Wall Street Journal

Understand the Impact of Leadership Decisions

By Brandon W. Jones on October 9, 2014 0

When you are a leader, your leadership decisions impact those you lead and others. When you make a good decision, it has a positive effect on others. Additionally, when you make a bad decision, it can have major negative effects on others. Often your leadership decisions have a very long lasting impact on others.

Affordable Healthcare Act

In 2009, the U.S. passed the Affordable Care Act (Known as Obama Care). This Act was branded as a law that would make healthcare much more affordable for all Americans and provide additional healthcare benefits to more than 30,000 uninsured people. When the law was introduced there was a strong push to pass the law and do it very quickly. The law was over 1,000 pages and no one had time to read much of it. Because of the push to pass the law, many lawmakers went ahead and voted yes to the law without reading it or even knowing much of what it said.

Leadership Decisions Impact: Affordable Healthcare Act

Fast forward to today and the major parts of the law are starting to take effect. The Wall Street Journal had an article about the Affordable Health Care Act today called Wal-Mart to End Health Insurance for Some Part-Time Employees. In the article, it explained that “Wal-Mart Stores Inc. cutting health insurance for another 30,000 part-time workers and raising premiums for its other employees, as U.S. corporations push to contain costs in the wake of the federal health-care law.” [Read more…] about Understand the Impact of Leadership Decisions

Leadership Blessings Through Hard Times

By Brandon W. Jones on April 1, 2013 6

Have you ever gone through hard times and wondered if anything good would come from it? Many times, especially as we go through hard times, it is easy to complain thinking you have done everything right so things should turn out how you envisioned them. It is easy to think things should go your way because you put in the time and hard work. In reality, if used properly, these are the times when you can experience the most growth. The hard times will make you stronger if you use them properly.

Use hard times to your advantage

So how do you use hard times to your advantage? There are always lessons to be learned through challenges. During the last five years the U.S. and many parts of the world have gone through very hard times economically. Thousands of people lost their jobs and companies went out of business. In addition, many people lost their homes. Some people might ask, what good can come from this? These challenging times have been very hard, scary, and real for many people. [Read more…] about Leadership Blessings Through Hard Times

The Debate On Empowerment vs Entitlement

By Brandon W. Jones on March 25, 2013 0

In leadership and government, there is a constant debate on empowerment vs entitlement. People on both sides empowerment vs entitlement debate feel that their approach will lead to success. Some people believe that people are born with specific entitlements that come in the form of specific rights and privileges while others feel everything you get in life should be earned.

Define Empowerment vs Entitlement

To fully understand the empowerment vs entitlement debate, it is important to understand the meaning of empowerment vs entitlement. Entitlement as defined in the dictionary means, “to give (a person) the right to do or have something; qualify; allow.” or “the right to guaranteed benefits under a government program.” Empowerment, on the other hand means, “the giving or delegation of power or authority; authorization.” It also means, “to give power or authority to; authorize, especially by legal or official means: I empowered my agent to make the deal for me. The local ordinance empowers the board of health to close unsanitary restaurants.” These two approaches have gained additional momentum because of the downturn in the economy. Everyone wants to be successful and come out of their current economic slump. [Read more…] about The Debate On Empowerment vs Entitlement

Avoid Derailing The Meeting

By Brandon W. Jones on March 1, 2013 0

Classic signs of someone derailing the meeting

A little while back, I received an email for an upcoming meeting. The email had an attached agenda that detailed the topics to be discussed, the attendees, and the desired outcome of the meeting. Sounds like the start to a great meeting, right? When I showed up to the meeting, the facilitator gave a brief review of the agenda to get everyone thinking about what we would talk about. Still on the right track! What a prepared facilitator! She did a great job getting everyone prepared for the meeting so it could be a success! Beware of the person derailing the meeting…

So the meeting should’ve gone perfect from there with every topic discussed and all points addressed within the time frame specified right? Well, not quite. We started into the first agenda item and one person asked a few questions about a point that wasn’t really related to the meeting. The classic start to someone derailing the meeting. From there, everyone in the meeting began talking about that topic and going into related details. It wasn’t long before the originally scheduled meeting wasn’t happening, probably no more than 10 minutes into the meeting. We were having a completely different meeting with the original agenda out the window.

Have you ever sat through a meeting like that? The meeting facilitator was well prepared with the agenda items. She also had everything lined out, so that everyone would stay on track. The problem, however, came down to the execution of the meeting.

There was an article in the Wall Street Journal titled, Meet The Meeting Killers, by Sue Shellenbarger that discussed five types of people that are always guilty of derailing the meeting. [Read more…] about Avoid Derailing The Meeting

What Happens If You Scream As The Leader?

By Brandon W. Jones on August 16, 2012 4

In leadership, there are just as many methods of communication as there are leaders. Have you ever worked for a boss that liked to scream at you or others that you worked with? How did it make you feel? Or, have you worked for a boss that spoke calmly, and/or softly with words penetrated your souls? How did that leader make you feel? Each method of communication makes you feel a different way.

Today, I read the Wall Street Journal article titled, When The Boss Is A Screamer by Sue Shellenbarger. The article explained that the leaders from the past yelled and screamed at their employees to get things done. Yelling in the work place was a very common practice, but leadership is changing. Today’s leader is much more calm cool and collective.

Why is today’s leader different? In order to understand why today’s leader is different, you must understand the results from of being a screamer. The article mentioned six things that happen to employees as a result of yelling. Employees will:

Have a decrease in their working memory which is your memory that allows you to store and use information from your memory.
Bring less creativity to their jobs
Become less competent in performing tasks
Quit their jobs at higher rates
Avoid resolving conflicts, allowing them to escalate
Speed up their work on simple familiar tasks

If you have worked for a screamer before, you have probably experienced one of the feelings mentioned above. I have worked for a screamer and each of the results holds true. [Read more…] about What Happens If You Scream As The Leader?

Benefits And Challenges Of A Flat Hierarchy

By Brandon W. Jones on June 21, 2012 0

In leadership, a common hierarchy has one person at the top that oversees everyone else. That one person is responsible for making all the decisions and telling everyone else what to do. They are the leader and will be held responsible for the success and failure of their company or organization. This hierarchy has existed for so long that many people don’t think you can be a leader unless you are responsible for leading your group or organization.

Flat Hierarchy

Today, however, many people are starting to have leaders in a flat hierarchy organization. There are leaders in organizations where everyone is on the same plane. These organizations have no bosses and not one person has all the control. Many people would say that this type of a setup can’t exist and be successful because there is no leader. Some people would even say that leadership, success, and a flat hierarchy don’t belong in the same sentence. [Read more…] about Benefits And Challenges Of A Flat Hierarchy