Ask for what you want.

My favorite lessons are always the ones I learn from my wife. And this one is one of the most important lessons I have learned in relation to my marriage and Writers of the Round Table (yes — the parallels are many ).

When it comes to communication, he who opens his mouth about his needs gets them fulfilled. Similarly in business, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

For some reason, as a leader, I have always felt that I needed to earn things the hard way. That I needed to do things in such a large way that the world would take notice and then rain its riches upon me. I tend to be stubborn in this regard often. But that approach is not working for my company, nor is it working for my clients (and it certainly doesn’t work in my marriage!).

When we have a need, the greatest thing we can do is to put it out there. Asking for help is often not something a leader likes to do, but who can come to your aid if you’re unwilling to let them know of your desires?

So today, I want to put it out there that I am looking for assistance in getting our books into bookstores. In the past it has not been a priority, because we were focusing so heavily on development, but we have a couple of books, Edge and China Girl, and From the Barrio to the Board Room, that I believe would sell incredibly well off the shelf. So if anyone out there reading this has relationships with bookstore managers, owners, or corporate offices, we are looking for champions to introduce our books to the public. That being said, if anyone out there lives near a bookstore and is willing to walk our books into the store and convince them to carry them, we could launch a grass roots campaign that way as well. Outside the box thinking is welcome, and I thank you in advance for considering this request.

My own needs aside, if you are a leader of your own business or other organization, I challenge you to ask yourself if there might be an area in your world that could be made a bit brighter with the posing of a simple request for help. A little asking can go a long way.