by: Kate Driesen

Are you a leader? Of course you are. You wouldn’t be running a small business or considering starting one if you weren’t. But how many of the traits of a successful leader do you have? Use the checklist below, developed in over 20 years experience in training and coaching leaders, to identify your strengths and areas where you could use improvement. Then plan how to bolster your strengths and grow where you have challenges, using the suggestions at the conclusion of this article.

The characteristics of good leaders that apply to organizations large and small are:

Vision: Leaders have a vision for the future and the overall direction needed for the organization to grow and prosper. The vision embraces what you want to become over the years, not just an extension of what you are now. Every major decision is taken with an eye to moving toward this vision.

Worldview: Leaders can scan and interpret the outside world, keeping the organization in touch and ahead of the competition and out of harm’s way. It’s the top responsibility for a leader. They are the eyes on the ever-changing, ever-challenging world.

Strategic and Conceptual Thinking: Leaders have the ability to think strategically about what options are open to them and how to take advantage of them.

Passion: Leaders are passionately committed to the cause, organization and their people. They have fire in their bellies.

Honesty, Integrity and Trustworthiness.  Without these traits, leadership has no credibility and the organization will founder.

Ability to Motivate and Inspire: A leader inspires ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results. Leaders recognize people excel to the degree they participate. They take the time to give recognition and feedback.

Develops People: Realizes that people are the organzation’s most precious asset and develops them through training, coaching, mentoring and assignment of responsibilities.

 Instills a Culture of Accountability: Sets organization and individual objectives and holds him/herself and the team accountable for achieving them.

Listens: Listening builds a culture of respect and trust. Good strategic and operating decisions can only be made with good current information.

Has a Bias For Action: Leaders have a bias for action and making tough decisions quickly.

Tough and Persistent: Sticks to their objectives and timetables. Makes the tough decisions on people and resource use. Leaders are, however, consciously flexible when conditions change and objectives and timetables need to be altered.

Ask for Feedback: Feedback is the breakfast of champions. Leaders build a culture of trust and respect by asking for and listening to feedback about their leadership style and practices.

How do you grow in areas that need improvement? Leadership is an art that can be taught in principle but grown only by observation of good leaders and personal practice. There are several ways of getting started on your growth path.

1. learn the principles—read, take a training course, observe good leaders in action.

2. ask questions of other leaders.

3. join a group of small business owners that will discuss leadership and management matters.

4. find a mentor.

Finally find a leadership coach who can teach you the principles over time and coach you on how to implement them.

 

            Remember, when all is said and done, leadership is an art and, like all arts, it is a skill developed with practice.

 

 

 

You’re supposed to have a positive attitude. Right? You’ve been told that a thousand times.

But what does it mean to have a positive attitude?

Does it mean that you would never feel down? That seems impossible. My training in psychology tells me that it is normal to experience a wide variety of emotions, from the pleasant to the unpleasant. In fact, experiencing a wide range of emotions gives life a bit more spice and excitement.

Does it mean that all your problems in life and at work would be automatically eliminated if you have a positive attitude? I doubt it. I’ve interviewed thousands of people in the organizations where I speak. Some of them have a very positive attitude, while others seem to have a very negative attitude. But they all had one thing in common. They all have problems.

A positive attitude does not necessarily guarantee everlasting happiness or a trouble-free life. So what is it? And how do you get a truly healthy, powerful, positive attitude working for you? Use these strategies.

1.  Understand the two-sided nature of a positive attitude.

First of all, a positive attitude is fuel. It gives you the fuel or the energy to keep on keeping on.

It is not wild-eyed, turbo-charged behavior that is going in a hundred different directions. That’s stress. And it is not a fanatical commitment to one and only one goal in life; that would lead to a life of imbalance and workaholism.

Second, a positive attitude is perspective. Even though you may not have the best of everything, you make the best of everything. You find the good in any situation.

As a 16-year old Jewish refugee, hiding from the Nazis in World War II, Anne Frank displayed that kind of perspective. In her diary, she wrote, “Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!”

2. Embrace the importance of a positive attitude.

Champions truly understand the importance of a positive attitude. They know it so much more than a smile and a Pollyannaish set of high hopes. They know the research backs them up.

Dr. Martin Seligman, for example, discovered that attitude was a better predictor of success than I.Q., education, grade point average, or almost any other factor. He found that people with “positive attitudes” stay healthier, have better relationships, and go further in their careers. He even found that people with positive attitudes make more money.

The respected TV commentator, Hugh Downs, understands the importance of a positive attitude. He says, “A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but a person with a certain set of attitudes.”

3. Live a positive attitude.

 It doesn’t matter if you don’t feel positive. You can still live a positive day, and with enough practice, your positive days turn into an enduring positive attitude and an eventual positive life.

 It’s something that losers haven’t learned to do. They waste their emotional energy muttering such pitiful comments as “Another day, another dollar” or “I’ve got just five more years, three months, and two days and I’m out of here.”

People like that are not living their lives. They’re simply enduring them. They’re like the losers the Scottish warrior Braveheart was referring to when he said, “Everyone dies, but not all people actually live.”

What about you? Are you truly living your life now? Are you getting in shape … now? Losing weight … now? Improving your relationships … now? Are you accomplishing your goals … now?

Or are you waiting to live — until the kids leave home, until you get remarried, find a new job, buy a different house, have less stress, finally retire, or just plain feel like it? If any of that sounds like you, you do not have the kind of positive attitude that will lead you towards higher and higher levels of success.

By contrast, I am reminded of one 83-year old woman who wrote to her friend about living a positive attitude. She wrote:

“Dear Bertha, “I’m not waiting for anything anymore. We use our good china and crystal for every special event such as losing a pound, getting the sink unstopped, or the first Amaryllis blossom. I’m trying very hard not to put off, hold back, or save anything that would add laughter and luster to our lives. And every morning when I open my eyes, I tell myself that it is special. Every day, every minute, every breath truly is a gift from God.”

That’s what living a positive attitude is all about.

What about you? Do you have a really positive attitude? I certainly hope so … because good attitudes bring good results … and bad attitudes bring bad results. It’s as simple as that. And getting a positive attitude come alive for you is as simple as starting with these three strategies.

About the author:

As a best-selling author and Hall of Fame professional speaker, Dr. Alan Zimmerman has helped more than one million people transform their lives through the power of a positive attitude. In his book, The Payoff Principle: Discover the 3 Secrets for Getting What You Want Out of Life and Work, he reveals the strategies that will take anyone from ordinary to extraordinary.
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Frank W. Sarr , President of Training Implementation Services, designs customized training programs. He built his company on the premise that “real genius is not in the building of the training programs, but in getting them used.” His powerful Accountability Performancesm system energizes employees to approach their learning seriously and demonstrate that they can use what they have learned. As importantly, it incorporates accountability which speeds new employee productivity. Frank’s programs have been responsible for extraordinary performance improvements for dozens of client companies in such industries as Insurance, Banking, Mananged Care, and Pharmaceuticals. Prior to founding Training Implementation Services, Frank served as Vice President of all Field Training for CIGNA and as Director of Financial Services Marketing with Wilson Learning Corporation where he marketed training products to the financial industry throughout the United States, Australia, and Canada.
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The Steinberg Hyper-Analytic Group is a website consulting enterprise in New York City. The president and founder, Mark Steinberg, created the company to meet the growing need for enhancement of already-existing websites.  Corporations, large and small, spend enormous sums of money to design, launch, and maintain sites for marketing and public relations purposes; however, all too many have wide-ranging errors, desperately in need of remediation. Mistakes in websites significantly decrease customer conversion rates and negatively impact the bottom line. Steinberg Hyper-Analytic Group’s analysts have the unique ability to easily perceive and powerfully correct the issues that are rampant in corporate websites today.
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Michael E. Goldberg, Dynamic Speaker, Author, Boxer and Knockout Networker, has developed programs that are responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars of increased revenues, retention and employment opportunities. Described as a “spark plug” by clients, Michael is a master at invigorating and engaging audiences with his “knock-out” style and approaches to generating sales. Through seminar and keynote presentations, Michael helps his clients learn and apply “real world” information about networking and referral marketing. He is one of about 7 percent of speakers worldwide who have earned the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation awarded by the National Speakers Association and International Federation for Professional Speakers.
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The Steinberg Hyper-Analytic Group

New York, Boston, Sparta, Santa Fe, Los Angeles

Exposing the Unseen Truths About Your Business

You and your company will succeed or fail based on the image you portray to others, and your image is undeniably linked to what you say and how you say it.

If you have a company website, are you sure that the writing on your site is portraying your company in the best possible light? The Steinberg Hyper-Analytic Group can and will ensure just that.

What We Do:   

The Steinberg Hyper-Analytic Group provides hyper-analyses of all types of business writing. It is the ultimate polishing of your writing so that it is the best it can be when presented to your customers.  (See below what some of our gratified clients have to say.)

How It Works:    

Once the Steinberg Hyper-Analytic Group accesses and examines your site on the web, errors and issues regarding style as well as substance will be highlighted and corrected.  After a comprehensive report is sent to you, Mark Steinberg will be available to talk you through all of the issues and suggested corrections. By the time that brief conversation is complete, your website will be ready to fully impress and impact your customers.

Steinberg Hyper-Analytic Group vs. Proofreading:  

Proofreaders are writing experts who take a writer’s orientation to document examination.  That certainly is important but significantly incomplete.  Mark believes that proper hyper-analysis of business writing must include business know-how, psychological awareness, customer-service understanding, and sales/marketing expertise, in addition to proofreading knowledge.

 About Mark and His Clients:

Mark Steinberg holds graduate degrees in psychology as well as business administration, with specialties in business writing, business psychology, marketing and interpersonal communication.

He has already completed Steinberg Hyper-Analytic Group analyses for, among others: Coldwell Banker, Jayen Chemical, the New York Public Library, The United States Tennis Association / U.S. Open Tennis Championships and North Shore Animal League America.

Exceptional Things Mark’s Clients Have To Say About The Steinberg Hyper-Analytic Group: 

 “I am a realtor who enthusiastically has been using The Steinberg Hyper-Analytic Group to critique my customer service strategies and real estate advertising.  Mark Steinberg sees things the average business person’s naked eye could never detect.  Simply put, it is like working in the dark with someone who is wearing night-vision goggles.  The Steinberg Hyper-Analytic Group is a service that you can rely on to make a real difference.” -J.W., Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, Realtor

 “Jayen Chemical Supplies has been a leading provider of janitorial supplies throughout the New York, New Jersey, Connecticut tri-state area. Recently an opportunity to go national presented itself. Mark Steinberg helped take us to the next level. His customer-service oriented guidance and savvy business insights, especially regarding our promotional writing, were keys to our success in achieving this new nationwide expansion. The sale of janitorial supplies is a very competitive market so we also were thrilled with The Steinberg Hyper-Analytic Group’s analysis of our corporate website. Mark Steinberg possesses that rare ability to use psychological wisdom in combination with smart business know-how in order to make amazing suggestions. He is a great find in a challenging economic environment. ” –J.N., Jayen Chemical, President

 “At the New York Public Library we are totally thrilled to work with The Steinberg Hyper-Analytic Group. Mark Steinberg demonstrates marvelous expertise in observing, analyzing and suggesting strategies for how we can improve our guest services. We are an iconic part of the fabric of New York City, and to have someone like Mark Steinberg hyper-analyzing and recommending meaningful, easy-to-implement, pragmatic techniques to improve our guests’ experiences of the NYPL is absolutely precious to us. The concept underlying The Steinberg Hyper-Analytic Group is brilliantly innovative, and Mark Steinberg executes that concept with the most extraordinary professionalism, style, insight, and undeniably positive results. ” –M.E., The New York Public Library, Manager of Professional Development

Peter W. Nathan is a consultant to the exhibition and conference industry. A widely respected authority in his field, Mr. Nathan’s career has been marked with pioneering “firsts” including the first to design an “Expo” show, the first to present a trade show in the Soviet Union, then China and most recently, Cuba. He provides expertise in new show development, association outsourcing, mergers and acquisitions, corporate exhibit planning and evaluation, marketing and promotion, and facilities planning.
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Kenneth J. Kukla is president of Performance Systems & Development, Inc. Dr. Kukla helps clients in the midst of major organizational change to develop an overall work design that optimizes their employees’ productivity. His client list includes The Coca-Cola Company, IBM, Wachovia Bank, GE, Burger King, and Georgia Power. He has facilitated a change management solution for employees of a newly merged bank, helped a major insurance company implement large-scale organizational changes relating to structure and philosophy, and developed training programs for scores of companies on change, teams, and resolving differences. Ken possesses critical attributes that have resulted in his establishing so many successful client relationships: Professionalism, practical experience, and an ability to relate to a variety of organizations and people.
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Kenneth J. Kukla is president of Performance Systems & Development, Inc. Dr. Kukla helps clients in the midst of major organizational change to develop an overall work design that optimizes their employees’ productivity. His client list includes The Coca-Cola Company, IBM, Wachovia Bank, GE, Burger King, and Georgia Power. He has facilitated a change management solution for employees of a newly merged bank, helped a major insurance company implement large-scale organizational changes relating to structure and philosophy, and developed training programs for scores of companies on change, teams, and resolving differences. Ken possesses critical attributes that have resulted in his establishing so many successful client relationships: Professionalism, practical experience, and an ability to relate to a variety of organizations and people.
read more »

Kenneth J. Kukla is president of Performance Systems & Development, Inc. Dr. Kukla helps clients in the midst of major organizational change to develop an overall work design that optimizes their employees’ productivity. His client list includes The Coca-Cola Company, IBM, Wachovia Bank, GE, Burger King, and Georgia Power. He has facilitated a change management solution for employees of a newly merged bank, helped a major insurance company implement large-scale organizational changes relating to structure and philosophy, and developed training programs for scores of companies on change, teams, and resolving differences. Ken possesses critical attributes that have resulted in his establishing so many successful client relationships: Professionalism, practical experience, and an ability to relate to a variety of organizations and people.
read more »