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PowerPAGE
The newsletter that charges your life with
Black Belt POWER!
The Leadership Edition!
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| Greetings! |
Are leaders born or made?
Not only can leaders be made; but the process of leadership can be learned and practiced at all levels of an organization or society.
Everyone should study leadership and learn to be an effective leader whether it's to lead a company or simply help the guy next to you on the line. Leadership skills can help you become an effective parent or simply a more valuable member of your family. Teachers should be effective leaders; so should students.
This month we're blessed with two incredible guest authors, Neil Ducoff and Mark Altman. Both of these men have devoted their lives to the study and practice of effective leadership and both are internationally renowned experts in leadership training.
You'll read their powerful words and click on the associated links for PowerPOD episodes with both experts!
Best thoughts for success & happiness!
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| Leaders vs. Dictators |
Contrary to what some leadership teachers preach, you can control people through force, deception, coercion, fear, bribery and violence. There are three major problems with trying to control people, particularly using these methods: 1. People don't like to be controlled and will rebel.
2. It's expensive.
3. It's wrong.
Fear and force are the commodities of the dictator. A dictator can be very efficient; he doesn't have to take the time to attract people to his cause. The dictator simply decides what he wants to do and does it with no regard for the impact of his actions on others. In the short term, you can affect some control as a dictator but it's an incredible drain on resources to maintain this control. The dictator is always worried about his enemies, and even his friends are potential enemies.
 Effective leadership is based on your ability to attract a willing group of followers. The key word in that statement is "willing." When people are attracted to an authentic leader the power of this relationship is exponential. Bill Belichick took a group of second-stringers, an unknown back-up quarterback and a bunch of cast-offs and turned them into the team that transformed the New England Patriots from a perennial loser to an NFL dynasty. John F. Kennedy set a goal that pushed the envelope of impossibility and we landed the first man on the moon. Abraham Lincoln understood the destiny of a relatively new country and forever united the States. Mahatma Gandhi asked a nation to find its identity and freed India from the greatest imperial power on earth. General George S. Patton took an army out of a winter battle, marched it over 100 miles without sleep and defeated an entrenched German enemy. Martin Luther King stood against violence and injustice with fortitude forever changing our society. What do these incredible leaders have in common? They all had the ability to develop willing followers. Willing followers will defy the odds, display incredible courage and make unbearable sacrifices to rally behind their leader. They'll put personal ambition aside; at the same time they'll find undiscovered levels of personal excellence and performance.  Study these leaders and you'll find some very clear characteristics. You'll find skills and techniques you can emulate. Sure, many great leaders seem to be born with a larger than life sense of self-confidence and charisma, but I chose these examples because in studying the lives of these men, all heroes of mine, and you'll find people who also faced terrible moments of self-doubt, adversity, unpopularity and personal defeat.
Each of these men also understood and exemplified some of the most powerful values and components of effective leadership:
1. Personal responsibility. Share the credit, keep the blame. All of the leaders I chose in this example were famous for crediting followers for success and assuming responsibility when things turned for the worse. They shielded loyal followers from blame for mistakes and recognized them for their contributions.
2. Unwavering commitment to the cause. Would you follow someone who doesn't know where he's going? Of course you've got to choose your leaders wisely; some can lead you off the cliff!
3. Flexibility in action. Firmness in commitment does not exclude flexibility. A great leader is able to adapt to changing conditions while maintaining focus on the ultimate goal.
4. Personal discipline. Dedication to self-perfection. This is the old adage that a great leader walks the walk.
5. Courage. Not the absence of fear, but the ability to act in the face of fear.
6. Generosity. Particularly in sharing power. Power is only expanded by sharing.
 There are many other traits of effective leadership and it's certainly a bonus if you're born with genetic self-confidence, charisma or attractiveness. I selected these traits because anyone can develop and cultivate these through practice and discipline. You may be lucky enough to be a born leader, the rest of us have to learn the trade and effective leaders are always trying to improve.
You can become an effective leader. You can become a more effective leader. Study leadership and study great leaders, but don't stop there. Identify your own personal weaknesses and strengths. Cultivate your strengths and mitigate or correct your weaknesses. Commit yourself to improvement in perfection, confidence and leadership and you can become an effective leader at home, at work and in the community.
The power of a society doesn't depend on the leadership of a few exceptional individuals. Our power is multiplied when each of us embraces leadership at all levels. Encourage leadership at all levels and your organization becomes more powerful, effective and productive.
We need more leaders. Be a leader!
Book Jim for your next conference, meeting or corporate event.
Ask about "Sensei: Effective Leadership through Teaching, Coaching & Mentoring...one of many Think Like a Black Belt topics for personal & professional excellence!
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| PowerSHOT |
A 1-2 minute video shot of Black Belt Mindset!
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| PowerMOTIVATOR |
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"I want you to know that I do not judge the efficiency of an officer by the calluses on his butt."
General
George S. Patton |
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| No Compromise Leadership |
By Neil Ducoff, speaker and author of No Compromise Leadership
What does "going No Compromise" really mean?
 In my travels promoting and doing keynotes for my No-Compromise Leadership book, the one comment I hear most from attendees is, "This book was definitely written about me." They're referring to Part One of the book where I identify the cost of compromise and what it really takes to become a no-compromise leader. I'm also amazed at how quickly "no compromise" becomes part of a leader's vocabulary. It's like listening to my speech, reading the book and using "no compromise" as punctuation is all that's needed. It would be nice if the transition to no compromise were so easy. It's not.
Going no compromise will no doubt be the most significant personal change a leader can make in his or her leadership thinking and behavior. Why? The answer is simple; no compromise requires a leader to break through all of the emotional blockages that impede personal and business growth. It establishes the highest standards of performance and execution supported by a solid foundation of integrity and trust. Procrastination and blame are replaced with sense of urgency and accountability. By design, no compromise turns problems and obstacles into innovative solutions and growth opportunities.
If you're serious about going no compromise, consider the following commitments that no compromise requires:
- I will get it done: Procrastinating is pure compromise. If you're committed to going no compromise, you're committing to getting things done. No compromise.
- I will be accountable: Accountability is the essence of trust. Delivering results, fulfilling commitments and demonstrating, through your actions and deeds, that you can be counted on by those you serve and lead. No compromise.
- I will not avoid the tough stuff: Sooner or later, every business encounters rough waters. As leader, you must engage and make the tough decisions that ensure the integrity of the company you lead. No compromise.
- I will not be dictatorial and inflexible: Going no compromise means leading with purpose and compassion - not heavy-handed tactics. Lead with passion and resolve. No compromise.
- I will nurture and protect my company's culture: The ultimate responsibility of the no-compromise leader is to create, maintain and protect the company's culture. It's the culture that attracts and keeps the best talent. It's the culture that builds customer loyalty. Never allow contamination to infect the culture. No compromise.
Strive to live these five little bullet points and you will see a transformation not only in yourself, but the company you lead. Just remember, once you commit to them, no compromise means there's no going back.
If you want to learn more about how you can transition to a no-compromise, email me at neil@nocompromiseleadership.com
Pass this article on to your business colleagues, managers and friends. They'll appreciate it!
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| A View from the Mountain |
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by Mark Altman, speaker, coach & author of Leadership for All the Mountains You Climb while Loving the View
Leadership thinkers from antiquity such as Marcus Aurelius, who wrote in his classic "Meditations", "The things ordained for you- teach yourself to be at one with those. And the people who share them with you- treat them with love. With real love." To current authors, such as John Maxwell, "Needless to say you can love people without leading them, but you cannot lead people without loving them.", have come to the same conclusion: love is essential to leadership. Essential to leadership, as in cannot get by without it. Let that sink in a minute.
 While you do, let me provide a definition of leadership that I believe gets to the heart of true, lasting leadership: "The ability to influence and guide others to a moral and ethical purpose they would not have otherwise undertaken on their own." I believe the moral and ethical part of the definition is central to separating leadership from its nemesis, power wielding. Abraham Lincoln was on to this when he quipped, "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."
In addition to love, leadership is also made up of vision, the ability to see into the future. Or, as James Kouzes and Barry Posner put it in The Leadership Challenge, "A vision is a point on the horizon that will be reached only at some date in the future, a statement of what will be created years or decades ahead. To create visions, leaders must become preoccupied with the future. They must be able to project themselves ahead in time."
I believe vision is derived from education, travel, mediation, prayer and asking your followers or potential followers what THEIR vision is, and then rolling those visions together to make the organization's vision. Harvey Firestone once noted, "The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership." The development of those around you should be a central piece to your leadership vision.
Last, and in this case of least importance, is management skills. Steven Covey wrote of the relationship between leadership and management, "Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall." While management is necessary to leadership, leadership is not necessary to management and you can hire out the management function as a leader. You can't hire out the other leadership functions such as love, and vision.
The leader is a servant. Robert Greenleaf solidified this idea for modern leadership scholars, but years before Greenleaf, Andre Malraux opined, "To command is to serve, nothing more and nothing less." If you are to be a leader you must be unselfish, take less credit (and money, power, comfort) and more of the blame (and hard work, worry, responsibility). This is why we talk so much of leadership, yet do so much management and manipulation.
Let me point out that everything I have said here applies to every area of our lives, our work, our families, our churches and civic organizations, even our political and public policy relationships. This is beautifully simple and devilishly hard. Yet our duty and responsibility are clear, we must not shirk from it. Remember what the great newspaperman Edward R. Murrow said, "Difficulty is the excuse history never accepts."
 If I am unreasonable in my standard for what leadership is and should be, then allow me to part company with both a challenge and with hope. The challenge is from the philosopher Voltaire, "Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do." Do all the good you can, every time you can. And hope from George Bernard Shaw, "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends upon the unreasonable man."
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| Events! |
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Jim is back in New England for some exciting events to help you sort out this foolishness, expand your business and generate POWER for personal & professional success! |
| Black Belt PowerCOACHING Special! |
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Individual and group PowerCOACHING packages!
- Improve self-discipline, motivation & focus!
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- Expand your potential for personal & professional success!
 THIS MONTH: 5 private sessions for $250!
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| Some words on Jim's book... |
 "Dynamic Components of Personal Power is a practical, no-nonsense book that makes the essential interpersonal work of accessing, understanding and harnessing our own inner power possible. This is not just one more theoretical, self-help book. Jim Bouchard provides the step-by-step guide to working with our personal power so we can create lives that are rich and meaningful; and deeply satisfying and joyful. Jim reminds us all soundly that life is an inside job and leads the way with courage, deep respect and a voice that beckons us each and every step along the way. This is a must read and a great gift for men and women alike!"Jackie Black, Ph.D.
author of Meeting Your Match: Cracking the Code to Successful Relationships And you don't have your copy yet? Don't waste another minute! Click here NOW!
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