It's Not Rocket Science

Ask a leader to outline his or her step-by-step execution process, and you will likely receive a blank look or hear general palaver like: "We hold meetings, prioritize strategies, and follow up." Rarely, though, will he or she have a series of sequential actions that comprise an execution blueprint.

Most of us have fallen short of enough goals during our lifetime to understand that execution is where results really happen.

Don't let good or great get in the way of best.

The inability to concentrate because your focus is scattered on the minor many goals, or because you squander it on your wildly important goals that are less than ultimate, wastes not only time but money as well.

The number one obligation of a leader is to grow—grow himself or herself, grow the team, and grow the organization together with his or her team.

All leaders are measured by results. However, results alone can be a misleading indicator for how effective one is in his or her leadership role. Hot economies, popular products, weak competitors, or other favorable conditions can make the terrible appear tolerable, the subpar look good, and the good appear great.

The quality of people a leader attracts and develops speaks volumes about the leader himself or herself.

if you get results because you work 80 hours per week, never take a day off, and have made your people so dependent on you that they're useless when you're gone, you're headed for trouble.

Most mission statements are mission chapters or paragraphs that fail to communicate concisely to the team what its purpose is. Frankly, if your people cannot articulate your mission, they are not likely to be able to execute it.

Performance standards should be in writing and acknowledged with a sign-off from an employee. This helps team members become more successful by creating clearer targets for them to hit.

Performance standards should have specific metrics that can be measured accurately. “Work hard every day" is not a standard; it is a suggestion (advice). "Average 12 sales per month" is a standard.

People who don't share your values are cancers that will destroy your culture.

People want to work in a culture where they have a chance to become more as human beings.

If helping people grow and seeing the difference you make in their lives doesn't serve as the ultimate leadership for you, then you should reevaluate your fitness for leadership; followers deserve a leader who values them enough to make effective people work a priority.

Employee engagement happens when an employee is emotionally invested in the company's goals. His or her work is not just a means to a paycheck but also a place where he or she finds significant meaning and purpose.

Learn to motivate each team member as a unique individual, rather than applying assembly line management. Everyone has different strengths, weaknesses, aspirations, whys, and motivations. When team members believe their boss cares enough to understand them and treat them as the unique entities they are, engagement soars.