (except as otherwise indicated). Lighthouse Continuing Care University is a servicemark Lighthouse CCUNIV Publications, Ltd. http://www.ccuniv.org

Kenneth E. Strong, Jr., MS, is President and founder of Lighthouse CCUNIV Publication, Ltd., http://www.ccunivpub.com He is the founder of Lighthouse Continuing Care University http://www.ccuniv.org a web based community devoted to educating, supporting and developing, supervisors, managers, line staff and trustees of Continuing Care Retirement Communities and Skilled Nursing Facilities. He publishes a monthly newsletter “How To Find A Great Nursing Home” http://greatnursinghomestrategies.com

“You must drop that name, ‘Ragged Dick’, and think of yourself now as “Richard Hunter, Esq.”

“A young gentleman on his way to fame and fortune,” added Fosdick.

-From Ragged Dick, by Horatio Alger

These are the closing lines from Ragged Dick, Horatio Alger’s first rags-to-riches story. Its publication in 1867 would be followed by 133 similar books written over a thirty-three year span. The stories were meant to be inspirational and to offer not only hope, but a blueprint for success to thousands of impoverished American and immigrant boys. In that regard they succeeded admirably and ended up stamping self-reliance indelibly on the American psyche.

Alger was an unlikely teller of such tales. New England bred, Harvard educated and well traveled through Europe, he was unprepared for the squalor he found in New York City. He had moved there in 1866 to restart a writing career that, to this point, had lacked both focus and success. Upon arriving, he was immediately drawn to the plight of the over 60,000 orphaned and abandoned children fending for themselves on the city streets. They earned small amounts of money by shining shoes, peddling newspaper or selling notions. At night they slept in boxes or under stairwells or in the street. They were completely on their own. As he interacted with these children, Alger became convinced that there was one key variable that determined if a child would overcome his circumstances or be overwhelmed by them. That variable was character.

Alger believed not only that good character was a prerequisite for success, but that it could be developed in anyone. The first requirement of character is confidence. For Alger, people succeed who believe they can succeed. Neither hard work nor strong moral values can propel someone through adversity who sees themselves as a victim of circumstance. Such people lack the will to succeed because they expect to fail. The

second requirement is absolute integrity. In Alger’s world there are no ethical shades of gray. The demand is for scrupulous honesty coupled with a willingness to look out for someone even less fortunate. It means always telling the truth and never collaborating with deceit through silence. Finally, character requires perseverance. You must never give up or run from a challenge. Despite the odds you must press on in pursuit of a good end. And perseverance shouldn’t be grim. Instead, it should be a cheerful and optimistic look to the future—to the certainty of better times.

Alger was sometimes criticized because his characters usually succeed after some lucky break or encounter. In this case, Ragged Dick is finally launched on the path to becoming a gentleman when he dives into the river to save a wealthy man’s child. But Alger’s point was that people of strong character make their own luck. Luck is a matter of being ready when opportunity knocks. People with character have made themselves ready to be lucky.

It’s easy to dismiss Alger’s strive and thrive message as naïve or simplistic. But the belief that character can be developed in anyone and that with character any obstacle can be overcome was powerful tonic for hundreds of thousands of dirt poor kids. It was their success formula and it worked. It can work for us too.

About the Author:

George Ebert is the President of Trinity River Seminars and Consulting, a firm specializing in the custom design and delivery of team building, personal growth and ethical development programs. Mr. Ebert is a highly sought after speaker, educator, and consultant with over thirty years experience in both the public and private sectors. He has presented widely throughout the Unites States. George is the author of the management cult classic, “Climbing From the Fifth Station: A guide to building teams that work!”

“I love deadlines. I like the whooshing noise they make as they fly by.” -Douglas Adams, Author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Douglas Adams heard a lot of whooshing in the course of turning The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy into a cult phenomenon. It started as a radio program, became a book (ultimately a six book trilogy), a TV series, a video game and most recently a movie. It might actually have been made into a film before Adams’ untimely death had it not been for his highly refined skill of procrastination. In fact, it’s startling than one so creatively prolific had to almost be forced to produce. At one point, his editors resorted to locking him in a hotel room for three weeks just to get him to complete a project. And you thought you had problems getting folks to meet their deadlines!

What is it about deadlines that make even the most stable among us recoil in horror and begin plotting subversive campaigns of résistance? Perhaps it’s because the dark origins of the term itself are rooted deeply in our psyche. The word was coined at the Andersonville military prison during the Civil War. Prison guards drew a line roughly seventeen feet around the interior wall of the compound. Any prisoner crossing that line was assumed to be escaping and would be shot dead. This was a literal dead line.

A more benign understanding of the term crept into our language during the 1920’s. Newspaper editors began using the word to indicate the latest possible time copy could be submitted in order to meet a press run. The expression gained quick popularity and soon students, workers and folks in general had to face the dreaded deadline.

While we may not like deadlines, they’re really pretty helpful tools and something that every leader should use. One of the best reasons for using

deadlines is that they establish clarity between the person making an assignment and the one receiving it. Almost everyone has had the unhappy experience of discovering that when the Boss said, “Get to it when you can,” they actually meant “get to it now!” A deadline takes the mystery out such individual expectations. In the same spirit, deadlines help you set priorities. Even in an age where everything is a priority, reason must sometimes prevail (at least in theory). A deadline provides a legitimate negotiating point—“if I accept this deadline, this other one will have to slip; which will it be?” Finally, deadlines establish accountability. It’s simply one of life’s truisms, that when someone is held accountable, things tend to get done. When no one is accountable nothing gets done. It’s also true that being held accountable isn’t always comfortable. Maybe that’s why we don’t like deadlines.

Of course, none of this matters when you’re on the receiving end of a deadline you’d rather not meet. If it’s any consolation, just remember that even Superman (as Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent) had to endure the same tribulation despite his unique powers. So give them a chance. Perhaps, like Clark Kent, you’ll discover that deadlines don’t contain Green Kryptonite and unlike Douglas Adams, you won’t have to be locked in a hotel room to get your work done!

About the Author:

George Ebert is the President of Trinity River Seminars and Consulting, a firm specializing in the custom design and delivery of team building, personal growth and ethical development programs. Mr. Ebert is a highly sought after speaker, educator, and consultant with over thirty years experience in both the public and private sectors. He has presented widely throughout the Unites States. George is the author of the management cult classic, “Climbing From the Fifth Station: A guide to building teams that work!”