Posts by: Denis McLaughlin

Denis McLaughlin is the author of the best-selling book The Leadership GPS, which reached Number 1 in Amazon’s Job Markets and Advice, and Top 25 in Team Management and Leadership. Featured in John Maxwell’s “What I am reading, Spring 2013 edition,” The Leadership GPS was highlighted by Kirkus Reviews as “An engaging, unusual business book full of practical advice,” and “Its leadership lessons are on point and lavishly illustrated with stories of great leaders past and present, from Michelangelo to Steve Jobs.” Of the author, Kirkus Reviews says that “McLaughlin’s storytelling format brings each stage of leadership to life.” Denis has held executive leadership positions at several leading banks over the last twenty-five years. Along with his executive responsibilities, he also speaks, teaches, and mentors on leadership both in the workplace and externally. Denis was trained and mentored by some of the most well-known leadership experts today including John Maxwell – International leadership authority, Paul Martinelli – President of The John Maxwell Team, and Bob Burg – Best-selling author and expert on influence and success.

The Best Leaders Are The Ones With The Best Information

knowledge is powerBenjamin Disraeli was a prominent member of the British government during the 1800s. He served in leadership positions for three decades including twice as prime minister. Disraeli said:

“The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes…The more extensive a man’s knowledge of what has been done, the greater will be his power of knowing what to do.”

In order for you to be a success as a leader you need to understand the conditions in and around your team:

  • What internal and external pressures HAS the team faced in the past?
  • What internal and external pressures IS the team facing now?
  • What internal and external pressures WILL the team face in the future?

Once you’ve obtained that knowledge – use it to enthusiastically go after your goals.

In my book, The Leadership GPS, Brian Alden learns the three step process to gain understanding and knowledge, and uses it to achieve success.

1) Look for information that already exists in books, surveys, or websites. This is a great place to learn what did happen and what is happening.

2) Listen to people with information gained through experience. Talk to your team, your boss, experts in the industry.

3) Learn what people need by analyzing the two together. Make a decision on how you will achieve your goals now that you understand the conditions.

The information you gather by looking, listening, and learning will be that on which you base all future steps to successful leadership.

Purpose: If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll never know if you’ve arrived

PurposeWithout a purpose, there is no way to measure your success.  This applies to everything you set out to accomplish.  You must have a firm picture of the What, When, and the How:

  • A project at work – What is the end goal? When is it scheduled to be completed? How many resources do you need?
  • A vacation drive – What is the destination? When is your vacation time? How are you going to get there?
  • Your dream house – What neighborhood do you want to live in?  When do you want to move? How will you pay for it?

Dwight Eisenhower said, ‘We succeed only as we identify in life, or in war, or in anything else, a single overriding objective, and make all other considerations bend to that one objective.’

In my book, The Leadership GPS, Brian Alden learns the What, When, and How of his purpose – in work and in life – and achieves great success.

Can you share some examples of goals that you have achieved by knowing the What, When, and How?

Great leaders look at people’s potential greatness

committed to their successAs leaders we are not creating other great leaders.  We are encouraging others to realize that they already have the potential to become great inside of them, and assisting them on that journey.  Our job is to see where they can go and open the right doors for them to pass through.  Our job is to focus on what is there – their strengths – and remove the focus on weakness – what is not there.

Michelangelo said, “A great statue already exists inside a block of stone. The sculptor’s role is to uncover it.”

If you want to achieve success as a leader, you have to intentionally focus your leadership efforts on unleashing the greatness inside of everyone you influence. Once your team knows you are committed to their success, they will commit to our vision.

In my book, The Leadership GPS, we read the story of Brian Alden, whose potential is unleashed by his grandfather. In turn, Brian opens the doors of success for his new team and many others.

Do you remember who recognized greatness in you?  Who told you that you could be anything you set your mind to? Was it a parent, grandparent, teacher, coach, pastor, boss?

The Three Phases of Leadership

Relationship quoteIn 1965 the American folk rock band The Byrds recorded the song Turn! Turn! Turn!  The message of the song is, to quote from one line, “There is a time to every purpose under heaven.” We can all think of examples of this timing:

  • – The phases of the moon always move in the same order from new moon to new moon.
  • – The farmer has to till before planting and water before harvesting.
  • – The seasons always come in order – spring, summer, fall, and winter.

In my book The Leadership GPS, Brian Alden learns that leadership also has a time to its purpose; it’s called the Three Phases of Leadership.

Relationship – Through the forming of a trusting relationship, the team will follow as the leader shows them how to be successful.

  • Understanding – By modeling after the leader’s example, the team will understand how to achieve their own success.
  • Knowledge – Through mentoring, the team will gain the knowledge of when to apply what is understood.

For your leadership journey to be successful, follow the Three Phases of Leadership Development with every team.

The picture of a wise mentor.

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I have had several great mentors in my life, and I have tried to be a great mentor to others. The mentors I remember the most poured their wisdom into me in the hope that I would go further and accomplish more than they themselves did. I learned in this process that only the most confident of leaders can help their team shine brighter than themselves.

If you have a mentor, how can you be sure you are receiving wise counsel? If you are a mentor to someone else, how can you be sure you are giving wise counsel?

In my book, The Leadership GPS, Brian Alden is in just this situation. He needs someone to mentor him in his new leadership role, and there are people in his life that need a mentor. Brian looks to his grandfather, Michael Tennyson, for a solution to each of these needs.

How could Brian be sure he would receive wise counsel in this situation from his grandfather?

– Brian and his grandfather had common principles – honesty, integrity, respect. Most importantly they believed in helping others succeed.

– Michael Tennyson was a successful business man who had started and grown many companies in his career. He was a mentor to each leader in his organizations.

– Brian’s grandfather knew first-hand the pitfalls of mistakes he had made. These mistakes became lessons for his next choices and for others he would mentor.

– The wisdom of the generations was not lost on Michael Tennyson. He was a student of historical leaders and could apply their experience to his own and to others’ situations.

How could Brian be sure he was giving wise counsel to those he mentored?

– One rule: Pass on the wisdom he receives from those like his grandfather who have earned his trust through their example.

Whenever Possible, Follow the Road More Traveled

GPS and MentorI have traveled quite a bit in my adult life.  Some for family vacation and a lot for business.  I have also moved often over my career.  I am telling you this to explain why I rarely get into a car (mine or a rental) without having the GPS on.  I am in so many different cities over the span of a few years, that it just isn’t possible for me to memorize every street and every set of directions I need to navigate to appointments, hotels, or in some cases my new home when I have recently moved.

What I really like about the GPS systems is that I don’t a have to memorize all of the directions – I don’t have to figure it all out on my own.  Someone already mapped out all the possible ways to get from where I am to where I want to go, and programmed them into my GPS.

“Keep on the outlook for novel and interesting ideas that others have used successfully. Your idea has to be original only in its adaptation to the problem you are currently working on.” I was surprised that this quote came from Thomas Edison. Yes the same Thomas Edison that is the holder of 1,093 United States patents.  It gave me comfort in my use of the GPS when I drive because it explained what I was doing – using someone else’s ideas and adapting them to my current situation.

As an executive leader, I applied the thought of the GPS to leadership. So many times leaders feel they need to blaze their own trail; which is sometimes the right answer, but sometimes not. “Why couldn’t I simply follow the path of successful leaders who traveled before me?” I thought.  Well I did, and it brought me great success.  So much so that I wrote a book titled The Leadership GPS to share what I had learned.

In my book, Michael Tennyson is mentoring his grandson Brian Alden, a new leader.  He says “In my many years of business I discovered that most people are genuinely convinced that their situations are so unique and so difficult that no one has faced quite the same circumstances before, let alone found a way to solve them.  In some way I think it is a bit of pride in the human condition that makes people want a difficult solution for their difficult problems.  But it doesn’t need to be difficult.  Eighty percent of most problems have been solved before; the other twenty percent is taking the initiative to accept the solution given to you and implement it.”

If you want to learn more about the many leaders who traveled across history and built successful teams and how you can follow this same path, The Leadership GPS is the answer.

 

Words from leaders only work when they are connected to actions.

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It’s true that great leaders are great communicators. You have to connect with people to share your vision. But words will only take a leader so far until actions that back up the words have to kick in.

Here are three thoughts for leaders on the importance of actions in addition to words:

Should, could, or would don’t equal did.
There is a Chinese proverb that says, “Talk doesn’t cook rice.” You might be the most talented speaker ever, but unless your words lead to actions in you or in the listener, not much happens.

Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold – but so does a hard-boiled egg.

Inspiration doesn’t always proceed actions, but some action always proceeds more actions.
Most people imagine that history’s greatest composers were overflowing with inspiration and simply wrote music after they were inspired. Musicologist Ernest Newman tells us a different story, “Beethoven, Wagner, Bach and Mozart settled down day after day to the job in hand with as much regularity as an accountant settles down each day to his figures. They didn’t waste time waiting for inspiration.“

If you want to be inspired then get to work. The actions you take will inspire more action.

In the choice between say and do – do.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Your actions speak so loudly I can’t hear what you say.” Of course people hear your words, but they feel your actions and that drowns out your words, positively or negatively.

So given the chance to influence people through your words or through your actions, focus on your actions.

“As I grow older I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.” – Andrew Carnegie

Leaders, you are the heroes of the day.

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All throughout our lives we have heroes. These are people we look up to who fill a need that is the driving influence at specific times.

When we are children we need security through food, shelter, clothing, and most importantly, acceptance and love. Our heroes as children are those that provide for these needs and seem to know what we need before we do. For many this was your parents, or for others it might have been grandparents or other relatives. Still for some it could have been foster parents or group homes. Whoever provides for the security of children are heroes.

As adolescents we look for our individuality. We need to grow and learn and start to feel self sufficient in small ways. Our heroes during this time are our teachers. Many a teacher has opened the eyes of a young student to see the world around them. Most of us have a teacher that we remember for their ability to provide this window to knowledge in their classroom.

Young adults are seeking the future ahead of them. They want to know how they can make an impact on the world. Heroes at this time are often larger than life people who are known for their talent and influence – Superstars, might be one way to describe them. These can be famous people in sports or music. It could even be political figures or those that are the face of issues such as world hunger or poverty. They are all people who provide an example of significance.

When you are leading a team, you are much more than a goal and priority setter – You are a hero in the eyes of your team members.

You are the one who provides for their security. Your team members’ job, their livelihood, depends on the decisions you make and the opportunities you pursue.

You are the one who provides the window to knowledge. Your team members learn from your words and actions.

You are the one who provides an example of significance. Your team members will rally behind the vision you champion.

Leaders, you are the heroes of the day. I challenge you to walk worthy of the position you have, and the potential for life changing impact you can make.

Culture eats vision for breakfast. Teams have to work together to succeed.

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You have a great vision, a great plan to achieve the vision, and great people to work the plan. But something is holding you back. Your team just can’t seem to achieve the success it should.

I have found that in cases like this you should check the culture.

Louis Gerstner was the CEO of IBM during the 1990’s success at saving IBM from going bankrupt and making it profitable again in the 1990’s when IBM’s culture had become siloed and insular. “The thing I learned at IBM is that culture is everything.”

Here are four steps to reinvigorate culture.

Clear the air
Have an honest conversation – what is going on with your culture? You may need an independent evaluation like Gallup so people will talk. A process that can share the facts in a non-judgmental way.

Apologize
Tell your team that you are sorry that the culture got this way, and you didn’t see it. You are sorry they had to deal with the culture the way it was. And thank your team for being honest.

Change
Listen to the results and accept responsibility to change the culture one step at a time.

Reconcile
Open up ongoing communication so culture doesn’t get this out of hand again. You don’t have to wait for the independent survey. “How am I doing?” “How is it going?” “How are you?” Are great ways to keep communication open.

It’s not will you need to lead through a crisis, it’s when. Here’s how.

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If there is one guarantee in your leadership career it’s that your plans won’t always work. You will face a crisis or two that can derail your dreams if not handled correctly. Here is how other successful leaders have lead through crisis, come out on the other side intact, and gone on to achieve their dreams.

Aptitude. You have to know what to do in a crisis before there is a crisis.

During a crisis there is little time to think through options and there is no time to learn new skills. Experienced successful leaders already know what to do and how to do it when a crisis hits. How did they come upon this ability? They learned from others who were there before them and practiced before their own crisis happened.

Leadership expert John Maxwell tells a story about being on a private jet that hit a wind sheer during its landing. The plane turned sideways and bounced on the runway. As soon as wheels touched the ground, the pilot pulled the plane back up into the air, circled once and landed with no issues. John was impressed with the pilot’s actions and asked him when he decided to pull the plane up and out of the wind sheer? The pilot answered, “Twenty years ago when I learned how to react to any crisis that can happen during a landing.”

Attitude. You have to be willing to change course during a crisis to get back on course.

A crisis doesn’t mean the end to your dream, just a detour. Successful leaders never give in and never give up. They find a way to succeed.

I was in St. Thomas recently with a group of leaders and we had the opportunity to talk with three time Americas Cup winning skipper, Dennis Conner. We asked him what advice he could give us from his sailing experience on leading during a crisis. “It’s simple,” he said, “When winners face a crisis they just switch from being in front to finding a way to get back in front.“

Altitude. You have to rise high above a crisis and be a beacon for others to follow.

The two most important words during a crisis are “Follow Me.” Now more than ever its time for the leader to be visible, vocal, and visionary. You own this one. It’s up to you to be right up front leading the charge.

Legendary French general and statesman Charles de Gaulle said, “Faced with crisis, the man of character falls back on himself. He imposes his own stamp of action, takes responsibility for it, makes it his own.”

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