Bloom All Over Again

Successful leaders start over.

The theater was packed with an anticipating crowd who was eagerly awaiting the next act. The performer briskly stepped out onto the stage. The audience buzzed with excitement and titillation. This guy had presence. One look at him and you could tell that he was a funk music artist in the tradition of James Brown.

He wore those iconic 1970s-style platform shoes. His hair reminded you of a James Brown-type hairdo. He had on a white shirt that was buttoned down halfway. He also wore a denim jacket bespeckled with fake jewels and that had the word “Tennessee” spray painted on the back.

Forty-nine-year-old Dexter Haygood is a self-described “Rock and Roll Soul Man”. And for him, this was an opportunity of a lifetime. He had chased his dream of becoming a successful music artist for decades. Now he stood before four powerful X Factor judges, the live crowd and a TV viewing audience of 12.1 million people, according to the Huffington Post.

This once-in-a-lifetime chance was even more meaningful for Dexter because he had fallen on hard times. He was homeless and lived out of his car. You wouldn’t know it from his personality though. He was upbeat and funny; a real character.

“What are you going to sing?” Simon Cowell asked. Dexter responded, “’Sexy Machine’ by James Brown!” The audience cheered. Yet, Simon sighed and threw up his hands in disgust. “I know what’s coming,” he groaned. The music started and Dexter began to dance and sing. The crowd had fun. Some clapped on cadence. Others danced. Yet, after only a few brief moments, Simon stopped the act. He judged – and his colleagues agreed – that Dexter was acting too much like James Brown and not enough like himself.

Dexter’s pizzazz and personality quickly changed to a sunken face, a countenance weighed down with the heavy pain of a lost dream. He blew it. But then Simon looked at him inquisitively and said, “I’d like to hear you sing something else.” He told Dexter that he had 15 seconds to sing a new song, but this time he would not have musical accompaniment. Simon then commanded, “Go!”

Dexter paused. His face shivered as he fought back tears. You could imagine that each small twitch represented years of singing in smoke-filled night clubs, tons of hours spent rehearsing his craft and a lifetime spent on the road or listening to painful rejections. It all came down to this. Dexter had to start over in the middle of his X Factor audition.

He found his courage and then put everything he had into bellowing, “It’s a man’s world!” The audience went crazy as Dexter continued, “It’s a man’s world! But it would be nothing without a woman or a girl!” As he sang this familiar tune, he gained more confidence with each word until he commanded the song and the stage. All four judges voted for Dexter. He cried. The audience gave him a standing ovation. Dexter was victorious that night because he started over.

Leaders if you want to be successful, you must learn to start over. No matter what happened last year; no matter how many mistakes you made; no matter how many decisions you regret; no matter how many opportunities you lost; no matter how many things you wish you had said differently: Today is your Dexter moment. Start over. Although the New Year occurs during the winter season, think of it as your own personal spring time. I challenge you to bloom all over again. © 2012 Clear Picture Leadership, LLC.

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9/11 Leadership: A Tribute to the 10th Anniversary

Great leaders put the needs of others first.

It is still unbelievable. The calm peace of a beautiful September morning was broken by a plane that slammed into a tall New York landmark – a twin that for so long kept watch over the City that Never Sleeps. We didn’t know what happened at first. Maybe a small plane got off course. Maybe the pilot immediately got sick. Maybe the controls jammed or the internal computers went haywire. But while we were still wondering, another plane hit the other twin. Our eyes were immediately opened. We were under attack.

We will always remember the images from that day. People emerging from clouds of dust covered in white soot. Others running down the street bloodied and in tears. Some limped to safety while others sat on the street trying to grasp the magnitude of this unspeakable tragedy. We will always remember the pain that we felt. We will always remember the awe-shocking horror that transfixed us in the infancy of this crisis; a trauma that continues to haunt us today.

Yet, out of all of these unforgettable images, one thing stands out in my mind: The incredible selfless courage of First Responders who rushed into the Twin Towers even as they combusted with the power of jet fuel. The responders risked and sacrificed their lives in order to save the lives of others. Their noble acts commanded the admiration of the nation. Their actions also inadvertently taught us an oft-forgotten leadership lesson that we can apply in our everyday lives.

Great leaders put the needs of others first. Before you plan the next step in your career path, sit down with your employees and help them plan theirs. Before you decide which days to take off for the next holiday, find out which days your team members would like. Before you pick up a hot drink to start your morning, check to see if a team member would like one too. By so doing, people will be encouraged to follow you. And in some small or not so small way, they will admire you.

This may seem like a trite leadership lesson in comparison to the magnitude of 9/11. Yet, in a real sense we owe it to all those who died or lost loved ones that day, to be the best leaders that we can be. Let us commemorate the 10^th Anniversary of this unforgettable moment in American history by pledging to be better leaders today than we were yesterday. © 2011 Clear Picture Leadership, LLC.

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Use What You Have

Leaders use whatever they have to get the job done.

A crazed man started banging on the front door, “Bam! Bam!” He hollered a garbled message. It sounded as if he was demanding to speak with someone in the apartment (or who he thought was in the apartment).  “I want Joe!” he demanded. “Bam! Bam!” The door pulsated with each strike. It seemed like it was about to come off its hinges. He was serious and showed no signs of relenting.

I looked through the peephole and saw a tall, unkempt character. His clothes had obviously never been acquainted with laundry detergent. You could almost smell the stench just by looking at him. His eyes were bloodshot and he was having a bad hair day. Lights were on, but nobody was home. He continued the assault on the door followed by another garbled message, “Bla do waf nos boggle. And I mean it!” He said absolutely nothing better than anybody I had ever heard.

But this was no laughing matter. We lived in public housing projects at the time. This is the place where people got shot, held up at gun point, stabbed and beaten on a regular basis. I was home with my mom and one of my sisters. My brother was away at school; my dad out working. I knew if the disturbed guy broke through the door, we were in trouble. After all, he towered over me.

Then out of nowhere it hit me, “use the Force Luke.” Just kidding! But it did dawn on me to use my voice. Growing up, I loved doing voice impressions. My family got tired of hearing my impersonation of prominent Americans like President Ronald Reagan and Dr. Martin Luther King as well as fictitious characters like Darth Vader or Porky Pig. But this time my impersonations came in handy.  As if I was an Academy Award-winning movie star, I got into character preparing to bellow a huge, powerful voice of a giant’s giant. I struck the door back at him, “Pow! Bam! Boom!” Then roared as I struck: “Get  – Bam – Away – Boom – From – Pow – The – Bang – Door!”

Instantaneously, the deranged giant turned into a tiny lamb. His head dropped as his shoulders shrunk. “OK man,” he squealed. “OK.” He slowly backed up and left the apartment building. My mom and sister laughed. I was relieved. I did not have much. I did not have my brother or dad to back me up, a weapon or martial arts training. But I used what I had – a silly voice impression of a fictitious person – to accomplish my goal of protecting my family.

In these tough times, leaders don’t have much. They don’t have many employees. They don’t have lots of equipment. They have neither lots of time nor money. Nevertheless, leaders should learn to use what they have to get the job done. Focus on what you do have as opposed to what you do not have. Learn to capitalize on the few resources at your disposal better than anybody ever has. And, above all, remember that your employees are your greatest asset. As you discover how to tap into their brilliance, you will realize that you actually have more than you ever did before. © 2011 Clear Picture Leadership, LLC.

How does this article help you in your professional or personal life? Please share your thoughts on this by adding a comment below.

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Brace For Something Good

I woke up after a good sleep. You know the kind of nap where you get up feeling so refreshed that you can take on the world. But there was a problem. We were still on the runway. I was on the first leg of my travels from Columbus, Ohio to Raleigh, North Carolina with a connecting flight in Chicago, Illinois. “Why haven’t we taken off yet?” I thought to myself. After a second I realized what happened. We were already in Chicago. I slept during the entire flight – from one runway to the next.

After lethargically deplaning, I went to the gate and asked about my next flight. It did not leave for two hours. My stomach was about to start growling. Maybe evening barking! I noticed a McDonald’s and got in line. When it was my turn, the cashier asked, “May I help you?” I responded, “Egg McMuffin and Orange Juice please.” (At least I think I did. I was still sleep).

He placed the order while I pulled out my wallet, located a five dollar bill and gave it to him. While I was doing this, I could hear another McDonald’s worker calling out numbers indicating that orders were ready. As the cashier handed me my change, I thought to myself, “My order will probably take a few minutes.” After all, there were a lot of people in line. But to my surprise, while I was still standing in front of the cashier collecting my change he said, “That’s your order number.”

I thought to myself, “What???!!! I know this is fast food, but this is more like lightening speed food.” I just could not believe that my order was ready THAT fast! It seems like they didn’t even have time to grab it and place it in a bag. Is McDonald’s so savvy that they can guess what you are going to order just by looking at you? Maybe they are now using McMind Reading Technology.

Then I figured out what happened. I was so hungry, that I braced for something bad: In this case a delay in my food being ready. Bracing ourselves means that we not only expect something bad to happen, but we begin to prepare for it. This is a normal routine for many of us. We brace for a bad evaluation at work, being passed over for a big promotion or for an unusually tough day on the job.

Leaders learn to brace for good things. They expect good things to happen and prepare for them. Try it today. Expect and prepare for a great evaluation, a big promotion or a wonderful day on the job. The more you learn to brace for good things to happen, the more confident you will be. The more confident you become, the more people will follow you without you asking them to. Now that’s leadership. © 2011 Clear Picture Leadership, LLC.

How can we learn to start bracing for good things to happen? Please share your thoughts on this by adding a comment below.

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My Vision of Their Visions

Great leaders do not create a vision on their own. They get their vision from those they lead.

There was a security breach at the White House. A suspicious-looking man in a trench coat, baseball cap and sun glasses strayed away from a tour group. He roamed the halls freely until an alert secret service agent kindly asked, “Excuse me Sir. Are you lost?” There was no answer. The agent, recognizing that something was wrong, drew his firearm. Although the intruder did not pull a weapon, he artfully disarmed the officer with untold lightning speed. His moves were more impressive than Bruce Lee’s. The agent ended up on the floor while the suspect quickly made his way towards the Oval Office.

“Perimeter breach!” the officer radioed to his colleagues. Now everybody was after the intruder. But with unstoppable precision, the suspect subdued every agent that tried to apprehend him. Security alerted the Commander-In-Chief as tons of agents surrounded him in the Oval Office and “locked it down”. Yet the suspect broke through the lock down and overcame those officers as well. Just when it appeared that he was about to harm the Leader of the Free World, a previously subdued agent, still lying injured on the floor, drew his weapon and fired. Still, the wounded intruder escaped.

You must be thinking, “I didn’t hear about this on CNN!” And you’re right. It didn’t happen for real. It’s the breathtaking beginning of X2 (X-Men 2), the blockbuster movie that grossed over $406 million dollars according to the Internet Movie Database. When talking about this motion picture, Director Bryan Singer provided insight into how leaders can achieve such phenomenal success. “A film is made by thousands of people and I’m kind of a funnel through which all their talents pass. So in that sense, it can be called my vision. But it’s really my vision of their visions,” he said.

Great leaders create a vision that encompasses the vision of each of their team members. They do not do this to be politically correct. They do it because they understand that they need the input of their team in order to achieve unimaginable goals. Consider how many of your employees come to work every day with powerful – yet unspoken – ideas that can help your business or organization succeed. Great leaders access those “visions” and use them to propel the organization to new heights. This one simple principle is worth millions. If you don’t believe me, ask Bryan Singer. © 2011 Clear Picture Leadership, LLC.

How can leaders “access” the visions of their employees? Please share your thoughts on this by adding a comment below.

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Turn Your Desk Around

When I was preparing to leave my job managing 80 plus people, an employee stopped by my office to say goodbye.  He said, “Jon when you became the boss, I was impressed with something you did.” Who doesn’t love a compliment? So I gladly prepared to welcome his thoughts. Maybe he’s going to talk about how we accomplished record-breaking goals. Maybe he’s going to comment on one of the many initiatives we started. Maybe he’s going to talk about the first-of-its-kind national conference we put on. He did not mention any of these things.

Instead, he said, “When you came onboard and reorganized your office, the first thing you did was turn your desk around so that your back would not face the door.” What???!!! I thought to myself, “Out of all the things we accomplished, he’s talking about the arrangement of furniture?  Is he kidding? Maybe he would be equally impressed with the color of my office chairs. And – hey – I’m not even going to mention the quality of my stapler. Once he realized that, he would be floored!” After I stopped being silly, I became surprised that he remembered something so small that occurred three years ago.

He then explained how that one small act showed him that I cared about people. To him (and I’m sure to other employees as well) this represented respect. It ensured that employees would see my face – as opposed to my back – whenever they dropped by my office or were merely walking by it. While turning my desk around did not mean a lot to me, that one small act meant everything to him.

This experience taught me a powerful leadership principle. One of the first things leaders should do is show their team members that they care about them. I’m not talking about feigning concern. I’m talking about a true, genuine regard for humanity and an ardent respect for your team. Every act, no matter how small, can go a long way in accomplishing this. (CEOs and other executives, here is a tip: Avoid promoting someone into a leadership role solely because they are good at their job. In addition to competence, look for those who have displayed leadership qualities, including a genuine concern for their colleagues).

Yes, you too may need to “turn your desk around.” To you, this may mean smiling to your employees more often. Maybe it means asking them how they are doing and listening to their responses. Maybe “turning your desk around” means stopping by their office or cubicle just to say hello. Maybe it means placing a thank you note on their desk for a job well done. Maybe it means volunteering to make restaurant reservations for their upcoming birthday lunch with a friend. If you want your team to accomplish great things, you must first show them that you truly care. © 2011 Clear Picture Leadership, LLC.

Why is it so important for leaders to show their team members that they respect and care about them? Please share your thoughts on this by adding a comment below.

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Go For Broke

Have you ever set a goal that you did not achieve? Sometimes the first thing we think is that it was too big. However, often we do not achieve our goals because they are too small. That’s right, I said too small!

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was only 26 years old when he captured national attention by leading the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955. Rosa Parks’ arrest for failing to give up her seat to a white man sparked one of the most notable protests in world history.

How many of you know what the original goal of the boycott was? If you’re thinking that it was to eliminate segregation on city buses, unfortunately you are wrong. Coretta Scott King, the wife of Dr. King, recounted on the PBS series Eyes on the Prize that the initial purpose was to establish a “more humane system of segregation.” But when the bus company refused to change, Mrs. King said that civil rights leaders decided to “go for broke” by aiming for an even bigger goal – the complete elimination of segregation on city buses.

They sued the bus company in federal court and, of course, they continued the boycott. The protesters created their own taxi-like service to pick up and transport one another around town. Others carpooled while some simply walked. This went on month after month. About a year after the boycott started – which was originally intended to last only one day – the U.S. Supreme Court completely outlawed segregation on city buses. What an incredible victory. I am certain that the protestors did not know they could accomplish such an unimaginable goal.

This story holds a great leadership lesson for all of us in our professional and personal lives. If you do not achieve your goal at first, do not give up and do not make it smaller. Make it bigger! A big aspiration brings out the best in us. It heightens our creativity, increases our ingenuity and strengthens our resolve in a way that a smaller one does not. I encourage everybody to “go for broke” in 2011 by making your goals bigger. History tells us that you can achieve more than you think you can. © 2011 Clear Picture Leadership, LLC.

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