Tag: Followers

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blog Leadership Motivation Tips Walking Leader

BE DISRUPTIVE

DISRUPTIVE-SHARPIERemember when the ‪‎Sharpie‬® was ‪DISRUPTIVE‬?

Most of you are too young to remember when the Plain Old Sharpie was the new kid on the block.

The ‪Pen‬ industry hated the Sharpie because people were no longer going to scratch out errors with pens.

Parents‬ and ‪Teachers‬ hated it because of the graffiti on the ‪#‎bedroom‬ and ‪#‎classroom‬ walls that was going to be so very difficult to remove.

Printers hated the Sharpie because people no longer needed them to print up those fancy colored banners, flyers and posters.

Marks-A-Lot®  is a VERY serious ‪competition‬ but not good enough to over take Sharpie®.

NOW, the SHARPIE industry is BOOMING. Companies were founded and jobs were created with the sole purpose of removing SHARPIE based ‪‎graffiti‬ from walls. Last time I checked, Marks-A-Lot and other permanent ‪marker‬ or indelible marker companies are very much in ‪business‬.

That’s a well and good but sadly over the years the good old Sharpie is NO LONGER a disruption. The Sharpie is now just part of the modern workplace background. Sure they have delivered with more colors and styles but never could they return to that fantastic moment of disruption. Then again, that is a company not an individual. Individuals must be disruptive. Constantly disruptive.

From an early age, we are disruptive. We want need attention from our mother, our father, our family, the world around us.

BE DISRUPTIVE!

STAY DISRUPTIVE or become part of the background.

The choice is yours! Personally, I prefer you, me, all of us be as DISRUPTIVE as possible for as long as possible.

 

 

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blog Current Events Decisionmaking In The News Leadership

Leadership In The News: No Confidence, Lack of Leadership & Lots of Trouble In Missouri (or in Your Business) by David Guerra

What happens when your employees, your customers, your clients, your stakeholders have no confidence in your leadership or in your ability to lead?

Leadership In The News: No Confidence, Lack of Leadership & Lots of Trouble In Missouri (or in Your Business) by David Guerra

What happens when leaders fail to lead? Now, it is quickly becoming the norm to remove those that are failing not only themselves but also the people they are directly responsible for. Those key stakeholders that are critical to the existence of the position of leadership they have been charged with filling, maintaining, and grow.

On Monday, November 9, 2015, the University of Missouri president vacated his position of authority and leadership after failing to properly address, handle, and get out in front of the controversy over “race relations at the school’s main campus”.

The ability to address the good, bad, and ugly is what every leader must do as a leader. While everyone, loves addressing the good, it is the bad and ugly that must be addressed. It is what leaders wanted to do and what they are expected to do. There is no shirking the responsibility of deal with ALL issues whether they go against what they believe or not. By dealing with a bad issue is no way means a leader has failed. It is when that leader fails to address the bad issues that he has failed as a leader.

In most cases, such as the case of the University of Missouri President, his followers and primary stakeholders (the Students) have lost confidence in his leadership and in his ability to do the right thing. The right thing in this case, was getting out in front of the matter at hand.

Now while it may be too late for the U of Missouri President, but it might not be too late for you. If you are not getting out in front of problems, you are most certainly heading in the direction of the dinosaurs, University Presidents that believe the only way to deal with real issues is to deal with them by sticking your head in the ground, and hoping it all goes away.

Real Leaders don’t have time for that kind of nonsense.

Real Leaders KNOW the only way to save time, energy, and manpower is to face the issues head on as quickly, as concisely, and out in front as much as possible.

However, if that is the only way you know how to do business then please don’t even consider yourself a leader. Heck, don’t even call yourself a manager. Call for someone to come pick you up because you are done here.

How do you tackle the hard and soft issues?

reference: http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/09/us/missouri-football-players-protest-president-resigns/index.html

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blog Current Events In The News Leadership Walking Leader

#Leadership in the News: “Secret Service Director’s Mission: Fix the agency”

Leadership in the news: “Secret Service Director’s Mission: Fix the agency”

New Secret Service director, John Clancy, recently opened the agency’s doors to the media to talk and show what was going on at the Secret Service to change and regain the population’s trust in that agency. By doing so, Clancy’s leadership comes shining through.

In the CNN report, the director openly talked about the agency’s past and how the agency must change to put that part of its history behind them and the nation, of course in the name of progress.

However, as is the case for making change in any organization it just does not happen with a snap of a finger. It happens when leaders are deliberate and want to deliver “more transparency and speedier reforms”.

Even then, those on the outside the agency are still demanding answers for past actions. A past that is clouded with scandal and lax security procedures, which have threatened the White House.

By having a leader that is willing to step out in front and work to deliver that change, the organization can step away from its ugly past and move into the light of progress and success.

The agency has been criticized for NOT bringing in an “outsider” to “clean house” and make the necessary changes that would appease the critics and not necessarily make the organization better.

I am a big proponent of hiring and promoting from within. I used to work for a state agency in Texas that was mired in scandal and the powers that be (legislature) saw it fit to demand an outsider come in and make things right. The outsider had no clue what it was really like to be out on the frontlines and was summarily dismissed and replaced. The replacement was not that much better. The outsiders did nothing but create a culture of fear and panic. They also managed to create an environment where GOOD LEADERS could no longer thrive for fear of dismissal or ARREST. Yes, some leaders were arrested but I digress.

Outsiders do not understand the culture from within. Outsiders tend to throw ALL employees into the same barrel of rotting pickles instead of knowing who was good and who was rotten to the core.

Fortunately, for the Secret Service they do not have to deal with such nonsense but instead are given another opportunity to stand out, thrive, and resume their role as one of the most trusted organizations in the US Government. That’s because they have a leader that not only comes from within its ranks but also has nothing to hide when it comes to leading change.

Now, that’s a leader that all organizations should strive to create, cultivate, and not hesitate when it comes time to hand over the reins to a new leader.

ref: http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/06/politics/secret-service-director/index.html