Leadership Viewpoint

We all seek inspiration. Some of us find it from a beautiful sunset, others from a brilliant comment in a difficult situation; still others don’t seem to find it. We’d all like to capture that moment of inspiration and hold onto it. It gets us going and serves as a natural high. Yet inspiration is merely the spark; it only burns momentarily unless it is fed with hard work and persistence. After leaving my corporate job in brand management 15 years ago, many people commented that the life of an entrepreneur would be quite difficult, that there would be nobody there to ‘motivate’ me. After seeing me successful in my corporate role, it seemed impossible to them that I would also be successful in a role that is so different. Still, I went off on my own and with little more than a hope and a prayer, started the Advanced Leadership Group. Like all businesses, it has had its ups and downs. Yet there has rarely been a day when it wasn’t exciting to see the spark of an idea in a participant’s eye; when witnessing someone’s improvement in public speaking didn’t move me; or when developing strategy with executives didn’t flood my mind with ideas. Clearly the decision to work with like-minded colleagues on improving human performance has been the right one. It has made the hard work and persistence fun and worthwhile.

Finding your own inspiration can be quite a challenge. For many people, a walk down the memory lane of their childhood is required, allowing them to recall what they truly love. Too often, our work drums energy from us rather than repleting it. Our expert in this field, Gailann Bruen, finds that many people have suppressed their inner flame for so long that they have to actually do a bit of research to find it before they can reignite it! She works with them to identify that flame and find lucrative ways to make a living with it well in view. Working with her is fun, especially after somebody has had a breakthrough. She charges in, announcing the news, and a celebration invariably ensues. Her own inspiration is clear to all. No wonder she persists and is happy in her work. Are you?

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Networking with colleagues has long been key to small business success. Hence the saying, “It’s not what you know; it’s who you know.” Building and nurturing key relationships is common sense, yet many people have no idea how to do it well. They stuff their sales materials or business cards into strangers’ hands, thinking that they are out making connections. It’s more likely that their outcome will be rejection, yet they persist, learning painfully slowly. Recently our Northern New Jersey ASTD chapter held a meeting where numerous consultants tried to find their way into corporate offices via pushy and inappropriate ploys. It did not end well.

Appropriate networking involves real relationship building, and a genuine providing of value. Of the various books on the subject, my favorite is a simple read by Bob Burg, Endless Referrals. In it, he expounds on the simple concept that people do business with those that they “know, like and trust”. Bob takes you through constructive ways to build those connections so that people really can come to trust you and do business with you. He even includes a series of questions that are trust-building, making the process easy, even for a shy person. Read it for lots of usable tips.

Perhaps the most important key to successful networking is to enter relationships prepared to ‘give’ of yourself. Too many people arrive looking for what they can ‘get’ from their mark. Arrive instead with ideas, services, etc. that you can give away without any quid pro quo. In fact, the payback is likely to come down the road, often from unexpected sources.

The computerized networking sites, like LinkedIn and Xing, may change the face of networking among certain circles in the long-term. While they are a good way of identifying people that your friends and colleagues know, it is unclear as to their usefulness in making real business connections long-term.

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Watching the news has become a rather “seedy” experience these days. We hear about important issues, like terror plots and wars. Much of the news, however, focuses on people that have succumbed to some sort of temptation. Whether it is the celebrity du jour or the latest political scandal, it is diversionary and wastes our time. Even the coverage of presidential debates is typically on trite “gotchas” rather than laying out candidate positions on important issues.

Despite the proliferation of news channels and programs, it is more difficult than ever to stay well informed. Reporters rarely ‘report’ anymore without an ‘angle’ that serves as a hook for the intellectually lazy. This makes a lot of people a lot of money, but has, unfortunately lowered the level of discourse throughout our society. So many people, thinking they are informed, try to discuss issues of the day. It is often embarrassing to engage people on these issues, as they are often well informed of one side of the issue, and know nothing of the competing arguments.

When a friend asked me how I managed to learn the facts I used during a political discussion, I mentioned a variety of sources. Honestly, she looked shocked! Reading, CSPAN, research and genuine intellectual curiosity have gone the way of Model T. It’s easy to assume that the nonsense presented by our favorite newscaster is the whole truth; easy, but wrong. I encourage people to remember that leaders are readers. This applies to more than the latest book on leadership. It’s also important to be well informed about the issues of the day. Read a variety of sources and opinions and decide for yourself.

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Women often position themselves as supporters of male leaders, assuming roles that subordinate them as businesspeople. Our strengths in ’soft skills’ are extremely helpful to these leaders, who receive the credit and promotions. In fact, our supportive roles often disguise the fact that many of these men are lacking in key management EQ skills. We believe that many women do this because they get a sense of comfort in staying where they are, whether for their family or balance-of-life issues. Men don’t generally think that way.

Women are rarely placed in ’stretch’ jobs because management wants to protect them from failure and women are still leaving the corporate world for one of two primary reasons:
1. We aren’t moving up.
2. We want or need more balance in life due to our extensive family responsibilities.

These premature corporate departures are leaving too few women inside corporate America as role models.

That said, excellent communication and supportive skills are increasingly important in business due in part to globalization. This bodes well for women. The corporate world will need to make room for greater freedom and creativity if it hopes to keep the best and brightest women for the long-term. Women will need to build bridges between where we are today and where we want to be tomorrow if the corporate landscape is to change.

Many women have difficulty asking for help and delegating. We need to overcome the “princess syndrome” and ‘demand’ what we want. Many women feel apologetic for taking time out of work for golf and other networking activities. Women feel that their time is better spent at their desk rather than out with business contacts. They couldn’t be more wrong.

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As I work with young professionals, it has become increasingly clear that there is far too little trust in the workplace. We can speculate on the structural reasons for this mistrust:

• Job hopping

• Self interest put above the greater good

• Quick wins valued over long term success

All the speculation in the world, however, doesn’t help the young manager who desperately needs guidance and leadership, but knows not where to turn. Somehow leaders need to rise above the political nonsense and become beacons that our people can count on. The foundation of trust is simple to understand, yet difficult to exemplify. Trust has two foundational pieces, character and competence. Without both, our people will not trust us. The naive may think that character is more important than competence. I suggest that either without the other is a recipe for mistrust and long-term disaster.

So how then does one demonstrate character? In these days of corporate politics run a muck, it is not easy to stay above the fray. My suggestions may seem simple, but they are effective.

• 1. Avoid gossip. You are better off not knowing, and certainly not spreading it.

• 2. Don’t lie. Keep on the positive side of the truth. This means that you may occasionally not share the whole truth, because it may not be constructive.

• 3. Be constructive. It’s easy to rip ideas apart; far more challenging to constructively critique and build upon them.

• 4. When it comes to your people’s work, you must take all the responsibility for any problems and give away all the credit for successes. I know, you’re outraged with me on this one. I’m suggesting that you put your career on the line to protect your people and then give them the credit for work that you directed them to do in the first place. That’s right, and the long-term effect of this is profound.

• a. Your people will owe you big time.

• b. You will gain a reputation as a manager that people want to report to.

• c. You will start and perpetuate a virtuous circle of trust within your team.

• d. Management will eventually figure it out and see that you are indeed a real leader and developer of people.

• e. You will have self-respect and confidence.

I have often been quoted as saying that, “Competence is simply the ante to play the game of business.” Unfortunately, it is no longer something that can be taken for granted. We run across professionals who are largely incompetent for the job at hand far too often. At best, it leads to a staff that figures the manager means well, but is so incompetent that he or she cannot be trusted with even simple management tasks. Call them the the ‘empty suits’ or whatever you choose. Competence is absolutely necessary to create an atmosphere of trust among colleagues. If you feel that you are pretending to be competent and feel that you are in over your head, by all means get help! If you feel it, there’s a good chance that others see it, and you will create an environment of distrust and probably high turnover all around you. The best intentions in incompetent hands are a recipe for failure. You and your people deserve better.

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If you are reading this, you have a pretty good sense of what a blog is. Strategically, it’s a great way to establish your expertise in the topics you select. Depending on how you administer it, it can also serve as a feedback and discussion opportunity with your readers.

The owner of the blog can select a number of topics and write about them whenever it is convenient. It is possible to write a number of entries at one time and pace out the timing of their publication, and it’s a nice way to keep fresh content on your website. If you selected Hostmonster as your website host, installing a blog is very simple. Go to the Cpanel Main Menu and click on Fantastico. You’ll find four blogs listed. I have tried three of them, and have finally settled on Wordpress as the best one I have used. To install it, first click on Wordpress in the left column. This will give you new content in the right column. Click on New Installation. It is a complex application and is going to add a lot of files. To keep things orderly, I installed it in a directory I named blog. You don’t have to, but I wanted to keep it as a subset of my main website. Complete the rest of the installation sections with your information, and then press Finish. Fantastico will then provide you with the full URL to your blog’s administration area. Be certain to bookmark it so you can find it again!

Go to your administration area and login. There are lots of choices and options to play with. Customize it any way you see fit. If you would like to change the appearance of the blog, you’ll love the choices that Wordpress offers. Google FREE Wordpress templates and you’ll find hundreds of choices. Have fun with it and follow the directions to upload your favorite.

Wordpress also offers a myriad of neat plugins. There are tools for eliminating spam, adding Google Adsense, calendars, offering podcasts and much more. It allows you to customize your blog and make it your own. Now get blogging!

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It’s not always easy to write multiple articles for your website. It takes time, talent and patience to build extensive original content. There are ways, however, to work around this. There are tons of free articles available for use on websites. I put an example of one online for your reference. In this example, I duplicated one of my basic pages and then dragged an HTML box onto the page and stretched it to the width I wanted. I then double-clicked on it and pasted the content into it. In this case, I haven’t linked the article to the remainder of my website. The link in this blog is the only way to get to it. It’s simply an example for this website building series.

I got the article from ARA Content. You can simply sign-up for their service, and use whatever you want. They even supply the photo! If you want to see the full scope of options, simply Google free articles and examine your choices. Be certain that the articles are licensed to be reprinted, and follow the rules laid out by your source. They will generally want to ensure that they are credited for the article.

Remember that one of your goals is to constantly update your content so that the search engines keep noticing you. This is an easy way to put up quality content and have regular updates simultaneously.

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