Category Archives: Leadership

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The Art Of Leadership As Learned From Watching A Kayaker

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If you want to be successful in business, take time to watch a kayak race. They have to go through gates, shoot the rapids, and turn around poles.

 

Five Lessons from a Kayak Race

  • Anticipate the Current

A couple of years ago, when taking a white water raft trip, in Montana, there were several experienced kayakers on the river.  The water was tumbling over boulders, twisting, racing past in the narrows, and drawing boats in unexpected directions.  The kayakers especially had to anticipate the changes in the river current.

Sometimes, inexperienced business leaders underestimate the force of the business currents.  Veteran leaders don’t make those mistakes.  They respect the force of competition and the pace of business.

  • Identify the Gates

 

In kayaking competition, the paddlers navigate a series of gates, turn against the current, and paddle upstream back through the gates.  Inexperienced competitors get swept past their gate and are penalized.

 

In every business there are gates that must be navigated.  Each gate requires skills, agility, and fortitude.

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Leading When You Feel Underwater

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If you are leading today, or are preparing to lead at some point, you will experience “Underwater Leadership”.   The feeling that the waves of the demands of the job are breaking over you and you can’t catch your breath. Don’t panic.  Prepare to work through the situation.

 

Five Steps to Live Through “Underwater Leadership”

 

  • Why asking for help increases your leadership credibility.

 

Don’t be afraid to ask for others for help. Avoid the attitude of arrogance. By asking for assistance creates the environment that no one person has all the answers.  Yes you are the leader, but the first rule of leadership is to know that you don’t know everything.  It also allows your other team members be creative.

 

 

  • What to tell people that ask “How is it Going”.

 

When you start something new, people will often ask “How is it Going”?  You can respond like you have it all under control or you can be honest.  At the beginning, you will have a lot to learn.  Don’t be afraid to admit that your new organization has a lot going on and you have some thing’s to learn. Also reassure them that you will learn what is going on quickly.

 

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Do you want to be Wealthy?

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If you want to be wealthy and pass on wealth to the next generation, that is a noble goal.  Building wealth and passing it on is a biblical concept.  Tom Corley has studied the rich and has found that they do several things differently.

  1. Eat better.  70 % of people that are wealthy eat less than 300 junk food calories per day.  97% of poor eat more than 300 junk food calories per day.
  2. Gamble less.  This includes state lotto tickets.  23% of wealthy gamble.  52% of poor gamble.
  3. Focus on one goal.  80% of wealthy are focused on accomplishing some since goal.  12% of the poor do this.
  4. Exercise more.  76% of wealthy exercise 4 days a week.  23% of poor do this.
  5. Listen and read to more books.  63% of wealthy listen to audio books during their morning commute to work.  5% of poor do this.
  6. Keep a do-to-list 81% of wealthy maintain a do-to-list.  19% of the poor do.
  7. Require their children to read non-fiction. 63% of wealthy parents require children to read 2 or more books a month.  3% of the poor require this.
  8. 70% of wealthy parents require the children to volunteer 10 hrs or more per month.  3% of parents that are poor do this.
  9. 67% of wealthy write down their goals.  17% for the poor.
  10. 88% of wealthy read 30 minutes or more each day for education or career reasons.  2% of the poor do.
  11. 6% of wealthy say what’s on their mind vs. 69% for poor.
  12. 67% of wealthy watch 1hr or less of TV every day vs. 23% of poor.
  13. 6% of wealthy watch reality TV vs. 78% for the poor.
  14. Early to rise.  44% of wealthy wake up 3 hrs before work.  3% for the poor.
  15. 74% of wealthy teach good daily success habits to their children vs. 1% for the poor.
  16. 84% of wealthy believe good habits create opportunity luck vs. 4% for the poor.
  17. 86% of wealthy believe in life-long educational self-improvement vs 5% for poor.
  18. 86% of wealthy love to read vs. 26% for poor.

If you want to be wealthy, do what rich people do.

Question:  How would it change your life now if you if you make a few changes?

Quote of the Week:   “All wealth is the product of labor” – John Locke

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6 Keys for Improving Business Success

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According to US Bureau of Labor Statistics 25% of Small Businesses fail in the first 24 months, less than 50% survive past five years, and only 35% are still in business after ten years.  There are many reasons given as to why small businesses fail. Some blame the economic conditions, changing competition, or government policies.

I get fired up when discussing business success.  The real reason businesses fail isn’t economic conditions, competition, government policies or most any other excuse.  The real reason is that business owners make mistakes in several key areas.

There are always challenges in running a business. I believe that if you want to be a successful entrepreneur, find out what successful businesses do and follow their example.

In the past 35 years, I have made mistakes and learned crucial lessons about business and how to grow profits. You too can improve your success and have the numbers up and to the right.

Increase Your Success

1)Passion, Profitability, Proficiency

The first key to a successful business is having all three P’s.  If you run a business and don’t have passion for what you do, boredom will set in.  With boredom, the quality of your work will decrease and so will profits.

Malcolm Gladwell’s research shows that it takes 10,000 hours to become proficient at anything we do. If you aren’t willing to put in the time to be great at what you do, you are limiting your business.

If you have passion and proficiency but have a limited market, you don’t have a business.  You have a hobby.  Your idea has to be scalable.

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What’s On Your Reading List?

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canstockphotobook1editedPresident Truman made the statement that: “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers”.

Reading fundamentally changes how we process information. Listening to books on tape or a podcast is better than nothing, but reading generates higher levels of creativity and unleashes ideas. If you talk to any leader very long, they will invariably share how a particular book changed their lives.  Books can change your world view and inspire you to greatness.

I personally place a high priority on reading.  I have a goal of reading 12-16 non-fiction books each year on business related topics. The books on my reading list will give you a great start to unlock your creativity.

Some of my favorite books are:

Business

  • E-Myth Revisited, Michael Gerber
  • Great by Choice, Jim Collins
  • Entreleadership, Dave Ramsey
  • David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell
  • 7 Habits, Steven Covey
  • The Go Getter, Peter B. Kyne
  • Who Moved my Cheese, Spencer Johnson and Kenneth Blanchard
  • Common Sense in Business Matters, Published in 1892
  • We are all Weird, Seth Godin
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Increase your influence by understanding personality styles

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A key reason that customers or team members don’t respond to the way we present ideas is that we don’t communicate in a way they understand. This lack of good communication can be because of personality style differences.  Whether it’s in a business meeting or discussions with your spouse and kids, having a basic understanding of personality styles can help greatly when serving customers, leading team members, and at home with family.canstockphoto11114348

Personality types can be broken down into four basic types: Dominance (High D), Influence (High I), Steadiness (High S) and Conscientious (High C).  None of the personality types are better; they all have strengths and weaknesses.  To improve our ability to communicate let’s take a look at these four personality types.