“There is no man living who isn’t capable of doing more than he thinks he can do.” – Henry Ford I once heard an allegorical story of a traveling rabbi who came across a fruit tree, abundant with foliage. The rabbi, famished because of his long journey, searched the tree for fruit. Upon discovering none, promptly cursed the fruit tree. Shortly thereafter, the tree withered and died. The moral of the story resonates throughout history. If you reflect the appearance of health and productivity, be sure that you have the “fruit” to back it up! It’s not necessarily wrong to judge a tree by it’s fruit. Neither is it wrong to judge a leader by his fruit. Leadership means production! Having knowledge of what you’re supposed to produce and actually producing it are the paramount duties of leadership. I was visiting a large corporate headquarters in the Midwest several years ago. I was greeted at the executive entrance by a very jovial, young security guard. He had an infectious smile and a down-right side-splitting laugh – just a delight some personality. While meeting with the executive team, I commented about the young security guard. Without missing a beat, the CEO replied that the young man had been hired for 2 reasons: first, to be a security driver for the CEO and secondly, to keep the outer office area in an upbeat and positive mood. That was a first for me! I had never heard of a “mood” employee, but I was certainly intrigued. Well, as fate would have it, I became the CEO of that corporation several years later. I inherited the “mood cop.” I thoroughly got to know the man and his family and recall the long protracted illness and eventual death of his father. I called the mood-cop into my office and told him I didn’t expect him to be upbeat through this difficult time. His eyes filled rapidly with tears as I placed my hand on his shoulder and expressed my deepest sympathy for him and his family. I told him to take some time off to decompress. He looked at me, smiled, thanked me, and said, “You employ me, among other things, to produce joy in the outer office. You’ve allowed me to weep in private. Please allow me to go back to my job and produce what you expect.” He knew what he was supposed to produce, and he produced it, even when his heart was broken. Allow me to address three specific areas of concern with respect to leadership production: 1. Know what you are expected to produce. 2. Know how to produce. 3. Just do it. Studies have concluded that billions of dollars are lost or squandered due to the leaders lack of production. By the time a person gets to the leadership position, his/her work...
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“Though the bribe be small, yet the fault is great” – Edward Coke I am a big fan of author Lee Childs. In one of his more recent novels Lee tells a story of a female military officer. She was a rising star in the Army and seemed to be on a fast track to having a command. She approached her commanding officer and requested a positive reference in support of her potential promotion. The colonel suggested that if she desired an endorsement for her promotion, she needed to meet him in his office. Outside of uniform. The inference contained a carnal and lewd implication. The female officer reported him to the chain of command and shortly thereafter, he was dishonorably discharged. In this fictional story, the environment was corrupted by a boss using improper favors as a means for subordinates to obtain a favored status. Any environment, be it the home, the office or the capitol, that operates on what I call a “soft bribe policy” is a corrupting environment. It erodes morale, corrupts loyalty and weakens the overall integrity of the institution. I confess that I am certainly not a fan of the present day “political correctness squad”. I am however a fan of fairness, earned bonuses, promotions and uniform justice in the context of policy enforcement! A soft bribe is not necessarily a financial payout. It can be many things including the stroking of an ego or socially befriending a boss for gain. Additionally, covering up of violations or looking the other way when policies or safety/ethical matters are deliberately ignored. A soft bribe is behavior that gains favor and advantages that are not available to another worker. They are not based on work ethic, production, attitude or faithfulness. A soft bribe are actions or words that a competent person of moral and social integrity would never do or say in order to gain a personal favor or advancement. Honest people want to earn their way and they want to compete on a level playing field. If an employee believes that his hard work and integrity matter, it will show in his attitude. That same attitude enhances the perceived climate of the work place. If his hard work and honesty are not recognized, and a peer with a lesser character is promoted, that man can feel betrayed. A foolish boss can dismiss those feelings as simply the collateral damage of getting the job done. Those feelings are a cancer in the work place, and that cancer can kill. Leaders are going to have favorites but qualified persons who happen to be better-liked should not be overlooked for fear of what others may say, as long as the same standards are applied evenly across the board! Scandals that are left unchecked or undisciplined injure the workplace. The same is true...
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A mid-size Ohio corporation was being featured in a professional publication. This corporation had a reputation for an excellent product. Their bottom line showed the result of good management and efficient production methods. The veteran journalist who wrote the article in the trade journal arrived for his appointment with the company’s CEO. During the interview, the journalist asked a simple question. “What is your product?”. to which the CEO responded, “Satisfied, mature and well-balanced employees“. The answer caught the journalist off guard so he rephrased his question. “What I was asking is what does this company produce?”. He received the same response. The CEO elaborated by explaining that the particular “product” the company manufactured for the auto industry was only a tool to produce what the owners and leadership had established the company to produce, which was satisfied, mature, and well-balanced employees who were good citizens and provided a positive contribution to society. In our first blog of this series, I asked leaders to focus on the purpose of their business. This Ohio company began with a very different purpose and they were very good at fulfilling their purpose. Employees retention was extremely high, the pay was competitive, and the benefits were first-rate. Employees’ families were treated like royalty, the content employees produced greatly, and whatever they produced, they took pride in and the financial bottom line reflected such. When will many of our nations’ companies understand that great ideas, great teamwork, and happy employees produce more? Why are workplaces still filled with hypertensive bosses who use foul language to belittle and berate their underlings hoping that fear and intimidation will increase both production and quality? When do the blinders come off and the harsh tongue become silenced? The majority of employees want their companies to succeed. Company success is the employees’ best hope for job-security, family provision, and a solid retirement. But, many employees consider their job to be who they are and what defines their life. When asked by a new acquaintance as to who they are and what they do, 9 times out of 10, they will reply with a job-related answer. Their job is their identity. Understanding that concept is foundational for a business seeking to hire well, to retain its employees, and to see strong returns on their investment. It is important to develop a culture that provides for the well-being of the employees. History has witnessed and recorded the struggle between business management and the employee union. One can read of the great robber barons throughout history and cringe in anger and disgust at the calloused brutality of leadership motivated only by greed. I want to close the history book and start my own employee’s union in protest. Then, I’ll open a newspaper and read about the power-mongering and blatant disregard for quality and respect for a business...
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This article represents the ninth and final blog posting for my series “The 7 Deadly Sins of Leadership”. I hope you’ve enjoyed it and learned from it. I wanted to use this also as a reminder to take this information and apply it to your professional life. Once you eliminated these seven deadly sins from your professional life, the sky is the limit! Employees and peers will want to follow you. Let’s do a quick re-cap of the “The 7 Deadly Sins of Leadership”. Sin #1 – Relevancy: As a leader, know what your focus should be and don’t get sidetracked. Stay relevant! Sin #2 – Dispassionate: True passion is not limited to a single focus. It is the way a great leader thinks about ALL THINGS. Sin #3 – Hypocrisy: We cannot guarantee to our followers that we will live flawlessly. However, we can promise them that we won’t live hypocritically. Sin #4 – Unnecessary Wars: A successful leader chooses carefully his battles. Just be sure you are the one who picks your fights. Don’t delegate that privilege to anyone but yourself. Sin #5 – Leadership Production: There can be no equivocation as a leader. Ted Turner’s desk motto says: “Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way”. Cursed is the leader who puts on the appearance without bearing the expected fruit. Sin #6 – The Soft Bribe: State your purpose, establish clear and simple policies, insist that everyone follow the policies and set the example. Then enforce fairly using generous doses of training, patience, example and reward. Sin #7 – The Wrong Bottom Line: What should trump, yet increase profits? Satisfied, mature and well-balanced employees. Will you ever be a perfect leader? No. Will I? No. However, my goal for this multi-part series was to help you become a better leader. My hope is that readers will at a minimum, take some of these recommendations and apply them to their professional lives. In doing so, not only are you improving your leadership style but you are creating a better work environment for all of your employees. If enough of us apply these changes, we become the antidote for a poisoned corporate society. Thank you for your readership! Be sure to bookmark this page for future reference and feel free to subscribe to my blog by registering on the right hand side of this page. There will be many quality blog series to come! Until next time. ...
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