Sunday, 30 November 2014

Best New Leadership Book Of 2014




After reading nearly 40 books about leadership released this year, my pick for the very best is the book, The Front-Line Leader: Building a High-Performance Organization from the Ground Up, by Chris Van Gorder.

This book is my top choice because it:
  • Covers the issues most important to today's workplace leaders
  • Provides "real-world" and practical everyday steps you can take
  • Gives you specific techniques and tactics
  • Tells powerful, life-experience stories
  • Capsulizes "Take Action" to do’s for you at the end of each chapter
  • Reveals how to create a culture of accountability that creates a high-performing organization with a competitive advantage

And, most important, because the entire premise of the book is:

  • People come first!


Today, Van Gorder is the President and CEO at Scripps Health, one of America’s foremost health systems with 14,000 employees and 2,600 affiliated physicians.  He has presided over a dramatic turnaround, catapulting Scripps from near bankruptcy to a dominant market position.  But, he started with Scripps Health back in 1973 and rose through the ranks, learning along the way the lessons he shares in his book.

Equally impressive, Van Gorder had to reinvent his career after having been injured on the job as a California police officer.  That reinvention led him to that 1973 hospital security director job.

You’ll find the 200-page book easy to read.  Each chapter is comprised of short sections, often about the length of a blog posting.

My favorite chapters are:
  • Know Your People
  • Tell Stories
  • Create a Culture of Advocacy
  • Build Loyalty and Engagement from the Middle
  • Bring People Together
  • Ask “What If?”

This week, Van Gorder kindly answered the following questions for me:

Chris Van Gorder

QuestionEven when a CEO does his/her best to be approachable to their employees, often employees find it difficult to approach that CEO.  What couple things can a CEO do to make that a less threatening experience for the employee?

Van Gorder: It is up to CEOs to make themselves approachable and it does not happen overnight.  There is no doubt that the title can be intimidating but the best way to break down the title is to let the employee get to know who you are – that you are more than just a title. 

I’ve found great success in developing programs like our year-long Leadership Academy for middle managers or our six-month program called Employee 100 for front-line staff.  The initial sessions are always a little awkward but when we spend time together, talk about our backgrounds and how did we get to where we are and answer questions candidly, the artificial barriers start to break down and a relationship – even trust – develops both ways.

Another way to do that is to spend some time working side-by-side with your employees doing their job with them.  When that happens, the CEO is working for the front-line employee.  Relationships and understanding develop.

The point is it takes time and consistency – and it takes effort on the part of the CEOs.  Fly-bys don’t count.
  
QuestionCan work ethic be taught?

Van Gorder:  I believe a work ethic is cultural – both from an individual and corporate perspective.  My father always told me, “don’t steal from the hand that feeds you.”  What he meant by that is that nobody owed us (me) a job.  He believed that it was a privilege to be employed and that we owed our loyalty, dedication and hard work to our employer.  In that regard, he taught me a “work ethic.”   But it’s also an issue related to organizational culture.   If the culture of the organization is to be productive and focused as an organization – where there is fair and equitable accountability – the organization can have a strong work ethic.   But if there is not a sense of “accountability” from top to bottom, a work ethic will be sporadic if it exists at all.


Question:  Why do many CEOs forget their roots?

Van Gorder:  I think they lose contact with their roots and start to believe their own “press.”  We live in a competitive world and it’s not that easy to achieve success and become a chief executive.  But it’s important for every CEO to remember they did not get there by themselves.  They were mentored, taught, supported and in almost every case, it was hard-working employees and managers who helped the CEO achieve their success.  It’s important to reflect on that point regularly and go back to those roots.   And if nothing else, volunteer with an organization where you are not in charge so you can remember what it is like to be an employee just like everyone else.

Question:  How do you engage middle-managers to effectively reflect your philosophies?

Van Gorder: Spend time with them.  We established a Leadership Academy that runs one full day a month and I spend my entire day with that group starting with a wide open Q&A session with them for about 2.5 hours.  It is very candid and transparent.  Over the course of time, an understanding of both personal and organizational philosophies becomes understood.   When the class graduates after a year they join the Leadership Academy Alumni Association and I meet with that group every month just to do a Q&A.   Over time the philosophies become well-understood.

Question:  How much of a person's positive morale is based on that individual versus the influence of the organization where they work?

Van Gorder: There are certainly individuals in the world who are so positive consistently and so self-motivating that they have the greatest impact on their personal morale.  But most people need a combination of personal or mission-oriented morale and organizational morale.   So care of employees is as important as the success of the organization in building and sustaining morale.  It’s a combination of personality, organizational culture, organizational purpose and mission, and success.


Question:  When things aren't going so well for an organization, how much of that situation do you recommend a CEO shares with his/her employees?

Van GorderTransparency is transparency – not selected transparency.  I believe employees should know as much as possible about what internal and external forces are impacting the organization.  So in our communications and Q&A sessions we share everything except three things: we don’t violate patient confidentiality, we don’t talk about personnel actions as they relate to individuals and we don’t discuss business transactions if there is a confidentiality agreement in place.   Absent those three conditions, we share everything we can as soon as we can.

Question:  The downturn in the economy during the past few years has caused many people to have to reinvent themselves.  What advice do you have for those struggling with their reinvention?

Van Gorder: Reinvention starts with a positive attitude.  I like to hire people with positive attitudes as we can train people for almost everything except attitude.  The second thing to remember is that nobody owes you anything – it’s up to you to get the training and prepare yourself for the career or job you want.  But at the same time, there are organizations that believe in investing in their people and helping their people achieve their career aspirations.  Find those employers.   So it’s a combination of personal attitude, proper preparation and a great employer.  Find those and you will likely find success.

Thanks to the book’s publisher for sending me an advance copy of the book.



My Favorite Nelson Mandela Quotes


As we near the first-year anniversary of the day Nelson Mandela died, I think about my favorite Nelson Mandela leadership quotes:
  • "Lead from the back--and let others believe they are in front."
  • "The greatest glory in living lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall."
  • "It always seems impossible until it's done."
  • "I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles."
  • "I've learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.  The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."
  • "Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again."

Saturday, 29 November 2014

70 New Year's Resolutions For Leaders For 2015


With only one month left of 2014, it's not too early to start identifying your New Year's Resolutions for 2015.



To get you started, how about selecting one or more of these 70 New Year's resolutions for leaders?

Perhaps write down five to ten and then between now and December 31, think about which couple you want to work on in 2015.
  1. Don't micromanage
  2. Don't be a bottleneck
  3. Focus on outcomes, not minutiae
  4. Build trust with your colleagues before a crisis comes
  5. Assess your company's strengths and weaknesses at all times
  6. Conduct annual risk reviews
  7. Be courageous, quick and fair
  8. Talk more about values more than rules
  9. Reward how a performance is achieved and not only the performance
  10. Constantly challenge your team to do better
  11. Celebrate your employees' successes, not your own
  12. Err on the side of taking action
  13. Communicate clearly and often
  14. Be visible
  15. Eliminate the cause of a mistake
  16. View every problem as an opportunity to grow
  17. Summarize group consensus after each decision point during a meeting
  18. Praise when compliments are earned
  19. Be decisive
  20. Say "thank you" and sincerely mean it
  21. Send written thank you notes
  22. Listen carefully and don't multi-task while listening
  23. Teach something new to your team
  24. Show respect for all team members
  25. Follow through when you promise to do something
  26. Allow prudent autonomy
  27. Respond to questions quickly and fully
  28. Return e-mails and phone calls promptly
  29. Give credit where credit is due
  30. Take an interest in your employees and their personal milestone events
  31. Mix praise with constructive feedback for how to make improvement
  32. Learn the names of your team members even if your team numbers in the hundreds
  33. Foster mutual commitment
  34. Admit your mistakes
  35. Remove nonperformers
  36. Give feedback in a timely manner and make it individualized and specific
  37. Hire to complement, not to duplicate
  38. Volunteer within your community and allow your employees to volunteer
  39. Promote excellent customer service both internally and externally
  40. Show trust
  41. Encourage peer coaching
  42. Encourage individualism and welcome input
  43. Share third-party compliments about your employees with your employees
  44. Be willing to change your decisions
  45. Be a good role model
  46. Be humble
  47. Explain each person's relevance
  48. End every meeting with a follow-up To Do list
  49. Explain the process and the reason for the decisions you make
  50. Read leadership books to learn
  51. Set clear goals and objectives
  52. Reward the doers
  53. Know yourself
  54. Use job descriptions
  55. Encourage personal growth and promote training, mentoring and external education
  56. Share bad news, not only good news
  57. Start meetings on time
  58. Discipline in private
  59. Seek guidance when you don't have the answer
  60. Tailor your motivation techniques
  61. Support mentoring - both informal and formal mentoring
  62. Don't interrupt
  63. Ask questions to clarify
  64. Don't delay tough conversations
  65. Have an open door policy
  66. Dig deep within your organization for ideas on how to improve processes, policies and procedures
  67. Do annual written performance appraisals
  68. Insist on realism
  69. Explain how a change will impact employees' feelings before, during and after the change is implemented
  70. Have face-to-face interaction as often as possible

Friday, 28 November 2014

Why Veterans And Rookies Make For A Powerful Team


In her new book, Rookie Smarts, author Liz Wiseman explains the benefits of having both veteran employees and new employees (rookies) on a team.   The four main benefits are:

  1. The veteran brings clarity and gravitas while the rookie brings energy and determination.
  2. The veteran sees the potential and promise of the novel ideas of the rookie.
  3. The veteran knows how the world works and guides the entrepreneur who wants to change the world.
  4. When the disparate contributions of experience and naivete are appreciated, the combination sparks collective brilliance.

Wednesday, 26 November 2014

The 10 Things I Am Thankful For This Year


Each year, around Thanksgiving time, I think about what I am thankful for.  This year, I decided to once again take the time to make a list.  A list of 10 things I am thankful for.

What's on your list this year?  What's on your list this year that wasn't on last year's list?

Here is my list:
  • Family and friends
  • Employment, and a year of positive evolution for my workplace
  • Technology, Blogs, Twitter and all social media sharing tools that help me to be a constant learner
  • Health and all those who help me stay healthy and encourage me to reach my goals -- which included running 24 5K races (and my first-ever 10K) this year benefiting a variety of mostly Kansas City area nonprofits and charities
  • Setting business and personal goals and working hard to reach or exceed them
  • Good books (including ones the book club recommended)
  • Nonprofit organizations that provide vital services and ways for me to volunteer and donate
  • Music
  • The ability to travel for vacations
  • Readers, followers and guests of my Blog and of Twitter @ericjacobsonkc
Wow, I have a lot to be thankful for this year!



Best Leadership Books To Read In 2015


As you think about what business books you want to read next year, how about adding to the list at least one book from the list below. Perhaps a book that will help you improve your leadership skills.

A couple years ago, members of five groups on the professional social media web site LinkedIn voluntarily recommended their favorite books about leadership. They responded to a group discussion question, "Best Leadership Books -- What's Your Favorite?"

When contemplating their favorites, they likely thought about which books were in their minds the best, most favored, most inspiring, most instructional, most relevant, and which ones they might reference frequently.

The recommendations came from these member groups:
  • ExecuNet Executive Suite
  • Leadership Think Tank
  • Linked 2 Leadership
  • Keller Graduate School Of Management
  • The Talent Buzz
As the recommendations rolled in, it became clear that leaders learn from, and are inspired by, a wide variety of books -- biographies, autobiographies, books backed by research and academia, books made famous by the popular press, books by motivational speakers, and books by professionals eager to share their personal and professional leadership success stories, tips and suggestions.

Readers' favorites included those written by or about sports coaches, athletes, CEOs, scholars, religious leaders, governmental and military leaders.

Not surprisingly, many well-known leadership book authors made the list, such as authors:
  • Drucker
  • Kotter
  • Maxwell
  • Welch
Interestingly, the discussion thread, particularly within the Linked 2 Leadership group of LinkedIn, generated debate about the value and quality of some of the book recommendations. But, the general consensus was that if someone recommended a book that inspired them or taught them how to be a better leader, the book was worth their time.

Here is the list of all 235 books, in alphabetical order. It represents many of the vast approaches to leadership in practice today throughout the world. Take a look to see how many you've read. Perhaps you'll find one of your favorites.  Because the list is a couple years old, it doesn't include some of the latest best leadership books.  Even so, these classics listed below remain relevant today.

And, on December 1 coming up, I'll post my selection for the best new book about leadership in 2014.



Top Books About Leadership.
  • 1776
  • 177 Mental Toughness Secrets Of The World Class
  • 100 Greatest Ideas For Effective Leadership And Management
  • 100 Greatest Leadership Principles Of All Time
  • 20 Minutes To A Top Performer
  • A Book Of Five Rings
  • A Commitment To Valor
  • A Force For Change: How Leadership Differs From Management
  • A Leader In The Making
  • A Sense Of Urgency
  • A Whole New Mind
  • Against The Gods
  • Alexander The Great
  • Awaken The Giant Within
  • Awesomely Simple
  • Bad Leadership
  • Becoming A Person Of Influence
  • Becoming A Resonant Leader
  • Best Practices In Leadership Development & Organization Change
  • Beyond The Timberline
  • Bo's Lasting Lessons
  • Built To Last
  • Built To Serve
  • Changing The Human Battery
  • Chasing The Rabbit
  • Choices: Discover Your 100 Most Important Life Choices
  • Cracking The Code Of Leadership
  • Credibility
  • Crucial Conversations: Tools For Talking When Stakes Are High
  • Deep Change
  • Defeat Into Victory
  • Developing The Leader Within You
  • Defining Moments
  • Developing The Leaders Around You
  • Discipline Of Market Leaders
  • Effective Supervisory Management
  • Emotional Intelligence
  • Energy Leadership
  • Engaged Leadership
  • Evolutionary Leadership
  • Execution: The Discipline Of Getting Things Done
  • Executive Wisdom
  • Exodus
  • Exposing Leadership: Redefining The Top 20 Leadership Traits
  • Fired Up Or Burned Out
  • Firms Of Endearment
  • First Break All The Rules
  • For Your Improvement
  • Force For Change
  • From Worst To First
  • Gates Of Fire
  • Get Out Of Your Own Way
  • Good To Great
  • Gung Ho
  • Handbook Of Leadership
  • Heroic Leadership
  • High Five: The Magic Of Working Together
  • Holy Bible
  • Hostage At The Table
  • How Did That Happen?
  • How Lance Does It
  • How The Mighty Fall
  • How To Get Anyone To Do Anything
  • How To Get From Where You Are To Where You Want To Be
  • How To Grow Leaders
  • How To Lead
  • How To Think Like A CEO & Act Like A Leader
  • How To Win Friends And Influence People
  • In Search Of Excellence
  • Influencer: The Power To Change Anything
  • Inside The Tornado
  • Inspirational Leadership
  • Integrity: The Courage To Meet The Demands Of Reality
  • Integrity Is Everything
  • Irresistible Leadership
  • It's Our Ship
  • It's Your Ship
  • Jesus, CEO
  • Launching A Leadership Revolution
  • Lead To Succeed
  • Leaders: Strategies For Taking Charge
  • Leadership
  • Leadership: Tidbits & Treasures
  • Leadership: Enhancing The Lessons Of Experience
  • Leadership Agility
  • Leadership And Motivation
  • Leadership And The One Minute Manager
  • Leadership And The New Science
  • Leadership And Self-Deception
  • Leadership Brand
  • Leadership Engine
  • Leadership For The Disillusioned
  • Leadership God
  • Leadership Insights
  • Leadership Is An Art
  • Leadership Is Common Sense
  • Leadership Jazz
  • Leadership On The Line
  • Leadership Pipeline
  • Leadership Secrets Of Attila The Hun
  • Leadership Self-Deception: Getting Out Of The Box
  • Leadership Without Easy Answers
  • Leading At A Higher Level
  • Leading Change
  • Leading Leaders
  • Leading Out Loud
  • Leading With Confidence
  • Leading With Kindness
  • Learning From The Links
  • Led To Follow
  • Lessons On Leadership
  • Life Entrepreneurs
  • Lincoln On Leadership
  • Love Leadership
  • Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices
  • Masters And Commanders
  • Masterplanning
  • Maximum Achievement
  • Maxwell Leadership Bible
  • Moments Of Truth
  • Monday Morning Leadership
  • Peak
  • Pivot: How One Simple Change In Attitude Can Lead To Success
  • On Becoming A Leader
  • On Leadership
  • One Thing You Need To Know
  • Only The Paranoid Survive
  • Out Of The Crisis
  • Predictably Irrational
  • Preparing For Leadership
  • Primal Leadership
  • Profiles In Leadership From The Battlefields Of Virginia
  • Real Leaders Don't Do PowerPoint
  • Reclaiming Higher Ground
  • Reframing Organizations
  • Regan On Leadership
  • Resonant Leadership
  • Results-Based Leadership
  • Scuttle Your Ships Before Advancing
  • Scores On The Board
  • Senior Leadership Teams
  • Servant Leadership
  • Silver Parachutes
  • Situational Leadership
  • Son Of Morning Star
  • Start With Why
  • Stewardship
  • Straight From The Gut
  • Strengths-Based Leadership
  • Studying Leadership
  • Survival Is Not Enough
  • Team Of Rivals
  • The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness To Greatness
  • The 80/20 Principle
  • The 48 Laws Of Power
  • The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People
  • The 21 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership
  • The 360 Degree Leader
  • The 33 Strategies Of War
  • The Adventure Of Leadership
  • The Anatomy Of Peace
  • The Arc Of Ambition
  • The Art And Discipline Of Strategic Leadership
  • The Art Of Possibility
  • The Art Of The Leader
  • The Art Of War
  • The Change Monster
  • The Courage To Teach
  • The Disney Way
  • The DNA Of Success
  • The Effective Executive
  • The Empowered Manager
  • The Essential HR Handbook
  • The Essential Wooden
  • The Extraordinary Leader
  • The Feiner Points Of Leadership
  • The Fifth Discipline
  • The First 90 Days
  • The Five Dysfunctions of A Team
  • The Four Obsessions Of An Extraordinary Executive
  • The Great Game Of Business
  • The Human Element
  • The Inspiring Leader
  • The Leader Of The Future
  • The Leader's Window
  • The Leadership Challenge
  • The Leadership Code: Five Rules To Live By
  • The Leadership Engine
  • The Leadership Matrix
  • The Leadership Moment
  • The Leadership Pill
  • The Leadership Secrets Of Colin Powell
  • The Leadership Test (my (Eric Jacobson's) favorite)
  • The Magic Of Thinking Big
  • The Maxwell Daily Reader
  • The Mission, The Men And Me
  • The New Leaders
  • The One Minute Manager
  • The Persian Expedition
  • The Practice Of Adaptive Leadership
  • The Practice Of Leadership
  • The Prince
  • The Psychology of Persuasion
  • The Pursuit Of Something Better
  • The Right To Lead
  • The Rules Of Management
  • The Score Takes Care Of Itself
  • The Secret Language Of Business
  • The Secret Language Of Leadership
  • The Servant
  • The Servant-Leader Within
  • The Seven Hidden Reasons Employees Leave
  • The Sustainable Way
  • The Tao Of Leadership
  • The Winner Within: A Life Plan For Team Players
  • The World's Most Powerful Leadership Principle
  • The Wrong Bottom Line & How To Change It
  • Think & Grow Rich
  • Three Laws Of Performance
  • Total Leadership
  • Tough Choices
  • Toy Box Leadership
  • Tribes
  • Walk The Walk: The #1 Rule For Real Leaders
  • We Were Soldiers Once And Young
  • What A Great Idea
  • What Got You Here Won't Get You There
  • What Leaders Really Do
  • What They Don't Teach You At Harvard Business School
  • Why Not The Best
  • Who Says Elephants Can't Dance
  • Winning
  • Winning With People
  • Wooden
  • Words That Sell
  • You Don't Need A Title To Be A Leader

Tuesday, 25 November 2014

Now...Build A Great Business


When you start reading Mark Thompson’s and Brian Tracy’s book called, Now…Build a Great Business!, you may feel like you are reading 200 pages of Blog posts, but the bite-sized approach to providing tools, practical steps and ideas, rather than theory, is precisely the authors’ intended approach.

The book thoroughly explains the seven keys for how to achieve business success:
1.  Become a great leader
2.  Develop a great business plan
3.  Surround yourself with great people
4.  Offer a great product or service
5.  Design a great marketing plan
6.  Perfect a great sales process
7.  Create a great customer experience

You’ll find a checklist at the end of each step (each chapter) where you can write down your action plan for applying what you’ve learned.

Particularly interesting is the chapter on strategic planning, where the authors recommend you should ask yourself these important questions before you act to create or reinvent the direction of your organization:

•  Where are you now? What is your current situation?
•  How did you get to where you are today?
•  Where do you want to go from here?
•  How do you get from where you are today to where you want to be in the future?
•  What obstacles will you have to overcome? What problems will you have to solve?
•  What additional knowledge, skills, or resources will you require to achieve your strategic objectives?


When it comes time to surround yourself with great people, Thompson and Tracy remind us that great people are:
•  Good team players.
•  More concerned with what’s right rather than who’s right.
•  Intensely results oriented.

And, great people accept high levels of responsibility for the outcomes required of them, and consider their company a great place to work.

Mark Thompson is an entrepreneur who sold his last company for $100 million and today coaches executives on how to lead growth companies. Brian Tracy speaks throughout the country about the development of human potential and personal effectiveness. I thank them for sending me a copy of their book. It’s a worthwhile read.

Monday, 24 November 2014

The Different Roles Of A Coach And A Mentor



Author Kristi Hedges, in her book, The Power of Presence, provides these explanations of the roles of a coach and of a mentor and how they differ from each other:



The Coach shows empathy through a mixture of tough love and strong support.  The coach is not afraid to push you because she sees the best in you.  This leader has a good sense of what's going on in the rest of your life and isn't afraid to mention it as it relates to your performance and potential.



The Mentor makes you feel that your success is always top of mind.  Mentors have your back to guide you along in your career.  They will act as a confidante as you hash through ideas and won't hold it against you as your iterate.  Because they have done well, they operate from a point of helping others do the same.

Sunday, 23 November 2014

8 Tips For Writing An Effective Performance Appraisal


Today's guest post is by:

Peggy Pedwano
Solutions Specialist at Halogen Software

As performance appraisal time draws near, managers are all too likely to be dreading the exercise.  According to a  report by the Wharton School, although 91% of companies worldwide have a performance review process, only 35 to 40% do it well, often because managers lack the training to write effective performance appraisals. 

Here are some ideas to help you write effective performance appraisals that can form the basis for a discussion that will actually add value to employee performance reviews.  
  1. Begin with a clear understanding of what is important. If you and your employees have set performance goals or established other performance measurement criteria, this should be a relatively easy process. But even if you haven’t, taking the time to think through the year’s priorities and projects will help you focus your appraisal on what matters most. Consider projects where you have been able to observe or can collect objective performance data and identify the core competencies that are critical to success.
  2. Keep notes throughout the year.  This simple tool makes writing effective performance appraisals much easier. Whenever you observe employees or have a performance discussion throughout the year, make notes of specific and objective examples to which you can refer. If you haven’t kept notes, think back to observations and prior performance discussions you may have had to identify specific examples. Identify enough examples to be able to document what the employee is doing well as well as what needs to improve.
  3. Collect input from employees. Ask your employees to send you their own written thoughts about their performance. Be clear that you will be using their input as one of many sources in compiling an effective performance appraisal. If they do not already have them, supply employees with a list of the goals, competencies or other performance criteria that are the basis for their evaluation. But, by all means, resist the temptation to simply take employees’ self-evaluation, change a few words and adopt it as your own.
  4. Collect input from other sources. It is likely that there are others who have worked closely with your employee throughout the course of the year. Ask for their assessment on the goals, competencies and other criteria you have identified as the basis for your appraisal. Weigh all these sources of input carefully to determine as accurate and complete a picture as possible. 
  5. Watch out for subtle biases as you formulate your opinions of the employee’s performance. Factors such as personality compatibility can impact your attitude without your knowledge – guard against them. 
  6. Consider employee career aspirations and include development plans. If the employee’s performance is generally good, include some elements that will help them progress toward the next step in their career. 
  7. Be specific. Include descriptions of what went well and what could have been done better. Base your statements on the examples you have collected. 
  8. Gauge the potential impact on the employee. Do not sugarcoat bad news, but be sure that you can support your opinions and choose language that will avoid triggering a defensive response.
Writing an effective performance appraisal is an essential part of a manager’s responsibility and has a significant impact on an employee’s performance, attitude and future. You owe it to them, the organization and your future relationship with the employee to take your time and create an objective, constructive and effective performance appraisal. 

Halogen Software offers an organically built cloud-based talent management suite that reinforces and drives higher employee performance across all talent programs – whether that’s recruiting, performance management, learning and development, succession planning or compensation.


Thanks Peggy for these great tips!

Saturday, 22 November 2014

Best New Leadership Book of 2014 To Be Announced December 1


On December 1 I'll announce my vote for the best new leadership book of 2014.  Stay tuned. It's a great one.

In the meantime, here's a look back at my my top (favorite) books for leaders that were published in 2013.

Each provides timely, practical and valuable tips, techniques and tools for how to become a more effective leader.

You'll find among the books useful information about:
  • communicating more effectively 
  • the power of story telling
  • creating an ethical workplace culture
  • increasing revenue
  • the basics you need to know as a first-time leader

http://www.amazon.com/Ethical-Leadership-Creating-Sustaining-Business/dp/0749469560/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386723136&sr=1-9&keywords=ethical+leadership














And, my favorite from 2012 in case you haven't read this book:





Friday, 21 November 2014

8 Specific Actions To Show You Value Your Employees


There are eight specific actions business leaders can take to show that they value their employees, according to Andrew Leigh, author of the bookEthical Leadership -- Creating and Sustaining an Ethical Business Culture.

Those eight behaviors are:
  1. Attention -- Pay attention to what people say to show your interest.
  2. Listen -- Make time to hear what colleagues, peers and employees have to say to show you care.
  3. Positive Language -- Find words and phrases to show employees they're needed.  Examples are, "We couldn't have accomplished this without you," "That was really useful."
  4. Document -- Put praise in writing to increase its impact.  Make clear where the credit belongs.
  5. Micro Sessions -- Create two-way communication sessions.
  6. Visits -- Schedule visits to teams and work areas.
  7. Stories -- Share stories that highlight unusual contributions and provide your personal response to them.
  8. Invite -- Ask people to contact you directly with their issues and concerns -- not to bypass the normal channels, but in addition to those channels. Then, set up systems to respond quickly and positively when people show the courage to contact you direct.
Leigh is a founder of Maynard Leigh Associates the United Kingdom development company.

He is author of over 20 books on management, many translated around the world. His book, Charisma, has been translated into over 17 languages and his long running Essentials of Management was short-listed for Book of Year award by the Chartered Institute of Management.

Originally trained as an economist, Leigh has an MA in the field of Human Resources, and is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.


Thursday, 20 November 2014

The Ten Golden Rules Of Leadership


This month saw the release of the new book, The Ten Golden Rules of Leadership:  Classical Wisdom for Modern Leaders.

As you dig in, you'll step back in time to learn philosophies of the past and how to apply them today.

Authors M. A. Soupios and Panos Mourdoukoutas offer a fresh approach to becoming a great leader by learning from antiquity's great thinkers, such as Aristotle, Hesiod, Sophocles, Heraclitus, and others.

Each chapter in the book is devoted to one philosophy of leadership that equate to ten simple rules:
  1. Know Thyself
  2. Office Shows the Person
  3. Nurture Community at the Workplace
  4. Do Not Waste Energy on things You Cannot Change
  5. Always Embrace the Truth
  6. Live Life by a Higher Code
  7. Always Evaluate Information with a Critical Eye
  8. Never Underestimate the Power of Personal Integrity
  9. Character is Destiny
You'll learn how to take each idea and apply it to the challenges of the modern workplace.

According to the authors, the key distinguishing features of an authentic leader is traceable to a philosophically informed worldview and that the ancient classical tradition is a rich and valuable source of such insights.

How To Click At Work


Research from some universities around the country show that employees who "click" with each other at work have more career success.  And, those who "click" well get to the core of the office network within 18 months, while it can take years for those who don't "click" well.

As a leader, there are things you can do and things you can encourage your employees to do to promote better clicking.

Consider these findings from the research:
  • How much you reveal about yourself to a co-worker helps you click.
  • The more you open up and share your feelings, the more trust you build and the more likely you'll build a connection with a co-worker.
  • Having an office or cubicle in the central area of your workplace increases your ability for clicking opportunities.
  • Sitting near the middle of a conference table brings you more clicking opportunities, as well.
  • Keeping your office door open, communicating in person versus e-mail or via the phone, allows you to click more.
  • The more face-to-face interactions with a co-worker, even if you don't have a conversation, will generally increase your chances of liking that person.
  • The more you pick up on subtle social cues and then tailor your responses to situations, the more you'll click.
  • Interacting with a co-worker 10 times versus only five times means you'll likely think that person is more attractive, intelligent, warm and honest.

Tuesday, 18 November 2014

4 Questions To Ask An Employee When He Quits

As a leader, it's critical that you understand the real reasons employees leave your company. To do that, you need to ask specific questions that may not be ones you currently include in your exit interviews.

Fortunately, Richard Finnegan, shares in his book, Rethinking Retention in Good Times and Badfour key questions you should include in your exit interviews:
  1. Why did you decide to leave us?
  2. Of all the things you've told me, what is the top thing that caused you to resign?
  3. It's great that you've found such a good opportunity, but why did you look?
  4. What one thing could we have done that would have caused you to stay?
Your goal is to learn the most important leave reason rather than learn which three or five things contributed to your employee's decision to leave. The four questions above will help you learn the most important reason.

Monday, 17 November 2014

7 Must-Ask Questions When Interviewing A Potential New Hire


Awhile back, the Harvard Business Review published some great questions that Gilt Groupe CEO Kevin Ryan asks when he is checking references.

Ryan serves on the board of Yale Corporation, Human Rights Watch, and INSEAD, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.  He holds a B.A. from Yale University and a M.B.A from INSEAD.

His main seven honest-feedback-extracting-questions (and follow-ups) are:
  1. Would you hire this person again?  If so, why and in what capacity?  If not, why not?
  2. How would you describe the candidate's ability to innovate, manage, lead, deal with ambiguity, get things done and influence others?
  3. What were some of the best things this person accomplished?  What could he or she have done better?
  4. In what type of culture, environment, and role can you see this person excelling?  In what type of role is he or she unlikely to be successful?
  5. Would you describe the candidate as a leader, a strategist, an executor, a collaborator, a thinker, or something else?  Can you give me some examples to support your description?
  6. Do people enjoy working with the candidate, and would former coworkers want to work with him or her again?
  7. In what areas does the candidate need to improve?

7 Questions To Ask A Team To Maximize The Team's Results


High-functioning teams can disagree and still produce excellent products and results. Team members can also disagree and still care about each other. And, they can challenge each other to think differently.

Best-selling leadership book authors Scott J. Allen and Mitchell Kusy recommend that leaders ask seven tough questions of their teams to help maximize their results. Here are those questions to ask each team member:
  1. What are some obstacles affecting this team?
  2. What are opportunities we could take advantage of that we have been largely ignoring?
  3. Where can you take greater ownership on this team?
  4. Where have you let this team down?
  5. Compared to other teams with which you are familiar, how are we doing?
  6. When was the last time you complimented the team or one of its members?
  7. How open are you to giving direct feedback to team members?

Thursday, 13 November 2014

How To Project A Professional Image


From Jay Miletsky's book, 101 Ways to Successfully Market Yourself, here 10 tips for projecting an effective professional image:
  1. Discipline yourself to be positive and enthusiastic.
  2. In tense situations choose positive responses by maintaining perspective and getting along well with others.
  3. Acknowledge mistakes and shortcomings and learn how to correct them.
  4. Develop a reputation for being a resourceful problems solver.
  5. Leverage your strengths and expertise to have maximum impact on the decisions you make.
  6. Be organized, efficient, flexible, and self-motivated.
  7. Master your tasks and fully expand your area of expertise so that you can boost your output.
  8. Keep up with the latest developments in your company and in your field.
  9. Cultivate unique talents that give you a definite edge.
  10. Gain visibility by taking the kind of action that will propel you into the right sights of management personnel.

Wednesday, 12 November 2014

Dr. Roger Dean Duncan On Change


Change is inevitable. Change is good.  Help your employees and team learn to embrace change.

Here are some solid insights from Dr. Rodger Dean Duncan's (Liberty, Missouri) book, Change-friendly Leadership -- How to Transform Good Intentions into  Great Performance:
  • The kind of behavior change that results in lasting (sustainable) change must accommodate people's feelings--feelings that involve trust, confidence, passion, and all those other intangible but very real things that make us human.
  • It's often the stress that people resist, not the change itself.
  • Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches, letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights (Pauline R. Kezer).
  • A transformational leader focuses primarily on initiating and "managing" change.  He/she influences people to improve, to stretch, and to redefine what's possible.
  • It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change (Charles Darwin).
  • Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.

Entrepreneur Jake Thompson Shares His Story, Advice, And What's In Store For CED In 2015


With a title like Chief Encouragement Officer at Compete Every Day (CED), it's no wonder that Jake Thompson is leading the way in motivating predominantly athletes and fitness enthusiasts around the world to compete for what they aspire to achieve.

"Compete Every Day is a lifestyle brand devoted to inspiring the competitive mindset that each one of us has a life worth competing for. Every second. Every day," explains Jake, who also founded CED.

"Our goal is to fuel your fire, but that's only the beginning. At CED we want to drive you; we want to help you see it through to the end. 365 days a year, seven days a week, 86,400 seconds per day. However long it takes," he adds.

CED fuels that fire by selling T-shirts, wristbands, shorts and other clothing featuring motivational and inspirational slogans.  CED also shares its motivation and customer stories via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

What started as a simple idea a few years ago with selling T-shirts from the trunk of Jake's car, has morphed into an international lifestyle brand embraced by professional athletes, celebrities, and individuals motivated to live above the status quo.  

This week, Jake shared with me insights and advice about being an entrepreneur and leading his team and growing his company.


QuestionWhat's the most rewarding thing about being an entrepreneur?


  • Jake:  I think most entrepreneurs would answer this question as being able to see someone else buy or wear their product. That’s definitely a reward, but the most rewarding for me has to be the fact that I have the ability to truly impact others’ lives in a positive way. I am truly humbled by the emails, Instagram/Facebook posts, and calls our team receives from people who were touched or inspired by a social media post or shirt we produced. To know you are changing the world and able to pour positivity into another person is the best reward I know.

Question:  What's the most challenging thing about being an entrepreneur?


  • Jake:  Learning to wear multiple hats while maintaining focus on the long-term. It’s been a battle to personally keep my focus on where I’m ultimately moving the company while trying to handle budgets, customer-service relationships, inventory management, and marketing. Thankfully now we have a growing team that can assist with many of the day-to-day operations, but at times, especially at the beginning, I found it challenging to be “among the chaos” while building the business.

Question:  CED recently expanded its product offering and target customer base.  How did you know it was time to do that?


  • Jake:  We always had that goal on the board as a focal point and will continue to grow the customer base and audiences over the next year and more.  My goal from day one was to blend Life Is Good with Nike in terms of having a positive message that is applicable to any demographic. We grew our main audience and focus within the active/fitness community because of the quick acceptance of the mindset of CED and quality products, but all the while focusing on the larger picture and looking for opportunities to pour our positive message into new members because we felt that it had the power to gain traction in others’ lives. We had planned to release our CED Lifestyle line much sooner, but were delayed in production opportunities and our offline event program. Fall 2014 became the prime target with a new collection thanks to the weather changing.

Question:  How has social media made it easier for you to be successful at CED?


  • Jake:  Social media has transformed the playing field for every small business owner. It allows us free channels to share great content, but more importantly, we have the ability to connect individually with members of the community every single day.

Question:  How do you use feedback from your customers to shape CED?


  • Jake:  I believe it is paramount to keep your ear to the ground for the latest feedback from the community. Many times the feedback we receive is more encouragement than suggestions for change, but we take into account everything received. We have our apparel releases planned for the next year, but always take into account ideas people have or suggestions for colors. We then compare those to what we currently have and see if there’s opportunity to include or add later.

Question:  You are an incredibly positive and motivating person.  What makes you that way?


  • Jake:  I truly believed I have been blessed with the ability to encourage and it’s my job to use that to pour into others. It’s been anything but easy some days on this entrepreneurial roller coaster. Some days it’s just a beating to keep going, but I always try to maintain focus on why I started CED. I’m fortunate that my family and close circle of friends are able to help me maintain that focus on the days I need it most.


Question:  What's the single best piece of advice you can give to someone contemplating becoming an entrepreneur?


  • Jake:  Persevere. I’ve used this analogy a lot, but the life of an entrepreneur is more like going to work daily with a pickaxe than with a rocket launcher. There are no overnight successes. Those who win and find a way to build a successful business are the ones who get to work every single day and stay with the task until their goal is reached. Small efforts, compounded daily, to create large successes.


Question:  What will 2015 bring for CED and its passionate fan base?


  • Jake:  I’m excited about the upcoming year. We are continuing our Shirt-of-the-Month program with a few new twists for fans, including the 72-hour-release. Fans will only be able to grab a limited-edition shirt a) through the Legendary Shirt Program, or b) through the 72-hour window around its release. This really creates exclusivity for people in the program. Our CED Lifestyle line will continue to grow and evolve for the brand. A big twist you’ll see next year is the Tuesday night Compete party. Every Tuesday night at 7 p.m. CST, we will be doing something. Some Tuesdays it may be a new apparel release (such as a limited-edition shirt), some could be a 72-hour sale, and others may be a special announcement. But each Tuesday, something happens at 7 p.m.

Jake adds that the best thing to debut in 2015 will be CED's custom shirt line. Jake explains, "We have been working for 16 months to develop our own shirts (fabric, cut, sew) to replace the current manufacturers we’ve been using. Even better, our shirts will be lighter, softer, and made entirely in the USA, with the majority being done here in Texas. We’ll finally be able to debut a new T-shirt and then before summer 2015, our technical training line with new shirts and tank tops made exclusively for workouts with moisture-wicking fabrics."

"Outside of those new and continued programs, my focus is on continuing to expand the business into new markets and audiences, and continue to pour positivity into as many people as we can touch with the brand," adds Jake.




Best Quotes From John C. Maxwell's The 5 Levels Of Leadership


Here are some of my favorites quotes from John C. Maxwell's book, The 5 Levels of Leadership -- a book I believe should become a must-read for any workplace/organizational leader:
  1. Good leadership isn't about advancing yourself.  It's about advancing your team.
  2. Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others.
  3. Leadership is action, not position.
  4. When people feel liked, cared for, included, valued, and trusted, they begin to work together with their leader and each other.
  5. If you have integrity with people, you develop trust.  The more trust you develop, the stronger the relationship becomes.  In times of difficulty, relationships are a shelter.  In times of opportunity, they are a launching pad.
  6. Good leaders must embrace both care and candor.
  7. People buy into the leader, then the vision.
  8. Bringing out the best in a person is often a catalyst for bringing out the best in the team.
  9. Progress comes only from taking risks and making mistakes.
  10. Leaders are measured by the caliber of leaders they develop, not the caliber of their own leadership.