October 20, 2008

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In This Newsletter:

10 Thoughts about Leadership - Article

How to Build a Positive Team

Greetings!

We’re excited to let you know that The No Complaining Rule and The Energy Bus are currently featured at Barnes & Nobles Bookstores in the Business Motivation display. So the next time you’re in a Barnes & Noble we hope you’ll consider getting a copy for yourself or a friend, colleague, client or manager. Your support has greatly enhanced the exposure for these books and we are deeply grateful for this.

10 Thoughts about Leadership

At a time when the world is thinking a lot about leadership I believe it’s a great opportunity for each one of us to think about what leadership means to us. Below I’ve shared some of my thoughts on leadership and whether you are a leader of a business, team, hospital, classroom, church or home, I hope you’ll think about what principles and ideas guide you as a leader and feel free to share them on our blog.

1. People follow the leader first and the leader’s vision second - It doesn’t matter if the leader shares a powerful vision, if the leader is not someone who people will follow the vision will never be realized. As a leader, who you are makes a difference. The most important message you can share is yourself.

2. Trust is the force that connects people to the leader and his/her vision - Without trust there is a huge gap between the leader and the vision. Without trust people will stay off the bus. However if people trust the leader they will hop on the bus with the leader and help move the bus forward towards the vision.

3. Leadership is not just about what you do but what you can inspire, encourage and empower others to do.

4. A leader brings out the best within others by sharing the best within themselves.

5. Just because you’re driving the bus doesn’t mean you have the right to run people over - Abraham Lincoln said "Most anyone can stand adversity, but to test a man’s character give him power." The more power you are granted the more it is your responsibility to serve, develop and empower others. When you help them grow they’ll help you grow.

6. “Rules without Relationship Leads to Rebellion” - Andy Stanley said this and it’s one of my favorite quotes. As a leader you can have all the rules you want but if you don’t invest in your people and develop a relationship with them they will rebel. This applies amazingly to children as well. It’s all about relationships.

7. Lead with optimism, enthusiasm and positive energy, guard against pessimism and weed out negativity.

8. Great Leaders know they don’t have all the answers. Rather they build a team of people who either know the answers or will find them.

9. Leaders inspire and teach their people to focus on solutions, not complaints. (The No Complaining Rule)

10. Great leaders know that success is a process not a destination - One of my heroes John Wooden, the legendary UCLA basketball coach, never focused on winning. He knew that winning was the by product of great leadership, teamwork, focus, commitment and execution of the fundamentals. As a leader focus on your people and process, not the outcome.

Download, print and share these 10 Thoughts about Leadership as a PDF poster, click here.

Leaders also need to have a good sense of humor. If you haven’t seen them, below are YouTube links to the humorous keynotes from last week's Al Smith Dinner, to raise money for underprivileged youth. Senators McCain and Obama make fun of themselves and each other. Humor goes a long way to ease tension and unite people.

John McCain | Video Part 1 | Video Part 2

Barack Obama | Main Video

What does leadership mean to you? Join the conversation and post your comments on our blog.

Stay Positive!

-Jon

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How to Build a Positive Team

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