The Dbottino Weblog

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.

- Dwight Eisenhower

Without fail, a true leader’s effectiveness can only be confirmed when they are able to cultivate other leaders from ones team.

A truly gifted leader directs ones team down the path of success through a vision; an even better leader puts forth great lessons for his people to benefit from later as they are achieving their goals; while, the best leaders produce other leaders from within, in addition to all of the qualities above mentioned.

The effectiveness of a leader depends on their ability to create other leaders, and a true leader is never selfish. They share their experiences, convey and pass on their knowledge and teach others well. They do all these things without asking for anything in return…because they know that what they receive in return are the treasures that are worth their time and the necessary sacrifice.

But alas, there are many leaders who see their people as opponents – that when the team members become better, or evolve, they will become better than, or outdo, the leader themselves. This is a mistaken belief of some leaders and is a big reason why they don’t go as far in the area of producing more leaders.

Basically, what should be observed in this scenario is that the team members are cooperators, not competitors. In fact, these people who are potential future leaders, help lighten and carry the load. They efficiently reduce the encumbrances of the present leader. And with such vast and vital responsibilities, a leader tends to divide the duties among his people – giving the more difficult ones to those he deeply trusts and thinks will handle them appropriately. So it goes…with prospective future leaders at hand, one is guaranteed that these tasks are being completed according to the team’s agenda and benefit structure.

Furthermore, a leader who produces other leaders exponentially multiplies his or her influence, crafting a system that other people follow and believe in wholeheartedly and enthusiastically. Their organization will continue to build, grow and thrive, as there are other devotees who assist him to prosperity.

My friends, if you are a leader, you cannot and should not attempt to do everything by yourself. You need confidants, colleagues and compatriots. If you really want to be a successful leader, you must cultivate other leaders around you. It is imperative that you form and establish a team that has a vision similar to yours, acts and reacts the same way you do and believes that you can rise to the top. A true leader always sees the big picture, but needs other leaders to help turn his or her mental picture into reality.

Typical leaders only aspire to have more and more disciples around them. They truly believe that the key to leadership is acquiring more followers that they can order around. Few leaders surround themselves with other leaders that they can ask of and utilize their invaluable assistance. Coincidentally, these leaders are the true and effective ones, the ones that go down in infamy. Here’s to leadership!

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Fact:

* There are 60 seconds in 1 minute

* There are 60 minutes in 1 hour

* There are 24 hours in 1 day

* There are 7 days in 1 week

* There are 365 days in 1 year (usually)

So what is the point of all this? The point is that time is a definite in life – there will never be more than 60 minutes in any given hour, never be more than 24 hours in a day. Therefore wishing that we had “more” time is fruitless … there will never be “more” time .. there will just be the time that already is.

“If you want time make time. You will never find time.”

If you have no time to exercise – make time.
If you have no time with your family – make time.
If you have no time to rest – make time.

Firstly, assess what is critical and what is not. We have a habit of treating everything in life as equally important when if truth were known half of it could wait another day or even a week!

Secondly, block out time in your diary for the things that you need to make time for. Lock them in as if they are a business meeting and treat them with the same amount of respect … essentially you have a meeting with yourself!

Do you struggle to have quality time with your spouse? Create a “sacred night” to ensure quality time together even when you are at your busiest. Mutually agree on one night a week that is 100% for you as a couple to share. Don’t work late that night, don’t make plans with friends (unless you both agree to), and don’t do chores. It may sound regimented to have to schedule time for a relationship but it is very effective. When life is at it’s most hectic that is exactly when you need to make time for those you love.

Time may be a definite in life but how much time you get in your life is not. Make time for the things that are important to you and don’t waste time on all the stuff that is not.

Linda Anderson is a Certified Professional Coach working with Small Business Owners and Professionals in Australia, New Zealand and the USA. Linda helps her clients succeed in business and in life by creating strategies to overcome their obstacles to success. In 2002 Linda and her partner sold all their belongings, hit “pause” on their respective careers, and spent 365 days traveling the world. Linda brings this passion for challenge, new experiences and adventure to her coaching.
Visit Linda at http://www.a2acoaching.com

Need some inspiration? Sign up for a free weekly email http://www.a2acoaching.com/inspirations.html

Regardless of whether you are a student, work at home mom, a web designer, or a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, prioritizing your work is critical to your success. Failing to prioritize your work load usually results in being extremely inefficient and extremely stressed out. How many times have you thought to yourself “I have so much to do today, how am I ever going to get it all done?”

There is no exact science to prioritizing, but there are several tips that should help you become a more efficient, less stressed version of your current self:

• Make a list – this may seem obvious but you’d be surprised at how many people try to organize their tasks in their head. You’ll often find that you feel a lot better just getting everything out so that you can see it in one place.
• Consider time constraints – what absolutely needs to get done today and what can wait until tomorrow or next week. Everything may be important eventually, but some things are more important now.
• Consider people constraints – all things equal, move things that other people are waiting on to the top of the list. If you know that your manager can’t finish his proposal without your part, that’s more important than the thing that you always do on Wednesday that could just as well be done on Thursday.
• Consider the consequences – are you going to get fired if you don’t do something? Is another task going to give you the inside track on that promotion? Those things should be more important than mildly inconveniencing the sales manager by responding to their email a day late.
• Re-prioritize as necessary – let’s face it, priorities change. As they do, update your list. It will give you a sense of control over the situation.
• Remove unimportant items – is there something on your list that you always push to the bottom and never end up doing? Then get it off the list. It doesn’t belong there.
• Don’t list EVERYTHING – only list crucial tasks. You don’t need to list routine tasks (like lunch) or menial tasks (like checking your email). Also, you’re going into too much detail if you put down prioritizing as a task.
• Do everything you can to keep your list small – this means saying NO sometimes. You are not other people’s gopher. Do your work and help other people with theirs when you have something to offer, but don’t do their work for them. Along the same lines, learn to delegate things to the people that are supposed to be doing them. Why book your plane tickets when you have an assistant for that?

Adam McFarland owns iPrioritize – the efficient way to get organized. iPrioritize is the next evolution of list making. We take your pen and paper list and turn it into a live list that can be edited at any time from any place in the world. We make it easy for you to email and print your list, subscribe to your list via RSS, share your list with others, and check your list on your mobile phone.

Some companies are jumping into software outsourcing before they are ready. They hire a team, sometimes the wrong one, and then expect them to start producing software right away. In their rush, they skip the planning, goal setting and careful evaluation of how outsourcing fits into their organization.

What does it mean to be ready for outsourcing? Is there a way to measure your readiness? Now you can answer a set of twenty questions on-line to get an idea of where you stand. The results will tell you if you are ready to go, if should proceed cautiously, or that you should seek immediate help. Here is the link to this free, no obligation, outsourcing readiness test:

http://www.accelerance.com/readinessTest.php3

One company I met with recently is already doing outsourced software development from their engineering group. “How is it going?” I asked. “It depends on who you talk to,” I was told. The executives of the company thought it was going great. The company was paying less for engineering talent. Board members seemed satisfied.

But after further conversation, I learned the engineering department had never really bought into the concept of outsourcing. They resisted working with the outsourced team. Their results were actually less than spectacular. Clearly this was a company not completely ready for outsourcing.

And look at this email I received the other day:

We are looking to get started soon. I would like to get a quote from your firm for its services. I need an auction style web site to be built that could withstand up to 10 million hits per day. I need to know how fast it can be built and how much it will cost. I look forward to hearing from you…

I replied asking for more information about what was needed. At least a few additional details or some sort of specification are required to give any meaningful answer. If you do not have these details prepared, you are probably not ready to outsource.

And if you are not ready to outsource, you face the risks of extra costs, huge delays and the complete failure of your outsourced software development.

Why do people start outsourcing without planning? There are different reasons. Sometimes it is ignorance. Other times it is an intense desire to get the software developed as quickly as possible.

Before you jump into outsourcing make sure you are ready. Take this free test and think about your answers. Be honest. Then seek out advice and other resources to help in areas where you need improvement.

The on-line readiness test divides the questions into four areas – Your Previous Outsourcing Experience, Technology, Business, and Management Approach.

Even if you are not completely ready for outsourcing, you can get help to compensate for areas of weakness. That is the other benefit of the readiness test – just by answering the questions honestly, you can focus on areas where you may need help to minimize your outsourcing risks.

The help you need in these areas can come from several different sources. It might be books and articles that describe proven methods for outsourcing. It might be software tools to help you manage outsourcing. Or it might mean hiring additional resources that have outsourcing experience.

Don’t get discouraged if you get a low score on the readiness test. Remember that one of the seven deadly dangers of outsourcing is not taking advantage of outsourcing at all. Learn from your test results and make the changes needed to make your outsourcing risk-free.

Steve Mezak is a successful Silicon Valley technical entrepreneur and global outsourcing expert. Take his free Outsourcing Readiness Test on the Accelerance web site now at http://www.accelerance.com/readinessTest.php3

In life, there are lessons available to use everywhere. We just have to have our eyes open to spot them. I have picked up some really useful time-management tips from watching a cooking show. Suspend your disbelief and let me explain further.

I don’t watch a lot of television because it can be a huge time drain. But I enjoy experimenting and cooking, so I do watch a few cooking shows now and then. One of my favorites is “30 Minute Meals” hosted by the ever perky Rachel Ray. Her claim to fame is that she can show you how to prepare healthy, great-tasting home-cooked meals in 30 minutes. Who can resist that?

After experiencing more than a few episodes of her program, I’ve come to realize that she is a master at using time. That’s how she can get so much accomplished in 30 minutes. And here are her “secrets” that you can easily adopt.

Spend time in Planning

Most cooking shows lasting 30 minutes will feature maybe one item. In “30 Minute Meals”, Rachel Ray generally prepares three to five items working alone in her kitchen. She doesn’t have helpers and the ingredients haven’t been pre-chopped or diced or julienned ahead of time. She doesn’t have another perfect soufflé sitting in the oven waiting for her to whip out at the end to show you how it should turn out. She really does the cooking in “real time.” So how does she do it?

Before Rachel Ray even steps foot into her kitchen, she has the entire process for preparing the meal planned out. Does the dessert take longer to cook than the entree? If so, then it makes perfect sense to start the preparation of the dessert first. She knows which sequence of steps is the most efficient based on the planning. She knows exactly which ingredients she needs from the refrigerator so that she only needs to make one trip, which saves her time.

So, here’s our real life application. When you look at your list of things to do, or errands to run, how can you use planning to become more efficient? How many “trips to the refrigerator” can you save by improving your planning?

Utilize Every Minute

This may sound like a no-brainer, but how many of us are really experts at this like Rachel Ray. She constantly talks about her “pockets of time.” When the water is heating up for pasta, she uses her pocket of time to chop onions, butter bread, cut up chicken, and anything else she can fit in. By using these little pockets of time, she whips up a meal in 30 minutes.

Now for our real life application: how many times have you put off doing something because you only had 15 minutes and the task takes an hour? What if you can’t find a whole hour to work on that task for another week, but you can actually squeeze in 15 minutes everyday for the next 4 days? By using your little pockets of time, you are able to complete the task this week instead of next week. That’s the secret to getting more done.

Become a master at this like Rachel Ray. If you only have 10 minutes before you have to go to a meeting, return one phone call. This gives you the perfect incentive to be efficient about concluding the call. Pick up pockets of time everywhere and see how much more you can accomplish during your day.

Simplify whenever possible

Rachel was making a creamy tomato soup one day. Everybody knows that home-made soup takes hours. What was she thinking? Instead of putting in whole tomatoes and letting then cook for hours and then straining and blending the mixture, she put canned tomatoes with some garlic and celery into a food processor, and added the mixture into her pot of hot milk. She simplified the process! Some gourmet will probably shudder at the thought, but the soup looked pretty appetizing to me, and I’m sure it is much better than opening up a can of Campbell’s.

Often times we do things a certain way because that was how we were taught. The sad truth is, how we were taught might not be the best solution anymore. Technology is changing everyday and there are so many more resources available to us now that were unheard of even a generation ago. The more steps there are in a process, the more opportunities there are for errors. Look at what you are working on and how you are completing the task and try to simplify it if at all possible. A direct result of that is improved efficiency, which results in more time for you.

Now you have the time management lessons I’ve learned from the cooking show. Apply them and see what a difference they make to your day. And if you’re cooking, I’ll be right over.

Copyright 2005 Inez Ng

Are your business results suffering due to an ineffective leadership team? Find out what coaching with Inez Ng can do for your leadership team at http://www.Realizationsunltd.com Want to know about saving time handling emails? Check out her ebook at http://easyemailstrategies.com

In today’s highly competitive world, there is a lot of pressure on leaders to create highly productive organizations. To be successful with this task, leaders will need all of the talent, skills, techniques, and experience they can muster through leadership development. The pressure to succeed can create a real dilemma: whether to “manage” people or to “lead” people. At CMOE, we maintain that in order to achieve high levels of employee engagement and morale, people in authority must learn how to show others the way, be a “lighthouse,” rather than to “railroad” people into compliance by telling, commanding, or controlling them. Respected leaders easily gain loyalty and mutual agreement with their followers (loyalty demanded is loyalty denied).

Leaders who earn the respect and commitment of their followers demonstrate qualities and characteristics that run deeper than leadership skills, techniques, and knowledge alone. Effective leaders lead by example and exhibit their true character consistently. This in turn causes people to voluntarily support an organization’s mission and purpose. They know that leadership is a privilege. It means you have to consistently do the right thing for the right reasons. Good leadership is an inner choice. It is character based. Good leaders will give your organization a competitive edge; bogus leadership, on the other hand, will cost you in critical times when you need the support of followers the most.

There are basically three kinds of leaders in organizations today: unsuccessful ones, those who are occasionally successful, and those who consistently maintain the commitment of followers on a long term basis. The third type requires an understanding of the finer qualities of leadership, character, and values. Character based leadership cannot be achieved by arrogant or power-hungry managers who choose to intimidate others. Sometimes those in authority feel driven to be overly aggressive, take short cuts, and do what is expedient versus doing what is right. Others will make a “Wall Street driven” decision that is not focused on the long term well being of stockholders, customers, or employees.

In CMOE’s leadership training, we acquaint participants with (or reaffirm) the fundamental qualities and characteristics leaders need to possess. For example, in our leadership development training, we examine the quality of courage. Leaders will always be required to make the right decisions and manage dilemmas. They must also take risks and at times withstand the ridicule from others. Courage is the strength to choose and stand for the right course of action. Leaders will experience failure (the great teacher), and leaders must respond courageously to failure and take responsibility. Owning up to a failed action, learning from it, and adjusting your course is a courageous act. Giving someone bad news, confronting a sensitive conflict, and giving feedback to others takes skill, tact, and most definitely courage. Courage can only come from deep within one’s being. In CMOE’s leadership development, we help leaders improve or strengthen this characteristic.

It is this courage that distinguishes great leaders from those who have skills but don’t convert their knowledge to proper actions and decisions. Courage, rather than power, position, or techniques, defines great leadership.

Leadership without character will eventually create “motivation fall out.” Without genuine leadership, people will not set up and contribute their talents and energy. If they feel manipulated with “slick” techniques they will withdraw their support and loyalty. In our leadership development curriculum, we connect leaders with qualities like:

• Inclusiveness / Collaboration
  
• Integrity
  
• Accountability
  
• Accessibility & Humility
  
• Credibility

This is a time when we need leaders and members alike who can move forward, think positively, and act creatively. Character based leadership provides the foundation for building skills and confidence.

For more information about CMOE’s 30 years of experience in leadership development, call toll free at 1-888-262-2499.

“YOU WANT ME TO DO WHAT? GET SOMEONE ELSE!” How often have you heard that (or maybe even said it yourself)? To succeed BIG as a leader you sometimes have to think small.

Every small, menial or mundane task is a golden opportunity for you to gain recognition and respect that will more than compensate.

When you feel you’re too important to help in some less than desirable necessary task, you’re only fooling yourself. You will never be too important to be exempt from doing something menial that has to be done. So, accept it and do it graciously. The upside is that it’s what helps to build character and make you a stronger leader.

My father used to say, “Son, no matter what you do in life whether it’s leading men in the military or mopping a floor, if you should die doing it they should be able to say it was your finest hour.”

As a result, my attitude became, “Do you want me to chair the meeting or set up the chairs for the meeting?” I invite you to adopt that attitude and adapt it to your everyday life. Some call that “servant leadership.” It worked for me and will for you.

It doesn’t matter the size of the task. That’s not relevant. The question is, “Does it need to be done?” Are you the one in a position to do it? If so, get busy. We would all like prestige assignments and jobs, but life ain’t always cooperative that way.

In a recent episode of “The Apprentice”, one of the candidates refused to carry out a task that she thought was beneath her. Her team lost and she was fired because of that attitude. When you find yourself in a situation like that, step up and accept the challenge graciously (remember my father’s advice).

People are watching, both up and down the line and they are all in a position to propel your career. But, don’t do it for that reason. Do it because it’s right. Small seemingly insignificant tasks are opportunities to show the size of your character.

Your servant leader’s heart is revealed in little acts, done without fanfare or expectations, that others generally don’t think of or wouldn’t want to do. Rick Warren, in his book “The Purpose Driven Life” states, “Great opportunities often disguise themselves in small tasks. The little things in life determine the big things.”

May you have many little tasks that lead to big successes.

© 2005 Gaining The Edge
Feel free to reprint this article provided that it is not altered and that the resource information as shown below is included.

John Nicholas is a corporate trainer on leadership and co-author of the book Leadership Inside Secrets. For more leadership tips and techniques subscribe to our free leadership newsletter: http://www.GainingTheEdge.com and receive a valuable free bonus

How can you get an extra hour out of each day? For many small business owners this is a daily challenge.

I myself have often wished that there were 27 hours in the day. I’ll even settle for 25.

Here are some tips to help you squeeze those extra minutes out of your day. Of course, you can adapt these so that they will fit in with your situation. I hope these are helpful to you.

1. Get up earlier

2. Watch less TV (I mean how many Law & Order spinoffs does one need to watch?)

3. Avoid allowing others to waste your time

4. If you don’t have to drive to work, use that time to study or plan. If you do drive to work listen to a motivational tape on the way to work instead of that mindless dj talk.

5. Organize your work; do it systematically.

6. Make creative use of lunchtime.

7. Delegate authority if possible.

8. Spend less time on unimportant phone calls.

9. Think first, then do the task.

10. Do what you dream about doing, instead of just dreaming about it.

11. Work hardest when you’re the most mentally alert

12. Eliminate activities that make the smallest contributions to your life.

13. Always do the toughest jobs first.

14. Before each major act ask, “Is this really necessary?”

15. Choose interesting and constructive literature for spare time reading.

16. Learn how to sleep. Sleep soundly, then work refreshed.

17. Skip desserts.

18. Stop smoking.

19. Write notes or letters while waiting for others.

20. Always carry an envelope with paper in it and a few stamps.

21. Combine tasks that are done in the same area.

22. Be prompt for all appointments.

23. Lay out your clothes the night before.(I need to remember this myself)

24. Call on specialists to do work that you cannot do efficiently

25. Learn to read more rapidly.

26. Take a nap after dinner. Then take a shower. Begin the evening hours relaxed and refreshed.

27. Avoid interruptions.

28. Avoid making a big production out of tiny tasks.

29. Search out job shortcuts.

30. Know your limitations.

31. Work to your full capacity. I know it’s tough to break bad habits. However, it is necessary to make sacrifices so that your business can be successful. Don’t try to implement all of these ideas at once. Implement them one at a time and repeat them until they become a part of your daily routine.

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