Work Ethic

The Power Of Choices

By Brandon W. Jones on March 12, 2013 2

Do you understand the power of choices? Everyday brings new choices and challenges. You have to choose what to eat, what to wear, how to spend your time, what projects to work on, where you spend your money, who you spend your time with, etc. We have to make many choices everyday. Some of the choices are hard and others are easy. As a leader, it is important to make good choices. In this post I will share three important aspects of choices for you to consider to help you understand the power of choices.

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Your power of choices as the leader

The power of choices is very evident as a leader. You make choices all the time that almost always effect someone else. Many times your choices have a major impact on those you lead. In addition, the choices you make, as a leader, directly effect the behavior of your followers. You set the example. As you make good choices, there is a good chance those you lead will follow suit and make good choices as well. At the same time, when you make bad choices you send a message to your followers that bad choices are okay. (Have you seen the companies in the news with multiple people making bad choices?)

Ultimately, you have the power of choices and with that, you can choose between three types of choices.

Good Choices. There are many choices that are good. Many of the good choices will help you move in the right direction in your life. They allow you to do good things that will help yourself and others.
Better Choices. However, even though there are many good choices, there are also better choices. The better choices come in disguise because they are a little harder to see right off the bat. The better choices help you reach your goals a little faster than the good choices. They help you to move in a right direction but at a quicker pace than the good choices.
Best Choices. In addition to the good and better choices, there are also the best choices. The best choices help you reach your goals the quickest. They can be looked at as the top level choices. As leaders, you should always seek the best choices.

Advice For New Leaders

By Brandon W. Jones on March 6, 2013 10

I was recently asked, “What would you give as advice for new leaders?” To answer this question, I think you have to go back in time to when you were a new leader. As a new leader there are many things that go through your head. You may feel excited, overwhelmed, nervous, and/or a wide range of other emotions. These feelings are normal and expected.

As a new leader, you are in a position where you have a lot of control over things that you didn’t have control over in the past. Once you get over the initial range of emotions, it is time to get to work. So what is my advice for new leaders?

Three Pieces Of Advice For New Leaders

Change slowly at first

As a new leader, it is easy to get change fever. You will want to change the whole world by making sweeping changes ranging from how things are run to what people do. My advice for new leaders is that it is okay to make changes, but you need to do it slowly at first. Before you make sweeping changes, try to understand the existing processes.

What roles do people have? Who is responsible for what? Which processes are effective and which ones have been problems for years that people were too afraid to bring up? Once you understand how things are currently run, you will be able to identify how to best change things going forward. You can make changes that help the processes to move more smoothly. If you make sweeping changes without understanding the background and reasoning behind the existing processes, you may find yourself changing something that doesn’t need to be changed. [Read more…] about Advice For New Leaders

10 Lessons Learned From Leadership Examples

By Brandon W. Jones on March 4, 2013 6

Several great leaders in the form of teachers, athletic coaches, mentors, peers, youth group leaders, friends, and others have touched my life through their leadership examples. They’ve shaped me into the person I am today. They’ve told me when I was doing something wrong and encouraged me when I was going through a challenge. In addition, they’ve taught me correct principles to help me avoid mistakes. Of all the great leaders I’ve had, there have been two that have taught me more than anyone else.

My Leadership Examples

Those two great leadership examples are my parents. My dad and mom have been great leadership examples throughout my life. They’ve taught me many important leadership principles throughout my life. They both understand that they are leadership examples to me so they teach leadership principles whenever possible. Their leadership examples are very powerful. They’ve taught me the following ten lessons.

1. Lead By Example

My dad and mom taught me the importance of leading by example. As the leader, you can set the example for those you lead. When you lead a diverse group, you may not fully understand everything your employees work on, but you can still set an example when it comes to values.

2. Have Faith

As I mentioned in my previous post, my mom and dad have always taught me to have faith in God, other people, and myself. They taught me through words and by their leadership examples. As a leader, faith allows you to get things done that you never thought possible. [Read more…] about 10 Lessons Learned From Leadership Examples

The Five B’s Of Leadership Organization

By Brandon W. Jones on February 7, 2013 4

In order to be a good leader it is very important to be organized. As a leader, this can also be quite a challenge because in most cases leaders have many responsibilities that they must constantly balance to be effective in what they do. It can be very easy to become very organized in your approach to one responsibility, while letting others gradually get less organized.

The Five B’s of Leadership Organization

The five B’s of organization will help you as a leader to focus your energy so that you can stay organized and maintain balance in your life.

1. Be organized In your communication.

As a leader, you must communicate with others regularly. That communication is done in many forms, e.g. public speaking, email, letters, meetings, etc. To be organized in your communication means that you have a consistent message that goes out to everyone. To be organized, you are also direct in the message that you convey.

Have you ever worked for someone that would tell you one thing in front of your coworkers and then something different in front of your boss or other departments? Isn’t that frustrating? A leader that is organized in their communication, maintains their integrity by keeping the same message on all fronts. When you, as a leader, are organized in your communication, you gain the trust and respect of those you lead and they are more willing to follow you. [Read more…] about The Five B’s Of Leadership Organization

4 Leadership Lessons From The Olympics

By Brandon W. Jones on July 30, 2012 0

If you are in leadership, you probably face many challenges on a regular basis. As a leader, you must determine how to overcome those challenges. Just as leaders face challenges, Olympians also face challenges in reaching their goals and winning their competitions.

With the Olympics just underway, there are many people everywhere that are glued to their television. All the Olympians are leaders in their event because they have obtained a level of excellence. They have learned how to face challenges and overcome them. The challenges that athletes face are, in many ways, different than those faced by business leaders or leaders in other aspects of life, but there are leadership lessons to be learned and applied to all aspects of leadership.

Hard Work

Every Olympian has worked hard to master their event. They have gone through many hours of practice and have put in a lot of extra time to succeed. They understand that nothing worth obtaining comes easy or without a price. That price is hard work.

Great leaders also understand the importance of hard work. They understand that their success will come as they put forth a great amount of effort. Leaders know that if they don’t work hard they won’t get the desired results for which they hope. Hard work is a key to success.

Be Your Best Self As A Leader

By Brandon W. Jones on June 4, 2012 2

Lesson From Wrestling

Several years ago I had a defining moment. I was a wrestler in high school and it was my senior year. Prior to the start of the wrestling season, I hurt my back working out. During the first few weeks of the season I was still on the mend, but I was fit/healthy enough to do a full workout. I still had a some back pain as a result of the injury, but it was more of a soreness than pain.

The pain led me to be more lazy and put forth less effort. I used the excuse of my back pain as the reason for my lack of effort. I know back pain can limit a person’s ability, but this was not the case for me. I had the ability to do more, but I was just not giving my full effort as I should.

Around that same time, I had an appointment with a doctor to get my back checked out. When I went to the doctor’s office to get my back checked, he said there were no major problems from the injury and I could return to complete physical activity. The doctor didn’t set any limitations on me because of my injury.

Once I had been cleared by the doctor, I had to make a decision. I could either give wrestling my full effort and be a different wrestler than I was in the past, or I could just work as hard as I had in the past and be a mediocre wrestler. Well, I chose to work hard and be different than I was in the past. [Read more…] about Be Your Best Self As A Leader