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Some people mistakenly associate supervisory positions, or seats of power, with leadership. They presume that these two things are synonymous. While this may be the case sometimes, leadership and power are wholly separate. In reality, the boss may not have all of the power, and in fact, may not be capable of handling it, even if he did possess all of it. What do I mean? What is leadership, and what is power? How do they inter-relate? How are power and leadership obtained? Let’s take a look.

Leadership is the ability to influence others to take action when they might not otherwise be compelled to do so of their own volition. Influence is the key element of leadership. As personal influence grows, so does the capability to lead. Demonstrate your desire through action; hands-on is hot, finger pointing is not; provide direction, reason and motivation.

Power is a more complicated matter. There are five types of power that can be found within the organizational hierarchy, and all of them can be used to accomplish tasks, and perhaps influence others. However, the leader probably will not possess all of these powers…and that’s an important concept to understand. It’s just as important to realize that having personal possession of all five powers is not essential to being a successful leader. Knowing how to apply these powers is.

So, what are the five powers, and how are they used?

Legitimate Power. This is the one power the boss always has, based upon his position in the organization. A first level supervisor, mid-level manager, department head – all have specific power bestowed to them once they accept the supervisory duty position. The boss signs timesheets, approves vacations, assigns work, etc.

Reward Power. This is the capacity to control and manipulate valued resources. For example, the boss may have just received a difficult task to be accomplished in a very short deadline. The boss tells his staff that if they complete the work to standard, and on time, they will have a pass day, or a luncheon for the hard work. This sounds great to the staff, and they get the difficult job done in time. The boss has just used his reward power to influence his workers.

Care must be taken that the boss does not overuse this power, or a backlash effect is possible. Reward appropriately, based on the situation, conditions, and careful consideration. Do not reward for everything. Doing so will diminish this powers effectiveness, and create workers’ expectations that they should be rewarded every time they accomplish tasks – difficult or otherwise.

Coercive Power. This is the capacity to control various punishments. Again, this power is usually in the hands of the boss, but could reside with other people in the organization as well. The supervisor could use this power, for example, to give a bad review, disallow time off, or hold back a promotion, if a worker is not doing as instructed, expected or otherwise resistant to directions. On the other hand, a worker could also exert coercive power over a supervisor if he was aware of something that could impact the supervisor in a negative way.

Expert Power. This is the strength derived from special skills, expertise, and knowledge. You know this person as the Subject Matter Expert (SME); the Guru; the go-to guy. These experts are found up and down the corporate ladder. Be assured that this power is not influenced by pay grade or position. The smart leader seeks out these experts wherever they may be. Knowledge is power.

Charismatic Power. This influential authority is derived from personal attraction, admiration, or identification with the person. Again, charismatic power may be held by a member of the rank and file; not the boss. You know this person as well. He is someone that others gravitate toward because of his ‘aura’ or personality. This person may not even have to say much to establish his presence. He could be the good listener with an understanding ear. He may be the silent leader among peers because of his charismatic influence.

Now that you have a basic understanding of what leadership and power are, you also have a good idea of what they are not. It should also now be clear that supervisors do not automatically possess leadership simply because they are granted some power. The supervisory position only gives the individual some authority to accomplish certain tasks and objectives in the organization. This authority, or power, however, does not convey leadership to the individual. It simply puts that person in charge.

A poor supervisor is one who attempts to accomplish work mainly by bossing others around, threatening, strong-arming, or otherwise punishing others into compliance. He does not seek help, believes he is never wrong, makes no mistakes, and is otherwise inconsistent in word and deed. He has little respect from co-workers.

A good supervisor is one who accomplishes work by influencing others to willingly accomplish tasks, achieve goals, and maintain standards. He leads by example, seeks help when needed, rewards and punishes fairly. He makes mistakes, and acknowledges them. He is respected by co-workers. That’s what leadership is about.

There is no quick answer as to how leadership is obtained, but as you already know, some people have great capacity for leadership, while others do not. The seed is planted from your earliest interactions with others; it begins to grow as one matures. In the work force, leadership may blossom with the help of a strong mentor or a seasoned ‘veteran’ of the organization who takes someone under his wing. Over time, an individuals’ leadership quality may improve tremendously, if it was based on strong foundations, but for others, a leadership plateau may be reached, and further motivation to improve may not exist. Leadership can be as varied as each individual.

In the end, it doesn’t matter if you are a supervisor or not. Leadership is not dependant upon your title or position. Seek out those you admire for their leadership abilities, and follow their example. Improve your own leadership abilities by holding yourself to high standards of conduct and by challenging yourself often. Follow these guidelines, and you have a recipe for leadership success.

Joseph Yakel is a freelance writer and author. His articles have appeared in publications such as Communications Technology, The Pipeline, and Army Reserve Magazine. Joe’s works have also been highlighted on USAWOA Online, USAR Online, and other Internet websites.

Free chapter previews of his books are available at: http://www.lulu.com/yakel

This article was published in the Nov. 2003 edition of Hamilton, Ontario’s BIZ Magazine under the title “Leadership’s Triple Crown” LM

What does it take to be the head of a small business, a department manager, or even a corporate CEO? The effective director isn’t one persona but three: a Visionary, a Manager, and a Mentor/Coach. A leader must be capable in all three roles and must have the proper perspective of their relative importance for him, in his position, at this time and place in his career. A tall order, complicated further by those roles never being static, shifting with circumstance, the business climate, organizational needs and with the individual’s preferences and abilities.

The Leader as Visionary

The visionary is the one who handles the creation or inspiring of goal-directed action. This leader is the man, or woman, with the plan.

The senior manager, CEO, president, general manager or owner has a fundamental responsibility to “Create the Vision.” The illusory definition of who, as a company, we are, what we do and why, where we are, where we’re going and how we get there from here. Once that vision is defined — and that’s no easy task — the leader must articulate it in terms the will enable, even compel, others to buy in and dedicate themselves to it. In other words, agree to follow. To quote author John C. Maxwell, “If you think you are a leader but have no followers, you’re not leading, you’re just going for a walk.”

The visionary, however, is not just a dreamer. The plan must translate into action. The leader is the one who must outline a clear, specific, and effective strategy for bringing the vision to life. This “plan” isn’t just a simple timeline. You can’t say you intend to land on the moon next year without considering how to build the rocket required for getting there. The vision will fail without a reasonable estimate of the necessary resources, including capital, facilities, equipment, people and talents essential to a successful implementation. Determining what is needed, how to acquire it, and where best to deploy assets is fundamental to making a vision reality. Any map includes milestones along the road and a method for tracking results so that everyone involved knows at all times what progress is being made. You would run out of gas on the highway without a fuel gage. Don’t expect your people to complete a journey without an idea of how far they have to go and what resources they have to get there.

A leader’s ability not only to be a visionary but to convey that message powerfully enough so employees want to strive for that goal has a direct impact on the company’s bottom line. The clearest example I know of this is two well-known Hamilton, Ontario companies located just down the street from each other but miles apart in direction, focus, and profitability. I’m talking of course about Canada’s two largest steelmakers Dofasco and Stelco.

Dofasco, with a clear vision, and a history of strong leadership, is seeing major returns even during tough economic times for the steel industry as a whole. The story is completely different a few blocks away. At Stelco, there seems to be a focus on the bricks, mortar, and machinery as the corporate essence without a real sense of where the company is going and why. The absence of apparent vision and feeling of corporate destiny breeds apathy in the workforce and leads to no feeling of accomplishment or pride in their work. It’s just a place to earn a living and to get away from as soon as possible. In a recent meeting with a Vice President I was told that in one mill, “wrench time” (the time that maintenance people actually charge to specific jobs) was down to 90 minutes per shift compared to the industry average of 4 hours, and no one can see a way to improve it.

While the absence of vision and poor atmosphere are not the sole factors in the company’s decline, it’s hard to argue with their lack of success. Stelco again reported a net loss of $82 million in second quarter 2003, more bad news after a first quarter net loss of $44 million.

Stelco is now trying to stop the hemorrhaging with a change in leadership. Jim Alfano stepped down as President and CEO in July, replaced on an interim basis with Fred Telmer, Stelco’s Chairman of the Board. While Telmer heads the transition team, the search is on for a new CEO. “Has vision” should be at the top of the qualification checklist.

Results rest on the shoulders of the visionary, no effective leader acts alone. The senior leader may only create an initial “rough draft” of the company plan and must flesh it out through team input. But unless the leader has a clear vision of where he is going, the rough draft is likely to remain just that. He must guide the polishing process.

As the vision is disseminated deeper into the organization, internal leaders — for example, the middle management, department heads — are presented with an already defined goal but the process of articulating that vision and of directing the rest of the process through his or her level of responsibility is much the same as the view from the top. After all, leadership exists at every level in a company. Even when the plan reaches the “shop floor”, every employee can learn to take responsibility for self direction in accepting personal responsibility for his or her actions, results and focus on the corporate goal.

The Leader as Manager

A manager, by definition, manages. In other words, the manager must plan the processes, create the rules, assign responsibilities, direct activity, provide training, focus efforts, control costs, measure progress and report on results. The “leader as manager” is the one with the “hard skills” — the planning and organizing, the number crunching, the industry, equipment and process knowledge. This is the foundation of leadership on which true leaders build their soft skill development.

The key to being a successful manager-leader is the ability to troubleshoot. That is, to find solutions to problems and make effective decisions that will keep them from reoccurring. The manager shouldn’t be just putting out fires; he should be preventing them. The ratio of prevented crisis to reactive problem solving is the main indicator of the effective manager-leader. If the leader is always running around with a bucket of water, sooner or later someone is going to figure out if he’s always putting out the same type of fires. Either he lacks the necessary planning, organization, influence, and resourcing skills to manage or he has failed to build on his hard skill foundation to bring his leadership to the next growth level. If the leader brings nothing more to the role than the ability to problem solve, the company doesn’t have a firefighter, it potentially has an arsonist — someone who consciously or unconsciously creates the conditions that require his skill set. If the operation runs from one inferno to the next, when does anyone have time to grow the business? The company suffers. No matter how addictive the rush of being the “go-to” person can be, nobody can run on high octane forever. The leader, his performance, as well as his quality of life outside of work, all deteriorate. What the arsonist has done thinking it will make him essential will eventually burn him out of a career.

Time spent on the managerial role is on a continuum. The more junior the leader, the more time — as much as 80 per spent — is spent on the management functions. The senior executive dedicates less than 20 per cent of his time to “managing”. While the CEO must always pay attention and be aware of what is going on, managerial tasks are an effective subordinate developing tool and are among the first to be delegated.

If a leader can not delegate, he creates a development and succession bottleneck. Essentially, he is limiting his own potential for advancement by not cultivating talent to take over. He becomes locked (at best) in his current position or (worse) shifted to even more managerial-heavy (and thus, lower on the leadership continuum) responsibilities. Moving forward requires the soft skills of leadership. Vision and courage are absolutely essential for delegation as well as the ability to trust others and to get of the way, allowing people to make their own mistakes.

As the leader grows, he must not only delegate his managerial tasks, but also transition from being “hands on” to “hands off”. No one, particularly those higher on the corporate food chain, likes to be micromanaged. Being able to affectively assess the level of one’s involvement and required degree of tracking in delegated assignments is the main skill leap between the leader as manager and the leader as mentor/coach.

Steve Thompson of Brantford, Ontario-based Stellarc Precision Bar is one executive mastering this tricky delegation balancing act in his leadership style. Thompson wasn’t really sure where his skills needed development, he had only an uneasy feeling that he was spending a lot of time “spinning his wheels.” So, he came to The Leadership Centre for support. When he began to recognize how much of a “hands on” manager he was, he resolved to make immediate changes. He reorganized offices, added responsibilities to all of his departmental managers and provided personal productivity, leadership and time management training.

His new focus on giving his managers the responsibility and authority to get things done — rather than doing them himself — has given him time and freedom to focus on new visions and new directions for the company as well as on some important personal goals. In the past three years he has more than doubled the size of the plant, added a million dollar state of the art bar processing line and brought in a new, dynamic plant manager all while reducing his own work week to about fifty hours from a grueling seventy hour schedule.

The Leader as Mentor/Coach

Some 80 per cent of people say they are not “engaged” at work. They don’t like, respect or care about their company, their managers, their fellow workers or their customers. What’s truly scary about this scenario is that the overwhelming number of these employees have no immediate plans to change jobs. They don’t believe things are any better someplace else. Is there a measure of personal responsibility for this situation? Definitely. But whose job is it, ultimately, to help change the situation? The leader as mentor/coach.

Of the three fundamental roles of the executive, this is the one that most affects the continuing growth of both people and the organization. It is also the face of leadership requiring the highest level of soft skills. The mentor/coach must have the self confidence to not see growing the potential of others as personally threatening. The mentor focuses outward on results — not inward on actions; on strengths and on what can be — not on weakness and what is impossible.

The mentor maintains focus on the goal, the vision, and the “quest for the grail” that drives ordinary people to extraordinary performance. It has been said that everyone has it in him or her to be a superstar in some field, in some role. The mentor helps a person define his or her strengths to build on them, to strengthen them, to find or create a role where these strengths can be utilized to their fullest potential. With proper mentoring, a person’s weaknesses — and we all have them — do not matter. People are driving their careers on a road that leverages their superstar qualities.

The mentor-leader grows individuals, departments, and the entire organization by helping to set SMART — specific, measurable, attainable, results-oriented, and timely — goals. SMART goals at each level must reflect and support the overall corporate vision. By forging that link between individual performance and how it directly impacts on the bottom line, the mentor-leader is engaging the employee, making him or her part of the plan, not a victim of it. Influencing others through consensus building and buy-in strategies is a key mentor-leader skill.

Effective mentoring/coaching skills are at the root of a striking turn-around story at Hamilton’s ailing National Steel Car. The company, founded in 1912, designs and manufactures railroad freight equipment. But the company was on a bumpy track a few years back until it brought in Dan Elliott, the former President of Wabco Freight Car products in Stoney Creek, as chief operating officer to help turn things. The previous owner/management seems to have been rather autocratic with little responsibility vested in even senior managers — not at all in line with Dan’s way of thinking — and the company had slipped from its position as one of North America’s leading rail car manufacturers. Employment had dropped from nearly 3000 to a mere 300 workers and the company’s economic prospects looked grim.

With a senior management team of about a dozen vice presidents, many of them in their early to mid thirties, Elliott began the process of rebuilding the company’s vitality. The mixture of youth and experience would succeed only if everyone believed in the future and proactively worked to make the corporate vision a reality. To achieve this, Elliott took on the task of mentoring his VPs in setting departmental and individual SMART goals and then monitoring progress.

The new focus on the vision, with everyone knowing where they want to go and committing themselves to getting it done, is working like magic. Not the process has been an entirely smooth one. The long term people found it difficult at first to accept and believe in the new responsibilities entrusted to them but now, just over a year into the transition, the VPs are emulating Elliott’s style and their people, in turn, are emulating them.

Elliot supports his VPs on a daily basis, mentoring and coaching individually and collectively, while ensuring they know he believes in them, trusts their decision making abilities and is prepared to back them up. The result so far — National Steel Car is regaining its top industry position, employee levels are back up around the 1500 mark and the company, despite overall market slumps, is making steady progress towards real profitability. Vision, mentoring and delegation of managerial responsibilities are combining here to make a huge difference.

Three leaders in one

To be truly great, a leader must comfortably and effectively wear all three “faces”. Strong managers may not have a clear picture of where they are headed, dreamers may not get the job done and mentors will find it difficult to grow others if they are not first secure in both their own hard and soft competencies. Defining the fundamental skills required is the first step in developing one’s leadership potential. The leader must then be willing to recognize his limitations and weakness and be committed to continuous learning and development. This sort of honest self-evaluation, willingness to build on strengths and address development areas is fundamental on the road to the top. That journey can span a career but the pay-off is a successful, prosperous and growing organization with you at the helm.

Len McNally is President and founder (in 1996) of The Leadership Centre, dedicated to leadership development, management team building and change management through executive and corporate coaching – from the top floor to the shop floor. With more than thirty years experience in sales, marketing and business development Len has for many years been an avid student of psychology, behavior and motivation. He still reads three to four books a month and has writen several book reviews for Amazon.com. He can be reached at (519) 759-1127 or email: the.leadership.centre@sympatico.ca. Other articles may be seen at: http://www.tlc-leadership.com

Many potential leaders in business sabotage themselves and their organizations out of fear of empowering others. In 21st Century Leadership: Dialogues with 100 Top Leaders, Lynne McFarland, Larry Senn and John Childress assert, “the empowerment leadership model shifts away from ‘position power’ where all people are given leadership roles so thy can contribute to their fullest capacity.” John Maxwell confirms this in his work on leadership, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. He states, “only empowered people can reach their potential,” and that barriers within the organization are created when empowerment is not present. Maxwell observed that the most common barriers to a leader’s empowerment of others are:

1. Desire for Job Security

This is perhaps the leading enemy of empowerment. A person with this issue asks, “why should I help others beneath me when they’ll just rise to take my place and ultimately displace me?” In fact, when one has the ability to lead others, and to make oneself “dispensable,” then one truly becomes “indispensable” in the organization. Maxwell calls this the “Paradox of Empowerment.”

2. Resistance to Change

In these times, the hallmark of business and life is change. According to Maxwell,
empowerment mandates that others grow and change. This is essential, and must be sought out and embraced instead of shunned and avoided.

3. Lack of Self-Worth

Some people derive self-worth, esteem and viability from work or position. When either of these is threatened, then the worth or esteem is also subject to question. In reality, true leaders recognize the value of change and realize that inherent worth is not related to title or work.

Maxwell further notes that two main attributes follow all great and true leaders. The first of these is the ability to lead by lifting up others. To do this effectively, one must not be overly concerned with who gets credit for accomplishments.
The other attribute is the ability to gain authority by giving it away. This is another paradox of leadership by empowerment.

Giving away leadership and authority necessitates choosing qualified people. This is a cultivated skill. Ask: where is empowerment missing? Look for opportunities to select quality individuals who can handle the gifts of authority and leadership. For any project, this is a path to success.

Eric Johnson is a regular contributor to the Investor’s Value View newsletter. To learn how to reach Mr. Johnson or to subscribe to Investor’s Value View, visit http://www.valueview.net

Web hosting can best be described as a modern-day
marriage: none of this till death do us part stuff, it’s
more like I’ll stick around as long as your uptime is 100%,
you answer my frantic queries instantly, and you charge me
less than a decent latte at Starbucks. What follows is a
few tips to help make the relationship less rocky and
possibly prosperous!

First of all, we all need to take a little responsibility
and at least figure out what we think we need from a web
host up front. This isn’t always as easy as you might
imagine. You don’t always know your exact needs ahead of
time, and sometimes these things are difficult to forsee.
Your site may become hugely popular, requiring more
bandwidth or storage than previously thought. You may
decide to have data feeds hosted on your site, which will
gobble up resources. On online store can do the same. One
way I’ve found myself in the position of having to change
web hosts is when a technology you want to use or implement
on your site isn’t supported by your host. This will (and
did!)prompt a move.

Ask friends and associates who they use. While their needs
may be somewhat different than yours, basic issues such as
support and uptime will be evident, as will cutomner
satisfaction. Check out several of the web hosting
directories, as they maintain a wealth of current
information regarding the specifics you’re interested in.
Come armed with a list of things you’re looking for and
narrow your choices down using this.

Make sure you can grow with this new host. Not only in the
size of your current sites, but also number of domains and
subdomains you can host there. If you’re anything like me, I
want to be able to get the most bang for my hosting buck!

In short, due your homework, check them out, do your part in
knowing as specifically as possible what you’re after, and
make your choice. This could be the beginning of a beautiful
friendship!

Keith Thompson is the Webmaster of Web Hosting Providers a site offering and reviewing great choices for outstanding web hosting!

Determining help to fund university degree courses may be problematic and can certainly need time. These scholarships are not the same as a normal student loan because the cash is a grant, and thus, do not have to be repaid. While searching methods to finance your college degree, remember that funds are available at unlikely sites, such as lefty grants. Southpaw Scholarships

It may seem crazy to provide a bursary dependent on being left-handed, however it’s worth looking at this: Benjamin Franklin was a left hander, as is Barack Obama. Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Bob Dylan and were also lefties. An estimated eleven percent of the population are left handed. Although in the past southpaws experienced discrimination, nowadays they are frequently believed to be gifted intellectually and more artistic. Today, lefties are no longer discriminated against or thought of as odd, and may have some qualities associated with the famous individuals mentioned above. Should you be lefthanded and researching scholarships specifically for left-handed students, a lot of scholarships for left handed people exist which you may be able to obtain. The Beckley Scholarship for 1000 USD is presently available at Juniata College stuated in Huntington, Pennsylvania. Granted to scholars attending Juniata College and set up in the 1970’s, this bursary helps a lot of southpaws in their pursuit for a college degree. Numerous grants may have requirements and restrictions. Sometimes certain grades can be needed or certain financial guidelines have to be met. Do go for for the maximum number of scholarships feasible to give you a better chance at supporting your college education acquiring as small a college debt when you graduate as is feasible. Do consider local organizations, clubs and even hobby related groups. Southpaw grants are just one illustration; funds are likewise available if you are the child of a ex-serviceman or suffer from a handicap, for example.

Looking for scholarships can take a little work, of course the advantages will always be worthwhile. The debt accrued by a college education can be cut back through these scholarships used in conjunction a standard student loan. Leave no stone unturned in researching every last source of funding. The above-mentioned funding is only one of many choices – write a list of all your local affiliations and utilize your creativity. Try for everything you may possibly qualify for, keeping any debt to a minimum, and you’ll be able to expect better prospects after finishing school.

If you need in-depth tips, you are advised to go to our vast web site for left handed student scholarships pointers…

It’s a question you hear repeated over and over, again and again how much of poker is really skill? The argument comes down to the fundamental synapse of the casino game being a mixture of the two, but how much is it a case of one over the other?

In the eyes of the government, the basis of their fight against online gambling has been that it is more luck than skill based, and defeating this understanding seems the key to getting online poker fully sanctioned. Their argument here, too, is based on the idea that the neophyte poker player knows less than they can use to affect luck to enough of a degree that the state is controlled.

I don’t think it’s quite right to cite a basic understanding of the game as a sole determinant, but I’m also in agreement that in order to do well over a longer sample of time, skill is more important, while in the short run, luck’s presence is a bit more present. Anyone who’s seen the donkey at the table winning hand after hand without hardly even knowing what is going on should be able to see that.

But what should also be argued is this: if that donkey continues in a purely luck-based fashion, he will go broke. Over time, if you keep putting all your money in blindly or at the whim of the luck, you will eventually lose it all again and again playing online poker. The odds will break you, as they do in roulette. The presence of people who regularly turn a profit seem irrefutable evidence that luck is only a small component over any run but the immediate, making it clearly more a skill game than luck.

From its perch in Bellevue, Washington, Intelius has served more than seven million unique customers all over the US. It’s not hard to see how; its website alone, Intelius.com, registers one of the country’s busiest online traffic, according to comScore/Media Metrix. In fact, Intelius.com ranks among the 100 highest-trafficked sites over the web. Bellevue resident Naveen Jain created Intelius. He had just left his own company, InfoSpace, when he decided to establish a venture that offered intelligence services, by way of public data like court records and marriage papers. Among a hundred services, Intelius provides background checks, comprehensive employment screening solutions, people searches, and an identity theft protection product that won the 2006 WSA Industry Achievement Award for Consumer Product of the Year. InfoSpace was the company Naveen Jain founded prior to Intelius. It sold content like stock quotes and weather forecasts to AOL and Lycos, and at one point, tried to herald wireless Internet access. Naveen Jain was chief executive officer of the company since founding it in March 1996 until December 2002. Intelius is a certified Inc. 500 company and winner of the 2006 American Business “Stevie” Award for Best New Company. Naveen Jain, a former Albert Einstein Technology medalist and Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist, founded it in January 2003. Naveen Jain is an emigrant from India. He has lived in the United States since 1982. He has a wife, Anu, and three children. The Puget Sound Business Journal cites Naveen Jain as one of Bellevue’s most prominent philanthropists. As CEO of Intelius, he steered the company into many philanthropic calls, like donating human resources to the Overlake Services League and financing an undergraduate program at the University of Washington. He formerly worked for Microsoft Corporation as project manager for The Microsoft Network (MSN).

“Sooth ‘t were a pleasant life to lead,
With nothing in the world to do
But just to blow a shepherd’s reed,
The silent season thro’
And just to drive a flock to feed,-
Sheep – quiet, fond and few!”
- Laman Blanchard

Communication skills give leaders ways to connect with, understand and influence the needs of people. It would be so very pleasant to live the life depicted in Blanchard’s musings.

Even though leadership combines the roles of shepherd, steward and orchestral conductor, people are not sheep, people do not dance to every tune, people will not feed on any old meal.

The primary leadership activity involves using organizational communications processes to establish relationships, garner commitment, advise and counsel and educate or develop their people.

Grow Relationships, Make Commitments

“Nature has given us two ears but only one mouth.”
- Benjamin Disraeli

However, God actually affirms, “death and life are in the power of the tongue”. The meaning of that sentence is simply this – we should open our mouths and say [write or type] whatever it is that we want to bring into existence!

Wise leaders use their words to convey their most essential, important and useful thoughts – otherwise, leaders listen for the clues, pains, hopes and boundaries being communicated by others.

Powerful leaders tend to say profoundly meaningful things that will engage, connect and commit people to their cause.

Advise and Counsel by Discovering

“We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover what will do by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.” – Samuel Smiles

You can easily learn new things by using everyday organizational communications processes such as meetings, briefings, presentations, forums, discussions, written exchanges, casual conversations, reviews and coaching or consulting sessions.

Just how are leaders supposed to know what is profound or meaningful to other people?

People usually find ways to communicate those needs, desires and fears that are most important to them. People will always reveal those feelings or thoughts about themselves through their spoken, written and unspoken communications.

By asking how, what, why, when, with whom or where a person is doing something, you can glean much information about them and their impressions and preferences.

Educate, Develop and Train One Byte At A Time

“Heaven is not reached at a single bound;
But we build the ladder by which we rise
From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies,
And we mount to its summit round by round.”
- Josiah Gilbert Holland

Investing your time and energy into listening to others will help you learn more about their concerns, hopes and guiding beliefs.

You can incorporate the leadership activities, communication skills and organizational communications processes previously mentioned to help your people and yourself:

- Learn by structured doing [training]

- Learn by practicing and assessing [developing]

- Learn by experimenting, exploring and discussing [educating]

Be the leader other people appreciate and look forward to communicating with – master these skills and watch your associates grow, flourish and succeed.

Mustard Seed Investments Inc., Copyright © 2005, All rights reserved.

Bill Thomas provides helpful guidance through the “Leadership-UltraNet!” – an affordable, guaranteed, leadership skills training program featuring personal attention, comprehensive resources and follow-up support for your growth.
Learn how the UltraNet! empowers your Leadership performance today, in every way!
http://www.leadership-toolkit.com/Leadership_UltraNet.html

The chances of scooping the euromillions jack-pot is a distant 1 : 76 million but the probability of winning a cash prize is a fairly decent one : 24. If the jackpot is not won on a given week, it is carried over to the next lotto draw which results in an ever increasing jackpot prize. Recent rules added on the 09 February 2007 limit the number of successive roll overs to 11, with the jackpot rolled out to smaller prize levels on the 11th lotto draw if the prize is not won.

The Euro millions lotto or the Euro lotto, as it’s commonly well-known, pools the lottery ticket receipts of the 9 partaking European countries presenting a sizeable Euro Lottery jackpot. With the number of countries joining the EU on the increase, that will without question will lead to more countries partaking in the EuroMillions lottery. A growth in the number of people partaking in the Euro millions lotto will result in a continued increase of the already whopping European Lottery jackpots.

The new regulations likewise initiated Euro Lotto Super Draw which come about twice annually plus they offer jack-pots in the region of 100 million pounds. The difference with Super Draws is that the jackpot has to be collected during the calendar week of the lottery draw; as a result, when there is no lottery ticket corresponding, all the numbers drawn and the top prize will be allotted to the ticket bearer(s) on the next winning prize tier.

Each participant must select five main numbers from 1 to 50 and two Lucky Star numbers from 1 to 9. During the draw, five main and 2 lucky-star numbers are then selected at random from 2 draw machines containing numbered lotto balls.

You know where you want to go, but how do you get there? You may find that making some decisions is easier than others. What do you do first? How long will it take? Will you need help getting there? How do you decide what’s right for you?

It helps if you understand what makes you tick; your personal value system. These values are the ones you live with, not necessarily every day, but over the course of your life, that enable you to live with your decisions.

First, sit down and make a list of the top 20 or 30 values that are important to you:

* family

* personal time

* fun

– you get the idea. Narrow that list to 10, and then five. Next, rank those five in numeric order, one against the other, until you have your top three.

When making choices, ask yourself if the decision would honor your top three values. If not, it’s the wrong choice for you at the time.

Setting the right goals for you is almost as important as having goals in the first place. They have to be realistic and coincide with your value system. How does your vision mesh with your goals? You may experience fear, feel overwhelmed or confused because you don’t know how to go about setting goals effectively, but it’s a straightforward process and you will overcome the emotions as you go, as you feel more in control.
The Five-Step Goal-Setting Process

1. What do you want, specifically — This is the first thing to ask yourself in your goal planning process. What is your vision? Your dream? Without being clear as to your explicit desires, no other steps can be taken, and no progress made.

2. Why do you want it (what value does it serve) — The pivotal question in your goal-setting process and a prime motivator. You must reflect on your values list in order to answer it. Does your desire reflect your values? If so, you’ve accomplished the second step and are on your way to goal setting success.

3. When do you want it – Determining specific dates for completion of tasks is a crucial part of your goal setting procedure. Knowing that you have committed yourself to achieving a certain thing by a certain date will enable you to plan your time and thus maximize your efforts.

4. What will you give up or overcome to get it – Confusion? Fear? Procrastination? Insecurity? Make sure you keep in mind why you want your goal. It will give you all the courage you need to push through your fears and move forward.

5. Create a detailed plan to get there — We are not born knowing how to do anything, really, except eat, sleep and breathe. The rest we learn as we go along, and creating a detailed plan to achieve your goals is no different.

Brainstorm things you can do, actions you can take. Bounce ideas off of friends, relatives. Throw out ideas (none are too insignificant or crazy). After you get the first few implausible or facetious ideas out of the way, more creative, clever and valuable ideas will surface. Brainstorm until you are able to get your ideas down to very specific, measurable tasks that you can then cross off a list when you’ve finished them.

In order to reach a key goal, you’ll need to set interim goals – multiple short-term goals. Broken down into bite-sized pieces, the objectives are less intimidating. If you get stuck trying to create a plan, ask yourself more questions! Keep asking questions until there are no more questions, only actions left.

Prioritize your plan according to your most important goal, approach each goal individually and set a date for completion. You’ll be amazed at the progress you make!

Stephanie Frank is an internationally acclaimed author, speaker and entrepreneur. Take the free quiz “Do You Have What It Takes To Be The Next Accidental Millionaire?” and receive over $1,574 worth of business building tools and resources at http://www.AccidentalMillionaire.com