“The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”

Vince Lombardi

Quality 3: Commitment; Staying the Course

To be an effective leader, you have to be committed. True commitment inspires the people around you, shows your conviction, and creates an atmosphere conducive to achievement. Although commitment means different things to different people, the true nature of commitment is always the same.

The True Nature of Commitment

Starts in the Heart

Talent is not enough. Intelligence is not enough. To achieve success takes “heart”. It’s what makes you get up when you fall, makes you jog one more lap, practice one more shot, squeeze out one more rep - it is the difference between being a leader and just making the team. People follow the person that always sees things through, no matter what adversity they face.

Tested through Adversity

True commitment withstands any adversity. That’s not to say that you won’t suffer setbacks - you will. But true commitment picks you up, and finds a way to stay the course.

The Catalyst to Achievement

True commitment creates momentum - and momentum is the difference between effective leadership and failure. It is the difference maker. Remember - the combustion temperature of wood is about 525º F (give or take given the type of wood and its water content), at 524º F you have warm soot and smoke; 1º difference and you have a crackling fire for warmth and cooking. If you like to camp in cold climates - you understand the difference maker in that 1º!

Improving Your Commitment

To improve your commitment, do the following:

Measure It

Try the following exercise:

First make a list of the top five things that you feel you are committed to.

Next - take a look at how you spend your time. How much time do you spend at work, with family, or providing service to others?

Finally - examine your bank and credit card statements. How much do you spend on entertainment, personal development, or charity?

Does the way you spend your time and money reflect the things you are committed to? This can be an eye-opening exercise!

Align It with Your Values

An effective leader can not be in conflict within. No matter how talented you may be, you can not be truly committed to a cause (work, social, or otherwise) that is in direct conflict with your personal values.

Make It Public

If you feel you have a problem with taking the first step toward commitment - make it public. Tell others what you intend to do, put out a press release - you might just find that by making your commitments public, you’ll have an easier time following through.

Recap:

The True Nature of Commitment:

• Starts in the Heart
  
• Is Tested through Adversity
  
• Is a Catalyst to Achievement
  

To Improve Your Commitment

• Measure It
  
• Align It with Your Values
  
• Make It Public

Note from Bruce: I have recently revisited John C. Maxwell’s The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader. As an exercise in personal development, I will be writing an article each week that focuses on one of these qualities until I have addressed all 21.

If you want to make sure that you don’t miss an article, Subscribe to Brucisms!

Related Posts

• March 4, 2008 -- Quality 2: Charisma; Drawing People to You (0)
• February 20, 2008 -- Quality 1: Character; Invest in Your Integrity Bank Today! (2)
• January 25, 2008 -- The Leadership Compass (2)

Quality 2: Charisma; Drawing People to You

What is it about great leaders that not only gets people to stop and listen, but to take action? Charisma. Those who have it brandish it with ease. Those who don’t think of it as some kind of gift, a mysterious - almost magical power. But charisma is not a birthright, nor is it a dark art; it is an ability that can be learned.

Charisma, plainly stated, is the ability to draw people to you. And like other character traits, it can be developed. John Maxwell in The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader

So how do you develop it?

Have Zest for Life

If you have zest and enthusiasm you attract zest and enthusiasm. Life does give back in kind. Norman Vincent Peale

People are attracted to people who are happy, excited, energetic, and enthusiastic. No one will follow a cynic. Stay positive, upbeat, confident and genuine - and people will listen and follow.

Make People Feel Great About Themselves

When I left the dining room after sitting next to Mr. Gladstone, I thought he was the cleverest man in England. But after sitting next to Mr. Disraeli, I thought I was the cleverest woman in England. A woman when asked her impression of the two English statesmen Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone after dining with them.

There is nothing more magnetic than someone who makes you feel great! Be genuinely interested in people, use their name, listen to them; you’ll have a following in no time.

Help Them See the Oak Tree

The task of leadership is not to put greatness into people, but to elicit it, for the greatness is there already. John Buchan

There are two things that are true of most people. They will almost always deliver what is expected of them, and they do not expect enough of themselves. If you expect more from those around you and help them see their potential, you will enrich your life and the lives of those you lead.

Share Yourself

You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give. Kahlil Gibran

People love leaders who share themselves and their life journeys. Share your wisdom, your resources, even your special occasions. Think about how you can add value to people’s lives and then share your journey with them.

Recap:

• Have zest for life
• Make people feel great about themselves
• Help them see the oak tree
• Share yourself

For more ways to build your charisma make sure to read Tina’s practical advice in 8 Keys to Instant Charisma at Think Simple Now.

Note from Bruce: I have recently revisited John C. Maxwell’s The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader. As an exercise in personal development, I will be writing an article each week that focuses on one of these qualities until I have addressed all 21.

If you want to make sure that you don’t miss an article, Subscribe to Brucisms!

Related Posts

• March 13, 2008 -- Quality 3: Commitment; Staying the Course (4)
• February 20, 2008 -- Quality 1: Character; Invest in Your Integrity Bank Today! (2)

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist, philosopher and poet (1803-1882)

Quality 1: Character; Invest in Your Integrity Bank Today!

In The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader, John C. Maxwell says that:

“Talent is a gift; but character is a choice… In fact we create it every time we make choices - to cop out or dig out of a hard situation, to bend the truth or stand under the weight of it, to take the easy money or pay the price. As you live your life and make choices today, you are continuing to create your character.”

In fact building your character is like investing in your integrity. Every time you make a choice that lives up to your values - you make a deposit into your Integrity Bank; and every time you make a choice that shortcuts your values - you make a withdrawal. The more deposits you make, the more interest you earn - and the more likely you are to make choices with integrity in the future. Conversely, the more withdrawals you make, the more likely you are to shortcut your integrity in the future - and eventually will become morally bankrupt.

Here is a simple way that you can take steps today to make deposits into your Integrity Bank:

First, make a short list of values that you would like to work on. This could be anything - compassion, love of family, servitude, courage - anything you feel you may be lacking. Next, make a conscious decision to do one thing today that demonstrates one of those values. Read a story to your child, take a walk with your significant other, cross the street to give a homeless person a couple of dollars rather than avoiding them. Very soon, you will have a rock solid foundation of integrity steeled with the iron will of conviction. Try it - you’ll be amazed at the results!

Note from Bruce: I have recently revisited John C. Maxwell’s The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader. As an exercise in personal development, I will be writing an article each week that focuses on one of these qualities until I have addressed all 21.

If you want to make sure that you don’t miss an article, Subscribe to Brucisms!

Related Posts

• March 13, 2008 -- Quality 3: Commitment; Staying the Course (4)
• March 4, 2008 -- Quality 2: Charisma; Drawing People to You (0)
• January 25, 2008 -- The Leadership Compass (2)

The Leadership Compass

As any sailor or woodsmen knows, the compass is the most basic and essential tool for navigation. Leaders, likewise, need a compass to navigate the turbulent waters of problem solving and the wilderness of decision-making. It is a core set of values that when followed will always keep you on the path to success.

True North: Creating Value
Just as the needle of a compass always points toward magnetic north, the leadership compass must always point toward actions that create value – for the individual, the team, and the organization.

Navigation: Finding your way
A compass works only because of the underlying law of magnetism. This law is a constant that can be depended upon. The leadership compass must be supported by governing values that provide a constant direction as well. There is a wealth of leadership and management knowledge available today. As a leader, the more you absorb, the finer you will hone your leadership skills. The following four concepts and behaviors will provide a solid foundation for your leadership compass to follow.

Kaizen

(kai: change); (zen: good)

Kaizen literally means change for the better” or “improvement”; the common English usage is “continuous improvement” or “continual improvement”.

Kaizen is a daily activity whose purpose goes beyond simple productivity improvement. It is also a process that, when done correctly, humanizes the workplace, eliminates overly hard work (both mental and physical), and teaches critical thinking and problem solving skills with the intent to spot and eliminate waste in business processes.

To be most effective kaizen must operate with three principles in place:

• Consider the process and the results (not results-only) so that actions to achieve effects are surfaced;

• Systemic thinking of the whole process and not just that immediately in view (i.e. big picture, not solely the narrow view) in order to avoid creating problems elsewhere in the process; and

• A learning, non-judgmental, non-blaming (because blaming is wasteful) approach that insists on the consistent re-examination of the assumptions that resulted in the current process.

The cycle of kaizen activity can be defined as: standardize an operation -> measure the standardized operation (find cycle time and amount of in-process inventory) -> gauge measurements against requirements -> innovate to meet requirements and increase productivity -> standardize the new, improved operations -> continue cycle ad infinitum. This is also known as the Shewhart cycle, Deming cycle, or PDCA.

Hansei (han: to change, turn over, turn upside down); (sei: look back upon, review, examine oneself)

Hansei literally means “profound reflection”. Figuratively it describes being conscious of your behavior and its impact on others and to acknowledge your own mistake and to pledge improvement. Hansei also means greeting success with modesty and humility. To stop hansei means to stop learning. With hansei one never becomes so convinced of one’s own superiority that there is no more room or need for further improvement.

Unlike a traditional “post-mortem”, hansei is a behavior as much as it is an event. Both successes and failures are looked at with the same scrutiny. An example may be a project that delivered ahead of time or under budget – rather than celebrating this “success”, hansei would lead you to ask – Why were our estimates so wrong?

Nemawashi (ne: root); (mawasu: to go around)

Nemawashi literally translates as “going around the roots”. Its original meaning was literal: digging around the roots of a tree, to prepare it for a transplant. It is often translated as “laying the groundwork”.

Nemawashi in Japanese culture is an informal process of quietly laying the foundation for some proposed change or project, by talking to the people concerned, gathering support and feedback, and so forth. It is considered an important element in any major change, before any formal steps are taken, and successful nemawashi enables changes to be carried out with the consent of all sides.

I.D.E.A. Loops

Matthew E. May in The Elegant Solution proposed a modification to the Deming cycle that he calls I.D.E.A. loops.

IDEA is an acronym for Investigation, Design, Execute, Adjust. It’s a codification of the human learning cycle.

Our most powerful learning experiences generally occur in a four phase cycle of 1) Questioning; 2) Solving; 3) Experimenting; 4) Reflecting.

Everything starts with a question, which triggers an investigation and information-gathering effort. How can I do that better? That leads to the definition of a problem to be analyzed and solved. The search for possible answers to your question entails generating ideas, solutions, and corrective measures. By experimenting with one or more of the solutions, the most appropriate and effective is discovered. You then reflect on your experiments, observing your own thinking and actions. How well did that work? This in turn stimulates further questions, commencing the learning cycle again.

The beauty of IDEA Loops is that they can apply to all situations. Investigation, Design, Execution, and Adjustment are the universal denominators to successful innovation.

Staying the Course
An expert navigator instinctively measures weather patterns, terrain, currents, etc. to choose the safest course. These instincts are honed by years of experience. It is equally essential that the principles above be practiced until they become instinctive in order for the leadership compass to provide dependable guidance. Superficial knowledge of these concepts is not enough; they must be practiced repetitively until they become behaviors and ultimately ingrained values. It is then that they will become the guiding principles of your leadership compass.

From the author:

The principles contained in “Setting the Compass” are foundational to the Toyota Production System as introduced to the western world in The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World’s Greatest Manufacturer by Jeffrey K. Liker. As was reported by the New York Times, these principles are not easily translated to western culture – even by Toyota.

As a westerner who has spent many years studying eastern thought, I believe that it must be understood that Japanese culture is deeply influenced by the Buddhist and Zen traditions of awareness through deep meditation. It is this awareness – the embodiment of the principles – that is the key to successfully mastering them. As I pointed out in the article, superficial knowledge of the principles is not enough – they must become part of the value system of the leader; and ultimately the organization, to promote lasting, positive change. It is this embodiment of values that creates a leadership culture – and as Jason Jennings points out:“Culture is the ultimate competitive advantage!”

Related Posts

• March 13, 2008 -- Quality 3: Commitment; Staying the Course (4)
• February 20, 2008 -- Quality 1: Character; Invest in Your Integrity Bank Today! (2)
• January 25, 2008 -- Book Review: Blink * The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (0)