Do you want the best people to work for you?

If you want the best people you have to have something worth talking about.  You have to be a place that attracts and keeps them.

You have to be a place where people will leave their current job to come work.

And YOU have to be the kind of person they want to work for.

What do you have?

Root problems

To grow bigger, have a bigger influence, and get more meaningful stuff done, we need leverage.  We have to make our time count in a bigger way.  Prioritization is a master skill of high achievers. 

Here is a great question we have talked about before that is worth talking about again.

“What one problem can you solve that would solve 1000 other problems?”

I was thinking about this last night and I thought I’d approach it in reverse.

I coach a lot of business leaders, and I try to get to the key problems in the business – maybe ones they can’t see, don’t want to admit, or know but don’t realize just how critical they are.

It’s my experience that some leaders have a problem that keeps spinning off lots of other problems, over and over.  Until that or those problems get solved, any progress will be temporary.

Mostly what I am talking about is personal problems.  It could be negative thinking, beliefs, character flaws, or low self-esteem.  It could be bad people skills, how things are handled and what is said when things go wrong, impatience, or too much patience.

The business is a reflection of the leader.  That’s why you need to work on yourself more than your business.  Fix your thinking.  Fix your beliefs and your health and your relationships.

Leverage is mostly about building a team and getting great performance out of them.  The kind of person you are makes ALL the difference.  

While you may be principally responsible for the success you have had so far, you are also the root problem as to why you aren’t farther along.

Once you get over the sting of hearing it, if you can, hopefully, you can get yourself fixed, if you can.  You can also fill in for your weaknesses with another complimentary leader working with you if you can resist intervening at the wrong times and messing it up anyway.

Some will never progress because they are only leaders because they started the business, not because they were cut out for it, and their organizations will suffer and struggle forever.

But some will overcome themselves on purpose – and they will grow and succeed to new heights.

Overwhelmed?

Things are tough?  Overwhelmed with too much to do?

Just think, prioritize, let other people help you, and get to work on the most important things and do what you can.

That’s all.

Make your job smaller

I’ve written about this one before, but it’s a key subject for leaders, especially when your business is growing.

Overwhelmed?  

Make your job smaller by giving parts (more and more parts) of it to others.

Reinvent your role.

Give up control but not responsibility.

Make your job smaller and smaller until you can do it well in the amount of time you want it to take.

Haven't learned yet?

The world will keep throwing the same problem at you until you learn to overcome it.

What problem keeps coming back again for you?

Special Opportunity and Gift for you!

So I have this friend who has spent his life doing something very interesting and unique and valuable.  He interviews CEO’s.  In fact he has interviewed more CEO’s than anyone on earth (well over 1000!) and has them on video on a platform called The CEO Forum, and transcribed them in print too in a magazine called the CEO Forum Magazine.

If you are like me, you came up from humble beginnings and by starting a business one day and growing it, you landed in the top job.  But you may be wondering “How do other leaders lead?  What do they think about?  What are their challenges and how do they meet them?  What are they like?”

In Robert’s interviews, you can see for yourself.  The very cool thing about these interviews is that Robert doesn’t edit them.  Often what you see in media is highly edited and condensed.  But here you can see the man or woman leader in full as they answer Robert’s questions and tell about their organization and their work in it.

 You can look up interviews easily by industry on the platform.  Normally there is a charge for membership to access all these interviews, and to get the other resources included. But because we are good friends, Robert has offered to give Think Daily subscribers FREE access!

Simply click the link below and you can sign up for free!

Take advantage and check it out!

Here’s the link – 

https://institute.theceoforumgroup.com/contractornation-partners-membership

Learn to fail, or fail to learn.

The choice is simple.  Learn to fail or fail to learn.

What is not working in your business?

Failing is a great way to really, viscerally, and emotionally learn something.

What are your current struggles trying to teach you that you have not learned or taken action on yet?

Success requires risk & risk takers make mistakes

In order for people to be empowered and move out of their comfort zones and do things they have never done before, risk-taking is required.

Whenever risks are taken, mistakes will be made.

It is how leaders and managers handle it when an employee make those mistakes that determines whether the employee is disempowered and quits, or learns and moves forward to get better.

Team development requires you to get people to perform to a higher level than before or to do different things that are more valuable to the organization.

Employees don’t leave companies, they leave their managers.

Keep them feeling good about themselves (and you) as they learn.

Going to fix that problem with that employee?

Don’t jump in there with just one side of a multi-sided story.

Make sure you have all the real facts first.  

Start the meeting by asking questions.

What is your vision for your business?

Your business will never outperform its leader.

It will never rise higher than your highest aspiration for it.

What is that?