Continuing in my new tradition, here are 5 quotes from blogs that got my attention this week.

I don’t benefit from reposting any of these posts. Sometimes, I don’t even know the writer. However, I do read and personally grow my knowledge by reading posts that challenge my thinking and get me to think outside my old paradigm.

It’s not important that you agree with any of these writers. It’s only important that you think.

I hope you will find some new sources of inspiration with these posts.

Here’s the next group of 5 in the series:

Daniel Pink 

Dan Ariely’s revised model of labor

Rachael Held Evans

- Albert Einstein

We use too many words, when using a few is better.

Once we make the point, then it’s time to stop talking.

Creating simple messages is hard. It takes time to be brief.

So, take time before you speak in order to be brief.

Enough said.

Check out Seth Godin’s post: Shorter

Hugh Ballou
The Transformational Leadership Strategist

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(c) 2012 Hugh Ballou. All rights reserved.

Life is the sum of all your choices.

~ Albert Camus

It is the nature, and the advantage, of strong people that they can bring out the crucial questions and form a clear opinion about them. The weak always have to decide between alternatives that are not their own.

~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

We have been taught by parents, teachers, other adults in our formative years…

That’s a basis for understanding our culture and heritage, and having a context for learning and behaving…

As adults, it’s time to make our own way…

I heard a man of about 65, an ordained minister, say that he was a “Yellow Dog Democrat” and voted that way because that was what he was taught.

Sad…he’s grown now and never learned to think for himself.

We take sides… Republican/Democrat, Creationist/Evolutionist, Liberal/Conservative, etc…. Rather than being angry or fearful of those with other beliefs, we can embrace opposites as an opportunity for knowledge and perspective.

The thinking leader looks at all the data and makes an informed decision. The growing leader continues to learn from his or her own decisions, whether right or wrong, and the decisions of others around them. Leadership is a skill learned over time on a life journey, not an arrival point of perfection.

We were created to be unique with skills and talents that might be only potential. Our position of influence evolves over time as we are transformed into the person that we were created to be.

The confident leader doesn’t have to have all the glory, attention, or power. The confident leader knows that information is shared and that power is more dispersed and directed, as if conducting a competent orchestra.

If you are sure about everything, then maybe you don’t know enough.

Hugh Ballou
The Transformational Leadership Strategist

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(c) 2012 Hugh Ballou. All rights reserved.

Continuing in my new tradition, here are 5 quotes from blogs that got my attention this week.

I don’t benefit from reposting any of these posts. Sometimes, I don’t even know the writer. However, I do read and personally grow my knowledge by reading posts that challenge my thinking and get me to think outside my old paradigm.

It’s not important that you agree with any of these writers. It’s only important that you think.

I hope you will find some new sources of inspiration with these posts.

Here’s the next group of 5 in the series:

Rohit Bhargava

Need Customers? Here’s How to Book Yourself Solid

Bestselling author Michael Port talks reveals how it’s possible, even in this era of vanishing customers, to build a business that’s booked solid.

One of the biggest challenges facing any service-based business is creating a full calendar of work on a consistent basis. Seven years ago, a groundbreaking book called Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port focused on helping business owners tackle this challenge. Recently, the book was republished as an illustrated version.

In this exclusive interview, Port discusses why he revisited his bestselling book, what it really took to visualize the message and how the original lessons from his first book still hold up, even after an economic downturn and the explosion of social media.

Read the Post…

Jason Calacanis

4 Surprising Inside Tips for Attracting Investors

Expert investor Jason Calacanis speaks frankly about what investors are really looking for in a pitch and in a startup.

Every few years—at least for the past 20 that I’ve been in the technology space—I’ve witnessed a change in how startups go about getting funding from investors.

Read the Post…

John Coleman

Six Components of a Great Corporate Culture

The benefits of a strong corporate culture are both intuitive and supported by social science. According to James L. Heskett, culture “can account for 20-30% of the differential in corporate performance when compared with ‘culturally unremarkable’ competitors.” And HBR [Harvard Business Review] writers have offered advice on navigating different geographic cultures, selecting jobs based on culture, changing cultures, and offering feedback across cultures, among other topics.

But what makes a culture? Each culture is unique and myriad factors go into creating one, but I’ve observed at least six common components of great cultures. Isolating those elements can be the first step to building a differentiated culture and a lasting organization.

Read the Post…

Dan Rockwell, Leadership Freak

The Power of Second Questions

“Most people never listen.” Hemingway

Questions are gifts. Asking, followed by listening, says others matter; telling says you matter.

Eager to talk is reluctant to ask.

Enemies of curiosity:

1. Disinterest. You really don’t care.
2. Need to appear smart.
3. Hurry. The need for speed, at least initially, stifles curiosity.
4. Knowledge. Those who know don’t ask.
5. Answers. Answers end thought.

Pretend you don’t have the answer, you may find another.

Read the Post…

Mike Henry

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Murray Bowen, creator of family systems theory, once declared, “Over-functioning is irresponsible responsibility.”

The #1 complaint I hear from leaders: that they, as leaders, do too much and their teams do too little. Leaders blame others for what they create. There is a reciprocity in over-functioning. The counter-force is under-functioning.

What is over-functioning? It is micromanaging.

Over-functioning is doing something for others that they should be doing themselves.

If you want to make an enemy, then do something for them that they should do for themselves.

We think we are helping, when, in fact, we are really causing an opposite and emotional reaction.

Look at yourself.

Are you doing things that others should  be doing?

It’s time to stop.

Helpful Resources:

The Vision Group, Ltd., Blog Post: Are You an Over-Functioning Leader?

Murray Bowen’s essays: Family Therapy in Clinical Practice

Roberta Gilbert: The Cornerstone Concept

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“Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say infinitely when you mean very; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.”  - C. S. Lewis

Our choices of words have impact on others. We can choose the words we use, however, that takes thought and intention, and we are just too busy to think about our words.

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It all starts with why. – Simon Sinek*

 

For many years as a leadership coach and trainer, I did not understand this principle. It was not until I could have a paradigm shift that I attracted people to me who needed my skills. They needed to know why they needed me.

As I wrote about in a previous post, Bob Circosta, the “Billion Dollar Man,” defines the WSGAT ™ to tell people why they need to purchase a product. It’s the What’s So Good About That line that’s clarifying. He says sales is about telling people why they need something. Then they’ll buy it.

In his book and TED talks, Sinek uses Apple as an example of beginning with why. They make the user experience easy – that’s why you need to buy their products.

I work with many start-up entrepreneurs who have great ideas for products or services. Any one of these ideas has the potential to change the world as we know it. There are many, many people who look at things that aren’t and say, “Why not…” and create a solution. Out of every 100 of these people I meet, only 3, on average, will actually do something about it. Out of those 3, only 1 will survive in the business world and be successful.

Many start-ups need funding. Many do not receive the funding to begin design or production of a product. Some who get money to start production don’t get enough funding to market the product successfully and create a sustainable cash flow to support the business long-term.

The problem? So many of them focus on the what – what the product or service does. Or the how – how the product or service does whatever it does. Until people understand why it matters or why they need it, they really can’t connect with the project to purchase it or to invest in the company.

We all need external support to validate, refine, or challenge our thinking. We know why, but we can’t create a compelling message so others understand the why. We know it, so we assume that others know it because it’s quite obvious. Well, it’s obvious to us, but we’ve been living with the idea we birthed and it’s a part of our thinking and feeling. We forget that others need information and time to come up to speed with the concept.

So, in my personal journey, I have changed my language to talk about the why of leadership and the why people need me. I’m constructing a new website for my company, SynerVision International, Inc. The URL is http://synervision.us. I invite anyone to check it out and provide me with feedback. Is my why clear?

Once we think we have arrived at a decision or a plan, we get stuck. We really never arrive like it’s a destination. We do, however, get on track and begin a journey like a train on railroad tracks. The railroad tracks keep up focused and in line with our plan. Having a coach and a mastermind team help us to stay on track.

Define the why. Make a plan to achieve the why. Evaluate the plan regularly. Revise the plan as needed. Commit to the revision and get back on track.

Successful leaders do what others are not willing to do. Is that you?

 

* Purchase this book on Amazon Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action (affiliate link)

Hugh Ballou

The Transformational Leadership Strategist

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(c) 2013 Hugh Ballou. All rights reserved.

Continuing in my new tradition, here are 5 quotes from blogs that got my attention this week.

I don’t benefit from reposting any of these posts. Sometimes, I don’t even know the writer. However, I do read and personally grow my knowledge by reading posts that challenge my thinking and get me to think outside my old paradigm.

It’s not important that you agree with any of these writers. It’s only important that you think.

I hope you will find some new sources of inspiration with these posts.

Here’s the next group of 5 in the series:

Steve Roesler

Business or Busyness?
Recently I met with a corporate Executive VP in New York City. I’ll call him Phil. Phil said his division was struggling. But instead of leading the charge to turn things around, he was being called into meetings regularly to make lengthy, detailed, Powerpoint presentations explaining what was wrong. He was too busy doing business to be doing the business. Interestingly, one of his recommendations was for the company to get out of some of its operations because they were draining money and other resources. He explained that his people were spending too much time on things that no longer yielded the kind of margins the company desired.

http://www.allthingsworkplace.com/2013/04/business-or-busyness.html

Kevin Eikenberry

Security and Change
William O. Douglas was the longest serving Supreme Court Justice in United States history. He served from 1939 to 1975. Even a basic understanding of history would tell you that he presided during times of significant change. In fact, in the role of a Supreme Court Justice at any time in history would force a need to understand the balance between the security of the past and what is written with the realities of a changing world. I love today’s quotation. I love it more when you think about the perspective of who stated it.

http://blog.kevineikenberry.com/leadership/security-and-change/

Michael Hyatt

5 Headline Templates That Grab Readers
Your readers decide whether your blog post is worth their time within a few seconds. Most of that decision is based on the post title (or “headline”).

Some of the highest paying work in the copywriting business is creating headlines for magazine covers and tabloids. Think about it. Aren’t you sometimes at least tempted to pick up those magazines in the grocery store line? That’s the power of a great headline at work.
http://michaelhyatt.com/headline-templates.html

Devindra Hardawar (for VentureBeat)

House of Nerds: Kevin Spacey takes on real politicians with his Netflix machinations
The Netflix series played a big role at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last night with the spoof “House of Nerds,” in which Spacey’s Underwood character takes on actual politicians and political journalists. The list of cameos includes Senator John McCain, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

While the title is somewhat misleading (Are politicos really nerds?), the spoof works thanks to some excellent writing that isn’t afraid to poke fun at political controversy.

http://venturebeat.com/2013/04/28/house-of-nerds-kevin-spacey-takes-on-real-politicians-with-his-netflix-machinations/

Jeff Goins

Just Write Something
The other day, I chatted with an author friend of mine. She’s trying to write her next book, and it’s just not working. For months, she’s been working on the proposal. But the busyness of life — amongst other distractions — is keeping her from doing so.

She wants this book to be great, to be something truly special. But every time she puts her fingers to keys, she feels stuck. As if her best idea is nowhere near good enough. It’s just not working.

So she waits for the words to come, hoping to get inspired. And I have no doubt that eventually she’ll write something. Eventually.
http://goinswriter.com/write-something/

Human relationships are very complex…

Triangles are very complex.

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