John Hersey Leadership Blog

Sometimes even the best contagious leaders find themselves waiting for inspiration even though we know that the best tactic is to just get on with getting it done. Read what our friend and mentor Steve Chandler says about waiting for inspiration– go to http://tinyurl.com/yf2bzg5

Twitter is a required course for journalism majors at Griffin University, see http://tinyurl.com/yfkbzj4

How many organizations have failed for lack of leadership focus? Contagious Leaders pick a course and remain focused, even when it is a bit uncertain at first.

What used to work doesn’t. What does work is new to many of us and can be intimidating. What is a Contagious Leader to do?

Pass this Leadership Video on to your team members, friends and colleagues. And let us know what you think about our new video format by cpmpleting the reply box below.

Make it a great day!

Be Well & Be Contagious,

John

Nido in action

Nido Qubein has been a friend and business coach for John and me. He has a strong vision of leadership. Nido came to this country at 17 years old, with $50 bucks and unable to speak English. He is now a multi-millionaire. He is a sensitive and insightful leader who creates success in every project he takes on.

• You cannot give that which you do not possess.

• Relationships break down when there is a preoccupation with self.

• Winners compare their achievements with their goals, while losers compare their achievements with those of other people.

• The practical side of dreaming is being willing to pay the price to make those dreams come true.

• If you work only on days you feel like working, you’ll never amount to much.

• Are you a thermometer or a thermostat? A thermometer only reflects the temperature of its environment, adjusting to the situation. But a thermostat initiates action to change the temperature in its environment.

• Those with a strong self-image realize that the only way to keep from making mistakes is to do nothing — and that’s the biggest mistake of all.

• The process of growing and learning always involves risk. No one ever becomes perfect; but anyone can improve.

• Whether you are a success or failure in life has little to do with your circumstances; it has much more to do with your attitude.

• If you could view your life as you do a highway from an airliner, many of the detours and curves would make more sense.

• The practical dreamers know the harder they work, the luckier they get.

• No failure, misfortune, or mistake is ever so great that nothing good can come from it.

• Only when your memories are more important to you than your goals are
you old.

• Fixing the blame is never important, and fixing the relationship is never unimportant.

• You can’t think your way into acting positively; but you can act your way into thinking positively.

• People who are looking for something to make them happy, somehow never seem to find it. Yet those who find a way to be happy while they are looking for something, typically find what they are looking for.

• What matters is not so much how you got to be the way you are now, but what you do with the person you have become.

• A strong awareness that you are loved by God provides the most solid foundation for building high
self-esteem.

• Your best bet for a good job is to do the best you can with the one you have right now.

• Those who spend their lives searching for happiness never find it, while those who search for meaning, purpose, and strong personal relationships find that happiness usually comes to them as a by-product of those three things.

Dr. Nido R. Qubein is president of High Point University and
chairman of Great Harvest Bread Company.

We have had a tremendous response and some frustration to last weeks teleseminar,
HowTo Thrive in Tight Times . It is not surprising to us that most of
your questions, comments and concerns were around Action 1,
Focusing on the top 20% of your income and/or impact producing
activities.

We never said it would be easy. Nor did we say to not do those
“other activities” that were necessary to the running of your
business.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson said:

“As the gardener, by severe pruning, forces the sap of the tree
into one or two vigorous limbs, so should you stop off your
miscellaneous activity and concentrate your force on one or a few
points”

We all have necessary and important activities to perform in the
normal course of keeping our businesses going in the desired direction.
However, all too often we do these instead of the critical income and impact
producing activities.

We have heard people say, “I can’t possibly do that top 20%
thing. It is a great idea but won’t work for me. There is just too
much to do around here, and I am the one to do them.”

All true! However, doing many of these activities keeps us from
zeroing in on those that produce big results.

Think of it this way; if you had an emergency that required you
to leave your office and only spend 20% of your time working, what
would you focus on? Who would you delegate those “other important
activities” too? Which of these “important” activities would you
let go off?

We hope you find this deeper dive into the subject helpful. Let
us know by commenting below.

If you haven’t read Steve Chandler’s new book, Fearless, you are doing yourself, your company and your family a huge disservice.

The world is gripped by fear. Fear about the economy, the stock market, our shrinking 401K plans, terrorism, the war in Iraq, and the election. Heck some people are even fearful that the Phillies will lose to the Rays in the World Series.

In Fearless , Steve Chandler takes you by the hand and shows you how disabling fear is and how we can deal with it head on. He doesn’t pretend to know how to banish fear from our lives forever but he does know how to help us push it aside and move on, powerfully. This is a life altering work, a must read for every leader and anyone seriously considering coming out of these crazy times better off than we entered them.

Besides, it is a great read! We have always enjoyed reading Steve’s books. But, the last couple have really evolved. Not that we are literary experts but Steve Chandler has become a truly engaging, insightful, and humorous author whose work contributes to our well-being.

John & Bev

Our friend Wayne Tall passed away recently. It was sudden and swift, just the way he wanted it. Beverly and I just returned from his memorial service. Actually, it was more of a celebration than a service. It was a party at one of his favorite restaurants.

Several people told amusing stories about Wayne. He would have enjoyed this. It made me think. Wayne was an extraordinary man.

He adored, admired and totally respected his wife, also a “Bev”.

He loved his children and was a devoted grandfather.

He was an engineer in every sense of the word. He was building an airplane in his garage. He applied his engineering background and wood working skills to create and build wondrous presents for his grand daughter.

Wayne 1, Boulder 0

He was a 4-wheeler, always the first to suggest the group take the steep, dangerous climb, despite being 10-20 years older than the others.

He was a connoisseur of food and wine. He didn’t just like to prepare and consume great food, like me, he analyzed it, dissected it and took great joy in discussing flavors and tastes and which side of the hill the grapes were grown for a particular vintage. He could choose the perfect wine or beer to follow a hike, 4-wheel adventure or a five course dinner.

I don’t think Wayne would mind if I suggested that he was also an extraordinary Contagious Leader. He was involved in activities for which he had great passion. Once involved, he took a stand, never being fearful of expressing a strong point of view, making a significant difference, always setting and accomplishing goals, improving his skills and acknowledging others.

At his celebration one of his friends reminisced about a time when he and his wife had hiked one of the truly great mountains in America. Following the hike they sat at the base of this majestic mountain, watching the sunset while enjoying a beer and glass of wine. They thought of Wayne as they turned the bottle of beer on its side and read the label, which said: “Life is short, don’t sip.”

How many of us, leaders and aspiring leaders, are sipping, being careful not to take in too much, being cautious, ever so suspicious, not extending ourselves, not enjoying the full measure of every moment, every opportunity, every challenge?

Not Wayne Tall, not our friend!

John & Bev

John and I are getting ready to launch a new teleseminar called Thriving in Tight Times, 24 Recipes for Cooking up a Full Plate of Business. One of the recipes is too simply take care of your physicality! So I have been doing some research on this because although we all know we need to this, it’s one of those things we just don’t do. I found this very simple article, where you don’t have to be a scientist or engineer to understand it. It clearly lays out the importance of taking care in the most obvious ways and the documented benefit of it.

7 ways to make your brain better, faster, and smarter!

Article by William Speed Weed READER’S DIGEST

The No. 1 Thing You Can Do?

1. Move It
Quick — what’s the No. 1 thing you can do for your brain’s health? Differential calculus, you say? Chess? Chaos theory? Nope, the best brain sharpener may be … sneakers? Yup. Once they’re on your feet, you can pump up your heart rate. “The best advice I can give to keep your brain healthy and young is aerobic exercise,” says Donald Stuss, PhD, a neuropsychologist and director of the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care in Toronto.

Mark McDaniel, PhD, professor of psychology at Washington University in St. Louis, agrees, but adds, “I would suggest a combined program of aerobics and weight training. Studies show the best outcomes for those engaged in both types of exercise.”

As we age, our brain cells, called neurons, lose the tree-branch-like connections between them. These connections, or synapses, are essential to thought. Quite literally, over time, our brains lose their heft. Perhaps the most striking brain research today is the strong evidence we now have that “exercise may forestall some kinds of mental decline,” notes McDaniel. It may even restore memory. Myriad animal studies have shown that, among other brain benefits, aerobic exercise increases capillary development in the brain, meaning more blood supply, more nutrients and — a big requirement for brain health — more oxygen.

The preeminent exercise and brain-health researcher in humans is Arthur Kramer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In a dozen studies over the past few years, with titles such as “Aerobic Fitness Reduces Brain Tissue Loss in Aging Humans,” Kramer and his colleagues have proved two critical findings: Fit people have sharper brains, and people who are out of shape, but then get into shape, sharpen up their brains. This second finding is vital. There’s no question that working out makes you smarter, and it does so, Kramer notes, at all stages of life. Just as important, exercise staves off heart disease, obesity, diabetes and other maladies that increase the risk of brain problems as we age.

2. Feed It
Another path to a better brain is through your stomach. We’ve all heard about antioxidants as cancer fighters. Eating foods that contain these molecules, which neutralize harmful free radicals, may be especially good for your brain too. Free radicals have nothing to do with Berkeley politics and everything to do with breaking down the neurons in our brains. Many colorful fruits and vegetables are packed with antioxidants, as are some beans, whole grains, nuts and spices.

More important, though, is overall nutrition. In concert with a good workout routine, you should eat right to avoid the diseases that modern flesh is heir to. High blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and high cholesterol all make life tough on your brain, says Carol Greenwood, PhD, a geriatric research scientist at the University of Toronto.

If your diet is heavy, then you’re probably also heavy. The same weight that burdens your legs on the stairs also burdens your brain for the witty reply or quick problem solving. The best things you can eat for your body, Greenwood notes, are also the best things you can eat for your brain. Your brain is in your body, after all. Greenwood’s recommendation is to follow the dietary guidelines from the American Diabetes Association (available at diabetes.org).

3. Speed It Up
Sorry to say, our brains naturally start slowing down at the cruelly young age of 30 (yes, 30). It used to be thought that this couldn’t be helped, but a barrage of new studies show that people of any age can train their brains to be faster and, in effect, younger. “Your brain is a learning machine,” says Michael Merzenich, PhD, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco. Given the right tools, we can train our brains to act like they did when we were younger. All that’s required is dedicated practice: exercises for the mind.

Merzenich has developed a computer-based training regimen to speed up how the brain processes information (positscience.com). Since much of the data we receive comes through speech, the Brain Fitness Program works with language and hearing to improve both speed and accuracy. Over the course of your training, the program starts asking you to distinguish sounds (between “dog” and “bog,” for instance) at an increasingly faster rate. It’s a bit like a tennis instructor, says Merzenich, shooting balls at you faster and faster over the course of the summer to keep you challenged. Though you may have started out slow, by Labor Day you’re pretty nimble.

Similarly, Nintendo was inspired by the research of a Japanese doctor to develop a handheld game called Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day, which has sold more than two million copies in Japan. No software out there has yet been approved by the FDA as a treatment for cognitive impairment, but an increasing number of reputable scientific studies suggest that programs like Merzenich’s could help slow down typical brain aging, or even treat dementia. The biggest finding in brain research in the last ten years is that the brain at any age is highly adaptable, or “plastic,” as neurologists put it. If you ask your brain to learn, it will learn. And it may speed up in the process.

To keep your brain young and supple, you can purchase software like Merzenich’s, or you can do one of a million new activities that challenge and excite you: playing Ping-Pong or contract bridge, doing jigsaw puzzles, learning a new language or the tango, taking accordion lessons, building a kit airplane, mastering bonsai technique, discovering the subtleties of beer-brewing and, sure, relearning differential calculus.

“Anything that closely engages your focus and is strongly rewarding,” says Merzenich, will kick your brain into learning mode and necessarily notch it up. For his part, Merzenich, 64, has “4,000 hobbies,” including a wood shop and a vineyard.

4. Stay Calm
So you may be saying to yourself, I have to sign up right now for Swahili and calculus and accordion lessons before my brain withers away! Stop! Breathe. Relax. Good.

While challenging your brain is very important, remaining calm is equally so. In a paper on the brain and stress, Jeansok Kim of the University of Washington asserts, in no uncertain terms, that traumatic stress is bad for your brain cells. Stress can “disturb cognitive processes such as learning and memory, and consequently limit the quality of human life,” writes Kim.

One example is a part of the brain called the hippocampus, which is a primary locus of memory formation, but which can be seriously debilitated by chronic stress. Of course, physical exercise is always a great destressor, as are calmer activities like yoga and meditation. And when you line up your mental calisthenics (your Swahili and swing lessons), make sure you can stay loose and have fun.

5. Give It a Rest
Perhaps the most extreme example of the mental power of staying calm is the creative benefit of sleep. Next time you’re working on a complex problem, whether it be a calculus proof or choosing the right car for your family, it really pays to “sleep on it.”

Researchers at Harvard Medical School have looked at the conditions under which people come up with creative solutions. In a study involving math problems, they found that a good night’s rest doubled participants’ chances of finding a creative solution to the problems the next day. The sleeping brain, they theorize, is vastly capable of synthesizing complex information.

6. Laugh a Little
Humor stimulates the parts of our brain that use the “feel good” chemical messenger dopamine. That puts laughter in the category of activities you want to do over and over again, such as eating chocolate or having sex. Laughter is pleasurable, perhaps even “addictive,” to the brain.

But can humor make us smarter? The jury is still out and more studies are needed, but the initial results are encouraging. Look for a feature on exciting new research about humor and intelligence in the September issue of Reader’s Digest.

7. Get Better With Age
In our youth-obsessed culture, no one’s suggesting a revision to the Constitution allowing 20-year-olds to run for President. The age requirement remains at 35. You’ve heard about the wisdom and judgment of older people? Scientists are starting to understand how wisdom works on a neurological level.

When you are older, explains Merzenich, “you have recorded in your brain millions and millions of little social scenarios and facts” that you can call upon at any time. Furthermore, he notes, “you are a much better synthesizer and integrator of that information.”

Older people are better at solving problems, because they have more mental information to draw upon than younger people do. That’s why those in their 50s and 60s are sage. They’re the ones we turn to for the best advice, the ones we want to run our companies and our country.

As Barry Gordon, a neurologist at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and author of Intelligent Memory: Improve the Memory That Makes You Smarter, puts it, “It’s nice to know some things get better with age.”

photo: chilmarkresearch.com

During our keynote leadership presentations we have been asking our audiences what they have done in the past twelve months to get better at being a better leader. This is not a question about what their company has done for them, but what they have done. Observing what happens when we ask the question is far more interesting and telling than hearing the answer.

Audiences actually start to squirm in their seats. They look down to the floor, avoiding eye contact out of fear that we’ll actually call on them.

You see, the biggest leadership challenge in most organizations is that way too many people are waiting for someone else to do it—lead. We complain that the top brass don’t step up; the top brass complain that the middle managers are too weak, while the folks that actually implement the work wonder if anyone is ever going to lead.

As business continues to experience the challenges of a flattening world and a pressured U.S. economy, taking responsibility for our own development will be more and more important. Long gone are the days when our company solely takes on the challenge of making individuals better at being better leaders. The fact is that organizations will increasingly look to the individual and ask “How are you investing in yourself?”

So start investing in yourself! How about:

• Join Toastmaster and develop your public speaking and leadership skills through practice and feedback in local clubs www.toastmasters.com .

• Take on the internet. We recently hired a coach, Tom Antion at http://www.greatinternetmarketing.com . It is not easy but we are making great progress in an area that we need to develop if we are not going to be left behind as leaders.

• Research and subscribe to blogs in your area of business expertise to get current points of view and resources.

• Read, read, read…take a speed reading course and read your heart out, reference your newly acquired knowledge in conversations, recommend books, share quotes.

• Don’t have time to read? Subscribe to www.dearreader.com

Join the free business book club. Every week day you will receive a 5 minute read from current business books…one book a week.

Getting better at being a better leader is something each of us must begin to own up to. It’s a process. Start today and everyday do something that will make you a wee bit better.

John