The unexpected death of my father left me as the young new leader of the family business. I was only 20 years old, and every one of my five employees was older than I was! To top it off, one of the first things I discovered about the business I was leading was we were $70,000 in debt and had gross revenue of less than $90,000. To pay down some of the debt, I even sold my personal car. My dad (Continue)
Leadership
An Uncomfortable Conversation for Any Leader
As a leader, owner, president, or CEO do you feel at times like you’re trying to swim in this ocean called “the marketplace” but you struggle to keep your head above water? Do you feel like a concrete block has been tied to your ankles, pulling down even your best efforts?” Does it seem like your results don’t reflect your hard work? Do you wonder if you are a failure? I can assure you that (Continue)
Life Was Good and Then Everything Changed
The year was 1973, and life was good: I had just graduated with honors from our local state university after only three years at the age of 20. I had just concluded serving as the President of Student Government (PSG) at a university of over 4,000 students. By the conclusion of my term, I was able to lead with more Student Senate legislation approved by the University President (Continue)
Engage2Lead – A Summary of Participative Leadership
As I conclude this series of several articles below, I have found completely different atmosphere exists with an Engage2Lead-sensitive leader who respects his or her subordinates and who has the good sense to seek and appreciate input from employees! When participative leaders use the 1-2-3 leadership tool, employees can enjoy being respected for sharing their ideas. They not only become (Continue)
The 10 Benefits of Engagement
Recently, I have been reading about the founding of our nation and the actions of young Col. George Washington during the French and Indian War. In 1755, Col. Washington lead a group Virginians along with British troops into battle, and they suffered enormous losses. Remarkably, George Washington was the only mounted officer not shot down off his horse, and he had been quite vulnerable to (Continue)
Principled Profits – Outward Success Is an Inside Job
It is finally here – my new book, Principled Profits - Outward Success Is an Inside Job officially releases today! Click here to read the press release. It’s been a long time coming. Hundreds of hours of effort. A labor of love for sure. Principled Profits contains what I found to be the essential principles of effective leadership. Do you want to lead your family, team, or entire (Continue)
The Wonder and Wisdom of Disney
Walt Disney’s brother, Roy said, “It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.” Okay, before you pass over that quote and let it flow down the river of “that’s nice, but let’s get going” I suggest we pause and think about it. Life and business can be hard. The workplace is full of challenges; the marketplace is teeming with competitors. What’s a leader to (Continue)
Do You Think Like a Manager or a Leader?
Regardless of your title, do you think more like a manager or a leader? What is the mindset of a manager? What is the mindset of a leader? These are good questions, and often, people get confused about this topic of managing vs. leading. One of my favorite quotes from Peter F. Drucker can bring more clarity to this matter: “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the (Continue)
A Tale of Two Companies
I am regularly interviewed as a FOX News Radio contributor, and a recent interview subject was about companies’ year-end bonuses. The following is a summary of my comments: Frequently, you hear of a person’s promotion, or wage increase, or a company giving out bonuses to their employees. However, the type of company they work for will determine their perspective on what they have received. (Continue)
A Simple Way to Protect Your Brand Without Discouraging Your Team
One day while I was talking with a leadership team member in my company, I just happened to ask about a project assigned to one of our very creative and empowered front-line employees. Upon further investigation, we discovered that the employee was in the process of procuring tens of thousands of dollars of materials and equipment, without even asking for feedback from another coworker or approval (Continue)