Leaders Are Readers

Today knowledge becomes obsolete at an ever increasing rate. Knowledge is like vegetables. They keep fresh only for so long. With any perishable commodity it is vital to renew and refresh our knowledge base. Be a lifelong student and read a little every day. You invest in your personal development by your continuous learning efforts. In addition to your field of special interest read up on history, philosophy and biographies of men and women you admire. You stay ahead and read to lead.

Avoid The Blame Game

It is easy to focus on whose fault it is, instead of on solutions, when something goes wrong. It is much more constructive to look ahead and take away the heat from bad news by focusing on future action instead of past blame. Questions to ask include: What can be done now to solve the problem? Who is the best person to solve it? What can we do to prevent this problem from happening again? Focus on action and avoid blame!

You Get What You Deserve

In general you get in life what you are ready for. Our opportunities and challenges are proportionate to our level of growth. We get the salary we deserve. We get the business and the customers we deserve. There is a saying that goes: “When the student is ready the teacher appears.” The key is to work on your capacity for learning or any other skill, for that matter. You get what you deserve. If you want more you have to deserve more.

Practice The Drill

In the military when new recruits start they get a drill-sergeant assigned to them to train them in such areas as military discipline, physical fitness and weapons training. Soldiers are subjected to long hours of disciplinary training of things they already know so they will continue to function properly when they are put under extreme stress and no longer can think clearly. When you prepare and practice a lot you too will be able to perform well under pressure.

Learn To Cut Your Losses

Sometimes you need to cut your losses of time and effort when a financial investment is not performing or a negotiation has come to a stand still. Cutting your losses is difficult emotionally because of the perception that I have already invested so much. However, the sober way of looking at it is to view any continued, future investment in a negotiation or financial instruments as a new decision to make an investment from now on out. What happened yesterday is sunk cost and should not go into the decision making process at all. Learn to cut your losses.

Finding Your Passion

Finding what you are interested in and enjoy doing is an important step to higher achievements. When you find your passion you will experience excitement, more energy and increased levels of creativity. Questions to ask are; What would I do if I knew I could not fail? What's the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning? If the associated emotions are positive that's a clue you are on to your passion. You owe it to yourself to find it!

Your Guanxi Account

In the Chinese culture they have something called Guanxi. You have to first build your Guanxi in every relationship involved in order to do business. In the western world we are willing to give credit and treat new relationships under a benefit of the doubt policy. Not so in China! I once saw a sign in a Chinese store in San Francisco that read; "In God we trust, all others pay cash." Focus on the relationship first and build up your Guanxi account. You never know when you need to make a withdrawal.