A friend of mine was telling me how much of a B.S. artist his boss was. He was always promising things and never delivered on them. Whether it was getting something done or following through on some operational detail, there was always disappointment to follow.

If a manager is leading his life this way, the culture he is creating in his department is not one of meeting and exceeding expectations. The attitude being developed is one that says “if the boss can get away without having to come through on commitments, then so can I.”

Granted, most of us who promise things really do it with good intentions. But good intentions alone are not enough. You have to be certain you can really deliver. If not, the damage you create by falling short will be far greater than the rewards you have gained from making the promise in the first place.

Assuming you really did have good intentions and believed you could follow through, what do you do if your worst nightmare came true and you couldn’t deliver? The answer is not to run from the promise. While people do greatly value one’s ability to keep their promises, they tend to value to a greater degree the courtesy of not being blindsided. Customers and employees don’t want surprises. While they may not want to hear about failed expectations, being warned in advance at least gives them the opportunity of taking action ensuring your non-delivery of a promise does not set them back with other people who depend on them.

And that’s another point. If you fail to deliver on a promise to an individual, consider how many others are affected by this action. When you take the time to figure out the casualties of a failed promise down the food chain, you will find there are plenty of other people suffering the effects of your inability to follow-through.

What do you have to lose if you don’t follow through on your promises? Only your reputation. How much will that cost you? You decide!

The East Coast is gearing up for Hurricane Isabel. Weather forcasters had started warning people about the potential deadly destruction five days in advance. Why? Clearly to help people prepare, protect their property and their families.

Imagine if we did not spend this time preparing and the storm just hit out of no where like a tornado. There inevitably would be more damage than if people would have had time to prepare. More lives would probably be lost and more people would be injured.

The same goes for sports. In pro football for example, Sunday’s are not the day to be practicing new schemes on the field. Sunday is the day for doing things right and winning the game.

When your customers and colleagues are interacting with you, are you trying to figure out how to do things or are you prepared to treat them right? Preparation includes training in skills, product knowledge and procedures. Many times companies will throw employees out on the front lines and let them learn on the job. In some cases you may get away with this. But you should be looking to surpass your customer’s expectations and blow away the competition.

To gain a clear lead over your competitors, you must be prepared and at the top of your game. As a leader, how much time do you spend preparing yourself and others to be ready when the curtain goes up and they yell It’s “Show Time”? If you don’t play the game of preparation properly, then your results will be as unpredictable as the storm that was never forecasted.

Here’s a question for the modern day leader? Does your company represent an organism or an organization? Hopefully, you will have answered organism.

An organism is an entity that lives and breathes on it’s own. It’s health and ability to survive depends on the how well the organs (departments) are working. Just as in human beings, a business that is bloated finds it hard to properly respond to market threats. The old adage of “lean and mean” applies to both business and individuals.

The tendency of humans in this day and age is to exercise to keep in shape in order to meet the challenges of life.

Companies and institutions must do the same thing. They must constantly keep exercising their muscles and organs. This means assessing which parts of the organization are working well and those that are not adequately performing.

Look at each individual in your group as a cell and look at your department as an organ. If one individual cell disappears, you can probably live with that. But if that cell becomes disenchanted and decides to rebel and recruit other cells, you now have the beginning of a cancer. If you can identify the non-performers early on and give them skills and tools to turn things around, you will have limited the potential for disease. If you do nothing and let things go unchecked, then every part of the business starts to suffer. When this happens and it spreads to the customer, you could be entering a terminal state.

A business or institution is only as good as the collective effort of all employees. If every employee is properly matched to the job, given the right tools, and is highly motivated to succeed, you have a vibrant and strong organism. It becomes a life that is breathing, healthy and hard to take down.

So, what’s the state of your organism? If you think your company is not as vibrant as it should be, what’s your prognosis and prescription? If you wait too long, it just may be too late.

Here’s a surprising headline: “Jordan Surprised and Inflamed as Wizards Show Him the Door”. Michael Jordan fell victim to the trap most overachievers fall into. They move into management thinking everyone should have the same attitude, skills and dedication they had when they were playing.

Jordan’s downfall as an executive was heightened when he gave up his partial ownership of the Wizards to return as a player for the team. He reportedly ripped the younger players for not doing things his way. By the time he retired as a player for the third time, there was no going away party. According to published reports, there was relief in the locker room.

Jordan arrived at the Wizards in January 2000, when the franchise had reportedly lost $40 million the year before. It is interesting to note that during Jordan’s tenure the franchise had profits of approximately of $30 million. Michael Jordan single-handedly turned around the finances of a franchise and even this was not even enough to save him from being “fired” as an investor and executive of the Wizards.

While this may be hard for us to believe, the Wizards thought this was the best move it could make for the organization as a whole. Yes, there was significant profit in the short term. However, there was turmoil and the won/loss record during Michael’s tenure did not improve at all. So, where did Michael go wrong?

To start, he did not have the patience for developing players. Very few people are going perform exactly as he did. We are all different and it is the coach’s responsibility to identify and build upon the strengths and weaknesses of the players. While Jordan was not the coach, he did hire the coach and together they created an environment that was quickly rejected by the players. Larry Bird had the same frustration coaching the Indiana Pacers. He just couldn’t accept the fact that players today were different, so he chose to retire.

An executive/coach succeeds on the attitudes, dedication and skills of the players on the team. If you lose their motivation to listen to you, you have lost the game before it even begins. Yes, you want people with similar attitudes, but, you must also accept people for who they are and work with their strengths. If you feel they are not good enough, you find new players. If there are no players out there qualified to play on your team, then maybe your expectations are too high and you need to re-evaluate what you are looking for. Or, maybe you need to re-evaluate your method of coaching without giving up on your ideals.

Michael Jordan also did not accept the fact that a successful executive has to work full time at being effective. Reports claim his calendar was chock full of events and commitments that had little to do with the Wizards. A leader in name is not as effective as a leader involved in building the organization. Just like constructing any kind of building, it takes a lot of hard work, time and effort to get the job done.

Michael will forever be remembered by many as the greatest basketball player of all time. As for being an effective leader, hopefully. Michael Jordan realizes more work needs to be done. He did get noticed and other teams are interested in his services. If Jordan decides this is really what he wants to do, it is probably only a matter of time until Jordan hits his stride as an NBA team executive with another team. After all, he knows what it takes to win..”

The critical assets a leader needs is the belief and confidence in his/her ideas and commitment to see them through. There are a two caveats to this statement. One, you must really believe what you are doing is truly the best for all involved. Your decisions are not based solely on your need for survival, but rather based on what’s best for the team. Two, you are willing to take responsibility for the outcomes.

In today’s geopolitical situation, this scenario is playing out before our very eyes with President Bush pushing for action on Iraq in the face of strong opposition from people throughout the world. This scenario also plays out every time an organization implements a new process.

At the beginning of a new process, there is resistance to change. People are going to be asked to move beyond their comfort zones and take a risk. They are going to be asked to go down the road towards an end result they are not yet sure of. The question is why should they?

How do you react when you as a leader are faced with this kind of resistance? Do you become defensive? Or do you respond with conviction in what you believe and act with confidence that your solution will bring positive results to the people who depend on you?

If is very normal for people to resist change or ideas that include risk. Expect that to happen and do not try and stifle their responses. Some people need to vent their feelings before they will agree to go along.

Whatever you do, remember one thing. The moment you back off and let the criticism affect your confidence, then no one will put their neck on the line and follow you down the road. People will only go forward when they believe in the person leading the way. If you lack confidence, there won’t be many people walking behind you. This also goes for your customers.

In your role as a leader, are your actions solely addressing the issue of closing sales now, or are part of your actions positioning your organization for the future? The future starts today! If we don’t take time to work on it in the present, then it will suddenly appear and we won’t be prepared for it.

Steve Epner, President of BSW Consulting, Inc., shares this story of how he has addressed this issue.

Steve had to look at where his company was going long-term. He had two main concerns; making sure both his clients and people were properly taken care of. Steve had to address this issue in case something happened to him, or in case he wanted to slow down or retire. He did not have the liberty to slow down until this path forward was addressed.

Steve went down the road a couple of times trying to find the right individual who could step in and take his place at the right time. The most important lesson he learned the first time going down this road is that the first person you speak with is not necessarily the right person to succeed you. And, he also learned that the right person should not be a clone of himself, nor an individual you can mold. When you try to mold someone into something they are not, they may act that way for a while, but not really live it. What works is to find an individual who shares your values, work ethic and goals; and then allow that individual to use their unique strengths and talents to build upon the success you have already created.

Steve also found that it is easier to identify the right individual when you have a chance to see them in action. He started working with his replacement on a project basis, as a consultant. During this time, they got to know each other and saw opportunities for the individual to assume additional responsibilities. Over 9-10 months, they were able to decide on what the future could be and together built a succession plan. Because Steve did not try to remake someone, it was easier to find the right individual and make it work. Also, making clones is not sound business. You just want to make sure their way is congruent with your goals and values for the organization.

In the early 90’s, the Squeegee Brigade was out in full force in New York City, creating fear in everyone. The squeeqee guys are the one’s who come up to your car, start cleaning the windows and ask for a tip. If you didn’t tip, you were subjected to further abuse.

When Mayor Giuliani directed the NYPD to finally put an end to it, they thought it would be a monumental task at best. There had to be at least 2,000 of these guys (afterall, this is New York!) They embarked on a study to see how many squeegee guys there really were and found only 180! When the police department realized this, they became confident that this problem was solvable and not as unmanageable as anticipated.

How many times do you look at a situation and get frustrated by what seems to be a difficult task? Or, how many times do you find yourself reacting to market conditions without all the information you need?

Information is critical for effective leadership. Making sure you get the right information will help put things in perspective and create the right solution.

Next time you or your team encounter a difficult situation, take a deep breath and seek out all of the necessary information. The more you have, the easier it is to solve.

One last thing. What was the result of the crackdown on the Squeegee Brigade? It turned out many members of the Squeegee Brigade engaged in other illegal activities and some had outstanding warrants. This helped NYC reduce it’s felony crimes by 5,000 per year! New York City’s crackdown on quality of life crimes was one of the key initiatives responsible for drastically reducing the city’s overall crime rate. The lesson here again is it’s the little things that can make all the difference in the world.

Rudolph Giuliani, in his new book “Leadership”, talks about Ted Olson’s argument before the U.S. Supreme Court as he represented George Bush in the Florida voting fiasco. To win the necessary 5 votes he had to prepare a few arguments addressing different personal beliefs. One argument may have been strong enough to win 3 votes, but he had to have a couple of other arguments at his disposal in order to win over the two remaining critical votes. Guiliani claims “he gave the Justices exactly what they needed”.

As you are about to present your case to a customer, employee or any stakeholder, are you prepared with all the arguments you will need in order to win the necessary votes of approval? Not everyone will buy into one argument. All of us buy into ideas based on what is important to us. To insure your success in gaining the necessary influence to move forward, you need to make sure you have enough arguments to satisfy the majority.

It always amazes me how often people ask everyone else to buy off on one story for the same reason. The concept of coaching is not about having one process work the same way for all. Great coaching is about taking proven processes and molding them to the strengths of each individual. This is what Ted Olson did in his Supreme Court presentation. He took one central theme and presented tailored versions to address the different issues each
Justice was concerned about.

Remember, it not’s the quality of the idea that counts. It’s your ability to communicate the value of the idea and gain the necessary commitment.

The next time you come up with your brilliant brainstorm, remember to prepare your marketing of the idea by doing the following:
1) Ask yourself who you need to get to buy into this concept.
2) Understand the various interests that need to be addressed in order to win the necessary support.
3) Prepare the different layers of arguments you will need to present in order to cover all your bases and win the game.

For any organization or individual to succeed, you need three things: The right strategy, the right talent and the right tools.

All too often, the strategy is sound, the talent is capable, but the tools fall far short in helping the talent succeed. In this case, I am referring to skills as the tools required for success.

When times get tough, most companies and individuals start looking at places to cut costs. Frequently, the first thing that gets cut is training and development.

The ability to survive in tough times is totally dependent on you and your employees being able to operate at peak performance. When times are tough, one needs to make sure their skills are the sharpest they have ever been. Those who can perform will win the game even when there are fewer games to play.

Besides having the best skills, people need hope and inspiration to see them through the dark clouds. They need to be sure that when they get on the playing field they are in the mindset best possible to go all out and perform at peak levels. Why would you cut this investment at a time when you can least afford to have your people perform at any level that is below peak performance?

Think again when it comes to saving money. Yes, you may save a few bucks in reducing your training and development costs. But how many dollars in revenue did you lose because your talent did not have the best tools available to support optimal performance?

Remember the old adage: Penny wise, pound foolish. Don’t stop investing in your talent. It’s a critical element to differentiate yourself from the competition. Continue your education and development. Hone and practice your skills. Today, you need to excel just to stay competitive!

Ever wonder what the best way is to give advice to someone? Try using the “sandwich approach”. The sandwich contains 3 parts: Positive reinforcement on top, advice in the middle and positive reinforcement on the bottom.

Here’s an example. Many moons ago when I was the National Value Added Reseller Manager for a manufacturer of local area networks, I managed the NYC reps who called on software vendors to form strategic alliances. There was this one rep named Jean who was incredible.

One day, she invites me to go on a sales call to meet the President of a software company on Wall Street. Jean already sold the sales force on the concept of our technical abilities. Now the president wanted to talk about how the relationship would work.

Jean started the meeting by going into exasperating detail on all the features of our products. At an appropriate opening, I intervened and steered the conversation to what the president wanted to discuss. Fifteen minutes later we had the basis for an agreement.

When Jean and I arrived back at the office, I immediately complimented her for uncovering this great opportunity. Then I asked her how she thought the call went. She acknowledged that she may have given too much detail in the presentation. At that point, I laid out the 5 key elements every sales call should include; First Impression, Qualifying, Demonstration, Influence and Close.

She looked at me and said she does all 5 of these elements already. She just did not know how they all fit together. I ended the conversation by telling her how thrilled I was at the potential she had for being a sales Titan. 9 months later, she closed the largest deal in the company’s history.

Next time you need to give advice, try the sandwich approach. People tend to be more open to advice when they are complimented first. Follow-up the advice with more positive reinforcement. This provides the confidence for them to take risk, go through the pain of change and try something new.

So start supplying the sandwiches. Everyone needs to be nourished.