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.

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.

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.

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!

Can working in your PJs really be work?

Can you really work well in your PJs?
I have been pondering this question for the last few weeks. Perhaps it's not so much that I want to work in my pajamas as much as it is I am wondering if I should have my office in my home.

Recently, I relocated my office to a building closer to home, no, not in my home, but my official office is in a building that I pay rent for in the town that I live in. I love the building and have great relationships with the people that work in the building. So there's no issue there.

But what keeps running through my mind is this. Does it matter where your office is these days? With the entire "World is Flat" concept that follows the idea that everyone is or can be connected no matter where they live or work through better technology...does it matter where in the world you work from?

In search of opinions on this topic I have started to ask around. I have started talking to a few people that I knew would have not only an opinion but a really darn good reason for their opinion. I have first posed this question to Networking Guru, Debby Peters. Debby was quick to answer my question...with a question. Don't you just love those?!

After explaining that this topic had come up from some of my clients and that I had been pondering it myself Debby was then quick to give her answer. "I tell people my office is in Perrysburg, which it is, it just happens to be in my home in Perrysburg." Contining on Debby explained that it was better for her business this way. She can keep her overhead costs down, pass on that savings to her clients and that she really doesn't keep "normal" office hours. Being a self proclaimed workaholic she can work anytime/all the time she wants from her home office then retreat within a few steps to her easy chair with her vast library to read.

Of course, Debby, the Networking Guru, is hardly ever in an actual office...she is out NETWORKING! Good answers from Debby for me to consider.

Moving on...I have posed this question to others but what are your thoughts on home offices?
Do they work?
If you have one, do you have any tricks to share about actually getting work done?
Have you recently moved from a home office to an actual rented/owned office space? Why?

Let me know your thoughts as I continue to ponder this myself.

Distractions....

I get easily distracted lately. In fact, friends of mine are starting to tell me that I my attention span is very - VERY short these days. I bounce from one thing to another.

Here are a few examples -

I read a lot, but I read several books at a time. I am sure this lessons my reading comprehension but at this point I have no standardized tests in my future so I don't have to worry about that. But what concerns me is that I never finish these books - seems like such a waste.

I work on several projects at once - church projects, work projects, home projects - you name it and at any given time I am dabbling in it. I wonder how this effects the quality of the projects I finish. And yes, due to the nature of these projects I do finish them. Especially the church ones, I can't leave the big guy hanging you know.

I talk to several people at the same time - in conversation I will actually be carrying on more than one conversation with people around me. I used to think it was me just being social. But now I have noticed that I find it very difficult to stay focused on one person in a group of people. I have to challenge myself to stay in the conversation and then move on to the next. I am always afraid I am going to miss talking to someone. It seems like a networking nightmare to me.

These are just the distractions I bring on myself - think of all of the other distractions that others bring into my world!!!

I have to work hard to handle these distractions, to stay on plan, stay on target and to stay focused. If not, then nothing would get done. Everyone needs to have a plan or a method of handling distractions.

What's yours?