Summer 2001 Tips - Part One

The following are from the radio series "Executive Briefs - Tips For The Busy Executive" sponsored by Solarcom.

THE MOST IMPORTANT TIP OF ALL
What’s the single most important ingredient to a successful business or career? Hard work? Perseverance? Those are all good, but looking to the most successful people of this generation – Tom Stanley, author of The Millionaire Next Door and The Millionaire Mind says the trait they all cite as number one – and vital to their success - INTEGRITY! Stanley says their reasoning -- when they treat customers, vendors, everyone with the same dignity and respect they expect to get – that’s returned in kind – and is therefore responsible for the success that follows.

THE POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING IN BUSINESS
Norman Vincent Peale wrote years ago about The Power of Positive Thinking and now Scott Ventrella has followed in 2001 with The Power of Positive Thinking in Business. Scott says the successful executive sets goals which are:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Action oriented
• Realistic
• and Time Bound

HANDS OFF MANAGEMENT
Successful executives learn to give up time sucking duties and let others take over. Business consultant Rod Walsh says you’ll get stuck, your business will get stuck and go nowhere, unless you begin to practice what he calls hands off management. Don’t get involved in every function of your business – hand over duties to others. Let them know you expect them to fail from time to time and you respect that. You must spend more of your time on the grand vision of where the business is going and get out of the way of the people who work for you.
Rod Walsh is with Semper Fi Consulting in Sherman Oaks, California and co-author of Semper Fi : Business Leadership the Marine Corps Way.

FINDING BALANCE
The successful executive finds balance in his or her life. Clinical psychologist Dr. Lois Nightingale says balance in one's life is essential to functioning at peak performance and accomplishing goals. How do you achieve balance? First, identify your extremes. Second, confront those habits and one at a time, one step at a time bring them back into balance. Nightingale also says you succeed by surrounding yourself with balanced people, those who are spending time bettering themselves and going for their dreams.
Dr. Lois Nightingale is a Clinical Psychologist, national professional speaker, author of many self-help books and audio tapes, and the director of the Nightingale Center in Yorba Linda, California. On this topic, she recommends the best seller from Steven Covey The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

DO YOU NEED A COACH?
Recently a top Atlanta CEO made headlines by negotiating a package that included an executive coach. Experts agree, successful executives today need help, and hiring a coach or coaches, is a wise investment. Coaching may include the use pyschologists, time organizers and consultants – anyone who can identify weaknesses and coach an executive on solutions and developing the skills needed for effective leadership. Great athletes admit they are great today because of great coaching. Executives – take note. One of the better books on the subject of executive coaching is Executive Coaching : Developing Managerial Wisdom in a World of Chaos by Richard R. Kilburg

DON'T WORRY - GET ANGRY!
Sometimes the best thing an executive can do is get angry. Corporate psychologist Steve Berglas at UCLA bucks the advice to stay cool on the job and to be complacent – saying anger is a sign of healthy passion for your work. And if you have employees in your face, angry about their jobs, don’t get upset. Berglas says they are the ones you want around. They are authentically motivated. He says it’s the yes man in your organization that is the one to fear! Steven Berglas is author of a new book Reclaiming the Fire: How Successful People Overcome Burnout.

NEW SURVEY ON FAILURE
Why do most executives fail to be come effective leaders? A new survey by the consulting firm Caliper of 300 CEO’s cites three reasons. Executives do not understand others well enough, they are not able to solve problems quickly enough and they do not take necessary risks. One in five CEO’s say there is not a single executive in their organization who has the potential to grow into their organization’s top job. Caliper’s survey finds those who succeed are assertive, driven to persuade, resilient and motivated to explore new ideas.
Caliper is a human resources firm headquartered in Princeton New Jersey.

EVERY MISTAKE IN THE BOOK
You've read a lot of advice in this series about what to do. Now, a few tips on what not to do! F.J. Lennon is an executive who admits he has "made every mistake in the book" and bravely shares his "not to" list:

• Don't treat your customers as morons. In fact, find out what they need and want and do everything to meet their demands.
• Don't treat your employees as morons. Good managers let employees do their jobs.
• Don't sit back - react quickly when changes need to be made.

BE QUICK BUT DON'T HURRY!
UCLA's John Wooden is ESPN's Coach of the Century and in his new guidebook for executives, he lists a magic 21 secret to success. Key on this list is one secret he says helped him create winning teams. Wooden advises you, as the coach of your business team, to concentrate on your team and not the opposition. He says too many people are fixated on the competition and that is wrong. Wooden says there is not enough time in the day to do your job and worry about the other guy too. His advice is to have a solid game plan, stick with it and ignore everything else.
John Wooden's new book is entitled Be Quick But Don't Hurry

WHY DO EXECUTIVES FAIL?
In the best selling book The Five Temptations of a CEO Patrick Lencioni says failure comes primarily when an executive tries to run things instead of making results the most important measure of success. They strive to be accurate, but not clear. They try to protect their status instead of demanding that employees deliver on commitments. They work for harmony at the expense of progress. They ask for conformity when they really should encourage people to challenge the status quo. Look at yourself. Are you falling to these temptations?