So many naysayers, so much negativity – with the political election campaigns and the uncertainty caused by the recession – it is easy to find yourself dwelling or drowning in all the negativity.

The worry grows from so many questions:
Who will lead our country, the good ole’ USA – can we regain our power?
Who is leading our financial institutions – can we trust our banks, stocks?

To the really personal questions:
What is my company’s management doing – will I have a job?
What do I need to survive – do I have enough savings?
When I am drowning with more work and fewer employees – how do I stay ahead of the game?

Day after day, I speak with employees and managers both who feel the burden of uncertainty and speak of being in a vicious circle, feeling out of control.

I recall the turmoil of feelings I experienced when I thought I was going to lose my job – it was awful! The letter came one day to my office. One of the owners of the company was unhappy with the actions I had taken in pursuing new business and stated in this letter that I was insubordinate and could lose my job as President. Several years ago now but the economy was almost as bad as today.

Wow, what do you do?

Cry, yell, scream, quit, bury my head and hope it is all a bad dream. . .

It was very difficult not to dwell in the negativity; it was hard to pull myself out of a funk and take action, seek support.

It was this very event that caused me to make a critical decision and take ownership of my career. I had to move on; I had to have a plan; I had to contribute in a way that others would value…

Let me assure you, there is a way out of all the negativity! You can get your life back and gain momentum once again.

Please I urge you to click on the link below and take a moment to learn
How To Lead With Greater Ease and Confidence

Let’s move beyond the negativity together,
Susan

Every day, we all face moral and ethical dilemmas. These dilemmas may be as small as making it to work on time or as significant as keeping confidences shared in the workplace. The passionate leaders, because of their deeply ingrained values, default to decisions made with integrity. These decisions are rendered quickly and effectively because their moral and ethical compass points the way.

Passionate leaders live their lives with dignity and integrity. That translates into their professional lives seamlessly and effortlessly. It is not how they behave. It is not what they practice. It is who they are.

When asked about the role of the print media in modern American, Katharine Graham responded, “We are not here to be popular. We are here to be respected and above all, to be believed.” With Graham at the helm, the Washington Post was respected and believed and served as American’s moral compass during the turbulent post-Vietnam era. Graham firmly believed the coverage provided by her newspaper should not be influenced by government nor intimidated by bureaucracy. The Washington Post was a bastion of journalistic integrity and set the bar for their competitors. Katharine Graham was a passionate leader whose personal integrity dictated her professional decisions as well.

Learn more about Katherine Graham

We are probably all aware of some very small breakdowns that eventually lead to a monumental collapse. We may have even committed one or two small mistakes of our own at work that resulted in huge failures. We are made aware of small mistakes in the workplace in a misguided attempt to combat imperfections and failures. The downside of managing to avoid mistakes is that it is a lot like playing NOT to lose. Rather than forging ahead and nurturing greatness, we tend to focus on flying under the radar, grateful that we made it through another day without anyone mentioning our name in conjunction with some pending disaster. A passionate leader recognizes how stifling and uninspiring this can be and discourages dwelling on mistakes. A passionate leader cultivates inventiveness and assertiveness, and delights in acknowledging achievements.

Can you name the last time you created a significant celebration over a fairly insignificant achievement? This doesn’t happen in the workplace very often, if ever. But the passionate leader recognizes two things. First, focusing on victories, whether large or small, impassions and empowers the team and its players. It fosters joie de vivre and encourages creativity. The ability to work without the encumbrances of potential failure is liberating!

Secondly, the passionate leader appreciates the value of public recognition for direct reports. Public acclaim for seemingly unimportant tasks lets your direct reports know how much you understand the minutiae of their job, and it announces to the entire company that you have a talented and effective department. Your direct reports will welcome and respond favorably to this opportunity for them to distinguish themselves from the crowd.

Celebrate small victories!
We all can get caught up in the daily tasks – the daily challenges and forget how far we have come. I love taking a few moments each month to see how I am doing. I look to see if we satisfied the customer, reached a milestone in a project or learned something new. I do not need much to celebrate! A toast to a job well done with the click of two coffee mugs, a bit of chocolate to share, a thank you note to a team…take the time this month to celebrate the small victories!

Two weeks ago tonight, I met a new friend, Anne Fleming. Anne is the founder of Women-Drivers.com
a resource dedicated to providing women drivers with valuable information to assist them in purchasing a vehicle. She wants to revolutionize the experience women have at dealerships and is collecting information on womens’ satisfaction and women-friendly dealerships.

I asked Anne how from a background in market research, retailing and product management and marketing, she found herself in the Automotive space. She shared that when she had purchased a new car herself, she without realizing it, had “given her power away.” Just as this simple comment made me say sit straighter and wonder how many times have I done this, it inspired Anne into action.

How many other women were giving their power away, their negotiating power, by not having enough information to be prepared or to select the people they would like to do business with? A new idea born! Anne with her background in retail and market research set off on a new endeavor put her knowledge and skills to great use creating Women-Drivers.com

I encourage you to visit Anne’s webpage, peruse the valuable information, share your dealership experiences and checkout the personality test. It is fun – I am a Bold Babe. What are you?

The response to the Leadership survey was tremendous. I have been reading through all your comments and organizing the data. When ranking your interest in these four topics, the responses of  “most interested to least interested” were as follows:

1. Personal Development – self improvement, training, workshops
2. Work/Life Balance – demands of family/personal needs versus your job
3. Career Advancement – transfers, promotions, lateral moves
4. Career Change – changing jobs or fields, losing your job

Other topics you told me you are interested in included:

“Spiritual development”, “Running my own small business”, “Bringing out the best
from a work colleague”, “Selling skills”, “Management of ethics”… to state just a few.

Sounds like we are going to have alot to talk about over the next few months 🙂

More to come on the Leadership Survey Results…

If you are wondering how Madeleine Albright feels about the Bush administration and our place in the current global setting, just pick up a copy of her latest book, Memo to the President Elect: How We Can Restore America’s Reputation and Leadership.  Former Secretary Albright speaks forcefully and authoritatively in her new book, directed at whomever we vote into the presidency later this year. 

In addition to delivering a scathing critique of the current administration, Albright gives a few insights into her own rise to power.  But her greatest contribution comes via the insights she offers based on her years of international service. She shares her lessons learned as an executive leader in world affairs.  The knowledge and experience gained as our Secretary of State for President Bill Clinton, as well as her tenure at the UN serve her well as she dissects global politics.   This book serves as a primer for those who are aware of our role in international politics but can’t seem to tie together all the loose ends.  Albright is a great teacher, but an even better patriot.   She implores our next president to act with intelligence, compassion and authority to return the United States to our rightful position as a global leader.

I truly enjoyed reading this book! Claim your own copy here – Memo to the President Elect

And if you would love to read more about Ms. Albright, visit the World Leaders Biography I wrote – Madeleine Albright

Thank you to all of you who responded to last week’s leadership survey. The response has been amazing!

Your insights and sharing of information was great. I am really looking forward to sharing the results with you in my upcoming teleclasses. You have given me great ideas on what I can focus on to continue to provide you with valuable information for achieving your leadership goals!

For those of you who have not taken the survey, here’s your last chance. The survey will be closed this today August 27, 2008. Please take a few moments to complete the survey found at the link below. It is made up of 10 simple questions.

There is a special FREE BONUS for you upon completing this survey. Complete the survey and you will be immediately directed to the website where you will receive your FREE BONUS!

Click here for the Leadership Survey-
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=axTlevLnTF1SavijZ9VT3g_3d_3d

In line with my value of sharing knowledge creating power in others, I have been busy working on ways offer more leadership resources to you.  Over the last year I have been writing and writing about all my lessons learned, the tips and resources I want to share with you. The path to effective and powerful leadership develops over time and I have over 20 years of managerial and leadership experience to reflect on.

I am planning a Conversations with Leaders teleclass series where I invite respected and trusted leaders to speak with me in an interview on leadership. You will get to listen it and ask questions. I need your input and invite you to participate in a 10 question survey. This survey allows me to hear from you on the topics you would love to hear Leaders speak on.  Upon completion of the survey, you will find a gift waiting for you. Please take a moment and let me know your thoughts –

Click Here to take survey

The problem with being a leader, and a good one, is that people always expect you to lead. You forget sometimes that being a follower can be just as powerful. I was humbly reminded of this just recently as I made another life decision. I have chosen to accept an offer that came unexpectedly to be a follower. Well, sort of. . .

I am a member of the leadership team – Human Resources Director. What I love about this role are many things and two stand out:

1) the organization is not for profit with a commitment to serving the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community;

2) I still get to do what I love – coaching others, assisting others grow and putting systems in place to streamline processes; and,

Yes, I have the best of both worlds – I get to lead and to follow. My life will be simpler, less stressful, yet still rewarding with the opportunity to continue to make a difference in the life of others.

I am happy, not to say I was unhappy, how about I am happier!

This is also good news for you as now I will have more time to share more, speak out more and keep this blog rolling along. I hope you will join me in this conversation about “empowering passionate leadership” which I so dearly love. I want to inspire you to lead or to follow… in the way that has meaning for you.

Fearlessness and confidence are not just personality traits of passionate leaders – they are a way of life.  They approach all decisions with a swagger borne from past successes.  And each new personal or professional venture, even if it is a failure, is embraced like a lost child, and always welcomed home.

Passionate leaders are risk takers, and as such, invite the possibility – even the likelihood – of failure.  These leaders see a failure as nothing more than an inconvenience rather than a catastrophe.  It is but a learning tool, or a fork in the road.  Recovery for a passionate leader is swift, and direct, and focused.  Passionate leaders typically have several professional “eggs” in their basket so if one egg breaks, there are several more ready to hatch.  Perhaps the most remarkable facet of these leaders and their personal disappointments is how they quickly acknowledge the disappointment, mourn it briefly, and move on to the next grand opportunity. 

The passionate leader’s fearlessness is the catalyst for their success.  Michael Jordan, arguably the greatest professional basketball player to ever play the game, says “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career.  I’ve lost almost 300 games.  26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed.  I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life.  And that is why I succeed.”  An innate competitive fire coupled with remarkable competence inspire the passionate leader to “play through” the difficult times.

Passionate leaders derive great satisfaction not only from successful ventures, but also from giving every ounce of energy to the pursuit of a dream.  Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Airlines echoes those sentiments.  “We’ve got an engaging, edgy, vibrant, fun product.  It may or may not work, but we’re going to give it our best shot.”  The “Virgin” brand is known and respected globally, but Branson, like Jordan, can count many notable failures among all those successes.  Those failures were nothing more than speed bumps to an action adventure guy like Branson.  Passionate leaders overcome failure by never losing their momentum.  Failure may make them pause, but it never stops their forward progress.

You can read more about Richard Branson here

Passionate leaders who advocate or espouse working without a net are championing teambuilding and togetherness in the workplace.  The circus high wire performer who has no safety net is dependent on his coworkers and teammates to have all equipment in top working order.  This interdependency inspires each professional contributor to understand the value of their individual effort and its impact on the final outcome.  Likewise, today’s leaders understand that even though they may walk the corporate tightrope alone, their success depends on countless other lesser-known performers whose contributions are vital and essential.

Fearlessness and confidence are as contagious as any virus, and just as potent too.  The passionate leader who lives life this way, imparts these characteristics to coworkers and direct reports.  In the final analysis, these visionary “go to” players always want to take the final shot but always needs someone to pass the ball to them.  Their nose for career success and their competitive fire keep them on the cutting edge.  Their desire to share their next great adventure drives them to build and maintain great support teams.