Leadership Done Right Blog

4 Characteristics Of The Silent Leader

By Brandon W. Jones on April 16, 2013 4

Many of us have had a silent leader in our lives. The silent leader has a powerful impact on you because they don’t have to say much to be a great leader. They set a strong positive example for everyone to follow. Also, when they lead, others follow just because of who they are.

I will use the pronoun “he” throughout this post to mean both he and she rather than go back and forth between “he/she” and “him/her”. I do not intend offend anyone.

Four Characteristics of a Silent Leader

Each silent leader that I have met had some if not all of the following four characteristics.

Example

A silent leader understands that he sets the example for those he leads. He knows that he cannot expect his followers to do anything he is not willing to do, so he sets the best example he can for his followers. In addition, the silent leader realizes that everything that happens around him starts with what he does. If he sets a good example, people are more likely to do good while if he sets a bad example, others will be more likely to make poor choices as well. To set a good example, the silent leader takes the initiative and determines how he is going to act in any given situation before the situation arrives so that he can make good choices.

[Read more…] about 4 Characteristics Of The Silent Leader

Be In Network As The Leader

By Brandon W. Jones on April 15, 2013 2

When I was in the MBA program at the University of Nevada – Reno, I took a class called Changing Environments of Business. One of the main focuses of the class was how to be in network as the leader. The class was full of business leaders which gave each student a great opportunity to be in network with other business leaders. In addition, my teacher based each student’s grade on how well they got in network with other leaders in the class. Since the class was a Saturday class, he also required that students go to lunch together during the middle of the class to get to know each other. This reinforced the importance of being in network with other leaders.

My teacher was in his 80’s and had had many careers throughout his life in a variety of industries. In each industry he learned that it was essential to be in network if you wanted to succeed. He taught me that if you were in network, as a leader, you would always know what was going on within your organization. He taught that there are benefits from being in network.

Be In Network

In almost every, if not every, organization there are internal politics with an internal network, what I call “in network.” Within those networks, there are people that know exactly what is going on. At the same time, there are others that don’t have a clue. As a leader, it is important for you to be in network. When you are in network, you are able to find out what is going on in the company, who is getting promoted, who is favored amongst leadership, what strategic moves the company is going to make, etc. before it happens. [Read more…] about Be In Network As The Leader

The Leadership Benefits Of Daily Meditation

By Brandon W. Jones on April 12, 2013 4

Have you experienced the benefits of daily meditation? With all the stresses of leadership, daily meditation is very helpful! In leadership, there are many things that can stress you on a daily basis. The following questions can cause a lot of stress. “What are you doing to improve the bottom line? What are you going to do to change the culture of your organization? What are you doing to help improve your organization? What are you doing to improve yourself? Are you doing enough to change the existing systems to make them run more smoothly?” As a leader, you are probably confronted with each of these questions regularly, as well as many more.

So what can you do to get the answers? Although each answer comes in its own way, daily meditation can help you to clear your mind. Daily meditation can also help you to think through the solutions in your mind before you have to present them to others. After daily meditation, your head is clear and you can be more focused when you go back to identifying solutions to your problems. [Read more…] about The Leadership Benefits Of Daily Meditation

The Difference Between A Dream And A Goal

By Brandon W. Jones on April 11, 2013 1

In life there are goals and there are dreams. Do you have dreams? Do you have goals? What is the difference between a dream and a goal? This post will explain the difference between a dream and a goal.

All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.
T. E. Lawrence

The quote above is very powerful. Have you ever sat back and thought, “Wouldn’t it be nice if some day I could _______!” Or have you thought, “I hope that some day I can _________.” You can fill in the blank on whatever comes to your mind. Whenever you have these thoughts, you are probably dreaming about a future that is better that your current situation. [Read more…] about The Difference Between A Dream And A Goal

Take Control Of Your Life

By Brandon W. Jones on April 10, 2013 2

When you want to take control of your life, you must make your own choices. Those who take control are willing to own their choices. They know that each time they take control of their choices, they will learn something new whether it is good or bad. When you don’t take control of your life, you push your choices onto others and then blame them for the outcome when it is bad. If, however, the outcome is good, they are the ones that are quick to take all the credit for a good decision.

What happens when you take control?

I have another friend that has gone through a lot of hardships. He has lost his job multiple times due to layoffs, been rejected in relationships, and not been able to find a good job that met his qualifications. He has even struggled to make ends meet. Overall, he has many reasons to complain. He could blame his situation on everyone else for their behavior and what they have done to him, but he has a different approach. He is always positive and regularly looks inward to figure out what he needs to do differently. He constantly seeks opportunities to do more and be better. He has the attitude that he will not let himself settle for what he thinks he can earn by taking control of his life. With this attitude, he is gradually finding success, but it has come as a result of his hard work and dedication. He has taken control of his life.

What happens when you don’t take control?

I have a friend that is a chronic complainer. He has been blessed with many material possessions compared to most, but every chance he gets he complains about someone or something. “That person isn’t nice enough.” “I am underprivileged because I don’t have the nicest new thing.” “It’s not fair that I ONLY have this and everyone else has that, especially with the amount of work I put in. It’s not fair!” “It’s not my fault that this is happening to me, it is the boss’s fault.” “I would be more successful if that person didn’t put that road block in my way.” The list of his comments and negativity goes on and on. He never takes any of the blame for his situation because it is always the fault of something or someone else. He did not take control of his life because he has given his control to others. [Read more…] about Take Control Of Your Life

Think Outside The Box As A Leader

By Brandon W. Jones on April 9, 2013 2

Are you being creative enough to think outside the box? Do you think outside the box to come up with new solutions to solve today’s challenges? Are you focusing on the needs of your customers or just the products you are selling? As a leader, it is important to think outside the box so you can focus on your customers’ needs and adapt your products accordingly. In order to successfully satisfy your customers, it is important to think outside the box to meet their needs. This requires creativity to develop new products.

In the early part of the 1900’s, passenger trains were the biggest and most used form of transportation across the country. Some of the major locomotive companies were so dominant that they thought they would never go out of business. They forgot that they weren’t really in the business of running locomotives, but were actually in the business of transporting customers from one location to the next. Because they lost sight of their real purpose, many of the companies went out of business and lost large amounts of wealth. [Read more…] about Think Outside The Box As A Leader

4 Questions To Ask When Setting Expectations

By Brandon W. Jones on April 8, 2013 2

Several years ago, I worked for a consulting engineering firm. My boss was the president of the company. When I worked for him, I had the privilege of going on field rides with him to review some of our project locations. During our discussions while driving, he taught me a very valuable lesson about the importance of setting expectations. He explained that as the leader of the company, his main priority was to keep the customers happy. To do that, he explained that you must be good at setting expectations. You cannot be afraid to ask follow-up questions to identify the customers’ needs and wants. He taught me that when setting expectations, it was far more important to ask questions during the design process to make the right product. If you don’t ask questions, you run the risk of completely missing the target. Through this approach, we identified and set the customers’ expectations to create products they really wanted.

As a leader, it is very important to understand the value of setting expectations. The following four questions should be asked when you begin setting expectations for yourself and for others.

How are you setting expectations for those you lead?

If you are anything like me, you probably have high expectations for yourself and those you lead. When setting expectations, it is important clear on your desired outcome. Just as with goals, your expectations should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. [Read more…] about 4 Questions To Ask When Setting Expectations

Be The Organized Leader

By Brandon W. Jones on April 5, 2013 12

Have you ever seen an office like the one below? How did it make you feel? Are you living in a situation where you are disorganized? It is very important to be an organized leader. I have visited offices like the one above, but fortunately I have never let my own get quite so bad. When I walked out of offices like that, I felt like I needed to get some fresh air so I could breathe clearly again. When you are not an organized leader, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and lose focus. Sooner or later that leads to less productivity.

Recently, I began to feel like I was no longer an organized leader. My office was becoming unorganized. I had too many stacks of papers on my desk and emails in my inbox. I felt like I was drowning. On Friday of that week, I decided to organize my desk and my emails. I set up folders for each project and got them arranged so I knew exactly where everything was. From there I went through my emails and identified which ones needed responses and which ones I could file. Once everything was filed, I made a list of all my priorities and their time line for completion. Being an organized leader helped me feel like I could breathe more clearly again.

Benefits From Being The Organized Leader

If you are unorganized, you will be challenged in many ways. As an organized leader you will find major benefits from your organization. The following three benefits will come as you become the organized leader.

Your Leadership Agenda

By Brandon W. Jones on April 4, 2013 0

In leadership, every leader has his/her own leadership agenda. Some start out with the desire to make massive changes in a short time. Others have the leadership agenda to ease into their new role and not rock the boat. Knowing and understanding your leadership agenda is very important because it helps you to have a strategy when you approach your leadership.

Survivor and Leadership Agenda

Last night, my wife and I watched the reality show Survivor. Survivor is a game where around 24 (sometimes more) people that are complete strangers are put into a remote area where they have to survive for 38 days. During that time, they all live together in a small group or tribe as they call it.

Almost every day they play some type of game where the tribes or individuals compete against each other for either a reward or immunity. At the immunity competitions, the tribe that loses goes to tribal council where one person gets sent home by their tribe members.

At the end of it all, there are usually two or three people that remain. Their peers then vote for who they want to be the winner of a $1 million prize. As we watched tonight, it was very interesting to see how everyone had their own leadership agenda.

They each decided where they wanted and didn’t want the tribe to go. Some people wanted to be liked, while others wanted immunity at the next tribal council. At the same time, there were others that just wanted to coast under the radar, so they could make to the end. They all had their own leadership and personal agenda for how they would make it to the end. [Read more…] about Your Leadership Agenda

Speak Up Leaders

By Brandon W. Jones on April 3, 2013 4

There are many companies and organizations in the world that follow the Peter Principle by promoting from within. They promote from within to create a strong sense of unity and loyalty amongst the employees. With this philosophy, there is one problem that is very prevalent. The people being promoted are learning their organizations inside and out, but they are not acquiring all the skills necessary to be a great leader. One skill being underdeveloped is the ability to speak in public to grab the attention of the audience. I call this the ability to “Speak Up” as a leader. Public speaking is a learned skill that many people are not learning as they progress through their career.

How can you speak up?

The goal of any leader is to speak up so they have confidence while giving their presentation to get their message across. As people speak up, there are three main barriers that inhibit leaders from conveying the message. The three barriers are verbal, vocal, and visual communication.

Verbal

To speak up as a leader, it is important to use effective verbal communication. Verbal barriers are the barriers created from the words coming out of the speaker’s mouth. The verbal barriers come out when people stutter, have lots of “ums” or “ahs”, or have other issues causing them to stumble over their words. When speakers are “winging it,” there is a greater tendency for them to have these problems. It has been said that what you communicate is 7% verbal. [Read more…] about Speak Up Leaders