Getting ready....

Preparations have begun for my "rest of the year" push to get a rather lengthy to do list done by January 5. I started by canceling a few meetings that really could wait until January. But then I added two more meetings so I guess I am not really ahead of the game yet!

I am though, headed off today to Chicago to present half of a report to a congregation on the health of their church. Don't worry - there is someone else delivering the other half.

As I was getting ready this morning I was thinking about all of the things that have transpired to help me with this presentation. Not just for this particular church but for the last few months I have been "prepping" and getting "prepped" to do this type of presentation. The thought I had this morning was that I haven't been "getting ready" all on my own.

There is team of people that have helped me to do what I need to do in order to be ready to deliver this work to our client. I am thankful and blessed for the work these people do. They have talent and skill that impress me with each and every interaction.

Coach John Wooden writes, "Be sure you acknowledge and give credit to a teammate who hits you with a scoring pass or for any fine play he may make."

In my case the entire team deserves a big thank you from me for the work that they have done...to help me be better.

Who in your organization helps you score big?
How have you thanked and acknowledged them today?

Essential Lessons

I would not consider myself to be a sports fan really. I enjoy watching college sports more than professional and I enjoy watching local teams particularly the Toledo Mud Hens. Perhaps the most joy I get out of watching sports is watching the coaches and identifying their different styles. I think we would agree that there are some coaches that are only known for their coaching style not necessarily their win/loss record. Coach Bobby Knight comes to mind here.

One of my all time favorite coaches is John Wooden. Basketball is one of my favorite sports. I even played while in junior high and high school. Yes, it's hard to believe that some one who is vertically challenged like myself could dominate the court...but I was fast on my feet and that made a difference.

John Wooden is known for his leadership style and this leadership style became the foundation for his coaching style. A lifetime of learning, losing, and playing, combined with an attitude of humility and positive influence created this legend of a man. I recently picked up his book, The Essential Wooden, (like I needed another one of his books...) and started to flip back through all the leadership lessons printed within. I remembered the first Wooden leadership book that I received as a gift and how it still sits on my shelf. Filled with highlight marks, underlines in red ink, post-it marked pages, it reminds me of a style of leadership that I want to model and help others model as well.

In a time when it seems like we can't seem to get our act together and leaders from government to business continue to let us down I think it's a good reminder to us all that we all have the capacity within each of us to lead in our style. We all have the capacity to live, learn and make the most of the chances that have been given to us.

Perhaps with all that is going on in the world of business and government now is the time to take the essential lessons of leadership from humble servant leaders like John Wooden and put them into action in our own lives. Now is the time to discover the leader that is in each of us.

My recommendation - Put down the newspaper filled with all the things going wrong in our world, turn off the TV and stop listening and watching the pundits playing games with our government and read something that will inspire you to discover how you have within you all you need to be a leader in your own home, community and workplace.

If you don't know where to start...as Coach Wooden says, "You cannot change the past, and you can only influence the future by what you do today."

So start today to begin to unleash the capacity already in you to be a leader.

Thinking Ahead....

Over the next few weeks I am going to be traveling extensively to places I have never been before. I am excited about what is in store and what it means to the growth of my business and my passion of helping individuals and organizations discover and live out their vision and mission.

I am wondering if the people that I will be working with over the next few weeks are as excited as I am. I tend to follow the Steven Covey "begin with the end in mind" axiom whenever I start a new project or begin a new endeavor. I can already begin to see the results of my work and know that what lies ahead will also produce some pretty big results. Over the next several weeks my business will begin to take shape in to the type of business that I really had a vision for. I never really lost sight of what could happen - but my lack of patience seems to get the better of me at times. But I was always thinking ahead to what I knew my work could be like and I never gave up on the vision.

There will be much more to come about this in the next several weeks and much of this today may not make sense but there are big things ahead. I hope that you are thinking ahead and have a vision for the big things that can come your way.

Leadership - It's in YOU!

I have a friend that is struggling with leadership right now. He feels a great deal of pressure to lead and step up to the plate in a job that he has had for many years. Times have changed a bit in his organization and now there is tremendous opportunity for him to lead.

The problem...he doesn't see it in himself to step up and lead. Even though he has been leading for a long time. He has the qualities. He has a vision for what he wants his team to do and understands the mission that drives the organization. Others see it in him. He doesn't see it in himself.

Not everyone was born to be a leader. For some, leadership is a natural calling, for others it comes with experience, time, trial, and error. For some it's in their DNA, some learn it and gain leadership through experience. I would also agree that there are a number of people that are in leadership positions that should not be. More in some organizations than others I am sure.

But what do you do when others see in you what you do not see yet in yourself? I say yet because I think once someone else sees it in you, you can't deny it's there for very much longer. It will begin to show and reveal itself to you in more and more ways. I think this is true for leaders, even when they think they are not leading, they are. And they are probably doing it quite well.

So how do you get comfortable bringing out the leader in you? Start small and stay consistent. Don't change how you do things, continue to work harder and smarter on how you what you do well. Begin to look for little glimpses in yourself of what is already there. Journal it, document it somehow and learn from it. Get comfortable stretching yourself further in those situations.

There's a leader in you that is waiting to come out....suppressing it only sets you off in the wrong direction, and you and your organization will lose your vision, mission, and purpose, quickly.

Don't fear the leader already in you.

Ownership

Recently I have noticed something taking place in business conversations.

Lots of assumptions and excuses are being made about how businesses will be impacted by the economy. Owners seem to be looking to everyone but themselves for reasons as to why things are "slow" for them. I have talked to a few business owners that seem to "get it." They know they are in for the long haul and that if they want to stay in business - they, themselves will figure out how to do it. The problem though is that a lot of small business owners do not seem to want to take this type of ownership in their businesses when the going gets tough.

Ownership is a big thing with me. Being responsible is another. I am not a fan of owners that assume they have all the answers about their business but even more so I really have a difficult time with owners that place blame or offer excuses. This includes things like not knowing or understanding key elements of what makes your business successful. How can you not take ownership and capitalize on the things that really make a difference in your business?

After all - you got yourself into this, how can you not take ownership to either make it work OR call it quits and move on to the next "thing" that may be for you?

Seriously folks, the economy is what it is (for now) and what you have to do is to know more about what works in your business more than any consultant, coach, financial planner, banker, CPA, lawyer or any other professional you seek advice from. YOU need to take ownership.


Once you get the concept of ownership down...you will be setting off in a direction that will lead to success.

Why friends are always better...

Today I had the great opportunity to have lunch with three friends. These folks started out as being part of some of the same professional networking groups and now we have just kind of evolved into more of a friendship relationship.

Today I learned from this group of friends that:

One has a husband that needs a special type of prescription medicine just to stay alive

One has a husband that shops at Aldi and loves it

One took her soon to be ex-husband's pristine vet out for an afternoon drive in a driving rain and mud storm and let it set for three days so the mud would get nice and solidly set all over it. (note to self, don't ever "unfriend" this friend!)

I learned about their other social activities, what other groups they are in and how they spend their free time.

I learned that one doesn't like to force smiles all the time, because she doesn't want to be fake. I learned that each of them has in their past the opportunity to stand up for themselves in business and did so with lots of class.

We didn't "pass" any business today, there was no pressure to fill out slips, sign attendance sheets or be accountable for or to any weird networking rules. It was just plain fun. We were just being ourselves. We really learned about how we could help each other. We made suggestions and had great, honest discussion about our businesses.

I have done business with two out of the three friends and will look for ways to do business with all of them. Not because of a sense of obligation but because on a Monday they took time out of their business day to have lunch and just chat.

It was great fun and I am looking forward to the next time we get together. At the end of the lunch we didn't all whip out our calendars and set our next date...we simply left each other with a see you soon, have a great week departure.

Yes, we will definitely be getting back together soon, no doubt about it....that's what friends do. And in business friend relationships are always the better relationship to have! You can move mountains when you have friends - they are always better!

Breaking Up is Hard to Do....

Last week I had to make the decision to leave the BNI group that I joined last year. Because of the great new directions my coaching business is now going in, it was going to be difficult to maintain a good attendance record. It was either leave now or end up being asked to leave because of not being able to attend or find subs. It would not have been fair to me or the group to continue so I decided better to leave now.

The choice seems like an obvious one and one that I knew I was going to have to make. But in thinking this through I thought of a couple other organizations that I really need to let go of, some business connections that I needed to give up on that never really "connected" and some extra-curricular activities that were just becoming time stealer's. In one 48 hour time period I was able to clean up a bunch of these items and end some things that were just in need of ending.

Sometimes we have to do that. Not long ago friend and fellow blogger Angie Weid blogged about what it can mean to your life to just learn how to say, "NO." This is so true and in my case it was just learning how to say - "good-bye" to some of those things that for whatever the reason, you just have to say good-bye to.

So what types of things do you need to say good-bye to? If you "broke it off" with these things would that leave more time in your schedule to build your business, pursue your goals and dreams?

Breaking up is hard to do, but sometimes it means that there are even greater plans and successes that lie ahead.

What's up with People?

Lately I have been noticing that people are not as friendly to each other as they normally are. Many people I have talked to have been frustrated due to the weather, uncertain economic times, life events that have taken a not so good turn. All of this frustration seems to be coming out in the oddest of places. I am seeing a side of people that just doesn't seem to be, well, NICE.

In exploring this observation with a friend, she stated she thought it was that is was March. Yes, apparently the month of March is just that time of the year when people act out. Is this true? Is there some weirdness about the month of March that causes otherwise nice, courteous, professional business people to turn into something totally the opposite?

Is it because this is a transition month? End of winter, beginning of Spring? Filing of taxes and officially "closing out" the previous year? Kids on or getting ready for Spring break and the last stretch of the school year? Time in the business year when we start to look at the first quarter and wonder if our business was any better off than this time last year?

What is it about March?
OH - it could be the Madness...NCAA basketball brackets are out. Maybe your favorite team didn't make it? Or maybe you don't have a fav team and all this focus on something such as college basketball is a complete waste of time, talent and energy.

Whatever it is - I hope it passes quickly and April gets here soon... I know I sure could use the change in attitudes!

Networking - Pros and Cons

Is your networking group filled with a bunch of pros or a bunch of cons?

Do you attend professional networking groups and meetings that are filled with sincere networking professionals that know the value of those relationships...

OR

Are your networking groups filled with a bunch of con artists that are there just for the food and to see how many business cards they can hand out or collect. Are they there to gather "prospects" to fill their data bases for some generic marketing effort?

Do you even attend networking events at all?

I am pondering this question after having time to consider what happened a couple of weeks ago to me as I invited a couple business acquaintances to my BNI visitor day. Now I understand that small business people are busy - particularly independent small business owners that also juggle jobs, family, kids, school, etc. So I am not picking on people that are "too busy."

But some of the responses I got when I asked people to join me were just plain - funny.

• "Those things never interest me. It's always the same people over and over. Why would I want to build a relationship with them?"


• "I have to spend time working on my business, I don't have time to add another activity to my to-do list."


• "I don't have the money to join those groups."


• "It's too early in the morning..."


• "I don't have my new business cards printed yet."


• "My business is growing so fast...I don't have time."

Those were just a few. I am wondering if you knew that you were going to a meeting with professional networking people if it would make a difference if you attended or not. I bet it would.

Today's coaching directional...look for real professional networking groups to belong to. Pick two or three that you can attend monthly, be sure they are filled with quality people and not con-artist networkers. And when a fellow business associate invites you to attend, don't make up an excuse like those above. You just never know who your business friend wanted you to meet in their group or who you might have met through another connection made at the meeting!

Fear of Change...It's 2008 Get Over It!

A bit of a rant for today that needed to get out of my brain....

I am so tired of hearing about how people fear change! And I don't mean the kind of change that rattles around in a plastic cup sitting on the dresser in your bedroom waiting to be taken to the Coin Star machine at Kroger's either. That kind of change has funded some very nice vacations!

This is the kind of fear of change that paralyzes organizations from achieving their full potential and living out their vision. I am convinced that you can do all the vision and mission planning in the world but if you are afraid of changing your organization to live out your mission then your mission statement is worth less than the paper it is printed on. And certainly not worth the cost of having it framed and displayed in every office in your company or printed on every piece of marketing material.

It's 2008 - listen carefully. You cannot allow yourself or others in your organization fear change. This is not simply about embracing change...I mean you really have to get over the fear and using the fear of change as an excuse as to why something should or should not be done.

Change is going to happen whether you like it or not. Change comes in every second, of every minute, of every day of the year. STOP letting fear of change dictate your organization's life.

Fear of change is not what you want leading the direction your organization is going in.
Plain and simple.
Just stop the fear.
STOP!

The weather...

It's been cold here in northwest Ohio for the last several days. I mean really cold. I am beginning to wonder if I have somehow been transformed back to the ice age. I don't like the cold, I like snow, but no the cold. I am getting lots of things done though inside that do make me happy even though my mood and attitude has not been the greatest - all because of the cold.

This has got me thinking...about how much we let external things get in the way of what our internal hearts and minds say we should be doing. I wonder if we really get off track, not because we are unorganized and unfocused but if we let little external things have control too often. I know it happens, you may be setting there saying, "Suck it up, don't let the weather get in the way of running your business..."

Yeah - I hear ya....but really how many of you have thought twice about going out for that next sales call, or driving across town at sunrise to meet that client, or going to an early morning networking meeting just wasn't going to happen. Come on, fess up...I know you are out there.

It's okay to let those things happen once in a while, but we know we should not make a habit of it. It's touch to get up and at em when that means putting on four layers of clothes and knee high insulated snow boots. Weather is an external thing that can easily get us side tracked.

But let's not let the weather get us down....this too will pass. AND it will pass into hot, humid, northwest Ohio summer where we won't want to leave the air conditioned office.

So let's make the best of the weather...don't let it get you down, don't dwell on it. Let's bundle up and chat about what great business we could do together over a nice hot cup of coffee!