Yesterday I had the privilege of delivering the luncheon keynote address to the 1,000 volunteer leaders gathering in Washington D.C. for the annual Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM) Leadership Conference.

It was a fitting conclusion to my conference keynote schedule for the year and marked my 12th engagement in partnership with SHRM this calendar year.  My relationship with this Association has provided me an opportunity to address thousands of their members, attend keynotes, breakouts, workshops, round tables and take an active role in the ongoing conversation about the future of work.  It has afforded me some perspective on the challenges and change associated with the way we accomplish meaningful results in the workplace.

The way we organize work, elevate productivity and improve performance is changing.  Right now.

It will be incumbent upon Managers and Leaders to be increasingly more open, transparent, flexible, creative, and collaborative.  Collaborative Leadership is simply the new and improved model for navigating this ever complex, constantly changing business landscape.

Human Resources is perfectly positioned to guide and shape this transformation.  To evolve work style design. To have increasingly more impact on the business.

To get there will require both HR and Leadership to step boldly into the opportunity, challenge the status quo and exert change from a position of influence.  The enclosed Flip Cam clip from yesterday’s keynote offers a thought and a killer question around influential leadership.

I left this conference yesterday truly inspired by this leadership community, their collaborative work effort to make a difference and the impact they are going to have on the future of work!

I always learn more than I share and I continue to be grateful for that opportunity.

I look forward to continuing the conversation in 2012.  Hope to see you in the ATL.  Until then, stay connected!

 

Posted in Leadership, Performance

Tags: Change Agent, Collaboration, Collaborative Leadership, Keynote Speaking, Leadership, SHRM, SHRM Leadership, Work

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

I have.

This weekend I was fortunate to deliver the closing keynote for the global leadership community of Meeting Professionals International.

This community of committed leaders professionally plan meetings and events.  They know how to make meetings matter.

Meetings are meant to inspire action.  They serve as a catalyst for change.

Truly great meetings change lives.

A great meeting changed mine.  I was young.  I was broke.  I was lost.  I went to a meeting (almost by accident).

3 hours with Jim Rohn changed my life.  Forever.

He gave me permission and ignited my passion and purpose.  He also provided the tools.

I still have those meeting notes from 19 years ago.  I still have my 3 BIG goals.  I fondly recall implementing my post meeting action plan. I still use Jim’s core principles today.

Jim shared some truly transformational information that night.  He was also realistic in acknowledging that for every 100 people in the room only 3 or 4 would take his suggestions for success and actually take action.  We are all creatures of habit.  Change is hard work.

The most important part of any meeting is what happens next.

Here are a few meeting metrics to assist with post meeting assessment:

What did you do differently as a result?  The next day?  100 days later?  The rest of your life?

Who did you meet that matters?

How did your world change?  Your world at work? How do you intend to change the world?  The world at work?

Why did this meeting produce such a powerful result?

The What – Who – How – Why test is a pretty good assessment.

Inspiration helps.  An action plan holds you accountable.  If you’ve heard me speak live you know that I refer to the post meeting action plan as the TAN Plan.  TAN is simply an acronym for TAKE ACTION NOW.

The assignment:  Write down 3 things you will take action on in the next 100 days that will have high impact post meeting.  Write down 3 people you will reach out to as part of your network to offer support in the next 100 days (working with a sponsor who is going to call you in 100 days to check on your TAN Plan progress is GOLD).

Content is critical to meeting success and I know people covet information that can keep them on the cutting edge.  However, the reality is that for most people new information simply isn’t enough.  The ability to execute on the information is the key.  The plan to turn big ideas into action and results is the difference maker.

Have you been to any good meetings lately?

Put a TAN Plan together.  See what happens next.

Posted in Leadership, Performance, Uncategorized

Tags: Leadership, Meetings, MPI, TAN Plan

I am in Bangor, Maine today about to keynote a leadership event for my client Maine Veteran’s Homes.  Prior to traveling to Bangor a friend of mine casually asked, “Don’t you wish you didn’t have to go there and you could still get the money?”  He offered, “you should figure out a way to give the talk virtually…then you wouldn’t have to travel.”

I didn’t hesitate in responding that I wouldn’t want to give the talk virtually.  I want to go somewhere different.  Meet someone new.  I want to share, listen and learn with extraordinary leaders.   I want to understand their challenges.  I want to hear the stories. I want to connect them to my ideas.  I want to help them navigate change.  I want to have a full, rich, meaningful experience that has a lasting impact.  That is my purpose.

I want to do the work.

It is a question I am also reminded to ask myself.

What do I want to be doing?

Why? {Purpose}

The answer to those questions inform action.

Money is a reason.

Meaning is a reason.  A very good reason.

The intersection of purpose and the paycheck are a precious gift.  It is the place where people are in the best position to maximize their full potential.

It is easier to contribute and succeed when you really want to do the work.  When it matters.

What do you want to be doing? Why?

We’ll have some fun exploring those important questions today.

Posted in Employee Engagement, Leadership, Performance, Sales

Tags: Career, Leadership, Meaning, Money, Purpose, Work

This week we will be talking about Next Level Leadership in Maine and Texas.  We will examine keys to accelerating breakthrough performance through people strategy.  Even better, we will work through some specific examples of Next Level Leadership in action.

One theme we will examine closely is accountability.

Not necessarily the ability to hold others accountable, but rather the self discipline to lead by doing.  To set the example. To be accountable to those you serve.

Increasingly, earning the emotional commitment and discretionary effort of high potential performers requires trust, confidence and collaboration that fosters clearly defined expectations and alignment around purpose and performance.

It also requires a BIG leadership contribution.

Progressive leaders focus closely on what they do (contribute) and how they do it.

Be the change you want to see in others.

Posted in Leadership

Tags: Change, Leadership, Performance

Sales drives the business.

All of the ideas, innovation, strategy, interpersonal relationships and process initiatives don’t matter much if you don’t have the revenue to turn on the lights.

Want a cure for the business going sideways?  If layoffs, furloughs and salary freezes sound familiar the solution is simple.

Sell more.

You can sell your way right out of a recession.  There are great examples all around us (the coffee shop I am sitting in now achieved explosive sales growth and expanded during the great recession).

Increasingly, sales growth requires strong leadership.

Ironically, sales success as an individual contributor doesn’t automatically translate into the requisite skill and competency to lead other individual contributors.  I know this from personal experience.  I know this from our consulting work. Yet, sales organizations routinely move their top individual contributors into management roles as a matter of practice and risk missing twice (weakening the territory and the team if the top producer isn’t prepared to lead and is no longer closing).

That doesn’t mean it can’t work.  It simply takes work and is far from a sure thing.

I’ll have the good fortune of spending tomorrow morning talking Sales Acceleration with a room full of gifted Sales Leaders and C level executives preparing to push their business to the next level of breakthrough performance.

3 key themes I will reinforce:

1. Lead From The Front: You’ll get attention and effort around what you inspect.  You’ll earn respect based on your own ability to contribute value to the process, people and performance.  Set the tone.  Drive the pace.  Never demand more than your are willing to give yourself.  If the performance isn’t where it needs to be look in the mirror first.  Own your number.  If the CEO is spreadsheeting all day long encourage him/her pick up the phone or join a call once in a while.  All hands on deck.  Your team is watching.

2.  Protect & Serve: Lead in the service of others.  Sure, we’ve all heard of servant leadership.  What it means is that your existence isn’t about you.  It is about them.  You exist to help, guide, develop, teach, counsel, coach, correct and consistently elevate their potential and performance.  Your success is entirely their success.  Fight with them.  Stand by them.  Hold them accountable.  Firmly accountable. Your team is watching.

3.  Let Go: Hire great people (you need great HR because as a Sales Leader you likely don’t have the art of selection perfected).  Develop their talent.  Earn buy in to your process and program.  Put them in a position to fulfill their potential and blow past plan.  Then…get the hell out of the way. Autonomy is a coveted culture characteristic of top producers.  Let them learn by doing.  Proposals and power point presentations don’t need your approval.  Not if you have the right people in the right job. Let them do the work.  Celebrate their success every step of the way.  Your team is watching.

When others entrust you to guide and shape their sales talent and career path it is an awesome responsibility. Embracing the weight of that challenge is incumbent upon today’s effective leader. It is a phenomenal time for emerging leaders to add more value to the business, impact people and accelerate growth by doing the right things.

Posted in Leadership, Sales

Tags: Leadership, Sales, Training

You need to practice.

Whatever you want to do better.

Sell. Lead. Write. Speak. Design.

They all require practice.

Athletes and artists get this straight away. They spend 90% of their time preparing to be successful for the 10% of the time they stand in the arena to compete or entertain (which happens to be about as competitive as business gets).

It is a bit harder in business. We play the game 40, 50 and in some instances 60+ hours a week. When is there time?

A 90-10 ratio might not work but the business athlete still finds time to practice. They are learning, testing, trying, improving, studying and perfecting the craft each and everyday.

Show me a sales professional that doesn’t practice. I’ll show you someone that will eventually lose deals to a seller that does. The market is competitive. For sales. For client satisfaction. For promotions. For merit increases. For jobs.

Mastery requires practice. I like to practice at night or early in the morning. Some people I know practice over lunch and on the weekends. Others I know schedule time throughout the day. Find the time that works best for you.

The best players I know make practice a habit. There is of course the occasional exception. Former NBA MVP and perennial All Star Allen Iverson was one of those great players that didn’t care much for practice. So gifted. So talented. So superior an athlete. Sadly, not much of a leader. I think he is playing in Turkey now.

Enclosed is the now infamous AI interview commentary on the subject of practice. It is funny to watch.

Would you want him to lead your team?

How do you feel about practice? A better question…how DO you practice?

Posted in Leadership, Sales

Tags: Allen Iverson, Competition, Leadership, Practice, Sales

As we close out Q2 it is a good time to take inventory of the scoreboard on your way into the locker room.  How are you doing?

I always loved the locker room.  The game plan.  The pre-game speech.  The halftime rally cry. In business you could translate that to the off site.  The huddle up.  The strategy session.  The boot camp. Sales summit. You get the idea.  It’s where you go to prepare to win (you are preparing to win, right?).

There is something special about the locker room. The preparation. The camraderie.
The trust.  The emotional commitment.  The confidence.  Gearing up.  Getting reading to launch into the arena of competition together. 

Halftime is important.  Those few moments you have to come together.  Adjust.  Adapt.  Innovate.  Focus. Rest and ready yourself for Round 2.  If you are in the game and the plan is tight it usually comes down to the little things.  Hustle.  Effort.  Attention to detail and execution.  Simply wanting it a little more.  However, it is another matter entirely when you are getting pummeled.  I have been there. It hurts.

When you are playing from behind you need to fine tune the strategy.  Sometimes you simply need to play harder.  Perform better.  Sometimes you need to shift the game plane entirely.  Improve the focus.  Either way, everyone in that locker room should take the field entirely clear on their role.  On the expectations around their individual contribution that will impact the whole.  That is good coaching.  Leadership.

Everyone in that locker room needs to emerge with total confidence.  In leadership, the plan and each other.  IN or OUT is a question that gets decided in every lock room…and if you want to belong you have to believe.  When you have talent, confidence, leadership and the right game plan you can start to create momentum.  When the momentum shows up it is time to attack…to press…to push.  There is your opportunity.

For most of us our 2012 performance is decided in the next 90 days.  Get too far behind and you won’t have enough time to catch up (salespeople know this formula quite well – unfortunately, too many through in the towel too early and don’t fight for the big comeback to the finish line).  The clock matters more now.  The good news is that for most of us the things we need to succeed are well within our grasp, we just have to compete…for every inch.

I’ll be in Las Vegas next week for The Big Show.  Join us for a little Passion on Purpose Tuesday morning. I hope to share a little halftime strategy to help you emerge from the locker room ready for a great second half.  I also know that I will walk away inspired considering this incredible keynote lineup!

For those unable to join us here is a little halftime inspiration courtesy of one of the all time greats, Al Pacino.  So often, it really is just a game of inches…

Posted in Employee Engagement, Leadership, Uncategorized

Tags: Al Pacino, Competition, Halftime, Leadership, Locker Room, Management, Teamwork

I am in flight to Miami this morning for a dinner keynote with area business leaders and the outstanding membership of GMSHRM.  During our Passion on Purpose program, we will be talking about trends in leadership, culture, engagement, performance and the future of work.

As part of my job I will attend 40+ conference and corporate events this calendar year.  In working with a variety of clients, meeting planners and bureau partners I have developed some insight into what makes a successful event.

Today people want an experience that is interactive. They expect the content to be actionable. Inspiration is ideal, but if it doesn’t include ideas that can be leveraged for impact it simply isn’t enough. Further, the content needs to be cutting edge and often customized to a specific set of business challenges.  Real time, relevant, now, new or next generation thinking is preferred. With the pace of change accelerating it is only natural for people to desire or demand some perspective on what lies ahead.

Makes sense.  I think intellectual curiosity is a tremendous advantage in this time of transition. However, the constant quest for what is cutting edge can also balance with reinforcement of the fundamentals. The things we know that work.  Things that seem like common sense.

Often it isn’t new information we need.  But rather adjustments in our approach, process and personal discipline that will produce the desired outcome.  Sometimes it simply comes down to effort and execution around the fundamentals. It pays to be strong at the core.

The fitness industry is a perfect example.  Burn off more calories than you take in. Exercise.  Eat right.  Drink water.  Get enough rest.  There it is.  Simple.  Common sense.  Information we already have.  It works.

Where I fall short with my fitness regimen (like many people I suppose) is my ability to execute on what I already know. It isn’t so much about the information, but rather a function of inadequate process and personal discipline.  I am traveling today with pretty significant back spasms as a result of throwing my back out over the weekend.  I know why it happened.  I wasn’t focused on the fundamentals.  My process was loose.  I wasn’t paying attention to my core strength.  Today, I am paying the price.

We all have to be ready to innovate and embrace change.  This is an incredible time of reinvention and recognition that tomorrow is going to look fundamentally different than today.  As we shift it is important to move forward with sound fundamentals in place.

You can evolve much more effectively when you are strong at the core.

Posted in Leadership, Uncategorized

Tags: Change, Fitness, Fundamentals, GMSHRM, Leadership, Passion, Purpose

I am mid-flight from Minneapolis to Seattle. I am enjoying every minute of this flight. I travel a lot and today was fortunate to get the upgrade – 3A! Certainly makes the flight more enjoyable. Leg room. Hot coffee. Free Wi-Fi. Rock Star style en-route to Seattle! Thank you Delta!

To some degree my excitement for the upgrade was proportionate to my expectation. There was no expectation. If it happens, it happens. That is new.

There was a time in the not so distant past that I expected to be in first class.

Always.

I was entitled.

Not good.

My sense of entitlement made me a less effective leader. Less compassionate. A bit short sighted. Perhaps at times even a bit challenged to connect in a genuine, authentic and meaningful way.

Entitled Leadership is a very common syndrome. It is an occupational hazard. Blend a little talent, tenure, the corner office and country club life that comes with it and it is easy to enter the entitlement zone.

It isn’t really about first class or coach. It is really about the difference between entitlement and appreciation.

The margin of difference between appreciation and entitlement really comes down to awareness, attitude and approach.

Unfortunately, entitled leadership can significantly diminish employee engagement and the passionate connection to the organizational purpose that drives performance.

If you want to be a leader that others want to follow consider this approach:

Expect nothing. Earn everything. Every minute. Everyday.

When you demand that of yourself it is much easier to ask and expect it of others.

Earning ‘followership’ is the mark of leader.

You can’t earn it with tenure or title.

You can earn it through consistent, quality actions.

Appreciate.

3A is nice. It isn’t necessary or all that important.

Posted in Employee Engagement, Leadership

Tags: Appreciation, Entitlement, Leadership, Management