I have shared these ideas before.  They are worth repeating.

You don’t need a title to lead.  Titles don’t earn followers.  You earn followership based on your own ability to contribute value to the process, people and performance.

You don’t need permission to influence.  You impact others and initiate change through action.

We all have the power to make a difference.  Especially among the people that matter the most to us.

We all have the power to create change.  One conversation.  One connection.  One meaningful moment that inspires action.

Leadership isn’t about you.  It is about them.  A leader exists to help, guide, develop, teach, counsel, coach, correct and consistently elevate  the potential and performance.  Your success is achieved through others.  Through change.  Through making a difference.

Not everyone cares about making a difference.

Not everyone is meant to lead.

When others entrust you to guide and develop their talent and career path it is an awesome responsibility.   Stepping up to that responsibility is incumbent upon today’s effective leader.  Especially during a time of such extraordinary challenge and change.

Effective leaders embrace change.  Challenge the status quo.  Commit.  Cultivate confidence in the future. Connect people to each other and to a common purpose.

Effective leaders care.  They go all in to make a difference.  They inspire by living the change they want to see in others.

It is a time where true, authentic leadership is required.  What an extraordinary opportunity to have an impact.  To make a difference.

This video preview for the new book The Leader Who Has No Title offers a bit of inspiring insight from some of the most influential leaders of our time.  A great message about work.  A great message about responsibility.  A great message about making a difference.

A great message about leadership.

 

Posted in Employee Engagement, Leadership

Tags: Change, Influence, Leadership, Robin Sharma

How can you create change in the organization, C suite, leadership, the boss, colleagues, co-workers?
Even when the common belief is “they” would never go for the big, new idea/initiative/innovation/investment.

Have an idea? Want to have an impact? Ready to be a Change Agent?

You need influence.

Influence can serve as a catalyst for a meaningful change movement. To get a big idea over the line consider these 7 keys:

Tell the story:  Make it compelling.  Have an adversary.  Create a vision of the new experience.  Articulate the alternative. Earn emotional commitment for the cause.
Do your homework:  Present compelling evidence:  Prove the concept.  Show examples. Deliver a data set.  Cite case studies.  Leverage competitive intelligence.
Sell the future state:  Speak to the current and future state. Demonstrate cause and effect.  Predict the outcome.  Detail the realized vision.
Build buy in:  This is where your network counts.  Who cares as much as you?  Why should they? What is in it for them?  Why does it matter?  Build authentic relationships.  Invest the time.  Earn respect.  Introduce the worthwhile idea into the agenda.
Challenge the status quo -  Generate interest and ideas that spark innovation and improvement.  Disrupt the death grip on the way  things get done with new, collective thinking.  Performance earns the Change Agent an opportunity to push the business forward.
Have consistent conviction – Take a stand.  Don’t waver without a reason. Be firm in the face of resistance.
Go all in: It is worth it? If you are right. If you believe. If it matters. If it is the difference maker. Then you have to be willing to take some calculated risks and go all the way in. Stopping short doesn’t serve as a catalyst for change.  A real leader puts it on the line.  In or out?

Influence can take time.  It demands credibility.  It mandates preparedness.  It requires trust.  It needs to be earned.

The good news?

You don’t need permission to have influence.

Posted in Leadership, Recruiting, Sales, Social Media, Uncategorized

Tags: Change, Change Agent, Influence

Would sales be easier if every call you made was to a prospective buyer who was aware of both you and your organization prior to talking?  Would it be easier to sell to qualified prospects reaching out to you with a direct inquiry?  What if you could turn virtually every cold call into a “warm call”?  Sales Nirvana?  Perhaps.

And it’s all very possible today with a shift in strategy and through the adoption of new tools and technology.

The blend of a traditional networking philosophy and technology integration can transform the opportunity to develop higher levels of awareness and more attention from your TAU (target account universe).  Social selling is all about being expertly informed and demonstrating value early in the sales cycle to achieve elevated interest specific to your product or solution.  While you cannot automate relationships, you can dramatically expedite quality introductions and knowledge transfer by leveraging a Web 2.0 selling platform. Consider:

How easy it for your customers to intersect with your BIG idea?

Are your channels alive with your very best new content?

Is your value proposition abundantly clear, compelling and so differentiated its worth considering a change?

Is it clear at “the moment of truth” why urgent action is required?

Are you leveraging quality assets early and often in the cycle to add value first?

Now, benchmark against your competition.

In Professional Selling YOU are the the brand, company and marketing strategy in the eyes of the marketplace.  A good foundational strategy will get you off the phone and in front of customers.

Building Sales Influence with your customer community make sales happen.

Posted in Sales, Uncategorized

Tags: Influence, Sales 2.0