Conversation vs presentation

A Great CEO Is The Chief Experience Officer

The title “Chief Executive Officer” doesn't really say very much about what the person is supposed to do. Yes, they're an officer. Got that. They're an “executive” — got that too, whatever that means. And of all the executive officers, they're the “chief”. Sure. But, I'd still argue that overall, the title doesn't really work anymore. It doesn't convey anything. CFOs are about finance. CMOs are about marketing. CIOs are about information. But, a CEO? They're about being an executive?

Instead, I propose that the CEO should be the Chief Experience Officer.
If the CEO can make the following set of experiences amazing, she will have created an amazing company — and done her job.

1. Product Experience: What is the experience like using the product and getting value from it? Does it solve the problem simply? Does it make users happy, productive and hopeful when they're using it, or does it make them frustrated, angry, agitated and depressed?

2. Purchasing Experience: What is it like to go through the sales process and buy the product? Was it easy to figure out whether the product was the right fit? Was the pricing straight-forward? Was the buying process smooth without unnecessary steps and complexity?

3. Brand Experience: What is it like to interact with the company's brand? Does talking about the company with others ignite passion? What kind of emotions does it evoke? When people see the logo online or offline, what's the visceral reaction?

4. Support Experience: What is it like to receive support from the company? Do people dread having to call in and get help? When they do make contact, do they feel like the company cares not just about appeasing and pleasing — but that the actual problem is addressed?

5. Exit Experience: What is it like to leave the company, return the product, or cancel the subscription and no longer be a customer?

Sometimes you can tell more about a company by how it treats customers on their way out, than on their way in.

6. Employee Experience: What's it like being recruited by the company? Working for the company? Being let go from the company? If you have a terrible employee experience, you will not attract the kinds of people that will make the customer experience amazing. It just doesn't work.

Notice that most of the above experiences are all about the customer. How does the customer experience the company? I think that's the primary set of experiences the CEO should worry about. The reason is simple, by improving the overall customer experience, everyone wins. Including the investors/shareholders (and yes, the CEO also needs to manage the shareholder experience too).

What do you think? Am I over-thinking the importance of the overall experience? Any lessons learned or tips on how to measure and improve the experience?

Posted by: 
Dharmesh Shah

What Should Today’s Executives and Managers Really Be Managing?

 

As an executive or leader in your organization, you’re managing many things: the company’s image, numerous projects, and a talented group of people. But you’re also managing many other important things, including the perception others have of you and your department, how distracted you and your team are on a daily basis, and many other things you may not even be aware of. For many people, these “other” things are just part of the job, how things have always been done, and the expected stressors of business.

But do they have to be that way?

Let’s start with perception. Why is managing perception important? Because perception is often more important than reality. And in fact, your reality will not be a happy one if you’re not managing perception.

You’ve likely seen many examples of how perception is more important than reality. For example, a stock might be beaten up horribly because of the way people view the company, whether that view of the company is accurate or not. The opposite is true as well. Consider what happened in the real estate industry. Home prices went much higher than they should have been because the perception of the home’s value was much higher than reality. This was a major contributing factor to a real estate bubble, which as all bubbles do, burst before everyone’s eyes.

So the point is that perception is something you have to constantly mange. Whose perception? Everyone’s—the C-level executives, the employees, the customer’s customer, and most important, your own.

Therefore, ask yourself, “How do I perceive myself?” Do you perceive yourself as trying to keep up? Trying to protect and defend? Trying to integrate the new?

How you perceive yourself is going to reflect how others perceive you. So you need to perceive yourself and everyone in your department as a major competitive advantage and as a major strategic asset for the organization. As long as that’s how you perceive yourself and your team, that’s how you’ll act, and that’s how others will see you as well.


Plug Into Your Future
Equally important to managing perceptions is managing distractions (a.k.a., change). The fact is that in today’s marketplace, change is coming at us fast…and it’s only getting faster. That means organizations will be facing more problems than ever before.

One thing we know for sure is that most distractions or changes come from the outside in—external factors impact the organization. This causes people to react, crisis manage, and continually put out fires. But to be a strategic asset to your company, you can’t simply be a crisis manager; you also have to become an opportunity manager. The question is, how do you do that? The answer is to become an opportunity manager and plug into the future.

To be an opportunity manager and strategic asset for your organization, distraction is the enemy. To provide major new competitive advantage and to create new products, markets, and services, distraction is the enemy. Unfortunately, we have never been more distracted.

Not only is everyone in your organization distracted, but so is everyone in your competitors’ organizations. But in a way, this is actually good news, because it means there’s a huge competitive advantage in pulling out of that mess of distraction. To do so, though, takes leadership and discipline.

Realize that our distraction level has gotten worse over the years rather than better. Why? It used to be that we had several different realities. We had our home reality with our spouse and children, and we had our work reality with our co-workers. Often the spouse and kids didn’t know what we specifically did at work, and all the people in our work reality didn’t know much detail about our home reality.

We also had our leisure friends, or our personal reality. And we belonged to a club or church group and had that reality. Finally, we had our vacation time reality.

As we went through life, we would go from one reality to the other. This was a good thing psychologically because it allowed us to recharge. Then, when we went from one reality to the other, we were refreshed and mentally sharp.

Today, technology has allowed all those realities to become one reality. But before you blame technology for this merging of realities, realize it’s not technology’s fault. Technology is neither good nor evil. It’s all about how we use it. We have the choice whether to plug in or unplug. Therefore, to reduce the level of distraction in your own life, you need to understand the power of unplugging on a regular basis.

Unfortunately, most people are afraid to unplug, even when they’re on vacation. They believe something might happen, so they have to be always connected to work. But this means they’re never really on vacation, and when they’re home, they’re not really home; they’re always working.

But if your people are always working, how well are they functioning? The answer: not very well. They’re certainly not as creative and innovative as they need to be. And if you’re not unplugging on a regular basis, then you’re not as creative and innovative as you need to be either.

Unplug and Recharge
Unplugging leads to better results in all areas of life. Realize that your mind is always working on a subconscious level to solve your business problems. No matter what you’re doing, your subconscious is at work. Have you ever noticed that your best business ideas tend to come when you’re working on or doing something else, whether walking the dog, woodworking, or playing with your kids? Great ideas often do not occur when you’re in the midst of trying to come up with one. It’s when you’re in one of those other realities that many business issues get solved. However, if you never unplug, you develop something called “blur,” when all the realities blend together and your mind never gets a chance to rest and recharge.

The good news is that you can be a responsible employee or executive and still have a life. But since there are no guidelines on how to do that, you have to create them for yourself, for your team, and for your organization.

First, it’s time to stop thinking in terms of just productivity. While you may think that working all the time means you’re more productive, you have to ask yourself if that’s really the case. Maybe you’re not able to be as creative and innovative as you need to be. Maybe you’re not tapping into the fresh perspective that unplugging yields you.

Next, be disciplined and create strict guidelines for yourself. At a certain time in the evening, close the laptop and turn the phone off. Detail when you’re allowed to work and when you’re not. This may seem extreme at first, but even though we’re adults, we often act like children and need the same rules and guidelines that kids do.

If your kids have an X-Box, a Playstation, a computer with unlimited Internet access, and a Facebook account, and if they can use these things whenever they want, they tend to act like the little monkey that keeps pushing the button that gives him food. That’s why parents set rules: “Do your homework before you play.” “Only one hour of TV after school.” “Turn off the computer at 9 p.m.” Because you want well-rounded kids, you encourage certain behaviors and activities. You send your kids to sports and dance lessons, help them learn a new language or how to play an instrument, and make sure they have enough time for rest. You know that your child will not be well-rounded if you let them decide what to do, as they’ll tend to focus on just a few things.

Adults are no different. That’s why you need to come up with your own guidelines in terms of when to plug in and when to unplug.

So is there a time to be thinking strategically, a time to be mapping out that next project, and a time to focus on innovation? Or are you going to get to those things “someday” because you’re constantly checking emails or troubleshooting?

Granted, you may not be able to change everyone else and get them to unplug, but you can start by changing yourself and then grow it outward. Can’t change the world? Then don’t. Can’t change your company? That’s okay. Start with yourself and then bring it to your team. They’ll bring it to their team, who will bring it to their customers, who will bring it to another group. Very soon, you and many others will start realizing the real benefit of taking control of your life, unplugging from work, and harnessing the creativity and innovation you never knew you had.

Your Future Awaits
At the end of the day, being able to manage perceptions and distractions is just as important as being able to manage people and projects. When you focus on managing what’s important, you’ll open yourself up to a whole new world of possibilities. So don’t wait for your future to unfold randomly, only to end up in a place you don’t want to be. Instead, invest the time into yourself and watch your success grow.

DANIEL BURRUS is considered one of the world’s leading technology forecasters and business strategists, and is the founder and CEO of Burrus Research, a research and consulting firm that monitors global advancements in technology driven trends to help clients understand how technological, social and business forces are converging to create enormous untapped opportunities. He is the author of Flash Foresight.

Posted by:Daniel Burrus

Why it's Hard to be Effective on an Executive Team

Posted by Liane Davey

An executive asked me a really interesting question in a team session recently: “Which should be our first team?” What he was talking about was the divided loyalties of leading one team (your team of direct reports) and participating as a member of another team (the executive team).  It’s a great question, and gets at the crux of why it’s hard to be an executive.

The minute you choose a first team, you have thrown off the precarious balance you must perfect to be a great executive.

It’s a big ask. As an executive, it’s as though you have to be both the attorney and the juror. What do I mean?

Take a common scenario: making budget trade-offs.  Each function/business has submitted its plan; there isn’t enough money to do everything, so somebody is going to get less than they asked for. It happens all the time.

First, be the advocate:

Your first job is to be the best advocate that you can possibly be, fervently arguing on behalf of your part of the business. You need to have a brilliant strategy, with the risks mitigated, and a cogent and compelling presentation. Your job is to make the case for how your function can optimize the resources of the organization.

For example: "With the strategy I have outlined here, one dollar of investment in marketing will yield us $3.00 in revenue."  or "One dollar of investment in higher engagement will save us $2.00 in cost." or "One dollar of investment in this new product line will give us 6 months advantage on the competition."

And that’s where many executives stop.They plead their case and sit back down. "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Marketing department rests its case."  But you can’t stop there! You need to walk over, and sit yourself down in the jury box. 

Second, be the jury:

As soon as you have done the very best you can to make your case for your function or business line, you need to listen to the other cases as carefully and objectively as possible. You need to weigh them against your case and evaluate the relative merits of each. Your job now is to make the best decision for the organization. You are weighing the issue on behalf of the customers, shareholders, and employees.

And that’s not only hard because you might need to support investment in another department at the expense of investment in yours, but also because it’s not an apples to apples comparison. There’s no easy, obvious answer.  You’re trying to decide whether it’s more valuable to have $3.00 of incremental revenue or $2.00 less cost. Or worse, to figure out whether revenue in this year is more valuable than a 6 month lead on the competition for next year’s products.

But that’s why you get paid the big bucks. Because you are supposed to have the maturity and the smarts to be both a passionate advocate for your team and an objective arbiter of the best interest of the organization.  If you aren’t fulfilling both of these obligations, you shouldn’t be on an executive team.

(Of course, every once in a while the judge excuses the jury and makes the decision herself.  And in executive teams, unlike in the courtroom, that’s her prerogative.)

Are you doing your job as both the advocate and the juror?  Where do you find it especially difficult?

What Television’s First Woman President Has To Teach Us

By: Randy Siegel

I have a confession to make: I am addicted to Tuesday night’s new hit series “Commander and Chief.” Sure, Geena Davis is beautiful. She tall, regal, and has the best lips in the business after Angelia Jolie. But, television’s first woman president has captured my attention for another reason: I am fascinated with her communication style.

President Mackenzie Allen commands respect, and yet she is likeable. I would follow her lead and still enjoy throwing back a beer with her after a hard day of work in the White House.

Most women are damned-if-they-do and damned-if-they-don’t when it comes to communicating in the male-dominated worlds of politics, business, and education. In order to compete, they must find a delicate balance between authority and likeability.

All great communicators possess what I call “the terrific triad,” credibility, likeability, and authority. While many women want to claim their authority, they are concerned about appearing too domineering or abrasive, and thus losing likeability. “We are in a double bind,” one female executive shared.

To make matters worse, our culture associates authority with men. When we think of those traits we consider authoritative, we immediately think of tall, solidly built, and a lower pitched voice – all characteristics associated with men, not women. 

In today’s world, women are expected to be both authoritative and feminine. “That’s very hard,” most women agree. In my experience as a communications trainer and coach, most women have to sacrifice some likeability for authority, and that is okay.

Many women naturally have high likeability factors and can ramp up their authority and not lose all their likeability.

  

I worked with a young woman in her twenties whose public relations career had derailed due to her poor presentation skills. When she stood up to present, she acted like a little girl, losing all credibility and authority.

I asked her to pretend she was a tough-talking member of a women’s motorcycle gang. “Spit out the words!” I demanded. As she did, her voice got louder and deeper.

By getting in touch with her anger, the timid, little girl was transformed into a powerful woman.
Her coworkers were impressed and their positive feedback helped her overcome her discomfort in acting out her authority. From then on, she remembered the “motorcycle mama” whenever she presented and reclaimed the authority she already possessed.

Along with attitude, stance, eye contact, pausing, and vocal quality signal authority. When they present, many women I coach assume a dancer’s pose with one toe pointed out at a ninety-degree angle. While this stance may be pretty and feminine, it holds no authority. I counsel both men and women to stand in their full power by placing their feet shoulder-width apart and equally distributing their weight. 
 

 

The eyes have been called the “windows of the soul.” As such, they are one of our greatest assets in winning audiences. I coach executives to begin their presentations by standing in silence, finding a friendly face, establishing eye contact, taking a deep breath, and then beginning their talk. This simple tip helps speakers become grounded and start their presentations with authority.

Many presenters talk while moving their heads from person to person like a sprinkler system, or worse they lose all connection with their audience by staring at one person, the slide screen, or into space. I train presenters to pick one person and maintain steady eye contact with that person until they have delivered a complete thought.

Like intensive eye contact, pausing signals authority. I teach students that there is power in the pause and recommend that pauses be used to emphasize important points.

Thirty-eight percent of our power as a presenter is determined by vocal quality. To maximize vocal quality, I suggest that women consider:

1. Raising the volume and projecting their voice.
2. Lowering the pitch of their voice, if needed.
3. Avoiding letting the intonation rise at the end of a sentence, or what Jerry Seinfeld termed “up-talking.” Up-talkers often appear uncertain about what they are saying, thus losing all authority and credibility.

Stance, eye contact, pausing, and vocal quality enhance a businesswoman’s authority when she speaks, but nothing creates a more powerful impression than conviction. While many women have strong convictions, they often have a difficult time expressing them. Most women have a conversational style that strives to make others feel comfortable. To accomplish this, many women position their beliefs as opinions and use disclaimers before they speak, such as, “I may be wrong about this, but.…” While this conversational style is extremely effective in building consensus, it can undermine the authority of the speaker. 

 

 When women speak with absolute certainty, claiming their full authority, their likeability factor may decrease, but it is worth it if they are able to garner the respect and recognition they deserve.

“The Career Engineer,” Randy Siegel, helps clients electrify their careers and transform their lives by becoming high voltage communicators™.

The 5 Principles of Leadership, Part II

Posted on March 22, 2013

by futurist Richard Worzel, C.F.A.

This is a continuation of an earlier blog, which you can read here.

Third Principle: A leader places the organization’s goals above her own, and pushes her followers to improve.

 

Why do you lead? Is it to accomplish a specific goal? Or is it to feed your ego? If the latter, then you’re running a personality cult, and you probably don’t want to help your followers get better for fear they’ll surpass or challenge you.


There’s a possibly apocryphal story of an MBA student of one of the more prestigious B-schools (guess which one) who was asked, in a job interview, if he considered himself a team player. He replied, “Absolutely – if I’m the captain.”

If your devotion is to getting things done, to reaching your group’s collective objectives, then the faster your people hone their skills and increase their abilities, the more likely you are to achieve what you, collectively, set out to achieve. And this is as true whether you lead, or whether you discover someone who would actually be a better leader than you are, and cede the leadership role to him or her.


But if your goal is to feather your own nest and buff up your ego, then you are not leading, but rather misleading. In that case, the group’s goals are, at best, secondary to your personal agenda. Indeed, if you look at many of the problems in corporate leadership in recent years, they often stem from the head person’s desire to achieve personal goals (bonuses, stock options, corporate perks, etc.) at the expense of the corporation’s goals or interests. In my opinion, these people are liars, not leaders.

Think, for example, of Aubrey McClendon of Chesapeake Energy, who used corporate jets for personal reasons, borrowed $500 million from a company that’s an investor in Chesapeake, and ran a hedge fund with a direct conflict of interest with his day job of being CEO. Or what about Carly Fiorina, who paid herself handsomely, spent a lot of her time self-promoting, worked the lecture circuit and did media grandstanding, all while firing staff in order to cut costs, and leading Hewlett-Packard into a disastrous merger with Compaq. Then there’s Ken Lay of Enron, who defies the whole concept of leadership. He lied, cheated, swindled, and ultimately stole from investors, stakeholders, and the people who were supposed to be his clients. His company’s, customers’, and employees’ entire purpose for being, as far as he was concerned, was for the glorification and enrichment of Ken Lay. His company, Enron, became the ultimate example of corporate greed and dishonesty.

Until, that is, Lehman Brothers went bankrupt in 2008. Lehman Brothers not only exemplified Wall Street’s greed and corruption, gambling with other peoples’ lives and money to try to win huge bonuses for themselves, but almost took down the entire free market system with them. And Dick Fuld was the “leader” that drove Lehman on the rocks, yet remains unrepentant to this day.

The capitalist system works best when both parties are better off as the result of a transaction, if both sides profit. People who do not understand capitalism believe that the capitalist (the bad guy) is profiteering off the hard work of the exploited worker. In fact, the owner does benefit from the work of the worker, but the worker also benefits from the capital investment and market position created by the owner. And the purchaser benefits from the innovation and production of the producer, which in turn benefits by supplying the product or service at a price that is higher than its cost of production. Both sides are better off. But when this two way street breaks down, it’s no longer capitalism, but exploitation. And deliberate subversion of a leadership position for personal gain amounts to exploitation of both the people being led, and the customers or clients being short-changed.

But what about an entrepreneur or founder, someone who starts a company, movement, or organization? Don’t they have to lead the organization in order to accomplish their own personal goals? Indeed, don’t they hire people to help them achieve that specific purpose? No, generally they don’t.

If a founder’s entire purpose is to have people perform personal services for them, that’s one thing. That’s a service transaction.

But if you look at organizations that started off as entrepreneurial ventures, and then grew into something more, they change as they grow, and their objectives change as well. Take, for example, the early days of Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.). Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computer, but believing that they had something big on their hands, and that they needed both more capital and executive expertise they didn’t have, found both in veteran Mike Markkula, an angel investor who backed the fledgling company, and whom the two Steves lured out of retirement in 1977. Markkula brought not only money, but connections, financial savvy, and executive ability to Apple. He recruited the first professional CEO for Apple in 1977, and then assumed the role of CEO himself in 1981.

Markkula was devoted to the goals of the organization, not the two Steves. In fact, he overrode Steve Job’s early attempt to kill the Macintosh computer in favor of another project, backed John Sculley’s ouster of Steve Jobs in 1985, and then Sculley’s ouster in 1993. Markkula remained Chair until 1997, when Jobs returned to the company, and a new board was constituted. His devotion was to the objectives of the company, its employees, and its stakeholders, not to the founders.

My point is that although Jobs is now, in retrospect, seen as the archetypical visionary and entrepreneur, he grew into that role, and his path, and Apple’s, overlapped but were not the same. Jobs hired people to serve over him when he lacked the necessary skills, and although his story ends with him as the shining exemplar, the ultimate entrepreneur, what made Apple the world-shaking organization it became involved more than just Jobs’ leadership, crucial though that was to the company’s eventual success. Fortunately, Jobs and Wozniak were smart enough to realize early on that they needed to follow someone who was more experienced than they were – and that may be the greatest testament to their leadership abilities.

So, to sum up this principle: a true leader is one that is truly committed to leading towards the organization’s goals, even when her personal goals are overridden by those of the organization.

 

Principle 4: A leader must promise success, and achieve it.
In many ways, this is the most important of all the five principles. If a leader doesn’t promise victory, either implicitly or explicitly, or his followers don’t believe he can deliver victory, they won’t follow him. Success in the agreed-upon goal becomes the ultimate test of leadership, and the ultimate reason why people will follow you.

There are many examples of this, but one of the best is a British general from the Napoleonic Wars, Roland “Daddy” Hill, who became the 1^st Viscount of Almaraz. The fighting men of the British army at that time were described by Lord Wellington as “the scum of the Earth” because they were largely convicts who chose to enlist rather than be executed for their crimes. (He also added that they were the greatest fighting men in the world, which Napoleon found out the hard way.) Discipline was more than harsh, involving floggings or executions for what we would consider inadequate reasons, and so it was in Hill’s command.

Despite this Hill’s men loved him, and called him Daddy Hill, for two reasons. First, he looked after them, both en masse, and individually. Despite the differences in rank, he would personally thank messengers and solders who served him, and make sure they were well fed and well treated. He showed his men respect, in other words, despite the apparently enormous social gulf between his military rank and social station, and theirs.

But the biggest reason he was loved was that he lead his men to victory, sharing their danger, showing his commitment, leading from the front, and almost being killed during the Battle of Waterloo, when his horse was shot out from under him. He won repeatedly, sometimes against fearsome odds and in difficult situations. In one encounter, at Arroyo de Molinos in Spain, his force inflicted 1,300 casualties on Napoleon’s army, while his troops suffered only 65 casualties. He inspired fierce loyalty and affection.

In contrast, let’s return to Steve Jobs and Apple. Outside of Apple, Jobs was celebrated as a visionary, someone who both saw and shaped the future. But he was hell to work for, often running roughshod over the people who worked for him, showing no interest in their feelings, well-being, or position, demanding unreasonable results, ruining their personal lives, treating them like idiots, and sometimes taking credit for their successes. He famously inspired fear, not love, and was known to have fired employees for things they said when he met them in an elevator.

But he delivered results, and people fought to work for Apple for the prestige of working for a company that could make technology cool, and invent the future. His success was more important than the questionable grooming habits of his early years, his uncompromising, inhuman perfectionism, or his raw, take-no-prisoners, domineering leadership style. He successfully led people where they wanted to go – and they willingly, eagerly followed.

So if you want to lead, you must be able to convince your followers that you will lead them to success. And eventually, you have to deliver that success. Everything else, from leadership style, to personality, to social standing, to skill, is secondary.

12 Most Influential Books to Help Grow Team Leaders

Posted by Sean Glaze+ on Mar 15, 2013

Effective Team Leaders are always looking for ways to inform, inspire, and grow their people. How about books?

Business managers, school principals, and athletic coaches are all tasked with making their organization more successful but… the best way to ensure you develop and improve your organization is to develop and inspire your people!

The following list of titles is a tremendous resource for introducing and discussing ideas that will improve the people in your organization. Great team leaders realize that building a better sales force, or faculty, or athletic program is not achieved by providing content area knowledge and training only. Phil Jackson, who has coached two different organizations to a total of nine NBA Championship titles, is famous for giving his players books to read during their season together. But he did not give them books about basketball — he knew that to perform well as athletes, they needed to grow as people and teammates.

Take a look at the following list of the twelve most influential books to grow team leaders. As you read each title and its brief description, consider who on your team would benefit from the gift of its lessons and insights.

1. Leadership and Self Deception

This is a book by The Arbinger Institute that shares a parable about a business executive who is struggling both at work and at home. The main character eventually comes to find that much of his struggle is the result of being “in the box” — and his development is keyed by the realization that most of our problems are the result of self-deception and justifying self-serving behaviors. It is a powerful story that illustrates how we can sometimes “unwittingly sabotage relationships at work and at home.”

2. Made to Stick

People don’t just want to be heard, they want to be remembered. Chip and Dan Heath wrote this terrific collection of ideas and examples of how to make your ideas stick. All “sticky” messages throughout history have shared a few common traits, and if you are interested in crafting your messages to help them become viral and/or memorable, this book shares a number of useful suggestions. Be sure to have a highlighter handy as you flip through each chapter!

3. The Greatest Salesman in the World

Although the word “salesman” is found in the title, this book by Og Mandino is far less about sales than it is about living a quality life. The main character, Hafid, is in a short book that was first published in 1968 — but the 12 lessons that are shared by his mentor are tremendously powerful if they are followed each day. Profound in its simplicity, it will be a book that you want to read and reread throughout your life to be reminded of the priorities and principles it offers.

4. Success is a Choice

Rick Pitino is an impressive and successful basketball coach. This book gives us a valuable insight into why he has been so successful at every one of his coaching stops along the way. One of the main lessons it offers is that great teams must “deserve success.” Each point he makes, while relevant to teams in any field or industry, is supported by examples from his time at Kentucky. It is very effective as a collection of messages intended to help you and your organization understand how to build a culture of overachievement.

5. Soup

This book by Jon Gordon is a fable, much like his book The Energy Bus. What sets this story apart is its focus on building a great team and the importance of complimentary ingredients. Built on the idea that virtually every success is based upon the quality of the relationships you share with others, this story is a terrific reminder that team building begins with someone being willing to “stir the pot” and promote positive change.

6. The Five Love Languages

The golden rule is what we were taught as kids, but this book by Gary Chapman shares information that will help your people move beyond that paradigm and begin to enjoy the benefits of the “platinum rule.” Instead of treating people the way you want to be treated, we should treat people according to how they want to be treated. This is a powerful idea and is similar in importance to understanding team personality types and leadership style of influence that your teammates bring to the table.

7. Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins

No matter how knowledgeable or skilled you may be in your field, the ability to inspire and influence others is a requirement to accomplish truly great things. The power of stories is a tool that many teammates can benefit from discovering. In this “how-to” manual by Annette Simmons, you will learn that while most business communication is assumed to be effective when it is delivered in brief, concise, bulleted points, it is actually far more impactful to couch your ideas in a compelling story that your audience can identify with. Meaningful connections are made through stories, not by simply sharing information. This is a useful guide to help you begin to fashion stories to assist you with the process of building relevant stories.

8. Developing The Leader Within You

John Maxwell’s biblically based collection of leadership books have sold millions of copies but in my opinion, this is the best. He explains that the traits of great leadership can be acquired and developed, and provides examples and advice to assist you in that regard. Maxwell has been often quoted for saying “leadership is influence,” and this text offers insights into how you or others can maximize the amount of leadership you exert on your teammates and your organization.

9. The 4:8 Principle

Another book based upon biblical leadership principles, this book by Tommy Newberry takes one specific verse, Philippians 4:8, and expands upon it to emphasize the importance and impact of our thoughts and how they eventually manifest themselves as our reality. In an increasingly negative world, filled with people who harbor RATs (really awful thoughts), it is that much more necessary to remain focused on is what is honorable, admirable, and right. In fact, it may just be the wisest thing a leader can do and hope for people to emulate.

10. How to Win Friends and Influence People

This classic by Dale Carnegie, published originally in 1936, is one of the best known self-help books in history. That said, the lessons and examples that are provided will never go out of style because while technology continues to advance, our social and relational skills will always depend upon our understanding of how to create and maintain positive and mutually beneficial relationships with others. Human nature will never be outdated and this is a book that will forever be relevant and useful reading for leaders.

11. Fierce Conversations

If you are a leader, or if you are on a team with other people, there will come a time at some point that you will need to have an uncomfortable discussion with someone on your team. This book by Susan Scott provides you with the techniques and courage to confront those who need to hear the truth. It addresses the need to have internal honest conversations as well, but is mainly a collection of ways to approach situations you will likely encounter and shares useful ideas on how to build deeper and more productive relationships “one conversation at a time.”

12. QBQ! The Question Behind the Question

This last title is a tremendous resource written by John G. Miller. Strong leaders recognize the need to build a culture of accountability and this book, while a quick read, examines the powerful way that our questions either empower us or turn us into victims. Instead of asking “Why me?” or “Who was supposed to…?,” Miller encourages us (through real-world examples) to ask instead questions such as “What can I do to improve things?” This is an easy idea to implement and the decision to practice personal accountability will eventually filter down to everyone in your organization.

As Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. once wrote, 
“Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.”