Tag Archives: lessons learned

Truly Understanding Leadership

“Leadership is not magnetic personality; that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not ‘making friends and influencing people’, that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to higher sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.” – Peter F. Drucker

As a fresh graduate entering the business world, I was immediately fascinated by the concept of leadership. An ambitious young man, I wanted to be successful. I wanted to be the best I could be. It wasn’t that I wanted to be “the boss”, but I had this unquenched desire to lead. And so throughout my career I’ve taken note of different leadership styles and approaches in the hope I could develop one of my own, stealing “with pride” the best from others. Continue reading →

Building an Effective Team

“There is no I in Teamwork.” – Unknown

“The ratio of We’s to I’s is the best indicator of the development of a team.” – Lewis B. Ergen

“Teamwork divides the task and doubles the success.” – Unknown

“A group becomes a team when each member is sure enough of himself and his contribution to praise the skill of the others.” – Norman Shidle

Over the last several weeks, it seems I have had occasion to talk to a number of new business owners working to grow their company.  Encouragingly, there is a growing base of business leaders interested in building organizations that accomplish something different, something more.  They have a restlessness about them – a willingness to challenge old paradigms and think outside the box.  There is no shame in their approach as they question their own judgment and learn from the lessons of others.  To borrow a phrase from my friend Mark Cahill, they are willing to “steal with pride”, and I love the prospect this foretells for the future of business. Continue reading →

Why Does a Tree Grow?

Trees

“The power to learn is present in everyone’s soul, and the instrument with which each learns is like an eye that cannot be turned around from darkness to light without turning the whole body.” – Plato

“To know that light falls and fills, often without our knowing, as an opaque vase fills to the brim from quick pouring, fills and trembles at the edge yet does not flow over, still holding and feeding the stem of the contained flower.” – Will Rogers

“If you want to be truly successful, invest in yourself to get the knowledge you need to find your unique factor. When you find it and focus on it and persevere your success will blossom.” – Sidney Madwed Continue reading →

In Memory of Bret Montague

“As I grow to understand life less and less, I learn to love it more and more.” – Jules Renard

“Life isn’t a matter of milestones, but of moments.” – Rose Kennedy

“Difficult times have helped me to understand better than before, how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way, and that so many things that one goes worrying about are of no importance whatsoever.” – Isak Dinesen

“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln

Life.  What a beautiful thing…only darkened by the tragedy that is often ends far too soon.  How does it go?  The good die young.  Those we love most are often taken from us at the most inappropriate time.  Life is fleeting.  Life is short.  It gives, and it takes away. Continue reading →

The Importance of Failure

Failure“Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, only this time more wisely.” – Henry Ford

“You learn as much from those who have failed as from those who have succeeded.” – Michael Johnson

“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

In several of my past messages, I’ve spoken of the importance of failure as a part of the growing experience of leadership.  And I truly believe it is important.  I also believe it is important to have a culture that supports its team members when failure occurs.  To be clear, I am not advocating failure for the sake of failure, nor do I think you should be comfortable with failure as an option.  The message has been more around the importance of learning lessons from that failure. Continue reading →

Are You Sure You’re Not a Bad Boss?

worst boss“… take the time to consider not just what kind of a leader you are, but what kind you’re not” – Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman

I found this interesting study from a pair of researchers (Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman) in a recent issue of Harvard Business Review (http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/08/are_you_sure_youre_not_a_bad_b.html).  They analyzed over 30,000 managers and reports from 300,000 of their peers, employees, and executives.  What they found is quite interesting.  It’s more about what they don’t do than what they do that makes them bad bosses.  It wasn’t ‘taking credit for others work’ or the ‘hypocritical’ bosses who said one thing but did another that topped the list.  It was something quite different

And the number one offense?  Failure to inspire, owing to a lack of energy and enthusiasm.  Again and again, these leaders were described as unenthusiastic and passive. Continue reading →

Losing Your Way

“If you’ve been successful {with your company}, I want you to be completely terrified.” – Jim Collins, well-known author and expert on business leadership

Recently I had the opportunity to attend the American Staffing Association’s annual 2012 Staffing World Conference as a guest speaker.  The keynote speaker for this conference was none other than Jim Collins, one of THE leading experts on business leadership.  He’s written a number of notable books, including “Good to Great”, “Built to Last”, “Great by Choice”, and “How the Mighty Fall”.  I would venture to guess that a fair number of you have read his works and are big fans.  If you have not, and if there is only one leadership book you should read, it is his first book – “Good to Great”. Continue reading →

Finding New Opportunites through Failure

“I haven’t failed; I’ve found 10,000 ways that don’t work.”  — [Thomas Edison]

“Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.”  — [Sir Winston Churchill]

“Fear of failure is the only thing preventing you from succeeding.” — [Alison Levine]

“100% of the shots you don’t take don’t go in.”  — [Wayne Gretzky]

Today I would like to talk about the importance of failure in ensuring an organization’s long-term success.  Yes, failure!  I’m guessing you didn’t expect leadership to talk about the importance of failure as part of a weekly Leadership Quote segment.  But the truth is failure is a necessary component of success.  Through failure we learn important lessons necessary to achieve success.  We gain the wisdom needed to improve and become successful.

I’m sure most of you have heard of the vacuum cleaner brand Dyson.  The Dyson vacuum cleaner is one of the best performing products in its industry.  Why?  Because of the revolutionary way in which it works.dyson  Instead of using vacuum cleaner bags, it uses a vortex process that “spins” the dirt through the machine, allowing the air to circulate through while dropping the dirt down into the catch basin.  As a result, the product works far more efficiently than any other in the market because it doesn’t lose suction or get clogged up.  But did you know that Sir James Dyson, the inventor and founder of the Dyson vacuum cleaner company, tried unsuccessfully 5,127 times before he succeeded.  HE FAILED 5,127 TIMES!!!

Now, before you run off and say “well, Kip told me to go fail”, let me clarify my point.  Many businesses today don’t have the luxury for everyone to go off and fail 5,127 times.  But what they should have is a culture that is willing to recognize its failures and improve on them.  One that says, “Nope, that didn’t work. Let’s try something different.” One that recognizes our failures are its best opportunities for succeeding.

Does your culture embrace failure as a necessary step towards success?  Are your fellow team members encouraged to innovate, to take risks, and do drive for new and creative solutions to meet your customer’s needs?  More importantly, do they operate in an environment suited to support failure as a necessary evolution toward success?