Without focus an inspired vision will never come to fruition. Simply, focus ensures simplicity instead of complexity, alignment instead of chaos, and ownership instead of artificial buy-in.
Leaders can't inspire action without a purpose driven culture. Simply, culture is a company’s nervous system - without it an enterprise is a paralyzed entity because numbers don't drive a business - people do.
Organizations don’t change until people change and people don't change without high engagement. Simply, if a leader wants raving, engaged customers they must first create raving, engaged employees.
Momentum is a leader’s best or greatest foe. Negative momentum, with its strong gravitational pull, can make a great leader look mediocre while positive momentum can make a mediocre leader look great.
Trust is earned slowly but lost in a moment. If you’re not trusted, you cannot lead but to be trustworthy a leader must first give trust out before expecting to receive it back as leadership is based on goodwill.
Leadership is far more about what you practice and how you practice it than in what you preach and how you preach it. Simply, leaders influence and inspire action through their own behaviors more than their words.
A leader isn’t good because they’re right but rather because they’re willing to listen, learn, and bring out the best in people. Without two way communication one is commanding not communicating.
A leader’s capacity to empower directly impacts people’s ability to succeed as only empowered people can reach their potential. Simply, true leadership comes from giving away power - not hoarding it.
One can lead by pushing down or pulling up. Pushing down focuses on weaknesses while pulling up focuses on strengths. Simply, don't try to put in what was left out but rather draw out what was left in.
Mentorship is a two-way street so invest and be willing to be mentored because one's time as a leader may be fleeting but the investment one makes in people is enduring.
In a transformation always on era, leaders must invest in training as people need the endurance of a marathoner, musculature of a sprinter, and mental fortitude to embrace a race with no finish line.
Every rule takes away choice, the fuel for learning, innovation, and productivity. As such, leaders must be an enabler not an inhibitor of action by managing for outcomes not activities.
Together we can accomplish anything as long as we don’t care who gets the credit because individually we are no more powerful than a single drop of water yet together we are as powerful as an ocean.
People are a company’s greatest asset and top talent is always in short supply. Great leaders ensure the enterprise not only hires the best but also has the culture, training, and development to keep the best.
Enlarging others makes one bigger. Great leaders give credit where credit is due because the deepest principal of human nature is not money, title, or rank but the thirst for recognition and appreciation.
Great leaders focus on the short and long-term by learning from the past, minding the present, and preparing for the future because success is acceptance of the “and” and rejection of the “or.”
Self-reflection is the fuel for continuous improvement and the gateway to both humility and 20/20 vision. Without self-reflection any past success or failure will be nothing more than a game of chance.
Perseverance is failure’s best friend and ally because life's greatest lessons are learned in the valleys, not the peaks. As such, great leaders know that the lowest valleys present a platform for the highest peaks.
Most of the areas holding back growth stem from internal obstacles rather than external market or competitive forces. An "inside-out | bottoms-up" approach can transform internal health and unlock significant growth.
Data is not the new oil because everyone has a vast data reservoir. The real oil is the ability to drive key insights out of that data. Winners will be those that draw out value unlocking insights from three key areas.