Big Is The New Small

I have been in a number of conversations with friends, colleagues and clients where the topic of discussion has been the inability or freedom to lead. I just recently had a conversation with a Senior Leader of a very large organization about this very problem. (could be a church, non-profit or business) I’ll let your imagination fill-in that blank.

This guy is a strong, gifted, visionary leader who is being hamstrung by his governing body. Not only is the this crippling him, it’s setting their organization back years.

Just like the famous triple crown horse Secretariat needed to be freed up to run, not only run, but run the race that only he could run. That’s the same situation for leaders being held back in organizations around the country. Leaders want to be free, they want to run and they want to lead.

Organizations and organizational leaders have an opportunity and responsibility to free up their race horses to run and to lead. These races must be within the boundaries of the established organization; however it should be encouraged that they push those boundaries to the limit.

The potential for greatness exists at all levels throughout most organizations and a major hindrance is control and an unwillingness to let the horses run their race. Leaders are looking for a License To Lead.

The famous quote from the movie Secretariat are this, “Let him run his race.”

Let them run their race!

“Greatness” is such a vividly descriptive word that epitomizes the height of success.  We know greatness when we see it.  We can imagine the propensity for greatness residing in someone that currently only has potential.  How does greatness happen?  How do you achieve greatness? How do you define greatness?

Greatness occurs when an individual’s inward fire of passion collides with fuel of their deep inward desire to be great.  Passion alone won’t get you there.  Deep inward desire will get you close, but it won’t get you there.

Passion + Desire = Greatness Fire!

That’s How You Achieve and Define Greatness. 

Share your thoughts on passion, desire and greatness.

I have been traveling quite a bit lately, which has caused me to really assess my different flying experiences.  My conclusion is quite simple…  Southwest Airlines @southwestair “gets it” and the others don’t seem to quite “get it.”

I know that’s a relatively broad generalization, but for the most part it’s true.

If we look at purely a bottom line perspective, Southwest Airlines continues to report profits, while the rest of their competitors are struggling financially.  There is something about their unorthodox style that just makes good sense for their organization and their customers. They continue to make money and make fans (like me), for some reason fans and money seem to go hand in hand.

7 Business and Leadership Lessons From Southwest Airlines:

• 1. Change With The Times - That class system is so 1980, get rid of 1st class and get your customers in a seat.
• 2. Consistency Matters - Southwest flies the same type jet, to the same places, by the same people all of the time.  I can’t stand those little regional jets propeller planes.
• 3. Add Value - Seriously, who gets excited about paying $25+ dollars for a bag of luggage and don’t get me started on the no-snacks policy for Southwest Airline’s competitors.  Southwest offers free luggage, good snacks, great flying experience and great rewards program.
• 4. Efficiency - Southwest always ranks high in the fuel efficiency of it’s aircraft’s (helps the environment for those green people).  Southwest is always at the top of the list for on-time flights and the boarding process is the most efficient.
• 5. Discount Fares - Value and price always matter.
• 6. Leverage Social Media - Southwest Airlines does a great job of leveraging Social Media.  They have a very active and effective twitter account with over a million followers.  That’s 10 times as many followers as their competitors.  They embrace the essence of this post.
• 7. Customer Service - When an airline has the best discount fares, offers free snacks, has efficient check-in, doesn’t charge for luggage, treats all customers the same, adds value to customers through social media…  That’s an airlines that cares about their customers.

There seems to be a direct correlation between excellent customer service, a consistently good product and great overall value.  If you don’t believe me read my thoughts on what Chick-fil-A Can Teach us About Success.

Every business and leader can and should learn from these 7 Lessons.  The additional value for businesses like Southwest Airlines and Chick-fil-A is the fact that their customers blog about, tweet about and share their great experiences. When was the last time you read a tweet, facebook update or blogpost about someone being happy about paying $25 dollars for their luggage to fly with them.

Change with the times, listen and learn.

Share your thoughts on Southwest airlines or other businesses that get it.  Why are some businesses willing to stay behind the times and not learn from the success of others?

The older you get the more realize that life is all about leadership.  We live in a world that is consumed with leadership, leadership styles and the effects of leadership on success.  There are thousands of books and millions of blogpost/articles written on the subject of leadership.  John Maxwell alone has sold over 19 million books.

Leadership success primarily boils down to self-awareness. If a person is self-aware they can make the necessary adjustments and surround themselves with people that have complimentary skill sets. The bottom line is every organization or team is going to have an established culture, the best leaders have the self-awareness to understand what that culture is and the influence their leadership has on that established culture.

Leaders who lack self-awareness generally create a culture that is undesirable for themselves and others. The leader with great self-awareness has a much better chance to create a culture of success.  Good or bad, the self-aware leader can at-least understand their role in situations and interactions.

If you want to be a better leader, strive for greater self-awareness.

Have you seen the lack of self-awareness of a leader or individuals negatively affect an organization or team?

Like It Or Not, We Are All Marketers. Marketing is not simply what businesses, brands and advertising agencies do — It’s what all of us do.  We are all marketing something. Either our personal brand or someone else’s brand.

You are marketing by the clothes that you wear, the type of phone that you use, the restaurants that you frequent, the stories that you share on Facebook and Twitter… and the list goes on and on like the energizer bunny.  BTW- What happened to the Energizer Bunny? He was a great marketer for Energizer batteries  As a matter of fact, I still consider the fact that the bunny keeps going and going and going every time I make a battery purchase.

Some people claim not to be marketers because they don’t want the self-perceived negative connotation of being a “self-promoter.”  That’s hogwash! Everyone is marketing something and everything is marketing. Even those individuals that play the card of, “I don’t like to market or promote, I’m just humble.” Those individuals marketing the cause for a behind the scenes and humble approach to things.

Jesus was a marketer, the #Kony2012 folks are marketers, President Obama is a marketer, Steve Jobs was a marketer, Donald Trump is a marketer, Seth Godin is a marketer, the Superintendent of your local school district is a marketer, the little league coach is a marketer, the little league player is a marketer, your children are marketers, I’m a marketer, you’re a marketer… We Are All Marketers. 

I have shared over 20,000 tweets on Twitter, everything from personal family stuff, to quotes, to blogpost links to (fill in the blank).  At the time of this post I have sent 22,221 tweets to be exact.  Directly or indirectly those tweets have all marketed, shared or promoted something.  For tweet #22,222 I will simply share this post because I’m A Marketer!

You have a story to tell — Tell It!  You have something to promote — Promote It!  You have a brand that your’re fond of – Share It! 

If you aren’t sure of what your brand is or what you’re marketing… ask those closest to you.

Like It Or Not, We Are All Marketers.

It always surprises me to see managers who suffocate their staff. By suffocating their staff, I’m referring to leaders who are unwilling to let their employees out of their grips for fear of losing the employee or losing control. These types of leaders are actually doing the exact opposite of what they are intending to do. This tight grip and suffocating behavior will reduce performance, squash creativity and inevitably cause employees to leave.

When I was a young Warden, my mentor and boss would frequently tell me this regarding my staff members. “Scott, hold onto your team loosely, because ultimately they are not yours to hold onto.” That statement has always stuck with me!

If we hold onto our employees loosely, they feel the freedom of the open hands which ultimately increases productivity and develops more leaders. This philosophy of encouraging your employees to “grow and go” will result in you losing some great ones from time to time. The great thing about leading with the open-handed mentality, is the fact that those you loose will always be quickly replenished.

On the other hand, the employer who plants a suffocating scarcity seed, won’t reap a scarce harvest. I have led several teams in which we lost key players to some higher impact roles; however every time they were replenished with some equally amazing team members without the team missing a beat.

Scarcity Mentality – Not enough good to go around vs. Abundance Mentality – There is more than enough great to go around.

If you are in an suffocating staff situation, encourage the leader to open their hands. If that doesn’t work, it may be time “to go and grow.”

Let Go! dream BIG. think BIGGER.

Share your thoughts and experiences with the suffocating approach.

Just because someone says, “I Got Your Back” or “I Believe In You,” doesn’t necessarily mean that they really do.  Well maybe they do, however their version of having your back may look something like the image to the left.

Sometimes you have to embrace the State Of Missouri’s slogan of being the “Show-Me State.”  If someone says they believe in you and have your back…  make sure their actions match up with their words, otherwise you might end up like the person to the left.

I Got Your Back!

If you want to be successful, you must learn to create resistance. Not only do you need to learn to create resistance, but you must develop thick enough skin to weather the storms of resistance.

If you want to make things happen, you must create resistance somewhere along the way. Tomorrow’s successes are planted in today’s soil of resisting, opposing, and withstanding.

If you are not experiencing resistance, chances are you’re playing it too safe.

Some of the greatest success stories are stories of individuals and organizations that embraced and created resistance.  Push through resistance with persistence.

“The path of least resistance is the path of the loser.” ~H.G. Wells

Whether it’s sin, life, leadership, sports or business: Winners and success stories are on the other side of resistance.

Share your thoughts on resistance and the other side.

I have always been an idea guy and that can be a good thing and well lets just say, not so good thing.  Ideas are always swirling and with ideas comes opportunities to make those ideas a reality or put them on the “didn’t make the cut” list.

Lately I have been cogitating the interrelation between ideas, success and people.  The reality is this: ideas are everywhere and the opportunities to make those ideas a reality are everywhere as well.  We are all an idea coupled with hard work away from success.  So the question of the day is, What Are You Waiting For?

This week I watched the idea of #Kony2012 become a household name and has 72 million YouTube views and counting.  The implementation of #Kony2012 began with an idea.  This evening I watched 60 Minutes and they did a special on Sal Khan and the Khan Academy.  Khan Academy is an online learning academy that is literally going to change the future of education. You can watch the 60 minutes interview in the blogpost prior to this one.  Or just click here.

According to Eric Schmidt, the Chair at Google “Innovation never come from the established institutions, it’s always a graduate student or a crazy person or somebody with a great vision.”  You are that crazy person with a great idea and a great vision.

This constant intrigue along with watching these two stories this week, simply has me asking this question of myself and everyone around me.  What Are You Waiting For?

• Do you have an idea that you want to implement?  What Are You Waiting For?
• Do you have a dream that you want to become a reality? What Are You Waiting On?
• Do you want to change your future? What Are You Waiting For?
• Do you want to be successful? What Are You Waiting For?
• Do you want to change the world? What Are You Waiting For?

What Are You Waiting For?

It’s always fun to read leadership quotes and hear the varying opinions on the definition of a great leader.  It’s one of those concepts, in which everyone seems to have an opinion about.  Instead of defining what a great leader, we are going to define a Poor Leader.  If you go to Webster and see how they define these two words separately, here is what you get:

• Leader- A Person or thing that leads
• Poor- Deficient or lacking in something specified, lacking in skill, ability, or training, deficient in desirable ingredients, qualities

If you combine the two you get something like: Poor Leader- A person in a leadership role that lacks the necessary skill, ability, and overall qualties to effectively lead.  Although that is a “definition of a poor leader” it doesn’t necessarilly communicate my definition or your definition of a poor leader.

If I were to ask you to provide a definition of a poor leader, we could come up with some amazing quotes, thoughts and definitions.  Instead of asking for a definition, I am wanting you the BigIsTheNewSmall thinkers to define a poor leader in one word.   These words will be unique to you, how you think, who you are, what you’ve experienced..

The Rules: Define a “Poor Leader” in one word.  (You can use the same word that someone else used)  You can’t use your boss or anyone else’s name!

I’ll go fist…  Everyone please join in and who knows, you may see these words pop up in another post or somewhere else at a later date.

Ready, Set, Go!