Beverly and I recently flew to Portland, Oregon to join our friends for a week’s holiday. As we were boarding our UsAir flight a passenger asked the flight attendant a question about the baggage policy. The reply was, “We aren’t Southwest, Ma’am!”
WOW, talk about owning an advantage. When brands begin admitting that they are NOT a competing brand, you just know that the competing brand has made significant progress in capturing share of mind and most likely, share of market.
I have wondered from time to time why Southwest was investing somuch money advertising the fact that it does not charge for baggage. I wondered whether this was a significant point of difference. Now I know! Clearly, the passenger and the USAir flight attendant think it is a significant point of difference.
Doing something that captures the attention of your ideal prospect is what branding is all about, isn’t it?. Sometimes we so over think how and what to do to accomplish this that we miss the real advantage when it is staring us in the face.
Southwest Airlines has a serious advantage with the fact that it does not charge for baggage when every other airline is determined to nickel and dime us to death. They are pretty smart folks over there at Southwest. Of course they would make a considerable investment to leverage this advantage and turn it into increased revenue and market share. In fact, they own the advantage.
This makes me wonder what little advantages we all have that could be leveraged? What little advantages do we have that have been overlooked? Have we been concentrating on identifying huge advantages while the little advantages are stuck right in front of us?
Marketing advantages come in all shapes, sizes, colors and forms. Sometimes a wonderful advantage doesn’t even look like an advantage, until we look a second time. When airline ticket prices are $400-$1000 or more, who would guess that saving $25 bucks checking your bag could be a highly profitable advantage?
This is an interesting question, if you truly consider it. What makes this economy so interesting is that answering questions like that may well be the difference between getting by and getting way ahead. Think about it!
So, what advantage can you leverage? I’ll have more to say about this in the next post. In the meantime,
Contagious Leaders know that they have to help their teams find passion, energy and excitement for the vision. People get excited by people who are excited. So, find ways to get excited and you’ll see the excitement around you change. It really is that simple.
So many of us long for the “good old days” when the good guys finished first. It seems as though those days have been replaced by all the “bad boys” winning the big games and gaining all the notoriety and huge pay days. Well, we have news for you; the good old days may still be with us.
We recently traveled to Baltimore to visit relatives and participate in a fund raiser for the Baer School, which Bev’s sister Debbie Kastendike, her uisband Graham and their sons Eric and Christopher and his wife Ashley are deeply involved with. The plan was to have an affair at the Legends of Sport Heroes right near Camden Yards where to Baltimore Orioles still play. A special treat would be an appearance by Joe Flacco, Quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens. With all the controversy about and around “star athletes” these days I wasn’t so sure that the QB’s appearance was anything worth getting all excited over. Boy, was I wrong!
Joe Flacco impressed each of the 200 people there, including the biggest doubting Thomas of all, me.
Joe Flacco and the Kids of The Baer School
Joe and more Kids
Eric Kastendike, Joe Flacco and Christopher Kastendike
Joe Flacco and Ashley kastendike
Joe and another Baer School Charmer
To watch him was to learn about him. He began quietly, appearing a bit shy at first. Then as we entered the room where the kids were he began to be more lively. For the last picture above he actually asked if the little girl would like to have a picture taken. He didn’t presume she wanted the shot, nor did he walk away relieved that he avoided yet another inconvenience. No, he asked if she would like a picture.
Most of these kids had no idea who Joe Flacco is, nor did they care. They only knew that he enjoyed being with them, paying attention to them, talking with them, smiling with them. They loved him for that and so did the delighted people that came to help the Baer School.
That night, we all saw a side of Joe Flacco, and perhaps other “star athletes” that made us revisit our attitudes toward all athletes. Perhaps they are not all thugs and bad boys. Perhaps a few, like Joe Flacco, are really good guys that just dress up like athletes and happen to get paid a lot of money for doing so. This doesn’t make them bad. In fact, it just helped prove a really important point for all of us. Despite what the world may look like from time to time, good guys really do finish first.
Spend your day looking to peoples greatness instead of trying to find fault and see the results:
* More fun
* More Productivity
* More Trust
* More Confidence
* More Results
Most people have a long list of IRRITATIONS that continue to bother them, over and over again. They learn to accept them as part of life. The IRRITATIONS may come from relationships, violations of boundaries, the work environment or annoying things that for some reason people allow to remain in their lives. Sometimes, IRRITATIONS are a result of our own behavior. We allow these IRRITATIONS to become sources of stress and frustration. When our lives are full of IRRITATIONS, it is impossible to break away and take the journey towards mastery in our lives. You cannot ride a horse with burrs under the saddle, at least not for very long. Similarly, you cannot have a smooth ride in life while accepting the IRRITATIONS you currently allow.
The first step in conquering your life IRRITATIONS is to identify them. The next step will be to develop strategies to rid your life of all IRRITATIONS. What I want for you is to have an IRRITATION FREE LIFE. Is it possible? Absolutely!
Decide today to do something about your top 3. You can either accept them, change them or rid yourself of them. Whichever way you choose, it is up to you.
Passion Counts, it sells, it inspires and people respond to passion. So, if you are not naturally passionate how does an aspiring leader get passionate. The 3 E’s of a Passionate Leader are:
There are 2 kinds of leaders, contained leaders and contagious ones.
Contained leaders, as their name states, play it small, keep things to themselves, and normally center on defending who they are and what they have instead of creating an organization packed with other leaders.
Most probably, at one point in your life you have worked, or are now working, with a contained leader. He or she keeps everything very secured, watching over the information they consider valuable, because they truly believe that is where their power and influence reside. If they advance others, it is so as to focus the attention on themselves; everything is about them.
On the contrary, contagious leaders share everything they do and deeply believe that the only way to be absolutely successful in the long run is through developing other leaders like themselves. They acknowledge that the creation of contagious leaders is the right thing to do for their businesses, the only way in which the best companies naturally create more market share, more profits and more return to shareholders, and the only path towards excelling and becoming what every other company dreams of being, a factory of contagious leaders.
But, how is it that a leader comes into being?
-In the beginning, you are an employee; it could be an entry-level one or an executive, but you are just starting with this company thus, you are new. Everyone is just an employee when they start.
-Later on, you become a manager. This is the first opportunity you will have to show your capacity to be responsible for the work of others; it is the first chance you get to attempt to motivate others beside yourself. If you are good at it, and luck is on your side, someone will notice that your skills are as good as the ones of others around you, and they will begin to see you as a leader. If you are very capable of putting out fires and managing crisis, you may also be called a leader.
-After someone tags you as a leader, you have two choices: you can be like the majority and become a forever wary contained leader, or you can decide to be better, be yourself, and become a contagious leader. Unfortunately, this decision is not completely up to you; your organization has a word in it too. If it rewards secrecy, you will have a hard time becoming contagious, but, if the organization acknowledges the power of contagious leadership, you will have a great deal of support to move forward. In case your organization is in favor of the contained leadership model and you are not, you can always choose to leave and look for a company that better suits your ideals.
In the end there is no battle, just a conscious and personal choice to be made.
Today, the world is craving leadership. Everywhere, from Alaska to Japan, through TV interviews, newspapers, magazines, and social gatherings, and everyone, from business managers to community leaders, from teachers to parents, is asking for more leadership.
Everyone seems to have his or her own opinion as to what leadership is and how a leader must act. If anything, there is a lot of confusion out there. We know for certain that leadership is vital for our businesses, schools, communities, and families; nevertheless, we don’t know exactly what we are looking for.
For leadership to be effective and contagious we must stop thinking that it has to do with what we ‘do’. Contagious leadership is possible, it is extremely necessary, and is, always has been, and will always be, about whom we ‘are’.
Contagious leadership is about leaders developing and encouraging more leaders by reproducing and giving incentives to the qualities that place leaders apart.
Contagious leadership is a way of thinking and a process that involves making a decision about how the people in a business will behave; it is a process that spreads like a virus. There are 6 actions in the process of creating contagious leadership:
-Action 1
Make the decision that leadership, instead of management, is the standard of success and performance all through the organization.
-Action 2
Ensure every single individual within the organization knows what is expected of a leader. Contagious leadership doesn’t only apply to executives or high-rank employees; anyone within the organization can follow the qualities of, and become, a contagious leader.
-Action 3
Motivate every individual to replicate the behaviors and attitudes that the business expects of contagious leaders.
-Action 4
Create policies that encourage the qualities and habits of contagious leaders, and that weaken all the rest.
-Action 5
Establish practices to acknowledge and recompense the attitudes, qualities, and behavior, expected of contagious leaders.
-Action 6
Delineate the main role of the leaders at every level as one of expanding and supporting future leaders within the organization.
There are 9 specific behaviors that identify highly contagious leaders. Decide for yourself if these qualities appeal to you and if you are able to enforce them within your business, some are culture driven while others are determined by the individual.
1.Spotlighting
Contagious leaders constantly focus their attention, be it directly or indirectly, on the attempts and achievements of other people or teams. They seldom, if ever, center on themselves.
2.Cultivating character
These leaders make conscientious choices in regards to ‘how’ the business takes action, in addition to ‘what’ it carries out. It is not just about the numbers, because character is a strong decision-making factor.
3.Involved recognition
This is the habit of enunciating particular actions that are worthy of applause. Besides saying “Great job!” contagious leaders will also explain why and how a certain job was great.
4.Looking at greatness
This means, the habit of highlighting strengths. Contagious leaders do not pay attention to people’s faults and avoid drawing attention to these; they prefer to acknowledge the strong points in others.
5.Energetic communication
Contagious leaders are masters in successfully trading information, thoughts and emotions in a way that creates harmony and boosts productivity. They are open and frank, because they know good communication is the basis to make everything else work; it will enhance everyone’s self-confidence and performance much more than any other strategy would.
6.Clear vision
This is the habit of centering the action on a clear and vivid picture of what wants to be accomplished. There is complete lucidity as to where the business is headed, the goals are clear, and the leaders are able to share this vision with the team.
7.Touching lives
This habit has to do with recognizing what is most valuable within the business: its people. Contagious leaders get deeply and genuinely involved: they know who is married, who is single, who has kids; they know their employees’ names and the names of their spouses, their kids’ names and ages, where they live, and much more, and they know all this not because it is good for business, but because they really care about their people.
8.A passionate stand
Contagious leaders express themselves freely; they do not keep themselves under control, in the good sense of the word. They dare, they have passion, and they live by it.
9.Permission mentoring
These leaders make it a habit to develop would-be contagious leaders; they don’t want imitators and followers, but individuals who do what they wish to do and in the way they wish to do it. Contagious leaders want to spread their seed around, but allowing every specific person to grow it in the way he or she wants to. Their actions are reproduced through others.
In any successful business, a good leader will have invested significant amounts of time selecting and building an efficient team; one that he values and treats well. In return, team members work diligently to reach objectives and achieve the goals of the company. One thing that makes this system work consistently is the teams’ efforts to lighten the workload of the leader in such a way as to allow him more time to focus on other business demands. Here are 5 ways that you and your team can help to lighten your leader’s load.
Make sure your own job is done well.
Doing your own job well is the first way you can help to make your manager or team leader’s job a little easier. Not only is your job one less thing for your boss to worry about, it also can free up some of your time that you can then devote to helping your team leader in whatever way possible.
Don’t just identify a problem; try to provide a solution!
It’s easy to come to your manager with all kinds of problems. What’s often more difficult is to also provide a solution! Simply dumping problems on a leader’s desk is not only frustrating for him, but it also creates more work. When your goal is to lighten your leader’s role, you should at the very least be ready to offer some suggestions as to how you might be able to fix the problem.
Stand Up and Stand In.
A good leader always values the support of his team, and the team must likewise offer support in return. Not everyone in the company will agree with the manager’s views and visions. A helpful team member can win support by standing up for what the leader is trying to accomplish. Also, no manager can be everywhere at once, so be prepared to stand in for your manager as needed. Do what you can, wherever you can.
Do a little more than is asked
Never be satisfied with just doing the minimum amount that is asked of you. Going the extra mile can not only make a huge difference to your manager’s workload and the company’s success, it can also make you stand out in the crowd. Your efforts will undoubtedly be recognized and rewarded, advancing you in your journey to personal success.
Make honesty your first policy.
Managers and leaders get plenty of feedback every day; some of it useful, but more often than not it is meaningless. To be truly helpful, tell your manager what he needs to hear, not what you think he wants to hear. This won’t always be easy, and will take courage on your part. It may even take some time for your approach to be accepted, but a good leader will appreciate your honesty and will eventually come to trust you and seek your opinion.
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