Archive - Leadership RSS Feed

Jim Collins’ list of 10 To-Dos For Successful Leadership

October 5, 2010 in Featured, Leadership with 35 Comments

Jim Collins1 253x300 Jim Collins list of 10 To Dos For Successful LeadershipThis morning at HSM’s World Business Forum, Jim Collins, leadership expert and author of Built to Last and Good to Great shared a list of 10 to-dos for successful leadership:

1. Do your diagnostics. (There are free tools at www.jimcollins.com). Self-assess how you’re doing. Find weaknesses to improve upon.

2. Don’t focus on your career; focus on building pockets of greatness throughout your career.

3. Fill key seats with the right people. Ask yourself whether that’s the case in your organization. If not, start to make changes. Continue Reading…

World Business Forum 2010

September 23, 2010 in Business, Featured, Finance, Leadership, Technology with 13 Comments

WBF101 300x197 World Business Forum 2010Six weeks ago, I received an invitation to be a featured blogger at the 2010 World Business Forum, which is being held October 5th and 6th at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Come to find out, this is an invitation-only opportunity offered to a select group of top business bloggers, and establishes a membership amongst the WBF10 Bloggers Hub.

As I read over the invite, I was uncertain if it was actually true. I expressed gratitude for kindly extending the invitation to attend the forum and asked why I was chosen to attend, as for I felt that I had yet to contribute anything of significance to the leadership community. Micheal Singer replied with: “I found your blog on someone else’s blogroll, and I took a brief look and liked what I saw. We’re looking for interesting viewpoints. And while many of our bloggers have institutional ties and recognition, etc., we also want some new voices. This is a great opportunity to stretch your voice and reach some new people if you want the opportunity. It’s that simple.” Continue Reading…

2, 4, 6, 8; Time to Recalibrate!

September 23, 2010 in Featured, Leadership with 10 Comments

New Personal Leadership Plan 300x200 2, 4, 6, 8; Time to Recalibrate!The other day I received an e-mail notification that my domain name for this blog is up for renewal. This triggered me to go back and review my blog postings and perform a quick personal inventory. While I was reading over each of my previous posts, it reminded me why I began blogging and what my short and long term goals were. Being completely honest, I had no idea what I was getting myself into and what the future had in store. Here is a short list of phases and their descriptions I encountered along the way:

  • Establish the basics and define the overall navigation around WordPress and find ways to define core values, identity and overall content.
  • Create an identity for the blogsphere to answer the following question: “Who is Geoff Snyder?“
  • Learn about theme layouts, plugins, basic SEO, linking, and VERY basic HTML and PHP coding.
  • Understand proper social media etiquette and sincere engagement, while also learning how to automate.
  • Discover the importance of RSS feeds and their subscribers.
  • Staying true to the core values and beliefs while collaborating with other like-minded individuals.
  • Research, read, discuss, read some more, collaborate, and most importantly…stay proactive!

Now that I think I have the swing of things and have been lurking around the blogsphere, I’ve decided to add some personality…make this something personal, find ways to materialize what I’ve gathered into something meaningful, opposed to writing robotic “content friendly” posts simply to appease the search engines’ crawlers.

With that said, I must express my deep, sincere gratitude for the wonderful people I’ve encountered along the way. The level of friendly engagement has made me realize the power of blogging, the world of social media (twitter, facebook, linkedin, etc…), and how social networking has the ability to bring together so many people they we never knew existed.  The level of synergy that is available to us is extremely powerful. With the tools of a laptop, a internet connection, the motivation to seek like-minded people, as well as the passion to help other achieve their goals, I am convinced that there is absolutely nothing that cannot be achieved.

Now, I know that the last sentence of the previous paragraph may have some overtones of the cliche our parents told us for all those years: “You can do anything that you put your mind to.” Well, it’s true and the efforts and their results far outweigh the consequences of living in fear or sustaining a lack of confidence. I know, I’ve been there a few times throughout my short life and I am so thankful for those who’ve been there to help pick me back up and support me during those dark times.

I’m going to go ahead and warp this post up with a couple words: Dream Big.

Call me “Juno” if you will,  call me a post-modernist, or call me some new age yuppie type…but we’re in the 21st century and the rules have changed. Globally, as Robert Dickie recently tweeted: “We did not just go through a “recession” we went through a “reset.” This is important to understand. Many of the rules have changed.” It’s time to throw away the status-quo and begin leading from within. It will allow for a reflection so bright that it will glow amongst all of those close to you and those you’re about to meet along the way.

I’d like to thank Tom Schulte for the inspiration of the title and thought of this blog post. Thank you Tom.

The 80/20 Principle

August 25, 2010 in Business, Leadership with 13 Comments

80 20 300x221 The 80/20 PrincipleThe best people are always underpaid and the worst people overpaid. – Richard Koch

Over the years, I’ve found that many people settle for being mediocre at their jobs. According to Richard Koch, author of The 80/20 Principle, mediocrity is rampant. The 80/20 principle is based on statistical analysis that you can measure anything and find that 80 percent of the results are produced by 20 percent of the effort. Continue Reading…

Bringing Excellence to Maturity

August 16, 2010 in Business, Leadership, Quotes with 9 Comments

Many of us have bought into the fantasy of becoming an overnight success. We want it all to happen now.

Excellence and Maturity 300x149 Bringing Excellence to MaturitySometimes, your head is bursting with ideas, yet your career track isn’t keeping pace with your perception of your talents. You may be past the initial entry-level point, yet you still have a supervisor or a manager above you whose job you covet because you know you could do it better.

Take a moment to see your position from your manager’s view and look closely at it’s importance.

Slow down. Give yourself time to learn everything you can in this period. Realize this is a golden opportunity to make money and learn your trade. For hundreds of years, apprenticeships have been a time-honored tradition. Indeed, Publilius Syrus, an Assyrian slave in Italy in the first century BC, served an apprenticeship of sorts with a master who educated him and became his mentor. Publilius’s wit and talent were so remarkable that his master freed him. He became a writer of maxims like the one here.

Maybe you feel like a slave yourself on some days, groaning, “This career track is taking too long!” But when you start thinking like that, change your focus. Look at the larger picture and realize where you are now and what it’s going to take to get where you want to me. You’re not likely to become president of the company overnight.

“It takes a long time to bring excellence to maturity.” – Publilius Syrus

If you want to be the best at your job, you need to mature in it. Excellence only comes with time.

This is a great time to write down some objectives. Both individually and team oriented. How is what you are doing today, helping you help others you work closely with on a daily basis?

Search others for their virtues, thyself for thy vices

August 16, 2010 in Business, History, Leadership, Uncategorized with 6 Comments

Benjamin Franklin 238x300 Search others for their virtues, thyself for thy vicesAs a manager, it’s easy to pigeonhole your employees. You’ve seen them all in action–the leaders, the workers, the slackers, the confused, the wannabes, and the nobodies. People will eventually play into stereotypes that you’ve created. Constantly reminding people of their bad habits and crowing about how you might as well do it yourself isn’t very effective either.

“Search others for their virtues, thyself for thy vices.” – Benjamin Franklin

One of the main reasons people change jobs hasn’t changed since the time of old Benjamin Franklin. People often leave good employment opportunities simply because they don’t like their immediate supervisor. Since turnover is costly and unproductive, rethinking your expectations as well as how you interact with your employees might benefit everybody.

Take a moment and step outside of your spotlight. How does your team see you and how does it help your organization?

Start by considering each of your employees as a unique person with the potential to become great at his or her job. If you let them know know that you are expecting greatness, it might actually happen. Another way in getting the most out of your team is to assure them that you are on their side. If you empathize with your team, you’ll develop a relationship of trust and understanding with them. When weakness rears its ugly head, your team will seek your counsel and try to work with you in order to get better, because they are seeking your approval. Who knows? They just might do it!

How are you currently building trust within your organization?

Core Values

August 10, 2010 in Business, Leadership with 9 Comments

Core Values 300x151 Core Values“Without beliefs or the ability to tap into them, people can be totally disempowered. They’re like a motorboat without a motor or a rudder.” – Anthony Robbins

When Stephen Covey’s book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People was first published in 1989, the concept of a mission statement was completely novel. But soon companies around the country started creating their own mission statements. Mission statements are the core beliefs of a company. Motivational speaker Tony Robbins suggests that living by your mission statement creates the integrity that clients are looking for.

The journey of success isn’t about the destination, it’s about discovering yourself through a series of checkpoints along the way. Helping your team understand the sense of direction allows for your ability to lead more effectively.

Internally, company-wide mission statements are important tools because employees need to know what is expected of them–just as they need to know how the company perceives itself. For example, customer service reps can’t call their manager every time a customer calls with a little gripe. They need to understand the corporate philosophy and apply it to a customer’s concerns. Sales people also need to be able to make deals and offer contracts that are consistent with mission statement.

Empower your people with solid information on you goals and expectations. The give them the ability to make decisions based on your philosophy, and then be able to broadcast your ideas to the rest of the world.

I am interested in your views on this. I’ve found there to be a lot of confusion between an employee handbook and a company’s mission statement. How are these important to you?

Put Customers and Employees First, Not Money

August 10, 2010 in Business, Featured, Leadership with 10 Comments

CUSTOMER FIRST 265x300 Put Customers and Employees First, Not MoneyIf acquiring money is at the top of your list, something else eventually suffers. This statement has proved to be true for centuries and was recently mentioned by well known blogger Tara Hunt. Here is an example that is certainly the case when, as an animal or pet becomes a profit center, the animal’s natural instincts are hampered. For example, horses who naturally love to roam for miles and eat all day get locked in stalls twenty-three hours a day so they don’t get injured or use up their energy frolicking in a field. Dogs get bathed religiously yet aren’t allowed the rough-and-tumble play they like because they need to have a show coat. And even when winning a competition seems more important that earning money, the two go hand in hand when a winner can demand higher prices for puppies or stud fees.

“Designing your products and services for monetization first, and people second will probably leave you with neither.” – Tara Hunt

In your business, think about your customers first…they are the ones handing over the money. Keep in mind the old adage that says if someone has a good experience, they tell one person; if they have a bad experience, they tell a dozen. And it’s not just customers you need to consider. Don’t place money over employees either…you will definitely have few revenues if your employees aren’t emotionally or monetarily invested in your products and services.

Are you looking to expand your business? If so, is it to appeal to your wants or is it to enhance the overall customer experience?

Be sure not to miss the #custserv chat held at Twitter every Tuesday night at 9pm ET.

Page 2 of 10«12345»...Last »