A priority is something that is more important than other things.  My experience with business owners tells me that understanding priorities is the most difficult aspect of running a company.

Owners and managers tend to get too wrapped up in day-to-day minutia or one-off deep dives into something of personal interest that lacks importance.  This keeps them from seeing the big picture and working on their business more than in their business.

Customers are a priority, as are staff.  If you aren’t putting your focus on the human side of business, you’re missing the priorities.  Nothing happens in a business until a sale is made, and unless you’re operating a strictly online business that runs itself, you need people with talent to get the job done and you need to give them the attention they deserve.

I schedule my priorities every day and always leave time for thinking and planning.  That means scheduling time for yourself as an owner or manager or salesperson or even front-line worker.  If you don’t have time to think, how can you ever make improvements?  You need to have the time – and take the time – to see things from a new and fresh perspective.  That means making time a priority.

Urgent and important matters are always a priority.  But if you find yourself always putting fires out without the time to focus on people and planning, then you’re missing your priorities.

Tags: Advice, Business, Business Development, Business Tips, Developing Leaders, Expereince, Focus, Important, Knowledge, Leadership Excellence, Leadership Skills, manager, Personal Development, Perspective, Plan, Priority, Salesperson, Schedule, Staff, Success, The Mind of a Leader, Think, Time, Understanding

Responsibility, simply stated, is being accountable for what is within your power to control.  Learn to deal with things you can control.  Do that well and you’ll be better able to deal with things outside your control.

One of the keys to responsibility is being accountable, and taking ownership of the result, especially when things go wrong as they sometimes do.  Never pass the buck when you’re in charge.  Never blame others.  Always assume the responsibility yourself.

While you “take” responsibility, authority must be earned.  Authority is earned by building trust and winning the respect of your peers.  Authority doesn’t necessarily come with your title.  You have to build a reputation worthy of your title, and thus earn the trust of your people by gaining their respect.

Many leaders fail to earn the trust and confidence of their people because they operate on a double standard: one for themselves and another for everyone else.  To earn respect and gain authority, you must live by the same rules you establish for others.

So take responsibility and earn authority.  Do that well and you’ll be a good leader.

Tags: Accountable, Advice, Authority, Business Development, Business Tips, Control, Developing Leaders, Knowledge, Leader, Leadership Excellence, Leadership Skills, Peers, Personal Development, Respect, Responsibility, result, Simple, Success, The Mind of a Leader, Trust

1)    The key to learning and growing is to fight the urge to prove that you’re right.  We argue about things to show that we’re right instead of discussing things openly to determine what is right.

2)    The key to quality relationships is not to obsess about creating more of them.  Rather, it’s to go deeper and deeper with those you currently have.

3)    A good question to ask yourself is why you do what you do the way you do it.  You may find that by challenging your thinking, you will discover a better way.

Tags: Advice, Business Development, Business Tips, Determine, Developing Leaders, Discover, Discuss, Grow, Knowledge, Leadership Excellence, Leadership Skills, Personal Development, Quality, Relationship, Success, The Mind of a Leader, thinking

It takes a considerable amount of confidence and courage to create a business on your own. Most people don’t understand or appreciate the risks and effort that entrepreneurs take to get their start. An owner often has to bootstrap that effort, doing whatever it takes to make it a success, including working long hours and weekends to get over the hump.

First generation business owners often have to sacrifice living standards to reinvest profits back into the business in order to build it. Having a spouse who understands those sacrifices and supports building the business over temporary lifestyle considerations is what often makes the difference between success and failure.

When second generation family members join the business, there is often a lack of appreciation for what it took to start the business in the first place. The younger generation’s view is often clouded by what they see as outmoded technology, a lack of modern marketing tactics, or old school thinking that is holding the business back. Truth be told, the business often needs a new set of considerations beyond those of the original entrepreneur, who likely started the business with shear guts and determination.

The key to success in any business transition is the mutual understanding and appreciation of what each brings to the firm. When this happens, the complementary talents of each generation support the business to maximum efficiency and effectiveness. The business grows with hard work, smart work, and the harmony that would be impossible to create without the time-tested experience of the entrepreneur and the new, creative thinking of the next generation.

Tags: Advice, Bold, Business, Business Development, Business Tips, Confidence, Courage, Create, Determination, Developing Leaders, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Entrepreneur, Gen Next, Generation, Hard Work, Knowledge, Leadership Excellence, Leadership Skills, Next Generation, owner, Personal Development, Smart Work, Success, The Mind of a Leader, Think, Transtition

Simplicity is a positive. It’s learning to say no to almost everything that isn’t important. And it’s learning to clarify the complicated to maintain order in the midst of change.

The more you have, the more you have to manage. And if you don’t have the time or the people you can rely on to help you, it can quickly become overwhelming. In turn, being overwhelmed isn’t a sign you’re drowning. It’s a signal to step back and re-focus.

I often see this in family businesses. Owners and managers are mired in minutia that frustrates them to the point of anger and bitterness. Simplifying things makes things clear and provides a way forward.

So what does it mean to be a master of simplicity? It means to assess the needs of your business (or even your life) so you have a clarity. When emotions take over objective planning, our circumstances often get in the way of rational thinking. Learning to pause and reflect allows you to rise to higher ground to see the big picture.

Simple is elegant. It’s also much easier. Learn to make things easy.

Tags: Advice, Big Picture, Business Development, Business Tips, Developing Leaders, Elegant, Emotions, Knowledge, Leadership Excellence, Leadership Skills, Objective, People, Personal Development, Planning, Quality, Simple, Success, The Mind of a Leader

There is plenty of evidence to show that as we age, there are certain physiological declines that are inevitable.  Perhaps the best and most obvious example is what we see in professional athletes.  While various sports differ in terms of the need for raw power, speed, agility, and endurance, few would argue that by age 40, athletes are well past their peak performance years and have often showed decline in their mid-30s.  There could be rare exceptions, but even those athletes have likely altered their path to quality performance with the use of experience and modification or enhancement of certain skills.

Do these same results apply to other professions, even those in business, academia, or specialized technical roles.  Arthur C. Brooks argues that they do in his book, From Strength to Strength.  Brooks gives plenty of evidence to show that some 20 years into our careers – somewhere between 35 and 50, changes become evident.  Many of us in our 50s, 60s, and especially 70s admit to slowing down and possessing less energy and even interest in areas that we once mastered so easily.  Adaptation to new technology suffers, while attention to detail and tolerance for minutia decline.

But wait.  All is not lost.  When we are young in our careers, we have raw intelligence and often unbridled ambition to succeed.  And we will go to almost any length to achieve it.  But as we age, we gain wisdom and experience, and the ability to provide unique perspective that was never there in our youth.  Board rooms are filled with mature individuals who possess decades of applied intelligence which manifests itself in deep understanding and wise decision-making.

Getting older and being on the decline in certain areas does not diminish the usefulness of people in the second half of life, or even the final third.  In many respects, that’s when they are most valuable.  What is required is an understanding of the reality of life changes and the ability to add value in new and different ways that are often more enjoyable, interesting, and most importantly, meaningful.

Tags: Ability, Advice, Business Development, Business Tips, Decline, Developing Leaders, Energy, Evidence, Experience, Knowledge, Leadership Excellence, Leadership Skills, Master, Performance, Personal Development, Profession, Quality, Skills, Strength, Success, The Mind of a Leader, Wisdom

Optimism is a trait worth cultivating that helps you develop other virtues.  It certainly far outweighs its counterpart, pessimism.

Optimistic people are generally cheerful and happy.  They see the glass half full, not half empty.  They are often more social and consequently more popular.

Optimists are usually adaptable and capable of dealing with difficulties that others find daunting.  And the health benefits for optimistic people tend to be quite favorable to the alternative. 

Optimists often take better care of themselves in what they eat, how they exercise, and what they fill their minds with.  This in turn helps them sleep better and leads to a greater likelihood of living longer.

Optimists aren’t just the creative people or entrepreneurial giants we read about.  They are ordinary people who share a peaceful and positive outlook on business and life.

The good news is, you aren’t trapped in pessimism for life.  We can all learn to be more optimistic.  We can practice being mindful of others, taking a more optimistic look at each challenge we face, and forming a resistance to things that get us down. 

Optimism is a virtue worth cultivating, and it can start right now.

Tags: Adaptable, Advice, Alternative, Benefit, Business, Business Development, Business Tips, Capable, Cheerful, Cultivate, Develop, Developing Leaders, Difficulty, Eat, Exercise, Glass Half Empty, Glass Half Full, Happy, health, Knowledge, Leadership Excellence, Leadership Skills, life, Live, Mindful, Optimism, Outlook, Peaceful, Personal Development, Pessimism, Popular, Positive, Practice, sleep, Social, Success, The Mind of a Leader, Virtue

People who talk a lot think they’re good communicators.  Sadly, they are often individuals in love with their own thoughts, and feel the need to be heard.  Is it ego, selfishness, insecurity, or perhaps all of the above? 

Talkers have a need to get their points across, yet can’t learn anything new by talking.  Asking questions and listening carefully is almost always a better way.

To be sure, communication is only as good as that which is received.  We are wise to measure our competence as communicators based on the quality of how our message is understood.

The problem arises when we put too much emphasis on what we intend to say or the point we are trying to make.  Instead, recognizing what the recipient has grasped is far more important.  If the gap between what you are trying to say and what is clearly heard and understood is too wide, you need to correct your messaging.

I suggest you slow down and think very carefully whether your interest is more about you or the person you’re speaking to.  Only then will you truly understand that the key to communication is listening more than talking.

Tags: Advice, Clear, Communicate, Communicator, Competence, Correct, Developing Leaders, Ego, Insecurity, Intent, Knowledge, Leadership Excellence, Leadership Skills, Listen, Message, Personal Development, Quality, Question, Recognize, Selfishness, Success, Talk, Talking, The Mind of a Leader, Thought, Understand, Understood

We avoid tough conversations in business as much as we can.  But when we can’t hide from them anymore, we need to face them.

The good news is, there’s a process you can use in most situations that works extremely well.  

First, set a specific time and neutral place to have your one on one.  Stay calm and composed.  It’s a conversation, not a confrontation.

Second, start the dialogue with a check-in to see how things are going with the individual.  Small talk leads to bigger things.

Third, be respectful, and when you speak, do so to share your thoughts with an aim toward being heard instead of creating defensiveness.

Fourth, listen intently and make sure the individual knows it.  Show understanding, not judgment.

Fifth, make sure your points are heard and understood.  Do so with sincerity and honestly.

Finally, wrap up next steps with specifics that are reasonable and crystal clear.  Gain agreement on moving forward, and simply move on.

Perhaps most importantly, conversations don’t have to be won.  They need to be shared with openness and candor.  Do this well and you’ll be on your way to conquering tough conversations.

Tags: Advice, Business Development, Business Tips, Confrontation, Conversation, Counsel, Developing Leaders, Judgement, Knowledge, Leadership Excellence, Leadership Skills, Personal Development, Positive Reinforcement, Success, The Mind of a Leader

I run into this all the time.  Business owners and managers are at their wits-end, often feeling out of control, mired in detail, or simply overwhelmed with everything they have to do. 

The problem is almost always a lack of organization.

It’s not that you lack desire or motivation to improve things.  It’s that you wake up each morning facing an almost impossible set of tasks.  This, combined with the surprises and disappointments you’ll learn about with employees, customers, or circumstances each day will make you crazy.

If you don’t know where to start getting organized, it’s because you are in the weeds of your business.  You can’t set priorities because everything seems to be a priority.  But if everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. 

You need to rise above the minutia and try to understand the real source of your problem.  This usually means getting out from under the detail to formulate a plan to deal with chronic disorganization.

If you don’t have quality people to delegate responsibility to, you will inevitably find yourself overwhelmed and unproductive in digging out from your hole.  I find individuals with the weight of the world on their shoulders without a great person to help them.  And even those who have such a person often fail to delegate responsibility. 

Think of a mouse running on a wheel and never getting anywhere.

If you feel like that, you likely need someone speaking in your ear and helping you get out from under the turmoil.  If you need that help, give me a call or drop me a line and I’ll give you some time.

Tags: Advice, Business Development, Business Tips, Circumstances, Customer, Detail, Developing Leaders, Employees, Knowledge, Leadership Excellence, Leadership Skills, manager, Organize, Overwhelmed, Personal Development, Priority, Problem, Rise Above, Success, Surprise, Task, The Mind of a Leader, Time, Understand