“Don't dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer.” -- Denis Waitley

A couple posts ago, I talked about the Trap of Prosperity. Essentially, it is a period of stagnancy that sometimes comes along with success, and very often can lead to a decline in sales if nothing is done about it. There is another trap that you need to watch out for that I will call the Trap of Failure. It is something that we have all experienced at some point in our lives, and if you aren’t careful, it can cause a downward spiral. Basically, what it is is that when we fail to meet our own expectations, we often get down on ourselves. Instead of finding ways to go back and try again, we dwell on the past and it becomes a self-fulfilling loop of disappointment. We are disappointed that we failed, and so we are too busy thinking about that to move forward and try something else, and because of that, we are disappointed that we can’t...

“Employees who believe that management is concerned about them as a whole person - not just an employee - are more productive, more satisfied, more fulfilled. Satisfied employees mean satisfied customers, which leads to profitability.” -- Anne M. Mulcahy

Businesses are kind of like families. A business where everyone takes orders from the boss and never questions him or her in any way may work, but it’s not the most successful model out there. Families like this do exist as well, but they are usually dysfunctional in some way. This kind of relationship, whether it is between an employee and his or her boss or a child and his or her parents, encourages two distinct personalities to develop. The first personality is the one that is displayed whenever the boss is around -- strictly business. The second is their true personality, which comes out around co-workers and at home. This is detrimental because when employees are afraid to show their true personality around the boss, it sets u...

“Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.” -- Oprah Winfrey

Oprah really hit the nail on the head with this one. It is easy to do what you're supposed to when you’re at work or out and about in public, but the true test of integrity is whether or not you have the ability to do the right thing even when nobody is watching. If you saw a piece of garbage on the street, would you pick it up? Sometimes, people don’t even do the right thing when others are watching, especially in public. In my opinion, seeing so many people we don’t know turns off our need to socialize because we can’t possibly socialize with everyone around us. Therefore, we all withdraw into our own worlds and refuse to come out, and because of this, people have a tendency to ignore things they would normally care about.

Integrity is a very broad term, and can be used to refer to large-scale integrity (such as not scamming your customers), small-scale inte...

“The minute you’re satisfied with where you are, you aren’t there anymore.” -- Tony Gwynn

If you’re not familiar with Tony Gwynn, he is a baseball player who was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2007, and although he is not a president or a business leader, he offers some valuable advice for anyone trying to accomplish something, be it improving at a sport, increasing your revenue, or simply working towards your next goal. I think most, if not all of us, can relate to this quote, because it really shows how competitive our world is. When you first set out to do something, you have a lot of excitement, you put in a lot of time and effort, and that keeps you going for a good bit, because you want to see where all this work will take you. And then the day comes when you finally see some progress, and you know that everything you did was worthwhile. However, a lot of times, people will be so happy with their progress that they want to bask in the glory of it and “ride it out”. Unfortu...

“You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.” -- Jim Rohn

Change is something that is discussed often in the business world. If your product does not adapt to the changing market, it will not succeed. If your business plan isn’t as effective as it used to be, it needs to be changed. But something people don’t think about as often is personal change. Sometimes, when it seems like you are paddling into a headwind with no way out, instead of looking for a bigger paddle, you just have to change direction. When all the odds are against you and the work is piling up, you might feel like you’re being tested. And it’s true, in a sense. Pushing ourselves to the limit is good for us, and often brings in great rewards. However, you have to know when to buckle down and fight against it and when to put the sail up and ride it out.

Sometimes, change happens inadvertently, ...

"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it." Pablo Picasso

Risk is inherent in any endeavor. Leaders know the more time they spend not taking risk the slower they grow. Risk is simply growth, taking on new skills or opportunities you have yet to learn about. By limiting risk, you limit learning, and if you are not learning, you are not growing .... you are shrinking.

Warren Bennis noticed leaders who take risks make one or two big mistakes a year and leaders who don't take risks make one or two big mistakes a year. Leaders get mistakes will happen and remain open to learning from mistakes to improve. When we limit our growth, we stagnate and so to do others around us.

"Yes, risk taking is inherently failure-prone. Otherwise, it would be called sure-thing-taking." Tim McMahon

If you are always focused on getting it right you are losing the opportunity to see new possibilities. It is through trial and error that growth happens.

Related: Creatin...

"A wonderful emotion to get things moving when one is stuck is anger. It was anger more than anything else that had set me off, roused me into productivity and creativity."
Mary Garden

After working with a vast diversity of leaders from around the world it is clear the most successful leaders seek out new possibilities and are extremely creative. Creative leaders understand that the conduit to creativity is through emotion. The emotion could be passion, love, anger, playful, sadness, happiness, laughter, joy, frustration, irritation, surprise, etc. but the key to creation comes through emotion.

Creativity cannot be made to happen, you have to let it come through you.

Leaders who want to inspire others and find new ways are comfortable with allowing their emotions to flow through. They take the time to notice and understand what is at the core of the emotion. In this understanding new possibilities and growth emerges ....also known as new creative options and possibilities.

"Creat...

"As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live." Goethe

There is no word that creates more energy and discussion than this word. In leadership, so many passionate discussions are based around this word:

Do I trust this new hire?
Do I trust this salesperson?
Do I trust this business deal?
Do I trust my colleague?
Do I trust my new manager?
Do I trust this decision?
Do I trust the economy?
Do I trust the politicians?
Do I trust the media?
Do I trust the mail?

I am sure you could add a few.

Related: Leadership Requires Bravery

The list goes on and on... and if you listen closely and look you can see behind the questions is ....doubt. Doubt and uncertainty, are two words that have more energy than trust.

Leaders are dealing with these doubts, fears, and uncertainty of emotions every day. In a time of great unrest and change the core skills you need to be prepared with the shifting tides of doubt which erodes the trust you have built over time are as follows:

"When I’m trusting and...

"It's not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are." Roy Disney

Decision-making is a core leadership skill. The secret or trick is to know yourself. Good decisions will grow yourselves, your companies, your team, your family, and your community and will require you to be a bit (sometimes more than a bit) uncomfortable.

Related: Stepping Forward in Leadership

Thoughtful decision-making requires the following:

1. An understanding of yourself and your own value system (clarity here makes all decisions flow)

2. An understanding of the situation and what it means to yourself and others

3. Input from trusted peers who have different and contrary perspectives

4. The desire for personal growth as a leader

5. The willingness to hear the truth when you are in love with an idea or skeptical of it

6. The keen awareness when you decide that you are ready to "take the ride" because you will grow and change

"Do not plant your dreams in the field of indecision, where noth...

"The important thing is to strive towards a goal which is not immediately visible. That goal is not the concern of the mind, but of the spirit." ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Flight to Arras, 1942, translated from French by Lewis Galantière

The most important role any leader has is to dream and to have vision. Without this focus, all things become stagnant and uninteresting. The second most important role is to move towards it no matter how tedious and unpleasant some of the work or effort may be.

Related: Vision Planning for Leaders

"Goals are dreams with deadlines." ~Diana Scharf Hunt

Here are some general practices that keep you moving and flowing toward your vision, the dream.

If you dread doing it - make it the first thing you do in the morning and get it off your list
If you keep forgetting to do it - make a to-do list/reminder and then do it
If you second-guess yourself - go back to your first answer and get it done
If you want to leave it to later - move up to making it the fi...