Growing Leadership

Yesterday as part of Share the Learning, I discussed my quote, "When You See the Learning, Everything Changes." One of the things that change when you gain awareness is your attitude. Suddenly your doubts, insecurities, and your lack of action go away. You now feel good about your next step, your direction, your destination. You suddenly have a good attitude, and you are excited to be moving forward. But, here is the thing. What comes first? Discovery learning that gives you a positive attitude or a positive attitude that creates the possibility of discovery? We often get that wrong and wait to feel good and have a positive mindset before starting anything. The other thing I learned about attitude is that our attitude is not contagious. We can't catch a bad or good attitude from other people or our situation. It is not a virus. Only we decide on our attitude. Only we select a good or lousy mindset. So if you find yourself with a bad attitude, it is up to you to change it. Since we are the only ones who choose our attitude, chose a positive one.

Part of my founding story is the idea of "When you see the Learning, Everything Changes." It is also called situational awareness and is a vital ingredient in moving along the Leadership and learning model to achieving understanding and ultimately taking ownership of the learning. When I first started, I did not have the tools to explain this process, and I kept the learning to myself. I figured nobody would understand what I was talking about, so it would be best if I kept it quiet. But that is not how you grow, not how you connect and add value to others. Once you see the learning, you start a journey of discovery, and the best way to speed up the process is to share the knowledge with others. The best way to take ownership of the learning is to teach the learning. That is why share the learning is a critical part of my company's culture.

I learned the meaning of Rock Steady when I was a young Second-Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Rock Steady was our slogan when we returned a salute while assigned to Ayers Kaserne as part of the 3rd Armored Division. Ayers was known as the 'Rock.' The term Rock Steady stayed with me after my first assignment, and I continued to use it throughout my career, including my retirement years. I am sure the Military Police at Gowen Field, Boise, ID, look at me a little strange when I return their salutes with Rock Steady, even today. Rock Steady stands not only for a slogan of a long-gone Army post in Germany but a message of being a fellow soldier, a directive to be persistent with a purpose, to a call to action when times are tough. Then next time you feel like the world is against you, say it aloud – Rock Steady.

The difference between managing a team and leading a team is found in how the Boss checks the organization. I was taught in the military that an organization only does well, what the boss checks. That means the leader must check everything with the leader's eyes, ears, and standards. But that is not Leadership; that is Management. The role of the leader is to train and equip the members of the organization with the leader's eyes, ears, and standards so when the team is checking, it checks as the leader would check. Then the role of the leader is to empower the team to check as the leader would check, see as the leader would see, and listen as the leader would listen. A leader running around trying to check everything is simply a manager trying to manage the organization. Instead, equip and empower teams of teams.

The most important thing we do for our customers and clients is to deliver. All the information on our head, those ideas, our products, services, and inventory does us no good if it stays inside our head, inside the warehouse, inside the closed doors of our company. If you cannot deliver, you might as be Amazon, with a fantastic selection of products and no way to get it to the customer. What method do you use to deliver your ideas, products, and services, and is it working for you? Is it working for your customers? Which is more important? The culture of MTLeadership demands that I always get better at delivery. Always seeing better tools and products that create customer experiences that are what the customer needs and wants. Not what I need and want. How is that working in your company? No matter how great – if you can't deliver – you cant connect.

Adding Value to Others is a vital element of my companies culture. Unfortunately, some companies believe that success comes from taking value – which is harsh but true. But I am committed to my clients, customers, and employees to constantly add value to them. To do that, I need to add value to myself by investing in myself and my company. The same goes for you. When you work with me, I cannot add value to you unless you are ready to add value to yourself and prepare to invest in yourself. Again, harsh but true. The culture of MT2Leadership is to add value to others but adding values is a two-way street. However, I do know that when you add value to others, the value comes back as multiplication – it comes back 10-fold. Likewise, when you invest in yourself, you add value to yourself, which multiplies the same way. The letter 'A' stands for Add Value to Others.

Today we look at the letter E in MT2Leadership. It stands for exceeding expectations. In this blog, I share a story about an event that I have not talked about for many years. I reflect on a time that I needed a piece of military equipment to exceed specifications to save the life of a young officer. While all the soldiers, Non-Commissioned Officers, and Officers on-site exceeded expectations, the recovery mission relied on one piece of hardware that should not have been used. Still, it was the only tool we had to save a life. A simple D-Ring taught me a lot about exceeding expectations and why I feel it is an essential part of my companies culture.

The Letter L in MT2Leadership stands for Look, Listen, Learn, then Lead from the Heart. Look and Listen is more than what your parents told you when it came to crossing the road. Combining Awareness with Understanding, you Learn from your experiences, and you are in a stronger position to take decisive action. But just having the facts is a starting point, as you must take ownership of your actions which means you need to act from your Heart. Yes, your head has all the knowledge you need to move forward, and your brain is really good at managing the situation. But that is Management. Leadership comes from the Heart. You have heard me say this as part of the letter T in MT2Leadership. You move from Awareness thru Understanding to Ownership. And that means you Look, Listen, Learn, and then Lead from your Heart.

Meeting 1-2-1 is more than when you meet just one person, one networking group, one customer, or a packed audience. 1-to-1 means to meet them where they are and not where you are. It is not a 1 and 1. In 1-2-1, you need to believe, value and unconditionally love your audience, your customer, or the person you are meeting. When you believe in people, they believe in you. When you value people, you always give value to them. When you unconditionally love them, you give your all. You don't hold back. The people meeting or listening to you can tell the difference. Connections don't just happen. It takes work. To connect with people, you need to believe in them, value them, and unconditionally love them – Start with 1-2-1.

Over the next few days, I will break down the definition of culture in my company. I am starting with the Letter 'M' from MT2Leadership, which stands for Motivation Comes From Passion. Motivation is one of those things that we are told we must have to be successful. However, motivation is just seeking permission to do the next thing. Permission comes from others and/or ourselves. But, if we don't love what we are doing, we will not have a passion for what we are doing, and we will always be in search of motivation. The vicious cycle of searching for motivation is an up and down journey. That is why in my company, MT2Leadership, we start with our passions, and from our passion comes our inspiration to help you grow your company, yourself and add value with every interaction. ‘M’ equals “Motivation Comes From Passion.”

I read a blog post from Seth Godin where he talked about Cheap Shower Curtains. The dilemma of cheapness is pretty straightforward. We buy the cheaper item thinking we are saving money, but a cheap shower curtain falls apart, leaks, and creates a water damage problem over time. In the end, the cheap item cost us more money. While thinking about this, I came up with the question, who sold the cheap shower curtain, and did they know their product's results? Your business may have a tiered program where you provide different levels of service based on cost. That is normal. But, do you vary the quality of work, effort, and results based on the level the customer purchases. Do you cheapen yourself based on the level of engagement of your customer? Do your less expensive services and products end up hurting your customers in the long run? A less expensive, quality product or service is different from having a less expensive cheap product or service. Like the shower curtain, it's a hard lesson buying cheap. For your business and self-worth, it is a brutal lesson selling cheap.

Over the last few days, I targeted strategies to keep your business proactive and create value for your customers. I learned a lesson over time that having a strategy to build and grow your company is great, but culture beats strategy every time. I love that saying. Here is the challenge for you and your business; define your culture. In my case, I used MT2Leadership and added a definition of my culture based on each letter in the name. Your challenge is to do the same for your company and post it where everyone can see it. Your customers, empoyees, and yourself must know the definition of your culture. Once you see it, the challenge becomes to live by your culture.

We desire to standardize our business's operations based on the idea that standardization creates flexibility. Standardization is suitable for managing operations but is not good when leading people. Creating cookie-cutter responses to situations limits options. Options generate the ability to turn problems into opportunities. Those who have the most options win. Change your mindset from problems to possibilities, and you move from reactive to proactive. You start looking for opportunities before they become problems. Those with the most opportunities win.

Our beliefs define us, and that can be a good thing. For example, when we are on a team, we define ourselves by the positions, titles, and responsibilities of that team. It's kind of like baseball. You are known for the position you play: first basemen, shortstop, outfielder, or pitcher. The longer you play that position, the more you believe the position defines you. But let's think about this for a minute. So does the position you define yourself by have the ability to win the game? Let's go out to the ballfield and listen in to today's blog post.

As a tanker in the U.S. Army, I was trained to engage targets on the range in a specific order. The sequence was based on a couple of factors – near to far, most threatening to least threatening, high payoff to low payoff. In most cases, the near target was probably the most dangerous, while the distant targets were less. While it seems obvious, closer and more dangerous targets should be addressed first, business owners often get stuck focusing on the long targets. You see, it feels safer to work on the long-range target. There is more time, you are less pressed for decisions and actions, and working on the long target is an excellent excuse to ignore the close-in targets. But let's flip that and replace targets and threatening with opportunity. Should you ignore the close-in opportunities and stay focused on the long-range plan? Today's Blog thinks into this dilemma.

Yesterday I discussed Near vs. Far and how we can find it easier not to focus on the moment or the challenges and opportunities right before us but instead get lost working on the distant targets. Slow and Fast has a similar dilemma. We believe our customers and clients want fast service, but rather, they want quality server done quickly. When I was in the U.S. Army, I found leaders who tended to rush into situations and act quickly, resulting in disastrous results. We think a decisive leader is a 'quick to act' leader. Not true. I learned from John Maxwell that an effective leader knows to listen, learn, and then lead. Listening and Learning takes time upfront to set the conditions for success. If you rush the pizza, you can't fix it in the oven. If your service is fast out the door but of poor quality, it comes back in the door just as quickly. There is a difference between moving fast and being intentional and moving with a purpose. Setting conditions means to make haste – slowly…

Now that networking is getting back to full-time, and in person, it is time to go back to the basic foundations of connecting with people. Today's Blog discusses the three levels of listening and how they create an opportunity for you to add value and help make connections with the people you meet while networking.

During one of my live blog posts, I discuss elements of John Maxwell’s book, How Successful People Grow. The topic was eight ‘things’ that stop us from growing. I received several comments on that post, and most of them focused on one ‘thing.’ The Perfection Gap. Based on the comments, I decided to launch a webinar to dig deeper into Overcoming Perfectionism. Here is the link to sign up for the webinar. https://buff.ly/3eqEBM4

MT2 Growing Leadership Blog #17 – Monday Mentoring – To Start or Not to Start; That is the Question. Welcome to Monday Mentoring with the MTLeadership Growing Leadership Blog. Today is blog number 17, and we are looking at the age-old question, "To Start or Not to Start." I will work from some notes I captured from John C. Maxwell's book 'How Successful People Grow.' (Available on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3hOUVqb) Eight things hold us back from starting a new adventure, growing our business, creating a new product line, or writing a new book. John Maxwell calls them gaps. For many, they are not gaps but canyons that seem impossible to overcome. Well, the first step in concurring an obstacle is to identify the obstacle. Today, we take a look at the eight gaps that create limiting beliefs in ourselves and make us choose the "not to start" option when it comes to growing. To Start or Not To Start – don't let it be said, "He Chose Poorly." (10 points to whoever can answer what movie that quote came from… lol)

MT2 Growing Leadership Blog #16 – Leadership Game Friday – Roll the Dice. It's Leadership Game Friday. Last week we rolled the dice and drew a card from the John Maxwell's Leadership Game and then responded to the card live on the Blog. Answering random questions live is always a challenge but fun. I invite you to participate with me by answering the question from the card that I rolled. I would love to hear your thoughts and comments. If you would like to learn more about the Leadership Game and to use it in your company or organization, listen in. I discuss how the game works and how it can help your company in terms of Leadership, Growth, communications, and Sales. There is also a Teen version of the game for your youth organization. Let's see what card the dice roll gives me.

MT2 Growing Leadership Blog #15 – Thursday Educational Moment – Referrals Today we are talking about referrals. I did a lot of research on networking online and mostly learned about connecting computers together over a network. I then changed my search from networking to referrals and connecting. There I found one of Dr. Ivan Misner's podcasts on BNIpodcast.com. Episode 666, called the 5 Levels of a Referral, is based on his book 'Networking Like a Pro' – 2nd edition. (Here is a link to get the book and a testimonial that the content is fantastic for anybody that is networking and growing their business. You do not have to be in BNI to take advantage of the content of this book. An excellent read, and I think it will help you become a better connector. https://buff.ly/2ZS3xWM ) (Wait – I think I just gave a level three referral – let me write that down...) In today's discussion, I share with you the 5 levels of referrals and how you can apply them to your business to become a master connector for not only your company but all the businesses that you meet and work with. So listen in and see if you can figure out why the link and testimonial above is a level 3 referral – but only a level 3. Put in the comment section how I can turn that referral into a level 4 or 5 referral.

MT2 Growing Leadership Blog #14 – Monday Mentoring – Reproducing Leaders It’s time for Monday Mentoring – Today I am talking about reproducing leaders. The best way to grow your company is to grow the leadership team in your company. That starts with growing yourself with the intention of growing yourself out of your business. Yes, it is your company, your idea, your business… just imagine yourself as the owner/advisor/mentor to your business while a team you built runs the day-to-day operations… when your ready to dream that dream… your ready to start growing your leadership to a level where your team puts you out of a job… Ready to call start checking in from that sun chair on the beach?

Welcome to Leadership Game Friday. On Fridays, we roll the dice and draw a card from John Maxwell's Leadership Game and then responded to the card live on the Blog. Answering random questions live is always a challenge but fun. I invite you to participate with me by answering the question from the card that I rolled. I would love to hear your thoughts and comments. If you would like to learn more about the Leadership Game and how you can use it in your company or organization, listen in. I discuss how the game works and how it can help your company in terms of Leadership, Growth, communications, and sales. There is also a Teen version of the game for your youth organization. Let's see what card the dice roll gives me. #MT2Leadership #GrowingLeadership #OwningLeadership #consistency #JMTDNA

MT2 Growing Leadership Blog #12 – Thursday Business Building Connecting - 10 Fundamentals of Networking Connecting with clients, customers, and future customers begins with connecting. If I am going to a Networking event, how do I maximize my time and energy while at the event? How do I not show up and not scare people away and have them think that I am only there for myself? Today's blog is on connecting and the 10 Fundamental of Networking for success. Also, here is the link to sign up for the Mark Your Ball - 12-week workshop on the Growing Leadership (Closed Group) on FB signup. http://eepurl.com/gnFhq5

MT2 Growing Leadership Blog #11 – Digging out from Average Average is the enemy of Growth. Average is the enemy of Exceeding Expectations. Average is the enemy of Leadership. "I know, I know – those are fighting words." But listen to today's Blog, where I talk about innovation and how #DARPA showed me the difference between solving a problem by meeting the specifications and solving a problem through innovation and discovery learning. Solving a problem through Leadership. Let's take a moment and look at your business – how can you inject innovation into the future. Follow more stories and ideas on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MT2Leadership Also, I talked about Streamyard. If you would like to learn more – here is a link to their website to signup. https://streamyard.com?pal=5091995787198464