Leadership Solutions

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

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Leadership Solutions: Rant Your Way Forward

There's nothing like a good, heartfelt rant.

It makes an eloquent statement capturing everything that is wrong.

And yet most people ruin it.

That's right. They waste a perfectly good rant by performing it before another person. Often this upsets the other person. Or (worse) it invites helpful attempts to solve your problems. And no one wants advice when they are trying to be miserable.

So here's how to rant effectively.

1) Find a quiet place where you can be alone.

2) Write out the rant. Instead of sending spoken words out into space where they will be lost, capture every bit of the rant on paper.

3) Read the rant. (Bonus: feel appropriately sorry for yourself.)

4) Highlight each major point in the rant.

5) Write at least three actions that you can take to resolve each major point in your rant. Note that these must be actions that YOU can do. Otherwise, this list is useless.

6) Prioritize the actions.

7) Start implementing those actions that will cause the most good with the least effort.

Key Point: Make each rant a constructive step forward.

Much success,

Steve Kaye

714-528-1300

Author, Speaker, IAF Certified Professional Facilitator

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Leadership Solutions: Better Meetings Pop Quiz

Suppose your phone rings.

And the caller is the CEO (or owner or largest investor), who says, "I understand you held a meeting today. What happened?"

And you reply (choose one),

a) We had fun.

b) We ate donuts.

c) I don't know.

d) We decided to hold another meeting.

e) We got a lot done.

Which answer would most likely ensure that you kept your job?

Want to hold better meetings? Call me. I can help.

Key Point: What if someone important wanted to know how you spent your time in meetings?

Much success,

Steve Kaye

714-528-1300

Author, Speaker, IAF Certified Professional Facilitator

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Leadership Solutions: 41 Years

We're taking a look back at the past.

It's something most couples do when they reach a major milestone.

In this case, we recently celebrated our 41st wedding anniversary.

While we were taking stock of what we have built during our life together, my wife summed it up by saying,

"We earned everything that we have. No one gave us any help. All of this came from working hard, following the rules, and doing a good job."

Then she added, "Anyone could have done this."

And that's the point.

Sometimes an attendee in my Time Management workshop will try to dismiss what we've accomplished. They will tell me that I was lucky. Or that I was different. Or something like that.

Actually, anyone who made the choices that we made could have what we have.

And in that sentence is a key word: choices.

Everyday, you make choices that add up to becoming the sum of your life. If you want a quick assessment of how well you're doing, take a walk around your house. Make a list of the people you associate with. Take stock of the memories that you've accumulated.

All of those things came from your choices.

If you're pleased, then wonderful: you have done well. Keep making good choices.

If you're disappointed: start making different choices.

Key Point: Good choices matter when you tally the accumulated result.

Much success,

Steve Kaye

714-528-1300

Author, Speaker, IAF Certified Professional Facilitator

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Leadership Solutions: Good News

If you read books, here is good news.

The sale of books is declining.

While this may be bad news for authors, publishers, and store owners, it's good news for you.

Why?

Your competition is decreasing.

In this modern world, people succeed by being smart. And people become smarter through reading.

If you have yet to discover a book store, visit one today. You'll be amazed by the amount of information that can be found there. There are books on every subject from finding a job to keeping one. You'll even find books on how to hold effective meetings.

And then buy a book, or two, or six.

It's an incredible deal. For only about $20 you'll be able to gain all of the best ideas from an expert.

Now, what could be better than that?

Of course, there is a catch. Once you buy the book, you will have to read it in order to get those ideas. And then (here's the hard part), you'll have to apply the ideas.

So, make the first part easy by scheduling reading on your calendar. Then jot down lists of actions that you'll take while reading.

By the way, I just checked and found that last year I spent over $1,400 on books. My only regret is that I didn't buy more.

Key Point: Read books. It's an old technology that still works.

Much success,

Steve Kaye

714-528-1300

Author, Speaker, IAF Certified Professional Facilitator

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Leadership Solutions: News from the Garden

News flash!

Last weekend I planted wildflowers in our garden. And I used seeds.

Okay, I know that some of you are thinking, "It's too late. You should have planted seeds in April or May."

I hear the same comments when I talk about financial planning in my Time Management workshop. People tell me, "It's too late. I'm forty." or maybe they tell me that they're fifty. Or sixty.

In either case (i.e., planting or saving), my response is the same: It's never too late.

Any positive move forward is better than staying stuck, doing nothing.

For example, it's possible that this weekend's effort will produce a only few flowers. But even a few leaves is better than the bare dirt that's out there right now.

And the same applies to everything in life.

Something is always better than nothing.

So draw a line across your calendar, cross out the past, and begin today as if it were the beginning of your life.

Which it is.

Key Point: It's never too late to begin living forward.

Much success,

Steve Kaye

714-528-1300

Author, Speaker, IAF Certified Professional Facilitator

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Leadership Solutions: Back to the Past

Many years ago, in the early days of television, there existed a strange type of programing.

It was the test pattern. They looked like this:

See more samples at:

http://www.videouniversity.com/articles/tv-test-patterns

Caution: staring at a TV test pattern may become habit forming.

TV networks would broadcast a test pattern because they didn't have enough programs to fill the day. (That's still true today, but the test patterns are now called reruns.)

Amazingly, people would spend time watching these test patterns. Really, they did.

Perhaps they were practicing for the more advanced forms of zero-content programing that appears today.

Now, before you laugh, recognize that the old test pattern had important advantages over most of the programs currently shown on TV. These include:

1) No one lost sleep having nightmares after watching a test pattern.

2) Children didn't learn how to insult their parents from watching test patterns.

3) All test patterns provided fair and balanced portrayals of nothing.

4) The dialogue (i.e., none) was more mature than shown in adult cartoons.

5) Test patterns were shown without commercials.

Key Point: You'd be better off watching a test pattern than most of the stuff that's shown on TV.

Much success,

Steve Kaye

714-528-1300

Author, Speaker, IAF Certified Professional Facilitator

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Leadership Solutions: Simple IQ Test

Here's a simple IQ test.

But unlike the tests that measure intelligence, this one measures maturity.

It follows the concept of Emotional Intelligence developed by Daniel Goleman.

Here's how it works:

1) Tell someone to change something that they're doing.

2) Notice their reaction.

Here's how to score the test.

1) Pass: The person thanks you. Perhaps the person asks questions to understand the scope of the change, its consequences, and how it could be done. And then once you have an agreement, the person makes a change.

2) Fail: The person gets mad. Perhaps the person responds with excuses, blame, and manipulations. And then the person ignores your request.

Bosses know about this.

The employees who pass with a high Emotional IQ, perform well during performance reviews. They participate in a meaningful dialogue about personal growth, goals, and actions.

The others (who fail) argue with the boss.

Key Point: We're being tested every day.

Much success,

Steve Kaye

714-528-1300

Author, Speaker, IAF Certified Professional Facilitator

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Leadership Solutions: Another Bad Idea

Recently a manager complained to me that his boss had told him to stop telling jokes during meetings.

And then he added that his boss doesn't understand the value of humor. And since his boss is wrong, he plans to continue telling jokes in meetings.

I'll agree that his boss may be wrong.

But it isn't with regard to telling jokes in meetings.

It's because he's keeping this manager on the payroll.

In this case, the boss is letting an employee continue with an activity that costs the company money. And this employee is doing it after he's been told to stop.

That's serious.

If everyone ignored their boss's directions, the business would fall apart in chaos.

As for jokes in meetings, they're usually bad.

Why?

1) Jokes disrupt people's concentration, which prevents them from focusing on solutions.

2) Jokes take control of a meeting away from the person who's leading it.

3) Jokes consume time that should be spent working.

4) Jokes are often used to show off.

5) Jokes can be used to prevent progress on controversial issues.

And yes, jokes are wonderful. They make people laugh. They relieve tension.

So, where can you tell jokes?

Parties. Meals. Coffee breaks. And so on.

Key Point: Save jokes for times when they're appropriate.

Much success,

Steve Kaye

714-528-1300

Author, Speaker, IAF Certified Professional Facilitator

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