Remembering 9/11
By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
On the eve of the nineth anniversary of the horrific tragedy that occurred on September 11th, 2001 I believe it should be incumbent upon us all to take pause and remember what happened on 9/11, to mourn those who were lost that day, and to reflect upon how the events of that day have forever changed our world. So rather than share my usual content, I want to encourage you to offer condolences to families of all those who lost their lives on 9/11, to our fallen heroes who have lost their lives since that day, and/or to send well wishes to our veterans or active duty service members. I would ask that you leave your comments below and to promote this post so that our heroes and their families will know how much we love and support them. Thanks in advance for your participation.
First the bad news: If you’re not willing to embrace change you’re not ready to lead. Put simply, leadership is not a static endeavor. In fact, leadership demands fluidity, which requires the willingness to recognize the need for change, and finally the ability to lead change. Now the good news: As much as some people want to create complexity around the topic of leading change for personal gain, the reality is that creating, managing and leading change is really quite simple. To prove my point, I’ll not only explain the entire change life-cycle in three short paragraphs, but I’ll do it in simple terms that anyone can understand. As a bonus I’ll also give you 10 items to assess in evaluating whether the change you’re considering is value added, or just change for the sake of change…
One of the most effective ways to order your world is to simplify everything you encounter. However the problem is that keeping it simple often becomes very difficult when our basic human nature is to over-complicate everything we touch. In thinking about the people I respect the most, to the one, they possess the uncanny ability to take the most complicated of issues and simplify them. You will find that the best leaders, communicators, teachers, and innovators have a true knack for taking extremely complex, dense or intricate content and making it engaging and easy to understand. In fact, it was Leonardo Da Vinci who said: “simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication.” In today’s post I’ll take a look at the often overlooked benefits of keeping it simple…
This may be difficult for some the get their heads around, but perfectionism is not a leadership trait. Leadership requires attention to detail and a commitment to quality, but rarely does it require perfection. While leadership doesn’t require being perfect, it does require doing what is needed and necessary. Perhaps one of the biggest flaws with the concept of perfection is found in who defines perfect – the definition of perfection will almost always vary radically from person to person. In today’s post I’ll share my thoughts on the myth of perfection.
Allowing gossip in the workplace is like encouraging your employees to swim with sharks. Let me cut right to the chase – real leaders don’t participate in gossip, and likewise they don’t tolerate gossip from others. Gossip destroys trust, undermines credibility, and is one of the greatest adversaries of a healthy corporate culture. While the emotional distress associated with gossip can be dealt with fairly easily, the political discord that can erupt in an organization can be nothing short of disastrous. In today’s post I’ll share my thoughts on how to control gossip in the workplace…
The key to developing influence is understanding that contacts and relationships are not synonymous. Don’t confuse a database with a sphere of influence. A database consists of information records, and a sphere of influence consists of meaningful relationships built upon a foundation of trust – a point of distinction lost upon many. Spammers and info-product sales people add contacts to a database, while savvy professionals interested in creating influence invest into people for the purpose of building relationships. In today’s post I’ll describe how to create influence by developing high value relationships…
Over the years I’ve come to believe that there is only one sure fire litmus test for measuring leadership success, and to the chagrin of many reading this post, it has little to do with what happens on the job. Today’s post might push a few buttons and test the boundaries of your comfort zone, but if you stick with me, I promise you’ll be glad you did. I’m going to peel back the layers on your personal brand, question your priorities, and quite possibly put a big dent in your carefully crafted professional facade. We’re going to get very personal today – How’s your family life?
Today’s post contains a list of the Top 30 Leadership Blogs of 2010. I know, I know - another list? You’re undoubtedly thinking “who died and left Mike Myatt in charge of qualitatively assessing leadership blogs?” Great question. In fact, when striving to come-up with this list I quickly came to the conclusion that while I attempted to use objective logic in making my assessments, the reality is that a list like this is mostly subjective based upon personal preference. In the text that follows I’ll share my logic, or as some will likely point out, my lack of logic in deciding which blogs to place on the list. I hope you enjoy the list, and that you’ll add these Top Leadership Blogs to your leadership reading list.
“Who the **** is in charge around here?” This question left an absolutely indelible impression on my mind since I first heard it more than 30 years ago. Our unit was experiencing its first inspection by a Sargeant Major whose reputation definitely preceded him…It took him all of about 3 seconds ask “who the **** is in charge around here?” He then proceeded to communicate in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t nearly as concerned about the faults he would find, as he was about how our leader (guess who?) could have allowed them to occur in the first place. It was at this precise moment that I came to understand that the most important factor in determining whether or not something will be successful is who is charged with the responsibility for making it happen.
Why do business fail? Given the current state of the economy, I would say it’s a safe bet that many of you have pondered the answer to this question as we watch companies close their doors on a daily basis. The unfortunate reality is that well more than 50% of all new business ventures fail within the first three years, and especially during tough economic times, many mature, even once category dominant companies fail over time. In today’s post I’ll share my thoughts as to the real number one reason why businesses fail – It’s not what you think…