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March 2005  Leadership 101

What does a leader look like, sound like and do? If you don’t know, how can you be a effective one? There is no one correct mold. Great leaders come in all shapes, sizes, voices and styles. However, great leaders share a common outcome - they oversee getting important things done and they do it with a style that is appropriate and supportive of the people, tasks and mission at hand!

While leadership is hard to define, you know it when you see it, feel it, and hear it. It’s inspiring! An effective leader creates clarity about where the business or project is headed and how each team member can contribute to the cause. Such clarity helps reduce confusion and wasted actions and energy and it also encourages and supports team members to make better decisions within established boundaries. As a result, you can breathe more and supervise less knowing your people understand the goal and are vested in its success.

Additionally, a leader motivates individuals to work not only by themselves, but together as part of a team for the common cause or vision. A great leader pulls others along rather than pushing them around. It’s an important distinction so I’ll say it again: Great leaders pull others along instead of pushing them around. Leadership is about communicating, not shouting out commands. You cannot coerce people to follow you, at least not for long. Command-and-control leadership never earns the hearts, minds and will of others.

Jack Welch, highly-successful former CEO of General Electric has stated, “Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” Clear visions have helped shape and propel many other impressive companies. For example, Fred Smith, founder of Federal Express, had a vision that packages could be delivered around the United States by the next morning. Disney wanted to make families smile. Dominoes wanted you to have hot, delicious pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less or it was free. Coke wanted to have its refreshing beverages within the reach of every person in the world. Microsoft wanted to create beneficial software that would compel people to have a computer on every desk at work, home and school. Being clear on your vision and infusing it into your team is critical to high-level and long-term success.

Jonathan Swift said, “Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.” Don’t sell vision creation short. Spend time pondering, creating and documenting your vision. I guarantee you it will be time well spent. You must learn to understand, value, and appreciate the essential role of an exciting vision for a healthy and growing business. So start thinking more and planning more. Escape the tyranny of the urgent and give yourself the time to focus on one of the most important tasks you can do – creating an exciting future destiny and direction for your business. It will pay off with your team, and it will also help you stay motivated and challenged as well.

And now, a warning. Please realize fully that your employees must buy into you as a leader before they buy into your vision. They must believe and trust in you to believe and trust in your vision. You may need to do some repair work to establish yourself as a caring and competent leader before you start creating and selling your vision. You will need to connect with their hearts before connecting with their heads.

To create a new vision or sharpen and update an existing one, first allow yourself a month to lay some groundwork. See yourself as the Chief Listening Officer during this early phase. You cannot build a vision or business on your own. For buy-in later, seek the input of others now. Include your employees, customers, suppliers, distributors and business advisers in the process. Spend a week or two gathering input from these stakeholders about your company’s direction, strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities. If they do not participate in this creation phase, they will not want to participate in the vision implementation phase. Also, study your industry trends and your current and emerging competitors. On all fronts, do your homework.

After listening to and studying others, be certain to listen to your inner voice and gut. While other’s input is critical, know that the buck stops with you. You are ultimately responsible for the vision of your business. Your vision will become your company’s direction, objectives, priorities, strategies, and tactics. It is that magical and that important.

Therefore, get away from the daily interruptions and go into your CEO Cave. This could be your home office, at a coffee shop, at a park, library or beach. Spend two to three days forming or crystallizing a picture of what you want the business to look like in one year, three years, and five years. See things the way they can be. Dream the big dream; unleash your spirit. See the business in your heart that you truly want to create. A bold, daring, super-sized vision, even if only partially achieved, yields greater rewards than a small, wimpy vision fully achieved.

Remember, there are no rules while you create a desired future state. However, don’t deal in pure fantasy. There is a difference between a vision and a delusion. Stay somewhat grounded. You must see things the way they are now in order to visualize the way they can be. You must build from a foundation of realism, acknowledging your company’s current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. However, once you gather the facts, let go and let her rip.

Grab hold of the future, bring it into the present, and then go about creating it. Give yourself and your employees something to be proud of. Find a voice to express the common dreams, emotions, potential and needs of your team. Let your vision inspire, motivate, and galvanize your team. Small visions do not stir the soul. Give people a reason to follow, something to shoot for. Make the vision intoxicating -- something that captures their imagination. Show them the finish line in bright, Technicolor detail. Sell more to their hearts than to their heads. People change when their feelings change, not when merely their thoughts change. Powerful visions unite groups and take them to new heights and places.

Keep in mind, employees want purpose and passion to lift them and propel them. Find a larger purpose for your company than merely making money. Don’t settle for being a random collection of people and assets trying to make a buck. A purely financial focus will not sustain the troops over the long term. Make coming to work a meaningful and fulfilling event for your employees. People want to work in a challenging and rewarding environment. They want to learn, grow and reach their potential – the full expression of their talent. People are drawn to great leaders, great visions and great causes.

Having trouble thinking big? Ask yourself bigger questions!
• Why does our enterprise exist?
• If our business were shut down, what would be missing in this world?
• What is our crusade? What could be our crusade?
• How do we engage the hearts, minds and souls of our employees?
• How can we make our company great, meaningful and different?
• How can we change our industry, community, and even the world?
• How can we measurably improve the lives of customers?
• How can we make our employees and their families’ lives better and more fulfilling?
• What higher calling or spiritual dimension can we embrace?

After listening to others for two weeks and thinking deeply yourself for two weeks, a vision for your company should be coming into focus. Bottom line, this vision should help your employees and yourself re-acquire the fire and passion for your company’s direction and purpose.

Interested in transforming your mindset and behavior? Or just need help focusing on the suggestions in this article? We know it’s difficult to schedule and implement changes and to give yourself the time needed to formulate a vision. It’s that way for everyone, and that’s why highly successful people have given themselves the gift of good coaching. It’s helpful, it keeps you on track, it works. Give us a call at (818) 716-8826 or e-mail us today.