Everyday Leadership

Everyone has the ability to be a leader, leadership is not about a title, a role, or a responsibility.  It is about the actions you take.   It is about the words you use.   It is about being true to yourself and others.   Most people do not realize the impact that they have on others with acts that may seem meaningless to them.    Drew Dudley talks about this as being "Everyday Leadership", and I cannot rave enough about his Tedx Toronto 2010 talk on the subject.  For me, its a message that succinctly epitomizes how the world should look at leadership.   The video is less than 7 minutes long, 1.3 million people have watched it so far, so if you haven't seen it already do yourself a favor take a few minutes and watch it here:  http://www.ted.com/talks/drew_dudley_everyday_leadership before you even read the rest of this blog.

During the video, Drew tells a story about how he impacted a young woman's life, without ever really knowing or meeting her.   I'm not going to give away the details, as I definitely want you to watch the video but he called his impact moment a Lollipop moment, and this is how he defined it:

"Lollipop Moment - A moment where someone said something or did something that you feel fundamentally made your life better"  

- Drew Dudley

Drew's contention is that we all treat leadership as something bigger than ourselves, and thus make it unreachable.  But he argued that a large number of us have had a "Lollipop Moment" and never told the individual that impacted our lives.   So the fact that we do not believe our words or actions on an everyday basis have an impact; we are wrong.   We are just one of those people that hasn't been told of that impact.

When I sit back and think about "Lollipop Moments" in my life, I am fortunate enough to think of multiple examples and as Drew indicated in a lot of those examples I haven't taken the time out to tell those individuals the impact they have had on me.   One of the first career related ones I remember was during my first job out of college, my boss at the time was great and treated our team well.   He had been freelancing at a dot com business on the side, and knew they had some openings coming up.   It wasn't the right place for him, but he thought that I would be a great fit there.   Here he was, my manager, at a fortune 500 organization and he was advising me to look at an employment opportunity outside of my corporation.   Definitely not the corporate line, but what I learned from him that day is you have to truly invest in your employees as people and not just employees.   What's best for them, may not always align with what's best for you.   I took his advice, interviewed for that job, and had a great run with that organization.   I met some great friends there that I continue to interact with regularly today.  I also got to participate in a variety of experiences that I likely would not have had if I had stayed at my original position.   Although he may not know it, his actions and words, have helped define one of my core principles on how I manage or treat my employees.   I'm always looking at ways to help them succeed, and working on giving them the skills that will help them in the future.  I hope that future is alongside me, but if it isn't I hope that I've prepared them enough to be a bigger success in their new endeavors.  

I do not live my life in a way that I go out and specifically execute actions to impact others.   I am conscious that I have the ability to impact others, so I live to the best of my ability being true and honest with my beliefs.

"Be the change you want to see in the world"  

- Mahatma Gandhi

Some of the greatest leaders I've worked with, I respect because of their actions and beliefs.  How they handle them in situations day in and day out.   I respect those who put others before themselves and understand the impact they even as a single individual in a sea over six billion people can have on a daily basis.

Leadership is not about making an impact or an impression on everyone you touch, its about making an impact or impression on at least one person.   Making their day better, Making them better.   We all have the ability to be great leaders and great people, we need to step up to that challenge and make it happen.

"I've learned people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them FEEL." 

- Maya Angelou

What is your "Lollipop Moment"?   Do you think you've influenced others?   What do you do to practice "Everyday Leadership"?  Let me know, I want to be inspired by you.

Make all your relationships, "Clients For Life"

A number of years ago, I attended a seminar where the speaker talked about the client for life triangle.   It's a fairly simple concept, but as with a number of simple concepts around leadership, it can have a big impact on you and your organization if done well.

Here's the triangle:

Client For Life Triangle

At the bottom of the triangle is your client base.   These are the ones that you interact with on a regular basis; they maybe external customers or if your leading operational teams (e.g. IT, Accounting, Maintenance, Security, ect... ) they could be other internal customers.   Either way, they are the ones that you and your teams strive to support on a regular basis.

In the middle of the triangle are your key clients; these are the ones that drive your business.  They help you understand what direction you should be moving in and they are the ones that may be more demanding of your time.   It's possible that you may also be dependent on these clients for continued growth and success, and losing them may prove disastrous.

As a goal, you should know where your current clients fit in your triangle, and you should strive to get them to the top of the triangle and have them categorized as a client for life.   Having a client for life means that you've become a trusted advisor for that client; you've been able to turn the tables, and now they rely on you for guidance and direction.   They will be your biggest advocate to open doors and opportunities for you.  Best of all, you'll become a part of their inner circle, you'll be consulted on decisions before they happen so you can tailor exceptional solutions for your clients, and they'll come to you before problems arise so you can work on tackling them before they become larger issues.

Before I provide you some insights on how to convert those key clients to clients for life, keep in mind this doesn't have to be a business specific engagement.   All of us have "clients".  The term "client" can be applied to friends, your family or your team.   I personally try to strive to apply these insights to every interaction.  This is because at the end of the day I want to be a trusted advisor, I want people to come to me before larger problems occur, and I want to be able to work with them to develop exceptional solutions to hopefully make them even more successful.

"Coming together is a beginning.   Keeping together is progress.   Working together is success."

- Henry Ford

It's not going to be easy to establish someone as a client for life, and your journey doesn't end once you get them there; you need to continue to grow that relationship day in and day out to keep it sustained.

It all starts by showing them that you are in it for the long term relationship and not the short term gain.  In all of your actions you need to show that you are willing to put your clients' interests in front of your own.   This may mean recommending solutions that don't necessarily benefit you, but in the long run have the greatest impact on that customer.   Remember you're in it for the long term relationship, not just the short term..

Once you start to do these things, you then need to show your client that you are genuinely interested in them and their business.  Give them your attention, listen to their needs, don't interrupt them, and hear them fully out.   It will make a difference.  Earlier I spoke about how your client could be anyone, so imagine now that your employee is your customer.   They have come to your office to talk to you about a problem, but you sat there and told them you were listening to them, but were glued to your computer answering emails (multitasking).   How do you think that employee feels?   Are you coming across as genuinely interested in them and their business?   I don't think so.   The same goes for internal or external customers; focus your attention on them and don't let distractions get in your way.   Everyone can tell if you're not genuine.  Even if you think you're the best of actors, actions speak louder than words.  All great actors slip up, and the moment your client believes you have an ulterior motive for what you do, you've just lost that client forever.  

Other than what's already been mentioned, there are two additional key principles in trying to establish clients for life, both of which build upon a number of the prior relationship points.   The first is you need to work really hard to understand your customers' underlying interests, not just their wants.   Be proactive, suggest solutions to your clients, listen to their problems and help them see the possibilities.    It not only shows you're genuinely listening to them, but it shows that you care for their best interest in front of your own.  In my job, I do this day in and day out, I'm always trying to find opportunities to get more ingrained in the day to day experiences of my internal customer.  This allows me to see opportunities for improvement, bring them up, suggest solutions, and ultimately show them that I am looking out for their best interests as I partner with them to make their vision of what's possible a reality.

That is where the second principle comes in: be reliable, do what you say you will do.

If you want to be trusted, be honest, if you want to be honest, be true, if you want to be true honor your commitment.

- Anil Sinha   

I don't think I can stress enough how important it is to make your commitments.   But, if life happens, communicate early and often the issues you've encountered, the hurdles that now exists, and your plan to get back on track.   Be true to yourself, and don't over commitment.    Everyone understand life happens... but don't let it be a surprise and be on top of it, own the struggles, and show your client you're doing everything to make the situation right.

The client for life triangle is a great way to look at the relationships you have established to date, determine where they fit, and help you formulate a plan on how you can change the relationships you have from either clients or key clients to clients for life.   There is significant time, especially at the beginning to get this right, but over time it can become a habit, and just your normal way of doing business.   Trust me, as a leader you'll be better off investing into your clients; after all, its our clients, not just ourselves who determine how successful we can be.