Monthly Archives: August 2013

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Wordless Leadership

When Tom, the president of a small bank discovered that his work style is strongly analytical (and not outwardly concerned with “people” issues, he became concerned that he wasn’t doing enough to relate to the employees of his bank.

“I started as a teller. I was good with numbers, so I was promoted to customer service. I was good with numbers, so I was promoted to loan officer.

“I became so good with numbers that I could spend 10 minutes looking at a loan applicant’s tax returns and accurately determine the amount of a mortgage he or she would qualify for. Naturally, this meant that I could process a large number of mortgages quickly. Because I was good with numbers, I was promoted to vice president. Then, again, because I was good with numbers, I was promoted to president.  Read more...

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Words Will Fail You

Humans communicate so much through the words they use. We use Twitter, Facebook updates, text messages, blog posts, speech.

There is so much effort poured into the words we say. Sadly, at one point or another, words will fail you. Situations will arise where words are meaningless.

Worn out man, words have failed him

Image by Lucas Incas

I found this to be true during and after my wife and I had to make the difficult choice to put our dog down. People tried to comfort us with their words.

We heard:

You’ll feel better over time

You made the right choice

You did what needed to be done

You loved him and he loved you

You know, all of those words were true. Things have gotten better. We believe we made the right choice. We believe we did what had to be done. And we sure did love him.  Read more...

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Leaders Need Boundaries – Boundaries For Leaders Book Review

I don’t know about you but I cringe every time I hear the word boundaries. As a leader, I always thought boundaries prevented me from doing what needed to be done. Boundaries felt like a cage, restrictive and something that held me back.

However, as I read through Dr. Henry Cloud’s new book Boundaries For Leaders, I realized I’ve been wrong. Leaders need boundaries. The key is learning how to define the boundaries.

Cover image for Boundaries For Leaders by Dr. Henry Cloud

Boundaries For Leaders Cover

Dr. Cloud is probably best known for the book Boundaries, that he co-authored with John Townsend. In Boundaries, Cloud and Townsend shared how everyone needs to have certain boundaries:

Physical Boundaries

Emotional Boundaries

Mental Boundaries

Spiritual Boundaries

The boundaries discussed in that book are fantastic and make a valid case for why we need them. However, they weren’t written in a way that directly related to leaders. This is where Boundaries For Leaders come into play.  Read more...

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3 Reasons Leaders Need To Be A Salesman

When you hear the word salesman, what do you think of. The mind wanders to images such as a used car salesman, a clerk at Wal-Mart, or the kid next door hawking CutCo knives. The term salesman doesn’t get a lot of respect.

And yet every leader needs to hone their sales skills. They need to become an expert salesman to get the job done.

“How can this be?” you may ask. Truth be told, everyone is a salesperson at some point or another, Daniel Pink even sales this in his book To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others.

Every leader needs to be a salesman. There’s three reasons leaders need to learn to sell.

1. You have to sell the leadership vision: The vision of any organization is vital to it’s success. We must have a clear idea of where we want to go or we run the risk of perishing.  Read more...