Leadership Solutions

Leadership Solutions: 1st Leadership Test

Before you step forward to lead a company, department, or group, there is a test.

And you must pass this test before you can legitimately claim to be a leader.

The test is self leadership.

Here's what to expect:

1) Do you have a vision for your future? Have you set goals? Do you have a plan for achieving those goals?

Leaders find destinations.

2) Do you complete tasks? Are you able to follow your own instructions? Do you apply discipline to meet agreements? Are your actions consistent with your values?

Leaders set examples.

3) Do you communicate? Can you explain what you want clearly,

concisely, and briefly? Can you resolve conflicts and disagreements without starting new ones?

Leaders communicate.

4) Do people trust you? Are you consistently honest? Are you predictably approachable? Do you honor agreements, complete assignments, and arrive on time?

Leaders earn trust.

5) Do you manage resources? Do you spend wisely and save routinely? Do you avoid debt? Are you generous when appropriate? Do you have more wealth now than when you started?

Leaders build wealth.

Key Point: Leaders are the type of people that others want to become.

Much success,

Steve Kaye

714-528-1300

Author, Speaker, IAF Certified Professional Facilitator

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Leadership Solutions: Universal Solution for Blame

People are always seeking simple answers.

So, after considerable thought, I have found the universal solution for blame.

Right now, blame is complex.

People have to spend valuable creativity finding (and sometimes inventing) blame. They blame the dog who ate their report. Or they blame the traffic for getting lost. Or they blame last night's dinner for being cranky.

And so on.

This becomes confusing because some forms of blame contradict each other. And sometimes people forget who to blame because they have too many choices. Or, they use one form of blame one day and then a different one the next.

Well, here is good news!

I propose a Universal Target for all blame. It is:

The hamster on 47th Street.

Now, when people are asked, "Why didn't you prepare an agenda for the meeting?" they can reply, "The hamster on 47th Street."

Or, if they are asked, "Why were you late?" they can say, "The hamster on 47th Street."

And so on.

I hope this helps.

For those who prefer to avoid blame, I have another solution.

It's one of my workshops.

My goal is to make leaders more effective. And my workshops show people how to achieve that.

Key Point: Responsible leaders don't need blame. They just do the job.

Much success,

Steve Kaye

714-528-1300

Author, Speaker, IAF Certified Professional Facilitator

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Leadership Solutions: Key to Personal Growth

Few people do this deliberately.

Yet, it's the key to personal growth.

It is: Do something scary every day.

Of course, this varies for each person. Something that makes you yawn might send someone else running.

So, here is a generous list of possibilities. You might consider:

• Work on a difficult task first.

• Apply a new skill.

• Take a smart risk.

• Tell the truth to someone (and make sure that it's the real truth).

• Apologize.

• Discard clutter.

• Spend a moment in silence.

• Let a child talk to you (while you listen).

• Make a decision that is overdue.

• Acknowledge your feelings.

• Tell someone how you feel.

• Ask for something that you need.

• Decline a request that someone else can manage.

• Read a book.

• Leave the TV off for an evening.

• Write a list of things that you want to accomplish this year.

• Show this list to someone else.

• Find your own personal challenge and just do it.

Key Point: Every significant achievement occurs gradually. Make gradual success a daily priority.

Much success,

Steve Kaye

714-528-1300

Author, Speaker, IAF Certified Professional Facilitator

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Leadership Solutions: Assorted Questions

How long does it take to photograph a bird?

Answer: it depends.

In this case, I spent an hour waiting for this bird to wake up and lift its head from its chest..

- - -

- - -

I suppose I could have waited longer, but it was past lunchtime and I was getting hungry.

While waiting, I thought of questions, such as:

Where did this bird come from? (This was an unusual bird to find in the Fullerton Arboretum.)

Does it have a second leg? (I know that birds will stand on one foot while they rest the other one, but this bird had stood like this for over an hour.)

Where will this bird go next? (That is, will it stay here, or is it on the way to somewhere?)

How old is the bird?

And so on.

Now, notice what I'm doing here.

By being curious, I'm enlarging the story about the bird. And that makes the bird more interesting.

I'm also paying attention, seeking details and differences.

You can do the same thing when you meet people. Be curious, pay attention, and ask good (polite) questions.

You'll find that this makes the story better, while leading to a richer conversation.

Key Point: Create interest by being curious and paying attention.

Much success,

Steve Kaye

714-528-1300

Author, Speaker, IAF Certified Professional Facilitator

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Leadership Solutions: Three Choices

You always have three choices.

They are:

1) Cope

2) Fix

3) Leave

Here's an example.

Suppose a cold wind is blowing through an open window. You can:

1) Put on a sweater. In this case you change yourself so that you can cope with the situation.

2) Close the window. Here, you fix the situation so that conditions are favorable.

3) Leave the room. Sometimes it makes sense to move to a different situation, which begins by leaving the old one.

Now, here's the intriguing part: you are always making one of these three choices.

And that leads us to the question, are you making the types of choices that serve you the best?

Key Point: Acting deliberately gives you more control over the results.

Much success,

Steve Kaye

714-528-1300

Author, Speaker, IAF Certified Professional Facilitator

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Leadership Solutions: Secret to a Long Life

At age 85, Sam Maloof said he was having too much fun to retire.

If you search the web, you'll find that Sam made furniture.

It was so good that he could receive $10,000 for a chair. In fact, the Huntington Library just acquired one of his chairs for display in one of their galleries.

And so Sam kept making furniture until this year, when he lived to be 93.

There are two things at work here.

First, he lived a long time because he had a purpose.

Second, his long life allowed him to fulfill his purpose.

Notice how these supported each other. And in this is the secret to living a long life: you must have a purpose.

So, how about you?

Do you have a purpose that will give you a reason to get up every morning for the rest of your life?

Because if you have a good one, you'll keep getting up for a long time.

Key Point: Give yourself the gift of a long life by having a reason to keep living.

Much success,

Steve Kaye

714-528-1300

Author, Speaker, IAF Certified Professional Facilitator

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Leadership Solutions: Critical Point People Miss

You have heard about this all through your life.

It sounds like "First things first," or some variation of it.

For example, we know that socks go on before shoes. We plant before we harvest. And so on.

In Time Management, there is a similar point. It's: attend to what is important before it becomes urgent.

Sadly, some people miss this.

And the result is a catastrophe.

For example, they neglect learning leadership skills (important) until their business fails (urgent). Or they neglect investing (important) until they're broke (urgent). Or they neglect essential conversations (important) until their relationships fail (urgent).

The surprising point is: Neglecting important things requires effort. Often it requires more effort than doing what is best. People have to invent denial, justify bad priorities, and hide in procrastination. That's time consuming, stressful, and expensive.

So here is a friendly reminder to review your priorities. Then make sure that you're taking care of what is important.

There's a significant benefit here.

If you attend to those things that are important, you will never have to fix something that is urgent.

Key Point: Take care of what is important before it becomes urgent.

Much success,

Steve Kaye

714-528-1300

Author, Speaker, IAF Certified Professional Facilitator

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Leadership Solutions: The Problem with Lying

Most likely you have seen this happen.

Someone builds a career (or a business) upon lies, and then it collapses. One might conclude that such failure is due punishment for unethical conduct.

Actually, deceit extracts a much deeper penalty. Here's how.

1) The liar begins to believe the lies. Then the liar becomes vulnerable to making the same mistakes made by the gullible audience.

2) If the lies work, the liar concludes that it's acceptable to tell lies. Then the liar expands into larger lies. Eventually, even the most gullible people recognize that they are being fed lies. Then, often suddenly, the liar's platform collapses.

3) The liar sinks into a worrisome world of doubt. Deep down, a) they know they are telling lies, and b) they fear they are going to be caught. Even the most hardcore liar has some shreds of consciences left somewhere. These continue to whisper haunting complaints.

4) The liar expects that others are telling lies. This happens because we project our behavior onto others, thus expecting everyone to do what we're doing. As a result, the liar misses out on real (and important) information that's needed to succeed.

5) Eventually, the liar is caught. Then all of the gains obtained by lying are lost. And once branded as a liar, it's very difficult to earn the trust needed to function in any business.

Key Point: Ethics is based on common sense.

Much success,

Steve Kaye

714-528-1300

Author, Speaker, IAF Certified Professional Facilitator

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Leadership Solutions: Simple, Yet Powerful Reminder

Here's a reminder from an everyday event.

Yesterday I drank fresh orange juice with my lunch. The juice was fresh because I had picked the oranges from trees growing in our yard just minutes before.

Those orange trees are there because we planted them when we bought the house 24 years ago.

And that's the point.

I was able to enjoy fresh orange juice because I had invested the effort to plant trees.

The same principle applies to everything in our lives.

If you want to have something worthwhile in the future, you must invest in it now.

This includes wealth (e.g., saving money), success (e.g., working hard), and relationships (e.g., being respectful).

So, look ahead. And imagine what you want to have in the future. Then go to work preparing for it.

You see, 24 years ago I didn't buy orange trees. I bought orange juice.

Key Point: Small investments grow into lasting benefits.

Much success,

Steve Kaye

714-528-1300

Author, Speaker, IAF Certified Professional Facilitator

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Leadership Solutions: Thirty Words

The 2009 July / August issue of American Photo contains a thought provoking article.

See: "Life's Lost Treasures," p 57 - 80.

It's on Life Magazine.

After showing photos from this great photo magazine, American Photo devotes two pages to the extraordinary photographers (22 Legends of Life) who took the photos.

Here, they provide a brief description of each of these photographers, using about 30 words.

Imagine, having your entire life's work summarized with about 30 words.

So, let's jump forward. And let's assume that someone were to summarize your life with 30 words.

What would they write?

Now, here's a trick.

Write the 30 words now. (Use a few more or less if it fits.)

In fact, write a brief description of the legacy that you want to leave.

And then plan a life that makes that summary become true.

Key Point: Once you know the ending, you can plan the rest of the story.

Much success,

Steve Kaye

714-528-1300

Author, Speaker, IAF Certified Professional Facilitator

Web Site

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