The end of the year holiday season is, among other things, a season of hope. As we take stock of 2012 and begin to focus on 2013, we are filled with hope for a better life in whatever way is meaningful to us. However, hope alone is not going to carry the day. Hope has to become a Vision which further translates to Strategies, Goals and Actions that lead to Improved Results. In his 2002 best seller "Hope Is Not A Strategy - The 6 Keys to Winning The Complex Sale", Rick Page lays out very definitive sales strategies to differentiate your value and effectively close sales in a business-to-business selling environment. While the definition of complex may have changed in the last 6 years, in today's global and very uncertain business landscape, we can ill afford to "hope" we close a deal or "hope" the client buys from us again....

I recently finished reading "Leaders At All Levels" by Ram Charan and would recommend it as part of your professional leadership library. Ram Charan is a world-renowned advisor to business leaders and corporate boards as well as best selling author or co-author of 14 books. He zeroes in on different ways to ensure organizations have the quality and quantity of leaders in their ranks to ensure continuity of leadership. I especially found his views on how to spot and develop leaders within the organization to be insightful. In one section in particular, he states, "The military is another source of leadership talent. Its leadership training is second to none." As I reflected on why I integrate military leadership lessons into my leadership practice, it occurred to me it wasn't that I was just learning how to lead, but rather I was learning to lead extremely well under adverse circumstances that makes a...

Several months ago I had the pleasure of meeting the author of this month’s book at a presentation she was giving. It only took me a few minutes meeting with her prior to her presentation to know she was the real deal. Cy Wakeman’s book, "Reality-Based Leadership" - Ditch the Drama, Restore Sanity to the Workplace, and Turn Excuses Into Results is a bit of a wake-up call for organizations and individuals who are struggling with what real leadership is and should be to succeed in today’s global economy.My favorite chapter in the book is titled Lead “First, Manage Second” because I believe it does a very good job of delineating the difference between leading and managing. In keeping with the theme of generational diversity, I can recount many situations involving multiple generations where the leader was really managing when they should be leading. In some cases, the leader was the only one not aware...

Since we are focused on choices this month, one of the more challenging choices a business owner makes is how much time to spend working in the business versus how much time to work on the business. In his book, “The E-Myth Revisited, Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What To Do About It”, Michael Gerber explains how the person who likes to work in the business as The Technician can also work on the business as The Manager and The Entrepreneur. My favorite part of the book is in Section 3 where the author talks about the three key activities that form the foundation of the business. These activities are: Innovation – Creativity is thinking new things, Innovation is doing new things to advance the business. Quantification – What do the numbers say about how far Innovation has moved the business. If you don’t measure it, did it really...

In keeping with the theme of sustainable leadership, this month’s book review covers a topic that is, in my mind, at the very root of successful leadership. We define Attitude as Habit of Thought and so this month’s book review tells us how habits work and, more importantly, how we can change our habits if need be. In “The Power of Habit”, Charles Duhigg, gives leaders some wonderful insights into why change is so difficult for many and how that can improve when we understand the power of habits. My favorite part of the book is the discussion around how to change habits. We know that habits are formed through life as our brains process and compartmentalize the vast amount of information we consume every day. Those habits that no longer serve us well, unfortunately, cannot be erased. However, we can change the behavior by exercising the Golden Rule of Habit...