Yeast, the Sun,

and Leadership.

I get (and agree with) what Paul Ryan’s advice to Mr. Obama was all about when he visited the White House yesterday and reminded the man that “leadership starts at the top,” but I take some exception to the semantics of what that advice might suggest as it is applied to the rest of the world. 

———————————————-

Leadership, like yeast, like the sun on the horizon, rises from low places. It starts, often below the surface, and grows to recognition, then to love and respect or –sadly, in many cases– to fear and loathing, with little room left in-between those two extremes for tolerance and apathy. The problem is that yeast and the sun are fairly predictable.

Some aspects of leadership are also predictable.

Qualities like being able to inspire and motivate others, for example, are part of almost every description of leadership since the beginning of time.

Truth and reality, however, measure all leadership by one word alone.

What’s your best guess?

What single word sums up “leadership” most definitively?

Surely you know the word if you think about it enough. It’s authenticity. Authenticity of character, of personality, of purpose, of attitude, of responsiveness, of courage, of self-image, of the nature of the people involved, of the nature of the tasks to be done. It cannot be manufactured, pretended, stolen, replaced, avoided, dismissed, disregarded, or disarmed.  

Almost never to be found near government or political enterprises or management: authenticity. And rarely does it appear in corporate life when it isn’t guarded — easy to understand when UN-authentic people hovering at the top feel threatened. Yet, say many, true authenticity must also be free, so how could it be guarded?

Okay, so cross off corporate authenticity. And what are we left with? Family life and small business. Why? Because there is less need to lie, make excuses, and cover one’s butt, and because entrepreneurial attitudes are not so affected and convoluted by status-ladder-climbing and artificial allegiances.

–————————————-

TEN EXAMPLES of authenticity:

1. Giving credit where credit is due.

2. Speaking up for what you believe in and supporting others who share your purpose.

3. Accepting responsibility without excuses.

4. Acknowledging screw-ups and owning up to your mistakes, also without excuses.

5. Taking immediate corrective action when called for instead of analyzing and seeking blame.

6. Being focused on the present “here and now” moment as much as possible.

7. Always acknowledging the human factor in every decision and action, even when others pass it over. Business transactions are impacted by illness, injury, and family issues.

8. Nurturing (and cultivating) positive and productive behavior and attitudes consistently.

9. Soliciting and respecting the opinions of others . . . praise in public and criticize (constructively) in private.

10. Treat every employee and every customer like the special people they are, the way YOU want to be treated, every day, all of the time, without exception.  

————————————

How do you measure up, stack up, size up, match up? What three steps do you need to take now to give rise to more of that authenticity you have inside you? Can you take that first step right now?

It is, you know, a choice. 

# # #

Your FREE subscription: Posts RSS Feed

Hal@Businessworks.US or 302.933.0116

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals. God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

As a writer, designer, teacher, 

artist, architect, landscaper,

jewelry-maker, stylist or stage

performer, if you’re not

risking . . . you’re not

being honest!

With special thanks to author Mary DeMuth for the three great words: “Risk being unliked” which were featured in her article, “A Smart Approach to MEMOIR” in the June 2011 issue of The WRITER.

Those of us who create for a living, who own, operate, or manage creative businesses understand immediately what the “Risk being unliked” message is all about. And does it apply to professional selling too? Absolutely.

Whether we create with computers or paint brushes; with crafts supplies, hair, or music; with classrooms or pen and paper, or with the ways we communicate our sales messages, we must –as Ms. DeMuth so aptly puts it– “Tell the truth as you understand it. If you’re a writer,” she says, “you have a moral obligation to do this.”

I propose that truth-telling applies to all businesses, even the least creative.

When your focus, your branding, your website, your messages, your employees, and most importantly YOU are all about telling the truth as you understand it, you are setting yourself up to cultivate strengthened long-term high-trust relationships. Those who unlike you for it are not those you want to deal with anyway.

Honesty is (still) the best policy!

I’m not suggesting any limitations here. What’s the best way to express this idea to people who earn their keep with their creative talents? Could there be any greater and more meaningful statement than the following six words from Shakespeare?:

To thine own self be true.

When you believe heart and soul that the line, the dimension, the color, the musical note, the arrangement, the word choice, the emphasis is what your gut, your intuitive experience, says it needs to be, go with it and don’t waste time worrying about winning a popularity contest. People will judge your authenticity, not your masks or apologies.

For ALL business pursuits, not fibbing to or misleading customers, employees, associates, partners, referrers, investors, professional advisors,  lenders, and the various communities you serve is just one chapter of your build-a-better-business book. Leadership transparency is another. Honoring commitments is yet a third. 

Delivering exactly what you say you’re going to deliver –and more– exactly when you say you’re going to deliver it is the standard by which others will continuously measure your business performance.

There’s risk involved in all of this, but as with the mark of true entrepreneurship, the risk is always a reasonable one. We’re not talking about harnessing creative spirit here. In fact, if anything, the suggestion is to set it free, and to recognize that the results produced by an honest free spirit outperform those born of smoke and mirrors.

Don’t throw the tending to details, business conduct, and tight-fisted money management out with the baby’s bathwater simply for the sake of being more expressive in the products, services, and ideas you create. But do stop cowering away from being straight-ahead with your work and with all those you come into contact with every day.

Your behavior is of course your choice. Where do you think your reputation comes from?                                            

# # #

Your FREE subscription: Posts RSS Feed

Hal@Businessworks.US or 302.933.0116

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals. God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Ah, yes, and yet another great 

business lesson from

Mr. Obama

Just imagine where your business would be if you kept only 24% of the promises you make. Now that may be some heavy-duty food for thought, but it shouldn’t be hard to answer the question. How about: “belly-up!”? That would probably be a realistic answer. 

The sad truth is that this 24% wasn’t plucked out of the air.

 It’s what was reported in today’s satellite radio world news as the percentage of promises that Mr. Obama made during his 2008 campaign that he has actually fulfilled.

I guess, for a politician, that’s staggeringly great, but –for you or me– we’d be out of business!

Just another reason we need to believe in (and fend for) ourselves and other small business owners. Just another reason to not trust politicians. I mean, the man was apparently counted at having made 550 some odd promises and –in the face of the good old political standby motto: “Under-Promise and Over-Deliver”– proceeded to do exactly the opposite!

Gee, great example, huh? Y’think our kids and grandkids should be taking lessons in good conduct and leadership from the man who pretends to exercise both? It’s not just a sad commentary on the times, it’s a disillusioning, amoral, disgraceful behavior pattern that surely we do not want to instill or nurture in our young people.

And, unquestionably, we cannot afford for our businesses to practice this “Promise ’em anything, but deliver less than a quarter of it” attitude. There’s just so long it can be masked with fake smiles and polished oratory. Customers will not keep lining up to buy anything. It is just not the way that honorable and smart businesspeople behave.

Even though voters have proven themselves utterly stupid time and time again, customers aren’t stupid.

Money straight from the pocket (even if it’s just a bunch of nickles) is more carefully analyzed and evaluated than the trillions none of us can relate to that slowly drain our assets and resources over decades.

So what’s a small business owner to do? Keep exercising caution as you spend, but –more importantly– exercise integrity. Be honest in your dealings with others. Win a reputation for it. Keep your promises. At all costs, even when you end up dented, honor your commitments. Deliver what you say you’re going to deliver.

And stand up for yourself, and for the authenticity you use to conduct your business, by taking a leadership role in representing to your elected officials –from your town hall to the White House– that you will no longer stand for deception and manipulation and outright lying about what will be delivered. Intentions alone don’t win OR work! 

Nip corruption and empty promises in the bud! Make more of an effort every day to serve as an example to others of what you believe is possible for your business and your industry or profession . . . and your government. When enough of us do it, enough others will sit up and pay attention.

There are 30 million small business owners in America. Surely we can make a difference. It starts with you, today and tomorrow morning. 

Posts RSS Feed FOR FREE BLOG SUBSCRIPTION

# # #

www.TheWriterWorks.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Reported today on Sirius radio’s America’s Newsroom . . .

One of every eight American

homes now stands empty! 

Based on today’s news . . .

This “one out of eight” no doubt

includes The White House!

Double-speak –such as that evidenced in tonight’s feeble address by Mr. Obama in attempting to justify his unauthorized headstrong reaction (instead of a measured response) to the challenges and sickness of another nation’s madman leader– doesn’t work for America’s people.

And guess what? Double-speak also doesn’t work for the business you own and/or run and/or manage.

Small business owners, first of all, know instinctively how to practice responding instead of reacting.

If we don’t, we’re out of business. Period.                

• It is lack of leadership that has emptied American homes. It is lack of leadership that has led America to falter and approach other nations balanced on weak knees.

• Lack of leadership is what brings down business enterprises and national governments alike. Clearly, America’s White House is as empty as the two suits that run our country.

• Lack of leadership, in the form of poor management, is responsible for 9 out of 11 new businesses failing within the first 2-3 years of existence (source: The SBA)  

~~~~~~~~

We —as small business owners and managers, and entrepreneurs– must learn from this place in history.

Incompetent leadership cannot be covered up with great oratory and superficial reasoning. We, the electorate see through it. While the facade pictures that are verbally painted may convince those who know not how to think for themselves, they no longer appease or hook those with intelligence.

When we cover up business incompetence, we lose customers; we go bankrupt. We lose.

If you or I were to run our businesses with the same Johnny-come-lately, wimpy, and universally arrogant intervention approaches that were expressed tonight by Mr. Obama, God bless us all.

He has done everything possible to undermine and smother small business because he fails utterly to understand it. He has in the process led us into world disgrace. His assessments –in addition to being unrealistic– are inflammatory to say the least. Talk about pouring gasoline on a fire!

You and I cannot make our business problems go away by giving a political speech and calling it an “explanation.”

We cannot avert financial collapse by offering endless apologies (or simply printing new money!).

We cannot achieve success by concentrating on competitors. 

Sad and unfortunate as it is, thousands of people die every day by acts of terrorism. When –and before– those forces become genuine threats to our existence, we need to act quickly and decisively and unapologetically to protect and preserve our interests.

Do we like what’s happening in Libya? Of course not. But Libya offers no such threat to America. The more the U.S. tries to become the world’s police force, the less effective the U.S. becomes. The more your business tries to monopolize a profession, industry, or marketplace, the less effective it becomes. But you already know that!

Do we like what all our competitors are doing. Of course not. Do we engage them apologetically and make that be productive for us? Are you kidding? Those who succeed in business are those who focus on their businesses, not on what other businesses are doing, or not doing, that may be distasteful. 

When it’s possible to help other businesses without putting your own at risk, go for it! Until then, strengthen yourself so you can get to that point. That works for business and business works! Being consistently authentic and honest and demonstrating integrity works for business too. Will shallow-minded ego-crazed politicians ever get it?    

Posts RSS Feed FREE blog subscription

# # #

302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Are You Making a Difference in 

Someone’s Life Right Now?

. . . Is Your Business?

Most people, it seems to me, share a whole myriad of negative goals. Things like: Stay away from jails, surgical procedures, lawyers, courtrooms, politicians, ER’s, dentist drills,and food poisoning.

There is, though, at least one positive goal that most all of us appear to share –at least in conscience if not in deed:

To make a difference.

It’s something like the moral of the story deal. You know, as in: “Hey! You’ve taken me through all this, so now what’s the lesson I’m supposed to have learned?”

No one wants to get to her or his deathbed without feeling like life has been worthwhile, or that he or she has helped make life worthwhile for someone else — that the Earth has been left a slightly better place than it was to enter.

It does sometimes feel like technology has taken over, like privacy has been violated and values have been led astray. Yet those who care about those they live with and near, about those they work for and with, about those they celebrate and mourn, persevere in their pursuit of happiness. Because the pursuit alone IS happiness.

Entrepreneurs get it. I’ve always thought the “P” in “Entrepreneurs” stands for “Pursuit,” and that the “s” stands for “seek.”  

We seek to make a difference in life, in our businesses, in the industry or profession each of us is involved with. We seek to make a difference in the lives of our parents and children, and grandchildren (and, yes, our pets!). . . in the lives of our associates and employees, in our communities and neighborhoods . . . and on our fragile planet. 

We like to think that others do, or can, or will benefit by the examples we set, the charitable deeds we do, and the authenticity and good cheer with which we approach our work and day-to-day existences.

The intensity of purpose that embraces these kinds of positive pursuits inevitably grows as we grow older and more aware of who we are and where we are and what we’re doing.

Growing older moves us ever closer to the fabled moments in time that “dwindle down to those precious few.”

And the calendar pages turn and the clock ticks on relentlessly.

What’s that about “time and tide”?

Is it too late?

Is it ever too late for anything, except perhaps enjoying ice cream once it’s melted?

Thinking and acting like it’s too late to change course, to make a difference for yourself, for others, is a choice. If you’re still alive, you still have a choice.

Is your business still alive? If you are, it is. 

# # #

YOUR FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO THIS BLOG, CLICK: Posts RSS Feed

www.TheWriterWorks.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!”   [Thomas Jefferson]

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

And in the sweetness of

                                     

friendship let there be

                                       

laughter, and sharing

                                  

of pleasures. For in the

                             

dew of little things the

                           

heart finds its morning

                  

and is refreshed.”

--Kahlil Gibran

“A sense of humor can be priceless in frustrating situations. Having a sense of humor does not mean laughing and joking all the time. But many of life’s problems and predicaments are the result of weaknesses and mistakes.

“If you can recognize these first and release some of your tensions by seeing the humor in a situation, you will be in better condition to begin the serious business of making adjustments.”

--Rita K. Baltus, PERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY FOR LIFE AND WORK

It’s probably true that the boardroom meeting gone sour at hearing the latest plunge-in-sales report, may not be the best venue for reenacting a joyful rendition of “Singing in the Rain” with a tabletop tap-dance.

One might also be well-advised to avoid raising outstretched hands to the roomful of grey-pinstriped-suit-clad directors and addressing them in mock whisper:

Did you hear the one about this guy goes into a bar with a purple parrot hanging off his belt . . .?”

But well-timed doses of tasteful humor do have a place in business. Humor almost always plays an important role in establishing, re-establishing and maintaining balance and harmony in business ownership and business management settings. For leaders, small periodic shots of self-effacing humor lets team members know they’re being led by authenticity.

It’s definitely true that getting a serious-minded sales prospect or existing or past customer to crack a smile or chuckle serves to lighten the burdensome parts of the sales message and generally makes that individual or group more receptive to exploring available products or services in a positive frame of mind.

She/he/they will also be more likely to engage with the emotional buying motive triggers that account for every sale of every product, every service and every idea . . . even those that seem like they are prompted by rational and logical-based decisions.

 Tasteful, well-placed humor is typically exercised most successfully by entrepreneurial thinkers and doers who are self-confident , self-reliant, and proactive thinking. Humor bullets are most often fired by those who are “sales personalities,” who are outgoing people who are invested in building and strengthening relationships.

But plenty of business humor has found its way to the top of agendas hosted by serious introverted business leaders as well, including Henry Ford, Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, and Thomas Edison, to name just a few. So it’s not a question of that you either have it or you don’t. It’s instead a question of timing, presentation, and appropriateness. And all three are within your reach.

You think you don’t have it in you to make humor part of your repertoire? Then work at it. You really can improve, you know. Aldous Leonard Huxley (You remember him, right? He sat behind you in third grade . . . or was it fifth?) once said:

There’s only one corner of the universe that you can be certain of improving and that’s your own self.”  

# # #

hal@businessworks.US

STRATEGY/ CONTENT/ CONNECTION

931.854.0474 Coaching for Higher Branding Impact

Business Development/ National-Awards/ Record Client Sales

Personal & Professional Growth/ Creative Entrepreneurial Thinking

Shhhh… it’s Quiet

Authenticity.

     Charging onto the battlefield on horseback with swords swishing and guns blazing is the Hollywoodized image many have when the word “Leadership” is mentioned. Of course many others draw from contemporary examples of visualizing a lecturing orator telling all how great things are and will soon be.

     But truly effective leaders are not bursting into battle, or on front page stages or the 11 o’clock news. Because they’re quiet.

     The greatest business and healthcare and educational leaders I have known, and I’ve had the privilege of knowing many, have been quiet leaders. They universally avoid shouting, bullying, pushing, complaining, intimidating, prodding, game-playing, undermining, and hidden agendas in favor of what I call 3-D Leadership.

3-D Leaders DESIGN, DEVELOP,

AND DELIVER.

     Strong leaders invest themselves in preventive maintenance, in defusing and sidestepping the nonproductive contentiousness of those who would draw lines in the sand at every opportunity. Yet most, it seems to me, as they “walk” Teddy Roosevelt “softly” also follow his philosophy and “carry a big stick”. . . not unlike Thomas Jefferson’s quest for “eternal vigilance” noted at the close of my blog posts, or Henry David Thoreau’s motto to “Be forever on the alert.”

     Leaders who practice 3-D Leadership are women and men (and yes, some special children) who are consistently tuned in to getting the task at hand done while staying alert to what’s behind the door, around the corner and up the road vs. dwelling on issues that have gone by the boards, or on promising to deliver undeliverables.

     3-D Leaders influence, inspire, and motivate others by demonstrating . . . by setting examples and sharing knowledge and experiences. They communicate clearly. They know just the right amount of information to offer and absorb at just the right times vs. too much or too little too soon or too late.

     To be a DESIGN/DEVELOP/DELIVER-focused leader requires a large and rare repertoire of skills, talents, instincts, values, belief systems, and human qualities that all add up to authenticity. Leaders who put authenticity first in their own lives and in their affiliations are those who exude transparency. There is nothing to hide.

     These are people who are true to themselves and instinctively seek the positive and the good in others. They thrive in 3-D opportunity environments. It’s invigorating to be one, though few who are, I believe, tend to realize they are. It’s invigorating to follow one. And this I know because I have been fortunate enough to have followed a few.

     If you seek to achieve the ends I’ve described, I can only applaud your ambitions, wish you great open mindedness, and suggest you start by being true to yourself as much of the time as possible with every passing hour in your life. When you get there, call me and let’s do lunch.

Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals!

God Bless You! God Bless America, and God Bless our troops 

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

If you failed to teach a

key employee 

something important

today, are you

missing the boat?

     With what I presume to be 55% of American employees being UNhappy [See yesterday’s blog post below this one], there’s very little “happiness-transition” wiggle room for a business owner or manager to exercise. The first important step, though, in the direction of kicking up productivity is to more fully engage employees in the day-to-day operations of your business. 

     Should you flat out trust the one person who seems most likely to head off to a competitor? Should you risk sharing critical product development or service expense information with people who you’re not confident will even be there in six months? Does it make any sense to encourage the employee your classmates would vote “Most likely to be brain-dead,” who you’ve kept around to do the slug work nobody else will touch? Sometimes the least likely people rise to the occasion. Think on that one.

     How about — instead of asking those questions about your employees — you ask some questions of your SELF? Where, for example, are you and your business headed right now? Where do you expect to be in five years? How (what’s the process you’ll use) do you expect to survive the next five months? What will you be doing differently then than you’re doing today? Why are you waiting five months?

     Keeping on that track for another minute, what’s something new you’ve learned about your business today? What’s something new you’ve learned about your SELF today? (Yes, both events did in fact occur; you just blocked them out or didn’t give yourself enough credit for the discoveries.)

     How will any of that new information help you tomorrow? When was the last time you and your family depended on someone else’s decision making? When was the last time you put yourself in your employees’ shoes and thought about their perspective of your business and your decision making? How do you think dependency feels?

     When was the last time you stopped long enough to teach an employee something important that she or he can use to do a better job, or be able to take home to share with family? Do you take active interest in your people every day? Why not? They may never admit it and you may never believe it, but all studies ever done would reinforce that you can be sure they take active interest in you every day, probably every hour! 

     So, that means you’re obliged to return the interest? No. You’re obliged to do everything you can possibly do to cultivate employee enthusiasm for the work they are doing. When financial reward is not possible, emotional support and psychological reward and teaching by example have to suffice. And if you’re consistent about making those money-substitutes work, they will. All human beings need reinforcement and reassurance. Employees need it from their bosses. Are you on it?                                                                              

Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day! Blog via RSS feed or $1/mo Kindle. GRANDPARENT Gift? http://bit.ly/3nDlGF

Stop writing to, at, for, under, and

over customers. Write WITH them!

     I read an e-zine article published today by an “author/trainer and full time radio host” (we’ll call her FP), entitled “How to write a GREAT direct response letter” that made me wonder what indeed Ms. FP is authoring, training, and radio-hosting about. Surely it can’t be the direct response letter writing skills her article would appear to lay claim to.

     As if it were “BREAKING NEWS…” chugging across the screen, she wraps her snappy little  lecturette around a paralyzingly old acronym: AIDA (for Attract ATTENTION; Create INTEREST; Stimulate DESIRE and Bring About ACTION). Sounds okay, huh? But it’s not!

     This formula, first of all, was updated almost 30 years ago to add a final “S” to the AIDA guideline (Note, btw, a “guideline” NOT a “how to”) making it: AIDAS. The last “S” is for Ensure SATISFACTION. Without the last “S,” Ms. FP, you have a big “NO SALE” and your magical “how to” approach flushes away with one flick of the handle.

There is only one way to write killer copy that sells, and it is the same way to give killer sales presentations that sell — from the heart, and from the mindset of being on the same side of the table as the customer, helping the customer solve the customer’s problem.”

      This means (Ms. FP does manage to get this right, but doesn’t take it far enough) the focus needs to be on addressing the benefits, not the features. Features do make engineers, manufacturers and designers happy. But customers only use features to justify their purchase decisions to bosses, stockholders, spouses, etc.

     Answering the question, “What’s in it for me?” is the only question a customer really cares about. Isn’t it what YOU think about when you’re being a customer?

     Triggering an emotional buying motive (which is the deciding factor in every purchase, even those you might think are completely rational, analytical, and unemotional) requires a true talent for persuasive writing and one-on-one selling that probably 50% of the world’s population have, but that probably fewer than 1% know how to use.

     Lots of people THINK they can write words that sell, and many THINK they can speak words that sell, but reality overwhelmingly suggests that those thoughts almost never translate to big-time performance.

     Lack of self-esteem, authenticity, empathy, product knowledge, marketing experience — and realization that choice and resolve can make the difference — are ordinarily the culprits.

     When you have doubts about your ability to write or speak the best sets of words to sell your products and services, find a proven professional wordsmith. How? Look for great writing, then find the writer. You only get one chance at a first impression.

Note: $1 billion in client sales have been attributed to Hal’s award-winning creations.

 # # #  

 LOOKING FOR LEADERSHIP? See Hal’s 12/30 Guest Blog Post at TBD Consulting’s Jonena Relth’s HIGHLY-RECOMMENDED site http://bit.ly/XhN1h

 WONDERING WHEN NO is Better Than MAYBE? See Hal’s 1/6 Guest Blog Post in BonMot Communications’ Angelique Rewer’s FREE HIGHLY-RECOMMENDED e-zine www.thecorporatecommunicator.net 

# # #               

“We cannot afford another

year like last year, and survive!”

                                                                                                             –A farmer, a doctor, and two retailers

     Whether America’s Federal Government is small business ignorant, or small business hostile –and surely it has proven to be at least one of these — makes little difference.

     In the end, you need to accept that politicians with zero business experience surrounded by advisors with zero business experience are on the cusp of running America’s businesses into the ground.

     Accept it, dismiss it, and get on with life.

     Why? Because this isn’t football. The more energy you expend worrying and fretting about the opposition — the more attention you divert from growing your own business — the less effective, less productive, and less efficient you and your people become.

     This isn’t football. It’s rape. Over-dramatic? No.

     Small business people are being violated every day by political zealots who haven’t a clue about the daily outpouring of blood, sweat and tears that go into owning and operating and managing and growing a business.

     We are about to be overrun by a healthcare reform plan that forces increased government control on our lives, even to the point of imposing fines on those who don’t buy in and that force us to see providers we don’t choose.

    This so-called “healthcare” plan in fact addresses just about every subject under the sun except healthcare. And it fails to foster (or even acknowledge) the necessary lifeblood of effective healthcare reform: free market price competition. Oh, and we’ll all be paying for it for decades. 

     We are looking at a cap and trade plan that forces increased government control on our lives, even to the point of preventing us from selling our own homes unless they measure up to expensive and meaningless government imposed standards. Oh, and we’ll all be paying for it for decades.

     We are days away from an utterly meaningless Senate jobs bill which pumps up government jobs and puts some totally confusing tax-credit bait on the end of the fishing line for all those small business owners who have nothing to do except pour through paperwork trying to figure out how to qualify (or who will have to pay through the nose for CPAs and tax attorneys to do it for them).

     Maybe small businesses should get subsidized for creating work for CPAs and lawyers?

     So, what’s the way out?

     There’s one way out and very little choice involved. Here’s the solution: Charge forward with your head down and work your butt off at customer cultivation and customer service. Remember how you felt when you started your business or manager job? Kinda like that.

     What else? You need to take even more innovative approaches to developing your products, services, markets and ideas.

     Anything more? Yes, you must continually add value to everything you sell.

     And, above all, you need to do whatever is necessary to maintain high-level trust and integrity reputations with every customer, prospect, associate, employee, vendor, referrer, visitor, and community you serve … with every encounter, every day.

Your personal authenticity and the authenticity of your business will rise above the tumolt and threats and deceptiveness and empty promises. And when you succeed for yourself, you will be succeeding for many. 

                                                                                  # # #

More on 2010 “LEADERSHIP”? Come visit me and comment on my Guest Blog post at TBD Consulting’s Jonena Relth’s site http://bit.ly/XhN1h

# # #