I just finished reading a well-written article about how mighty organizations fall. It surprised me how organizational failures parallel our personal lives. It got me thinking and it inspired me to reflect upon the leadership shortcomings of my past. While my family and friends might run to my aid and list all of my accomplishments, let’s save those for the memorial service! It is much healthier for a leader to think about learning and growing for the sake of others. Some of these mistakes I committed in my twenties, others in my thirties, and unfortunately, a couple in my forties. Let’s pray my fifties (NOW in my sixties) are quiet in the sense of leadership mistakes! HERE’S MY TOP TEN FAILURES IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER: 1. Not Understanding the Other Side of My Strengths. I have come to learn that fixing weaknesses (I’m not talking about character) is a waste

Let’s face it. Some of us are sick of hearing about the “L” word. But when we stop long enough to ponder it, we all know how important leadership is in our homes, our workplaces, and our communities.  Without it, we flounder. I recently enjoyed a lunch with two of Denver’s finest men, Thom Scheffel and Lloyd Lewan.  We discussed food, life, and leadership.  During the fellowship, Lloyd gave me a copy of one of his books To Be A LEADER – leadership beyond management.   I finished it in just a few days and though I have read many good books on leadership, this one will be among my favorites. One section of his book makes a clear distinction between leadership and management by emphasizing three responsibilities of leadership.  While Lloyd lifts up the importance of management, he also pulls no punches about clearly defining the high call to lead.  In

As a teenager, I enjoyed shifting gears in my 1965 Mustang. I can still feel the thrill of the engine roaring and the speedometer increasing as I shifted from one gear to the next! That surge gave me a bit of a rush. However, in order to experience it, I had to shift to higher gears. Interestingly, it is the same way in our life as leaders. If we want to continue to experience new levels of effectiveness, we must shift to higher gears. What brought success in an earlier phase only creates a different set of circumstances that require new skills. When I was younger, I worked hard and had a lot of passion. I did a lot of things and held opinions on almost everything. Over time, I’ve learned from seasoned leaders that what helped me to succeed yesterday is often what blocks my future progress. To put

Some folks just aren’t satisfied with a job. They want more! They want work that is satisfying and rewarding. As an employer, you want faithful people; a worker you can count on. You want employees who get up in the morning excited about their job. You envision them showing up a few minutes before start time, ready and willing to engage. The reality of the employer-employee relationship is more positive than it is negative. God made people with the desire to be productive. Many folks want to work and desire to do a good job. But they get bored or they feel undervalued so they under-perform and eventually go elsewhere in search for the right fit. Many employers are good people. They want to create a positive environment and pay people well but the unmotivated and self-entitled employee has burned them. So now they’re guarded with their emotions, information, and

Take care of yourself so you have something to offer. Leaders who have experienced burn out have learned this the hard way. Taking care of self so we can offer our best self starts with self-awareness. Anthony Robbins suggests six human needs according to a recent blog: Certainty: assurance you can avoid pain and gain pleasure Uncertainty/Variety: the need for the unknown, change, new stimuli Significance: feeling unique, important, special or needed Connection/Love: a strong feeling of closeness or union with someone or something Growth: an expansion of capacity, capability or understanding Contribution: a sense of service and focus on helping, giving to and supporting others These proposed needs can certainly be debated but from simple observation each seems to have some merit. I enjoy almost everyone’s contribution to learning and discovery but my life’s work is not completely satisfied until the “why” question is wrestled down and forced to

Values & Culture I got my first opportunity for a “real” job when I was fifteen years of age. Jensen’s Groceries in Blue Jay California was hiring young people for a variety of positions. Jensen’s was what today we call “old school” and its values were expressed quite clearly even during the interview and especially through the supervisors. Our hair was to be groomed short and neat. Our white shirt pressed while wearing a tie – always. Even our walking pace had to be at least a step or two faster than the average walker. Immediately halting our activity to assist a customer was a must. No tolerance for anything else. Promptness, organization, and cleanliness in our person, work, and station was the norm. Rarely did I notice a fellow employee work outside of these lines (values). If I did, it didn’t last long either because he or she course

Part 1 of 5 It’s been my life’s work helping people – athletes, entrepreneurs, and organizational leaders – discover their purpose and achieve their goals. That’s how God made me. I love to learn, organize, strategize, execute, teach, and win. I call all of this, coaching and I love coaching people who have a zest for life. Even so, achieving our dreams and goals is not as easy as advertised. Over the decades I have observed five key performance areas that most determine a person, team, or organization’s ability to achieve. Here, I share the first of five: A Definitive Chief Aim Call it vision, purpose, mission, or goal. For now, I don’t care what you call it. But what I do care about is if it’s real. Is it real? If your chief aim is not real, it’s not going to happen. To be real it must be divine.

Part 2 of 5 Let’s assume you have established a definitive Chief Aim. That’s at least 51 percent of the battle. If you haven’t read the first article or listened to the podcast, stop and go back now to do that because this part is irrelevant without a Chief Aim. Self Awareness. It’s a popular term as of late with all the studies and teaching on emotional intelligence. And for good reason: a lack of self awareness is the second reason we don’t achieve our goals. Martin Luther began a sermon with the following: “The summons of death comes to us all, and no one can die for another.” Where did your thoughts go just now after reading Luther’s opening line? I’m curious to know. My thoughts paused and then gave birth to another idea: I choose how I will die by how I live. I find deficiencies of self

Part 3 of 5 This piece of the five part series will probably be the least attractive to you because it is not enjoyable to most people. But here’s the truth: Top goal achievers have a written plan. That’s right. Top achievers do the hard work of writing. Putting pen to paper has a way of improving our thinking. It exposes, makes exact, puts you on record, forces you to slow down. It forces you to accomplish more the first time you try instead of the tenth time. You will be more successful if you embrace this step. Get help if you need it but do not skip this step! Let me say it again The third most common reason for goal failure is the absence of a written plan. According to Peter Drucker, the second of eight effective practices of effective leaders is to invest time writing action plans.

We’re no longer committed to growing The fourth reason we don’t achieve our goals is the myopic tendencies of our decisions and behaviors. We simply do not realize the long term effects of our actions or lack of, especially those related to learning and growing. How do we get better than we are today without more knowledge and application? The pragmatics of life and business can crowd one’s schedule to such an extent, personal and organizational growth is stunted. Even more, mental and spiritual stagnancy is toxic and cancerous to one’s future. Goal achievers are courageous because they are also wise. As the saying goes, they measure twice and cut once. They are not perfectionist as much as they are selective. To be selective, one must be exposed to choices and the knowledge of these derive from a learning posture. They systemically transform toward confidence and humility as learning becomes

A good name is more desirable than great riches. Prov. 22:1 Your name is your most valuable professional asset. It is worth far more than your degrees, position, or title. Yet it’s astonishing how many trade their name, values, and reputation for shortcuts, easy money, and promotions. In other words, too many suffer long term stains for short term gains. It happens most to those who do not prepare. They pay little attention to reading, self-reflection, meditating, and planning. They just do it. A very dangerous proposition. Those who trust in their ability to be agile over preparation fool themselves. Abraham Lincoln said, “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” Sooner or later, your preparation or lack thereof will shine through. True agility performs from a trusted stage or

I was asked to speak recently to another leadership team asking me to answer the following question, “You speak about alignment often… that’s great but how do we get ourselves aligned?” Below is an outline of my response: 1. Serve. There’s much talk nowadays about servant leadership but what is it? It is primarily a mindset each player embraces to do what needs to be done in service to the team and the mission. So here’s the basic question I need to ask myself: “Do I understand our mission and what am I doing to contribute to its success?” If that’s too abstract, start by actually and concretely serving others. Buy your team member a cup of coffee on your own dime, not the business. Go support your colleague’s son or daughter by watching that next soccer match, or find a way to be that person who cheers everyone up!

If there were no problems to solve, no one needing help, and perpetual justice – there would be no need for moral and effective leadership. That’s not our world. We need leadership that solves problems, works for the good of all, and is willing to personally sacrifice because that’s what it takes. Phil Eastman, a friend and leadership consultant defines moral and effective leadership this way: “Leadership is the ability to move a group of people through non-coercive means to an end that is in the long-term best interest of everyone.” I highlighted four key words: ability, non-coercive, end, and long-term. Ability Has to do with the on-going skill and work of communicating a compelling vision and keeping everyone focused on how their work contributes to its success. Non-coercive Describes the spirit of volunteerism. The leader leads from a sense of calling and the team members engage willingly, not by

If I haven’t confessed it before, I’m sorry. I believe hiring is one of the most difficult responsibilities of leadership, and this difficulty arises for many reasons. Let me list several, even though I may not comment on each one: First, those hiring are often inexperienced and have little respect for the task. Additionally, many believe they have good intuition. Moreover, our society continues to design job descriptions for superheroes. Applicants also have varying levels of self-awareness and sometimes lie to themselves, even unintentionally. Furthermore, those hiring have been burned in the past and now have heightened awareness. But instead of getting educated, they create new experiential principles they hope will protect them from getting hurt again. One such principle is the commitment to hire and promote from within. Here’s what I like about the idea of hiring from within: Most of the onboarding has already been accomplished. There is

If you’ve been an employer for any length of time, you have been humbled by the task of hiring. I have. When we hire the wrong people, we expose our organization to loss. The wrong person can cost your endeavor thousands of dollars, wound your team morale, negatively impact your customers, and create a culture of distrust. The list of possible grievances only gets darker and more devastating. That’s the bad news. There is good news. When we hire the right people, it changes everything. Typically, profits increase, morale goes up, trust breeds an increase in speed of operations, and the overall level of performance improves paving the way for a more professional organization. We should approach the hiring process with humility and skill. When we lack humility, we recklessly bring just about anyone on the team out of either desperation or because we are deaf to wisdom’s warning. We