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Tom Lemanski Articles

Written by: Tom Lemanski

Leader's Success Secret: Celebration - Click To Read Article
A valuable and insightful nugget about delegation, leadership and business growth from an entrepreneur who built a 3,200 employee organization. Learn his epiphany and breakthrough moment as a leader.

Five Resounding Reasons to Review Your Strategic Plan - Click To Read Article
Events of the past three years have rendered many business plans either partially or completely obsolete. Here are five quick potential wake-up calls to help you determine if one of your most important leadership tools is in need of repair.

10 Attributes of a Wing-It Organization - Click To Read Article
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. We take a deeper look at why planning is shunned and the results.

Under Promise and Over Deliver - Click To Read Article
A curious change has occurred in air travel in recent years. No, I'm not thinking about enhanced security or the charges for checking bags. It's the air lines' scheduling. You can now occasionally arrive as much as 30 minutes early for routine flight. That never happened in years past. So what's up? Have the cash strapped airlines somehow become more efficient? Not exactly. They have figured out a way to be more effective. You might be able to apply their tactic for your business.

The #1 Reason That Important Things Don't Get Done? - Click To Read Article
In eight years of helping executives and management teams improve their ability to execute, I've discovered a common obstacle. There's one issue that comes up every time we discuss pursuing a challenging goal. I've polled my audience and will now share: The #1 Reason That Important Things Don't Get Done?

Who Moved My Customers? - Click To Read Article
Most of us are familiar with Dr. Spencer Johnson's 1998 parable Who Moved My Cheese? The book was written to provide career guidance to people in changing work scenarios. Today, those lessons apply as much or more to business leaders as to their past and present employees. What do we do as we discover our past customers no longer exist?

Overcoming "Breakup Reluctance" - Click To Read Article
For most of us, acquiring new customers means that we have to take the business away from an incumbent source. Countless prospects are lost when potential new accounts get cold feet over the thought of the potentially uncomfortable conversation needed for parting company with their long time source. They simply can't break their bad habit. Or to paraphrase the old Terryton cigarette ads, "they'd rather avoid the fight than switch".

5 Preventable Pitfalls to Solid Client Relationships and How to Resolve Them - Click To Read Article
If we consider the collaborative nature of our client relationships, teamwork is essential. So perhaps we can gain new insight into improving our client teamwork by examining our relationships through the lens of the Patrick Lencioni's book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. We discover that what's good for team performance is also good for client and customer relations.

A Lesson in Higher Level Communication from an 800 Pound Gorilla - Click To Read Article
We can likely agree that influencing skills are important part of effective leadership. And for those of us who want to improve at getting people (like prospective customers) to do what we want them to do, I share this discovery that involves that 800 pound retailing gorilla, Wal-Mart. Their advertising tag line has progressed over the years. Their current version provides a lesson for all of us who are challenged with effectively articulating our value proposition.

Just DON'T Do It! - Click To Read Article
For most of us, accomplishing more with our time starts with a To-Do List that allows you to perform daily activity triage. Nearly everyone uses a To-Do List. Almost no one has a DON'T Do-It List. Should you? Here's some ideas...

The Role of Core Values in Business Strategy, Leadership and Success - Click To Read Article
In a Tale of Two Brands, we explore the written core value statements of two famous companies. In the end, the fate of each company was decided the actions that either supported or violated their written words.

Your Price is Too High - Click To Read Article
Why do we really hear these five dreaded words? How do we avoid it?

The NAYs Have It! - What's Wrong with Consensus Driven Leadership? - Click To Read Article
A lesson from Lincoln for driving innovation.

Business Growth and The Peter Principal - Click To Read Article
A business can rise no higher than the level of its leadership.

My Way or The Highway! - Click To Read Article
As the economy and labor market improves, will some of your key people choose the highway?

Pursuit of "Good to Great", Level Five Leadership - Click To Read Article
What is it? How do you pursue it? We examine Jim Collins' concept of Level 5 Leaders and define the attributes in the areas of style, motivators and inherent soft skills.

Cutting Edge Leadership from Ancient Greece - Click To Read Article
As Peter Drucker predicted, tomorrow's leaders will require some different skills. While leaders may need to take a different approach, Drucker's concept is not exactly new.

Why Have We Always Done It THAT Way? - Click To Read Article
As you're continuously challenged to achieve more with fewer resources, at some point you start to wonder if you're trying to squeeze blood from a turnip. While it may not be possible to get vegetables to bleed, there are still countless opportunities to find a better way. What keeps us from pursuing them? Sometimes conventional wisdom can get in the way. By asking "Why Have We Always Done It THAT Way?", I briefly take an unconventional look at conventional wisdom.

What’s The Only Thing Worse Than an Incompetent Subordinate? - Click To Read Article
The answer to this riddle surprised, amused and enlightened me. So, I had to share it along with some analysis.

What Business Are We In? If you said “solutions”, think again. - Click To Read Article
We explore the seemly simple question: What Business Are We In? If you answer this with added insight, it could hold the key to a more effective marketing and selling message and expand your scope of business opportunities. If you're among those who say "We sell solutions," you will think twice about the validity your claim.

Time Is Money - Click To Read Article
Could time be among the scarcest of all our resources? More so than money? Why don't we act accordingly?

The Customer Isn't Always Right - Click To Read Article
A blasphemous concept? Or smart business. We take a closer look at this age old axiom.

The Door to My Office is Always Open! ...or is it? - Click To Read Article
We're all challenged to make better and faster decisions. How do you do this? One way is can expand your sphere of information and thereby minimize the amount of guesswork involved. This month I've called on Bob Newhart and Tom Peters to help examine some traditional approaches for getting to the real story and why they often fail to produce the candor needed to assure that your critical decisions are sound. How effective are your channels for building business insight? You're invited to invest 90 seconds and learn five ways to improve your personal information gathering skills. And I share a new smarter, solution that likely trumps anything you've already tried.

The Automobile University - Click To Read Article
How many people do you know who have used their college or advanced degree as an excuse to stop learning? What are have you been doing to sharpen your saw? Many of us lack either the time, the tuition or the patience. With the help of Zig Ziglar, we share an efficient, economical method of advanced education that will allow you to put your personal development on cruise control. To paraphrase the up-selling question of fast food order takers everywhere... Would you like knowledge with that?

Tackling The Truth Of Turnover - Click To Read Article
When it comes to understanding their employee turnover, many employers don't know what they don't know. And just when they think they know, there's usually something else.

The Difference Between Moving Bolts and Moving People - Click To Read Article
Having experienced more than my share of bully managers and their proteges in both industrial and construction environments, it occurred to me that they use the same hammer and wrench mentality on their subordinates as they do with machinery. As managers, I don't believe that they using the appropriate tools for the job. There is a better way. But, it starts with this discovery.

Presenteeism: An Under-the-Radar Challenge to Your Productivity - Click To Read Article
While absenteeism is a long recognized management challenge, presenteeism may actually be a more costly loss of workforce productivity. What is it?

Order Takers vs. Influencers - Click To Read Article
Is it the difference between selling hard and Selling SMART?

Our Brave New World is No Place for Chickens - Click To Read Article
The current uncertainty and media overkill fueling economic pessimism has caused some so-called leaders to crawl into their shells. This month, I briefly examine examine some simple ways to lead during uncertainty. Let it suffice to say that uncertain times do not call for uncertain leaders.

Message from the Meltdown - Click To Read Article
In the wake of our financial mess, people from Wall Street to Capital Hill to Main Street are asking: What happened? With the help of 60's parody songster Alan Sherman, CBS's 60 Minutes and some self evaluation, I share a different perspective with a lesson you can apply. What personal development insight can we gain from this mess?

Hypothetical Hockey - Click To Read Article
With the cancellation of the 2005 National Hockey League season, we could only think about hockey as there was none available to watch. It was an opportunity to think about what might happen if we changed some of the rules and apply the example to organizations that are (to be kind) less than effective.

From Good To Great To Gone - Click To Read Article
The first six weeks of 2009 were not kind to Jim Collins' eleven Good To Great companies. With some lyrical assistance from "The Chairman of the Board", I explore five formerly great companies and how one has roller coaster-ed from Good To Great To Gone.

Filling the Bus for Your "Good to Great" Odyssey - Click To Read Article
Your passengers and their placement will determine your success. That said, pursuing a Good To Great philosophy is not for everyone. Many have struggled in their attempts to implement the concepts from that business bible for greatness, Good To Great. This month, we briefly examine one of the book's most challenging concepts: First who, then what. Why is this so challenging? And, what might be done differently to make it work for you? If you're genuinely committed to pursuing greatness, how should you be filling your bus?

Do You Promote from Within? - Click To Read Article
Does this noble practice have some hidden pitfalls? How do you avoid them?

Cutting Through The Marketing Clutter - Click To Read Article
Are there silver bullets for today's cluttered marketing arena? How do you uncover the secret to communicating your unique selling proposition (USP)?

Attainability A Critical Element for Organizational Achievement - Click To Read Article
Are you dooming your initiatives to fail by overlooking a critical element? We suggest a pilot's preflight checklist approach to goal planning.





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