TIPS & TRAITS OF TOP LEADERS

LEADERS EARN RESPECT...BEFORE APPROVAL OR FRIENDSHIP!

TIP...BUILD TRUST

     Be accountable...Take responsibility

     Create an open, positive, risk taking environment

     Focus on solutions, not fault finding and assigning blame

     See unwanted results as an opportunity to improve individuals and the organization

     Don't be defensive...

     You don't have to have all the answers...Just help people find them

TIP...SET & HOLD HIGH STANDARDS

     Raise the bar...The lowest form of behavior you allow is who you are as a leader

     Blur the lines between job assignments...The mission is everyone's job

     Don't allow average behavior

     Assign and monitor all work to teach and coach using specifics

     Hold people accountable

TRAIT...CARE MORE ABOUT PEOPLE THAN RESULTS

     Manage people's attitudes before they become actions and poor results

     Don't allow people to accept average behavior

     Care enough to challenge people to get them to do what they don't want to do

     Don't overreact...Make people more important than results and the results will improve

     Teach, coach and mentor to help people grow

TRAIT...SUPPORT & VALIDATE PEOPLE

     Make taking time for people a priority

     Be respectful...Pay attention and listen

     Ask people's opinions...Pay attention and listen

     Reward extra effort...Pay attention

     Make people feel important...Pay attention

     Did I mention...Pay attention

TRAIT...EMBRACE CHANGE, MAKE IT A RITUAL

     Be a change advocate...Lead the change

     Encourage change...Ask people how they and the organization can improve

     Question everything...Never except or settle for the status quo

     Help people change to improve...When they don't, change your people

Be mindful that people will treat each other and your customers the way you treat them!

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THE ROAD AHEAD...NEW LEADERSHIP REQUIRED

We are headed for more trouble as many of you are witnessing and sharing with me daily. The majority of stories shared with me include faltering hopes, negative attitudes and a sense of doom from those on the front lines of business...salespeople. Frustration is mounting among many salespeople that their daily reality and their companies leadership approach aren't aligned. In fact, many salespeople feel their companies leadership is detached from their reality.

We are, and have been, in a transition to a 'new age of business' for many years. As a point of reference, the 'digital age' wasn't a transition to a new economy or age of business, it wasn't an age at all. It was the addition of advancing technology to the industrial age. The transition we are in now is a transition as significant as the one from the agricultural age to the industrial age and includes a shift to a 'new economy'. We have been experiencing the pain of this transition since 2008 because it was seen as part of the old cyclical economy instead of a major transition or shift.  

Leaders responded with old solutions to past cyclical downturns, instead of reacting to the transition with new ideas, thinking and actions.

Many business leaders are still suffering from 'economic normalcy bias'...They believe because it's never happened to them before it won't happen now. Their past experience and comfort clouds their vision. What they're experiencing is very much like the people who believed the earth is flat...Their belief didn't make it true, it only held them back and robbed them from exploring what was possible. It took new thinkers with a vision of a new world and the courage to fail, to explore the truth and succeed...Just as it will today. Mainstream economists are starting to acknowledge that we're not in a downturn but have entered a 'new economy'.

Too many leaders and almost all followers are waiting for and banking on a recovery that isn't coming...I am not sharing this with you as bad news, it isn't doom and gloom. In fact, this transition is good news! 

Great news, in fact, for those with clear vision, courage and the right attitudes to take advantage of the opportunities a 'new age of business' presents. The leaders in this 'new age of business' will experience great new successes just as those in the past did.

Struggling with this transition shouldn't come as a surprise though. It happened before. It's hard to be a successful leader from one age to the next because what made you a success in one doesn't assure your success in the next.

Contrary to most, I don't believe change is painful...I believe it's the resistance to change that causes the pain. The evidence of this is seen when we embrace change and become reenergized with new vision for the future or resist change and suffer in the fight to maintain our comfort with our status quo and past successes.

The old cyclical economy is broken and there is no recovery coming but there are many opportunities for new leadership to succeed today and in the coming years .

What we are experiencing is different, unique in fact. Changes in demographics, business and work ethics, consumer attitudes, economic debt, technology and globalization have all come together to drive this transition. There will be many winners in the 'new age of business'. The question is will you be one or will you get caught holding on until it's too late?

For those leaders holding on to the old economic model, the temporary short-term successes experienced, read or heard about, just help them hold on to the status quo a little longer and postpone their successful transition. 

For those with vision, who trust their instincts and truly believe people are a businesses greatest asset, new achievements and success are just around the corner.

Change, real change, is coming and it's bringing with it new amazing opportunities for those with the courage to truly put people first, hold them to a higher standard, embrace new thinking and take bold new actions. These people will become the leaders in this 'new age of business' and begin to writing the next chapter in history.

Welcome to the 'people first age of business'.

By Mike Moore

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15 Ways to Acknowledge Your Sales Management Team's Efforts

You may think that you have the best revenue control team around. But do they know how you feel? Finding little ways to recognize your staff's performance can go a long way to reducing income and increasing the success of your company.1. Create a message panel in a highly noticeable place, e.g., the boardroom where your revenue agents satisfies, the staff space or cooking area area, where you

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Hello World

Hello World

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