Managers Can Be True Leaders Not Just Taskmasters

A quick glance at articles comparing leaders with managers might lead to the hasty conclusion that a leader is broad minded and benevolent, capable of thinking in terms of the long term and motivating and inspiring employees. The manager role is typically described as coping with the status quo, thinking for the short term and issuing requests from the executive branch.

In my opinion, it's potentially damaging to put too much emphasis on contrasts. "Manager" refers to a position in an organization, while leadership is a quality. Experience tells me that some managers can also be excellent leaders. 

Managers are often in the most thankless positions. They must execute company objectives and are tasked with often unpopular actions like implementing cost controls or enforcing employee discipline and carrying out layoffs. Plus, in an entrepreneurial business, the manager acts as the buffer or gatekeeper between the president and owner and the rest of the organization. 

I spent a long time in managerial roles and am now privileged to run my own company, which has allowed me to see the convergence of leadership and management from a different perspective.

So, for new or mid-level managers hoping to move up into increasingly senior leadership roles, here’s what I wished I knew when I was in your position:

1. Hold the CEO accountable. 

Promoting accountability in the workplace does not involve the dynamics of a parent-child relationship. Yet managers are not just responsible for holding subordinates accountable. Rather, accountability should flow in all directions throughout the organization. To build and sustain a successful organization, every person in the company must hold one another accountable, including those of higher rank.

2. Be yourself.

Plenty of people will tell you how to act around your CEO or other senior leaders. The key is to always be yourself. Don’t put up a front. Be genuine and stay true to who you are. It's easy to see through a charade.  

3. Don’t sweat every last detail.

Managers sometimes don’t want to come forward until all of the data is tied down with 100 percent certainty. I would rather know the direction earlier, with less certainty, however. Don’t spend 70 percent of your time chasing down the last 5 percent, which may not even add significant value. By acting this way, you are showing an ability to make decisions in the face of uncertainty.

4. Avoid looking at the other guy’s wallet. 

There are times when a commissioned salesperson who is doing well could potentially outearn a key executive. Never let small thinking get in the way of how people should be compensated and certainly never cap commission plans. Create an environment that defines and rewards individual and team success. Never let anyone else’s jealousy distract you.

5. Be informed. 

Develop multiple data sources in your organization. Don’t let a culture develop where it’s politically incorrect for you or anyone else to speak with other people in the organization. To be successful, you need feedback from your frontline employees and beyond. Identify your key opinion leaders and listen to them. Make sure they feel empowered to communicate with you because I guarantee you they’re communicating with other employees and influencing perceptions.

6. Manage behavior.

A big part of the job is managing behavior. The minute some managers discover that this is a part of their job, they think it’s a kindergarten task. It’s not. You must ensure employee behavior is in line with your organization’s values and that your employees not only understand the company’s values but also never compromise them. As a key executive, managing behavior is one of the most important things you can do to engender a vibrant  culture and ultimately bring your company forward.

7. Put your mission and value statements into action.

The point of these documents is not to just place a poster on the wall. When it comes to your mission and value statements, you must have a plan to put them in action. Communicate them over and over again. Your employees are the ones who will breathe life into these statements, and it is your responsibility to be sure these goals and values are clearly understood. Employees will also pick up quickly on hypocrisy, when leaders post a set of values yet conduct themselves in a contrary manner. 

8. Know the 20/60/20 rule.

When your company is engaged in fundamental change, be sure you understand the 20/60/20 rule. This means 20 percent of your employees will already be on board, and 60 percent of the employees are winnable. And 20 percent will never be convinced, so don’t waste your time. Once you explain and implement the case for a change, the faster you can move forward with it. But always remember that you won’t win over everyone. 

9. You may be good today but what about tomorrow?

Sure, you as a manager may be in good shape now, but are you setting yourself up to succeed in the future? Keeping up with the trends, technology and what is happening in your organization and industry is essential to your company’s long-term success and growth. Develop your own personal plan and evolve and stay relevant. Don’t allow yourself to become a dinosaur.

10. Implement the three Ts.

Whether you’re dealing with a CEO or another employee, follow the three Ts: respectful treatment, transparency and trust. When these are upheld, you set yourself up for a successful relationship that has flowing communication. When any of these are violated, you risk potentially losing an employee or damaging a relationship.

How to Answer Questions Better Than Anyone Else

Be as willing to respond to questions as you are willing to ask them. If you hesitate to answer, people think you aren’t cooperative, don’t know the answer, don’t know what you’re doing, or that you lack confidence. You might even be viewed as acting arrogant and superior in your nonresponse.

Choose your words and tone carefully to hit the right degree of clarity. 

Listen to what the question is. Keep a “pass the salt” tone of voice with no hidden agenda emotion. Maintain a relaxed facial expression.

Attentively lean forward to answer the questions simply, concisely, truthfully, and targeted to the audience. 

Follow the USA Today’s slogan: “Not the most words, just the right ones.” Keep the answers organized. Use complete sentences. End sentences. Provide one thought at a time.

Practice important or complicated answers when you’re not on the hot seat 

so that the answers come to you more readily when you are. Think about what you should, could, or want to answer to a question. Rehearse it in your head, and depending on the importance, rehearse it on your smart phone then play it back to hear how you sound. Listen and think how it will sound to others and how they’ll likely react. Change your wording if necessary to get the reaction you want.

Try out different words to test the different effects. 

Follow the instructions given to airline pilots who are taught to select words that minimize travelers’ anxiety. The phrasing “The new departure or arrival time is…,” is better than the word “late.” The word “gate” is preferable to “terminal.” And “destination” sure beats “final destination.”

Choose descriptive words

 since they have their own body language: For example, “We get a lot of referrals” is bland compared to, “We get a beautiful number of referrals.” “We work well together,” is less convincing than “We work in harmony.”

If you don’t know the answer, say you don’t and then go find it out. Don’t fake or try to fool with the hope that “if you throw things against the wall some will stick.” Don’t attempt to show how much you know when in truth you’re disorganized and nervous and don’t know. “I don’t know but I’ll find out,” works.

“Yes” and “no” are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question. 

They avoid the groan, “How short the question; how long the answer.”

“That’s something I choose not to answer,” can be your response if they are just being nosy. You don’t have to answer every question (just as they don’t have to answer yours), but it does tend to stop the conversation flow.

 “I’m just going to skip that question” is an answer that works sometimes. It’s more straightforward than what politicians are taught in the art of “nonanswer.” As former White House insider George Stephanopoulos explains it, “The fundamental rule is to shoehorn what you want to say into the answer no matter what the question is.”

If you keep getting the same questions, you’re not answering well. Answer, and then ask, “Is that what you were asking?” or “Does that answer the question?” to make sure you did. Keep it a conversation, not an interview. Pay attention to micro-questions the person is asking. Pay attention to people’s answers to your questions. You need to hear and know their interests and priorities to determine the answers you need to give and questions you need to continue to ask.

Return to questions that were unanswered by you because they got skipped over with “Something I may not have explained well….” It shows you listen, remember, and take responsibility to answer as asked.

10 Things All Entrepreneurs Must Do Before Quitting Their Day Job

Before running a business full time, many entrepreneurs toggle between their day job and a dedicated side hustle. So how do you know when it's time to take the leap and leave your steadier gig behind? If you can check these items off your list, consider your decision made and exit your current job on a positive and graceful note. And for four more indispensable startup tips, check out the video above. 

1    1.Research  Do the requisite market research, talk to potential customers and scope out your competition. 

2   2.  Legal Engage an attorney to trademark your ideas and incorporate the business.

3. Web presence Buy a domain and build a dynamic website.  Make sure customers have a way to get in touch with you and your team.

4. Money Open a bank account specifically for your business

5. Social media Find the platforms that work for you and start building the support of your customers.

6. Identity Develop a consistent brand from your logo to your voice on social media.

7.  Team building Work with like-minded co-founders and assemble a support network of investors and advisors. 

8. Business plan Can't take action without one.

9. Budget  Make sure you have clear, separate books for both your business and personal expenses.

 10. Presentation You're going to have to share your vision with many people as you get the company off the ground.  Get your business proposal presentation in top shape.  
 

We Have Lost Sight of the Real Meaning of Innovation

As new terms go, innoveracy may be a bit of a mouthful, but it’s breaking important ground in today’s business landscape.

Horace Dediu, an analyst with Asymco, recently published an essay after realizing there is a universal ignorance around the meaning of innovation. He argues there is a fundamental misunderstanding around the concept, so he is attempting to coin the word innoveracy, which means the inability to understand creativity and the role it plays in society, to both describe and address what he sees as a worsening problem.

Only time will tell whether the word works its way into the popular vernacular, but the issue Dediu raises is important and timely. As a business culture, we have become obsessed with the word innovation. Its meaning, as Dediu describes, is very simple: “something new and uniquely useful.” However, as we have come to embrace innovation as a popular topic of discussion, its definition has been stretched to the point where we truly are losing sight of its real meaning.

It’s now possible to over-innovate, under-innovate and pre-innovate, among countless other types of innovations. In truth, a spectrum of innovation shouldn’t exist. However, now it does, and many people in business, regardless of experience level or role within the organization, are expected to embrace and operate under an increasingly broad array of definitions.

This needlessly complicates what should be a simple mandate and increases pressure in the workplace.

At Windstream, managing innovation starts with defining it, and there is only one kind. We do not over-innovate, under-innovate, pre-innovate or innovate productively. We only innovate.

If simply defining it sounds easier said than done, it’s because it is. Defining it is only one half of the equation. The other is explaining how creating something new and uniquely useful occurs, all within the context of your company’s short- and long-term objectives and external market factors that impact your business.

More often than not, people will gravitate toward the external market factors and pursue ideas that address a trend. While that is crucial to sustaining relevancy from a brand and product standpoint, it may lead to a culture of need-to-be-innovators who only pursue a certain type of idea and outcome, which may not be a fit for the company.

It’s critically important for senior management to share a vision and be clear in communicating the need to explore ideas at the crossroad, which will not only clear up confusion around innovation and relieve pressure among employees, but also inspire innovation, moving the company forward in a positive direction.

7 Secrets to Designing a Business That Gives You Ultimate Flexibility

We live in unprecedented times. Any entrepreneur today can develop or source products from one of thousands of manufacturers and suppliers, open an online store and reach a global audience of buyers -- from anywhere in the world!

Sounds like a dream, doesn’t it? It is, but it’s a dream come true if you know how to design your business for maximum flexibility and leverage.

The following are seven secrets my colleagues and I have used to build businesses that give us the ultimate flexibility to decide when, where and how we want to work.

1. Choose your business wisely

Certain business models allow for much more freedom than others, so you must choose a business model that matches your desired level of freedom.

Many entrepreneurs start their business with freedom in mind, but then choose a business model that gives them anything but.

After three years of hard work, they are miserable because they feel like they can’t step away. The easy-to-grasp example here is the person that opens a restaurant with the conflicting goal of being able to travel the world whenever they’d like.

Sure, there are globetrotting chefs that live a glamorous lifestyle of travel and celebrity parties, but that’s very rare. Most restaurant owners are there at 6 a.m. to receive the morning delivery of food, and there at midnight to finish cleaning and close the place down.

Be careful to choose a business that has the ideal characteristics to provide the lifestyle you are after.

2. Automate everything

The software that is available to help you run your business today is like magic.

Software systems such as Infusionsoft have eliminated so much manual work and cost from building and running a business that it almost feels like cheating when you know how to use it to your advantage.

Consciously work to find how you can automate every task possible at your business.

3. Only use online systems

When it comes to creating a lifestyle business, nothing has done more to make it possible than the Internet. To completely leverage the potential of the web, you should only use business systems that live on the Internet and can be accessed from anywhere in the world.

Not only does this allow you to operate from any place with an Internet connection, but it also makes it much easier to integrate your business systems together, and integrate with your various suppliers and vendors.

Doing so means less manual tasks and processes, faster communication and increased flexibility.

4. Outsource instead of employ

Not everything in every business can be automated (wouldn’t that be nice?). For those things that still need to be done by a living, breathing human being, you should be aggressive about outsourcing everything that doesn’t absolutely, positively need to be done by employees.

Employees are expensive, can require a lot of hand-holding and are hard to get rid of once you have them. You can find outsourced help for every imaginable task, at prices that will shock you.

5. Empower front-line decision-making

If you want to truly have a sense of freedom from your business, you can’t be glued to your email and phone all day long answering basic questions for your team. You must learn to delegate the “front-line” decision-making -- things such as customer support, refunds, minor operational changes, etc. -- as effectively as possible.

We give everyone on our team three simple guidelines to work from when making a decision. We have them ask the following:

1. 1  Is it good for the company?
2. 2.     Is it good for the customer?
3. 3.     Are you willing to be held personally accountable for the decision you are about to make?

If they can answer "yes" to all three of these questions, they should go ahead and make the decision.

6. Market and sell online

There is nothing cooler than the first time you wake up to a customer order from someplace on the other side of the world. Marketing and selling online makes this possible.

By being able to market and sell online, you give yourself the gift of a much, much larger potential customer base, and the ability to reach them at a cost that is unheard of in history.

If you master marketing and selling online, you’ll never have a shortage of qualified prospects and customers in your sales pipeline, which means more consistent revenue for you.

7. Create recurring revenue

The ideal business doesn’t just sell something once to a customer and then say goodbye. The ideal business creates revenue that comes in multiple times, and ideally very consistently.

It takes a lot of hard work to find a new customer, so once you do, you want to make that relationship as lucrative as possible. There is nothing more liberating than knowing that you have predictable income coming in, month after month.

In some businesses, this is more difficult than others and you have to get a little creative to generate a recurring relationship, while others are naturally recurring in nature.

But you’ve no doubt seen businesses that have taken normally one-off purchases and turned them into recurring revenue models. Businesses such as Dollar Shave Club and MeUndies.com come to mind as two recent and successful examples. If underwear can be turned into a recurring revenue model, just about anything can!

Get creative with your business model. Recurring revenue is quite possibly the best thing you can do for your business, so make this a priority.

I’m a big believer that building your ideal lifestyle doesn’t have to wait until you are done building and selling your business. Follow the seven secrets outlined above and do both at the same time!

Lead From the Top: 5 Core Responsibilities of a CEO

What are the responsibilities of a CEO?

This is something everyone at a company from an entry-level employee to the chief executive should know. After all, understanding what is required of a CEO helps him or her set the stage for the success of the enterprise It also helps employees better understand what the CEO is trying to accomplish, how they can be in support and what they should aspire to accomplish.

CEOs have five key responsibilities, no matter the company's size, industry or geography. Only the chief executive -- who  has a holistic view of the firm -- can take on these duties:

1. Own the vision

 A CEO should determine and communicate the organization’s strategic direction. Until that's settled, making decisions about anything else at the business is difficult. And without this, the company is merely a collection of people pursuing individual goals, guided by their own values.

While other people may help shape the strategic vision, the CEO must be able to describe it in a clear, engaging and exciting way for all stakeholders. All the players in the organization should understand how this direction affects their job and daily responsibilities. Everything the CEO does should support this vision. Too many CEOs have allowed the strategic vision to be nothing more than slogans on a piece of paper rather than guidance informing all key decisions.

2. Provide the proper resources

Only the CEO can perform the task of balancing resources -- the two most important ones being capital and people. The CEO must make both available in the proper quantities and at the right time for the company to succeed.

All executives have experience dealing with budgets and allocating resources. But the CEO's job involves keeping a proper balance of resources for all the disparate groups and initiatives, according to the company’s goals. Skill in making such decisions requires a deep understanding of all aspects of the business as well as a clear vision.

Putting the right people in the right positions with the right training is probably the single most important thing a CEO can do. With the right team, all things are possible. With the wrong team, nothing else matters.

3. Build the culture

Culture is the set of shared attitudes, goals, behaviors and values that characterize a group. It adds up to how things get done at a company and influences the entirety of the employee experience and thus the customer experience. Every organized group of individuals develops a culture -- whether it's explicitly recognized or not -- and the CEO must constantly observe and be involved to achieve the desired culture.

The most critical part of culture is values: The CEO ensures that those values are applied consistently from top to bottom, across all departments. A good culture makes people feel safe and respected, enabling them to perform at their best.

4. Make good decisions

A new CEO is often surprised by the breadth of issues confronting him (or her). One minute the CEO is discussing a new product, the next a human resources issue -- and then along comes a legal issue. It's impossible for anyone to be an expert in all aspects of the business, yet the CEO is the person tasked with making the decisions. Many problem require a solution that will end up affecting multiple departments, and only the CEO is empowered to take such an action. Everyone else can pass the buck from time to time, but the CEO will make the final call when no one else will or can.

5. Oversee and deliver the company's performance

Everyone agrees that the CEO is ultimately responsible for a company’s performance. To be successful, he or she must take an active role in driving that performance. This requires maintaining a keen awareness of the firm's industry and market and being in touch with the core business functions to ensure the proper execution of tasks.

The CEO also serves as the interface between internal operations and external stakeholders. He or she needs to ascertain how different stakeholders expect the company to perform, interpret this for internal teams and then be sure the proper metrics accurately gauge performance. “You get what you measure” is an apt adage. The CEO sets the bar for the level of performance to be reached, regardless of the company's size, type, circumstances or stakeholders.

Some CEOs might find be content to sit back and let the job arrive at their doorstep; after all, there are always tactical things that need to be done. But successful CEOs plan how they spend their time, according to the above responsibilities (and not just tend to urgent to-dos). To successfully grow a company, the CEO should have a clear picture of how to fulfill these functions that only he or she can do, prioritize them and find balance when dealing with the onslaught of issues.

20 Reasons to Start Your Own Business

If you’re an entrepreneur you have heard the million reasons not to go into business: It’s too risky, you might go into debt, you’ll probably lose sleep, your social life is kaput, and the list goes on. But even with all these uncertainties, people are still attracted to the startup world. There are just as many, if not more reasons to take the leap and go into business for yourself.  Here are just a few:

1.     Spare time This one can take some time.  Initially you’ll work longer hours for less pay.  But if you do it right, you could start to master your schedule and the freedom that being an entrepreneur provides is awesome. 

2.     A story to tell Whenever I tell someone I run my own business, they always want to know what I do, how I do it and how it’s going. I always am able to provide a tale or two, and the best part is that I get to determine the story's chapters. (When working for a corporation, people most likely have less input.

3.     Tax benefits For entrepreneurs (freelancers included), they have the opportunity to take advantage of some nice tax perks. Many can write off expenses like travel, food, phone bills, portions of car payments, and the list goes on. Also, certain startups qualify for government incentives. Make sure to ask your accountant about what tax benefits you may be eligible for.

4. Pride  When you build something successful, it’s a great feeling. You had a vision, were able to execute it and not can reap the benefits of saying "I did this." On the other hand, it’s tough to be proud of the zillionth request for proposal you fill out for your employer.

5. Your posterity If you’re a doctor, plumber or bus driver it’s hard to imagine you passing your career on to your loved ones. But if you own your own business, that’s something you can pass on to the next generation. And be proud of it, because you created it.

6. Job security  Have you ever been laid off, downsized, or fired?  If you have, you get this. With entrepreneurship the security lies in the fact you are your own boss. You run the show and don't have to worry about getting let go.

7. Networking  Entrepreneurs are communal creatures.  We love to meet each other, swap stories, and learn from each other’s experiences. Your circle of friends and acquaintances always grows when you become an entrepreneur, as many founders need others to lean on to survive and talk about the challenges only known to them.

8. Doing good While this isn’t exclusive to entrepreneurs, it’s definitely a perk. You control where your company profits go and if you choose, you can give allocate your financial gains to others. You can sponsor a charity, a non-profit or just personally give back to the community.  This is quite honestly one of the best parts of being an entrepreneur.

9. Novelty  We, as humans, love new experiences but rarely can you experience a host of new things from inside your cubicle. This all changes when you are running the show. Starting your own business will ensure you’ll always be facing new challenge and experiencing something new.

10. Mentorship  Having had mentors and getting to be a mentor have been some of the best experiences of my life.  Learning from the masters and getting to help those less experienced than you gives you such a sense of satisfaction. From my experience (and other's stories) the entrepreneurial community is very willing to give back and lend a helping hand.

11. Becoming an expert  This point goes along with mentorship.  Regardless of what you do as an entrepreneur, if you stick with it, you’ll probably become very good at it. And this gives you a sort of soapbox, so use it. You'll have the chance to be interviewed for your expertise, write about it and get to spread your message.

12. Skills  People ask me how I learned about SEO, social media, pay-per-click, PR and all the other marketing techniques I utilize. I tell them that I was forced to learn them, otherwise I wouldn't survive.  The same way I was forced to learn how to build a spreadsheet, how to balance a budget, how to negotiate leases and countless other skills I picked up because I was the only resource I had. While developing new skills can be tough and takes times, it can pay off in spades.  These skills will be invaluable throughout your life.

13. Determination  Everything I’ve done as an entrepreneur has affected me in my personal life.  I used to be poor at committing to changes. But having been an entrepreneur for over a decade has forced me to become dedicated and determined to causes. (Now I can stick to an exercise plan much easier.)  I’m also better at being a father and husband because of that determination I learned.

14. Recognition There are literally thousands of local, regional and national awards that recognize entrepreneurs in every field and industry. This shouldn’t be your only reason to start your business, but it certainly is a great feeling when you receive this recognition.

15. Financial independence Let’s be honest, this is probably the biggest reason people get into business for themselves.  And that’s a good thing!  You should want financial independence.  However you define financial independence – retirement stockpile, unlimited cash potential or having the money to buy what you want --  entrepreneurship can allow you to achieve it. Trust me, money doesn’t buy happiness, but it does make finding happiness much easier.

16. Reinvention I’ve started and sold several companies over my career.  And every time I sell a company, I’m presented with an opportunity to reinvent myself all over again. On the flip side, if I had received my law degree, I’d be a lawyer (not a lot of room to recreate myself). But as an entrepreneur, I get to be whatever I want to be.

17. Change the world Everyone jokes that every entrepreneur says they’re going to change the world. It’s difficult to imagine how a cell phone accessory kiosk in the mall is going to change the world.  But there are those that do succeed.  Take a look at Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Sergey Brin, and the countless other entrepreneurs who really have changed the world in some small (or major) way.

18. Create jobs There’s nothing like the satisfaction of knowing you’re responsible for the success of your employees.  Your ideas provided them the opportunity to earn a living, provide for their family and fulfill their own dreams.

19. Your brand Being known for something is awfully enjoyable.  People may start referring to you as the marketing guy, or the retail maven or the software guru.  Whatever it is you’re recognized as, it’s fun to build that brand and earn that recognition.

20. Your reason I’ve given you a list of why I think you should get into business.  But all that really matters is your reason to start your own business.  So, what is it?  Tweet out this story and add your reason.  Comment below and share with us why you did it.  I know it will be a good one.