Silence is Acceptance

In your leadership journey, you may come across some instances where you witness your employee falling into a rut of bad habits. It could be something as simple as your employee consistently forgets to take out the trash or is known for randomly going on break without informing anyone. Either way, your employees actions are not positively effecting the growth of your business or work environment.

These situations don’t always have to be bad. We just have to keep in mind the idea that silence is acceptance. Now hold up, what exactly does that mean? It means that when you witness something negative and fail to address it, in essence you are approving of their actions. I’ll never forget the first time I heard that three word sentence in a meeting one day and it just blew me away.

It’s easy to look over the smalls things and sometimes you might run into issues that don’t need addressing it really goes on a case by case basis. Just keep in mind, silence is acceptance.

Until next time my friends, lead on!

Communication is Key

Perhaps one of the most important skills a leader can possess is the ability to communicate  clearly and effectively. A leader with poor communication skills is like an artist without a pen. A leader can have the greatest, most profitable idea in the world but it is absolutely worthless unless it can be communicated to somebody to get that idea carried through.

It should also be noted that as a leader you will no doubt be given many communications from your higher ups. In which case you will be a gatekeeper of information. It is then your duty to follow through and deliver that communication to your associates if necessary.

So next time your sitting in a meeting or designing a task list for your associates, remember communication is a key aspect to any effective business! Until next time, Lead on!

 

Understanding Your Values

I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours- Henry David Thorough

It is important for a leader to know his values and where he stands. When a leader has clear sense of who he is and the values he holds. It allows him to walk confidently in the direction that he knows deep down in his heart is correct. Our values guide our actions and a leader must be able to search himself to understand what he is made of. This gives us firm ground to stand on if you will.

If someone has no values then they can easily be turned away from their path when they encounter the slightest bit of adversity. But the leader who has firm ground to stand on can plow through the tough path and forge his own destiny the way he sees fit!

Regardless of what your values may be, it is important to have some so that you might know where you stand when faced with adversity.

You Tell Me! Whats the Difference Between a Boss and a Leader?

For this post I want to gather public opinion! If you’ve followed my blog thus far you’ve seen me mention subtle hints on the differences between a boss and leader.

With that being said I would love to hear what you have to say about the topic in the comments below!

Dear Hard Work:

Check out this motivation video I found on youtube the other day! Given it is mostly about working out, the idea easily translates to a leaders life. It is imperative that a leader understand the benefits of hard work.

Hard work separates the wheat from the chaff. It’s what transformers a boss to a leader. Hard work motivates you to go beyond what your expected to do. Hard work is the the backbone to any self-driven individual.

Hard work is one of the hardest keys to success to obtain but is so worth it in the end. With hard work comes the ability to see the bigger picture and motivate you to stay strong and carry on! So without further ado, check out this killer motivation video and let me know what you think of it in the comments!

 

Getting the most out of your workday

Every morning I try to leave for work early enough so that I will arrive in my companies parking lot 30 minutes to meditate before I’m scheduled to go in. Why? Because for me it’s necessary that I focus on my goals and priorities for the coming day. The way I see it, when I go to work, I have been given the chance to invest my time and abilities into the company. So I should make the most of what I’ve got!

I don’t believe in wasting time, as a leader myself I wouldn’t like it if my associates constantly wasted their time throughout the work day so it’s my duty as a leader to set an example and come to work fired up and ready to get things done! In reality it’s hard to constantly be fired up and be productive. But one thing to keep in mind is that you are a reflection of your associates. Thus it is imperative that you take the time to stay fired up and motivated. Not just for yourself but for those around you! It’s up to you whether or not you want to get by just doing your job or to lead and inspire others to work as a cohesive unit. As a leader you make the choice!

 

Know your Client

It is important for any leader to know his audience and who he or she will be offering their goods or services to. To do this, an effective leader needs to make sure he has a firm grasp on the clients intentions and desires. Once a leader is able to obtain this information, it is much easier to strategize a method to direct the client down a path that has the potential to benefit both parties. A leader can take a bad situation and transform it into an opportunity by simply knowing who and what they are dealing with.

How to speak so that others will want to listen.

For those who don’t know me on a personal level, I am a huge fan of Ted Talks! I usually try to watch at least one per week because it’s especially nice to broaden my thoughts on ideas I may have already formed a concrete opinion. I love reexamining basic habits and ideas that I often don’t think about because its easy to fall into the mindset that we often have our own way of doing things and don’t see a point in changing those habits.The neat thing about Ted Talks is that they challenge you to think about things in a new light.

Now then! I was watching a Ted Talk a few days ago where a man named Julian Treasure spoke about learning how to speak so that others will want to listen.  Julian makes a strong argument on why it’s important to think about what your saying and the impact it will have on those around you.

Speaking well is a crucial aspect of leadership and I hope the video below will have as much an impact on you as it did me! Let me know what you think about it in the comments below!

(All credit for this video goes to ted talks and Julian)

 

Define your Business

It is a smart practice for every leader to be able to define your business and understand what makes your business unique. For example, in my career with  The Home Depot I have personally learned that my company drives its business on the idea of providing excellent customer service and adapting to the customers needs.

With this clear definition of how The Home Depot attempts to market itself, leaders have a clear directive as to how they should manage their individual aspects of the business. This is a HUGE concept because when the company places such ideas in the forefront of everything they discuss then it is only natural for that mindset to trickle down with the hopes that every level of the company develops the same customers first mentality.

What’s amazing is that when everyone develops this mentality and every level of the business understands the companies clear goals. All of the company begins to work together with the same goal in mind allowing a literal breeding ground for opportunity!

There is power in having clear a clear understanding of your business. When you understand not only what your asked to do, but why you should do it. It opens a world of opportunity for out of the box thinking and inspires entrepreneurship.

How to Effectively Plan your Week

Recently I watched a video from one of my favorite blogs, The Art of Manliness, about developing an effective attack plan to strategize your time and be a productive individual.

In this video, Brett Mckay (the author of Art of Manliness) is mainly discussing organizing your personal time, the solutions he proposes have just as much potential to help develop your career!

I personally found this video to be very informative and interesting and I hope this helps someone out on their journey to becoming an effective leader! Let me know what you think in the comments! Until next time, Lead on!

(Credit for this video goes solely to Brett Mckay from the Art of Manliness.)