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Lee Meadows Articles

Written by: Lee Meadows

When the Game Changes - Click To Read Article
The overlapping worlds of business and sports are often used to explain, if only metaphorically, the human condition. As the economic cycle has taken its toll and too many starters find themselves on injury reserve, the process for returning to playing form involves a realignment of the head, heart and hands by way of a surgical reconstruction of the spirit. Jobs, careers and lifestyles are managed patterns of living, tied to individual competence, self-confidence and personal standards achieved through consistent play in a game in which the rules were known and respected

Your Best Effort? - Click To Read Article
“In gratitude for years of long term service to this company, its employees and its customers, we are gathered to thank..,” While the sentiment that drives this statement is known and understood throughout the annals of organizational history, much of its meaning goes unstated. At a time when forced retirements take the joy out of amiable closure between an individual and the organization, it is nice to have the rare opportunity to attend a retirement that, still, adheres to the ceremonial ritual long since weeded out of the current organizational landscape

Trailblazing - Click To Read Article
It is an easy argument to make that most insights aren’t the result of something you were thinking about, but something you reacted to that was connected to some, seemingly, insignificant event. Of course, the real trick is to recognize when you’ve descended into the ‘Valley of Insight’ and emerged unscathed and far wiser from the trip.

Leading By Example - Click To Read Article
Leading by example is one of the popular terms used by Presidents, Premiers, Popes and Professionals to describe the integration of attitude, philosophy and practice toward a specific goal The person doing the leading is, by definition, engaged in a pattern of behaviors that embody the symbiotic relationship between the values of the organization and its leaders. This, unspoken, agreement is reinforced by way of the organizational history, the mission statement, the culture and the hundreds of sustainable practices that are a natural part of the organization’s existence.

Leadership and Making It Special - Click To Read Article
There is a lot of talk, these days, about what a leader should do, ought to do, needs to do and do be do! Opinions from mainstream, midstream, downstream and upstream media are as diverse as there are people on the planet. Each stream of thought is equally convinced that their assessment of the ‘leadership’ event is anchored in a compelling, narrow focus of wisdom that drives their point of view. The leadership literature is abundant with personal testimonies, ‘pop culture’ analysis and perspectives that offer a very thin slice of a very large pie

Meltdowns - Click To Read Article
Meltdowns! The process used by individuals to, formally, self-destruct in front of anyone occupying a seat in the organization’s public arena. This, typically, unpredictable event has slowly and steadily moved from being a minor annoyance underneath the radar to a to a full-scale event that only lacks the planned whistles and fireworks of the WWE’s Smackdown. The one thing that the Smackdown and the individual Meltdown have in common is both love a crowd.

Non-linear Career Progression - Click To Read Article
When told that the ‘shortest distance between two points is a straight line’, this familiar maxim has an, inherent, link to the topic of avoidance. A straight line helps us to avoid wasting time, digressive conversations, subtle references to a certain attraction and political malfeasance. The straight-line reference is a way of avoiding behavioral meandering so as to stay focused on what’s in front of you. In the business sector, the phrase ‘cradle to grave’ contract was used to describe the linear progression of a career path. Career advancement reflected a climb up a ladder of a silo in which professional perspectives were shaped by the boundaries of that narrow focus.

Self-Development - Click To Read Article
The practical side of self-development is rarely viewed through the lens of business outcomes. It was, typically, angled as a nice-to-do, fuzzy-wuzzy activity that ranked just below the corporate Nerf Ball tournament. Occasionally, it was dusted off during the annual performance appraisal discussion as a checklist of unrelated tasks that lend further credence to it being taken as seriously as a Flava Flav critique of the Six Wives of Henry the VIII. During the years of corporate benevolence, millions of dollars were allocated to the pursuit of knowledge enhancement, skill acquisition and self-improvement as part of the employee benefit package.

Looking Beyond the Short-Termers - Click To Read Article
The search for life lesson’s goes beyond the boundaries of a specific discipline, expertise or interest. Few would argue that, in recent years, the world of business and sports have operated less like Mars and Venus, separate but equal, and more like Twin Peaks, separate, but connected by a common base. The most recent NCAA basketball tournament has been a bizarre display of predictions gone wild. Yet, what has been interesting has been some of the surrounding dialogue that pertains to building blocks, teamwork, consistency and the ultimate prize. In doing so, the NCAA basketball tournament has provided some unique insights that have a direct bearing on how a business can achieve consistent success.

Excellent Customer Service - Click To Read Article
Strategies for creating and sustaining a competitive edge are, often, focused on large- scale efforts around product design, financial repositioning, structural-realignment, and capital investment. While these elements do sit at the heart of grandiose plans for taking on and beating the competition, I have been reminded, of late, that excellent customer service is the soul of most business success. Perhaps it is the twelve week marathon through the blended holiday season that has my antennas tuned into the, often, overlooked little things that keep customers coming back or turns them away.

Individual Recognition - Click To Read Article
The United States Patent Office is the formally recognized institution in which there is a structured process for protecting an individual idea. It is a legally defensible process that is not concerned with who was the first one with the idea, but who was the first one to finish filling out the paperwork. Every year thousands of ideas are wrapped in this transparent veil of protection. It is a testament to those individuals who have taken the time to move an idea out of their head and into a formal structure

Giving feedback on performance - Click To Read Article
This article describes the importance of giving feedback for work performance

The Importance of Training - Click To Read Article
This article discusses the impact of training as a cost saving to small businesses.

Leadership that sustains engagement - Click To Read Article
Leaders can have a powerful direct and indirect impact on the behavior of their followers. The delicate balance of style and personality is essential to understanding how to keep followers engaged in the act of doing and making a difference. Committed leaders understand that it is the ability to sustain the engagement of followers over a extended period of time that makes all the difference in the long-term success of an organization.

Managing Bad Employees - Click To Read Article
This article discusses techniques entrepreneurs can use when faced with difficult employees.

Bad habits in organizational culture - Click To Read Article
This article focuses on the misperceptions that occur when what masks as organizational behavior is, in actuality, bad habits. When bad habits are consistently ignored, an environment of tolerance gives way to the notion that, 'it's just the way we do things around here."

Youthful Leadership - Click To Read Article
Traditional models of leadership may have to give way to other models that are inclusive of young talent. Leadership can come from modest experience as a way of moving an organization forward. The Pittsburgh have advance a model well worth considering.

Wake up and move up! - Click To Read Article
This article addresses the increasing competitive nature of 21st century promotions and advancements. There is a growing need to be more attentive to the full-throttle speed in which organizations are moving just to stay even. What worked last century will only get you derailed in this century.

Using a website to boost your profile - Click To Read Article
This article discusses the importance of having a website to help market your entrepreneurial activity

Transcendent Leadership - Click To Read Article
This article discusses the importance of leading beyond the day-to-day, but with a focus on the long term.

The need for collaboration - Click To Read Article
This article focuses on the importance of accessing other resources to help accomplish much needed tasks. Joint projects can be beneficial to cooperating organizations.

The demands of leadership - Click To Read Article
This article explores the importance of leadership style

Self Awareness - Click To Read Article
This article addresses the issue of focusing on your individual skills and doing a true assessment of your capabilities.

Selecting the right talent - Click To Read Article
There is more to moving an organization forward than hiring people who are nice to have around. Global competition demands an entirely different focus for hiring, selecting and training employees. Talent has to be the main driver if competition is to be achieved.

Sculpting Your Business Focus - Click To Read Article
There comes a time when the individual employee has to recognize when their current skills are a barrier to becoming more employable. Most organizations recognize that it is the responsibility of the employee to further refine and develop a better set of business skills. This article establishes a framework for beginning that process.

Self-Appointed Subversive Spokesperson (SASS) - Click To Read Article
This article describes the behavior of individuals who have adopted the posture of duly appointed spokesperson for a unit or department. This individual has a need to express their anger by trying to take control away from the manager. It is in the best interest of the manager to know how to confront this kind of individual.

Retaining Your Customers - Click To Read Article
This article provides tips and ideas on how the small business entrepreneur can retain their customers

Protecting your ideas - Click To Read Article
The business community elicits ideas from a variety of different sources and, very often, can't determine where an idea began. Employees are encouraged to share their ideas as a way of moving an organization forward, but may not receive the appropriate credit and, thus, deflate any attempt to create an idea-engaging environment. This article talks about some basic ways to preserve the credit for a good idea.

Planning Your Business - Click To Read Article
This article provides tips and techniques on how to plan your business

Picking the Right People - Click To Read Article
This article examines methods for choosing the right people to work in the right jobs.

Marketing Your Business - Click To Read Article
This article provides tips and techniques on how to market your small business

Management 101 - Click To Read Article
This article is a return to the basics of managing without all the added fluff and feathers that get in the way of accomplishing organizational goals.

Managing away from core incompetencies - Click To Read Article
While the need to expand into other products, services and markets can lead organizations to explore new areas, the process can,also, set the stage for straying away from the core competencies that established a level of greatness. It becomes far too easy to rationalize taking on unrelated products and processes in order to diversify, but there is a greater concern when the blend of new and different create a more dangerous set of incompetencies.

Managing communication technology - Click To Read Article
Communication technology has reshaped both the professional and personal space by making the business owner easily accessible any time during the day and night, as well as across time zones. While it has proven, arguably, to be a productivity boom, its frequent use can be misinterpreted to be something that was never intended. The successful leader understands the need to balance the use of the technology in order to maintain objectivity and sound judgment.

Managing the Workload - Click To Read Article
There is a general understanding that when employees are downsized, the remaining survivors inherit their workload. The process increases the number of tasks by a factor of 3 and puts the employee in the unenviable position of being grateful for being overworked. This article provides insights on how employees can approach downsizing their workload into something that is manageable and contributes to remaining employable.

Leadership Lessons Heard - Click To Read Article
Leadership lessons are abundant in both literature and life! The prevailing wisdom is to maximize the lessons that come from life experiences by turning them into a never-ending learning process. However, too often it is the lessons heard that serve as the practical learning model, thereby minimizing what gets practiced in successful organizations.

Ideas are still needed! - Click To Read Article
Business success is, essentially, the product of ideas put into practice. Ideas are, always, at the forefront of new trends and patterns that reshape, reform and revitalize the heart of business and grows it to new heights. The role of a good leader is not to have all the good ideas, but to have access to the best ideas that flow from an engaged workforce. Ideas continue to make a difference in the start up of new business and will continue to be the catalyst for moving a small business toward success.

How to Manage Meetings - Click To Read Article
This article discusses the importance of managing meetings.

Hitting the wall!! - Click To Read Article
Businesses move forward and backward with the speed in which the economic cycle determines its winners and losers. There, also, comes a time when the need to stop doing something is far more compelling than to keep moving forward. Often times, the realization does not occur until a sudden, abrupt stop happens after the business relationship has hit a wall. It is important to recognize when a relationship is over and how to manage around the wall that is about to spell your demise.

Generating Ideas - Click To Read Article
This article discusses the importance of being open to ideas to further the success of the business

Eliminating Chronic Behaviors - Click To Read Article
This article addresses some organizations face when working with individuals who are habitually negative in their approach to work.

Decision making for success - Click To Read Article
This article discusses the importance of the decision making process.

Courageous Leadership - Click To Read Article
Tough economic times demand more than just a traditional approach to leadership. Many of the problems we have encountered can be traced to a lack of leadership, an absence of ethics and a willingness to see only the smaller picture of an organization's potential. Courage is needed and a courageous platform for leading will mark the true success of the 21st century organization.

Coaching - Click To Read Article
This article discusses the basic elements of developing employees and boosting their skill level.

Change in Mindset - Click To Read Article
The economic downturn has created a sense of disillusionment and frustration among thousands who find themselves standing on the outside of the employment gate. The key to change is not to sit and wait, but to take affirmative steps forward by, first, examining how you think and what you do. The key to success starts with reformatting your mindset to focus on what you can still accomplish.

Building Your Business - Click To Read Article
The purpose of this article is to give insights on the basic building blocks to starting and growing a business from scratch.

An Angry Workforce and little change - Click To Read Article
There is a growing tendency to give in to the surrounding external issues by taking it out in the workplace. Angry employees rarely make for productive experiences and far too often, it is used as an excuse to not focus on what can be done. The ritual of blame can be cast in a feeling of helplessness and loss productivity. Moving forward means letting go of the anger and drawing on individual creativity.





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