So what do these tyrannical, authoritarian, controlling leaders have in common – well a view that what they say goes and an unquestionable belief that those they ‘lead’ will do what they say, because they say so.  The controlling ones say they listen to others opinions but after a while their staff have stopped giving opinions because they didn’t seem to count for anything.   So there becomes an unspoken work dynamic of  “I’m in charge and this is how we’re going to do it”, if you don’t like it get lost.”

Controlling leaders are more common than we give credit for.  Yet in essence this is a sign that it’s a manager who hasn’t grown and stepped up to the demands of leadership. The control element is often rooted in that person’s capacity to handle uncertainty and help others handle it.  If they can’t cope there’s very little chance they can lead others through it.

Is there a time for this style of leadership, certainly, if there is a crisis you want absolute clarity and instruction.  Great leaders have flexibility and a range of leadership styles.   Or they know what environment they’re best suited to lead in, knowing when they’ve done their job and the organization needs a different environment for continued growth, they move on.  The core of leadership is about fulfilling the needs of everyone involved in the organization.

Look again - today’s over 50 workers are planning their second career move. They may retire from the present job at 55, 60 or 65, but they have no intention of retiring from the workforce.

In fact, they’re as excited in planning the next career as they were in securing that first job. Many are more excited because they know themselves better than they did at 18 or 21. They’ve developed work skills and preferences over the span of their career and combined with their self awareness are looking at different ways of finding fulfilment.

Here’s the great part of this new generation of non-retiring older adults: they’re energized by this second chance to have a new career choice. Whether the city manager chooses to take a less stressful job running a recreation center or the teacher from an inner city school decides to set up a craft store to make a business out of a hobby, the over 50 workers are merely transitioning to their second and possibly third careers.

I was having lunch with a friend recently and, two mouthfuls in to the sandwich, she proclaimed it was excellent.  The excellent part apparently was the taste, texture and visual appeal.  Then another friend was talking about her views on the excellent and not so excellent garden centers around Cheshire.  So what is it that makes something or someone excellent?  Clearly it’s a subjective experience but is probably about being the best it or you can be against various criteria.   The criteria being the subjective part.  However I’ve noticed that we tend to find it easier to label sandwiches, plants, large entities and anonymous things as excellent rather than people.  I suspect this is because we can be idle and find it easier to identify criteria for excellence in these situations.  I also think it’s to do with the element of risk and reputation.  If you think a sandwich is excellent and next time it isn’t, so what.  If you say James is an excellent web designer and next time he isn’t, do we feel there is a part of our self and ability to judge that’s flawed?  Or is it by saying they’re excellent we put them on a pedestal and then feel hurt when they fall off, forgetting to realise we put them up there in the first place.  So then excellence is a standard, a clear specification of criteria which when fulfilled, is the best it can be.  Perhaps some of the problems come from unconsciously assuming that everyone else would come up with the same set of criteria you did, or that this criteria is even repeatable.

The first 2 letters of GOAL spell GO – Anon

Only 148 days to go to the end of 2008, today you are investing in you 218th day of the year.  Interesting if not slightly scary thought.  So how are you making progress with the goals you set yourself, either personally or at work? 

One of the most common reasons for people not making progress in their goal is because it isn’t very well thought out - more information on this in our August ezine.  Sign up if you haven’t already done so because as well as offering more in depth pragmatic material, it often features exclusive offers and advance invitations to our teleseminars and events.  

One other reason for slow goal progress is that you’ve got too much clutter in your life, your desk, office, wardrobe, wherever. If that’s affecting you then this tip will give you the burst you need.

How many cars are there in your garage?
The answer for me is 2, cos that’s what it was designed for. It also contains the bikes, lawnmower, BBQ, deckchair, buckets, birdseed, and the car wash / polish stuff. What else would you expect to find in a garage. 
Well some people seems to think it’s the natural home for old beds, tables, fridges, broken vac’s awaiting repair when you get the time, and anything else that you can no longer fit in the house but can’t or won’t dispose of. In the meantime your car sits out on the drive or road, not too bad in summer, but a pain in the middle of winter.

What’s her problem you may think, well if you want to start taking back control in you life, I find garages a nice easy place to start.  So get in there this weekend and take everything that’s of no use to anyone to the tip.  Then either repair the broken vacs or equivalent or bin them too.  Finally anything which could be of use to someone else either give away or advertise in your local newspaper / eBay.  On this last point be firm with yourself, if no-one takes it off your hands within 2 weeks bin the item as well.  Now you should have a lot more space and the items in your garage should be things you use on a regular basis, if the answer to this is “well not in the last 12 months” then get rid of that too.  Finally buy some shelving or brackets and utilise the wall space.  Whether you now choose to park your car in the garage, and there can be insurance premium advantages, is up to you, but hey at least you have a positive choice.

If you do this right, then trust me, when you open the garage door you’ll no longer feel overwhelmed by the sight of so much clutter, and you’ll have the energy to get on with the task you went into the garage for, rather than the commando run you probably had to do in the past.  Now just imagine if you can achieve that energy shift in your life from sorting out your garage what would happen if you did it in a bigger area of your life?  Don’t have a garage, well wardrobes are also lucrative places to start

This year whilst on holiday I noticed several people every night gathered around their laptops in the free WiFi area.  With one or two with their phone at the ready next to their sun lounger.  Whatever happened to it being OK to relax, switch off and chill out.  No one can be that indispensable that they can’t have at least 1 week away without their lack of input having a significant negative effect on the business.  I own a business and my commitment is to turn my mobile on once a day to pick up and respond to any urgent messages. 

Stephen Covey in the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People talks about sharpening the saw.  If we keep pushing ourselves, with no time to refresh, then our performance and productivity is going to drop.  So too perhaps the enjoyment of our job.   I’m not going to witter on about delegation etc.  if people choose to be connected to their work whilst on holiday that’s their choice, but what if through your leadership you’re setting up a culture that says you expect people to be accessible, connected and involved 24/7 365.  If when you go on holiday and you phone in to work are you inadvertently saying “I expect you to do the same”, rather than making it clear it’s your choice.  The reasons for your staff staying in touch on holiday can be very insightful as to what’s emerging and taking hold as common work practice - are these what you want to encourage and embed?

We all have ways of expressing our self image, be it a tie, socks, jewellery, handbags etc.  There are always little signs detailing an aspect of our personality, or something that just makes us feel fantastic.  For me footwear is more than something that keeps your feet dry.  In fact there have been times when a favourite pair of boots has been glued and better glued, was still letting in water when it rained and my response was to carry a spare pair of dry socks with me - yes my mum rolled her eyes. 

And so last Saturday night we purred about Poste Mistress shoes (especially the winter ranges) and drooled over boots we’d like to own.  [I am hopeful that this winter I'll find a pair of fuchsia pink or lime green boots, preferably mock crock with a great looking heel.]  Then, as conversations do, we bequeathed our shoe collection to each other when we die - it is important that they go to a good home.  Now hopefully this won’t be for a very long time as a) I’m sure we’d like to get some more personal pleasure from our shoes and b) we’d like to see each other live very long and happy lives.   

I can see it now, age 97 (minimum) at the funereal tea party reminding people that we have first pick over the other one’s shoe collection, because this was promised to us nearly 60 years ago.  Let’s hope our excellent taste in footwear remains and neither of us gets bunions.

We meet someone who has achieved what we want, and they offer to help us.  They’ve distilled their knowledge, learnings and mistakes in to something we can participate in and get the benefits in a fraction of the time.  Yet still there are those who want it even quicker.  All of those I know who have achieved success did it from the inside out.  They worked on their character as well as their competence. 

So I wonder, are we building a culture / workplace that eludes to, or expects instant fame, fortune and success in a bottle and if so how do we help people cope with the disappointment and disillusionment?  And will all of this help to build a more resilient generation or bitter cynicism?

What do you think?

I’ve always been a bit of a bookworm and I appreciate not everyone finds it a pleasure to read.  The one thing I have noticed in my choices, is that over the years the ratio of fiction to work orientated books has changed.  Depending on the content of what I’m reading (i.e how much it makes me think) I’ll read between 3 and 6 books a month, (not including audio products, journals and articles).  When I’m doing research that could increase to being about 6 per week.  Now I don’t expect my clients to read that many (although it’s nice if they do), however often when I give them a book to read in a month they choke (not literally you’ll be pleased to know). ” I don’t have the time”, is a common cry, usually seeing reading this as been on top of their job.  Yet the book absolutely relates to their work and their desired future. 

Jim Rohn said “are you feeding your brain protein or candy every day?”  Candy being TV, radio, etc. It’s the nice stuff that distracts us and helps us unwind.  I love watching NCISon a Friday night, yet if someone said you can watch it every night I’d say no thanks.  Another 5 hours of NCIS isn’t going to take me closer to achieving my vision.  5 hours reading something from my book shelves is going to be more useful investment.

What stimulus and inputs are you feeding to your brain on a daily basis and when you know what they are and exactly how much, is this exactly what you’d pick from the menu - or would you choose different options or change the portion size?

Whatever you’re doing right now is contributing to your current results, if you’re happy with these, great and keep going.  If you want different results then maybe it’s time to revisit the menu.