Attracting, Preparing, Developing, Retaining
Leadership development and leadership project-based programs provide participants with practical, real world, and in-depth experiences. Well implemented programs provide ongoing mentorship, and targeted training across a range of areas within the organization. The key for success is customizing and personalizing all phases of the professional growth experience. It should truly be personal professional growth. The goal is to recruit and develop leaders for our organizations. With so much micro-knowledge and tacit knowledge needed for an effective school, or most other organizations, we must be building our benches and “raising our own.” As John Manning (2015) pointed out in Lesson 28 in The Disciplined Leader we must be providing growth opportunities and investing in our team members’ future. Never forget, intelligence of an organization is, no surprise here, a product of the intelligence of its members. 
I am writing this post while sitting in the airport in Atlanta. I am heading home from a great meeting of state legislators and state boards of education members held to discuss the new federal education law, Every Student Succeeds Act. One of the things that kept coming up over and over was how imperative it is that schools have robust school leader and teacher leader development programs. It is obvious this is crucial for schools. That is why I am so proud of our Focused Leader Academy. Our Focused Leader Academy is an employee development and engagement program. The idea is that great minds and great motives still matter. Teachers with school leadership aspirations have the opportunity to become part of a cohort which will take part in monthly leadership training and be part of supervised leadership projects of the school. Cohort size is at least 10% of teaching leaders per year. The Vision is: Leadership will be born out of those who are affected by it. The Mission is: Leadership will appear anywhere and anytime it is needed. Our Theory of Action is: If we empower our teachers through leadership skill development…Then we will have teacher leaders ready to contribute to the success of Hoosier Academies and be an important part of our talent pipeline.
In fact we learned this is an important part of our talent management system. If we get it right we will be doing these four things:
- Attracting top talent
- Preparing top talent
- Developing top talent
- Retaining top talent
We need to be intentional about the development of the personal learning agendas of those we serve. In other words, we need to hyper-personalize!
Is your school or organization being intentional in the leadership development of those you serve?
Reference
Manning, J.M. (2015). The disciplined leader: keeping the focus on what really matters. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Kindle Edition.
We Words for We People
You can tell a lot about a person by paying attention to how many times they use “I” in her average email. John Manning (2015) taught us to, “Make yourself less visible in the ownership of successes by assigning the ownership of the results, accomplishments, and progress to the team, such as ‘Our goals as a team are that we plan to hit $120 million in revenue by year’s end and grow our customer base by 10 percent'” (Kindle location 1489). True leadership isn’t found seeking the spotlight, but seeking to shine the spotlight on others. The best leaders only use “I” when accepting responsibility for failures. Likewise, they are quick to use “we” when referring to successes.
Leadership isn’t about your rhetoric; it’s about your actions. Leadership might begin with having a vision, but it’s delivering and implementing the vision that will ultimately determine your success as a leader. Remember, without your people there is no platform. Without your team you have nothing to lead. When you place yourself above the people you lead you have failed as a leader.
Reference
Manning, J. (2015). The disciplined leader: 52 concise, powerful lessons. Oakland, CA: Barrett – Koehler Publishers, Inc.
Leadership Heroin
Empowered Teachers for Action with Speaker of the House Brian Bosma
Yesterday was one of those incredible days in the life of a school leader. In the morning I was able to spend time with several teachers from our own school as well as many others from around the state as part of a program developed by one of Hoosier Academies teacher leaders, Jill Landers, in conjunction with Tosha Salyers and the Institute for Quality Education called “Empowered Teachers for Action.” The program included five sessions, four of which were held the previous four Wednesday’s, with the goal of educating teachers on governance, policy, and how to become involved in the legislative process. The program was a total success and culminated yesterday at the Indiana Statehouse with a panel discussion with Indiana Senator Hershman and Indiana Representative Cook, a discussion about how legislation comes about, and finally a discussion with Speaker of the House Brian Bosma. It was AWESOME! I might add this was Jill’s Focused Leadership Project as part of her experience in our Focused Leader Academy (FLA).
Discussion with Senator Hershman & Representative Tony Cook
As if that were not enough to make the day complete, we were then off to school for an afternoon session with our Focused Leader Academy where they were finishing up the development of our school’s new Vision, Mission, and Core Values. Last week, academy members led a school board retreat session getting board feedback and input. Now, the team was putting the finishing touches on everything. Earlier in the day there had been discussions about what a great experience and journey this has been for our teacher leaders. In fact, I would say our leaders have had an experience of truly building a vision, mission, and core values that very few top level CEOs have ever had. One of our FLA members, Alissa Davis, even said, “You know, I go through other organizations’ mission and vision statements and try to see if I can figure out what they do and stand for, and you know; many of them you can’t.” I have to give credit here to Mike Fleisch, who has been so much more than a graphic facilitator during our journey. He has been a partner, friend, and my jazz partner. We truly have become a jazz improvisation act. I’ll need to blog about this collaboration, but I’ll just say I would not be the leader I am today without the
Mike Fleisch
collaborative friendship/partnership, and jazz act, we have developed.
Those that know me won’t be surprised when I say that during our Focused Leader Academy session I get a little, o.k. a lot, excited and animated. How can you not, with a room full of great teacher leaders? Anyway, I had just said earlier in the day that I lived for these days. I was concerned yesterday,however, because there was a snowstorm coming in and I did not want to cancel or quit early (we did not have to). You know how sometimes when weather comes in how great it is when you get part of your day back when something is cancelled or ended early? Let me tell you, I do not ever wish that on these sessions.
During the afternoon session I got all excited when the group finally put the final draft status on the vision and mission and had defined student success (you’ll have to wait for these to be revealed). Then Jill Landers looked over at me and said, “this is your heroin.” Wow, pretty profound, right! Yes, she was correct – leadership and working with our staff is my heroin. Working with our teacher leaders in the area of leadership and professional growth is a drug for me. I get all hopped up just preparing and putting the sessions together. And, at the end of the day, I go through a little withdrawal. We all laughed when Jill made the comment, but she was right. I then shared a story I had heard about why so many rock stars have drug problems – it is because of the rush and high they get being on stage with all the people cheering and then there is not that high when they are not performing and they need something to give them that high. Drugs and alcohol become the medium. Well, let me assure you I do not need the medium in between, but I think we can all understand the situation.
Last night I got to thinking about having a drug addiction-like passion for leadership. Our second President, John Adams, was concerned about this passion for leadership. He posited that leaders become so passionate and addicted to the power of leadership they have the tendency to become tyrannical. He believed that an important task of leaders was both to incite and to control human passion, both in ourselves and those we lead. Make no mistake here, however, it is the passionate leaders we need in the world. It’s the passionate people that take the biggest risks, step up to the plate, and help make the biggest leaps forward within teams, companies, and organizations. People want to follow a passionate leader. Someone who cares about not only the cause for which he or she is working, but also the other people who are involved in the effort. Passion for the projects, for the company and for the people involved are key to successful leadership.
Finally, I guess it comes down to my attitude and mindset that makes working with our future leaders one of my leadership drugs (to continue with the metaphor). I’m driven by curiosity and the motivation to learn about the world around us. As leaders, we need to find ways to connect with the world around us. Curiosity and interest are both key qualities of the best leaders I know. What is your leadership heroin?
The Leader’s Toolbox
Indiana weather has been absolutely beautiful this weekend. The temperature has been in the 60s and it has been sunny. Perfect weather to get out and get a start on some spring farm jobs that need to be done; even if it is still February. My son, Heath, and I did some high tensile fence repair and maintenance today. As we worked I thought about a blog post I did a few years ago entitled “Mending Fences.” You can read it here, but it dealt with how the maintenance done to keep a high tensile fence in proper repair is like being a leader.
Today as we were working, Heath made the comment that there were tools specifically made for the fence repair pieces we were using. Specifically, he was talking about the fence pliers/crimps used to splice a broken wire together using sleeves specially formed and gritted to hold the two wires together. As we talked I thought about the imagery of the tools is the toolbox to the tools we have available as leaders.This same metaphor of the leadership toolbox is being used in a book I am reading right now.
I am reading a great book by Robert Gates. The book is A Passion for Leadership: Lessons on Change and Reform from Fifty Years of Public Service. The book just came out in January 2016 and it is amazing. Just as great as one of Gates’s other books, Duty. I would recommend reading both of them. Gates served as secretary of defense under both President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama. He was also an officer in the United States Air Force and worked for the CIA before being appointed director of the agency. A member of the National Security Council staff in four administrations, he served eight presidents of both political parties. He was president of Texas A&M University from 2002 to 2006, is currently chancellor of the College of William & Mary, was named president of the Boy Scouts of America in 2013, and has served on several corporate boards of directors.
In A Passion for Leadership, Gates discusses how to be a successful leader of change and reform we must empower those we lead. One tool for empowerment is the task force. Task forces provide a way to get people out of their ordinary bureaucratic routine and get them in an environment where they are sharing ideas with people from different parts of an organization and people often in those kinds of settings can come up with great ideas and new approaches. Sometimes I get criticized for being to collaborative and wanting to involve as many stakeholders as possible in coming up with the best solutions possible, but Gates seems to share this same believe with me. At the end of the day there are many decisions where the leader must make the final call, but why not have as many options and ideas on the table as possible. At the end of the day those we lead need to know we will make decisions and we’re not afraid to make tough decisions. But, to make those decisions we need to be knowledgeable as possible in order to make intelligent decisions. The only way to have that knowledge is to do personal study as well as listen to those around us. Finally, we as the leader, drive the change, reform, or turnaround agendas of our organizations. Great leaders decide what are the issues that she is going to expend time and political capital on.
It has also been exciting to read about Gates’s view on the tool of creating a vision. As you 
know we have been going through this very process with the school I lead presently. According to Gates, the vision doesn’t spring suddenly or fully developed from the leader’s brain. The person should listen, according to Gates, to a broad range of internal and external stakeholders, especially people who want to be part of a winning team. Leaders should integrate that information with instincts, experience and judgment to increase the likelihood that the vision will be grounded in reality, achievable and inspiring.
Again, it has been exciting to read about all the leadership tools Robert Gates has used during his successful career to change and reform the organizations he has lead, including our nation.
What leadership tools do you need to develop in your leadership toolbox?
Moments of Truth
Amazingly, I just blogged about “Walking the Walk” and ” Walking the Talk” just before reading Lesson #26 in The Disciplined Leader (2015) by John Manning entitled “Honor Your Commitments.” Honoring your commitments as a leader is truly a defining mantra. How we handle our commitments and walk the walk define our moments of truth.
“In the end, such leaders build entire reputations, even legacies, around being known as people who always do what they say they are going to do.” ~ John M. Manning
For this post I would like to bullet what I consider to be the great points made by Manning (2015) in this lesson:
- When leaders fail to follow through on commitments big or small, people notice, remember, and care when they’re let down. Such leaders lose the esteem of their employees, and both morale and productivity suffer.
- Remember your direct reports are watching and evaluating your ability to honor commitments, which should keep you on your toes!
- If you tell employees you’ll address their concerns about an issue, keep your word, follow up with them, and meet that obligation. After all, you demand the same level of respect and follow-through whenever you ask that of them.
- The more positive impressions you make, the greater your chances are of winning the trust of those around you.
- Define and communicate. When you say you’re going to do something, don’t just assume you’ll remember your promise or obligation. Write it down, set a deadline, and then define and communicate what that follow-up looks like.
- Don’t overcommit. A lot of leaders often say “yes” because they don’t know how to say “no.” Others overcommit because they’re afraid of how it might appear if they don’t agree to do something.
- Get the help you need. Sometimes an activity can look pretty doable, even easy at first. Once you get into the thick of it, however, it becomes more complicated, taking on a life of its own. It’s important to have the ability to get additional resources if needed.
Great leaders honor commitments and understand that doing so is a high-impact activity.
Reference
Manning, J.M. (2015). The disciplined leader: keeping the focus on what really matters. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Walk The Walk
Last evening I was having a conversation with one of our teacher leaders and we were talking about leaders who do not follow through, who are always “checking on it,” “thinking about it,” or are always “working on it.” I also explained I had been in a meeting this past week where a person said, “I’m a visionary – I want nothing to do with execution or implementation!” Are you serious, I thought! The person went on to say, “I hate execution and implementation!” Are you kidding me! That’s the fun part. The world has way to many of these, so called “big thinkers” who have no clue how nor the grit to implement. The world does not need anymore of these people! I say we need more of people who are willing to be the “Deer in the Headlights” and I blogged about it here. The world needs more of my hero, Thomas Edison. He was visionary and innovative, but was also a creator, inventor, and implementation expert. In other words we need more people who can “walk the walk.” In fact we talked about this last fall in one of our Focused Leader Academy sessions.
The teacher leader I was having this discussion with is a great idea generator who also knows how to put a plan in action. We discussed how I really have come to the conclusion that the picture I most adore in my office that has penguins and says “Walk the Talk” is probably incorrect and should say “Walk the Walk.” Think about this: do I really need to talk if I am walking my and the organization I serve core values? Honestly, we, myself included, probably do too much talking and just need to do more walking. People will witness our actions and values and not need to be told about them. In other words, our behavior and day-to-day actions have to match the aspirations we have for those we lead, our colleagues, and organization.
“Innovation is rewarded, execution is worshipped.”
Let me be clear here, however, this does not mean I believe we don’t need thought leaders. We do. But… we need thought leaders that can turn those thoughts into reality. Many times a leader is ineffectual because she knows how to bark out ideas and orders, but is not able to explain, in language that is unique to her field and compelling to her colleagues or customers. This comes down to being able to explain the “why” what the team needs to do matters and how she expects the team to win. It has been said that great leaders think differently and invariably talk differently, as well. I am arguing here that great leaders also need to act differently. And… by act I mean it in the truest sense of the verb – do something about the talk. That is really what those we lead want is someone who gets things done.
In closing, remember this, authentic leaders must share the struggles and risks that we demand of our people. Furthermore, a leader’s actions must consistently reinforce the most important core values we hold up for our companies, organizations or movements. Don’t forget, innovation is rewarded and execution is worshipped. Go implement!
The Tricky Balance of Leading
When I wrote the post Into the End Zone I said that Lessons #24 and #25 were ones that I believe are some of the toughest leadership norms to live up to. Tough because even if we are not crossing the line or playing favorites sometimes the perception is there. As we know perception truly is reality and therefore we must take action according to the advice of John Manning (2015) in The Disciplined Leader.
“This game of preferential treatment can build barriers and hostilities, create a mini-culture of exclusivity among your people, and most certainly damage your leadership credibility. Avoid this leadership sin at all costs by consistently treating everyone fairly, always striving to sustain a reputation for being a leader who doesn’t play favorites.” ~ John Manning
One thing I have found is there will always be some who will believe I am showing 
favorites. Partly because some that are not performing at top shelf level are going to make themselves the victim and believe/perceive it is because they are not the chosen one. Now, let me be clear, I believe I need to recognize those individuals and help coach them. However, I have found these individuals to be the toughest to coach. These are individuals who tend to make themselves out as victims. Interestingly, when working with our Focused Leader Academy teachers they picked leaders being victims as one of the worst bad leadership traits. I blogged about this in Leaders Framing Themselves as Victims.
As I write this I am reminded of something profound that the greatest basketball coach and leader of all time, John Wooden said: “treating everyone the same is the surest way to show favoritism.” The bottom line is, we should not be striving to treat everyone we serve the same because, guess what, they are not! If we treat everyone the same way, we are for sure being biased because each individual is unique. The needs of different people require us to treat them differently. In order to not show blatant favoritism, we must take into consideration individual needs and do our best to treat everyone the right way. The right way is finding a way to differentiate how we empower team members, the coaching we provide, or the professional growth experience we make available. This means NOT treating everyone the same way. But then, won’t we appear to be playing favorites to some outside observers? Maybe so! This conundrum can drive us crazy. I believe if we just follow the rule of instead of giving everyone the same thing or treating them all the same; we give them what they need.
“Treating everyone the same is the surest way to show favoritism.” ~ John Wooden
Two ways I have found to keep me from falling into a trap of practicing favoritism are:
- Making sure I don’t pick/use/appoint the same people all the time for everything. This is an easy trap to into because our natural tendency is to have go to team members we use all the time. This allows us the opportunity to show you are not always picking a certain person for assignments. There may be some small risk in doing this, but if we accept the responsibility of knowing that we may need to provide some assistance or extra coaching, the team will become stronger and the bench gets deeper.
- I also believe that creating a culture where cross training of people should be routine is paramount. In doing so, you develop bench strength, and you can demonstrate less tendencies toward favoritism.
Bottom line; don’t be afraid to practice John Wooden’s advice and treat everyone differently. It is really what we should be doing – differentiating. Differentiating is different than playing favorites. As human beings we can’t help but have favorite people, but, as leaders, we must operate with fairness and integrity. To do this we must not try to treat all individuals the same way in every instance. We must treat individuals in a way that helps him contribute to the fullest in the carrying out of the organization’s mission and helps him reach the personal/professional goals he has set for himself.
How is your balancing going?
Into the End Zone
Lessons #24 and #25 in John Manning’s (2015) The Disciplined Leader may the the toughest for a leader in my opinion. Lesson #24 deals with crossing the line. On the MAP Blog John Manning told us that the following are times when a leader tends to cross the line:
- serving as a new manager or head of a team, division, department, etc.
- overseeing former co-workers due to a recent in-house promotion
- starting out in business ownership
- working in a family business
- creating a partnership
I would add one more scenario where not crossing the line seems to be a challenge, at least for me: turning around an organization that has a toxic culture or lacks a culture of excellence. Sometimes when building a collaborative culture it is easy to cross the line. We, as leaders, are trying to include everyone’s input and empower everyone where once no one was empowered. The lines become blurred. We must remember “…representing your team doesn’t mean compromising your authority to drive results and succeed. It means engaging with your team while keeping its best interests at heart, within the framework of your leadership responsibilities.” (Manning, 2015, Kindle Locations 1369-1370). Then it really becomes about perception; and, we all know that perception becomes reality. 
Learning Organization
Lesson #23 in The Disciplined Leader by John M. Manning (2015) really hit home with me. In this lesson he gives us three pieces of advice:
- Be open to other ideas.
- Admit when you’re not right.
- Involve others in your decisions.
What this really describes is a learning organization. Garvin (2000) defined the learning organization to be, “an organization skilled at creating, acquiring, interpreting, transferring, and retaining knowledge, and at purposefully modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights” (Garvin, 2000, p. 11). Learning in any organization must happen in three stages: acquiring, interpreting, and applying (Garvin, 2000). The premise is to have an environment with many different perspectives that encourages new approaches and provides psychological safety. Learning organizations that have constructive and helpful relations enable people to have dialogue, inquiry, and dissent. This allows for the formation of micro-communities, which act as an origin for knowledge creation.
Organizations that develop a high learning capacity demand a greater cognitive complexity from their members. Collaborative climates supporting inquiry, relationships, and self-reflection are critical for the forming of a learning organization. The complexity of the components of the learning organization make it difficult to put into practice. It really comes down to making sure all the individuals in the organization have the mindset of using the three keys previously mentioned from Manning (2015). One way I have found to combat this for myself is to practice a fostering of trust and reciprocity. Many times when I am pitching an idea I start with: “Tell me why this is a bad idea,” or “Tell me why I am wrong,” or “what am I missing?” This tells the team I am willing to listen to their opinions (and I truly am). I am amazed at how many times, great ideas have been developed from my stupid ones. Remember, it’s not about the win for you personally, but the WIN (What’s Important Now) for the organization and those you serve.
References
Garvin, D. A. (2000). Learning in action: A guide to putting the learning organization to work. Boston, MA: Harvard Business SchoolPress.
Manning, John (2015). The disciplined leader: keeping the focus on what really matters. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Kindle Edition.
1973 – KISS Leadership
Gene Simmons of KISS during pregame of Super Bowl XXXIII
Yesterday I wrote Part I of a two part post entitled 1973 – Dolphin Leadership. Click here to read that post. Today, with only a few hours until Super Bowl 50, I continue to reflect on 1973 with Part II – 1973 – KISS Leadership. Leave it to me to be different. While everyone else is writing blog posts about the leadership of Peyton Manning and Cam Newton, I’m writing posts about the Miami Dolphins and KISS. Make no mistake, there is a KISS connection to past Super Bowls. The pregame show for Super Bowl XXXIII between the Denver Broncos (see the connection to Super Bowl 50?) and the Atlanta Falcons on January 31, 1999 at Pro Player Stadium in Miami, Florida included a 
performance by KISS, along with their trademark elaborate make up, costumes, and theatrical pyrotechnics. By the way, Denver won that game.
Today’s post is about why I am so thankful that 1973 brought Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, and KISS into our stadiums, arenas, homes, and lives. KISS has sold over 100 million albums worldwide. I would argue, and trust me I have, KISS is one of, if not THE biggest, greatest, and most successful bands ever. Why else would the announcer say “You wanted the best, you got the best! The hottest band in the land… KISS!” This was audacious! This was one of the first lessons I learned from Gene, Paul, and KISS – lead with audacity, but back it up! Led by the marketing genius that is Gene Simmons, they continue to reach new audiences while engaging lifelong fans. Think about the lifelong fan piece – there are literally, thousands of people just like me who would defend KISS as the greatest rock and roll band ever. Gene Simmons may be best known as the fire-breathing, bass playing demon in one of the most influential rock bands in history, but he can also teach us a thing or two about leadership. If you have not followed the journey as closely as I have, I would recommend you reading, Me, Inc.: Build an Army of One, Unleash Your Inner Rock God, Win in Life and Business. We can also learn a great deal from what Paul Stanley has learned during his journey as well. I learned a great deal from reading his book, Face the Music: A Life Exposed. In fact, I am going to put these two books on my to read shelf to reread. There are many other books written by the members of KISS that I would recommend. I’ll let you Google and make those choices.
So, let’s discuss KISS Leadership:
- Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley are truly “Rock Stars” and great examples of leaders. They are key members of my personal Mount Rushmore from the era of my youth, which also includes, Don Shula, Ronald Reagan, and Patrick Henry. To give an example of the KISS leadership example, I go back to an interview in April, 2014 during a great town hall interview on XM RADIO 39 HairNation following their induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame where Gene said that he and Paul were always needing to try new “trepidatious” ways to perform! That’s what great leaders do! I promptly tweeted this (I’ve included an image of the tweet in this post).
If you look up trepidatious you find the words: anxiety, anxious fear, and apprehension. So, that means they were being unorthodox, bold, and brave. Do you see the connection? Honestly, if you have not been to a KISS concert it will be hard for you to understand. Just suffice it to say, they are cutting edge. Heck, they redefine the edge…heck, there is no edge!
- In my blog post Language Matters, I wrote, “I still remember being inspired by the battle cry that the greatest rock and roll band ever, in my opinion, KISS, uses: “You wanted the best, you got the best. KISS!” Think about that – I wanted to go to the greatest rock show, and I always got it. Language Matters! But then we also know, we must then Walk the Talk!” Gene Simmons has taught us that the words we choose really do matter. Leaders must make the investment in time and energy and pay the price for choosing the right words based on the context and stakeholders. When we, as leaders, make this investment, the payoff is of “rock star” proportions. Choosing the right words will help us set up everyone we lead for a level of effectiveness that will bolster a culture of excellence and steady it against the winds of change.
- Gene Simmons teaches us that, “You have to understand that nothing appeals to everybody.” In other words you cannot be everything to everybody, but you must be the best you can be. Your content cannot be everything to everyone. KISS has always maintained a steady fan base by giving their fans what they wanted, and knew that they would never be able to please everyone. You are inevitably going to have critics; the important thing is to not let them derail your strategy. KISS has truly modeled for us how to be the greatest that you can be. There are none better at building a brand and trying bold and new ways to satisfy their customers.
- Paul Stanley taught us in his earlier mentioned book, Face the Music: A Life Exposed that, “No victories are won by individuals. The key to success is always teamwork.” Stanley learned that people coping with success need to surround themselves with people who have their best interests at heart. “Anyone who is pursuing success knows how lonely it can be and that having a support team or people who are blazing the path with you is very reassuring and gives you a shoulder to cry on and a team to celebrate with…” Paul Stanley also warns us to also beware of our own ego – I believe hubris could also come into play here as well.
- Gene Simmons taught us that we need to worry about imagery over content. In other words you don’t need to be the best or most qualified. Gene would tell us qualifications are highly overrated. There are thousands of people who had vision and leadership skills, who worked hard but didn’t have the exact skills to make their dreams reality.
Think about it, Steve Jobs wasn’t a developer or a programmer, but as a leader he knew how to articulate a vision clearly with imagery. Leaders adapt the content to the audience, emphasize the vision’s intrinsic value, select words and symbols that are uplifting, and use language that is inclusive. If a leader is able to do these things, he or she will increase the chances that the vision will be embraced and the goal achieved. The real test is then implementation. As Gene Simmons says in his aforementioned book, Me, Inc.: Build an Army of One, Unleash Your Inner Rock God, Win in Life and Business, “There are many really stupid ideas that wind up being brilliant, if you can implement them.” Gene has shown us how to articulate the vision and then implement. Thus why thousands of us still consider ourselves part of the KISS Army.
- Continuing with the thought of implementation we must, as leaders, keep swinging the bat. We must not have a fear of failure, but a desire to try enough to fail and learn. In Me, Inc. Gene also teaches us, “Don’t let the fear of failure keep you from trying in the first place. Most baseball swings sound like this: ‘Swoosh.’ But, if you swing enough, you will hit some of the balls.” Enough said!
- Edge starts with self. Finally, I am reminded of an interview that KISS had with Jay Leno. Leno asked Gene Simmons where KISS got their edge. Without hesitation, Gene answered, “Edge starts with self.” Wow, that was several years ago, but is a perfect anthem for how we as leaders need to be. Let’s say that again: “Edge starts with self!” That gives me goose bumps! We have to be the leader our organizations and teams need us to be. Ghandi said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” I say, “We need to become the leaders we need in the world!” Wow, I kind of like that – sure hope
someone quotes me!
Byron's Babbles 
leave a comment