Posts Tagged ‘how to lead by the book’

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Day 127-128 How to Lead by THE BOOK: How to Balance Your Work & Home Life!

Sunday, November 14th, 2010

The feedback I received over the past 17 months since the publication of How to Run Your Business by THE BOOK has convinced me that most business people have a very strong interest in improving their work-life balance. This is because my chapter in that book on this topic generated as much or more feedback than any other issue.

In How to Lead by THE BOOK, I’m including a chapter that will dig deeper into this highly important matter. Here’s an excerpt from the chapter, How do I balance my work and home life?

Man’s wisdom and way

“My family understands that the long hours I spend at work is the sacrifice we all make to live a comfortable life. Besides, we’ve learned that quality time is more important than a quantity of time spent together poorly. While it may be tough for them to fully understand the career investment I’m making now, some day they will appreciate what I’m doing for them.”

Many leaders earn well but they don’t live well. They sacrifice their family, health, friends, and relationship with God for more stuff. They work hard to secure a golden retirement and add years to their life. But, in the process, they fail to add life to their years. Anyone extending years to their life without adding life to their years merely perpetuates the depth and duration of their emptiness.

The BOOK’s wisdom and way

Any Christian feigning confusion over what should be most important in his or her life should win an Academy Award for best actor. The Bible makes resolutely clear in Matthew 6:33 the proper ordering of one’s priorities. You can rest assured that balance, provision, and happiness in all other sectors of your life are contingent upon getting this right:

But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Matthew 6:33. I assume that since Jesus didn’t stutter with this sentence that you caught the intended sequence for your life’s priorities.

In the Book of John, Jesus reveals the secret for bearing much fruit in your life. Again, there is no gray area:

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. John 15:5

Frankly, if your relationship with God isn’t what it should be, your relationship with others, including those living in under your roof who should mean the most to you, will suffer and fail to reach its potential.

What your family needs more than your paycheck, a big house, nice cars, a college education or fancy vacations is spiritual leadership from a mom and dad who have made their relationship with God the priority in their life. Only after your heart is humble enough to rank God first in your life will you ever be able to properly value your family.

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Day 124-126: How to Lead by THE BOOK: Give Based on Deserve, not Need!

Friday, November 12th, 2010

I’m wrapping up the third day of my annual Strategy Summit at the beautiful Gaylord Texan in Dallas today. One of the class topics yesterday was the importance of building a culture of accountability, where each team member received what they earned and deserved based on their performance–nothing more, nothing less. This is a topic I’ll cover in one of the chapters in How to Lead by THE BOOK.

To support and explain the philosophy of giving out rewards, opportunities, discretion and trust based on “deserve,” rather than based on “need,” I used the Parable of the Talents. You can read up on this important lesson in Matthew 25. Following are the take-aways I encourage you to apply to your organization:

1. Give people what they earn and deserve based on past performance, not equally across the board.

2. If a team member doesn’t use the resources or opportunities he or she has been given, take it from them and give it to someone who will bring a return for the organization.

3. In an organization focused on results, treating people fairly doesn’t mean that you treat them all alike. Instead, treating people fairly means that you treat them in a manner in which they have earned and deserved, and they haven’t all earned the same pay plan, schedule, opportunities, discretion, or trust.

In other words, “fairness” doesn’t mean “sameness.” Rather, fairness means justice. And justice means that people get what they earn and deserve.  Think about this: What could possibly be more fair than treating someone in a manner that they deserve? Actually, the only ones that ever complain about getting only what they deserve are those who don’t deserve much and your primary objective should not be to make this group happy, but to help them get better!

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Day 122-123 How to Lead by THE BOOK: How to Change Behaviors in Your Organization!

Tuesday, November 9th, 2010

A common misconception is that you can change your team’s behaviors strictly by changing your organization’s vision. This is only true if your culture aligns with your vision. For instance, if you have a culture of entitlement, where there is little accountability, casting a stretch-vision isn’t going to change a thing. In fact, it can make you look foolish because the culture and vision are an obvious mismatch. Thus, the key to changing behaviors is to first change your culture. After the culture is firmly established in the image you desire, you can credibly create a vision that will evoke emotion from within the culture and cause the people there to behave accordingly and rise to the occasion of reaching the vision.

In How to Lead by THE BOOK, I will include a chapter on what comprises culture and how to change it. Here’s a sneak preview:

Culture Components:

1. Core values.

2. Mission.

3. Core competencies.

4. People

The leader is the primary architect and chief-influencer of the culture. The culture components aren’t likely to change much unless the leader changes, or is changed.

The culture builds a foundation to create a vision based on the strengths of your culture-foundation. Once the vision has been cast, you are then able to devise the strategy that builds on the assets of your culture and will take you to your vision.

The lesson here? Don’t try to take shortcuts by launching a bold, fancy vision until you’ve laid the ground work for its success through the deliberate and intentional creation of a supporting culture. Remember: culture dictates behavior and behaviors determine results. If you want greater results, go to work on your culture!

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Day 119-121 How to Lead by THE BOOK: Fight Against the Cultural Current!

Sunday, November 7th, 2010

The preface of How to Lead by THE BOOK will be the most compelling front matter I’ve ever included in a book. It will clearly explain why it is so important to return to Biblical principles in all aspects of one’s life. To make this point, I will open the preface with eight evidences of a trending cultural decline–along with their accompanying consequences–designed to create an urgency to reposition our lives and organizations on a firmer Biblical foundation. Here’s an excerpt. It’s point six of the eight:

6. To exacerbate the moral confusion, high profile God mockers and false teachers run rampant among the ranks of bestselling authors, acclaimed comics, entertainment celebrities, church leaders, and business tycoons. For instance:

*A high profile media mogul claims that Christianity is a “religion for losers,” and labeled his employees as “Jesus freaks” for observing Ash Wednesday.

*A pastor disgraces Christianity by leading purveyors of hate in nationwide protests brandishing signs declaring: “God hates homosexuals” and “Thank God for dead soldiers.”

*A mega bestselling book succeeds at duping millions—including Christians—into thinking that the Law of Attraction can deliver to them what God can’t or won’t.

*A well respected talk show host conducted a  year-long “course in miracles” that promoted the opposite of what the Bible calls truth, leading millions astray and into potential destruction with blasphemies like: “there is no sin”, “my salvation comes from me,” and that “a slain Christ has no meaning.”

This pervasiveness of nefarious New Age nonsense has swayed throngs to embrace hellish notions in order to attain success and personal fulfillment. The Apostle Paul’s 2,000 year old warning seems designed acutely for our age:

Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons…1 Timothy 4:1.

There will be seven additional disconcerting trends listed in the preface designed to urge leaders to get serious about bucking downward spiraling  cultural current and more wholeheartedly embrace leading themselves, their families, and their organizations by THE BOOK.

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Day 117-118 How to Lead by THE BOOK: Six Benefits of Right Values!

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

I’ve just completed my chapter on core values for How to Lead by THE BOOK. As with all the chapters, I’ll start off by describing “Man’s wisdom and way” and then getting into “The BOOK’s wisdom and way.” In this excerpt I’m including six benefits to affirm the importance of having meaningful, visible, core values as a cornerstone of your culture:

Man’s wisdom & way

“Core values are little more than a load of Pollyanna happy hot tub talk. Consultants promote their creation so you hire them to help you with them! In challenging times we need to stay focused, and the last thing we need is another exercise in academic nonsense. Business schools dream up this core value stuff to make our lives more complicated. In the real world, we need to focus on production. We can’t afford to become distracted from our pursuit of hard numbers by a bunch of touchy feely nonsense like core values. Creating core values ranks right up there with trivial pursuits like meaningless mission and vision statements. While we’re at it, how about gathering together every morning in the lobby to join hands, and sing Kumbaya?”

The paragraph you’ve just read is a near-verbatim statement I personally made in my first management job. This was long ago when I was under the illusion that my new title attested that I was a leader, and that my promotion had miraculously made me smarter. I know that I am not yet what I should be, but I thank God that I’m not what I used to be!

The BOOK’s wisdom and way

The Bible abounds with examples of God creating and communicating the non-negotiable behaviors that He expected His people to live by. The Ten Commandments and Christ’s Sermon on the Mount are prime examples. Creating, living, and holding others accountable for core values are essential leadership responsibilities. Core values serve multiple purposes;

1. Core values create the DNA of your organization. They differentiate you from competitors.

2. Core values make it easier for employees to know what to do in situations where they cannot check with authorities or ask for permission.

3. Core values provide a filter to help you hire the right people.

4. Core values provide a filter to help you fire the wrong people.

5. Core values help create a culture that supports your vision.

6. Core values provide a benchmark for behavioral accountability.

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Day 115-116 How to Lead by THE BOOK: Don’t Cheat Your Champions!

Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010

More great news yesterday! Fifteen months after its publication, How to Run Your Business by THE BOOK is still making best-seller lists. It placed #20 in the Hudson Bookstore/Newsstand Airport Bestseller List in locations nationwide!

Setting behavioral standards, and then holding people accountable for those standards, is a key leadership responsibility. When standards aren’t set, employees can behave recklessly and then claim they “didn’t know that’s what you expected.” Here’s an excerpt from the chapter on values from How to Lead by THE BOOK:

The BOOK’s wisdom and way

The Bible abounds with examples of God creating and communicating the non-negotiable behaviors that He expected His people to live by. The Ten Commandments and Christ’s Sermon on the Mount are prime examples. Creating, living, and holding others accountable for core values are essential leadership responsibilities. Core values serve multiple purposes;

1. Core values create the DNA of your organization. They differentiate you from competitors.

2. Core values make it easier for employees to know what to do in situations where they cannot check with authorities or ask for permission.

3. Core values provide a filter to help you hire and promote the right people.

4. Core values provide a filter to help you fire the wrong people.

5. Core values help create a culture that supports your vision.

6. Core values provide a benchmark for behavioral accountability.

Years ago, the team member that violated values and possessed a dearth of character was the pariah. A sad indictment of our times often proves opposite. The contemporary outcast is the soul refusing to cede his principles, who forgoes what is easy or popular for what is right. In some circles, these principled Daniels and Ruth’s are rewarded with mockery, ostracizing, and vindictiveness. By failing to create and enforce core values that champion these heroes and weed out offenders, you aid the offenders and cheat your champions

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Day 112-114: How to Lead by THE BOOK: The Importance of Confrontation!

Sunday, October 31st, 2010

During my early morning walks around the neighborhood this week, I couldn’t help but notice that each year the Halloween decorations the neighbors put out become just a bit more horrific: headless corpses, witches in trees, characters in “Scream” masks stabbing one another. All of this is accepted as “harmless fun.” However, place a nativity scene in your yard during the Christmas season and you’re ostracized as a “freak”! This is quite an interesting age we live in, isn’t it?

I worked on How to Lead by THE BOOK for six hours yesterday–very productive hours, interrupted only by an occasional bite to eat and a workout. I’m including an excerpt in today’s post about the importance of forcefully confronting followers for values violations; especially the leaders. So many top leaders and business owners falter here. They fear upsetting a highly placed individual within their company over values violations, choosing to allow the violators to devour their culture instead. You may recall that I will begin each chapter with a “Man’s Way” versus “God’s Way” comparison for handling an issue. Here’s a sneak peak at the chapter on confrontational feedback:

Man’s wisdom & way

“There’s really no middle ground with confrontational feedback. Either you’re a leadership wimp who avoids it altogether, or you step up and let people have it; and if they don’t like it and leave, good riddance! You really don’t need the hyper-sensitive types on your team anyway. After all, you’re running an organization for adults, not a daycare! Besides, Galatians 1 says that my job is to please God and not to worry about pleasing men. And what pleases God is that you’re truthful with people.”

Galatians 1:10 has been hijacked by mean-spirited leaders throughout the ages who value rules over relationships, and who look to justify their unloving manner of dealing with people. Here is what it says:

For do I now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

God’s wisdom and way

Demonstrating love for others is what truly pleases God. Thus, we must confront, for to fail in this discipline is to evince apathy and indifference towards an individual’s welfare and potential. But we must confront in love, doing so for the right reasons and with just motives. We confront to improve the character or competence of an individual, to preserve our culture, and protect the organization’s future overall. Confronting with feedback does not mean that you do so primarily with the intent to punish, humiliate, expound your personal power, or in attempt to establish superiority over another.

When Jesus, Peter, Paul and others confronted individuals, they customized their approach to fit the person and the offense. Their harshest words were reserved for leaders of whom more was expected and to whom more had been given. They came down harder on heart failure—character shortfalls—than on production issues. Despite the importance in organizations to “hit the numbers”, we are wise to follow the Biblical examples to take an even tougher stance against those who violate values, embrace selfishness, create division, and place their personal welfare ahead of the team’s well being. These are cancers that must be neutralized or removed, lest they devour the entire entity.

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Day 111 How to Lead by THE BOOK: Zig Ziglar on Leadership!

Thursday, October 28th, 2010

Some of you were able to attend the webcast I did yesterday at the Zig Ziglar studios: “Ten Proverbs, Parables, & Principles to Sell More of Anything NOW!” If you’d like the audio version, this link should allow you to listen to the program:

www.ziglar.com/public_ftp/Webcast MP3s/10272010ProverbsAndPrinciplesToHelpYouSellMoreDaveAnderson96K.mp3

Rhonda and I were able to visit over lunch with Zig, Jean (his wife), Julie (his daughter), and Tom (his son). At 83 years young, Zig is still as full of charm, wit, and wisdom as ever before! Despite a fall a few years back that caused a brain injury and occasional short-term memory loss, Zig still sets the standard for excellence in speaking and writing. He’s written 29 books and is working on more! Jean and he have been married over 60 years, and they still absolutely adore one another. They serve as incredible role models for couples of all ages.

Zig’s life verse is Romans 8:28. When you read it, you’ll understand how he has responded so admirably to the injury he suffered, and will find encouragement for how to respond to your own struggles. I’ll write about the importance of “Life Verses” in, How to Lead by THE BOOK. In fact, I’ll cover the importance of developing spiritual disciplines in-depth. After spending a day with Zig and his team, I can write more resolutely about the long-term benefits spiritual disciplines have on one’s leadership over the course of a life time. And I can use no finer example than the life of Zig Ziglar to make my point.

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Day 108-110 How to Lead by THE BOOK: The Right & Wrong Way to Give Feedback!

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

I’m in Dallas this morning and will soon be going to the Ziglar Headquarters. I’ll be interviewed by Zig Ziglar, and then I’ll do a web cast with Tom Ziglar on the topic: “Ten Proverbs, Parables & Principles To Sell More of Anything NOW!” After the broadcast, Rhonda and I will fly back to L.A. for the next few days where I’ve got dozens of hours blocked off for writing, How to Lead by THE BOOK.

I’m finishing up the chapter on giving feedback, where I’ll offer biblical blueprints for confrontation, positive reinforcement, and the consequences of not giving any feedback at all. Man’s way and the Bible’s way differ greatly in this arena. The following excerpt from this chapter will show you what I mean:

Man’s wisdom & way

“You’ve got to be careful with feedback. If you pat people on the back, it can make them lazy. At the same time, if you get in their face about performance shortfalls, they only get worse or poison the culture by complaining to others about how badly they’re treated. Overall, it’s best to play feedback close to the vest. You get more out of people if you keep them a bit off balance.”

If ignorance is truly bliss, then the people employing this leadership philosophy must be the happiest souls on earth! If you’ve ever uttered such nonsense, hit your knees and repent! In fact, if the people you inflicted this nonsense on during the course of your career are out of therapy and still willing to speak with you, apologize and ask their forgiveness.

God’s wisdom & way

If people do well, tell them! Proverbs 27:3 mandates: Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, if it is in the power of your hand to do so. In fact, Hebrews 3:13 reminds you to do it quickly: …but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today”, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

On the other hand, if someone errs or strays from the proper course, you are commissioned to address it: Someone who holds back the truth causes trouble. Proverbs 10:10. But while you may detest the behavior, you must love the perpetrator. In fact, confronting in love is what separates the biblically obedient from abusive bullies.


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Day 106-107 How to Lead by THE BOOK: Eight Challenges Leaders Must Face!

Sunday, October 24th, 2010

As I’ve worked on How to Lead by THE BOOK the past two weeks, I’ve changed course and have decided to spend more time and provide deeper teaching on each business challenge and its Biblical remedies. In order to accomplish this, I’ll list fewer challenges overall, but will expand on the highest impact areas where I’ve found that leaders need the most help. Here’s a sampling of the chapters I’ve completed thus far:

1. What is the most effective way to hold others accountable?

2. Should leaders be held more accountable than followers?

3. Which is the most effective leadership style?

4. How do I recruit great people?

5. What is the best interview strategy?

6. Which questions should I ask during an interview?

7. What is the most effective way of giving feedback?

8. What exactly are core values, how do I create them and use them effectively?

Depending upon space, there should be twenty-one of these key challenges overall along with in-depth examples on how to master them.

I’m traveling with Rhonda this morning to Dallas where I’ve been invited to give the Monday morning devotionals to Zig Ziglar’s company, and then teach a web cast on Wednesday for him: “Ten Proverbs, Parables, and Principles to Help You Sell More of Anything NOW!”.  You can sign up for free at their website http://www.ziglar.com/webcast/webcast_register.html

You’ll be able to ask me questions-live–after the web cast is over! I hope you can join me on Wednesday–you don’t want to miss the Ten Points I’ll present to help you and your team sell more!

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