I want to extend many thanks to Mike Michalowicz and Scott Bradley for including me in such a well respected group of women entrepreneurs in their TPE post today:  Women Entrepreneurs:  The Next Wave of Leaders.  I encourage you to check out the post and the biographies of the women posted…as I said…indeed an honor to be included in this group.

We hear it all the time…if you do things the way they’ve always been done, you’re bound to get the same results.

Well…Paul Azinger showed true leadership recently at the Ryder Cup, and he made the decision to not serve as a baby sitter or towel boy. He stepped up the game, big time, and he broke some of the rules from history (including hiring a life coach!) in order to regain the coveted Ryder Cup. I read an article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday by the title of Team USA’s Management Victory, and here’s what Azinger did:

1) He completely revamped the way the team was chosen by shortening the number of points players had earned from two years to one year so that he could recruit the best players.

2) He extended the team selection to just two weeks before the deadline.

3) He talked the PGA into letting him choose four captain’s picks instead of two.

4) He divided the team into three (4-man) pods to play their practice rounds together, which is based on a tried and true military strategy often used by the Navy Seals.

5) He created an environment that allowed AND encouraged each team member to be exactly who they were and to bring that authenticity to the game.

6) He deployed the services of a life coach to help keep him calm and to direct him on how to communicate and inspire each player on the basis of their unique communication style and personality. Now that takes guts!

The question for today is “What old rules are you following that are no longer working, and what are you afraid will happen if you change?”

If you are interested in learning more about how to change the rules of your game in order to get better results, pick up a copy of EDGE! A Leadership Story today and send an e-mail to beafields@beafields.com for a collaborative coaching session. Coaching works, and I look forward to providing you the support you need in order to win your game!

Great article today in the Wall Street Journal:  Thain’s Swiftness Praised; Fuld’s Hesitation Faulted.

This article is worth going out and picking up a copy of the WSJ for September 16.  The article applauds Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain for his quick action, decisiveness, realistic view and his willingness to bring in an outsider’s perspective…all top skills leaders of today are going to need.

The article also gives you the down side of Lehman’s CEO Richard Fuld for not acting more quickly and decisively earlier in the year when Lehman began to unravel.

For those of you who live in the Chicago area and are very early risers, I will be appearing on the Morning Show on NBC5 on Sunday, August 24 between 6:30-7:00 a.m. Central (Just ignore the dark circles under my eyes) on the topic of “Helicopter Parents.” The show will also be promoting our Millennial Leaders book, so we are very excited and hope that those of you who can watch will do so!

And…the following morning, August 25 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific., I will be appearing on Sacramento & Company. You can watch your TV experience from your own computers! They are LIVE streaming online at www.sacandco.net just click on “Watch LIVE.” Of course if you live in the Sacramento viewing area, you can watch from view of your favorite television set!

We greatly appreciate your continued support as we take the message of coaching and our next great generation out to the world!

And…if you have not yet picked up a copy of EDGE! A Leadership Story, we encourage you to do so and begin working through your greatness as a leader.

We want to thank Steve Renshaw of Digital Motion TVfor his outstanding work on this video! Thank-you Steve!