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Intentional Leadership — D2, W3, M10 — Strategy

How often have you heard someone say, “People are your most valuable asset.” I’ve heard it spoken countless times in interviews…and frankly, I’ve said it myself countless times. There’s a subtle difference here, though, and I’m certain you are already aware of it. Often, the people who say this are not sincere…they may want to believe it and may want to behave as if it were true, some even truly believe they treat their people as such, but it simply isn’t the case.

I truly do believe it. Technology can be bought and sold; the same can be said of machinery and equipment. The key difference maker in any business is the people. They build, run, and maintain all the “stuff” and have a choice, daily, to show up with 100% effort or not. They can choose to nurture your business or sabotage it. They can choose to take good care of your equipment, damage it deliberately, or allow it to fall into disrepair. They are the face of your company in your community, with your customers, vendors, and other partners.

All others things being equal, they can be your secret weapon! All that is required is treating them well…offering trust and behaving in a trustworthy manner; treating them with respect and behaving in a respectable manner; getting to know who they are and treating them as individuals with lives outside your business; and showing them genuine appreciation for what they have to offer and what they do for your business. This is as true for your vendors, customers, and other partners as it is for your employees.

If you haven’t given this much thought lately, I encourage you to spend some time with this today; get out your journal and answer these questions:

How would your partners, vendors, customers, and employees say you are showing you appreciate them?

How would they say you are at building trust with them?

What words can you use — backed up by consistent behaviors — that will help you demonstrate your appreciation, trust, and value for each of these groups of people who have the power to make or break you and your business?

What steps can you take today, and in the coming weeks, to ensure you are on track here and to make adjustments if needed?

What’s holding you back? Now that you are focused on this, and have some clarity around it, get started!

Taking excellent care of the people connected with your business is one of the best business strategies you can have!

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Intentional Leadership — D1, W3, M10 — Strategy

We’ve talked some about having an awareness of our strengths. I wonder, have you explored this for yourself? If I were to meet you today, and asked you the question: What are your strengths? Could you answer without hesitation?

If you hesitate, I encourage you to spend some time in exploration, as understanding this about yourself will have tremendous benefits throughout your life.

What does knowing one’s strengths have to do with strategy? Well, it allows one to leverage one’s assets, and to do so strategically. It’s one of the keys to success, in that you know who you are, what you have to offer, what your areas of expertise are, and that enables you to build on those assets to move yourself, your team, and your organization forward.

This also allows you to leverage your influence. My leading strength is as a strategist and one of my areas of expertise is in communication. When I combine the two, and develop strategic communication plans, I am able to leverage a strength, with an area of expertise, which allows me to expand my influence. Were I to attempt to function in the say way in another area, say finance or engineering, well…it would be somewhat laughable, as those are not my areas of expertise.

So, learn about yourself so you can leverage your strengths and expand your influence. This, in turn, will allow you to embrace risk more easily, because you have a solid foundation from which to begin.

Think about prominent, successful figures in business who have done this…Rupert Murdoch — made his name in Australia with newspapers and this is how he moved into the US media market, with Fox Broadcasting and the Wall Street Journal. Steve Jobs — so well known for his time at the helm of Apple, also used his technological expertise and intuition about what viewers were looking for when he moved Pixar into the spotlight.

The business world and history are full of similar stories. The question is, what is your story?

Who are what are your most valuable assets and how can you invest in them and deploy them to expand your influence and propel yourself forward?

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Intentional Leadership — D5, W2, M10 — Strategy

Another week gone by…the air is crisp in the mornings, soft in the evenings, and the leaves are turning amazingly beautiful colors. I love this time of year! I hope wherever you are on this Friday morning, you are surrounded by beauty as well.

It’s been a full week for me, with several coaching and mentoring sessions, working on developing some meeting/workshop agendas and materials, and planning for some lessons I will teach next week around self-awareness, intentionality, influence, connection, communication, personal styles, conflict resolution, and relationship building.

I will spend time over the weekend continuing to prepare for those upcoming lessons/workshops, as well as having fun with my family attending a local annual festival. In addition, I need to read John Maxwell’s newest book: Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Learn. John will officially launch this new book next Thursday, October 10, via two live webcasts (one at 4 PM EDT and one at 9 PM EDT), accompanied by special guests, Dave Ramsey and Nick Vujicic. You are welcome to attend; you don’t want to miss it! Here’s the link (webcast.johnmaxwell.com).

I will be following up on the webcast by offering a Mastermind Group (facilitated in-depth study) on the book, so if you’re interested in joining us, connect with me via comment, email, phone, or Facebook.

Further, my weekend will include some time and focus invested in the three areas of discipline I’ve committed to work on through the Maxwell Plan for Growth: exercise – yoga at least three times per week; writing – a minimum of 15 minutes a day, in addition to this blog; and getting more intentional about budgeting.

What are you doing with your weekend?

Whom do you need to connect with, nurture, spend time with?

What do you need to do to nurture yourself?

What can you do to prepare yourself for a great start to next week?

What can you do to set yourself up for success in the coming weeks and months?

Enjoy your weekend; I hope however you choose to spend it, you’re intentional about it.

“See” you Monday!

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