Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

In Peter Block’s book, The Empowered Manager (Second Edition), he shares that the following values and statements can shape a vision of greatness for your employees and company. Each starts with, “We want:” Consistency between our plans and actions.A willingness to share.To disagree without fear.Commitment to a long-term strategy.To create a safe workplace.To live our values.To have each person connected with the final product.To treat each person in a unique way.To overcome levels and hierarchy.Our people to be the business.A positive attitude, and less energy spent on bad situations.To see caring and love in all our actions.Every person to be responsible for building the business.To work as a team.Each person to have a place at the table.Each person to feel valued and respected.To provide meaningful work.Managers to exist to serve their employees.To eliminate nonproductive work.Each person to have the right to say no.Control of our own destiny.The freedom to fail. Honest at all time…

Asking Why? multiple times helps you get to the root cause and helps your company to prevent undesirable results from occurring again or allows you to repeat a desirable results, explains author Michael Kallett in his book, Think Smarter: Critical Thinking To Improve Problem-Solving And Decision-Making Skills.For example:Ask why to get to “I don’t know” and then go learn what you don’t know.Ask why to get to “Because” – which is a constraint to your eventual solution.In short, Why? Is the most powerful question you can ask, and ask again, during the critical thinking process.

“Success happens by focusing on the process, not the outcome,” explain Jon Gordon and Mike Smith, co-authors of the book, You Win In The Locker Room First.” They add that, “You win by cultivating the right culture, leadership, expectations, beliefs, mindset, relationships, and habits before you even play the game.” From this insightful and helpful book also come these takeaways I really value: Culture is defined and created from the top down, but it comes to life from the bottom up. To have sustained success, you need a winning organizational culture.Know what your company stands for.Your vision and mission should be simple, clear, bold, and compelling. No buzzwords. No jargon. Instead, make it tangible and exciting to serve as a rallying cry and focal point for your team. Ideally, your vision and mission should include the greatness you want to chase with a focus on the character traits and process that will help you get there. Communication is the foundation of every great relationsh…

The book subtitle in the headline above convinced me to read, Humanocracy, by Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini. Available starting August 18, 2020, the authors present a fascinating look at how to breakdown the bureaucracy within your organization and unleash the power and true abilities of the human beings in your organization – making your organization more bold, entrepreneurial and as nimble as change itself.Humanocracy expertly lays out a detailed blueprint for creating organizations that are inspiring and ingenious, and provides you research-based examples, practical guidance and, most important, action steps to take immediately.The authors explain that:Human beings are resilient. Our organizations aren’t.Human beings are creative. Organizations are (mostly) not.Human beings are passionate. Our organizations are (mostly) not.Some of the broader themes for how to harness the power of humanocracy include:Teaching frontline staff to think like businesspeople.Cross-train associates and …

Key findings from the research behind the book, Return On Character, by Fred Kiel, PhD, reveal that: Leaders who rank high on character achieve nearly five times greater return on assets than leaders who rank low on character. Plus, character-driven organizations achieve multiple gains over organizations with self-focused leadership, including:A 26% higher level of workforce engagement.A 20% advantage in keystone leadership skills of vision, strategic focus, accountability and senior team development. Character is an individual’s unique combination of beliefs and character habits that motivate and shape how he or she relates to others. Character is a habit that can be learned, unlearned, adopted, and adapted. Four key character habits lead to specific positive business outcomes: Integrity leads to Confidence in Management, Compassion leads to Collaboration, Forgiveness leads to Innovation, and Responsibility leads to a Culture of Accountability. Kiel recommends you take these four bes…

Whether you are a business owner or entrepreneur, Do It! Marketing, is a must-read book for you to learn how to stand out from the crowd and attract, engage, and win more customers and clients. Using example proven strategies and tactics, checklists, tools and action steps, you’ll learn how to how to effectively use social media, blogs, video, online and offline marketing, your website and more. Plus, the book provides you a clear 21-day marketing launch plan. First published in 2013, this is a book I refer to often and find its practical action steps still relevant today. 
Thank you to the book’s publisher for sending me a copy of the book.