Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

Be |Dsecisive
A manager who can't make a decision or who can't make a timely decision will frustrate his/her employees. Equally bad, a lack of decision will impede the progress of the manager's team.

Some managers make endless requests for data as a way to postpone their having to make a decision. Employees end up spinning in circles, slicing and dicing the information far beyond what is truly needed for the manager to make a decision.

Some managers are simply afraid to make a decision in fear of making a "wrong" decision. These managers don't necessarily request needless data, but simply just never made a decision.

Successful managers (true leaders) gather the data from their employees, make any necessary follow-up requests (probing beyond what their employee may have researched/gathered on their own), and then make their decision...knowing that in virtually all cases most decisions are not black and white "right or "wrong," but are the best decis…

A lot of companies struggle when creating their mission statement.
Author Peter F. Drucker provides the following good advice in one of my favorite book's of his, The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization:"
Every mission statement has to reflect three things: OpportunitiesCompetenceCommitment In other words, he explains: What is our purpose?Why do we do what we do?What, in the end, do we want to be remembered for? How well does your mission statement meet Drucker's recommended three requirements?

“Purpose is the why behind everything within an organization,” says author John Baldoni, of the book, Lead With Purpose.

Baldoni also believes that it is up to leaders to make certain that organizational purpose is understood and acted upon. And, to harness the talents of their employees, leaders must recognize their responsibility to instill purpose in the workplace.

Other recommendations include:
Make purpose a central focusInstill purpose in othersMake employees comfortable with ambiguityTurn good intentions into great resultsMake it safe to fail (as well as prevail)Develop the next generation According to Baldoni, purpose forms the backbone of what an organization exists to do; upon which you can build vision and mission.

To define an organization’s purpose, you must ask three questions:

1. What is our vision — that is, what do we want to become? 2. What is our mission — that is, what do we do now? 3. What are our values–that is, what are the behaviors we expect of ourselves?
Some…

In their book, Millennials Who Manage, authors Chip Espinoza and Joel Schwarzbart, quote Donna Hicks's explanation about how dignity is different from respect.
Dignity is different from respect in that it is not based on how people perform, what they can do for us, or their likability. Dignity is a feeling of inherent value and worth. Therefore, Espinoza and Schwarzbart recommend that leaders treat those they are leading with dignity and follow Hick's 10 Essential Elements of Dignity:
Acceptance of Identity - Approach people as being neither inferior nor superior to you. Assume that others have integrity.Inclusion - Make others feel that they belong, whatever the relationship.Safety - Put people at ease at two levels: physically, so they feel safe from bodily harm, and psychologically, so they feel safe from being humiliated.Acknowledgment - Give people your full attention by listening, hearing, validating, and responding to their concerns, feelings, and experiences.Recognition…

“Making small changes to reach big goals is the answer,” says entrepreneur and bestselling author Michael Alden in his new book, 5% MORE: Making Small Changes To Achieve Extraordinary Results. “If you just put 5% more effort into any aspect of your life, you will not only achieve your goals, you will surpass them,” he explains. The book will be available in late August.
“Far too often, people become paralyzed when they want to improve their lives, because the effort to reach their goals seems overwhelming,” adds Alden. “Or the opposite occurs. They decide to dive into something one hundred percent, but then quickly lose steam.”
Therefore, Alden demonstrates that long-lasting success is based on small increases in effort. “Five percent is almost unnoticeable in terms of effort—but it accrues quickly, with each step boosting the baseline,” he declares.
Although much of Alden’s advice is based on personal experience, observation, and common sense, he is careful to discuss the studies a…

Here are 10 important questions business leaders should ask, according to Ken Blanchard and Garry Ridge, authors of Helping People Win At Work:
Does my business have a clear, meaningful, and easily understood vision/mission?Do I have the right people in the right seats on the bus?Do I have a BHAG (big hairy audacious goal), and have I communicated it to my employees?Are my values driving the behavior I want in my organization?Am I creating a culture that increases employee engagement?Am I cultivating a spirit of internal and external learning?Do my employees know what an A looks like, and am I supporting them to get that A?Are our products/services creating lasting, positive memories for our customers?Do I have the best, most timely data and information to help my business make good decisions?Are our key performance indicators the right ones, and are we measuring what matters? And, one more questions to ask is:
Do we celebrate success?

Ever wondered about the do's and don'ts of writing a:
Business ApologyLetter of RecommendationJob AdvertisementInterview Follow-upPress ReleaseExecutive SummaryCollection LetterResignation Letter ...then, the book, How To Write Anything: A Complete Guide is for you.
This 596-page book not only provides you examples and templates for all types of writing you do at work, but also, and most important, provides you do's and don'ts for each writing situation.
Author Laura Brown provides 200 how-to entries and easy-to-use models organized into three comprehensive sections on writing for: WorkSchool (research paper, book review, internship letter)Your Personal Life (i.e. get-well note, baby shower invitation, complaint letter) Best of all, her advice is Internet-savvy, because she provides you advice for choosing the most appropriate medium for your message:  email or pen and paper.
Brown has more than 25 years' experience providing training and coaching in business writin…

Too often, businesses don't have clearly defined goals and even less often specific plans to reach those goals.

When you set a goal for your business, be sure it is SMART:
SpecificMeasurableAttainableRelevantTime-relatedShare that goal with your employees, so they understand all of the five attributes of the goal.

And then for your plan (sometimes called "program"), keep these tips in mind:
Realistically assess the obstacles and resources involved and then create a strategy for navigating that reality.  For me this year, that meant adjusting my race schedule this summer to accommodate a nagging hamstring injury.Plan for more than just willpower.  Instead, plan by taking into consideration your business environment, your employees' schedules and workload, and everyone's accountability so that all these factors will work together to support you to achieve your goal.

Here are some of my favorites quotes from John C. Maxwell's book, The 5 Levels of Leadership -- a book Ibelieve should be a must-read for any workplace/organizational leader:
Good leadership isn't about advancing yourself.  It's about advancing your team.Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others.Leadership is action, not position.When people feel liked, cared for, included, valued, and trusted, they begin to work together with their leader and each other.If you have integrity with people, you develop trust.  The more trust you develop, the stronger the relationship becomes.  In times of difficulty, relationships are a shelter.  In times of opportunity, they are a launching pad.Good leaders must embrace both care and candor.People buy into the leader, then the vision.Bringing out the best in a person is often a catalyst for bringing out the best in the team.Progress comes only from taking risks and making mistakes.Leade…

In Brian Tracy's book, Find Your Balance Point, he shares this helpful list of the seven indicators of the right work for you and the career where you will feel fully engaged and where you will be the happiest in serving other people:
The right work for you is something that you really enjoy doing; something that you love to do.The right work for you is easy for you to learn and easy to do. In many cases, you learned it automatically, without thought or effort.You love learning more and more about the work if it is the right work for you.When you are engrossed in this work, the hours fly past. You forget what time it is, and later you are surprised to see how much time has passed.The right work for you gives you energy when you are doing it. You can spend hours at this work, often forgetting to eat.If it is the right work for you, you want to be excellent at it, and you are constantly striving to learn and improve in that area.If it is the right work for you, you admire the top pe…

Communication expert Bart Egnal reveals why jargon is so prevalent in the workplace, and why it usually undermines those who use it, in his book, Leading Through Language.

Step by step, Egnal demonstrates how effective leaders reject fuzzy terminology in favor of the language of leadership. And, by language of leadership, he means using language that clearly and powerfully brings ideas to life for the audience.

The book has two parts. The first part examines why jargon exists and discusses its implications for leaders.The second part teaches how to use language that conveys ideas with energy, clarity, and conviction.

Egnal also explains that before you think about language you need to adopt a leader's mindset using these six principles:
Begin with vision. You must define the vision as a possibility that others can embrace or aspire to fulfill.Yet, it must be concrete enough that people can grasp it as something clear and achievable.Define your own conviction. When you speak from a…

Getting feedback is an important way to improve performance at work. But sometimes, it can be hard to seek out, and even harder to hear. 
“Feedback is all around you. Your job is to find it, both through asking directly and observing it,” says David L. Van Rooy, author of the book, Trajectory: 7 Career Strategies to Take You From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be.
As today's guest post, Van Rooy offers these six tips for how to get the feedback you need to improve performance at work.
Guest Post By David L. Van Rooy
1.      Don’t forget to ask:  One of the biggest mistakes people make is assuming things are going perfectly (until they make a catastrophic mistake). By not asking, you’re missing out on opportunities for deep feedback: the difficult, critical feedback that gives you constructive ways to improve.
2.      Make sure you listen:  Remember, getting feedback is about improving your performance, not turning it into a “you versus them” mentality. Your reaction is critica…

From the book, Leading With Strategic Thinking, by Aaron K. Olson and B. Keith Simerson,here are six ways the authors suggest for stimulating your creative thinking:
Engage in communities, conferences, or reading outside your typical area of expertise.Set aside time in your week that doesn't involve completing routine tasks.Visit places where you will encounter unfamiliar people, cultures, or ideas.Spend time with coworkers in your organization with different roles.Debate commonly held ideas or question assumptions about your work or business.Imagine a situation in which you (or your organization) could no longer work the same way -- what would you do?

Debbie Laskey is one of my go-to experts when I seek advice about a number of business topics, including marketing, social media, and nonprofit marketing and leadership. 
So, it's my privilege to share today some of Debbie's insights on all these topics. However, before you read the answers to my questions to Debbie, we'll set the stage with her background: Debbie has an MBA Degree and 17 years of marketing experience in the high-tech industry, Consumer Marketing Department at Disneyland Paris in France, insurance industry, and nonprofit sector. She’s created and implemented successful marketing and branding initiatives for nonprofits including the Foundation for the Junior Blind, Exceptional Children’s Foundation, League of Women Voters of Los Angeles, and Brides for Good; and in the B2B financial sector for an insurance company and CPA firm. Currently, she works with the Nonprofit Communications and Media Network and Special Olympics Southern California. She’s served as a …

The Art of Change Leadershipdemystifies the psychology behind our reactions to change and offers a powerful collection of tools to inspire individual and collective transformation quickly and more effectively, explains author of the book, Cheryl Cran.

The book teaches you how to:
Leverage your current technical knowledge to increase the rate of innovation.Use the cycle of change to foresee and handle change-related issues affecting yourself, others, and business.Raise your emotional intelligence to match your IQ.Guide "change" initiatives with repeatable success by using the reliable three-step change model. Cran also explains the differences between a Change Manager and a Change Leader.
For example: A Change Manager creates a plan, directs projects and people to achieve a goal. In contrast, a Change Leader sets the compelling vision; tells a story that includes the hero's journey for each person involved.
In addition, a Change Leader does the following: Provides a project …

Here are ten questions (or bundles of questions) you should ask yourself to ensure you are thinking and acting like a superboss. These are from Sydney Finkelstein's new book, Superbosses.

Do you have a specific vision for your work that energizes you, and that you use to energize and inspire your team?How often do people leave your team to accept a bigger offer elsewhere? What's that like when it happens?Do you push your reports to meet only the formal goals set for the team, or are there other goals that employees sometimes also strive to achieve?How do you go about questioning your own assumptions about the business? How do you get your team to do the same about their own assumptions?How do you balance the need to delegate responsibilities to team members with the need to provide hands-on coaching to them? How much time do you usually spend coaching employees?When promoting employees, do you ever put them into challenging jobs where they potentially might fail? If so, how do…

"Trust. Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." - Abraham Lincoln.

Here are the 12 golden rules of effective communication from Paul Falcone, as highlighted in his book, 2600 Phrases for Setting Effective Performance Goals.

Always remember to:
Recognize achievements and accomplishments often.Celebrate success.Deliver bad news quickly, constructively, and in a spirit of professional development.Praise in public, censure in private.Assume responsibility for problems when things go wrong, and provide immediate praise and recognition to others when things go right.Create a work environment based on inclusiveness, welcoming others' suggestions and points of view.Listen actively, making sure that your people feel heard and understood and have a voice in terms of offering positive suggestions in the office or on the shop floor.Share information openly (to the extent possible) so that staff members understand the Why behind your reasoning and can ask appropriate questions as they continue along in their own path of career development and learning.Remembe…

Change is inevitable. Change is good.  Help your employees and team learn to embrace change.

Here are some solid insights from Dr. Rodger Dean Duncan's (Liberty, Missouri) book, Change-friendly Leadership -- How to Transform Good Intentions into  Great Performance:
The kind of behavior change that results in lasting (sustainable) change must accommodate people's feelings--feelings that involve trust, confidence, passion, and all those other intangible but very real things that make us human.It's often the stress that people resist, not the change itself.Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches, letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights (Pauline R. Kezer).A transformational leader focuses primarily on initiating and "managing" change.  He/she influences people to improve, to stretch, and to redefine what's possible.It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change (Charles Da…