Are Followers Approaching Extinction?
Ordinarily, leadership has been defined by the appearance of followers. If followers are present, you’re a leader. Or at least that’s exactly how it’s been traditionally understood. However, if that’s the fact, if we all come to be leaders, do we all quit being leaders because we have no devotees? Is a leader a person who can “get” others to follow? Or is a leader something more?
Plenty of days I am reminded of the trials inherent in communication because of distinctions in the substance of words. Recently, in a group atmosphere, my colleague Cynthia Stewart made a statement that I took issue with about leadership.
“It is misguided to accept that we can supervise men and women. We can manage stuff, but not living, breathing people. People don’t wish to be managed, in fact, people hate to be managed. Individuals want to be led.”
Her remark, I am sure, lined up effectively with the idea that leadership is influence. People don’t choose to be put in little boxes and handled like a resource or a chore. They choose to be swayed to make independent choices about their involvement sans manipulation.
Cynthia, a quality virtuoso with years consulting in industry who developed the Lead Quality Group on LinkedIn, was really making the distinction between smothering, manipulative bosses and inspiring leaders.
“Empowering leaders, those you refer to as character-based leaders, trust and believe in persons and want to motivate and empower those below their authority to grow and become the very best they might be. It is up to character-based leaders to direct the vision and rally individuals behind it, showing them what they can gain personally and professionally in achieving it.”
Agreeing with my friend and her interpretation, I still differed with the statement. The words, lead, influence, and persuade can all seem like manipulation or compulsion to me. Yes, I know coercion means force, but when an individual learns the consequences of an action are larger than they can tolerate, they might feel “forced” to perform something.
Simon Sinek said that we only have two approaches to get people to act: encouragement or control. When encouraged, people offer drive, exhilaration, creativity, passion, commitment, loyalty and a load of other positives to any effort. When manipulated, at best (for the leader) they provide those same sentiments, at least until they realize their error. When they feel sold, manipulated or when their determination wanes, so does their effort.
Did you get in the labor force deciding to become a follower? Positional leaders demand followers. You’re not “in” the lead unless you have individuals that are also ready to follow. If every person became a leader now, where would all the followers emerge from?
Everyday, character-based leaders, those who lead from who they are, rather than from a title, freely choose to submit to the directorship of others. Those others may be in positions of leadership or they may not. Those others may simply have a better strategy, or be more qualified, but they have no “title” of influence. They’re not “in charge.”
In my repartee back and forth with Cynthia, it turns out we weren’t that far apart. In reality, we all need to lead where we can dependent on our abilities, skills, wisdom & education, and we all need to obey where we can not or choose not to lead.
To her point:
“I won’t ever be a pastor, so I look to my pastor. I won’t ever be a surgeon, an elected official, a superintendent, etc. so I bank on others for that and take their direction. I follow in many areas of my life, but I direct my life, I lead my family along with my spouse and I lead my organization.”
Well said.
We can each be character-based leaders, leading from who we happen to be. We don’t “turn into” a follower when we decide to join. We don’t alter who we are by choosing to serve someone else in order to attain a goal. The United States was formed on principles like these. We are equals, taking various roles to accomplish shared objectives. When we become leaders, on the inside, as part of our character, we don’t quit enlisting, supporting or serving. In fact, we may enlist more, support more or serve more once we welcome responsibility for our own leadership. (For more on this, see The Three Promises of Character-based Leadership.)
Our planet needs more great leaders. No, we don’t need more people in positions of authority. Rather we require more character-based leaders both in and out of positions of authority. Be a leader. Decide to make a difference. Join someone or start something on your own. You don’t need my permission.
We can only entirely be leaders when we welcome personal duty and decide to enlist of our own educated, free will.
About the Authors:
Mike is the founder and Chief Instigator of the Lead Change Group. He’s passionate about energizing motivated people to make a positive difference. Connect with Mike via his member profile, LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook.
Cynthia Stewart is the Managing Partner of Evermore Services, a transformative leadership development firm that helps growing businesses with a focus on Quality of work and life. Connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter.
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Can Leadership Add Innovation?
It’s easy to see why the buzzword ‘innovation” has made such a huge impact among businesses in recent years. The world is changing at an incredibly rapid rate, and those organizations that fail to innovate, businesses that find themselves unable to either pick up on new trends or to create those new trends themselves, are doomed to fall by the wayside into unplanned obsolescence. Yet even if you acknowledge the importance of this key concept, grasping the question of HOW to encourage innovation in your workplace is another matter altogether, a question that can only be answered by turning to the twin-headed concept of leadership.
Both Halves of the Leadership Puzzle
On the one hand, leadership refers to the ability of a single individual to guide, mentor and direct a larger group of individuals in an effort to reach a powerful and important goal. This is the traditional definition of leadership that most of us understand intuitively.
On the other hand, leadership refers to the personal initiative taken by each individual within a group to follow their own unique insights and intuition in order to contribute to the mission of the group. This is the second expression of leadership that has only just begun to see widespread recognition.
In both of these understandings of the concept, leadership lies at the absolute core of innovation.
Leading From the Top Down
A traditional leader provides the overarching vision that large-scale innovation requires. Without a leader to seek a vision and to communicate their discoveries to their employees, those employees will wander aimlessly, unmotivated, uncaring, undirected and unsure of what they’re working so hard for in the first place.
A traditional leader needs to construct a whole new way of seeing the world, a perspective that no one has ever thought of before. Think of Steve Jobs, a traditional leader who single-handedly transformed not only his company Apple, but who transformed the entire landscape of the tech industry. Guy Kawasaki has described Apple’s market research as nothing more than “the right hemisphere of Steve’s brain talking to the left one.”
You don’t need to be a genius on the scale of Steve Jobs to be an effective traditional leader who brings innovation to your organization, but you do need to remember, at all times, that your job is to provide the vision, the direction, and the idea of a bigger picture that your employees will move towards.
Innovation from the Bottom Up
A traditional leader may provide the vision his employees follow, but unless that leader empowers those employees his vision will remain nothing more than a great idea. When empowered, employees are able to bring their own unique insights to the task of bringing an ephemeral vision into the real world, unique insights an individual can only gain by total commitment to perfecting their personal craft. Those individuals who work on a task at the “ground level” will develop a keen understanding of the nuts-and-bolts of what it takes to transform an ephemeral vision into a physical reality.
Practical innovation simply can’t exist without the combination of a traditional leader and a group of expert craftsmen given free reign to produce that vision as only they could. Steve Jobs may have imagined the iPhone, but his engineers figured out how to actually construct the first smartphone. When Henry Ford dreamed up a V8 engine he didn’t draw up the blueprints for the radical new device himself, he gave the idea to his engineers and told them to make it work, no matter what it took.
If you want to innovate, you need to acknowledge and put into practice both forms of leadership within your organization.
About the Author: The post is authored by Jason. He is An HR professional with excellent communication skills and relationship management experience. Also he is pretty good at providing counseling on team building and team building activities.
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Survey Outcomes: Business Leaders Seek Trusted Advice Online
Interested as to how your rivals get their work assistance and keep their personal knives honed? I ran a non-scientific poll on LinkedIn examining that inquiry. The outcomes absolutely painted the portrait of the self-educated expert, obtaining business advice from write ups, blogs, webinars and other self-initiated methods.
LinkedIn Poll Results
The question was: How are you gaining perspective and counsel as a leader in small business? Below are the outcomes:
Clearly in the generation of economic crises, going after guidance on your own through the Internet is the fastest, and cheapest, manner of finding help and information as shown in the 61% sampling on this poll. In a distant 2nd place with approximately 1/3 as many answers is Mastermind Groups, followed by Coaching/Mentoring at 11%. What I found very intriguing was that using your built in team of managers got such a low response. However, the response was worded “Internal managers only” and the only part of that may have swayed this data.
Poll Limitations
Using LinkedIn surveys has 2 major downsides:
- Just LinkedIn Users can participate in the survey. This instantly means that users are restricted for the most part to white-collar professionals. In my case, that is my target client base so this is not a drawback on audience part, just quantity of users that respond.
- LinkedIn forces choice without permitting for many choices. Participants have to choose the number one option that answers the query.
What LinkedIn does do that is cool is won’t allow several answers from the same individual as some services do, effectively permitting someone, generally the survey taker, to manipulate the outcomes. Not here.
There is also the limit of statistical significance on this poll. LinkedIn Polls operate for 30 days when uploaded, and because of other irons in the fire I didn’t press this poll, so the minimal amount of participants boosts the margin for error because of statistical significance. I was looking for trends, though, and the returns plainly present one.
Backup SurveyMonkey Sampling
In parallel, I performed a poll on my blog that had no restrictions. Respondents could pick the best answers they desired and could choose numerous answers.
Notice that the numbers do increase a bit for all low results like the In house choice, but the leaders and trends are in the same positions as the LinkedIn poll. The additional reply in the SurveyMonkey survey regarding not getting any new info on advice demonstrates that the respondents are forward thinking enough to seek more desirable ways and humble enough to understand that they do not know everything.
In What Ways Will This Affect You as an Entrepreneur?
Well, it’s a data point really. Surprising? Perhaps not. Clearly the simplest and most efficient way to enlighten yourself to new techniques and methods is going online, where in a matter of seconds you can tap a website or online course to teach you stuff. The challenge that I see with this information (where experts are acquiring counsel and perspective mostly from articles, blogs and webinars) is one of objectivity and honesty. A lot of the info obtained online, at least the free stuff, is produced to encourage you to a given resolution to a problem. It’s a one-size-fits-all treatment and is usually not supplied with the best interest of the reader or viewer as first priority. Of course most information providers wish to see you prosper, but that can be second to purchasing their stuff. The apparent risk here is lack of investment in your outcomes, and although this can work fantastic for things like advertising strategies, on heavier decisions that business owners encounter (selling the business, legal trouble, etc.), they must be diligent and measured when obeying the guru of whatever it is they are seeking advice on.
Obtaining Trustworthy Advice
What I mean by trusted advice is counsel from somebody who is invested in you personally, where friendships or business partnerships have been formed, and that person is either at a peer-to-peer level or a higher level on the corporate ladder than you. Possibly that is the reason the numbers in these polls reveal work leaders are discussing with their teams as a first choice.
Generally trusted guidance hails from loved ones and buddies, but you need to identify the business acumen of those people in your life. Many well-meaning family members have completely and unsuspectingly thwarted the hopes and dreams of business owners.
Another way to get to wise counsel with trust is a mentor or Mastermind Group engagement. These numbers on the polls above showed a subset of people utilizing these instruments to evolve their establishments and gain perspective. Obstacles to either of these ends are often money or, in most entrepreneur and small business owner cases, time commitment. Experts establishing their own Mastermind Groups, for instance, can do so on a shoestring budget, but the seeking of other like-minded associates who can contribute, the coordination of sources, and the facilitation of a group can be grueling. Many current Mastermind organizations exist like my offering at virtual-mastermind.com, Vistage International, and many more, and the costs vary all over the map. Your money goes to the facilitation of the group, getting into a good group of other business owners, and the 2-way interaction that personalizes outcomes for the membership after that trust bond is established. Financial commitment should never go to product purchases without these other aspects.
Modern Leadership Advice and Education
The most important thing any business expert needs to take away is to keep getting more info, techniques, advice and original ideas. Information is never stationary, and neither is what works in the world. Principles are enduring, while techniques change over time as does the success from using them. Know what kind of information you want, stay current, and stay thorough. You can only follow up on so much information, so edit wisely.
About the Author: Karl Walinskas is the CEO of Smart Company Growth, a business development firm that helps small to mid-size professional service firms builds competitive advantage in an online world of sameness. He is author of numerous articles and the Smart Blog on leadership, business communication, sales & service, public speaking and virtual business, and Getting Connected Through Exceptional Leadership, available in theSmartShop. Get your FREE LinkedIn Profile Optimization eBook & Video Course, Video Marketing video and course, or Mastermind Groups e-course & video now.
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Tebow Time for Entrepreneurs: 4 Ways to Peak Performance When It Counts
The craze sweeping the united states this winter season comes from the National Football League. Of course I’m referring to Tebowing, originated by Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow, and you either love him or hate him. Removing religiousity (my word) from the equation, Tim Tebow along with the Broncos have strung together a series of outstanding comebacks before recently succumbing to the superior Brady Bunch and the Patriots. Denver was left for dead on multiple occasions through three quarters plus in games, only to rise up like Lazarus to conquer the football Reaper and stand in victory.
Is there a leadership lesson in this over-hyped story for small company owners, entrepreneurs and corporate execs ?
Tebow’s type of play has been pooh-poohed as unsustainable, tagged as downright ugly, and lampooned on Saturday Night Live. It’s also been lauded by evangelicals, adopted by presidential candidates, and embraced by middle-America. Yet the most remarkable thing this sensation demonstrates is clutch performance, doing your best when it’s all that matters, and it has been on display in sports throughout the decades in names like Reggie, Jordan, Montana and Gretski. Tebow is the most recent, albeit more unconventional representation of clutch production in crunch time. But is it sudden, sacred intervention, or a predictable method?
Game Plan Your Strengths
If you’ve caught any of these Bronco games, you know that a few weeks ago, John Fox and the coaching staff kept if very basic, dumbing down the playbook, or so it seemed, so Tebow could get by. In a pass-happy, copycat league that is the NFL, Denver went almost wholly to a game plan of running the ball and shutting down on defense. With a few exceptions, it worked. The coaching staff made the unconventional routine, cut short the games, and stayed within striking distance.
Tebow isn’t Manning or Drew Breese, and their offense wasn’t constructed that way with the players around the quarterback. Tebow is a rough, solid, contact-loving player who thus far relies more on a big heart and hard work than traditional passing talents.
There is more than one way to succeed!
As a leader in business, you may not have elite level talent or the mix of people on your team bus that you may have wanted. So what? Take stock not only of what human assets you have and what they’re good at, but of the strengths you may have in plant and machinery, intellectual property and patents, pricing, operating systems and capital. This is basic SWOT analysis with a capital S folks. Be aware of your weak spots and seek to mitigate them right now by playing to your strengths. Nothing wipes out a business faster than striving to be what it isn’t.
Keep It Close Until the Very End
The Denver game plan is playing to the strength of a running game that grinds on the other team, shrinks the game by exhausting the clock, and keeps the Broncos within winning distance at the end. It’s this clutch time when Tebow magic happens, but that magic is almost expected. The other team is tired, frustrated that this bible-thumping character is even close after being statistically dominated for three quarters, and just a bit worried of being another statistic on the Tebow legend wall. Persistence wears down resistance like water in a stream smoothes over the stones.
In business if you have a target, focus on it like a laser beam, and keep striving again and again, prosperity is inevitable provided you believe it. Top performing sales folks know this when trying to crack the biggest accounts. Manufacturers demonstrate this every day by producing things smaller, lighter, quicker and cheaper that do things we didn’t think possible five years earlier. Set a business goal, establish a plan that minimizes risk and moves you steadily toward it, and seize the opportunity when it ultimately comes.
Raise Other People’s Performance
Now this is the leadership goal we all have, to raise the game of everyone in the company. Easier said than done.
I’ve heard dozens of analysts in recent weeks apologize for the Tebow success.
“He’s not the one kicking 59 yard field goals.”
“He’s not playing great defense.”
“He’s not making great catches on poorly thrown balls.”
Wow! That Tim Tebow– he’s a really lucky guy. Let me ask you this, do you think the fact that all of those other guys are stepping up is a lucky coincidence? Before the coaches put Tebow in as a starter, the defense was giving up a lot of points, the kicker was missing field goals, and receivers had their share of lapses and then some. So what happened?
Leadership by example happened. Nothing fires up the defensive side of the ball more than seeing their second-year passer trying to run over linebackers, and actually doing it. Tebow’s not a diva. He gets grimy and bloody, playing more like an offensive lineman than a quarterback. The last thing anyone else on that team wants is to be shown up by this kid in the hard work department, and suddenly, the whole team is leagues ahead of where it was to start the year.
How do you lead by example in your company? The ways you can are too numerous to list. Do whatevers it is you ask employees to do, or be ready to when a key employee calls in off work. Pay suppliers on a timely basis and watch the company virtues improve. Reward first-rate performance without being asked and everyone starts improving on the job. You are the leader of the company, and everything you do is being watched and emulated. Be aware of it and you ‘ll raise the game of your team like Tebow does.
Losers Have Hope – Winners Have Conviction
The Tebowing process of falling to one knee in prayer or thanks, the unpretentious pep talks in the huddle, and the poise under stress are the body language not of blind optimism, but of belief. When belief is followed by action, it becomes conviction, and that is contagious and hard to stop.
One of the biggest business clichés going is that Hope is Not a Strategy. Well here is the procedure of conviction, the outright certainty that things will work out as good as they can, and when they don’t, something even greater will come out of the momentary setback.
How would you run your organization if you really believe you couldn’t fail? What product lines would you expand? What people would you hire? The reality is that worry over possible outcomes put more stress on us than when the worst actually takes place. I’m not proposing being risky or silly with your money or time. What I am saying is that if you have outright conviction in your actions, you ‘ll begin to do the other three things we’ve discussed: you ‘ll focus on your strengths, keep regularly progressing toward your target, and improve the effectiveness of your employees and business partners.
Each of these 4 components tends to feed the other, and suddenly you ‘ll find out that your success is more formulaic than divinely inspired, although a little bit of divine help never hurts.
About the Author: Karl Walinskas is the CEO of Smart Company Growth, a business development firm that helps small to mid-size professional service firms build competitive advantage in an online world of sameness. His Smart Blog covers leadership, business communication, sales & service, public speaking and virtual business, and was recently named by Buyerzone as one of the Top 20 Business Blogs of 2011. He is the author of Getting Connected Through Exceptional Leadership, available in the SmartShop and Amazon.com, and has been a featured expert for Inc.com with articles published in Selling Power, America Online, and Site Pro News to name a few. Get your FREE LinkedIn Profile Optimization eBook & video course, Video Marketing video and course, or Mastermind Groups e-course & video now.
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Leadership Lessons for Every Business
The Makings of a Great Leader
Vince Lombardi carved out a fairly successful life for himself, despite coming from an Italian immigrant family that struggled through the Great Depression. He is best known for his success as an American football coach, particularly with the Green Bay Packers during the 1960’s. Yet it is Lombardi’s words on leadership that are most memorable: “Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.”
Whether you agree with the philosophy of those words or not, they speak of Lombardi’s own struggle to lead. As the oldest of five, Lombardi was certainly born to a life of leading and setting an example for his siblings. Yet he didn’t excel or enjoy the role of being the eldest. At the age of 12 Lombardi found football. He loved it. It was an escape, even if he wasn’t athletic or talented, Vince Lombardi was happy on the football field. His play was aggressive, enthusiastic and insightful. By his own words, Lombardi learned valuable lessons on the field, such as perseverance and to never underestimate the opposition.
After some time at Fordham University, Lombardi landed himself a coaching position at a high school. His poor eyesight prevented a professional football career, but Lombardi’s love for the game translated to coaching. Every coaching position Lombardi held pushed him to be a leader, and it was his motivation that made him a good leader. He was motivated by his love for the game. By that same theory, his words “Leaders are made, not born” is truth. Lombardi was made a good leader through his love of the game, and the lessons he learned along the way.
Transparency in Leadership
The spiritual leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama, said “The nature of our motivation determines the character of our work.” As a leader, what are the reasons for daily procedures? Do they serve an end purpose that is equitable? What are the repercussions of the principle objectives? What is your motivation – as a leader – to be a leader? By having a clear and honest awareness of your own interests, you can identify with your team. Lombardi identified with his players through a mutual love of the game, and everyone saw it. Likewise, the interests of a business should be transparent, as should those of the staff and management. Engage in a global brainstorming session within the company. Be crystal clear about the direction of the company, answer questions honestly and never, ever tell a lie. Honesty, clarity, and inclusion will show your team exactly where your interests lie. And that will make you a great leader.
Conduct is a word that is all over the business section of newspapers these days. Every company has a code of conduct, yet few actually enforce it. As a leader it is your responsibility to motivate your team within the margins of the code of conduct. It is your responsibility to demonstrate your desire for a wholly healthy workplace by enforcing the code of conduct. Moreover, by not allowing a breach of conduct to take place, you are exhibiting a crucial indication of respect for every individual in your employ. Making the tough calls in a graceful manner is a sign of a true leader.
Train Your Mind, Train Your Team
The Dalai Lama also said “The leader has to recognize when negative emotions like frustration, impatience, anger, lack of self-confidence, jealousy, greed start to influence his thought processes.” He goes on to say all that negativity leads to making bad decisions and wastes energy. Were truer words every spoken? In these tumultuous economic times it can be so incredibly easy to lose focus, to just glide along on our emotions until there is a sudden implosion. No matter how well you hide it, your team senses the negativity. As a leader, as an example to the team, as the one who sets the tone of the business, as a motivator, it is your responsibility to train your mind.
Napoleon I of France wrote in his 1916 memoir “Once can lead a nation by helping it see a bright outlook. A leader is a dealer in hope.” Having hope and vision in business is obviously important, but for a leader to take ownership of negativity and change it means the success of the team. Acknowledge the reality of the negativity then work through it for a solution. Engage the help of the team. Stay positive, but realistic. Every problem has a solution, but only if the proper attitude is in place.
About the Author: Jeremy Pradell is a representative of MetroFax Online Fax as a product specialist. Join MetroFax on Twitter for all the latest updates on internet faxing, business technology and more.
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3 No Brainer (But Often Forgotten) Leadership Tips for Small Businesses
Strong leadership is important for all business owners, regardless of the size of business. However, since small business owners often have many responsibilities, effective leadership is especially important. While leadership may come easy for some, many individuals have to work hard to develop into a good leader. Fortunately, leadership can be improved upon with some hard work. Below are some tips to help you are become the best leader possible while growing a successful business.
1. Make Specific Plans
Drop your ego at the door and get to work. Don’t assume that you know everything. Having an organized plan is a smart first move. Unless a plan is in place, how can you truly budget your time effectively? Laying out procedures and identifying specific roles for each person in the business provides clarity and increased productivity for everyone involved. Since small businesses often have their employee’s working on multiple things at a time, it is important to delegate properly.
You should have both short and long-term goals that address daily, monthly and yearly aspects of running the business. Also, remember that as you business grows and changes, so too should your plans. If you’re taking a “one size fits all” approach to your business, you’re doomed to fail.
It should go without saying, but if you’re putting all this work into developing your plans, make sure you follow through with them. Too often, plans get laid out and then filed away, only to be discovered a few years later as a failed business is cleaning out its offices.
2. Keep Your Eyes on the Horizon
Thinking forward is a key characteristic of good leaders. While the day-to-day operations of the business will often consume the majority of your time, you shouldn’t lose sight of the plans you’ve outlined. The future may seem far away, but ignoring it will certainly hinder your growth. Forward-thinking can help small businesses develop longevity.
Consider creating a mission statement for the business. Such a statement is a quick reference and reminder to you and your employees of why you’re working so hard. If employees have a reason to believe in the company they work for, they’ll put out a better product with a focus on good customer relations. And speaking of customers – they’ll continue to value your business as they notice your commitment to the future. Customers want to support businesses that have a passion for what they do. Your passion is directly related to thinking forward.
3. Invest in Your Employees
While a good business starts with a passionate owner, its success depends on talented employees who will represent the business to the masses. Employees are your best resources, not only in the daily operations, but also in the promotion and growth of your company.
A good employee will be able to do his or her job with very little help from anyone. A great employee will do the job while seeking new ways to make it better and more efficient. Training your employees on proper procedures is vital. A customer’s experience will be so much better if the representative of your business appears to be competent.
There may be times when problems arise. Your relationship with your employees will determine how quickly an issue can escalate. Having an open-door policy promotes dialogue between the business owner, managers and employees. If employees are comfortable in speaking to superiors when something happens, they’ll be more likely to work through a problem rather than just blowing up.
Make sure the open door swings both ways. Seek feedback from employees and let them know that their input is valued and considered. Working together to fix problems and grow the company makes everyone invested in the business.
Following these tips will help make you a good leader while helping your small business to become successful. People want to follow good leaders, so improving upon your skills can help build your business.
About the Author: Don’t forget to invest in yourself and education like you should with your business plan. Villanova University’s online programs provide small business owners and professionals the chance to learn without having to miss work. Villanova offers leadership courses, project management courses, and other professional training programs.
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Four Bosses to Avoid Like the Plague
Bosses Day is today – October 17. If you have a great boss, let them know how much you appreciate them. Who knows, maybe they’ll appreciate your thoughtfulness enough to add a little cushion to your holiday bonus.
And if you have a terrible boss… then it sucks to be you. Few things make going to the office day-after-day and week-after-week worse than a really terrible boss. Here are a few types of bosses that you should do whatever you can to avoid.
The Narcissistic Boss 
This boss thinks that everything is about them. He or she will strive to look and act perfectly in front of their superiors, but when they aren’t putting on a show, the claws come out. These bosses will sweet talk you to your face then steal all of your best ideas and pawn them off as their own. Watch out for the extreme version of this boss – The Sociopath.
The Idiot Boss
This sad excuse for 
a boss got promoted to his or her current position because their dad owns the company or the system just failed in a terrible, terrible way. This boss not only drains your energy level, he or she brings half-ass work to the higher ups, which reflects poorly on you. Do whatever you can to get away from this dead-end boss.
The Inappropriate Boss
This boss is one of the worst because he or she makes the work place uncomfortable on a regular basis. This is the boss who calls the girls sweetheart or gives the guys a slap on the butt. Basically, he is a sexual harassment lawsuit waiting to happen. If you have this boss, don’t be afraid of the system – report them as soon as possible.
The Cruel Boss
Possibly the most demoralizing of all bosses is the one who is mean spirited for no reason. This boss gets off on making his or her employees feel small and invaluable. Don’t let your soul be crushed by a boss like this. Apply for a transfer, and in the meantime, try not to take it personally.
Your Turn…
Have you ever worked for one of these demon bosses? What nightmare boss did we leave off the list?
About the Author: Greg Buckskin is a writer and marketer for CableTV.com.
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Photo credit: TheMuuj
5 Reasons Being Your Own Boss Makes You A Better Person
We are a culture that celebrates leadership. We glamorize generals who lead men into battle, and admire the entrepreneurs that built Silicon Valley. There is no question that being the one in command has its appeal as well as its perks.
On the other hand, people in leadership positions also have to make tough decisions, and at times are not looked upon fondly by the masses. In the corporate world the boss is a pejorative term, the very word associated with a draconian taskmaster who will flog an employee for every second they are late returning from break.
So the question is, does being the boss make you a better or worse person? Does the anchor of responsibility make you more mature or more of a jerk? The following are 5 reasons why being your own boss ultimately makes you a better person.
1. Leadership
As your own boss you are responsible for the direction and hierarchy your business assumes, including everything from the marketing strategy to the delegation of duties. You will have to make tough decisions and have the conviction to exercise them.
2. Expanding Your Creativity
As a company drone you are nothing more than a tool, following the orders given to you. The brain goes on auto-pilot the second you clock in. As your own boss, you must think creatively to expand your business and stay ahead of the competition. You must fight ways to be more efficient and
3. Dealing With Pressure
Owning your own business means dealing with the pressure of success and failure. A salaried employee whose income is not tied to the bottom line has little incentive to care. At times it may not feel as if it makes a difference if he or she shows up at all. As the proprietor, however, your livelihood depends on the growth of your business. Exposing yourself to the crucible of business makes you more equipped to handle the pressures of everyday life.
4. Learning to Motivate
In addition to learning how to handle pressure, making your business thrive also represents a challenge. Regardless of whether it’s sports, education, or business, setting a lofty goal and attaining it provides a valuable experience and helps you grow as a human being. Furthermore, as your own boss, not only do you learn how to succeed, you learn how to stay on top. Finding ways to stay ambitious and motivated are key components in keeping your business growing. Finding the energy to keep customers and employees motivated will help you grow to become a more pleasant and affable person.
5. Empathy
Being your own boss means you are responsible for the satisfaction and safety of both your customers and your employees. You must handle disputes amicably and foster strong relationships with your client base. As an employee, the courtesies you extend to customers are perfunctory, a rote phrase spoken to appease a manager with no authentic enthusiasm. For a boss, however, these customers are the arteries of their business, and learning what they think is critical to improving the product or service they provide. Being a boss makes you a better listener, a more gregarious person, and teaches you the empathy required to be an effective manager of people.
In the end, the qualities that make a good boss are the same traits we admire in all human beings. As your own boss, you will find that as your business grows, so does your character.
About the Author: This article was written by Joan Evans of PublicLiabilityInsurance.org, Joans writes on a wide range of business topics including employers liability insurance.
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Capt Sully Sullenberger’s Tips on Building a Strong Reputation (and how it can help your biz)
Chesley B. Sullenberger (aka “Sully”) was at the 2011 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on January 27th. The pilot and founder of Safety Reliability Methods Inc offered valuable advice for leaders as well as business owners on how to build a good reputation. Read more
Built to Last – How to Grow Your Business by Hiring Leaders
All businesses need leaders on their staff, but small businesses need leaders even more. Why? If you are the entrepreneur who started the business, imagine yourself as the go-to person for all questions.
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Imagine yourself having to be the person who develops new procedures. Imagine yourself as the person who answers all the difficult, thorny questions that may come up.
If you have to provide all the leadership in the organization yourself, when will you have time to run your business – much less expand it? I suspect that you have other responsibilities on your plate besides supervising employees. What you need is a self-supervising employee who can discern when something needs to be done, and take the initiative to do it. Moreover, that person needs to care about the business and have the judgment, background, and intelligence to be able to make good decisions based on the information that is available – even if a question comes up that was not covered during employee training. What you need is a leader.
How can you find a leader if you are currently going through the hiring process? Look for the following signs of leadership:
Signs of Leadership in Lower Level Positions:
Continuing one’s own education. Not all industries require their leaders to have advanced degrees or certifications in order to advance, but many do. When you meet a job candidate who is attending school or pursuing a professional certification, or who has recently finished a degree program, take note of it. By continuing his or her education so aggressively, such a job candidate is showing not only that he or she can handle the stress and pressure of working and attending school simultaneously, but is planning to advance in their career by pursuing additional credentials. In other words, this person is ambitious and determined to take the initiative, rather than wait for promotions to be handed out at regular intervals.
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Working off the clock. The hallmark of an employee who lacks ambition is working straight nine to five hours, arriving right on time and leaving right on time, and taking no interest in the industry outside of work. Someone who aspires to be a leader in the industry, however, will go out and find activities to participate in that are related to it. You might find a job candidate who also does volunteer work for a community organization, for example. Or you might find an employee who likes to come to work early in order to have time to read the newspaper and browse through business websites.
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Positive energy. I find that leaders tend to be very energetic people with their fingers in lots of pies (figuratively speaking). They take a keen interest in many different areas, not all of which will be work-related. Leaders often, but not always, like to make time to exercise. It seems as though they have an inherent need to be constantly busy doing something. If you come across a job candidate who does a lot of volunteer work, or runs marathons, or who spends a lot of time on a time-consuming hobby, consider that person a potential leader – even if none of those activities are connected with the job in question. They are all signs of energy, and energetic employees are employees who help businesses to expand.
Signs of Leadership in Upper Level Positions:
Publications, conferences, trade shows, and public talks. Leaders in an industry will take a keen interest in the industry, taking the time to educate themselves further about special topics. Eventually, continuing education plus ongoing experience makes an interested party into something more – an expert. An expert without any leadership potential or ambition might stop there, but an expert who really wants to make a difference in the industry will take the initiative to help to develop the industry further, by sharing knowledge and engaging in a collective discussion of topics that are of interest. There are several ways to do this. For example, one might share knowledge by writing articles and submitting them to industry publications, or by participating in public talks, panels, and workshops at conferences and trade shows.
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Mentoring. A true leader does not climb the ladder of success alone, but reaches out a hand to help others to ascend as well. Try to find out if the job candidates you are considering have ever mentored their coworkers or supervisees. Mentoring could mean giving regular advice and encouragement, or helping a coworker to find ways to network in the industry by introducing them to others in the industry, or by inviting them to join professional groups. A mentor might also take time to help a supervisee develop new skills, either by teaching those skills directly or by providing a supervisee with the chance to work on promising projects. Ask about mentoring in your interview. Leaders don’t mentor accidentally – they know they are doing it and are often quite proud of their mentees.
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A history of changing one’s work environment, as opposed to being changed by it. Employees with a lot of initiative and drive will often shape their own job responsibilities. During their tenure in their current positions, their job responsibilities will expand in many areas. These employees have an eye for efficiency and are open to trying new ways of doing things. Often they will find that they have more hours in their work day than their predecessors did, even though they are working the same hours, because they have found shortcuts and economies of scale to make the work go faster. Needless to say, people who have the ability to do this make very valuable members of your team, because they can literally increase the number of products or services that your business can offer in the same amount of time, without increasing the number of employees on your payroll.
Conclusion
You might not be enthusiastic about the idea of an employee changing the work environment or the job responsibilities for a position. After all, if you are an entrepreneur who started your own small business, you very likely have strong ideas about how the business should be run. I have to tell you that a leader
is someone who may challenge a few of your ideas. You may even have conflicts with this person from time to time. But that’s okay. In fact, you should welcome challenges and new ideas with open arms. Businesses are living, organic entities that have to continue to grow and change – or they will die. Hiring someone who pushes you to try something new may be the impetus your business needs in order to expand, grow, and thrive.
About the Author: Brendan Cruickshank (Vice President of Client Services) – Brendan is a veteran of the online job search and recruiting industry, having spent the past 8 years in senior client services roles with major sites like Juju.com and JobsInTheMoney.com. He is quoted regularly as an expert in employment and jobs trends in major media outlets like the Washington Post, US News & World Report, and Forbes and has spoken at recruiting industry events such as Onrec and Kennedy Information’s Corporate Recruiting Conference.
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