Learning Leadership

A Leadershp Question

Is leadership nothing but a doer of good?

Feel free to share your thoughts below in the comment section?

Radio Interview about Nonprofit Leadership & Volunteerism

A few weeks ago I was interviewed by Opportunity Knocks Radio about nonprofit leadership and volunteerism.  Most of the content in the interview is from my book, so it was fun to share some content verbally with a podcast audience.

Here's a link to the interview. 

In the interview you'll get to learn about:

Inspiration for the book 
Overcoming roadblocks to volunteerism 
Volunteering as a path to working for a nonprofit 
Success story on mobilizing volunteers 
If I had one superpower, what would it be? 

After listening to the interview, feel free to share your favorite part of the interview below.

Recent radio interview I did about nonprofit leadership

In December I did a radio inteview with Chris Treece of the Chris Treece Show.

For about 30 minutes we talked about leadership, making a difference, and how we can all do something to help people in need in our community.

Special thanks to Frank Mundo for helping to set up the interview.

Create an enviornment where it's easy to be great

As a leader one of your many responsibilities is to create and cultivate an environment where your people can perform well.

This means giving them training for their job, tools they need and the freedom to make decisions.

What I’ve found is that if you can do these three things, people will find a way to do their job better than you would know how, and better than you expect. If you train them, give them tools, and allow freedom to make decisions, they are going to become good at their job.

Why?

Because that’s their job. They are spending 40 + hours a week working in their specific area, and if there is one person who might know how to do it better, it will be that person.

Companies have proven time and time again that the best ideas bubble up from the bottom of the organization where people are in the trenches doing the day-to-day work.

In Kevin & Jackie Frebeirg’s book BOOM!, they tell the story about how pilots at Southwest Airlines realized they could save their company thousands of dollars in brake maintenance expenses simply by reverse thrusting their jet engines just before landing.

No offense to the CEO of Southwest (I highly admire Herb Kelleher) or any of it’s other great leaders, but that idea probably would have never have come out of an executive board meeting. It had to come from the people who were on the front lines of the work in the battle trenches day after day.

However, this presupposes that you have placed the people in your organization in their areas of strength. This means you took the time to get to know each of their individual strengths and talents, which requires more than a quick glance at a resume.

I honestly believe that a majority of American workers and volunteers all want to be good at their job, and even though they might not want to be at work, I know they want to do a good job while they are there.

People want to be good at their job, and it’s our job as leaders to create an environment where they are allowed to do that.

Chapter 1 of Young Leadershp ebook

My ebook, Young Leadership: How a young person can make a difference in his organization and community which I gave away free has been pretty well received. It is a very short ebook, only about 17 pages, but it provides some simple principles that young leaders can learn and practice to do a better job of leading in their organization, regardless of their age.

Below I've given you the first chapter. If you're interested in reading more from the ebook, go here.

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Young Leaders Deal with "Stuff"

Hopefully I'm not the first person to tell you that being a young leader working for a nonprofit organization is difficult. I was given a reality check at the first nonprofit organization that I worked full-time for when two of my coworkers walked in the door and expressed their feelings of not wanting to work that day. I remember thinking, "We are working to make a difference in our community and in the world, how could they not want to be here? How could they say they would rather be at home than working here?"      

I quickly realized that everything which happens in for-profit companies happens in nonprofit organizations. Examples are:
- There will be people who hate their job
- Coworkers are going to fight with each other and not work as a team
- People will complain

As a young leader you probably have had similar experiences and I hope to share with you what I've learned that has helped me on my journey. As a young leader you will realize very soon that you are not the go-to person, you are the go-do person. There will be times where you're singled out and selected to do the grunt, nasty, non-fun work.

Sometimes there will be days where you give your very best effort and you feel like you did a great job on a task or project, but your Supervisor or Manager won't say anything about it. They might not even acknowledge the fact that you finished, but rather will just tell you what your next project or task might be.

The first job I had for a nonprofit organization was the lowest paying job I've ever had. I made more money by the hour washing dishes at a restaurant while in High School than I did with a full-time salary at my first organization. As a young leader that's the price you have to pay when you're new to the nonprofit sector. When you're at the bottom of the organization chart you are there for the reason that you haven't proved yourself yet. When you were hired you didn't have a prior track record of bringing and adding value to other organizations. Hence, you are paid as little as legally possible (which is usually the federal minimum wage) and you're given a chance to prove that you deserve more.

Nothing is more frustrating than working for someone who is less committed to making a difference than you. This often happens when a young leader works hard to grow and improve, but his Supervisor doesn't take the steps and hard work to improve. This causes the young leader to pass his Supervisor in motivation, skill, and leadership ability—which becomes the most common reason that a young leader moves to another organization or transfers to a different department within that organization. 

A good friend of mine was working for a company where he had spent half a decade of extremely hard work and sacrifice to do the best job he could. He had made every step and taken advantage of every opportunity to improve himself to do his job. As a result, when he approached his Supervisor to ask for a raise, he had outgrown her in ability to judge and recognize great talent and what it was worth. She responded by telling him he needed to stop worrying about learning and growing, and focus on doing and teaching what he already knew.

As a young leader he was continuing to develop, learn, and grow while his Supervisor was not. After this conversation he realized that his leadership ability exceeded her leadership ability, and as a result he went to another company where he could continue to grow and develop.

My  goal isn't to discourage you from leading. I want to convince you that even though you might be at the bottom of an organization, there will be times and circumstances where you will feel like giving up. There will be times when you're working hard, seeing zero progress, and feel that you are not making a difference. These things are going to happen, and they are just part of the price you have to pay to become a nonprofit leader.

I’m sure you’re filled with enthusiasm and passion to make a massive difference in the world. However, to make a massive difference in the world you first have to make a small difference—and you start that small difference as a young leader. There are several steps and principles that a young leader must acknowledge and use before he can expect to make a big difference. The first of these steps is committing to personal growth and development.

Interview with Mark Sanborn, author of The Encore Effect

The following interview is a new monthly interview series I will be conducting with leaders and best-selling authors.

For the inaugural month I'm very excited to interview Mark Sanborn, author of The Fred Factor, You Don't Need a Title to be a Leader, and his latest book, The Encore Effect.

The Encore Effect was just released on Sep 2nd, and Mark was gracious enough to share some answers to a few questions I had about the book which I wanted to share with you.

Enjoy. . . . .

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Christopher Scott: What is the basic message of The Encore Effect?

Mark Sanborn: The goal of any remarkable performer is to receive an encore. That means our "audience" (boss, customer, colleague, spouse, etc.) demands more of us and what we do.  The only thing better than getting a customer to come back again is to be so good that the customer demands you come back.

CS: I believe The Encore Effect is your seventh book, but seems to have a slightly different message than the previous six. What motivated you to write a book with this message?

MS: I decided to write a book on how to make any performance—at work or at home—remarkable.  I took the same approach as my previous two books in trying to make a complex process simple and accessible. Seth Godin wrote about making products remarkable; I wanted to give readers a process they could use to make the important performances of their lives remarkable.

CS: I read a story on your blog about your publisher wanting The Encore Effect’s subtitle to read, "How to be remarkable in ‘everything’ you do" but you wanted the book’s subtitle to read, "How to be remarkable in 'anything' you do." Could you explain your reasoning for that?

MS: Not everything we do needs to be remarkable. Trying to make everything remarkable is a form of perfectionism. Filling out a form needs to be done accurately, not remarkably. By identifying the important performances in our lives, we free up time and energy to invest where they’ll provide maximum return.

CS: Often people say, "If you done it, it aint braggin." With that said, could you share a story about a time you had a remarkable performance as an example for our readers?

MS: As a professional speaker I need to know why clients should choose my services. I have learned from feedback from many clients over time that I tailor and personalize my presentation to each organization and audience. To say that I'm very good at doing that, and better than most, isn't bragging; it is part of my value proposition proven by past performance.

CS: In the book you share the six Ps of a remarkable performance: Passion, Preparation, Practice, Perform, Polish, and Pitfalls. Of the six Ps, which do you believe is the most important in creating remarkable performances?

MS: That's like asking which organ is the most important in your body—you need most of them to live a healthy life! All six of the "Ps" are important and work together in the process.

CS: You mention passion as the first P. Do you believe someone can still deliver a remarkable performance if they are not passionate at what they do?

MS: Passion is very important; you can be good without it but it is tough to be truly remarkable if you lack passion. It is the difference between playing all the notes correctly and playing the notes correctly and with passion. The latter is an inspired performance.

CS: In the chapter on Perform you say, "One hallmark of a remarkable performance is authenticity." One of the issues nonprofit leaders face in the area of fundraising is people accusing them of not being authentic. Because we have to build relationships to raise money, sometimes people question our intentions. Any thoughts about this related to fundraising?

MS: We are drawn to authenticity and repelled by a lack of it. Be yourself, but always choose to be your best self so that people know not only what they’re contributing to but also whom they're contributing to. In the book I point out that high performers are never acting and pretending to be who they're not; who they truly are is part of the performance. That's why in the chapter on performance I say, "Be the performance."

CS: In the chapter on Pitfalls you say talk about lethargy and procrastination. Both of these are very common in the nonprofit sector relating to volunteerism. Many people know they want to help out and volunteer, but very few people have the discipline to follow through and make the time. What advice do you have for someone who has wanted to volunteer for a long time, but just hasn't seemed to make it happen yet?

MS: I'll add to the overuse of a tired but true saying: the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. For someone who has thought about volunteering that might be as simple as going online and getting the phone number of a place they want to volunteer. The second step is calling and saying, "How can I help" It may not be easy, but it is always simple to get started.

CS: I love when you stated, "No matter how good you become, you can always become better." But, I have had times when I felt very good at what I did, but couldn't seem to improve. Times when I was working hard to improve and become better, but just couldn't seem to take my performance as a leader to the next level. How can someone break through this?

MS: George Leonard is his classic book Mastery pointed out something that has been very helpful to me over the years: improvement happens in plateaus and increases, not in a steady upward sloping line. That means that you get better and then stay at that level for awhile, even while practicing and polishing. Don't be discouraged by the plateau as it is part of the process. Take heart in knowing that plateaus almost always precede performance improvements.

CS: For a young person who is just starting in their career, what do you believe should be the first step to developing a remarkable performance?

MS: Study the best performers in your field, the established practitioners as well as the leading edge and innovative newcomers. Understand where your craft is coming from and where it is headed.

CS: After reading The Encore Effect I believe there is a connection between remarkable performances and a leader's ability to get people to act. What are your thoughts on that?

MS: The only thing more remarkable than improving your own performance is helping another improve his or her performance. The goal of remarkable performance is to become a remarkable person and I believe leadership is always about helping others to become better.

CS: Since reading your book I have "2LU" written on my computer monitor and meeting notes. Could you explain "2LU" to our readers?

MS: Everybody talks about reaching "the next level." That means there is little competitive advantage in improving only as much as everyone else. I suggest "two levels up" or 2LU as a way of reminding yourself to aim higher than your competition.

CS: Are you currently working on your next book? If so, what will be the message and when should we see it on a bookshelf?

MS: I'm not officially working on the next book but I know what it will be about. If your readers want to access my new ideas first, they can visit www.marksanborn.com where they can read my blog and sign up for our free monthly ezines. Of course I really encourage everyone to visit www.TheEncoreEffect.com where they can learn even more about this how to be a remarkable performer.

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Below are some additional links to interviews and articles where you can learn more about The Encore Effect book.

Go here to listen to a 10 minute interview with Mark.

A very popular resource for leaders, Leadership Now blogged about the book here.

Another reader shared his personal experience after reading the book.

Anna Farmery conducted a great two part audio interview with Mark which can be listened to here and here.

Update on 9.24.2008 - Mike Dellosso says The Encore Effect caught his "fancy" and he decided to write a personal review.

Update on 9.26.2008 - I found this unique review of Mark's book with him answering some faith based questions which were very interesting.

Update on 9.28.2008 - Jessica Travis, a professional book reviewer compared The Encore Effect to the highly popular and best-selling book, The Purpose Driven Life. Any book mentioned in same sentence as The Purpose Driven Life is always worth a read.

Update on 9.28.2008 - Randy & Kelly give testimony that The Encore Effect is a great book to carry around with you to read quick bits of information when you might only have a few extra minutes.

Update on 9.29.2008 - Katrina is offering to give away a free copy of The Encore Effect.

Update on 10.5.2008 - A lengthy review has is here that talks about how The Encore Effect mirrors The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Update on 10.19.2008 - Patricia Fripp talks about her brother who is written about in the book.

Update on 10.20.2008 - Tom Suddes gives a short and sweet testimony. A very unique review was also written here.

Update on 10.25.2008 - Trevor Harrison gave a great review on his blog.

Update on 11.5.2008 - A lengthy review of the book has been posted on the Leadership Coaching News blog.

Three Things I Know About Making Decisions

Never make a decision until you have dedicated a significant amount of thought to it - Some people believe 24 hours is sufficient for thinking about decisions, others think three days is a bare minimum. My philosophy: take as much time as you need.

If you only need an hour to think about it over lunch by yourself, then that's ok. If you need to think about it for two weeks while at a strategic planning retreat followed up with a vacation afterwards, that's fine with me too.

Decisions that are made without thinking time should only be decisions that must be made instantly. Sometimes you will have to make decisions on the spot and that’s the only time you should make a decision without thinking it through first.

Decisions are better made with the wise counsel of others - Often we need people to take an objective look at what we are facing a decision about. It’s best to seek out someone who is very skilled in the area that we need to make a decision in.

If you need to make a business decision, seek out the most knowledgeable business person you know. If you must make a financial decision, seek out the best financial planner or fiscal minded person you know. If you need to make a decision about an intimate relationship, find someone who has been married for a long time to coach you through it.

The only time to make a decision without counseling others is when you don’t know anyone more skilled in the area of the decision than you.

Leaders make decisions based on their long term priorities, not immediate feelings and emotions - This is something that is affected by the amount of time that a leader takes to think about the decision before he makes it. If a leader makes a decision instantly, then he is going to make the decision based on his emotions and feelings at that specific time.

Have you ever said something harsh or cruel to someone in a heated argument or debate that you wish you never would have said, something that you know you never would have said if you were calm and thinking clearly collected? That's what happens when leaders make decisions at present moments based on feelings and emotions.

They make decisions they never would make if they had been calm and thinking clearly. The key to making decisions based on priorities is to take time to reflect, sit back, and look at the decision while thinking clearly and calm.

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In March I wrote a post about what I've learned about making tough decisions. You can view and read that post here.

Notes from a Leadership Meeting

About a month ago I observed a three hour meeting of some good leaders and not so good leaders. I observed and took notes, but I did not participate in the meeting.

Due to confidentiality I don't feel it's appropriate to share "who" said "what," but I wanted to share with you some of the leadership specific notes that I wrote down.

Enjoy. . . .

• Leaders should be judged by how they treat the nonleaders
• Leaders have the ability to make 'some' of the nonleaders into leaders and they always make leaders better leaders
• Don't suggest a solution to a problem is needed until you have at least one idea for a solution
• If you want better solutions than what is presented, then you need to have ideas to back them up
• Communication opens opportunity for strong leadership to emerge

Experience Makes People Want to Follow You

Recently on my trip to Alaska, I discovered that I didn't want to lead our caravan of two vehicles and trailers driving to Alaska. Why? Because I didn’t know where we were going!

It was my first time driving to Alaska, and it was probably my Dad's eighth time driving. So, I wanted him to lead. I didn't want to be out in front for the simple reason that I knew I couldn't do as good of a job as my Dad could.

This is what happens when you lead an organization, committee, or project that you have led before and led for a long time.

People naturally want you to be the leader for the simple reason that you have the experience and knowledge of what needs to be done. They know that their best opportunity for success is with you as the leader.

Now, this presupposes that you are a good leader and that you have done a good job in the past. If you've been a poor leader and not done a satisfactory job in the past, then people are naturally going to want to lead instead of you.

Experience isn't the only factor that makes people want to follow you as a leader, but it does help.

Creating a "Notables Sheet"

Recently I wrote about a new practice that I implemented with interviewing all new volunteers. Since then I have implemented another practice that has really increased the ability to lead volunteers.

For every volunteer that gives his or her time to A Day of Hope, I have began creating a separate manila file folder for that volunteer. In the folder I keep the agendas from when we meet one-to-one and I keep what I call a "Notable Mentions" sheet.

The notable mentions sheet is a piece of paper that I use to write down all of the important personal things about that volunteer. These are things such as where she was born, what types of cars she likes, what her hobbies are, how many kids she has, or what food she enjoys.

Why a sheet on stuff that does not pertain to the work volunteers are doing with my program? Because that little notable stuff is a very important element for me to know about that volunteer.

Every time I meet the person one-to-one, in a meeting, or over the phone I pull out that Notable Mentions sheet and I write down a few things that I learned about the volunteer.

Those "little things" help me to lead, serve, and meet the needs of the person I'm leading. It gives me a reference for their past experiences, allows me to send them birthday cards, and gives me the opportunity to make a difference in their life.

What is your leadership reputation?

While in Alaska with my parents last month we decided to watch the 1985 movie, Spies Like Us with Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd. There was about twenty movies we could to choose from, and we selected Spies Like Us for one reason: we knew it would be good.

Having seen many great movies with Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd, they have all been very funny and amusing (even though not educating). Chevy and Dan have a reputation for making funny and amusing movies, so we were confident that our time would not be wasted by watching the movie.

Drawing this back to leadership, do you have a reputation as a great leader? Are you a leader that is well known for being very good at what you do, to the point that people are glad to work with you? When you are leading a committee or project, are people excited when they find out you will be in charge?

Having a good reputation as both a leader and actor requires two things: great performance and people to talk about your performance. Be willing to watch Spies Like Us was based on past performances that I saw from both Chevy and Dan, and I knew they would be giving another great performance in the movie.

As a leader everything you do has your name stamped on it. Your actions define who you are and give you a reputation that will cause people to decide whether or not they want to follow you.

Leaders Give

One of the responsibilities of a leader is to give. Not just give his best effort, but to support and give to the people he leads.

Anne Lamott, author of the best-selling book, Bird by Bird once said, “You have to give from the deepest part of yourself, and you are going to have to go on giving, and the giving is going to have its own reward.”

If there is one thing I’ve learned from working both in the nonprofit sector and as a leader is that no gift goes only one direction.

Leaders give:

• Love
• Belief
• Insight
• Resources
• Christmas presents
• Support in difficult times
• Tools people need to do their jobs
• Security when the going gets tough

Why does giving establish someone as a leader? Because giving adds value to people, and the number one thing that leaders do is they give to the people they lead.

Just remember, leaders give.

What are you best at?

Part of a nonprofit leaders’ job of being effective is knowing what he is good at. Effective nonprofit leaders know exactly what they are good at, and they do everything they can to focus as much of their time, attention, and growth to those specific several areas.

For me personally, I know that I am good at leading, serving, networking, team building, and writing (maybe writing, I’m not sure yet). That’s my list of what I am best and most effective doing. I also know that I am not good at technology, cooking (I’m terrible at cooking, I seem to have this unbelievable ability to burn almost anything I attempt to cook), paperwork, and administration.

I believe that effective leaders not only know what they are good at, but they also learn about what the people they lead are good at. When a person knows what he is best at, this gives him a chance for success. When a person knows what others are best at, this gives him a chance at being a great leader.

Why Leaders Face More Rejection Than Others

I want to point out from yesterday’s post that I don’t want to convey the message that everyone rejects a leader.

Every person has a small percentage of people who rejects him, but as a leader you become exposed to more people. You are registered on more people’s radar, so even though the percentage of people who reject you might stay the same, the number of people who actually reject you goes up.

Leaders Face Rejection

All people face rejection. It’s a fact of life that there will be people who don’t get along with you, who reject you for the simple reason that you are you. Leaders on the other hand face more rejection that most people.

In July I had a span of 24 hours were I was massively rejected, twice! I was told that I wasn’t even considered as a semi-finalist for a grant fellowship that I desperately wanted and needed. Then I was told that a grant proposal for A Day of Hope which I had written to another organization was rejected too. If the proposal was accepted it would have increased A Day of Hope’s operating budget by over 30 percent!

Being a leader with high standards and perusing both grants was something that I had to take a risk on. I had to put myself on-the-line knowing that I might be rejected. Many people never take the first step towards being a leader because they are scared of taking the risk of being rejected. They never leave first base because of the fear of being tagged out at second base.

Leaders have the courage to overcome this. They have the ability to see opportunities in the future, and they have the courage to go after them.

As a leader have the courage to overcome your rejection.

Leading People with Limited Time

One of the challenges of leading volunteers that many nonprofit leaders face (myself included) is that volunteers have limited time. Below I’ve listed four rules that I believe many volunteers have for the time that they dedicate to organizations and projects.

1. I truly want to volunteer – A lot of people say that want to volunteer and know it’s a great thing to do, but very few people make an effort to schedule time on their calendar to make it happen.
2. I need to respect and admire the staff that I’m volunteering with – Nothing is more miserable for a volunteer than if they have to spend time with staff who hate their job, and staff who mismanage volunteers. The every day person can experience this misery at their normal 8 to 5 stressful job, why would they want to experience it at a place where they are donating their time?
3. I need to value your mission and project more than my time – Volunteers need to believe that your mission and projects are more important than the other “stuff” they might be doing instead of volunteering for you. Is feeding the homeless more important to a volunteer on a Thursday afternoon than watching re-runs of Friends?
4. I want my time to be used and needed – Volunteers hate to show up to volunteer and sit around. Why would they waste their time to volunteer if they are not even needed. Many organizations are guilty of breaking this rule because they say, “We always need more volunteers” or “You can never have enough volunteers.”

I’m not sure if you are a volunteer, business person, nonprofit leader, or stay-at-home Mom (which is an awesome job) but I hope you can use these volunteer rules in the future.

If you think there is a fifth rule that I have missed, feel free to leave it in the comments section.

Three Types of Sheep

1. Following Sheep – These are sheep who follow the leader. They don’t ask why, or how, they just follow the leader wherever he goes.
2. Leading Sheep – These are the sheep who have a bell around their necks that distinguishes them from the rest of the pack. That bell says this sheep is the leader because he has been chosen by the Shepard for having several qualities that allow him to lead the Following Sheep.
3. Critiquing Sheep – These are the sheep who don’t follow and they don’t lead. These sheep lie down in the grass, and critique the sheep who are both leading and following. They do not do any work, and often cause more harm than good.

Does this remind you of anyone you know?

Do Some Direct Service

For the last five weeks I’ve been working on a grant proposal to go to The Drucker Institute for A Day of Hope. One element of the grant requires that volunteers and I go interview some of the families who have received baskets from us in 2007. In order for me to train my volunteers on how to conduct these interviews, I first went out and performed a few interviews alone.

As I went out and interviewed these families, it was so refreshing to hear their stories of how our baskets helped them in times that they needed it. To see their faces light up when they talked about the idea of giving a basket to someone else someday was inspiring and rewarding.

Sometimes as the leaders of organizations and programs we get so detached from the great hands-on work that is happening, it’s easy to loose sight of what we are working so hard for and towards.

One my favorite days at United Way was when we took half a day to volunteer at one of the organizations that we provide funding for. We were able to see first hand what the programs we were funding were doing, and we had the pleasure of seeing lives changed.

As a leader set aside some time on your calendar to do some direct service. Whether it’s within your own organization, or direct service for another organization, it will be very beneficial for you. Get away from the emails and RFPs so you can see some of the great work going on in your own community. Not because you have to, because it’s so refreshing and energizing.

Turning Followers Into Leaders

A topic that I’ve been dedicating a lot of time to lately is the topic of how to develop the people I lead into leaders. Basically I’m trying to find ways to turn everyday good-hearted volunteers into all-star leaders who can really grow and develop A Day of Hope.

What are your thoughts for this topic? I don’t have a lot to write and coach you on this, because I haven’t really mastered it yet myself. Any advice that you have on mentoring and developing other people as leaders would be greatly appreciated.

Leaders Help to Navigate

While on my recent trip to LA for some training, a friend lent me her Garmin GPS to help me navigate there and back. Anxious to use the tool before my trip, I tested the GPS while driving to a my local church. When I headed towards church I noticed the GPS was taking me a different way than I usually go.

When I go to church I naturally take the route that I think is the fastest. When the GPS was guiding me to church it was naturally taking me the route it thought was the fastest.

So, I had a difficult decision to make. I could take the route I usually go which I thought was the fastest, or I could take the route that the GPS chose, which it thought was the fastest. Obviously, I chose the route the GPS picked based on the fact that it has more knowledge about traveling than I do (not mention that I’m terrible with directions).

I believe that a similar situation happens with leaders when they begin working at a new organization. When a new leader comes to an organization he brings a fresh perspective; often with fresh new ideas on new things to do, and new creative ways to do old things.

This often causes problems when a new leader joins an organization. Usually employees have been doing their job a certain way very repetitive for years, and a leader comes along side them and suggests a new and different way. I’ve found that the longer a person has been doing their job a specific way for the same organization, the longer and harder it will take for you to help them change.

There are many ways to solve the problems that this creates, but I wanted to point out what happens when new experienced leaders join organizations. How to solve this problem will probably be the topic of a future post, but for now I at least wanted to point out this principle for you to notice within your own organization.

Taking Care of Your Team (or followers)

I recently re-read one of my old books, The Winner Within written by basketball coach Pat Riley. Coach Riley will be hailed as one of the all-time greatest NBA coaches in history. He has led his teams to over 1,100 regular season wins, seven NBA Championship rings, five of which have been as a Head Coach.

While re-reading his book a couple of weeks ago I stumbled across a great story that illustrates the servanthood of great leaders. Pat talks about how he used to make every effort possible to serve the needs of his players while they were on the road traveling to basketball games. Many of the players had families that they missed very much, and Pat wanted to make them feel comfortable and relaxed in an effort for the players to play their very best basketball.

He would have his staff purchase colored towels for his players to use in hotel rooms (instead of the boring white towels), arrange for private catered buffets so the players wouldn’t have to leave the hotel, and he would have many movies available for the players to watch when they weren’t playing in games, practicing, or exercising.

After telling the story Coach Riley commented, “Some people may think that this should be the work of a social director, but for me it’s a touch of leadership with a clear goal. And it isn’t blackmail or bribery. It’s giving the warriors everything that they need to go into battle, because that is what the warriors deserve.”

When I first started to study leadership I would hear great leaders say, “The essence of leadership is servanthood” or “Leadership is nothing but servanthood.” For a long time I never really understood that statement and it wasn’t until I started serving the basic needs of my team that I felt the true effect of servanthood and it’s power to improve me as a leader.

I learned that serving is a great catalyst to set an example for the people you lead. When you focusing on serving their basic needs, they are naturally going to start to serve you in return.

Young Leadership ebook has arrived

OK, after a lot of hard work and even more learning my first ebook is finished (well, almost finished).

I'm still playing with ways to post the content online, and I need to find better software to convert Microsoft Word documents to PDFs. This is the link for now, Young Leadership: How a young person can make a differenece in his organization and community.

Sometime in July I'm probably going to start selling the ebook, but for now it's offered to you for free. So print it out, make copies, or email it to colleagues.

The Favor Bank

The Favor Bank is an account that leaders use to ask other people for favors. It’s something they have to invest in over time, and withdraw from when they need favors from other people.
It’s when you have a key meeting that your organization needs to attend, but you’re unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict, so you ask someone else to attend for you (also known as a proxy). Or when you ask a friend to introduce you to a wealthy person who has the potential to support your organization. Those are both examples of times I’ve used the Favor Bank as a leader.

Here are three tips for adding to the favor bank:

• Start with the relationship – Always focus on the person as a person. Never forget that people are your most valuable asset, and that people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
• Practice The 30-Second Rule – I learned The 30-Second Rule from the book, 25 Ways to Win with People written by  John C. Maxwell and Dr. Les Perrott. The rule says to give someone a sincere and genuine compliment within 30 seconds of meeting with or seeing that person. This is my all-time favorite and most effective relationship building principle that I practice every single day.
• Make them feel good – Do your best to make other people feel good about themselves. Affirm their good qualities and let them know that you believe in them and their ability. As the leader does these three things to make deposits into his favor bank, he
  will be able to make withdrawals later.

I want to point out that it takes a lot more time and effort to add to the favor bank than it takes to make withdrawals. There have been times when I spent eight months adding to someone’s favor bank, only to ask for a big favor that he was able to help me with.

Make a note of this invisible principle, and use it to your advantage in the future.

Lead Different People Differently

Most of the leadership experience that I have is based in the nonprofit sector working with volunteers. A majority of these individuals have had a sincere and caring heart who want to help people and are always glad to offer their time for free.

This has been the filter that all my leadership experience, knowledge, and teaching has come through. I will be honest and admit that this past January I was given a wake up call to different styles of leadership because I had to learn to lead different people differently.

A major element in our Maximum Impact seminar in April was selling tickets for the event. In order to make the event happen, we needed to sell a certain amount of tickets to pay for the food, sodas, hosting fee, electricity, equipment, and other stuff that had to be paid for. So I recruited six business professionals from the community for one specific task: To sell tickets.

I had these six professionals do nothing else but sell tickets, and I made that very clear to them several times. There were two additional teams working on the audio/visual set-up equipment, and working on the food for the event. However, I let these business professionals know that they didn’t need to worry about what those other two teams were doing. Their job was to sell tickets to the event, and nothing else.

As I spent four months preparing for the event I learned about the major differences in leading the business professionals, versus leading volunteers. Their reasons for helping with the event and their motivation was very different. They were motivated by recognition, feelings of significance, money, and wanting to fulfill their self interests. Very different from the volunteers I lead on a day-to-day basis who simply want to make a small difference in the world.

I had to take a step back to listen to each of their individual needs and desires. Then it was my job as a leader to serve them in a way that met those needs, and in a way that motivated them to sell tickets.

Many of the leadership principles I used on the business professionals were the same as what I use for volunteers, but how I used them was the difference.

When leading people you need to realize that different people need to be led differently. They need to be led in a way that fulfills their needs and makes them feel good.

Leadership is a Choice

Leadership is a choice. It’s a choice that you don’t have control over. The people you lead chose whether they want to follow you and support your vision, or they chose to not follow your vision.

If a leader demands that his people follow him and support his vision, that’s not leadership-that’s dictatorship.

Be a leader who is someone that makes it easy for other people to choose to follow and support you. Make it easy for them to make that choice.

(Every once in a while) Being Recognized Feels Good

Recently I was given the Community Services Award from the United Way of Stanislaus County for outstanding community service supporting United Way and it’s partner agencies.

I’ve never been someone who is big on trophies and awards, but being recognized every once in a while feels good. When you put your head down, work hard, and only worry about your outcome, sometimes it can be frustrating and challenging.

Every once in a while it’s nice to know that people appreciate and recognize your hard work.

After this event I learned a lot about how I need to recognize the people in my own organization for their hard work. I suggest you do the same. You don’t have to give them a big fancy award in front of 300 people. Take five minutes, ask the person to come into your office, shut the door, and let the person know how much you appreciate him and acknowledge his hard work.

I know I will be doing this more in the future, and hope you find the time to do the same.

Problems

In Dr. Normal Vincent Peale's best-selling book, The Power of Positive Thinking he stated, "The only people without problems are those in cemeteries."

As a leader you already know that problems are a normal part of every day life.

Leadership expert Mark Sanborn has a great perspective on problems that he recently shared on his blog.

It's worth a read.

Leadership Negotiations

There are thousands of books and research studies on negotiations. I have only read a few, but I want to tell you the negotiation story for our Maximum Impact seminar last month.

If you’re a regular reader you know Maximum Impact is a one day leadership seminar that I led our church back in April. I didn’t speak at the event but we had nine other speakers who talked about about leadership, teamwork, motivation, and attitude.   

For almost three weeks I had been working and communicating with the local Christian radio station to do some promotion on air. While going through the negotiation process of how we would work out the promotion, the topic came up that they might not be able to promote the event on their radio station because of their licensing agreements.

To be honest, it was bad news. This is one of the most popular radio stations in our area, and it would have given us a large amount of exposure for the event.

If any other person would have been given this bad news, they would have tried to convince the radio station why they should still promote the event, tell them their reasons, and maybe even suggest that they bend the rules a little bit.

My response was, “Well Ken, I only want to do this event if it’s beneficial for both of us. And I definitely don’t want to promote this event on your radio station if it’s something that’s going to get you in trouble.” Basically, I gave him permission to tell me “no.”

But he didn’t. After I said expressed my opinion he realized I was on his side, that I wanted what was best for him, and that I wasn’t going to do something to manipulate him in any way. He knew that we were on the same team. 
 
As a result, he approached his manager and went-to-bat for me. He made my argument to his manager explaining why he believed this promotion was beneficial for their radio station.

So, what happened? I ended up going on the air with him on his morning show to talk about the event, and they ran public service announcements for us every hour for five days before the seminar.

In the negotiations that I’ve been involved in before, I’ve learned that as a leader the most important and successful negotiation tactic is to let the other person know that you want what is best for him. When you communicate with him that you only want to make a deal if it’s going to benefit both of you; you open up the communication lines to find an agreement beneficial for both of you.

Leadership Lessons From a Writer

I recently spent three hours with one of my mentors, Dorothy Ann Skarles. It was three hours that seemed like thirty minutes. After our meeting I had four pages of notes, and lots of new fresh ideas on how to improve my writing.

While at our meeting I learned two principles of writing that also apply to leadership. Let me explain:

1. It’s never as easy as the professionals make it look – If you’re a golfer you know what I’m talking about. Tiger Woods makes it look so easy to hit a golf ball 300 yards, but if you go out and try it’s hard just to get a golf ball air-born. We always hear of the Steven Covey’s and Rick Warren’s who publish books and sell tens of millions of copies. It’s never as easy as they make it look. The same is true with leadership. Many Executive Directors, CEOs, and Pastors make it look very easy to lead and carry the responsibility of their organization. However, from my experience it’s very different. Being the leader out front is very difficult and it’s stressful.
2. People aren’t rejecting you, they’re rejecting your work – With writing there are many times that writers submit articles and books to hundreds of publishers and editors, only to have them all sent back with a rejection letter. An experienced writer knows that a publisher or editor isn’t rejecting the writer, they are rejecting the writer’s piece of work. As a leader you might cast vision or have an idea for something new, only to have people reject it. Experienced leaders realize that people aren’t rejecting him, the people are just rejecting his vision or idea.

Under Utilized Leadership Traits

One of my fellow leaders has just written an interesting four part series on what he calls, Under Utilized Leadership Traits.

Here are the links for easy access:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

Jason has some interesting insight into this topic, so check it out if you have the time.

Leaders Hook You Early

While talking with one of my mentors, Steve Elliot last week, we were discussing the characteristics and qualities of great speakers. Steve made the comment, “Great speakers hook you early.”

It got me to start thinking about how the same applies to leaders. If you’ve met great leaders you know that they hook you early. There are four characteristics that leaders have which hook you early:

1. They hook you with their vision: It’s their vision for what they want to create and build in the world that hook you early. They present their vision as something that you can’t do, but they offer their vision as a way for you to be part of something bigger and better than anything you could do on your own.
2. They hook you with their passion: It’s their passion for that vision that hook you early. They’re so passionate about what they want to do, that you can’t help but wonder if you’re missing out on something special if you’re not part of their vision.
3. They hook you with their goals: It’s their goals for their life that hook you early. Their goals are so large that you know they can’t achieve them on their own, and the leader’s passion and vision for those goals makes you want to help the leader achieve them.
4. They hook you with their work ethic: It’s their work ethic to move towards those goals that hook you early. That work ethic inspires you to work hard and help them in their journey.

A leader hooks people early. Whether it’s during a one-to-one conversation over a soda, in a fifteen minute presentation to a group, or a brief encounter at a meeting; leaders hook you early.

One Man Can Lead

Over the last six months I’ve developed a friendship with someone who has done a lot to add value to me and A Day of Hope. He is proof that you don’t have to be the Executive Director of an organization with 20+ employees to be categorized as a leader.

He proves that all you need is a computer and internet connection in a garage. That’s what my friend Steve Mastretta has done and built over the past year. A man with a computer and internet connection has become one of the leaders among online marketing gurus for small nonprofit organizations.

Steve is the marketing coordinator for the Food for Everyone Foundation (FFEF). Not only does he use his marketing genius to fundraise and build support for FFEF, he is starting to write eBooks and to help his fellow nonprofit marketing coordinators. He’s recently written eBooks about how to fundraise money from Squidoo, GoodSearch, Helium, and many others.

What started as a man who was only leading himself in his garage, is now leading many other nonprofit marketers.

Steve, keep up the great work!

When is a leader needed the most?

A leader is needed the most when it’s time for:

• Change
• Growth
• Goal Setting
• Visioning
• Transition
• Hiring & Firing

Doing what you don't have to do

That’s what leaders do.

They do what they don’t have to do. They attend meetings that aren’t required, they perform tasks that are outside of their job descriptions, and they tackle projects that they could easily not do.

They do this in an effort to support the people that they lead. Recently one of our leaders from A Day of Hope asked me if I would like to participate on her Relay for Life team. As you might already know, Relay for Life is an extremely large fundraiser that the American Cancer Society hosts in local communities all over America. Honestly, the event was during an extremely busy time of the year for me, and I already had two other very large projects that I was leading.

However, without hesitation I said “yes” to her and let her know I would do everything I could to support her efforts. There was no way I was going to tell her “no.” So many times she helped and supported me with A Day of Hope for three years, and I wasn’t going to let her down. I made the commitment to help and support her by exceeding her request and surpassing her expectations of the event.

Another friend of mine owns a national real estate investment firm. Her company invests in properties all over the United States, and Mexico too! When she asked me if I would like to attend one of their Investor Conference Calls, I said “yes” without hesitation.

Let me tell you that I have don’t have nearly enough money to invest in property, and I had no interest in learning. But I made the visit and dialed into the three hour conference call to support her. Since then our friendship has grown and developed into the great friendship we have today.

My point is that great leaders don’t just do the minimum. They do things that they don’t have to do.

This expands their leadership influence, and builds relationships to help them along the way.

Leadership Arguments - Pushing vs. Pulling

Last month I participated in a two and a half hour long city council meeting debating about why we should or shouldn’t extend the time our local Emergency Cold Whether Homeless Shelter is open. Arguments went back and forth, people pointed fingers, others slightly raised their voices, and almost everyone shook their heads.

I was included in the group who were shaking their heads. As I watched the debate I knew we were involved in a losing battle. I was on the side believing that we needed to extend the shelter for another 30 days so people had a place to stay in the rainy month of April (yes, it rains in California).

Our side was clearly more passionate and it showed—too much. I shook my head time after time because I saw passionate person after passionate person point their fingers at the City Council telling them they should spend a night in the cold to know what its like to be homeless.

Another person said the entire council should sit in a 40 degree refrigerator for an hour and know what it feels like to spend a winter night in Turlock, California. We were losing the argument, and we weren’t doing the right things to it get back on track.

My experience from being someone going against a group of people has been about pulling and not pushing. The people last month were pushing that City Council to make a decision. They were pushing them to think a certain way and didn’t care where they were, they just wanted to push them to their side of the table.

I’ve always pulled. I let the people I’m arguing with know that I realize where they’re sitting on this topic and why they're sitting there.

This builds rapport and a likability feeling between both of us. Then I let them know where I sit on the issue and why I’m sitting there. At this point we’re on the same side and I’ve showed that even though I don’t agree with them, I understand and respect why they believe what they believe. Once I’m here, now I’m ready to pull them to my side of the table.

I state their point back to them, just as good as they stated to it to me, if not better. Acknowledging their points and letting them know I respect their opinion. Then I dive into my argument because I finally have the foundation to make a case. I’m selling them on my vision and I’m pulling them to my side of the table with respect, enthusiasm, passion, and a little humor to break the ice.

This has worked many times when asking for donations for A Day of Hope to community groups who have money to give. Often it was only me speaking to a group of thirty or forty people about why I believed they should make a donation to my organization.

When you point your finger at someone, you’re actually pointing three back at you. In the case of City Council last month there were five fingers pointing back at us (four City Council members and the Mayor). When you point fingers at people, you’re pushing them away and creating disconnect from what you’re trying to convince them about. You need to draw them in close by letting them know you understand and respect the reasons that they’re sitting where they are, and then use respect, enthusiasm, passion, and humor to pull them to your side of the table.

Parameters & Guidelines

I have a very difficult project I’m faced with right now with A Day of Hope. After leading the organization for three years I’m working to pass my leadership position onto several other people to keep the organization going.

The most difficult task I’m faced with is to mentor and train them to be the true leaders of the group. I want them to be self sufficient and ready to rock-n-roll without me. Don’t get me wrong, I love to lead and I love A Day of Hope, but I also want to teach others to lead.

As I’ve started to give the members of A Day of Hope more and more freedom to make decisions I left an important ingredient out. As we’ve sat in several meetings this year, I’ve looked to them to generate ideas and make decisions. However, I failed to let them know what the parameters and guidelines for those ideas and decisions were. I told them I wanted us to have at least one fundraising or friendraising event by May. However, I didn’t tell them what I wanted the outcome of the even to be, or what people we wanted to target to have attend the event. As a result they started off doing their own thing and not going in a direction that I wanted.

At that time I had to take a step back, share my vision again, and give them additional parameters and guidelines for what I would like them to do. When mentoring other leaders and giving them the responsibility to take on their own projects you have to give them parameters and guidelines.

You still need to share your vision, but you need to be more specific since they’re going to be the one executing the vision, not you.

How to Cast Vision (and set goals)

I will admit that I’m a young leader, I haven’t led fortune 500 companies or led a multi-million dollar nonprofit, but I have learned the best way for me to cast my vision to my team. For a little while now I’ve wanted to share with you my formula for casting my vision and setting goals with the people I lead. Here is the method I’ve been using for several years now:

1. State the Goal – This is usually when I see a couple of eyebrows raise. My goals are always Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG). I’ve always believed in the “Go big or go home” way to running organizations or working on projects. When I state our goal there is always a specific number we are shooting for, and a date to accomplish it by.
2. Why – Why is the goal so important? Why is it a must for us to not just reach our goal, but exceed it? What will happen when we get there? What will happen if we don’t? This is where I sell my team on why we must find a way to reach our goals, and let them know how painful it will be if we don’t. This is the motivating and driving force to get us moving toward our goals.
3. How – I will admit when I cast vision I don’t always know how we are going to get there. I always know what it will look like when we get to there, but when I’m not sure I’m always honest with my team and tell them I will “find a way.” The how always comes later, because if I’m clear enough on the “why” we will find the “how.”
4. Answers Questions & Objections – This is where you learn who is going to get on the bus, and who isn’t. After the first three steps I answer questions, listen to concerns, and I let my team know that I’m not going to let them down.

I guess this is more like a way to set goals, but casting vision is just sharing your goals with your team and getting them to buy in on them.

Who is harder to lead?

Last month someone asked me, “Christopher, how do I lead in a culture of followers?”

My response was, “Well, it’s easier to lead a bunch of followers than it is to lead a bunch of leaders.” Followers are usually like sheep, they will work hard and do what they’re asked, but they need to be led. They need someone who has experience, knowledge, and the courage to lead and protect them.

Leaders on the other hand are ready to lead. They want to create change, initiate, and make a name for themselves. All they need is for a leader to share the vision and then let them go make it happen. The skills required to lead followers is minimal; they’re ready for you to lead them so all you usually have to do is declare yourself as the leader and take charge.

So, the long answer to a short question is: “It’s easy to lead a culture of followers, and more difficult to lead leaders.”

Communication & Forest Gump

Great communication is one of the vital qualities of a nonprofit leader. To share your vision and goals for your organization, you have to be able to communicate it simply and clearly.

I came across this funny joke about the communication between God and Forest Gump.

Enjoy. . . .
- - - - - - - - -
FORREST GUMP GOES TO HEAVEN

The day finally arrived. Forrest Gump dies and goes to Heaven.

He is at the Pearly Gates, met by St. Peter himself. However, the gates are closed, and Forrest approaches the gatekeeper.

St. Peter said, 'Well, Forrest, it is certainly good to see you. We have heard a lot about you. I must tell you, though, that the place is filling up fast, and we have been administering an entrance examination for everyone.

The test is short, but you have to pass it before you can get into Heaven.'

Forrest responds, 'It sure is good to be here, St. Peter, sir. But nobody ever told me about any entrance exam. I sure hope that the test ain't too hard. Life was a big enough test  as it was.'

St. Peter continued, 'Yes, I know, Forrest, but the test is only three questions.

First: What two days of the week begin with the letter T?

Second: How many seconds are there in a year?

Third: What is God's first name?

'Forrest leaves to think the questions over. He returns the next day and sees St. Peter, who waves him up, and says, 'Now that you have had a chance to think the questions over, tell me your answers.

Forrest replied, 'Well, the  first one --which two days in the week begins with the letter 'T'?

Shucks, that one is easy. That would be Today and Tomorrow.

'The Saint's eyes opened wide and  he exclaimed, 'Forrest, that is not what I was thinking, but you do have a point, and I guess I did not specify, so I will give you credit for that answer.

How about the next one?' asked St. Peter. 'How many seconds in a year?

Now that one is harder,' replied Forrest, but I thunk and thunk about that, and I guess the only answer can be twelve.

'Astounded, St. Peter said, Twelve? Twelve? Forrest, how in Heaven's name could you come up with twelve seconds in a year?

' Forrest replied, 'Shucks, there's got to be twelve: January 2nd, February 2nd, March 2nd...'

'Hold it,' interrupts St.  Peter. 'I see where you are going with this,and I see your point, though that was  not quite what I had in mind....but I will have to give you credit for that one, too.

Let us go on with the third and final question.

Can you tell me God's first name'?

'Sure,' Forrest replied, 'it's Andy.'

'Andy?' exclaimed an exasperated  and frustrated St. Peter. 'Ok, I can understand how you  came up with your answers to my first two questions, but just how in the world did you come up with the name Andy as the first name of God?'

'Shucks, that was the easiest one of all, 'Forrest replied. 'I learnt it from the song, 'ANDY WALKS WITH ME, ANDY TALKS WITH ME, ANDY TELLS ME I AM HIS OWN...'

St. Peter opened the Pearly Gates, and said: 'Run Forrest, run.'

Great Leadership Seminar

I'm one of those seminar junkies.

The Maximum Impact Simulcast is one of my favorite seminars targeted to leaders. Below is some information on the event and how you can attend:

• This is the link to find a site near you
• This is the link to the web page I've built for our local site that we're hosting at our church
• This is a link to YouTube for you to watch the video I uploaded for the event

There are over 600 churches in North America that will be hosting this event, so the chances of you finding a site near you are very good.

I hope you have the opportunity to attend.

Leadership Tips for Successful Fundraising Events

I really like Roger Carr’s topic for this month’s Giving Carnival. I’ve always believed that principles are important, but small tips are just as important when you add them all together. So I’ve put together Six Leadership Tips for Successful Fundraising Events.

Six Tips for Leaders of Successful Fundraising Events

1) Start Early - I started working on the outline for this article a little more than three weeks before it was due to Roger. I easily could have wrote it the night before the deadline, but it would have been a terrible article because I wouldn’t have had time to do any revising or editing. When you start projects earlier than necessary you give yourself time to screw up, make mistakes, think of new ideas, and brainstorm. It gives you the freedom to make changes and improvements without having to deal with stress of deadlines.

2) Get the Best - In other words, find the right people to help you make the event successful. Work hard to find people who have the extra time and passion for your cause. This needs to be a group of individuals who can move, shake, and make it rain. People who know how to get things done, and can meet the needs of the event. These are individuals who have strengths and weaknesses that compliment each other. An example would be a team of poeple who are great at asking for donations, others to keep track of those donations when they are made, and someone else to take care of the small details.

3) Know Your Outcome – In Morrie Warshawski’s book, The Fundraising Houseparty he writes about the difference between fundraising and friendraising. He describes friendraising as the act of building relationships with new potential donors to ask them for a donation at a later date. As the leader you need to determine early in the process what the outcome for the event is. Is this an event to meet some new people and build new relationships with possible donors? Or, is it an event to bring in your die-hard supporters who wait all year long to write you that big check?

4) Work Hard – Now that you’ve started early, gotten the right people in place, and everyone knows the outcome of the event it’s time for you to step up to the plate. As the leader you need to be the person who works the hardest. You have to put in the sweat and tears, because most people on your team will only work as hard as you. If you set the example of putting in the hours and dedication of wanting to make the event successful, others will follow your lead.

5) Be the First to Donate – This is extremely important. Sometimes you have to grease the wheels to get them to move. With fundraising events make sure you and your team all donate to the cause very early in the process. Everyone should make a donation before they ask anyone else to make a donation. In my three years of fundraising for A Day of Hope, the year I fundraised the most was the year I made both the largest and the first donation that we received. This starts the fundraising process, builds momentum, and it makes it easier to ask others for donations. It’s a conversation starter when you’re talking with people because you can say you’ve already raised $xxxx dollars.

6) Spend Time One-on-One – As time passes and the event approaches you’re going to need to spend time with your individual team members one-on-one. There will always be people who don’t speak their mind during meetings and planning sessions. Some people have been taught it’s better to be nice and keep their opinions to themselves than voice their opinion if it might offend someone. There’s nothing wrong with this, but as a leader you need to seek these people out and find out how they’re doing and what is really on their mind. They more than likely have concerns and new ideas that they will only express to you one-on-one.

These are six simple steps that I hope you can implement as a leader of a successful fundraising event.

Leaders Lead From the Heart

It’s too often that we see leaders get off track, make poor decisions, and loose their leadership ability. They start out as great people with great intentions but they slowly start to lead people and organizations for the wrong reasons. They start to lead to increase the size of their wallet, instead of leading to increase the amount of value they add to people and their organization.

I’m saying this because I believe true leaders lead from the heart. All leaders start by leading from the heart, they want to make a positive difference in the world, they want to help people, and they want to feel important.

When leaders stop leading from the heart and begin to lead from their wallet they slowly lose their leadership ability. They can get by for a little while, but it eventually catches up with them.

This was common when I used to play golf, we would see players who would work hard at the beginning of the season, but as the season went on they stopped practicing. They would continue to play well, but their lack of practice would slowly catch up with them. Often by the end of the season they were playing worse than they were at the beginning of the season.

Start leading from the heart, continue to lead from the heart, and you will continue to lead the hearts of others.

Young vs. Old

There are two monthly meetings that I attend. One meeting I’m the oldest person who attends, where everyone else are college students. The other meeting I’m probably the youngest, where everyone else are nonprofit veterans.

There is quite a unique and dynamic difference between the two. The young meeting is the one that I lead. There are so many fresh and new ideas being generated that it’s very difficult to keep up with them all. Ideas are flying left and right, and it’s hard for us to decide which one to implement. Lots of positive energy which I love.

The other meeting there are very few ideas exchanged. When someone does have an idea it’s usually shot down by a pessimist in the group; stating the reasons why it won’t work and making an argument for why it’s a dumb idea. This group of men are extremely stuck in their rut (which is a deep one), and usually do the same things they’ve always done, just with a new way to describe them.

I might be totally off topic with this, but do you experience this same difference in the meetings you attend? Where the young people always have fresh ideas and the older ones just want to do what they’ve always done?

Note: I'm not saying which one is better or worse. This is something that I've noticed over a period of several months and wanted to point it out to you to see if you experience the same.

Promote from within, or hire from outside?

A leader has been at her organization for over thirty years now and even though she loves what she does, she loves her grandkids more and wants to dedicate time and energy to them. She now faces a tough decision of who is going to be her successor. Will it be someone from inside the organization or will the board have to select someone from outside the organization to replace her?

This question is so important that Jim Collins and Jerry Porras dedicated an entire chapter in their book, Built to Last to this topic of deciding whether to hire someone from outside the organization, or to promote from within. The difference in these two questions has nothing to do with the capabilities and leadership of individuals working under this soon to-be retired executive. I’m proposing that if a leader has to look outside her organization to find her replacement, then she hasn’t led effectively.

Actually, I shouldn’t really say that. She might have led effectively, but she didn’t lead to the highest ability she was capable of. One of the most overlooked and highest payoff leadership principles is developing other leaders under you at your organization. These are people who can steer and guide the ship while you’re in the cabin sleeping. They have the ability, knowledge, experience, and know-how to keep things running.

If she’s done things right, developed her leadership ability to the highest level, developed and mentored other leaders, then she has done her job as a leader. Hence, she should have both the piece of mind and confidence to pass the hat onto someone else and promote from within the organization.

REWARD!!! Great Leaders Wanted!!!

Attend a grant writing workshop and I guarantee the facilitator will say, “If you’re a great Grant Writer, you will never be out of work.” This statement is what sells tickets and puts butts in the seats for grant writing conferences, workshops, and seminars.

I can honestly say it’s true! If you’re a great Grant Writer you will always have a job somewhere. This is because of the simple reason that you bring and add more value to your organization than you’re paid. If a Grant Writer is paid $60,000 a year and brings in four grants totaling $800,000, she just added over $700,000 worth of value to that organization. It’s simple, it’s easy to measure, and it’s easy to sell to the Board of Directors.

I’m going to attempt to sell you on the idea that the rule applies not only to Grant Writers, but to leaders too. Yes, I realize I’m stretching it a little here (a rubber band is only useful when it’s stretched) but I’m only saying what I believe is true.  

A leader adds value by bringing in donations, mentoring future leaders within the organization, developing collaborative relationships with community leaders, and having the ability to attract new leaders. It’s tougher to measure the value a leader brings to an organization because when it ends up on the bottom line he usually isn’t the person who receives the credit. It’s a leader’s job to add value and continue to grow and develop his organization into it’s full potential.  

Similar to Grant Writers; leaders will always have jobs waiting for them.

Motivating & Leading

I get some of my leadership ideas and concepts in the weirdest ways and in the oddest places. My post, Sometimes We Miss originally came from watching my two turtles eat. The one you’re about to read came to me toward the end of a fourteen hour work day while waiting for the last meeting to start (which was at 7pm).

So, you know how to motivate yourself, you know how to lead yourself, you know how to lead others, and you know how to motivate others, but how do these four concepts work together? Let me do my best to explain the how these work with each other, and how they compliment and build on each other.

1. Motivating Yourself – When you motivate yourself you lead yourself
2. Leading Yourself – When you lead yourself, you’re preparing yourself to lead others
3. Leading Others – When you’re leading others, you’re motivating them
4. Motivating Others – When you’re motivating people your teaching them to lead themselves

Then the process starts over again. I’m not sure if I’m making much sense but this concept is dependant on each other. You can’t skip a step and go onto the next. You have to master each one before you can move up.

What I've learned about tough decisions

When a tough decision needs to made, who do people look to make it?-They look for a leader. They look for someone to step up with courage and confidence to make the tough decision.

As leaders we’re faced with difficult decisions all the time. It’s something that we must embrace and do our best to handle. Many people never fully develop their leadership potential because they’re scared to make tough decisions. It’s not the decision that’s tough to make, it’s the consequences of the decision if it turns out to be wrong.

Spending nine years of my life working toward dreams of winning golf tournaments, earning a college scholarship (don’t start to think I’m smart because I haven’t finished), and wanting to play professionally I learned several things about making tough decisions:

1. You’re going to have to make them-Even if you don’t make a decision that’s one too! What this meant was that I was the only one to make tough decisions when they came up. It was just me against the golf course.
2. There’s no one else to blame–I never played golf on a professional level, which meant I never had a caddy (someone to carry by golf bag and clubs). The other people I was playing with were my direct competitors. These were the same guys that I was working hard to beat! Since I was out there on my own I had no one to blame when things went wrong. I believe it’s a big “no-no” when a leader starts to blame events and results on others when he was the initial person to make the decision. If I chose the wrong club, or mis-read the break of a putt I was the only one to blame. I love this passage from Paul “Bear” Bryant, “If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, then we did it If anything goes real good, then you did it”
3. The rewards are high–When I did make correct decisions I was rewarded for my effort. I didn’t win every time I made the correct decision, but correct decisions increased my chances of winning, and winning is always fun.
4. Preparation always pays off–The more I practiced and the harder I worked before a golf tournament always made decisions much easier. As leaders if we work hard to prepare ourselves, when tough decisions come up we will have the ability to respond and make the correct decision.
5. Choose the best decision–As I said earlier, leaders will have to make decisions, because if they don’t make a decision that’s making on too! I was often faced with situations where there was no “correct” or “right” decision while on the golf course. There were times when I was deep in the trees, and couldn’t reach the green with my shot, but I chose the best decision out of the four or five different choices I had. 
6. Go with your first instinct–When sitting in the fairway looking at the green I learned to go with my first instinct when it came to deciding which club to use. This was a direct result of my hard work and preparation prior to the tournament. The harder I worked to prepare and get ready for the event, the better my instincts were while in a tournament. As leaders we will often be faced with difficult decisions where we will have to go with our gut instinct for making decisions.
7. You can only control you–There were tournaments where I gave 100 percent of my best effort, got some lucky breaks, broke my personal best scoring record, and I still didn’t win the tournament. I learned very quickly that I couldn’t control how well other golfers played. In golf there was no defense. As leaders we have to embrace and respond to the fact that we will be put in difficult circumstances based on outside forces which we cannot control.  We must realize that we can only control the decisions and ways we respond to what’s given to us.
8. You have to make a lot of correct decisions–Just because I made a good decision didn’t mean that I would win the golf tournament. I had to make a lot of great decisions. One great decision didn’t cause me to win and one terrible decision didn’t cause me to lose. I had to make a lot of both. As leaders we have a great advantage because we often have teams of people, friends, and mentors that we can consult before we make those tough decisions.

I realize this view on making decisions is from a golf perspective, but it’s tried, true, and tested from nine years of competitive golf on both the local, state, and national level.

New eBook: Go Lead Somebody Somewhere

I'm finishing up my eBook titled, Young Leadership: How a young leader can make a difference in his organization and community. It should be shared with you toward the end of the month.

I'm very excited to announce my next eBook titled, Go Lead Somebody Somewhere. I want to communicate with young leaders at the bottom of nonprofit organizations that they need to focus and direct their time towards leading people.

In this eBook I'm taking a little different approach to the research. Here are the questions that I'm asking:

• Why is it important to lead people?
• How do you lead people when you don't have a leadership position?
• Is it better to lead somebody instead of nobody?

If you would like to contribute I would love to have your input. Feel free to add any quotes, stories, or insights you might have to this topic.

Sometimes We Miss - It Happened to Me!

Back in January I wrote a post titled, Sometimes We Miss. I initially got the idea from watching my two turtles eat every night when feeding them. When I put food in their tank they would literally miss when going to bite their food. They would have to snap at the food and miss four or five times before they would actually get it inside their mouth.

As I started to think I realized that turtles aren’t the only ones who miss when they go after something they want. As leaders we have times when we go for goals, offer a job to someone, and apply for a grant that we want. However, sometimes we miss; we don’t achieve our goals, the person we want to work for us turns us down, and our well crafted grant proposal is denied.

Well, today I missed. As you know I’m working very hard on our Maximum Impact event and a strong element to that event was a sponsorship from the local Visitor’s Bureau of Turlock. Maximum Impact is a great event that will add value to the people who live in Turlock, and bring other leaders from neighboring towns to attend; this brings money to gas stations, coffee houses, and restaurants. After dedicating half of my Saturday to put together a strong proposal for the Visitor’s Bureau to sponsor the event, today I was told that we would not be receiving a sponsorship.

Please don’t think that I’m not asking for sympathy, comfort, or support for you—I’m a big boy and I can handle rejection. I want to make a point that as leaders sometimes we miss. I worked extremely hard on that proposal by giving an explanation of the event, explained how it matched up with the Visitor Bureau’s mission statement, attached a clean simple budget so they would see where the money was going, and I even offered to give them a couple of free tickets to attend the event.

Sometimes as leaders we give our best effort, and we still miss.

Will I try again next year?—You bet!

Tips for Successful Fundraising Events

My friend Roger Carr is proud to host the March Giving Carnival on his blog, Everyday Giving.

This month is a great topic, Tips for Successful Fundraising Events. I've started working on my submission which will be written for a leader of fundraising events.

So,
If you're a fellow blogger or someone who would like to contribute I suggest you make your way over to Everyday Giving and add your thoughts and insights.