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Leading on Purpose – Decide and Act

We cannot predict the future. But we can create it. – Jim Collins

Leading on pPurpose - Decide and Act

In March 1975 after watching a boxing thriller featuring the legendary Mohamed Ali, Sylvester Stallone put pen on paper and wrote the script for a movie. On completion, he could only find a producer and director who was prepared to pay good money for the script but without Stallone as the lead actor. This was not part of Mr Stallone’s original plan, so he refused the money. He was offered increasingly larger sums of money which he also refused until the producers gave in and cast Mr Stallone as the lead actor in the movie. Rocky went on to become a big hit movie and Sylvester Stallone’s ticket to fame.

Mr Stallone did not predict his future. He created his future. He was not leaving his future to chance.

How about you?

Lead on purpose

To lead on purpose is to to be intentional about your leadership, to be deliberate, and to understand that nothing is going to happen until you make it happen. The person with the largest stake in your success is you.

So how do you make things happen? The simple answer is to make a decision and take action. Leaders are decision makers. You will have to decide on a variety of issues every day.

How actively involved are you in the creation of your future? Are you leaving everything to chance and hoping for the best? Many things are out of your sphere of influences; for example the price of petrol at the pump. But you can control a lot more things about your future than you think or do anything about.

So be comfortable with choosing

  1. Be comfortable with choosing in the face of uncertainty. Your role is to make the effort. The outcome is in the future and will remain uncertain.
  2. Be comfortable with making a choice in the limited time.
  3. Be comfortable with the fact that you will at times make the wrong choice. Be flexible and ready to make changes as new information is available to you.

The future is unpredictable

Leading like a champion is setting out to help you create your future. Yes the future is completely unpredictable and there are many complex factors that come into play in the fast changing world that we live in today. But this is no excuse to be laid back and hope for the best. The best may or may not come. But with you prepared, with you actively involved and with you making decisions, you can tilt the outcome in your favour.

Here are a few things you can do today to create your future

  1. Start work on your long term plan. How about a 10 year plan.
  2. Give some thought to how you prioritise your work.
  3. Determine to win the battle against procrastination.
  4. Commit to a daily exercise routine.
  5. Give consideration to your spiritual growth.

Add to this list. Leave a comment.

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How do you see Time?

Have you ever had a boss who is so fussy about time? He will tell you off for being five minutes late for meetings and would abruptly end the conversation once the allotted time for the meeting is over.

How do you see Time?

Have you got friends or family who despite your pressuring them for the specific time they will arrive at your house will not commit themselves to anything other than to say, ‘see you on Saturday night’?

We all perceive and prioritise time differently. Our time sense can be poles apart and yet we have to get along well with one another.

Today I will be talking about two different ways in which people are known to see time and organise their schedule.  I will use two different words to represent these and I will tell you why you need to be aware of your time sense.

So what are the two ways in which people perceive time?

1. Monochronic – Time as a line sequential of events 

  • These people see time as being divided into fixed elements such as seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks and so on. To them these components of time can be organised, scheduled and manipulated to achieve desired results. You may begin to think that most people probably wear a wrist watch or have some form of time piece that is divided into seconds, minutes and hours. While that may be true, not all of us see our days as being made up of individual seconds, minutes or hours.
  • The monochron will plan his or her day in detail and stick religiously to this plan.
  • Time commitments are taken very seriously by such persons and if given an appointment for 1o’clock, he or she will get there at least five minutes early. They emphasise promptness.
  • The monochron will only do one thing at a time, will concentrate on that job and will not take kindly to any interruptions.

2. Polychronic – Do many things at a time and involve people

  • Polychrons prefer to keep their time unstructured and will not plan their day in detail. This means that they change plans easily and often.
  • The polychronic person takes delight in doing more than one thing at a time and will move around freely from one activity to another. They are highly relational and as such are committed to people. They welcome interruptions and will base promptness on relationships.
  • The polychron will not necessarily break up a conversation because of an up coming appointment. For them a time commitment is an objective to be achieved if possible.
  • Polychrons can and do meet deadlines, but they do so in their own way without imposing on themselves or allow someone to impose on them detailed plans and schedules.

How can this help you?

Why do you need to know this or of what importance is this to you?

We live in a world made up of people and knowing your time sense can help you gain a bit more insight about yourself. Being aware that other people can and do place greater or less emphasis on time and time commitments will reduce your stress level and improve your relationship with others.

I will give you three examples:

In the home.

My wife is an example of a polychron. If we are planned to go out for a meal say on Saturday night. For her Saturday night is good enough as the time because she has so many things she wants to do before going out. For me saturday night is not good enough. I want a bit more detail say 7.30, 8 o’clock. I also have a few tasks I want to accomplish but I would rather schedule it and commit myself to a particular time. I do not get stressed over this anymore.

At work

You may have a boss who is so fussy about time and will tell you off for being 5 minutes late for an appointment and will abruptly end the meeting once the allotted 15 minutes is up. For this monochronic boss, time is exact and he or she see’s your being late as both indifferent and disrespectful. You on the other hand find his abrupt end to the meeting rude and disrespectful. You can reduce the conflict in the work place by making an effort to get to appointments on time and your boss can find more tactful ways to bring the meeting to an end once the time is up.

Personal and career development

To achieve your long term goals, you will more often need to break it down into smaller shorter term goals. You may decide to view your goals as sequential and work on one at a time, or you can multitask working on many projects at the same time. Knowing the different options helps you feel a lot more comfortable with yourself.

Are you a monochron or a polychron?

If you live your life by schedules and appointments and have planned your day to the minute and second, be aware that others may not. Tactfully end conversations and proceed to your next appointment. Remember that the colleague at work who is always late for meetings may not be lazy and disrespectful. His time sense may simply be different from yours.

On the other hand if you are always late for appointments and consider your boss rude for cutting you off in the middle of a conversation, it will be helpful to others for you remember that some people do take their time commitments very serious. If you have been allocated time to say something, avoid the bell of shame and say it all on time.

I leave you with this quote from Carl Sandburg,

Time is the coin of your life. Its the only coin you have and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest other people spend it for you

How do you see time?

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Applied Knowledge is Key to Success

 Knowledge isn’t power until it is applied ~ Dale Carnegie

Applied Knowledge is Key to Success

To wish you success,

At this stage,

Would be an understatement,

By now,

You have earned your progress in life,

By your creative and resilient efforts.

 

Among the many members of the class,

Some will be surprised at the eventual result,

Some will love what they’ve got,

And others already know their result.

 

Whatever, group you fall into,

It’s the application,

You put the certificate into

That’s of utmost importance.

 

It takes some effort,

To master an art,

Some skill to communicate,

The result of the effort.

 

But a work of genius,

Is divine,

The expression of natural talent,

And the results can be reproduced,

By a determined mind applying such specialist knowledge.

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5 Reasons to Choose Diligence

Diligence, is the constant and earnest effort to accomplish whatever is undertaken (Dictionary.com). Diligence is also the steady application of effort to accomplish a task. 

5 Reasons to Choose Diligence

 

At the heart of success in many endeavours is diligence. This is described by Atul Gawande in his book “Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance” as the necessity of giving sufficient attention to detail to avoid error or prevail against obstacles.

 

Publishing new blog posts at Leading like a Champion requires diligence on my part and while it has not been an easy task to achieve, it is very rewarding. So what does diligence mean in practice?

 

Diligence in Practice

  • Diligence presupposes that you have a goal or task you are working towards. Since you do not have the energy to be diligent at everything, it makes sense to carefully choose your goals and tasks so that you can apply your limited time and effort towards its achievement.
  • Diligence requires time and effort to yield results. Having decided on your goal, you must understand that it’s achievement will require effort also known as hard work. This reminds me of a phrase – ‘No bees, no honey. No work no money”
  • Diligence rewards attention to detail, careful completion of repetitive and sometimes boring task and a determined commitment to finish what you have began.

 Do not spend your days gathering flowers by the wayside, lest night come upon you before you arrive at your journeys end, and then you will not reach it. ~ Isaac Watts. 

5 Reasons to Choose Diligence

  1. A commitment to diligence will help you achieve great things in life. Do you have big dreams? Are you ambitious enough to want to make a difference in the world you live in? From history, we know that it was the commitment to diligence that helped Thomas Edison discover the light bulb after over two thousand unsuccessful experiments.
  1. A commitment to diligence will reward you with expertise and authority. You will have had of the 10,000 hour rule made popular by Malcolm Gladwell in Outliers. Only the diligent can put in this required number of hours of purposeful practice to become an expert or authority in their field or profession. Only the diligent athlete can compete in the Olympic finals.
  1. A commitment to diligence will help you creates success habits. There are no short cuts to success. You will benefit from a steady progress towards your goal as Muscles develop from a diligent application of weights. You grow to become a bigger and better person by the diligent effort you apply to your work and business.
  1. A commitment to diligence will help you stay on track with your goals. Breaking down your larger goals into smaller specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound goals (SMART) increases the chances of your success.
  1. A commitment to diligence keeps you clear of slothfulness, indifference and laziness. These three words will significantly affect your growth and development as a leader, an entrepreneur and valuable contributor at work.

So you have a goal that is worth your putting your limited resources to. Reap the rewards of diligence. Break down your goal or task into several smaller goals or subtask. Your subtasks need to be meaningful and the accomplishment of each step must bring you closer to the achievement of your overall goal. Start today on the first step and stick to the task until the task sticks to you.

Winning is by choice and not by chance, so never, never, never give up ~ Winston Churchill

How committed are you to achieving your goals?

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3 Things to Know before Writing your Blog

WordPress and many other blogging platforms has lowered the barrier to publishing. So you have decided to write and publish a blog post. I use the words write and publish on purpose because, many write and do not publish for many reasons.

3 Things to Know before Writing your Blog

I started writing just about a year ago. But I nursed the dream of writing for many years. I even joined a writers club and I wrote many pieces of work but published none. Until I read Steven Pressfied’s book: Do the Work If you haven’t read this book you should.

Resistance to writing.

Writing like many other art forms has the potential to change lives and you will have to overcome resistance, which comes in many forms. A few examples include:

  • Fear
  • Self doubt
  • Procrastination
  • Distractions of all sorts
  • Perfectionism

The only tried and proven way of overcoming resistance is to get on with it and write. Yes Do the Work. Write. You may want to develop a content plan to help you write.

But before you write, there are three things I would like you to know.

  1. Know Your Reader – Who is your writing intended for?

The best way to write a best selling book is to know who your audience is (and what they want) before you start writing. You should know everything there is to know about your readers in advance, and then write your book. Most people do it backwards. ~ Michael Hyatt

Who are you writing for. It is important to have a reader in mind before you write. The more you know about your reader, the better you are able to write content that will be of great value to your readers.

Here at Leading like a champion, our readers are ambitious individuals who have little time or energy to waste. He or she may be self employed, running a business or aspiring to own and run a business. He or she is an entrepreneur. Probably older than 18 and younger than 35.

  1. Know Your Purpose – Why are you writing?

Are you writing to inform, to entertain or to educate your readers? Are you writing to persuade, to inspire or to provoke a discussion.  For more on this read “Are you blogging with purpose?” . When you are clear about the purpose of your writing, your readers derive greater value from your content because you:

  • Connect with your readers.
  • Convince your readers about your purpose
  • Convert your readers to your purpose

Here at leading like a champion, we believe that you must be the leading influence in your life. We believe that leadership is a combination of skills and ability that can be learned through training and improved with practice. We use our blog posts to provide you with content that will help you the individual grow and thrive as a leader in your business and in your workplace.

  1. Know your Subject – What are you writing about?

Here is my simple take on this. You know enough about your subject to write about it. See yourself as an expert or an expert in the making. No matter how little you think you know about your topic, you know  a lot more about it than most people. So write for those people and they will reward you with their readership. Stick to what you know and what you are passionate about. Writers who are passionate about their subject are more interesting to read.

Write with your readers in mind.

Remember that you are not writing out of a passion for writing. Such writing will make for boring reading as you will will have the tendency to show off your writing skill. Your readers do not really want to know how fantastic you are at writing.

Give value to your readers.

You are writing to add value to and help your readers. You are writing because what you write has the potential to fill a need that your reader has.
So it helps a great deal to get over yourself, get over your perceived lack of experience and get over your fear that no one will read what you write.
Write and publish your work of art.
Question? How about writing for us? 
Why not get in touch? You can leave a comment or complete the contact form.

 

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Without a Follower there is no Leader

I sat down with some friends over coffee and the discussion quickly moved on to the topic of leadership, and someone defined leadership as taking the lead and having people follow you. This got me thinking, not about the leader but the follower who has put his or her trust in the leader in the hope of getting to a particular destination.

Leaders and Followers

Without a follower, there is no Leader.

Without followers, there can be no leaders. The leader is the person in the group who has decided on the direction and destination and has inspired, convinced and motivated the others to follow. Followers agree to be led and thus give credibility to leadership.

“Followership, like leadership, is a role and not a destination.” – Michael McKinney

More than at any time in the past, the world needs leaders. We need good, strong and visionary leaders.

However, most of us are followers. In fact all of us whether we consider ourselves leaders or not will at some time play the role of follower. There will be times where in one setting such as your department or team, you are the numero uno.  In another setting for example at corporate level you have to diligently follow another.

You are your number one follower.

To lead others, you must be the leading influence in your life. You need to have direction, goals or objectives you want to accomplish. Your success in achieving your goals will depend on your ability, discipline and commitment to follow through on your decisions.

You the leader are thus your number one follower. You set examples for others to follow, you show by your disciplined action what it means to be committed to a vision and you model the change that you want to see in others. To be a good leader you must know how to follow.

3 things to make you a good follower.

1. Get the job done. To lead and follow effectively, you need to get the job done. It is your responsibility to get the job done. Don’t hang around waiting for instructions. You may be the boss in your other role but here you are required to follow.

2. Grow yourself as a person. To be continually effective as a follower, you must grow and up skill yourself. As your organization grows from five to five thousand employees, you as a follower will need to have grown into a person capable of leading ten, hundred and eventually a thousand.

3. Serve your leader. This is not a very popular word. As a follower, it is important that you take the weight off your leader. Make his or her job easier by not being a clog in the wheel. Put in your best effort at accomplishing vision.

Serve with Diligence

The challenge for you as you progress on your leadership journey is to commit your time energy and other resources to serve diligently wherever you find yourself in the role of a follower. In so doing, you will make your own leadership much more effective and enjoyable for yourself and for your followers.

Question: What makes it difficult to serve?

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Book Review: Management in 10 Words by Terry Leahy

There is no silver bullet that will hit the bull’s-eye of a successful life or business. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. But there are simple truths which, combined with hard work, increases the chance of success. ~ Terry Leahy

Management in 10 Words

Tesco is the largest supermarket chain in the UK. For every £1 spent on groceries in the UK, £3 is spent in Tesco. Terry Leahy spent fourteen years as CEO of Tesco and oversaw its expansion from groceries into everything from electrical goods, clothing and mobile phones. As at the writing of this review, he is no longer CEO but he has taken the time to put down his thoughts on management into a book

Humble Beginnings

I find  ‘Management in 10 Words‘ to be an inspiring, simple and practical book because Leahy takes me on a journey that starts from his humble beginnings in a council estate in Liverpool. We pass through his early days in Tesco as a marketing man. He ends up as the chief executive and proceeds to grow the company into the largest retailer in the UK and the third largest in the world.

This gives you and me hope. With plenty of heard work, persistence and a bit of luck you can achieve success in your carer or business. Yes luck. You do need the lucky breaks to get ahead. But being in the right place at the right time is not enough. Luck is what happens when preparedness meets opportunity. Preparedness is you playing your part in readiness for the opportunity that will surely come your way.

Success Princples

Success depends on what lies deep within us. If you spend your life never daring to go where your hopes and dreams might take you, you will end your days deep in a dark valley of frustrated hopes, looking at what might have been. ~ Terry Leahy

There are a lot of success principles to learn from Management in 10 Words. Here are a few

  • Embrace failure as an opportunity learn. Misfortune and mistakes may knock you back, but keep on moving.
  • Deliver value that exceeds what your customer or client is paying for.
  • Welcome competition. It brings the best out of you.
  • Keep things simple. It will make you more creative and innovative.
  • Be a person of your words because, Trust is the bedrock of leadership.

Be Ambitious. Do not be trapped by your past.

This book very much encourages you to be ambitious, and to persevere in the pursuit of your ambition. Terry has a clear message to those who think or say to themselves ‘I can’t achieve my ambitions’, or believe that they have a disadvantaged background or up bringing. Do not be trapped by your past or be a prisoner of your background.

The past is just that – Don’t let it limit your future ~ Terry Leahy

Most of the book is made up of the 10 guiding principles that helped Terry on his way to the top. These principles are simple enough to be applied by you and I to our small or large teams, small or large businesses or simply as guides to live by.

Management in 10 Words

  1. Truth
  2. Loyalty
  3. Courage
  4. Values
  5. Act
  6. Balance
  7. Simple
  8. Lean
  9. Compete
  10. Trust

Set down your bias against the largest supermarket in the UK that is probably responsible for the closure of many small businesses. Read this book and learn from a true leader and business giant. Well done Terry.

Question: Have you read this book? if not why not get a copy and tell me what inspires you in the book? If you have read it why not let me hear from you by leaving a comment below.

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Taking Advantage of Hidden Strengths

Hidden Strengths
Handicap – Advantage in disguise
 
Their lives,
Having been filled with an
Immense creative anticipation
Of the worlds progress.
 
They lived a life
Of active participation
For which the world
Was to give solid appreciation.
 
If nothing else,
J F Kennedy and Rousseau,
Had a unique approach to life,
As a common personal trait,
Each man suffered a weak health,
Each man lived a determined life,
Each day was lived like it was the last.
 
 JFK
Neither lived too long,
But both lived long enough,
To leave the world a legacy,
Death to each man,
Meant a strong will to achieve without delay,
Time has proved that
Like all great ones,
Each one succeeded in living after death.
 
They won the struggle,
To hang on to life,
They conquered death.
If JFK and Rousseau,
Capitalized on weak health,
There must be other things,
A determined mind with buoyant health,
Could use to an advantage.
 

Time Passes On

Life itself is too short,
And time,
Eventful time, passes as a glimpse,
A life crowded with events soon ends abruptly,
Marking the end of vital activity.
 
What others perceive as a handicap,
Is a triggered weapon propelling a determined mind to substantial advantage,
Fuelling the commitment for daily achievement.   
The quest for greatness.
 
Parting Words
 
Observe the Scout Master’s parting words to young scouts embarking on an expedition,
“May your roads be rough, may you achieve victory in spite of it”.
With those words, the young scout develops a battle ready attitude,
And a determination to overcome whatever challenges that may present themselves on his route to success.
 
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Your Road to Success

Road to success

No one ever attains very eminent success by simply doing what is required of him; it is the amount and excellence of what is over and above the required that determines the greatness of ultimate distinction. ~ Charles Kendall Adams
 
What is Success?
Success is what you get when you go over and above what is required in your chosen field. To attain success as an entrepreneur, you need to make the effort to exceed the expectations of all stakeholders. Exceed the expectations of your customers, your employees, your shareholders and your bank.
 
As part of bringing you the best to help you on your road to success, I interview leaders in business and the community who have exceeded the limitations and achieved success. During this interviews I tease out the leadership lesson, insights and stories that they have learnt on their journey and share these with you leaders and aspiring leaders.
So let me introduce you to Marc
Marc started his journey as a school teacher. Today Marc is an assistant head teacher in one of the top grammar schools in the United Kingdom.

Hear what Marc has to say about his road to success.
 

Three keys on the road to success.

1. The first key is to learn and to keep learning; You will need to make yourself a life long learner. I have said it many times and will repeat it again, your learning does not stop after you leave school.
Knowledge accumulated over several years by successful people are captured in books, webinars, podcast and in many more places.
More than ever is much knowledge available to the avid reader and learner. If you are a reader, then keep at it. The more you read, the more things you know. The more you know the more people you will influence. The more people you influence the more places you will go.
 
2. The second key: discover what excellence means in your job and then to exceed it. The pursuit of excellence is a decision you make. It has nothing to do with resources. It has everything to do with your desire to succeed and your urge to reach your full potential (Confucius). To excel is to go beyond your best and challenge yourself to do better the next time than you did the last time. Do not allow yourself any excuses. Admit your shortcomings. Make the required effort the next time to do better than the last time.
 
3. Lastly, follow your passion and discover your niche. Take a moment and think about the compounding effect of sticking to your niche. Add life long learning plus an attitude of excellence. With time, you can become the best at what you do best. You enjoy the rewards of success in your business, your career and your life.
 
 
Remember, its your road to success and you are the leading influence in your life. Stay on the road to success and keep on leadinglikeachampion.
 
Why not tell me one key on your road to success?
 
 
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Put it in Writing

Writing in is a method of recording information and ideas. Have you ever wondered how some people are able to come up with lots of ideas and get more done while you do not? Well how about you try putting down your thoughts in writing and then create the habit of writing.

Reduce your plan to writing. The moment you complete this, you would have definitely given concrete form to the intangible desire. – Napoleon hill

Here are five things that will happen when you put it in writing.

  1. Writing will help you organise your thoughts and bring clarity to your ideas.
  2. By putting it in writing, you record and increase your chances of remembering your ideas.
  3. Writing will help you commit to taking action on your goals, vision and dreams.
  4. You can breakdown and simplify your complicated ideas during the process of writing.
  5. Writing will help you develop an idea bank or vault.

By writing down your thoughts and ideas, you free up your mind to do other things such as thinking up new thoughts and ideas or coming up with plans to implement the ones you have written down.

So how can you get the most from putting things down in writing?

  • Keep a paper or electronic ideas notebook with you all the time. It makes no difference how good your memory is. You will forget it if you do not write it down.
  • Develop a consistent filing system. This will greatly reduce the time which you spend looking for things. I have a lot of paper notebooks and I have no idea of what I have written in most of then. My life has now been made easier with my use of Evernote,  an electronic notebook available on all platforms.
  • Review your ideas regularly. It makes no sense to write something down if you are not going to read it. You will need to get into the habit of setting time aside in your busy schedule to review your ideas, modify them and possibly begin to act on some.
  • Now share your thoughts and ideas first with yourself through regular review of your writings and then with trusted alias. 

If you have an ambition to write and publish a book in the not to distant future, then putting it down in writing is a must for you. This becomes an avenue for you to express your creative flair. If you persist at it and become good at it, you could earn some money with your newly discovered writing skill by writing a best seller. And just think of the many more possibilities which could include turning your book into a movie or a television series.

Do you put your thoughts and ideas in writing?