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Leadership Lessons

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Jingle All the Way: Serendipity Happens

Way back before Arnold was Governor of California, he starred in a Christmas caper called “Jingle All the Way.” As workaholic Howard Langston, Arnie races all over town on Christmas Eve, in search of the blockbuster toy “Turbo Man,” which he promised his wife he’d pick up months before. Since it’s the only present on their son’s Christmas list, the need is dire.

In his quest to find the perfect toy, Howard fends off advances from a psycho mailman, a vengeful cop, and his lugubrious neighbor who’s bent on moving in on Howard’s wife, usurping his role as husband and father.

After hours of careening from store to store, Howard finds himself in the town’s annual holiday parade, dressed up as – you guessed it! – Turbo Man. All ends well when his wife and son realize his heart is in the right place. Don’t you just love happy endings?

You may think there’s no lesson here for a business owner, but there are plenty. We could talk about work-life balance, or the importance of keeping your commitments, but the main one to highlight is the role that serendipity plays in business.

Many successful business owners will tell you that the second they became crystal clear on their objectives, things just seemed to fall into place for them. Sure, they faced some obstacles along the way, but somehow the person they needed to meet or the book they needed to read or the lesson they needed to learn fell into their path.

Preparation is a great thing, and it’s necessary for day-to-day success. It’s what gets us through the tough, repetitive and sometimes boring stuff. But often the big leaps forward in our business occur because of some force stronger than us that’s at work in the universe.

Consider this quote from renowned poet Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.” Even if you aren’t the “woo-woo” type, it can pay to be open to seemingly miraculous coincidences and occurrences.

Some people consider these types of coincidences to be signs that you’re moving on the right path. But whether you believe in the “great divine” or not, smart business owners will take advantage of any opportunities, regardless of source. And the more clear you are on your end goal, the more you’ll be able to recognize these opportunities.

 

Holiday Leadership Lessons: Share Your Gifts

The Little Drummer Boy: All Gifts Are to Be Honored

Even if you haven’t seen the animated special, you’ve probably heard the story or the song. But here’s a recap if you’re unaware: The three Wise Men and the shepherds are heading to see the Baby Jesus, and the little drummer boy comes along for the ride. He is embarrassed when he has no gift to offer the newborn Savior.

Finally, he learns that his only skill – playing his drum – is enough.

Maybe you’ve felt this way: You take a skills assessment or strengths finder, or ask your friends and family what they turn to you for. The answers are less than stellar. Instead of being a powerhouse leader, or an inspiration, you come up as a great administrator, or… the Drummer Boy equivalent of today, a good listener. What are you supposed to do if you’ve got mad skillz as, say, a babysitter or folding paper airplanes? Can you possibly make a business out of that?

Well, the short answer is, yes, you can.  Whatever your skill, there is a market for it. Follow these tips to make sure you find your business home:

  1. Don’t underestimate yourself. So you can imitate cartoon voices. Big deal. No one will pay for that…. Or will they? Sure they will! For presentation narration, video games, films… you name it. If you have an above-average skill, someone out there will pay for it. If you doubt this, go to Fiverr.com and take a look at the kind of things people are shelling out money for.
  2. Get yourself out there. Standing in the back of the crowd, quietly tapping on your drum, is not going to do anything for your popularity. You need to put yourself in front of people who can help (if you get nervous, just think back to the Little Drummer Boy. If he could approach Mary, the mother of Jesus, you can probably get up the courage to launch a podcast or website).
  3. Hone your craft. If your skill really is folding paper airplanes, then make yourself the very best paper airplane folder out there. If you are skilled at cleaning toilets, then keep your finger on the pulse of the toilet-cleaning industry and be a leader in that space. Just because you’re naturally gifted doesn’t mean you can coast; you must keep making yourself better and better.

When you have a gift, it is truly that – a present bestowed upon you. It is your responsibility to make the most of it and share it with others.

 

Holiday Leadership Lessons: Spirit is Contagious | enthusiasm

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Holiday Leadership Lessons from the Movies:

Elf: Enthusiasm Is Contagious

Take a six-foot tall adopted elf named Buddy (played by Will Ferrell) who wants to find his birth father, make that father the prickly James Caan, and throw them together  in the midst of New York City and see what happens. Buddy wants a warm and cuddly family reunion; his father Walter wants nothing more than to make this new-found son disappear, preferably with a pair of cement boots on him.

Ah, but this is Christmas, so not only does Buddy convince his new family that syrup tastes good on everything; he also wins the heart of his stepmother, half-brother, and the cynical Jovie, his new love. And yes, Walter eventually sees the light.

So business owners, here’s your business lesson from Buddy the Elf: “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing aloud for all to hear.”

So… what if you’re not Santa? Buddy would tell you it doesn’t matter. Enthusiasm is catching. No one is going to be more excited about your business, your product, your podcast, your class, your blog than you are.  Be enthusiastic with your staff, your vendors and your customers.  You MUST BELIEVE.  If you don’t BELIEVE how can anyone else?

Sometimes we feel a little hesitant to show our enthusiasm. It can be risky to show how much we care about something. But if we don’t show our passion, we’re not going to convince anyone else to follow or act on our recommendations.  We’ve even been trained to not brag, not show off and so those types of behaviors often feel uncomfortable.  Overcome it.  Jump out of your comfort zone and share proudly with enthusiasm your business.  Your excitement will be contagious.

Think about the last time you went out to eat. If the waiter or waitress gave a lackluster endorsement to the daily special, you likely took a pass. But if she or he said, “I just tried it before my shift and it was delicious!” you’d be a little more likely to partake. Enthusiasm sells. Period.

Here are a few tips to make like Buddy the Elf without sounding like a used car salesman (or an escapee from the North Pole):

  • Be honest. Don’t sell or promote something you don’t believe in. It never works – people can tell, and you’ll damage your reputation. BELIEVE.
  • Be yourself. You may be the understated type who isn’t going to jump out of a helicopter a la Richard Branson to promote your latest business venture. You don’t have to be! (One Richard Branson is enough for this world.) But do show your energy in a way that is natural for you, and push your comfort zone a bit.
  • Be realistic. If you promote every new thing that comes down the block, or have a new solution du jour, pretty soon no one is going to listen to you.

You don’t have to dress up in pointy shoes to get people to buy your new ??????. But hey… if the shoe fits… why not?

At the minimum, don’t promote things you aren’t passionate about yourself.  Don’t sell the broken down “used car”.  Sell yourself, your own enthusiasm and passion for your product and service, and sell your belief.

Keep watching for more lessons from the movies for businesses and leaders.  Join the conversation and leave your comments.  Become a contributor and include a full business/leadership related article.

Leadership During the Holidays

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The holidays are a great time for leaders to stand out and shine. There are many opportunities to be a guiding light, to demonstrate your company values and aspirations.  What are the ways that you have taken the lead during the holidays?  Not a holiday party but real leadership of holiday spirit.  Share your stories and let me know the impact it has had on your team and workplace.

Does your workplace do special outreach?  Support community programs?  Support staff in community leadership during the holidays?  How do you demonstrate your leadership at this special time of year?

Holiday Leadership Lessons: It's a Wonderful Life...

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Special Leadership Lessons from Holiday Movies:

It’s a Wonderful Life:
Never Underestimate the Power of Tribes

One of the most memorable Christmas movies of all time is Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life,” starring the incomparable Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. It’s the ultimate feel-good movie, perfect for anyone who’s ever wondered if their life holds meaning.

Here’s the lowdown: George Bailey, played by Stewart, is on the verge of collapse. His small building and loan company is on the verge of bankruptcy, the mean rich man in town is poised to swoop in, and though he has a house full of adorable kids and a gorgeous wife (Reed), there’s never enough money to go around. George decides his family and business would be better off without him. On the brink of suicide, he’s saved by a fledgling angel, Clarence.

Clarence goes on to show George what his life would be like if he’d never existed, and the sight ain’t pretty. By seeing all the people he’s touched, George realizes that he has created a strong network of love and support – he’s created a tribe. And it’s this tribe that pulls together at the end of the movie to give back to George, helping him out of his current difficulties.

The lesson to you should be obvious: Your tribe can, quite literally, save your life. You should be building not only a viable business, but a community – one that supports and cares for each other. If you’re just out to make a buck, don’t be surprised if no one leaps to defend you or lend you a helping hand when things go bad. And they will go bad.

You can get “slapped” by Google. You can get your PayPal account frozen. You can get brought up on charges by the FTC. You can get hacked, robbed, or plagiarized. It happens.

But if you have friends like George’s, you’ll have a whole team of folks on your side. But one thing to remember: George had friends he’d created just by being a good guy, doing the right thing at the right time, not worrying about what was in it for him. He stood up for what was right and shook hand after hand, even when it cost him personally.

He didn’t build this community by selling junk or automating his Twitter feed or spamming everyone. He did it the old fashioned way: By caring.

Some business techniques never go out of style.

How have you incorporated building community into your leadership style and practice?  Building community is skill of talented leaders.

Join us for the Leadership Challenge Training in 2012.

An Ode To Entrepreneurialism

Here’s to the brave and the free who are represented in the entrepreneurial spirit. To the ones who made something we dreamed of, but never dared try ourselves. To the ones who endured the ridicule of others for the sake of their own dream then decided to share their ideas with the rest of the world. To the ones who spent sleepless nights coming up with solutions instead of contemplating the sheer force of the problems they faced. To the ones who never gave up when that was always the easiest option. To the ones who could envision a day when there would be satisfied customers at the end of this leg of the journey. To the ones who discovered there was a thin line between a foolish dream and common sense.

You, brave soldiers of entrepreneurialism, are heroes and destiny changers. You are doing what most cannot. You see here are the valiant men and women who produce the goods, polish the ideas and sell the services that make our lives easier and more fulfilled. They have captured an elusive bug known as entrepreneurialism and it infected every aspect of their life view. They wish others understood, but they’ll walk the road to success alone if they need to. These are the hearty souls who get distracted at lunch and figure out how to take the next step by simply doodling on a restaurant napkin ?then frame it when the dream comes true.

These individuals may not care much for a dress code, standard work hours or common themes of success. They care more about taking the things they care most about in life and seeing where they can go when infused with the ability to dream. Often these individuals invite the rest of us mere mortals to come to their proverbial tent in the center of town for a delightful game of show and tell.

Entrepreneurs are the misunderstood and often made fun of, but there comes a point when their genius is evident to all. Don’t be surprised if they refuse to hold a grudge or point out how right they may have been. The article was written by a web designer Auckland who’s become an entrepreneur in the fields of computer repair and internet marketing.

The Internet Marketer Of Today Needs To Incorporate Blogging Into Their Business In Order To Stay Competitive

You know that your business will be more successful if you have a blog. A lot of people understand the importance of blogging but they can’t teach you how to do it. They can’t break it down to the average person because they don’t know how to teach. Blogging can be intimidating in the beginning; especially, if you have never gave it a try before. There is always an upside and the upside about blogging it is easy to learn and you get results relatively fast compared to other methods. Following are certain things you need to do in other to make your blogging efforts skyrocket your income.

Don’t ignore your readers; interact with participants on your blog. Visitors to your blog will notice if you are paying them any attention or not. What’s in it for somebody to come back to your blog if they never hear from you. You don’t have to answer every question but if it is one where it may solve an important problem then it would be a good idea to take a minute or two to give a solution: the asker will be very grateful you did. By participating yourself you will create the image that you care about your members and this will encourage them to keep coming back for a long time.

Posting to other blogs is also a very effective tactic. In addition to participating in the conversation on your own site, leaving insightful comments on other blogs is also a good idea. This will encourage other people to visit your own blog. Commenting in a helpful way also shows you are not only trying to make money from people, but that you are eager to contribute to real discussions. If you leave genuinely helpful or friendly comments, you will also get more links back to your own blog. Avoid making very general or pointless comments on other blogs. Avoid making short posts like, “I like your blog,” which will just get deleted and label you as a spammer. Instead write a sentence or two about the post you just read and what you think of it. Site owners will then appreciate your contributions and some of them will link to your blog.

Some people insist that a blog needs its own domain name. If you’re still new to blogging, you might prefer to simply install your blog on an existing website with a sub domain. This gives you the benefit of being able to associate your existing products with your blog and it saves you money on the cost of buying a new domain name. If you truly love blogging or if you want to blog about more than one niche, however, you should invest in your own domain name so that your blog has its own identity.

Once you start your blog, you can figure out many ways to keep it filled with interesting content. There are no limits to how creative your blog can be. Remember, you can decide how you want your blog to look and what you want it to say. That’s what makes blogging one of the more fun ways to market online. They are allowed to be creative! You can get started on creating your blog as soon as you finish reading this sentence!

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Making Money Online Is A Lot Easier For The Marketer Who Knows How To Blog

There is more to blogging than simply slapping a bunch of words up on a website a few times a week. You need to understand how blogging works in order to see success with it. Adding a blog to your marketing system will boost=t your income and open the door to an entire group of new options for your business. Blogging on a regular basis will take little of your time away and you will benefit from the hundreds of extra dollars that you will be making. Next, you will find out exactly what steps to take to start profiting from a blog.

An RSS Feed can give your blog an advantage. Believe it or not, RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication.” Some blogs come with feeds set-up so you don’t have to do it manually. You can stick with your own blog’s feed or you can choose one of the many that are available from other companies for free. If you decide to go with a third-party system that may give you more exposure then Feedburner, owned by Google, would be the best choice. Having a feed helps your readers stay current with your writing without having to check your page every day to see if you have published something. Your feed subscribers can read your new posts in their feed reader anytime they want.

Offer an e-mail subscription option for your blog that allows your readers to get your blog posts e-mailed to them directly. This is not the same thing as creating a newsletter and mailing it to people who have signed up for your list. Instead of a newsletter you will send them posts that you recently added to your blog. This technique will make it seem like you are going out of your way to accommodate to your readers.

Also keep posting about things happening right now in your niche. All you have to do is link to some relevant article or news story in your niche and then write your own opinion about it. This shows your readers that you keep current on your topic and can help build your reputation as an authority in your niche.

Make up your mind that you are going to have a great blog and you’ll find there are many ways to do this. Remember, blogging is about more than making money. It can help you find a sense of community in your online niche. Also think of your blog as a way to establish your reputation as an authority in whatever field you’re in. It can also help build your audience, which can help you make more money online. More traffic and attention means you will make more money sooner or later, which is the main goal for all internet marketers.

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Are You Dreading Year End Performance Appraisals? | performance appraisal

Employee Performance Appraisals Can Be Positive and Effective!

Do you  sit in your office dreading the conversation with employees around performance an their annual performance appraisal?

Do you wish the performance appraisal would just be over with?

Have you ever procrastinated the employee performance appraisal so long it was almost the next year?

These are just a few of the comments we hear from managers and business leaders about the annual employee performance appraisal.  Many feel the same about their own, personal performance appraisal and dread it equally.  What makes them so difficult?

It’s the direct conversation with another person that makes it hard, AND the fact that the conversation has NOT been ongoing.  When the performance appraisal is used as an effective tool for enhancing employee performance improvement the conversation is happening throughout the year and the employee and the supervisor are both engaged and committed to the plan.

Shifting to a performance improvement system that is positive, focused on producing results and success shifts the entire year end experience.  In addition, the workplace culture shifts to one of results oriented and skill mastery.  Employees are engaged in the top goals for success and they know that they have the support of their managers and team.

What does it take to make this shift?

First, it takes a new paradigm — one that is focused and positive.

The manager has to make the first shift.

The next step is to use a planning process that engages the employee.  We use the Best Year Yet® system of transformation.  It is a powerful system of moving employees into a results focused paradigm and taking a moment to look at their limiting beliefs as well.  By doing this the manager can help them to overcome limitations and be successful.  The plan sets the top goals for the employee for the year, in collaboration with the manager or leader.  The plan is simple and focused.

The plan is then reviewed with the employee each month.  It is not the manager leading the conversation but rather the employee.  The employee comes to the meeting prepared to discuss their goals and how they did on each goal for the previous month.  Using an online system for tracking goals, employees actually login into their plan and SCORE their goals.  This is a powerful shift in how appraisals are done.  It is empowering to employees and more fully engages them in the plan and its outcomes.  It is not a plan that has been handed to them and is negatively focused, it is a plan that they have developed to create their “best year yet”, and as a result the company results are improved.

When managers are engaged with employees then they are more clued into what is interfering with success. They are having regular conversations with staff and know what is happening through out their area of responsibility.  In addition, they know just how their team is performing.

When it comes time to review the plan again at year end the experience is no longer dreaded but is anticipated with enthusiasm.  Relationships between managers and employees are shifted to collaborative rather than controlling and confrontational.

Workplaces that develop a system of performance improvement see greater team work, greater company results and more collaborative behavior on their team.

To learn more about creating a positive performance improvement system in your workplace schedule a strategic leadership call.

 

Ten Simple Ways to Make Your Website Mobile Friendly

Ten ways to make your site mobile friendly

 

  1. Be Minimalistic — A flashy website is not going to translate well on a mobile device. Stick to the basics, and remember the acronym you’ve learned before. K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple silly)
  2. Consider how mobile readers see your content — Check for yourself on the mobile device that you are targeting with your content to assure yourself that the mobile content translates well to the device. You can’t be sure without looking.
  3. Cut down on ad clutter — You may find that you need to move your ads to other areas that work better with mobile devices. Having ads in the middle of content might not work well with a mobile device like they do on a regular website.
  4. Detect platforms  that are viewing with proper coding  — Learn about special coding that you can do for your content so that it detects what device is looking at the site, and appears in the best format for that device.
  5. Lots of navigation — For a mobile device you likely need more navigation than on a website.  Consider using shorter drop down menus, and think of ways to drill down to the minute information on your site with more menus.
  6. Make short links -  As we know, typing on a handheld device is not fun or easy. So make links as short as possible so that no one throws their mobile device across the room in frustration when trying to view your site.
  7. One post or set of content per page — this goes back to being minimalistic but keep the content to one post per page for easier viewing.
  8. Put content front and center — Instead of having an entry page, put the newest content front and center so that mobile content viewers see what is important right away.
  9. Put links under content and within  — reconsider how you put textural links within a post. While this is great for a website viewed on a webpage it might work better to put links under the post as well as within the text for easier navigation.
  10. Use drop down navigation or hover navigation – This type of navigation saves a lot of space on the mobile device and makes it easier to actually click it to move to the mobile content that the visitor wants to view.