Tyranny: Leaders can become cruel. They can use their power to oppress, abuse, and cheat workers.  Ultimately, tyrannical leaders can destroy an organization. On the other hand, great leaders lift their workers to create great organizations with people who enjoy professional success. What elements create great leaders who instill confidence and workplace engagement?

Tyranny in leadership infects the brain of an organization and creates destruction as it spreads throughout the entire organizational body.
~ www.jaywren.com

Leadership

Leadership is a trait that can start from any place in an organization.  Usually leadership starts at the top and runs throughout the entire organization.  By picking and developing winning teams, great leaders create great organizations.

Tyranny in Leadership

However, bad leaders, especially leaders who practice tyranny, can create failure in any organization. The Caine Mutiny is a novel about a commanding officer, LCDR Philip Francis Queeg, whose endless mistakes and tyrannical command create such desperation among the officers that they commit mutiny.  Herman Wouk, the author of The Caine Mutiny, drew upon his knowledge from World War II experiences aboard a similar vessel, the USS Zane.

The book dramatically portrays leadership failure.  The mistakes, tyranny, and dishonesty of Captain Queeg result in mistakes among the officers and crew and create dangerous and embarrassing situations for the ship under his command, the USS Caine.

As I said in an earlier post, there is a saying in the United States Navy, “So goes the captain. So goes the wardroom. So goes the ship.”  A bad captain creates bad performance among the officers who in turn create bad performance among the people who work for them.  On the other hand, great commanding officers raise the performance of their officers and in turn their crew.

The same principle applies in any organization.

Brilliance Exists at All Levels

Great leaders know that brilliance exists at all levels of their organization. Furthermore, great leaders have left great quotes to instruct us on leadership.  During World War II, Fleet Admiral Chester William Nimitz was the Commander-in-Chief, US Pacific Fleet.  Additionally, he was Commander of the Pacific Ocean Areas for U.S. and Allied air, land, and sea forces. Here are two quotes from Nimitz that show his view of leadership.

“Leadership consists of picking good men and helping them do their best.”

“Some of the best advice I’ve had comes from junior officers and enlisted men.”

Rather than abuse the people who work for them, great leaders see these future leaders as sources of creativity and inspiration.

My Experience with Excellence in Leadership

The greatest leader I have known is Admiral Sylvester R. Foley, Jr., who, like Nimitz, was Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. I knew him earlier on when he was my captain aboard the aircraft carrier the USS Midway.  He would say things to encourage and to simplify the job for the people under his command. He clearly stated what he expected of you.  Furthermore, he gave you credit when you performed with excellence.

Great leaders like Nimitz and Foley influence lives. The leadership I experienced under Admiral Foley gives me confidence and direction to this day.  Tyranny destroys leadership.  However, the best leaders create great leaders to follow them.

Self-awareness: Some people become victims of their feelings and thoughts. How can developing self-awareness change victim thinking to action thinking?

Self-awareness is knowing and understanding how our feelings and thoughts occur inside our own mind and body.  Furthermore, this knowledge and understanding can show us effective ways to act on the things that trigger the way we see and respond to the world.

The Negatives of Lacking Self-Awareness

In response to pain from the past, present, or future experiences, we often turn our focus on what’s happening in our mind and in our body. We have a sensation of lack of control over our circumstances.  We don’t focus on solutions. Instead, we turn painful thoughts over and over in our mind.

The most difficult thoughts are those about things beyond our control.  By focusing on our faults, we add to the frustration and fear that we experience.  When these feelings become intense enough, they blind us to options and solutions. We feel trapped.

The Benefits of Self-Awareness

On the other hand, people who are self-aware know that feelings happen inside themselves. They turn their focus away from their feelings and thoughts and toward the world around them. These people live in the present moment. They don’t think about the past or the future. Additionally, they trust that however things turn out, they have the ability to develop to tools to deal with them.  In short, they have confidence and know freedom from fear and frustration.

Relationships: A Higher Level of Self-Awareness

Furthermore, people with self-awareness are available and engaged with others.  They have a higher capacity to listen and a greater capacity to respond appropriately.

Self-awareness empowers people to be more successful leaders and better friends.  They realize the effect their actions have on the people around them.

Furthermore, people who are aware of how their actions affect other people become more effective in motivating others, in changing public opinion, and have the potential to direct large masses.

Ending Perfection Paralysis: How do successful people end the compulsion to rework projects and move on to create new ones?

My Personal Struggles with Ending Perfection Paralysis

I have worked on drafts of articles so many times that I have lost track of what I had in mind when I started writing the article.

Additionally, in reviewing older blog posts, I see ways that I could have written the post better.  However, few people will ever see those posts. Taking time to continually review and rewrite old material takes away from my time to create new work.

The Perfectionist as a Manager

The worst case of perfection affecting performance I have seen was the case of a former supervisor.  He placed so much emphasis on everything being exactly the way he wanted that everyone struggled through countless changes to meet his expectations. Whether dealing with correspondence, maintenance, or production, he would continue to look for flaws in everything.  He would insist that things be done to meet his idea of how they things should be done.

When this person left, his replacement was just the opposite in his management of people and requirements for perfection.  He knew that he had intelligent, conscientious people working for him.  He would carefully review the finished products and perhaps make changes.  However, he also knew that countless unnecessary revisions were just a waste of time.

Peak performance comes from knowing when to move on to the next project.

Money Saved and Money Earned.

The first obvious benefit of ending perfection paralysis is that people become more productive.  However, there are other benefits.

The principle of ending perfection saves money and builds businesses to make more money.  Every time a company revises or reworks anything, the company spends money and creates delays in profitable productivity.

Reduced Risks of Mistakes

Additionally, some products may undergo changes that introduce errors that must be caught before the revised product can be released. Every time I revise my material, I risk making errors in the new material.

Changes of schedules or procedures in groups of people create risks of confusion.  Inevitably the more changes to a schedule will result in an increase in the likelihood that more people will fail to know and meet the schedule.

I first observed this when I was a young manager and there was a flight change involving eight people.  No one got the information about the change.  All eight people missed the flight. Having been involved in countless scheduling situations since that time, I have made it a practice to hold people to their commitments to stick to schedules.

Solutions to Ending Perfection Paralysis

Some people may need professional help to end their endless perfection. These people have a compulsion.  Consistent with compulsions in drinking or taking drugs, people with a compulsion to rework their projects may have an addiction. These people may need professional help to overcome their addiction to perfection.

On the other hand, learning the signs of perfectionism can help you let go of the desire to rework a project.  Here are some techniques that may work for you.

Get feedback. Work in teams where consensus can help you release your work and move on to new projects.

Establish parameters.  State the purpose of a project.  Layout out the details. Once you have completed a project so that it fulfills its purpose, you can know when it is time to release the project.

Set the project aside for a day. Backing away from a project to let yourself view your work objectively will help you recognize when you are reworking a finished project.

Anger Management:  People who cannot control their tempers can ruin their career and the career of others.  How do some people manage anger to create success for themselves and their organization?

Anger protects us against danger. However, acting out of anger clutters our thinking and undermines our success.
~ www.jaywren.com

Four Steps to Anger Management

Here are four areas of anger management that can help you be more successful in building great relationships in stressful situations.

Pause Before Acting

When you first feel anger, pause and wait for your emotions to become less intense.  If possible, step away to process your emotions.

Avoid saying things when you are angry. Rational thinking can evaporate when our feelings hijack our reasoning.

Certainly, don’t say things or send angry letters or emails that you may regret later.

Seek Mentoring

A mentor might be anyone who can help you work through your feelings and take constructive actions.

Discussing our feelings with a person who is not involved can help us process our anger. Furthermore, just writing about our feelings can help remove the sting of our experience.  Once we have those feelings on paper, we can use our notes for our discussion with our mentor.

Let Go of Unproductive Emotions

If people have offended us, we feel sore.  A common response is to hold onto our anger.  Resentments are dangerous.  They can damage our health and our relationships.  When we feel angry for past wrongs, focusing on our breathing can help us get out of our head and into the present moment.

Set Boundaries

Negative, angry people cause us stress and damage our performance. They create anger in the people around them.

It is not always easy to avoid negative people. Likewise, changing the behavior of other people is difficult. However, speaking out to set boundaries on behavior that you will not tolerant is often all that we need to do.  Where possible, seek alliances with other people to help protect your boundaries.  Report abusive behavior.

Business Meeting Tools:  Meeting preparation is important.  Equally important is having the right tools.  What should you bring to a meeting?

Cutting a diamond starts with having the right skills and the right tools. Likewise, for business meeting success we need the right tools to support our skills. ~ www.jaywren.com

Business Meeting Tools

What you bring to a business meeting is as important as the things you say or do in a business meeting.  Getting to a business meeting to discover that you do not have the things you need is not only embarrassing, it is often a business-meeting killer.  I recommend that you buy a portfolio case or a briefcase that you use just for meetings.  Keep the case stocked with the materials that you will take to every meeting.

When organizing your meeting case, make sure you bring the following items.

Bring several copies of presentations.

You should have a copy for your own use and a copy for each person on the meeting schedule.  Take extra copies for people who are not on the schedule but who might come into the meeting unannounced.  Sometimes having unexpected people join the meeting is a sign that the people are interested in what you have to say or show.

Bring a list of the attendees.

Having this list will help you organize your notes about questions people have.  The list can also help you remember people’s names and the role of the people in the meeting.

Bring a list of recommendations.

Having a list of recommendations adds power to your professional credibility and creates excitement about the quality of your work.

A Word of Caution: In an interview, be careful about leaving a copy of your recommendations with the hiring company.  Companies should not be contacting your references without your approval.

Bring a brag book or portfolio.

This book has samples of your work so that people can see the range of your success.

Bring your laptop.

If you have powerhouse presentations that you can show more examples of your work, you can use your laptop as a dynamic tool.

Bring business cards.

Some people see business cards to verify employment and job title.  The cards show people that you are who you say you are.

Bring a notepad.

You need to keep track of contact and company information that you learn during your meetings.  A notepad is an effective way to make notes without distracting people the way using a smartphone or laptop might distract people when you are taking notes.

Bring three or four pens.

The extra pens help you relax that you have a pen that works.  In addition, it is wise to make sure you can help an attendee who does not have a pen for taking notes.

Respect: What do people do to gain respect from others?  Here are 10 things that will help you build relationships and increase the respect that others have for you.

Life is much easier when people respect us to the point that they want to give us their support. ~ www.jaywren.com

Relationships and Respect

The quality of our personal and work relationships is the result of the respect other people give us and the respect that we give to other people.

Although what other people do is beyond our control, the most powerful people know how to influence the response of the people around them. You can as well.

Give Credit

People gain respect when they give credit to the correct person.  Giving credit is a compliment with substance.

On the other hand, people who claim credit for the work of other people lose respect.   People who know that these people are undeserving of that credit will resent the dishonesty.

If you give credit, you will gain respect among your friends and among people who can affect your career.

Admit Mistakes

Everyone makes mistakes.  Successful people admit them and do not repeat them.  People will respect you if you correct your mistakes and move on.

Don’t make excuses for failing to do your work.  Be honest.  You just did not do the work.  You regret it.  When you admit your mistakes and not repeat them, you will get respect.

Do Your Job

Get a copy of your job description.  Read it with your boss.  Discuss what you are doing with your boss.  When you are uncertain about what you are doing, ask your boss for information.

And don’t just do your job. Be conscientious about the way you do your job.

Everyone will respect you for knowing and doing what you are supposed to do.

Let Other People Do Their Job

First, don’t let people take advantage of you.  Being a team player and helping other people occasionally is one thing.  Having people use you to do their work is not the way to get respect at work.

Second, do not interfere with other people by meddling in their job.  People do not always want your advice.  People certainly do not want you to do their job and take credit for what their work.

By respecting the space of other people to do their job, you will get respect.

Lighten Up

Don’t take yourself too seriously.  Insisting that your priorities are the only things that matter will create resentments.  If you come to work every day and load the workplace with pressure, you will create tension.

Be sincere.  Work hard.  Be straightforward with your supervisors, co-workers, and people you manage.  Take your work seriously.  However, don’t take everything so seriously that you can’t accept mistakes and adjustments in the daily routine.

Lighten up. People will enjoy working with you, and you will get respect.

Keep Your Word

Honor your commitments.  If you know that you can’t do something or that you will not do something, be honest about it.  Don’t make a commitment to do things that you can’t or will not do.  Keeping your word is basic to getting respect.

Be Punctual

If you are late all the time, people will quickly get weary of dealing with you.  Arrive at your appointments early.   Complete your work ahead of time.  Reduce the pressure on others having to worry about when your punctuality.

You will get respect when people know they can trust you to be at work on time and complete your work on time.

Avoid Gossip

A quick way to ruin relationships is to gossip.  Avoid people who gossip.  The only people who respect people who gossip are other people who gossip.

Protect Confidences

When someone tells you something personal or private, keep it to yourself.  Even if you do not make a commitment to keep the information private, respect the trust that people have given you. People do not respect people who break their confidences.

Peak performance is not only about how effective you are today, but how effective you are throughout your career. ~ www.jaywren.com

Here are 8 steps that will help you manage and build your skills to accomplish more.

Peak Performance

1. Seek Advice
2. Gain the Extra Yard
3. Do One More Task
4. Read
5. Focus on Solutions not Problems
6. Turn Your Solutions into Services
7. Build and Diversify Your Network
8. Set Goals

Seek Advice

Seek advice before acting on important decisions. It is so easy for me to go into difficult situations and make large decisions with the belief that I already have all the answers.  It is equally easy for me to overlook things that I should have considered before acting. I better understand my circumstances and find far greater solutions by discussing my decisions before acting,

Gain the Extra Yard

Get the greatest results from each activity. The National Football League wide receiver Jerry Rice holds 23 NFL records.  He caught long passes.  More importantly is the number of yards he gained after he caught the pass. It is those extra yards that enabled him to set so many of those records.

Business professionals can do a better job for their company by identifying those small details that turn mediocre projects into hugely successful projects. They do the same tasks everyone else does and achieve greater results than anyone else.  One example of how these people achieve excellence is that they set a finished product aside overnight and return to it when they have a fresh perspective.

These people build companies like Apple, Procter & Gamble, Toyota, and so on across the spectrum. What these companies have in common is they gain the extra yards to make their products exceed the quality of their competitors.

Do One More Task

When you finish your work before the end of the day, do at least one more task before leaving work.  It is easy to sit around at the end of the day. It may feel good to leave early.  By starting and completing one more task on the days when you have extra time, you will find that your production will rise dramatically.  If you add and complete one extra task per week, you will complete fifty more tasks over the course of the year.  Your company will benefit.  Your value to your company will grow.

For example, when I was a new sales rep at Procter & Gamble, I went from last in the district to first and held that position throughout my time at P&G.  What did I do to change my standings? After I finished my schedule for the day, I made an extra sales call. Sometimes these calls were just retail visits.  However, these small efforts added up to make a huge difference in my productivity.

Read

Regularly read articles and books about your job and your goals.  Nearly every job continues to evolve.  Many jobs disappear entirely. New information and tools become available to make job performance easier and make you more marketable.  Take advantage of this information to grow in professional value and for personal enrichment.

Focus on Solutions not Problems

Everyone has problems.  Everyone encounters obstacles.  It is easy to procrastinate or give up instead of acting on these obstacles.

However, by focusing on solutions, you can develop effective, often new ways of dealing with these obstacles.

Turn Your Solutions into Services

As you create solutions, look for ways to help other people use your solutions.  People have founded companies based on providing products and services to overcome common obstacles.   If you can sell the solutions you have developed in overcoming obstacles, you have a business.

Build and Diversify Your Network

Continue to expand your network of friends and mentors.  My son has multiple circles of friends.  The people in each of these circles are people he has met at different times and in different settings.  Some of these friends are from high school classes. Other friends come from his sports activities.  Additionally, he has friends from college and his career.

Since graduating from college, he has met these people from different circles to pick up new hobbies and to travel. Additionally, he has long-term relations with people in his career. These people are valuable assets to help with solutions in his career.

Set Goals

Continue to set goals.  Goal setting will help you focus on your daily plan. Furthermore, goal setting can have a subconscious power to drive your actions even when you are not working directly from a daily plan.

Having goals can give you a sense of purpose and a feeling of accomplishment.  Rather than focusing on the ruts of your life, you can focus on your goals and how to move toward them.  Goals lead to peak performance.

The most successful people do many things to live successful lives.  Here are four practices that enable them to keep a clear head, make better decisions, accomplish more, and have a well-balanced life.

The most successful people focus on solutions.

These people don’t obsess about things that worry them.  Worry is a normal emotion and helps us by calling our attention to the problems that we face in the future.  Successful people don’t allow themselves to ruminate over the future.  They see opportunities, solutions, and success.  Next, they create plans and take action.  Additionally, they are too busy becoming successful to spend time worrying.

The most successful people pause when they feel panicked.

They know to pause rather than surrender to the panic emotions of fight or flight.  Rather, they pause and clear their mind.  They take a deep breath, and step away from the problem.  Additionally, they don’t dash off text messages, emails, or make hasty phone calls that make problems worse.

The most successful people do not become embroiled in hasty arguments that ruin relationships. They rise above the visceral feelings that hijack their intellect and block their critical thinking.

The most successful people get in and get things done.

I worked with a recruiter who would drop her kids off at school, go straight to her office, and work until 3:00 PM.  She would then pick up her kids, drive home, and prepare dinner.  Where many recruiters work forty to fifty-hour hours a week to fill twenty jobs a month, she would fill seventy-five to one hundred jobs a month and only work thirty-five hours a week.  I examined her routine carefully.  Although she did not few things that differently from other recruiters.  She just did them more quickly.

The most successful people have a balanced life.

Successful people live a balanced life.  They work hard.  Sometimes they push themselves to finish a project, even weeks at a time.  But they know to take breaks.  They take time for their family.  Many of these people take time to give to their communities and their causes.  They make wise choices in the food they eat.  Additionally, they take time to exercise.  They take time to rest. They take time for recreation and entertainment.

In Conclusion

The most successful people follow many practices that lead them to live successful lives.  Four of these practices enable them to keep a clear head, make better decisions, do more, and have a well-balanced life.

Mindful Moments: How do great minds gain focus to make great decisions?

In the existence of humans, infinity is a series of moments. Mindful moments empower us to be alert, aware, and engaged. ~ www.jaywren.com

When I focus on my thoughts, I give them power.  Productive, healthy thinking leads to success. Distracted, painful thinking leads to mistakes.

When I am regretting the past or fearing the future, I am creating distractions with my own thoughts.  Furthermore, when I am analyzing my work instead of simply doing my work, I am creating mental clutter in the pathway of clear thinking.

Clearing My Thinking

I am responsible for the thoughts I hold in my head. Sometimes, all I have to do is change the conversation I am having with myself.  However, sometimes, I have to do some simple things to change my thinking.

A Fresh Mind

Getting plenty of rest from a good night’s sleep is the first step in having a fresh mind.

A second step is to take breaks during the day.  Going for a walk or simply stepping away from my desk and sitting quietly help refresh my mind.

Meditation also helps, both in the short term and the long term.  People who practice daily meditation in the form of breathing, mantras, or prayers develop healthier, more trusting minds.  These practices allow the person to become centered or have faith.  They see the world around them.

A Higher Level of Thinking

When athletes are at their highest level of thinking, their mind intuitively adjusts. They process decisions without analysis. They enter a state of mental flow.

This state is the healthiest form of thinking.  We are free from anxiety, regret, and distractions.  Our mind makes decisions before we realize that the need to make a decision.

Mindful Moments

Most people have mindful moments.  They sense life around them and have healthy emotions that are appropriate to their experience.  Likewise, they think clearly.

Building the flow of mindful moments leads to a more powerful way to think for success.