Over the last two months, I have been reading and re-reading The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur by Mike Michalowicz (you too should read this book…it is a must for anyone who is in business.) In chapter 2, Mike talks about the wall of limiting beliefs and the profound impact they can have on our ability to break through our current plateau or to stay stuck in mediocrity.

In chapter 16 of EDGE! A Leadership Story, our protagonist, Mitchell James begins to come to grips with his own leadership and his lack of authenticity. His team has nailed him on the 360 Degree Feedback for not bringing his true leadership forward, and he knows that in order to break through the plateau and to begin to lead global change, he has to be willing to do things differently, including changing his beliefs and turning his doubts about his own authentic style upside down. If you have never tried on being truly authentic, it can be as scary as hell, and in EDGE!, our protagonist experiences both the exhilaration and the panic of finally becoming an authentic leader.

I believe that the first step in overcoming our old belief systems is to name them on paper…to write them out big and bold and to then show these beliefs to someone else. This one activity can release the choke hold of negative beliefs and can help you break through the plateau Michalowicz talks about in his groundbreaking book.

If you are reading this blog post today, I am going to challenge you to answer the following questions on paper and then talk to at least 3 people about what you wrote:

1) How are you currently living in a state of mediocrity, living as you have for decades?

2) What do you most doubt about yourself and why?

3) What is a dream you have given up on and why?

4) When you look at the world around you (your environment, the people in your life, the books you are reading,) what old beliefs are still smothering you?

5) What one change do you know you need to make in order to be more successful? What is holding you back from making that change?

6) What about your childhood, family or roots are a part of your story, and what are you doing to tell others about that story? If you are leaving this out of your story, what are you ashamed of or afraid to talk about?

If this post has resonated with you today, I invite you to check out The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur and EDGE! A Leadership Story and then send me an e-mail for a complimentary consultation. I would be honored to offer you 30 minutes to explore the above questions.

As most leadership consultants do, I have been watching the campaign in earnest to learn what I can about formulas for success. The more I watch the ending of the McCain campaign, the more clear it becomes as to why this campaign failed.

Two nights ago on the O’Reilly Factor (which I do watch each evening…I also watch a few more Liberal shows like Hardball with Chris Matthews) Carl Cameron reported that sources at the top of the McCain campaign told him that Governor Palin was “difficult, a bit of a shop-aholic, did not know the countries that make up NAFTA and did not know that Africa was a continent.”

I have to say I was a bit in shock. I honestly could not believe what I was hearing. I know that Governor Palin has her shortcomings, but this information leaking out seems to be coming from some cowards…people who don’t have the guts to step up and attach a face and a name to their comments.

I watched the reaction last night on the news…more of the same, and of course, the media is having a field day with this.

If you are a leader, I encourage you to look at the leadership skills (or lack thereof) in this situation and know that at the end of the day, what we are hearing and seeing now is proof positive that this campaign was in grave trouble months ago (even before Palin came onto the scene.)

Here are a few of the leadership skills that I see were (and still are) blatantly missing:

1) Accountability: The McCain campaign has been pointing fingers at each other and Palin for weeks. At the end of the day, McCain should be held accountable. He was the Republican nominee, and accountability starts at the top.

2) Leadership Courage: Some people at the top of the campaign seem to be afraid to be wrong. I believe that they are trying to save themselves right now, so they are throwing Governor Palin under the bus. There’s nothing better for a coward than having a scapegoat.

3) Personal Responsibility: If you are a part of an organization, you need to take responsibility for everything you do and say and every mistake you made. It’s easy to throw the responsibility onto someone who lives thousands of miles away in the state of Alaska.

I want to make clear that I know how difficult running a presidential campaign must be, and my hat is off to both Obama and McCain for sticking out two long years of travel and physical strain. But…at the end of the day, always, always, the leadership skills practiced are what yield results. I have heard it reported that Obama said from the beginning that he was not going to tolerate drama…that he wanted a team that could be united and stand together no matter what, and guess what…it worked! Don’t ever underestimate what leadership development, managerial courage and accountability can do for your organization.

EDGE! A Leadership Story

I am convinced that one of the reasons the Republican Party took a beating this week is directly related to two obvious reasons:

1) We are still at war

2) Our economic crisis

When a company, government or organization is fighting or in economic trouble, it is quite common for people to lose their confidence and morale to drop. A change is then inevitable.

I think we can learn a great deal from this election on what worked and what didn’t. Needless to say, a perfect storm developed that inspired the American people to vote for change.

If you look closely at your own situation, the question is “Are you building your company in the direction of peace and prosperity?” To help you answer this bigger question, I encourage you to answer the following questions:

On the topic of prosperity:

1) Are you focusing your time and energy on the products and services which you know can bring you the greatest return on your investment?

2) What ways can you cut costs without sacrificing the quality of service you deliver?

3) Are there any customers who are dragging you down/not paying their bills? If so, is it time to let them go? Which customers do you need to focus on as a top priority?

4) What can you do to improve/enhance your current products and services without blowing a wad of money?

On the topic of peace:

1) Are you leading with a cool head?

2) Are you leading from the center? Or…are you pandering to one group inside your organization?

3) Do you have trouble makers in your company? If so, why do you keep them on board?

4) What are you doing to get input from all sub-groups in your company?

5) What are your employees most concerned about, and what are you doing to address their concerns?

6) Are you communicating openly and honestly?

7) What are you doing to build confidence in your employees?

I encourage you to sit down and answer these questions today, and don’t answer them in isolation. Sit down with your most trusted colleagues and brainstorm the possibilities for the future.

EDGE! A Leadership Story

With unemployment on the rise and a recession not looking like an eventuality, but in fact, more like a bed partner, businesses have got to make some decisions to survive and remain competitive. What is imperative in an environment such as this is that communication be more clear, more effective, and more to the heart than ever.  Why? Because this is an environment of fear, and in such a state, people need to feel a sense of confidence with the people they are choosing to do business with.  The takeaway here is three-fold:

1. Communication. In these times, do not isolate yourself. Isolation breeds fear and fear is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Over-Communicate.
2. Persuasive brevity.  Use as few words as possible to get your point across. People’s patience is focused on their own survival, so respect that!
3. Consistency.  Now more than ever, you need to ensure that your message is being demonstrated repeatedly. What is working for Barack Obama can work for you. Be consistent and repetitive.

In times of trouble, there are great opportunities for those who can see above the low hanging smog of crisis. Keep your head on, keep your head up, communicate, respect your audience’s position, and be consistent with your messaging. Do it through articles, blogging, email marketing, press releases, and individual phone calls and emails. If you need a serious partner to guide you through this communication process, give Writers of the Round Table a shout.  Words are our business.

In the book EDGE! A Leadership Story, we paint the picture of a modern day CEO, Mitchell James…a man who has excelled in the global trade industry but who is losing his edge with his team. The players on his team are losing their interest, and they are jumping ship right and left.Shortly following the publication of EDGE, I had a leader call me. The man had read the book, and he wanted to brainstorm with me on how to motivate his team. You see, he was a lot like Mitchell James…he had recruited some highly sought-after talent, and they were jumping ship right and left. I immediately asked him what the team said was the reason they were losing motivation, and the man could not answer the question. He seemed baffled at the question.

You see, I don’t really believe in motivational strategies. To me, motivation is a pushing mechanism, and I am just not a big believer in motivation or in cheerleading to try to get a team to work together. I am on the other hand a big fan of inspiration and of playing to people’s strengths and tapping into the dreams they have for their life, career and the world at large.

If you are a leader who is listening to this audio today, and if your team morale seems to be low, or your key team members are starting to jump ship, I would ask you to sit down with each team member and ask the following questions.

1) As the leaders of this company, what have we done to tick you off, and what do we need to do to change it?

2) When you think about your strengths, which ones are you not being asked to apply in your current position, and how can we use those strengths, starting today?

3) When you step out of bed each morning and get ready for the day, are you dreading coming to work or are you dancing out the door, because you are excited about this company? If you are dreading it, what are you dreading, and how can we fix it? If you are dancing out the door, what is it that gets you excited and how can we do more of that?

4) When you are alone, and you are thinking of your dream team, what does it look like? How much does our current team stack up against your dream team? How can you help us create that dream team?

5) If you could use all of your resources at this company to change the world, what would you do, and how would you do it?

You see, these questions have nothing to do with a pushing mechanism.  These questions are those based in inspiration.  They get at the root of people and what makes them tick.  These questions ignite a sense of desire and vision and “pull” people in the direction of building a cohesive team.

Once you have asked each player on your team these questions, it’s time to take a bold step in the direction of making some very important changes to the way you do things in your company. You have to be willing to play to your employees’ strengths, give them the tools they need to make radical changes in the world and begin to leverage your collective wisdom to build a dream team.

Pick up a copy of EDGE! A Leadership Story today.

Listen to the audio of this blog post below.

 

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