Life Is Full Of Choices…Make One.

Collaboration...Teamwork...Delegation...Job Sharing...Cooperation...Empower...Partnership...Compromise...and the list goes on.  What do these words have in common?  Potentially they mean - “nothing gets decided”.  

These terms of the day, are all the rage.  However, inclusion of your Team and your Associates is more of an art than a science.  Because, all of this talk of sharing in the decision seems to also slow down the process of actually making a decision.

I was asked to help a new leader assimilate into her role.  It sounded simple enough as she had been an important part of the success of this office.  

Cynthia was the ideal choice to be promoted to Lead the regional office.  She had been with this industry leader for 15 years.  Her resume carried all the necessary signs of success.  Double major in marketing and business, an MBA, and high grades from her Team in her 360 reviews.  The Succession Planning program had highlighted the competency gaps between her current strengths and this new position.  An accelerated development program closed the gap quite nicely over the past 15 months.  Everyone loved Cynthia.  

During the assimilation we found mostly support for her and few surprises to work through in her Coaching agenda.  Although, I did feel some level of caution in my mind with one particular topic.  It seemed that everyone loved Cynthia too much.  Think about it.  Hasn't every leader you have followed had some flaw?  Hasn't every leader done something to promote some level of distaste or second guessing?  

I spent some time with the group trying to bring out this concern.  After some difficult pushing, pulling, and dragging, it finally came to me.  The culture of this office had slowly eroded to a picture perfect example of passive aggressiveness.  Everyone was afraid or unwilling to make a decision on their own, and the success of group meetings was built on a foundation of alliances, and coffee talk, making certain no one would be offended by the resulting group decisions.  Yes, everyone loved Cynthia.  She was  gifted at being passive, able to stay out of the fray of decision making.

I decided to let the group move in their chosen direction.  But, we agreed I would visit again for a followup in a month or two.  In advance of my planned re-visit, I was called by the home office to listen to their anxiety driven story.  It seems Cynthia's office was in trouble.  Production was down, customer service inquiries were diving downward, two key producers had quit, and their exit interviews told the story of an office frozen with no direction, no leadership, no answers to key questions, and day to day issues with no purposeful resolve.

As the group came into our room, the look was indeed different.  It was amazing how quickly the aggressive side to their culture had taken control.  This was one group of unhappy people.  But  everyone still seemed to love Cynthia.

Through our group discussions, and some affinity group coaching exercises, I was able to help the group reach some important conclusions.  Cynthia was not Leading;

• Don’t get me wrong, she was a Visionary, but what good is her Vision when the walls are crumbling around you after only 60 days on the job?
• She had Charisma.  Everyone still loved Cynthia.  Amidst the turmoil, Cynthia was still the fun one to be with.
• Cynthia was still Driven To Succeed.   She was the first one in the office, the last one to leave at the end of the day, and made it quite clear she logged more miles and met with more customers than anyone else in the office.  As the walls were tumbling down, Cynthia needed to make certain her own numbers were still up.  
• Cynthia was protecting the Relationships she had created over her 15 years with the company.  Relationships are important to a Leader...but at what cost?

Yes, Cynthia still had many good competencies and behaviors of a Leader.  But something was indeed lacking?

Cynthia had established a very rigid schedule of group and team meetings.  She had opened each meeting with a quick discussion of the words which would be key to their success.

• Collaboration...
• Teamwork...
• Delegation...
• Job Sharing...
• Cooperation...
• Empower...
• Partnership...
• Compromise.  

Yes, it’s those words again.  But one key phrase was missing.  She was ignoring the focus of “Decision Making”.  

Nothing was getting done.  It may have been a small symptom of a larger problem, it may have been a customer complaint, or it may have been a blowup between key employees.  But on this day, we came to realize Cynthia was not making a decision as their leader on most topics that came her way.

Yes, yes, yes...these are great words.  These are wonderful sets of Teamwork ideology.  But lets face it.  Someone must make a decision.  In the end, (or perhaps in the beginning, or even midstream) The Leader must be decisive.  The Rare Leader™ must be able to assess, analyze, and move toward a  solution using instincts, and be willing to take a risk where the absence of facts makes the better decision.  Life is full of choices…make one.

1. Who is responsible to make the decision?
2. What decisions never seem to be made?
3. Where can you go if you need to resolve a question?
4. When will you start making Decisions?
5. How will you change your behavior of avoiding decision making?

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

So...You’re Allowed To Be A Jerk?

My Boss is a jerk.  I really don’t like my Boss.  What gives him the right to treat me this way?  She has a bad day and I suffer.   Ok, enough already.    Do you know that’s what they really say?  Do you know they are talking about you?   So... you’re allowed to be a jerk, just because you’re the boss? 

I get concerned when I hear these pronouncements.  After I follow up on the statements I hear the same excuses from these bosses.  They say; I have so much stress.  They have no clue what it’s really like in this office.  With this economy and business challenges it’s not easy being the boss.  I should just fire them all.

You know, they might be right.  As Will Ferrell said in his portrayal of an American President, “This presidenting is really hard”.  But that is not an excuse.  When the going gets really tough, it is not time to crawl into a hole and make autocratic decisions, ignoring your employees and your leadership team.  When you leave those collaborative times of Peace, and find yourself in the decisive times of War, it still calls for you to be a good leader of others, in addition to yourself.  

If you change your style because the conditions demand it, let people know the rules of engagement have changed.  If being decisive requires you to make immediate decisions, you still have the responsibility to communicate the state of business, and the impact on your organization.  

Emotional Stability in a Rare Leader™ is exemplified by the “boss” who can alter their leadership style as conditions dictate.  Emotional Stability in a Rare Leader™ is bookmarked by increased targeted communications indicating the style and rules of leadership have changed.  Emotional Stability in a Rare Leader™ is noticed by others when the Integrity of Character never falters when times are tough.  Emotional Stability in a Rare Leader™ shines through, and creates a Charisma which in turn develops an even stronger following when employees need direction.

One of my clients found himself faced with pretty dire conditions as the market conditions hit his company even harder than expected.  Even though they planned for a downturn, and applied their tactical plan, revenues tumbled, and the news was bad.  But my client realized the bad news was not a secret.  Employees throughout the company now feared the worst.  It wasn’t merely about jobs anymore, everyone knew it was about company survival.  

Rather than sit in his office and dictate office closings, job eliminations, and deeper expense cuts, this president went on the offensive.  Rather than put on a happy face and try to tell his close supporters that they would weather the storm, he told the truth.  He told the truth to everyone.  He visited every office and held town meetings.  He listened.   He spoke openly about the challenges facing everyone.  But he also spoke bravely about the tough decisions he was making every day.  He laid out a very specific plan of the limited options to create survival.  

The groundswell of support grew as word spread about the Character,  Charisma, Decisiveness, and Emotional Stability of their leader.  We may need to wait another 12 -18 months as the economic recovery slowly continues to see if they survive.  But what we know immediately, is that these employees want to believe in their Leader.  These employees want to follow their Leader.  Even though times of Peace have been left far behind, the new style of leadership in this time of War has been clearly communicated, and employees have accepted the challenge to follow.

Don’t be a Jerk...Become a Rare Leader™.

1. Who do you turn to when times get tough?
2. What do you do when you find plans are not working?
3. Where is your comfort zone during times of War?
4. When will you begin to communicate realities of the future?
5. How will you lead your employees when the going gets tough?

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

War and Peace...or is it Peace and War

If you are looking for the latest discussion of Napoleon, Nicholas Rostov, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, Pierre Bezukhov, Natasha Rostov, or Princess Helene, you’ve googled the wrong War and Peace.  Tolstoy needed four volumes to tell the of the disastrous 1812 Russian invasion as the backdrop for the tangled personal lives of two aristocratic families.  

We’ll identify the qualities and behaviors of a Rare Leader™ during Times Of Peace, and also during Times Of War, in a more abbreviated fashion.  So, why not read on.

Beginning in the later 1980’s, I realize I had switched my learning emphasis from technical topics such as labor negotiation strategies, self funded underwriting of medical benefit plans, or regulations relative to the financial securities industry.  My study interests shifted towards a discovery of why people are successful, and more specifically, who leads people to success...and how? 

We were coming off an explosion of interest in China.  Venture capitalism, technology, and restructuring the corporation were the rage.  But there was not really a focus on the competencies of leadership.  Historically, Leadership had grown out of the top producer being awarded from great achievements in sales, engineering, or finance with a promotion to the coveted corner office.  

Leadership was ill defined, and success in the roaring 90’s came a bit easier when the economy and business was good.  These Leaders were leading in Times Of Peace.  

I have read many books on Leadership.  Perhaps too many.  Early on, theories of Collaborative Leadership emerged, encouraging skills and attributes for cross boundary success.    Interpersonal connections were replacing formal systems of process. After all, who would argue against the common theory of “two heads are better than one”?  

When  the economy was strong, business was going well, and growth came as a natural progression, collaborative Leadership became a hallmark of success.  Transparency, open door policies, long term strategic planning, delegation, team building and even more theories expounded upon in the leading business books, encouraged this style of collaborative open decision making while in Times Of Peace.

Hello Recession...The times are a changing.  More, and more I see successful organizations able to react tactically, as they continue to find new avenues of success.  But with the problem solving process shortened, and economic challenges demanding fast decisive decisions, Leaders find themselves altering their behaviors of leading others.  

Sometimes, Leaders simply have to make decisions on their own.  This does not encourage a fall back to closed door meetings with secret agendas.  But it does encourage more strategic preparedness and interaction between key employees helping to prepare their Leader to be more decisive on behalf of the Team in these Times Of War.  Preparation, open discussions, careful research, communication, and support of individual decisions have become the bugle of a new call to arms.

A new competency of leadership has emerged.  The Rare Leader™ who has balance, poise, and ability to maintain composure through ups and downs, and  knows when to apply intellectual intelligence and maturity can Lead in times of both War and Peace.  The Rare Leader™ can not only differentiate between the two, but has the ability to draw upon both skill sets when needed, to Lead others.

Do you have this level of Emotional Stability as a Leader?

1. Who do you know that can lead effectively in times of both War and Peace?
2. What can you do to build your competencies to lead to during both Peace and in these times of War?
3. Where do you see success from Leadership in times of War?
4. When will you switch your style of leadership for these times of War?
5. How do you switch from the attributes of leadership during peace, to the skills needed to lead in these times of War?

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

My Boss Is Relentless

When I asked Tim what was on his mind, he really opened up.  

“I love my job.  I really do.  But there are some things that make it really unbearable.  I mean, I’m really good at what I do.  Well, that’s what my friends tell me.  The company is great, and I believe in our products.  From what I see, we are in a great position to grow, and I could have seen myself happy here for a long time...could have. You see, it’s her fault.  You’ve met her.  Yeah, my Boss.  Wait, I’m not saying she’s a bad person.  I’ve met her husband and kids, and they all seem really happy when they’re together.  Her brother works here too.  He’s also an owner, and he’s not like her.  You see, she’s quite bright.   No, actually she’s brilliant.  She’s patented several of our formulas and is respected industry wide.  But my issue is that she’s relentless.  She is all over me.  I just can’t seem to be doing enough to please her.  I don’t know how the others do it. I cant take it.  Yes, that’s why I’m leaving.  You need to help me”

I first met Tim at one of my networking events - “1,2,3@5”.  This is an open networking event I host 4 times each year, attended by a few hundred people.  It’s fabulous networking, and has been labeled as the “premiere networking event” in the business community.  But, it is not the place for confidential coaching.  So when Tim was introduced to me he said, “Steve, I have been wanting to meet you.  Based upon your success Coaching other executives, I know you are the right person to help me.”  I thanked Tim for the gracious compliment in front of the few gathered in our circle near the entrance, and suggested we meet soon to chat in private.  When we met a week later, Tim told me his story, and diagnosed what he felt was his issue.

When I am engaged with a career coaching client, so many times  the client will tell me they love their job, but they can’t work for their Boss.  It’s always the Boss’s fault.  Yeah, that’s right.  Typically this is the Boss who built up a nice $100m business, is admired by the community, and is followed by a growing number of successful “C” level leaders.  We have all met this Leader.  To be this successful, many times they embody most of the behaviors of the Rare Leader™.  

So why then, does Tim, and perhaps many of you have this identical issue?  First, let’s be honest and cut to the truth.  Many times people who self diagnose their issues are the worst doctors.  They locate all sorts of cuts and bruises and apply nice looking band-aids, and take ibuprofen, and all seems well...for a day or two.  These self diagnosers never find the core issues beneath these symptoms of pain and discomfort.  It is far too difficult to look inside yourself with any deep effective level of an unbiased assessment.

Tim, while thinking this was all about his Boss, had self diagnosed himself to be distant from the problem.  After all, this Millennial has what it takes.  A nice degree, a quality internship, a good family legacy in business, and after 18 months on the job, Tim is ready for the world.  He does not have the patience to be treated like a kid by his Boss.  Tim  sees himself ready to be anointed for greatness.

One of the behaviors that made Tim’s boss successful was her Achievement Drive.  As one of the 12 behaviors of the Rare Leader™, she knew she needed to achieve, and realized she needed to lead others to achieve.  She had Goal Clarity from her collaborative work with her Team.  Tim knew she was persistent.  But Tim only saw her persistence as pushing and prodding and “bugging him”, rather than her actually trying to motivate him to also be decisive and take action.  Tim was so self involved, that he did not see that Kate’s pushing and prodding made those around her successful too.  In reality, Tim was too selfish to see his Boss cared so much for him that she was making every effort to help him succeed.  

Now, after several Coaching sessions, Tim was hoping it was not too late to revive his chances with Kate.  Had Kate given up on Tim?

1. Can YOU save your career?
2. Are your job frustrations someone else’s fault...or your own?
3. Are you too self involved to see others are trying to help you? 
4. Do you self diagnosed your problems at work?
5. Does your Team understand why you push and prod them to achieve?

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

Committed to Achieve?

When I initially meet with my coaching clients, we complete an initial assessment.  Part of the assessment helps begin to uncover core issues for our future work together.  New clients  usually take great care to explain who they are.  However, because we have not yet built the trust required in a coaching relationship, these new clients are careful not to disclose anything too revealing, or damaging.  

True to form, it’s almost as if they have a scripted message they never tire of delivering.  I’ve heard it so many times.  If its a family business, they talk of their Grandfathers dedication and vision to build this company passed on through the generations.  

If not a family business, their self assessment initially focuses on their targeted education from a respected University, their rise from an entry level job, and their baby boomer work ethic that took them to the top.  

Bill told me about his rise to the top, but became agitated when speaking to his reason for seeking my help.  “No one here shares my passion for our mission, goals, and objectives...I seem to be the only one with the drive, and commitment to make certain we’re successful”  

I always find it interesting the burden some executives feel that they are alone in their quest for success.  They feel like the 3 handicap golfer always dragging the 15 handicapper in the 2 golfer best-ball tourney.  Bill’s shoulders were tired.

I decided to ask Bill’s permission to speak with some of the employees to gain their honest perspective...(This was something he had never done).  Focusing on Bills assumed solo ride on the “commitment train”, I discovered some valuable perspectives.  Some substantiated comments were;

• “Yeah, Bill’s pretty crazy about his wanting to win.”
• “Bill constantly complains in leadership meetings about the Team not getting on board...Frankly, I’m not certain what that means.  Bill’s all over the place with his goal of the week.”
• “That’s pretty funny actually.  Like last week when he was all over us, driving us, really angry, telling us we must not care...and then he decided at the last minute yesterday to go on some golf trip today with his buddies, and canceled our Team meeting.  This commitment thing comes and goes with him.”
• “Committed to his vision?  Committed to his goals?  Oh, yes, that’s Bill all right.  But to be honest, I’m not certain what this vision is, and what specific goals he has set.  How  am I supposed to join him if I don’t know what he really wants?”

As Bill and I spent more time together, we found that trust which is required to build the foundation of our work.  Eventually a more complete disclosure of “what keeps Bill awake at night” came through.  Over time, Bill discovered solutions to some bigger internal issues, enabling him to find confidence with himself and his Team.  

Bill found he was able to work with his Team to collaboratively discover the Company vision, and set a course of accountable actions to reach goals towards success.  This goal clarity enabled Bill and his Team to see the vision and goals together as partners, and share in the strategies and tactics.  

The shared accountability between Bill and his Team, and between the Team Members gave a new level of commitment and persistence towards achieving goals.  This persistence was fueled by a functional trusting Team, with a leader sharing and encouraging his commitment to achievement.  

As you think of your own Achievement Drive, answer these questions;

1. Are you considered “crazy” or “passionate” about your achievement drive?
2. Are you “consistent” with your Goals, or “flexible” as needed?  
3. Are you “committed”, or merely “participating” with high energy?
4. Are you a high achiever at providing clarity with your Team?
5. Are you driven by “goal clarity”?

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

I have people skills, I am good at dealing with people...

The Rare Leader™ is always interacting with people.  The Rare Leader™ is able to utilize intuition to sense what people are feeling and thinking.  The Rare Leader™ has the ability to interact positively, actively listening, understanding, and responding to different behavioral styles.  The Rare Leader naturally proves he or she can focus on others rather than self.

"Well, look, I already told you. I deal with the #*@#$% customers so the engineers don't have to. I have people skills! I am good at dealing with people! Can't you understand that? What the hell is wrong with you people?!"... Tom Smykowski responding to Bob Slydel - Office Space

Tom was a leader of the Software Engineering Team at Initech, a company plagued by excessive management.  When pressed, Tom really felt his number one skill was “dealing with people”, because had “people skills”.  

Now, I don’t know about you, but when I think of people skills, unfortunately I think too many times about managers like Tom, who really do think their people skills are second to none.  Even though Tom is a fictional leader, from a fictional company, from a movie, it is in fact, rare to find real leaders from real companies with great people skills.  The reason Tom felt his people skills were so strong, is that he was so focused on himself, rather than the Team members he was leading.

Great relationships with people do start and end with the skills and behaviors you show in establishing powerful, long lasting, relationships of trust, collaboration, and shared success.  

Do you have great intuition?  Can you connect the dots of what you observe about the people you lead?  To properly observe, you need a keen ability going beyond what you might easily see, hear, or touch.  Intuition takes you inside the character of the people you lead, to sense and understand what they are thinking and feeling.  What does the connection tell you?  Connecting the dots and applying your intuition about people is similar to the skills you find as a visionary, using data and trends to see into the future.  Your intuition should enable you to see the future possibilities between yourself and other people.  

What is your ability to interact with others?  Are your active listening skills refined?  Does it come naturally to listen intently and be able to repeat what you heard...word for word?  

After listening, can you understand what the other person is really saying?  What is their hidden meaning?  What action are they seeking from you?  Do they desire you to offer a response full of ideas, suggestions and directives, or are they merely seeking a listener with empathy?  

What is your response?  Does your response come from truly caring about what they have to say?  Or, is your response quick, to the point, enabling you to move to your next agenda item of your day?

Perhaps the hidden challenge for the Rare Leader™ with relationships is adapting all of these skills to the “human factor”.  After all, like snowflakes, no two human beings are alike.  This gives you great opportunity to develop your intuition, interaction, listening skills, understanding, and response, to varying styles and diversity of people.  This adaption to diversity draws from the Core of your Character.  This adaption to diversity of behavior styles in your Team, is the test of the integrity of your Character.

In the end, your relationships with others have no grounding if you continue to focus on yourself first.  This was really Tom’s issue when self analyzing his number one skill at Initech.  I see this same issue when observing, assessing, and coaching leaders who fail at building positive relationships as a proven characteristic of becoming a Rare Leader™.  The core of these failings continue to look back at a narcissistic self involved, “me first” Leader.  

Who do you focus on?  What is your style?

1. Do you have great intuition?
2. What is your ability to interact with others?
3. Are your active listening skills refined?
4. Can you understand what the other person is really saying?
5. Does your response come from truly caring about what others have to say?
6. Can you prove you do focus on others rather than yourself?

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

Stuck In The Moment

I left a lengthy session with a client deeply involved in their strategic planning process.  When I say deeply, I mean way over the top.  They asked me to help them finish the plan.  They felt they were too close to the task at hand to hold themselves accountable to the finish line.

This is a company that has experienced great growth.  Ownership felt they needed to put some type of plan together rather than run in the direction of hot sales as they have on the past.  

So here they are - planning, and planning, and planning.  Meanwhile, the world and all of those hot sales are passing them by.  Everyone is committed to planning, leaving no one to keep the business flowing.  Operations are slowing down, designs  contain more errors, and the road warriors are not on the road selling.  All the key players are focused on planning their future.  And, just as they dove in and pursued the hot sales during the infancy of their company, they are now driven and focused on the planning efforts.  However, they have become “stuck in the moment” of all the planning...and they “can’t get out of it”.

In Leadership, there is a time to realize the balance between planning and execution needs an adjustment.  Todd the CEO, realized this at the quarterly review when studying the running 12 month reports on sales, backlog, errors, and manufacturing.  

Then he called me...

As we worked through activities of the past few months, it was clear the collaboration process and Team involvement on the strategic plan had taken leadership control away from Todd.  We worked through the symptoms to the core issues.  Todd found his leadership had been absent while he was allowing all the planning activities to take over the momentum of his Team away from their focus on execution.  

Todd was faced with two challenges.  First, he needed to get his Team engaged in the tasks at hand.  Secondly, the Team needed to put some of their planning to work and begin to execute some of their action steps.  

As time has passed, Todd is leading again.  Sales are coming in.  Quality is on track.  Manufacturing is in process.  And, there are  some elements of the strategic plan completed.

The Rare Leader™ is able to blend all twelve of the key behaviors, and balance them with, and against each other.  

The Rare Leader™ is also able to 

discern the fragile balance between planning and execution.

1. Are you “Stuck in the Moment”?
2. When you are stuck, are you able to “get out of it”?
3. How do you prevent getting “stuck”
4. What tools and resources can you use to identify and maintain the proper balance between planning and execution?

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

Acting On Your Vision

”I’m high on ideas, but low on execution”.
  
How many times have you heard someone say this?  Typically you hear it from someone who sees themselves as very creative.  Or, as they might say...I’m an idea guy.  

We’ve lived with and worked with them.  A parent declares...”Let’s vacation in the mountains this year”.  Great idea.  It sounds like fun!  Time passed and there was no vacation, let alone a trip to the mountains.  Then, at the last minute there was a a mad scramble to put some kind of get away together.  Or, the manager at work who announces...”this month there will be no shut down of the line for unexpected maintenance.”  I love it when you have someone in a position of authority who feels they have been anointed to declare the future.

In a few months we will talk about the fine balance between a leader who plans, and a leader who executes.  I’ll introduce you to some people I have worked with who love to put action plans together, organize the troops, coach for effectiveness, check in for updates, and of course hold everyone accountable.  They may not have that celebration in the end, because there may not be known success.  After all, how do you measure their great action plan if it was not based upon a great vision.  Rare Leaders have both Vision and action.

Lets go back to this “idea guy”.  If they say “Im a visionary”, be careful.  A visionary is not a Leader with Vision.  A visionary has no action plan, and is nothing more than a dreamer.

A Leader with Vision is one of those Rare Leaders who is inspired by what they see, they share it with others, and they empower others around them to make the Vision a reality.  Rare Leaders actually do something with their Vision.  You could say they are “high on ideas, and high on execution”.

Over the past few weeks, we have discussed the Rare Leader who has Vision.  We have defined Vision as a clear inspired picture of a committed journey.  Vision is set up by trends, data, and patience.  Vision requires you to realize you have the ability to see things differently than others, and while you have the passion to believe it will come true, you have a need to lead others to find success.  Sharing your Vision inspires others around you.  Sharing your vision is an invitation.  It is an invitation to see the future and to make it happen.  The next step for the Rare Leader who has Vision, is to act on it.

Tell me...

1. When you see something that you believe is your Vision, what do you do do with it?
• Do you keep in inside of you, hoping for an epiphany?
• How do you set your sights on “making it happen”?
2. How do you set up your action plan?  
• Is it detailed and in writing within a nice clean binder on your shelf?  
• Is it simple, and easy to communicate? (perhaps a mission, or a set of goals where your Team can collaboratively provide details?)  What form does it take?
3. What do you do to keep your Vision and the action plan vibrant and moving in the right direction?
• Do you try to “do it all” by yourself?  (After all it’s your vision.)
• Do you mentor your Team?  Do you checkin to see if they need more guidance?  Do you provide resources?  Do you follow up on the action steps the Team committed to?  Do you celebrate success?  How do you Lead the action plan of your Vision?

Acting on your Vision requires you to Lead.  

After all, if you’re a Rare Leader, you can’t just be the idea guy.

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.