Leadership

The Savior’s Example

Some of the Savior’s attributes that President Kimball describes include being: understanding, having selfless leadership, being responsible, accountable, and making a good use of time. I think a good leader should have all of these, but the one I will mention is being a selfless leader. The Savior was a listening and loving leader. He could condemn the sin but not the person. He focused on the needs of others instead of self. As a leader in a business we need to listen to concerns of others, but point out where improvements can be made without condemning the person. These improvements are meant to help our employees grow. If others know we care about them and want them to be successful, they will value our direction for improvement. I also love that he was consistent in his choices. As business leaders, we have to be able to adjust to the changes in business, but our morals and values should not change. We need to be consistent with our values. We need to lead by example. Selfless leadership is thinking of others above yourself. I think the church is filled with selfless leaders. We serve for the benefit of those we serve. Many businesses have customer service as their focus. It is a selfless focus that makes customers want to return.

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill. According to the article emotional intelligence was a bigger factor in great leadership than technical skills and IQ. The good news is that it can be learned with desire and effort.

The first skill is self-awareness. If we are self-aware we will be aware of managing our time. We will also be aware of other’s situations and act appropriately to their state. Being self-aware means we match our goals with our values. Self-aware people can talk about limitations and strengths. Self-regulation mean being able to control your moods and impulses and perhaps channel them in a good way. It means picking words carefully without judging too quickly. Motivation means doing more than expected and having passion for work itself. They want to track and see their results and stretch themselves to progress. Empathy means considering the employee’s feelings. Empathy will help you keep your teams of people feeling like part of something meaningful. Social skill is “friendliness with a purpose.”

Leadership

“Leaders are movers and shakers, original, inventive, unpredictable, imaginative, full of surprises.” (Nibley) Leaders act as equals working with others.

“The managers are safe, conservative, predictable, conforming organization men and team players, dedicated to the establishment.” Managers want to be above the rest. “Management shuns equality, it feeds on mediocrity.” (Nibley)

To lead like the Savior, we should lead by example, lead with vision, and lead with love. Are we good, average, or poor leaders? Do we lead directly or indirectly? What kind of leaders are we? Good leaders love all the sheep, they number the sheep and measure performance to find those who are lost. Then we find the lost sheep and help bear the burdens of the sheep that is found. We get others to also fellowship the returned sheep. Let the sheep get to know you and lead by personal example. We an lead like a shepherd, like the Savior. We need to sacrifice time and leadership for the flock.

Leadership is about capability (to ask questions and hear answers) It is also about learning something every day. The people who keep learning and trying are vibrant. Those who are able to change are the capable ones.  

Enchantment – Notes from Guy Kawasaki

If we trust people, they will trust us. Smile. Trustworthy people are bakers, not eaters. We need to default to yes and think about how you can help people. Anticipate what people will need. Ask yourself what are the reasons your company could fail. We need to pay things forward and do things for others. Learn to be able to speak (customize the introduction – something about you). When you speak, you need to sell your dream with the product. The optimal slides in a PowerPoint is 10 slides and be able to do it in 20 minutes. The optimal point size is 30 point. Use technology (remove speed bumps in technology). Provide value, insights, and assistance. Engage people fast within 24 hours. Consider the use of technology something that you will use all the time. To enchant a boss is to do what the boss asks immediately. Come up with a prototype fast. Deliver bad news early if something is going wrong and come up with suggestions to fix the problem. Tell people what you are helping them master and what the higher purpose is. Empower people to do things.

Ken Zolot

Entrepreneurs are willing to charge into the unknown and often difficult situations. They strive to make the best of them. Ken Zolot created Egenera and Heartland Robotics. Some of the things that made him successful were being pushing the limits and being curious. In school it was not easy because he didn’t want to conform to the rules. His parents taught that accountability is important. Employees and Management need to be accountable to each other. We should think about how to help others and rely on them. Notice when things are not right, fix them, and make sure people are well tended to. Ask the question of who cares and why. This will help you with product solutions. You need to have empathy for your market customers to see how you can solve problems. Decide if the market is ready for your vision. Push yourself to the edge to show the customers what they should want, but also look closely at the market to make sure it will work.

100 challenge – The Perfect Cookie

This week was very busy for my business. I made cookies all week for an event. I gave some discounts so I did not earn as much as I could. The problem was keeping the cookies fresh for the delivery day and making them ahead of time. I had to borrow someone’s freezer. I think I put in enough hours this week alone to satisfy the time requirement for the business. I only sold to three people, but I sold several cookies. This project has been a pain. I lost one of my decorating tips and spent $10 to buy a new kit. I also didn’t account for all the foil and additional parchment paper. I took pictures of the finished cookies. One person did not pay up front, so I will collect that next week. I cannot keep premade cookies fresh easily unless I freeze them before frosting them and then I think they don’t taste as good. I keep the collected money in a bag. With the additional expenses, I don’t know if I will profit $100.