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Leadership is about inspiring, stimulating, and influencing others to have a more satisfying life through what we stand for, what we say, and what we do.
“Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.” Ralph Waldo Emerson Here are three secrets that will make you stand out as a leader. #1 Learn to Express Love Now this is something that we are not use to saying. One of my posts garnered several looks when I first published the word love as something that needs to be expressed in the workplace. The truth is you cannot influence others if they can’t relate to you or if they don’t like you. This is the number one rule in any relationship. If you want to develop a relationship love is at the root. Now we are not talking about romantic love here: we are referring to the love of your work, the love of serving or helping others, and the love of self, for unless we love self if is extremely difficult to love others. To lead others we need to connect with them. We have to show that we care for them as individuals and as a team. This means leaders have to be vulnerable and show that they trust their followers. If people feel safe with their leader it has to come from the heart. And often when we operate from the heart we feel vulnerable. Expressing the love of a leader means that you are extending yourself to others and they understand that those expressions come from a genuine place. They know, deep down, that the leader’s intention is to help them succeed in life and that he or she will be available to them in their time of need. “To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.” Eleanor Roosevelt #2. Excellence Leaders will have difficulty in influencing others if they are mediocre in what they do. Leaders need a vision to bring others to a place beyond the present. A leader may not have arrived at that place yet, but they know where they are going and can bring others to a new and exciting end. “Martin Luther King Jr got a C in public speaking, but that didn’t discourage him because he had dream.” Ljupka Cvetanova, the New Land. In their quest to bring people along they become role models. To be excellent is to do things where people say to themselves, “This man or women is great. I want to be like him or her.” This means that in order to excel leaders need to become the best versions of themselves. It is through the leader’s behavior that they are known and followed. To excel means to rise above the norm in work, family and with others. People of excellence are looked up to and followed. But this is not easy, in fact it can be one of the most challenging aspects for the leader. Why? Because this is self-growth and developmental work. A leader must work on him/herself to be the type of person people want to follow. #3. Support Excellence Strong leaders are not selfish. They want people to succeed in a way that gives them self-satisfaction. A satisfaction that enables them to give of themselves toward the end where the leader is taking them. In the process the leader is helping them grow and become the best that they can be. A leader does this through their mentorship with them. Love, the pursuit of excellence and supporting excellence in others are foundational to becoming not a good leader but a great leader. How would you rate yourself in these three areas on a scale of 1-10. And when you rate yourself make room for continued growth and development. It is rare that we have reached the top rung of the leadership ladder. If you want to learn more about leadership there are two resources in the Storefront, "Love Serves" and "Leader/Manager Masterclass." Just click the links opposite. You can also consider joining Fortis Membership where more you will find several more resources on Leadership and Management. “Remember people who have helped you along the way, and don’t forget to lift someone up.” Roy T. Bennett Thanks for reading and always remember Be Safe, Take Care, Stay Healthy and become the Best Version Of Yourself. Richard Fontanie
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Self-disciplined leaders motivate themselves to meet their goals. They do not need anyone’s outside help to get done what needs to get done. Of course they seek help if they don’t know ‘how’ to do something. In most cases they are self-learners and don’t wait to be told about their skill gaps. They know what they are. In the main though they do what they said they would do, whether they said it to themselves or someone else, and they do it even when they don’t feel like it. To get a better understanding of how leaders positively act with self-discipline let’s look at some examples.
1. Wake Up on Time – Leaders have no difficulty in waking up on time and focusing on their priorities. They are eager to get to work, get properly dressed, fed, exercised and out the door on time. Strong leaders also spend time in meditation first thing in the morning. They know that it’s simply self-discipline that gets them going each day. 2. Act Respectfully Toward Others – Everyone has impressions about the people they meet during the day. People react either emotionally or rationally to a person who cuts them off while driving to their destination; or when an individual is not performing to the best of his/her ability. With good self-discipline leaders will be respectful toward everyone regardless of their feelings, hunger, or mood at the time. 3. Eat Healthily – There are so many things out there to eat that aren’t good for us. A person who chooses to eat healthily 80 to 90 percent of the time is demonstrating excellent self-discipline. Leaders learn to say ‘no’ today to avoid short-term pleasure in exchange for a healthier tomorrow. 4. Daily Exercise – Some people really do love exercise and get a true "high" off it. But most of us don’t. Most often leaders go ahead and do their exercise each day because they are committed to their goals of keeping fit. They know that keeping fit allows them to have the energy they need to serve others. 5. Meet Deadlines – Leaders are self-starters. They are self-disciplined enough to make and meet deadlines without outside influence. They know what others expect of them and meet their requirements. If they are unable to do so they say so. For them self-discipline and strong self-management techniques go hand in hand. 6. Follow Through – A self-disciplined leader tends to do what they say they’ll do. They have follow-through. If they say they’ll get it done on Friday, they will do what they can to get it done on Friday without anyone reminding them. 7. Create Good Habits – A self-disciplined leader knows that the best way to stick to any goal is to create good habits surrounding that goal. For example, a leader who has a personal goal to get up an hour earlier to go to the gym knows that it’s going to be only willpower the first month, then after that, a habit will be created. Ask any leader and he will tell you that changing behaviours is not easy but to take on a new habit means changing behaviours. Leaders practice new behaviours until they become second nature to them. They also know that persistence is necessary because it takes about three weeks, and sometimes longer, of consistent action to change a habit. In conclusion it doesn't mean that a self-discipline leader never has fun. The ability to let go of a weakness and do what is right is the best example of self-discipline. We all have the potential to become a leader in whatever walk of life we have. An essential ingredient to living a successful life in business, at work or in life, is the ability to control what you can control using sound self-discipline practices.
It’s easy to be a leader when things are going right. In fact, it can be downright awesome—especially if your team members are fully engaged, communicating well with each other, and taking responsibility and accountability for their respective roles. But when your team is faced with serious conflict, wherever that comes from, you need effective leadership skills to hold them all together as a unit. So what leadership skills are required when your team is running into tough times? Here are seven you can call upon. Grit: Grit is defined as courage, resolve, and strength of character, but the final blend of those characteristics yield a quality that is perhaps best summarized by one word: toughness. Good leaders hold the team together in tough times by staying committed to the vision, purpose and values of the team and the organization. Grit can also be looked at as ‘tough love with discipline.’ We don’t often use the word ‘love’ in the workplace, but when we strip everything away strong leaders care about their team and deal with each member with compassion and concern. That is an expression of love. leaders want to hold their team relationships intact, so they work hard at a) trying to understand what is going on within their team, and b) fix what appears to be broken or weakened and a way to do this is with tough love coupled with personal discipline. Positive Optimism: Grit is mostly present-filled while optimism is future oriented. An optimistic leader who has a positive view of the outcome is creating a mental construct for the team to pull through, because they foster the belief that something great is on the other side of the chaos. Leaders who are positively and optimistically looking ahead and guiding their teams to a new or better outcome do so with hope. Think of Martin Luther King who continued to beat the drum of hope in his famous Dream speech. He painted a picture of a new awakening in America and leading people to a newfound freedom based on the human dignity of each individual. Strong leaders are optimistic, hopeful and act with positivity. Realistic Pragmatism: While leaders need to be gritty and optimistic, they also need to be practical. This means that leaders ought to keep hope and optimism tethered to the ground. How do they do this? Simply by using their head – using their intelligence coupled with sound judgement and their experience to navigate their way through the given circumstance. This is not a time to fall prey to Pollyannaism or put on rose colored glasses. To look at the future with rosy Pollyannaism while dealing with the present can lead to unnecessary and costly mistakes. Now we know that leaders can correct mistakes, but not being real and not using a pragmatic approach can do more harm to a team’s psyche by unleashing a cynicism, distrustfulness, and incredulity. These psychological factors are much more difficult to eradicate than fixing material and quantifiable mistakes. Selfless Actions: Selflessness is all about caring more about other peoples needs and interests over one’s own. Good leaders don’t try to save their own skin first, they serve others first. This doesn’t mean they don’t look after their own interests. They do so with their team members interest in mind first. Good leaders keep their ego in check, act with humility, yet with a confident attitude. Robin Sharma once said, “Leave your ego at the door every morning, and just do some truly great work. Few things will make you feel better than a job brilliantly done.” And for leaders dealing with difficult issues within their team they need to work brilliantly without an overbearing ego. Encouragement: There are two approaches to developing encouragement. A good leader encourages both self and the team. Sometimes a leader needs to encourage his own psyche to be up for the challenge of developing team effort. A Leader can and does have feelings of anger, frustration, and disappointment when things are not going right. This is when leaders encourage themselves with positive affirmations or seek help from a mentor or coach. Then there is the time when leaders need to help the team find the drive to make it through the rough spots. In this situation the leader focuses on the team’s strong points in order to uplift motivation and performance levels. Here the leader’s work is all about bringing the best out of their team members. In essence the leader is showing that each member is valued and cared for. Sometimes encouragement can be as simple as wandering around the group, patting some backs, and giving smiles or saying friendly words. Here the word, ‘kindness’ comes to mind. Encouragement is often expressed through simple acts of kindness and good leaders find ways to express kindness often as they know it is a motivational force. Preparedness: A good leader never finds their team unexpectedly thrust into bad times without some prior preparation. A good leader has a plan to cover all the possibilities and knows what to do if things don’t go exactly the way they were hoping. Now preparation doesn’t automatically guarantee success, but the lack of preparedness can certainly increase the likelihood of mistakes or downright team process failure. The trick that leader’s face is to prepare for potential team breakdown while still staying relevant with the present. Dealing with daily realities often make it difficult to focus on what might go wrong, but spending some time strategizing about the possibilities make the seemingly impossible, probable. Being prepared also means that the leader needs to keep current with leadership techniques. This includes reading about leadership, taking leadership courses and honing leadership skills. The quickest way to get stuck in the past is not to continue to learn and refresh leadership skills. When leaders take continuous learning as one of their habits gain they valuable insights into their own behaviour and the way it affects others as well as how to encourage growth within their team. Acute Listening: During rough spots team leaders need to acutely listen to their team members. The leader should have two listening antennas up. One to listen to what people are actually saying and the other to listen to what they are not saying. And it is the latter where the leader must pay particular attention. Often behind what is not being said lurks elements of fear. Fear about the changes that are taking place, job security or dealing with ambiguity and uncertainty about their role or responsibilities. A danger point for the leader is to make assumptions about what is not being said without checking for understanding through paraphrasing and feedback techniques. Another danger for them is to lead with too much talking. A leader who always talks isn’t listening and when the leader is not listening vital information is missed. As Peter Drucker said, “Listening (the first competence of leadership) is not a skill, it is a discipline. All you have to do is keep your mouth shut.” As always, stay safe, be well, and become your best self. Thanks for reading, Richard Fontanie. PS. Learn to Become A Leader – Find the leader within you. When it comes to internet marketing there is good news and bad news. The bad news is that there are more than 3 mistakes that internet marketers make. The good news is that you will learn how to avoid three of them here.
First things first. It would be in your best interest to learn all you can about making money on line. The more you know about the topic the better you will succeed. Next you will need to test out what you know and learn. Keep the winning strategies and discard those that don’t work for you. You’ll need to find out what works for you and what doesn’t. Unfortunately, there isn’t a ‘one size fits all.’ Now here are the three common strategies that leading internet marketers employ. Watch The Competition. A key to internet marketing success is keeping an eye on your competition. It doesn’t matter which niche you are in whether it is in the make money on line niche, health niche, or the pet niche, to name a few. You should always check out what your competitors are up to. That means checking out their websites, Facebook page, or follow them on YouTube. And, if they have an email list, subscribe to it and what they are up to. If they promote through a niche site, review their blog posts, watch the kind of products they recommend, read their newsletters. Leave nothing to chance. Search out everything they have. That is where there is a gold mine of information. Use it to your advantage. As an internet marketer you will always have competition within your niche. If you don’t then there may not be any money to had in it. Tread carefully into that market and question whether you should be in the niche at all. Competition keeps us awake to opportunities. Keep a close eye on your competitors and outsmart them. Better yet, be original and passionate about your own niche. Describe your own vision and goals for success. Very Few Get-Rich-Quick This reminds me of a story I use to tell those who are starting a bricks and mortar business. There are times when the stars seemed to be aligned for the strange and off-the-wall product. Who would have thought that a “Pet Rock” would have made millions for someone or walking a leash without a dog would bring people to your store. These things are flashes in the marketing world and often die out quickly. So too it appears that every day thousands of beginners come online hoping to make easy profits. They are drawn to the internet marketing lifestyle where they are free from a boss and want to work their own hours. The freedom they imagine is so sweet that they can almost taste it. Remember though the bees that make honey also sting. Often beginners are taken up with the flashy cars, big mansions, and bling that sales pages offer – just buy this product or this latest way to make a quick buck and you will be like me, the sales page tells you without telling you.. What often these people don’t tell you is that what they have from a material perspective has taken them years to develop. If you just follow their advice you can be just like them – watch that catch phrase because in most instances their advice doesn’t work. Here is the harsh reality, making money online takes tremendous effort, know-how and time. In today’s on-line-business things change almost in a blink of an eye. You must always be ready to adjust, shift course. In other words there are lots of detours along the way and you better be prepared for them. Sipping cocktails on the sun kissed beaches of the Caribbean becomes a reality only when you’ve given massive effort into your business. It takes time to build a passive online business… and even then, you still have to be open for the unexpected change. Just think of the effort a passenger airplane takes to get off the ground, and then cruses for a while and if the pilot isn’t alert to what the dashboard is telling him, it could come crashing down. That’s like your business it takes extensive energy to get it up and running, and then you coast for a bit but if you don’t watch your internet business dashboard it could quickly come crashing down The bottom line here is don’t expect fast profits with affiliate marketing, you’ll be sorely disappointed. Expect to work at it for 3 to 6 months or longer before you see money coming in regularly. In fact it may take a year or two before you earn enough to leave your day job and tell your boss “I’m out of here.” The real question now for you is, “Do you have what it takes to wait that long?” Internet Marketer Leaders Have a Strategy Successful internet marketers have a vision, set goals, and develop action plans to execute. This is all about planning where you want to go and how to get there. It is a crucial element for affiliate marketers. You need to know what products you’ll promote, how you will generate traffic, who your target audience is, how you build relationships with them and how get them ready to buy. Contrary to public opinion sales people don’t sell anything. People buy, and the buy for their reasons and not yours. Your job is to find out what their need or problem is and then find a solution. And the best way to do this is to ensure you have a solid plan and strategies to engage them. Steven Keague once said, “Proper planning and preparation prevents poor performance.” So, create a plan. Stick to it. Adapt where necessary and promote well. Don’t go in blind. Too much is at stake. You could potentially lose your shirt. This doesn’t mean you don’t take action. You do so by doing your homework and being prepared for the unexpected that will eventually come your way. And, If you are just starting out don’t be afraid to reach out to those who are successful. They are willing to help. Yes, you may have to invest, but your investment might pale against what you could potentially lose in the long run. One of my mentors is Trevor Carr. Trevor is someone who learned from his mistakes and now successfully coaches others. Trevor is a guy you can trust. He will show you how he succeeded as an internet marketer and take you by the hand, so to speak, and help you succeed just as he has helped hundreds of others succeed. Use these three strategies and you will find your affiliate marketing journey will be smoother and much more rewarding. Thanks for Reading, Richard Fontanie. Trevor Carr It’s a common knowledge that mobile applications can make lives easier and convenient for people from all walks of life. Business people and executives are also not the exceptions to it. From scheduling an important business meeting to purchasing an order, mobile applications can save a significant amount of time by cutting down the time spent on small tasks in regular life. Thus, it enhances the general productivity.
However, not all apps have the same potential and this is why, it is really important to research which ones provide the best result. So, this article tells you about top productivity-enhancing apps available in the market for both Android and IOS platforms 1. Slack: Communication is the key to success of any organization. Slack’s comprehensive and easy to use platform enables organizations to establish a healthy infrastructure of seamless communication. Slack offers multiple communication channels to the users. You can either organize conversations in a message-forum style format, video messaging or through file sharing and notifications. It allows your employees to stay connected with each other all time by avoiding the time-consuming email drafting process. The best part of using Slack is it is highly user-friendly. With Slack you can:
2. CamCard: CamCard could be an excellent resource for the professionals who often lose business a card from a contact. It’s business-card app that allows you to promptly capture the contact information. This app takes capture image of your contact information, read the contact and save it to your smartphone so that you can access the information anytime you want. It also enables a business to exchange electronic business cards, add notes, important reminders, fetch crucial information from the cloud and perform searches when necessary. So, instead of wasting your precious time hunting through wallet, start utilizing this app to adapt paper-less approach and enjoy your increased efficiency. Camcard can read business cards in 17 languages and is used by over 100 million users. It also as a Premium yearly subscription. Its features include:
3. Box: Box is a total cloud-based file sharing platform which has taken the benefits of all the similar services but eliminated their drawbacks. The employees of your organization can store and share files with each other instantly. It comes with the instant file-transfer capability. Box also allows its users to edit and comment on the files, making collaboration on project a cake-walk. The developers of this app has put a serious effort on the security feature of this app as encryption-key management features ensures an utmost data security. More than 25 million users and 225,000 companies use Box. With Box, you can easily
4. Trello Trello comes directly from the house of Atlassian. Trello is a comprehensive, powerful and Kanban-style designed tool for managing any level of project tracking. The best part of using this tool is that it is easy to use so that each of your team member can use it without experiencing any sort of difficulties. It comes with hundreds of pre-built templates to make your team’s work convenient. It is a visual tool for organizing your work and life. Trello has more than 35 million registered users who organize their projects at work, at home or anywhere in between. With Trello you can:
5. WeekCal This is one of my favorite apps because it works will all my calendars including shared calendars, iCloud, Google Calendar, Yahoo Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, iCal, Cal Dave and subscription calendars are all supported. I can visualize my busy schedule using colors and emojis, while having a clear and detailed overview based on day, week, month or year. WeekCal has over 4 million users. Some of its many features include:
Let me know what you think about these 5 productivity apps. Thank you for reading, Richard P. Fontanie . Okay Folks, I’m going to go on a bit of a rant here. It’s about ethics, legality and respect. It has to do with my novice experiences in the world of internet marketing. I’m finding a lot of examples where product creators tell me that what they have developed is legal and ethical. Sometimes it’s from promoters parroting the creators.
First though I want to state that there are many ethical internet marketers. They do provide good value for money and promote their products with integrity and honesty. That being said there are those who have questionable ethics, stretch the legal limits and consequently lose my respect. Here are a few examples: Not too long ago I purchased a product that from my point of view was unethical and a scam. In essence the product was an e-mail gathering process whereby the creator knew full well that anyone who clicked the button on his squeeze page would not get what the promotion said he would receive. He knowingly sent unsuspecting people to a place where they received nothing for their effort. However, he gained with his effort. He got email addresses for his list. Looking at it objectively it was legal (or maybe bordering legality), but again from my vantage point unethical and a scam. Another example is when a product developer devises a way to get commissions through the so-called underground. You get emails and commissions by under cutting established rules, for example accessing emails on YouTube without the owner's permission. I am told this is legal; but is it ethical? Whenever I see the word “underground” on the sales page now, red flags go up. You see, I think ethical standards suggest getting permission before underhandly building a business on the back of someone else’s hard efforts. This is bit tricky though because new products are most often fashioned after someone else’s idea. For example, shoes are shoes, but factory x constructs shoes better and have greater value than its competitors. That is factory x’s competitive advantage. And that is legal, ethical and allowed in today’s marketplace. In the internet marketing world we often see something different. The difference relates to not adding value but using someone else’s product, service, or copy without adding value – just piggy backing on it for one’s own gain. However, you can do this if developers give you a license to take their stuff which allows you to put it out there for public consumption. Even then it’s still best practice to reference where the work came from, unless otherwise indicated. I’m not talking about PLR or to use Trevor Carr’s concept of “Pimping”. With PLR the creator has given permission to use or change the product. Trevor’s concept is about using the idea then adding to the concept to make the PLR your own – to change and add value. Another example is when writers let you use their copy for your blog with their permission. All perfectly legal, ethical and respectful. But, even in the latter case you should always change and make it your own. By the way, I highly recommend Trevor Carr IM. He is strong on ethics, respectfulness, and gives you the straight goods. His program “Breakthrough” Training Program is jammed packed with training, resources, coaching and weekly mentoring to help novices become successful internet marketers. Then there are promoters who essentially steal another promoter’s review copy. They add a few words to make it look like their own, but in reality, it is almost verbatim from another source. They do this I think out of speed in order to meet a deadline. I recognize that there is not much one can say about the workings of a product that is much different from another reviewer’s comments. The workings of the product is what makes the product and there is basically one way to describe it. But I think there could be a bit more creativity and personal touch to the review. In other words make the review your own. Add some value to your review. Just adding your own bonuses doesn’t necessarily cut it. Ask yourself: Is copying someone else’s review ethical? Finally I have experienced situations where vendors have a way to “Get Support” attached to their product. This is for purchasers who have difficulty implementing their product. The problem occurs when, after several attempts, their “Support Team” doesn’t respond to the query. An oversite? Too busy to respond? Don’t care? A problem with their Support Team? Unethical? Or, what? You decide. To wrap up, be careful out there and be a leader in raising the bar in ethical, legal and respectful internet marketing with what and how you produce, promote and review products and services. Enough ranting for now. Take Care. Be Safe. Be Well. Thank you for reading, Richard Fontanie  Leadership is often defined from a pyramidal perspective where power is driven downward. It is often exhibited by a “I know best” attitude and an ego centric stance. In these circumstances power is gathered and centralized and leaders exhibit authoritarian and dictatorial stances. They use fear tactics while seeking fame and fortune at the expense of others. Such leadership is often based on our lower nature of greed, egotism and self-aggrandizement.
From a historical perspective when we look at leaders who follow this path what has been the result? Wars, empires of wealth, isolationism, divisiveness, domination over the many by the few, highly bureaucratized institutions, ghettoes, and on a personal level, abusiveness, bulling, selfishness, and moral and ethical decay. Not all leaders who are at the top of the pyramid act in this way. However, these leaders must also be continually vigilant else they may find that their power slowly corrupts both themselves and others. What would happen if we turned the pyramid into a circle where power is shared, egotism is curtailed, cooperation and collaboration is promoted, diversity is viewed as strength and respected, and competition operates from a co-opetition frame where everyone wins. Some people would say such a model is too Idealistic and liberal and on a macro level engenders egalitarianism, socialism and even communism. Leaders of a dictatorial nature would rile against such an approach and use fear tactics and their usurped power to block it. They would claim it wont work and say look what we have built using the pyramid model – highly successful nations, institutions, scientific and technological breakthroughs. Ah yes, maybe so, but for whom and at what cost? Perhaps for the 1% who are at the top, where the rich become richer and the poor become poorer. Let’s pull this apart a bit further. I suggest that pyramidal approaches are primarily head approaches, whereas circle approaches are primarily heart approaches. If we see them only in this way, however, as one or the other – we don’t leave room for a third way: the combination of heart and head. Tommy Spaulding, in his book The Heart Led Leader, pointed out that there is 18 inches from the head to the heart and so the route to use both is short. He also pointed out that those who use a balance of head and heart achieve more within their organizations than those who don’t. The heart is where we often place emotions, while the head is confined to rationality. We feel with the heart and think with the head. In selling we know that ‘emotions or feelings’ sell. Marketing and salespeople appeal to the heart and then rationalize their products by isolating their benefits. People often buy with their heart reflecting an instinctual or impulsive buyer. They buy ‘want’ rather than ‘need’. It’s the head that moderates and controls the ‘want’ and pushes us to purchase based on ‘need’ rather than ‘want’. People respond when they are approached empathetically, listened to, and dealt with patiently. Yet, many leaders feel that if they lead with their heart, people will take advantage of them - a sure sign that they are losing control. Control is the headwaters for unbridled power. An over controlling leader stifles creativity, initiative and ingenuity. The over controlling leader doesn’t allow individuals to grow, make mistakes and learn from them. When a leader understands that his/her power comes from those whom he/she serves then he is ready to share power and in the sharing the circle burns brighter and true allegiance develops for the leader and for each other. Together a strong bond of collective power emerges. And, as that collectivity binds, the leader, if he is a true leader, recognizes that he hasn’t the power but that he has nurtured a power of the whole and humbly accepts that. Hang on to a single flaming candle and we have one candle power that will light up a small space within a room; share the flame with others and we can light up the whole room. If leaders want to grow their influence, they need to share their power. I suggest they can do this more effectively in structures that are circular in nature. What do you think? Thank you for reading. Richard Fontanie  Leadership development encourages leaders to become inspired and motivated to continue their very best. This motivation helps them to attain goals they made for themselves as well as the company.
Unfortunately, many company leaders don’t fully appreciate or understand this. Why? Perhaps because they have problems with other company leaders, or perhaps they think that leaders are just born, and so developing leadership programs is a waste of time and money. I would like to give those that think this way a number of benefits for developing a leadership program. A leadership development program will:
In the end a leadership development program points to a culture of success – where everyone wins. An important factor to remember when developing a leadership program is that it is just not for those in leadership positions – but should be designed to also engage those who are not in a formal leadership position. Out of this pool will come the organization’s future leaders. What are the tips to effectively train your employees and leaders to work in conjunction with each other? People in the leadership development field agree leaders need to be effective and can be that way with self-motivation. While there are numerous studies about the benefits of self-motivation, very few leaders actually follow the advice. If you’re creating a leadership development program for your employees, here are six tips to ensure the training is effective for all involved. Inform People To Think Ahead – If they can do this, they have the foundation laid to become a great leader. It’s easy for them to take on bigger, harder problems or contend with challenges that arise. By thinking ahead of time, they make careful plans to ensure mistakes are mitigated. Inspire Leaders To Learn About Themselves – This allows them to know what their strengths and weaknesses are, and come up with ways to move past, manage and address them. They can even find ways to better their strengths. Inspire Leaders To Share Experiences With Others – Leaders who are directly involved with employees and share their experiences tend to be more effective in boosting company morale and keeping employees with the company. Encourage Them To Pursue Additional Learning – The effective leaders know that constant learning is necessary. They understand that new things hit the market every day and that they need new skills to stay relevant and ensure the company meets its goals. In leadership development training, participants should be inspired to continue their learning, which could open up another world of opportunities they never believed was possible. Inspire Them To Think Positive – Leaders are often faced with negative feelings and thoughts. In order for them to think positive, they need to face the negative emotions and admit that they too make mistakes that aren’t always in the best interest of employees and the company. Well-developed leaders inspire others to become leaders; and, strong leaders are self-motivated learners who model positive behaviors and ethical values providing shining examples for others to follow. Thank you for reading, Richard P. Fontanie  If you were to build a house, you would begin with a blueprint. This blueprint proves useful because it contains more than directions on how to build a house. It also describes the finished house. So, what does this have to do with leadership? Recently a colleague of mine asked an audience of leaders to tell him the characteristics of an ideal leader. Their answers were (in the order collected): A good listener, enthusiasm, passion, shows appreciation, a visionary, role model, trusting, integrity, organized, knowledgeable, credibility, persuasive, charisma, team building, clarity of purpose, problem solver, attitude of service, leads by example, patience, willing to act without complete knowledge, understands followers, consistent, empowers other people, and adapts to change. I'll add that this is essentially the same list that I received from other audiences when I asked this question. From this comes some useful insight.
Actually, applying these characteristics requires more strength than not.
And that's interesting because many popular representations of leadership emphasize at least one of these "hard" characteristics. In fact, these characteristics are the refuge of those who lack the strength (or the skills) to apply the human side of leadership.
Would they list characteristics from the "soft" list or from the "hard" list? Could you become more effective by improving upon any of the "soft" characteristics? And how about the other leaders in your organization? Do they truly maximize human potential? People want leaders who treat them with genuine compassion, courtesy, and respect. They want leaders who help them become more successful. They want leaders who inspire them with a vision for a better world and show them how to go there. See also my articles on A Manager's "Soft Stuff" Is Their "Hard Stuff." and under the tab Leadership Qualities on the side bar Thank you for reading, Richard P. Fontanie (From a soon to be released e-book – How To Become An Influential Leader) |
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February 2025
LeaderManager Master Class
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