Leadership Improvement Idea

“What the f*** is your plan? Mustard packs.” -- Paulie “Walnuts” Gualtieri, HBO’s “The Sopranos”

As many of you know or may not know, I’m a huge (fanatical might be a better word) fan of “The Sopranos,” in part because it appeals to my love of Jersey and my Italian heritage but mostly because of the quality of the character development and the great writing that made each show special.

Season 3 was one of my favorites. It had great writing, great characters (Can Gloria Trillo, I mean Annabella Sciorra, make “Eight in the Box”?) and some of the best episodes ever.

Episode 37, “Pine Barrens,” is a classic, definitely a favorite episode and where the above quote originates. The plot line centers on the concept of a very simple plan that goes awry.

The first fundamental rule of leadership is “Management of Attention.” This means you must have a plan, one that can achieve the goals set forth. Now, as we can see from the misadventures of Paulie and Christopher in the Pine Barrens, just having a plan doesn’t always work. You must have the right plan.

How can you be assured that your plan can work? Warren Buffett once said, “I want to be able to explain my mistakes. This means I do only the things I completely understand.” Therefore, a great plan comes from completely understanding what it takes to be successful.

The best answer for all of us is to pay very close attention to the mistakes in our professional field. In football, the best way to formulate plans on and off the field comes from watching other successful operations work, or from learning from the mistakes of others.

Since learning from mistakes helps leaders, the Harvard Business Review provides a list of 10 fatal flaws that can derail them:

1. Lack energy and enthusiasm: Paulie had planned to take his mother to the social security office, so this job was an inconvenience.

2. Accept own mediocre performance: Paulie had a bad attitude before doing the job; he felt the job was beneath his stature in the family.

3. Lack clear vision and direction: Had no clear understanding of the task at hand, or how he would perform the task. Decided to just “wing it.”

4. Have poor judgment: Dropped the Russian’s universal remote control on the floor, which started all the problems.

5. Don’t collaborate: Ignored Chrissie’s request to behave when first dealing with the Russian.

6. Don’t walk the talk: Walked in a circle in the Pine Barrens, which resulted in not being able to find his way out.

7. Resist new ideas: Paulie would not listen to Chrissie’s idea to stop in the Roy Rogers for a bite to eat.

8. Don’t learn from mistakes: The Russian was tougher than they first thought.

9. Lack interpersonal skills: Four years in the Army didn’t help Paulie develop a plan that would work.

10. Fail to develop others: “This guy can never come back to tell this story” were the words of wisdom Paulie received from Tony as this bad plan kept unfolding and unraveling.

Watch “Pine Barrens” and you can see that Paulie as leader was 10 for 10 on each item from the Harvard Business Review. We can learn how to be better leaders from HIS failed leadership.

The Champion Within Article

LOVE THIS ARTICLE FROM DENIS WAITLEY - WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

Moving from Procrastination to Pro-Activation - Time To Get Started

Here are some ideas to help make you a victor over change rather than a victim of change:

1. Set your wake-up time a half hour earlier tomorrow and keep the clock at that setting. Use the extra time to think about the best way to spend your day.
2. Memorize and repeat this motto: “Action TNT: Today, not tomorrow.” Handle each piece of incoming mail only once. Answer your e-mail either early in the morning or after working hours. Block out specific times to initiate phone calls, take incoming calls, and to meet people in person.
3. When people tell you their problems, give solution-oriented feedback. Rather than taking on the problem as your own assignment, first, ask what’s the next step they plan to take, or what they would like to see happen.
4. Finish what you start. Concentrate all your energy and intensity, without distraction, on successfully completing your current major project.
5. Be constructively helpful instead of unhelpfully critical. Single out someone or something to praise instead of participating in group griping, grudge collecting or pity parties.
6. Limit your television viewing or Internet surfing to mostly educational or otherwise enlightening programs. Watch no more than one hour of television per day or night, unless there is a special program you have been anticipating. The Internet has also become a great procrastinator’s hideout for tension-relieving instead of goal-achieving activities.
7. Make a list of five necessary but unpleasant projects you’ve been putting off, with a completion date for each project. Immediate action on unpleasant projects reduces stress and tension. It is very difficult to be active and depressed at the same time.
8. Seek out and converse with a successful role model and mentor. Learning from others’ successes and setbacks will inevitably improve production of any kind. Truly listen; really find out how your role models do it right.
9. Understand that fear, as an acronym, is False Evidence Appearing Real, and that luck could mean Laboring Under Correct Knowledge. The more information you have on any subject—especially case histories—the less likely you’ll be to put off your decisions.
10. Accept problems as inevitable offshoots of change and progress. With the ever more rapid pace of change in society and business, you’ll be overwhelmed unless you view change as normal and learn to look for its positive aspects—such as new opportunities and improvements—rather than bemoan the negative.

There is actually no such thing as a “future” decision; there are only present decisions that will affect the future. Procrastinators wait for just the right moment to decide.

If you wait for the perfect moment, you become a security-seeker who is running in place, unwittingly digging yourself deeper into your rut. If you wait for every objection to be overcome, you’ll attempt nothing. Get out of your comfort zone and go from procrastinating to pro-activating. Make your personal motto: “Stop stewing and start doing!”

Do These Three Things - PLEASE

I am extremely leery of any quick-fix solution or overnight formula for success. In my opinion, they don't exist as we all have to work on ourselves to make it happen. In the words of Denis Waitley;

"Success is a process that continues, not a status that you reach. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned."

With that said, the following formula is one that has been shared with members of my family/friends to encourage them to break through the rut they are in and experience success. Therefore, if I would share it with my family, I must believe in the principles. I suggested that they begin to regularly do these three things:

1. Surround themselves with positive people who believe that this life is not all there is. Personally, I find this at my local church and with my close circle of friends and business team members. Look, I know we don't share the same faith in all cases and this message is not about my faith; it is about you finding a group of people who regularly meet together and have a belief that there is more to life than what we see. This is the first step to a positive outlook on life.

2. You must exercise weekly in order to stimulate endorphins and maintain an energetic life. The exercise of walking to the kitchen or curling 12 ounces does not count as exercise. I bike ride several miles twice a week, and two to three days a week do strength training. This is nothing difficult, but it makes a major difference in my attitude, mindset and motivation.

3. You MUST educate yourself through reading. The average CEO in America reads four to five books per month. The average American reads one book per year, and 60 percent of us don't get past the first chapter! Which are you? I am no CEO and I read at least 2 sometimes 3 books per month, so can you...make a promise to yourself to read at least one book per month. Read anything except the "gossip trade rags", it makes a difference!

Regardless, of what you read… develop a passion for reading and learning, and you will see your attitude and outlook on life begin to change. Any person who faithfully invests their time in these three areas may not break world records in levels of success. However, everything in me believes that they would see dramatic improvements. I believe in those three things so much, I have encouraged my family/friends to invest their time in these areas as well.

50 Habits of Highly Successful People

1. They look for and find opportunities where others see nothing.

2. They find a lesson while others only see a problem.

3. They are solution focused.

4. They consciously and methodically create their own success, while others hope success will find them.

5. They are fearful like everyone else, but they are not controlled or limited by fear.

6. They ask the right questions - the ones which put them in a productive, creative, positive mindset and emotional state.

7. They rarely complain (waste of energy). All complaining does is put the complainer in a negative and unproductive state.

8. They don’t blame (what’s the point?). They take complete responsibility for their actions and outcomes (or lack thereof).

9. While they are not necessarily more talented than the majority, they always find a way to maximize their potential. They get more out of themselves. They use what they have more effectively.

10. They are busy, productive and proactive. While most are laying on the couch, planning, over-thinking, sitting on their hands and generally going around in circles, they are out there getting the job done.

11. They align themselves with like-minded people. They understand the importance of being part of a team. They create win-win relationships.

12. They are ambitious; they want amazing - and why shouldn’t they? They consciously choose to live their best life rather than spending it on auto-pilot.

13. They have clarity and certainty about what they want (and don’t want) for their life. They actually visualize and plan their best reality while others are merely spectators of life.

14. They innovate rather than imitate.

15. They don’t procrastinate and they don’t spend their life waiting for the ‘right time’.

16. They are life-long learners. They constantly work at educating themselves, either formally (academically), informally (watching, listening, asking, reading, student of life) or experientially (doing, trying)… or all three.

17. They are glass half full people - while still being practical and down-to-earth. They have an ability to find the good.

18. They consistently do what they need to do, irrespective of how they are feeling on a given day. They don’t spend their life stopping and starting.

19. They take calculated risks - financial, emotional, professional, and psychological.

20. They deal with problems and challenges quickly and effectively, they don’t put their head in the sand. They face their challenges and use them to improve themselves.

21. They don’t believe in, or wait for fate, destiny, chance or luck to determine or shape their future. They believe in, and are committed to actively and consciously creating their own best life.

22. While many people are reactive, they are proactive. They take action before they have to.

23. They are more effective than most at managing their emotions. They feel like we all do but they are not slaves to their emotions.

24. They are good communicators and they consciously work at it.

25. They have a plan for their life and they work methodically at turning that plan into a reality. Their life is not a clumsy series of unplanned events and outcomes.

26. Their desire to be exceptional means that they typically do things that most won’t. They become exceptional by choice. We’re all faced with live-shaping decisions almost daily. Successful people make the decisions that most won’t and don’t.

27. While many people are pleasure junkies and avoid pain and discomfort at all costs, successful people understand the value and benefits of working through the tough stuff that most would avoid.

28. They have identified their core values (what is important to them) and they do their best to live a life which is reflective of those values.

29. They have balance. While they may be financially successful, they know that the terms money and success are not interchangeable. They understand that people who are successful on a financial level only, are not successful at all. Unfortunately we live in a society which teaches that money equals success. Like many other things, money is a tool. It’s certainly not a bad thing but ultimately, it’s just another resource. Unfortunately, too many people worship it.

30. They understand the importance of discipline and self-control. They are strong. They are happy to take the road less travelled.

31. They are secure. They do not derive their sense of worth of self from what they own, who they know, where they live or what they look like.

32. They are generous and kind. They take pleasure in helping others achieve.

33. They are humble and they are happy to admit mistakes and to apologize. They are confident in their ability, but not arrogant. They are happy to learn from others. They are happy to make others look good rather than seek their own personal glory.

34. They are adaptable and embrace change, while the majority are creatures of comfort and habit. They are comfortable with, and embrace, the new and the unfamiliar.

35. They keep themselves in shape physically, not to be mistaken with training for the Olympics or being obsessed with their body. They understand the importance of being physically well. They are not all about looks, they are more concerned with function and health. Their body is not who they are, it’s where they live.

36. They have a big engine. They work hard and are not lazy.

37. They are resilient. When most would throw in the towel, they’re just warming up.

38. They are open to, and more likely to act upon, feedback.

39. They don’t hang out with toxic people.

40. They don’t invest time or emotional energy into things which they have no control of.

41. They are happy to swim against the tide, to do what most won’t. They are not people pleasers and they don’t need constant approval.

42. They are more comfortable with their own company than most.

43. They set higher standards for themselves (a choice we can all make), which in turn produces greater commitment, more momentum, a better work ethic and of course, better results.

44. They don’t rationalize failure. While many are talking about their age, their sore back, their lack of time, their poor genetics, their ‘bad luck’, their nasty boss and their lack of opportunities (all good reasons to fail), they are finding a way to succeed despite all their challenges.

45. They have an off switch. They know how to relax, enjoy what they have in their life and to have fun.

46. Their career is not their identity, it’s their job. It’s not who they are, it’s what they do.

47. They are more interested in effective than they are in easy. While the majority look for the quickest, easiest way (the shortcut), they look for the course of action which will produce the best results over the long term.

48. They finish what they start. While so many spend their life starting things that they never finish, successful people get the job done - even when the excitement and the novelty have worn off, and even when it’s not fun.

49. They are multi-dimensional, amazing, wonderful complex creatures (as we all are). They realize that not only are they physical and psychological beings, but emotional and spiritual creatures as well. They consciously work at being healthy and productive on all levels.

50. They practice what they preach. They don’t talk about the theory, they live the reality.