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2020The Price I Paid for Not Listening
…our job was much more about listening than it was speaking.
23
2019Money and Happiness
We can only develop personal empathy for others when we personally identify with their pain. Whether from a sincere heart or not, one of Bill Clinton’s most appreciated comments was, “I feel your pain.” That short sentence resonated with millions of Americans. People hold their money back from others because they’ve forgotten what it felt like to be without. Generous giving is more about who…
21
2019Listening: The Successful Leader’s Magic Bullet
I still remember the night. It was in the early morning hours, probably around 3:00 a.m., in August 1974. I was involved in the Nashville record scene and had received word that Elvis was in town for one of his clandestine middle-of-the-night recording sessions. So I slipped by RCA Studio B and arranged to be there when Elvis ended the session. As he walked out,…
18
2019The Myth of the 40-Hour Work Week
In the 1930’s the United States government told us a lie. They told us that if we were working 40 hours per week…we were fully employed. Wow. That was interesting! Historically, a typical workweek included 12-hour days, six days a week. There are 168 hours in a week. I personally can tell you that you can work more than 40 of them. As a matter…
7
2019Crabs Hate Succeeders
Herd-Think (when we follow others for no good reason) is one of the great killers of accomplishment. While crabs don’t congregate in herds, their behavior in groups is a perfect example of Herd-Think. Crab fishermen have learned a curious truth about the crustaceans they seize from the sea. They’ve learned that crabs hate succeeders. When a crab trap is lowered into the sea, the little…
13
2019People Buy Stuff from Likeable People
At its core, selling is communication and persuasion. To accomplish this, we must be likeable people. This means that you don’t have the luxury of bringing your problems to work with you. When you arrive at work, everything else goes away. You put on your game face. You focus on your customers and clients. Your only reason for existence is to serve…not to be served….
7
2019Mentor Characteristics Enhance Great Leadership
Which type of leader are you? As I discussed in my book, ReTooled & ReFueled, there are essentially two leadership models. The first is power-driven leadership. This is where a person with power leads through fear and intimidation. At its worst, this is a slave master who abuses a slave. More often today, it’s a boss who is more focused on his own career than…
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2018Differential Advantages Used by Great Leaders
As I’ve mentioned before, I had a 25-year career as head of a Nashville advertising and branding agency. In that business, when we developed a product’s brand, we began by searching for that product’s distinctive (Differential) benefit (Advantage.) This was that special benefit our product offered that other similar products did not offer. This is what made our product distinctive, noteworthy, and special. Through those…
2
2018Long-Term Success in Leadership…It’s All So Counterintuitive
The earmark of contemporary Western culture is an unmitigated drive for instant gratification. That’s why we drive cars we can’t afford with money we don’t have to impress people at traffic lights we don’t know. We routinely see CEOs running up stock prices by doing things that will hurt their companies in the long-term. But there are, as there always have been, a relatively small…
25
2018Long-term Focus…What Life Has Taught Me About Leadership Success
One of the most important lessons in success that I’ve learned is the need to focus on the long-term rather than the short term. Every failure in my life has been because of short-term thinking. This may be true for you, too. It is for most people. But, a person might say, “No, that business failed because its biggest client pulled out.” Yes, that may…