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.

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.

Question:  What'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.

Coherence: The Secret Science Of Brilliant Leadership

Coherence:  The Secret Science of Brilliant Leadership is the new book by author Dr. Alan Watkins.

Trained as a medical doctor, Watkins is now an honorary senior lecturer in neuroscience and psychological medicine at Imperial College, London and an affiliate professor of leadership at the European School of Management, London.

• According to Watkins, coherence is the biological state achieved when elite performers experience maximum efficiency and super effectiveness, where body and mind are one.

Coherence provides one of the most unique approaches to showing leaders how to be younger, smarter, healthier and happier -- which gives them the power to make decisions under pressure and achieve sustainable success.

Prepare to spend quality time reading Coherence. It's not light reading.  Kind of feels like a medical text book in parts.  But, it's worth your commitment to it.

I particularly found useful Watkin's discussion on culture, where he wrote:

Culture is the collective attitudes within a group, team or organization, and they manifest in:

• Customs:  traditional practices that may be honored, not necessarily repetitive.
• Rituals:  stylized conceptual totems representing an aspect of culture.
• Symbols:  stylized conceptual totems representing an aspect of culture.
• Dogmas, myths:  unchallenged and unspoken beliefs within a system.
• Metaphors:  stylized stories used to reflect culture.
• Stories:  key bind narrative of culture.

How To Be A Collaborative Leader

Edward M. Marshall's book, Transforming The Way We Work -- The Power Of The Collaborative Workplace, remains relevant today, more than a decade after Marshall wrote it.

Particularly useful is the book's section that teaches readers how to be a collaborative leader.

Marshall says that there are seven different, important roles and responsibilities of collaborative leaders when leading teams, and those leaders should select the appropriate style to meet the team's needs.

The seven roles are:

1. The leader as sponsor -- You provide strategic direction, boundaries and coaching for the team. You also monitor progress and ensure integrity in the team's operating processes.
2. The leader as facilitator -- You ensure that meetings, team dynamics, and interpersonal relationships function effectively. You also ensure internal coordination of activities among team members.
3. The leader as coach -- You provide support and guidance and you serve as a sounding board.
4. The leader as change agent/catalyst -- You hold team members accountable, make the unpopular decisions, energize the group to action and enable breakthroughs where possible.
5. The leader as healer -- You play the role of the mediator and serve as the catalyst to bring people together.
6. The leader as member -- You serve as part of the team, taking full responsibility for the success of the team and actively participate in the team's activities.
7. The leader as manager/administrator -- You serve in a traditional role of tackling the daily administrative responsibilities, processes, and systems essential to managing the boundaries within the larger organization or key stakeholders.

Within any collaborate workplace, leaders will find themselves fulfilling all seven of these roles at different times, and sometimes fulfilling a combination of the seven styles at the same time, while working with work groups and teams.

Four years after Marshall wrote, Transforming The Way We Work, he penned, Building Trust At the Speed Of Change. Marshall won an award for excellence in organization development from the American Society for Training and Development. He holds degrees from Claremont McKenna College, Syracuse University and the University of North Carolina. 

Ask "Why Not?" More Often To Drive Greater Success

Early on in Eli Broad's book, The Art of Being Unresaonable, he reminds us of the power of a child's instinctive asking, "Why not?"  Unfortunately, most adults lose that habit and Broad goes on to explain that it was his continuing to ask "Why not?" throughout his career that brought him success.

"The questions you're willing to ask when others think they have all the answers are doors to discovery," says Broad.

Other words of wisdom from the book, and my favorite takeaways, include:

• Most successful businesses have to begin by bucking conventional wisdom.  Invention and innovation don't happen without it.
• Do your homework no matter how much time it takes.
• Big ideas don't happen in a moment.
• You can't do it all yourself, so ask questions and delegate.
• The trick to delegating is to make sure your employees share your priorities.
• Find the best people to whom you can delegate, and know their strengths and weaknesses.
• Younger employees simply have fewer preconceived ideas of what they can and can't do.  Try to widen their perspective, deepen their sense of accomplishment, and build their capacity.
• No matter how much money your customers have, they still want value.
• The best way to mentor is to challenge people and then to set an example by letting them see you in action.
• When you challenge people to dig deep and do more and better than even they imagined they could, it creates a particular bond.
• Show me a person with an unblemished track record, and I'll show you a person who has dramatically underachieved.

Broad's book, subtitled, Lessons in Unconventional Thinking, is well worth the read.

Broad is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and the founder of two Fortune 500 companies -- KB Home and SunAmerica.