“Bobby, I want you to come in and ‘fix’ my people.” As I have mentored CEOs, presidents, owners, and other key leaders, this is the most common initial request that I hear. What about you? Do you ever want someone to come in and “fix” your people? Have you ever looked in the mirror and asked yourself, “I want someone to come in and ‘fix’ my people?” Take another serious look in the Continue →
Management
I Had to Hitch a Ride from My Own Employee – For 2 Years
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
This One Policy Can Minimize Your Leadership Headaches
As the years went by, my company began to optimize results by engaging our employees through a participative leadership style that I call Engage2Lead and employing the 1-2-3 leadership tool. I was very excited how empowered our front-line employees felt to make decisions, and how inspired and enthusiastic they were. They behaved as though they were the owners of the organization. Then Continue →
Do You Recognize the 6 Consequences of Poor Leadership?
“You won’t believe what they did to us at work today!” I’m sure that you have heard this comment before. You may have even said it yourself. A great idea One day, an executive I’m mentoring excitingly told me how he came up with a great, new quality improvement process to better manage their company’s inventory. On his own and from his own knowledge and experience and with good Continue →