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Editor: Dr. Wolf J. Rinke IN THIS ISSUE 1. NEWS YOU CAN USE 2. DEVELOP A COMPELLING PERSONA 3. WINNING ACTION STEPS 4. HUMOR BREAK 5. ABOUT THE EDITOR 6. CONTACT AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION ======================================================== REALITY CHECK "Leaders have to be the keepers of the watch — not the masters of the house." —Susan Annunzio ======================================================== 1. NEWS YOU CAN USE ======================================================== SENIORS MAKE GREAT EMPLOYEES Age bias hurts you more than anyone else. Bonne Bell, the Cleveland cosmetic plant, set up one assembly line that is staffed by "the gray team." The average age of the 86 assembly line workers is 70. The oldest recently turned 90 and their boss, Jess Bell the son of the founder is 76 years "young." The gray team handles work that once was outsourced saving the family owned cosmetics firm more than $1 million since the grand experiment was started about five years ago. Seniors have a very strong work ethic, they set and meet their own shipment goals and turnover is virtually nil. In fact the gray team is so good at recruiting new team members that there is a waiting list, and that is for fairly hard to fill assembly line work that pays $7.50 per hour to start. What makes it work? According to Mr. Bell it is the seniors only team format. Seniors want to work with peole of their own age, and have a need to be left alone. Tell us what you want and then let us be is the motto. (Pretty good advice for all employees.) "We can talk to each other. We don't have to compete [and] I know what arthritis feels like" says 65 year old team leader Mrs. Carlton. ACTION STEPS: Look at your organization and find an area that could benefit from the work ethics of seniors. Actively recruit a "gray team" and see what results you get. Source: Wall Street Journal, 2/5/01, pp. A1 & A15. LEADERSHIP MEANS MAKING TOUGH CALLS John Welch of GE—without the doubt one of the most successful executives of all time—says that GE made a leap forward when they made the tough call of removing what he calls Type IV leaders: "the manager who doesn't share [GE's] values, but delivers the numbers; the 'go-to' manager, the hammer, who delivers the bacon but does it on the backs of people, often 'kissing up and kicking down' during the process." These, according to Mr. Welch, are "the toughest to part with because organizations always want to deliver—it's in the blood—and let someone go who gets the job done is yet another unnatural act." ACTION STEPS: Use GE's classification system to "grow" leaders: Type I managers: share the organizations' values and make the numbers—give them lots of rope. As they say at GE: "sky's the limit." Type II: doesn't share the values, doesn't make the numbers—remove them now. Type III: shares the values but misses the numbers—give them another chance or two. Type IV (see above)—have the guts to remove them because according to Mr. Welch "they have the power, by themselves, to destroy the open, informal, trust-based culture we need to win today and tomorrow." Source: GE Annual Report 2000 TOO MANY EMPLOYEES ARE ACTIVELY DISENGAGED In a study of 1,000 employees the Gallup Organization of Princeton, NJ found that 19% of employees were actively disengaged. These employees "Édon't know what is expected of them, don't have the materials to do their jobs and can't get the attention of their bosses." Gallup estimates that disengaged workers cost companies anywhere from $292 billion to $355 billion per year, because these workers are less productive, miss more days and are less loyal. ACTION STEPS: Devour my book Winning Management: 6 Fail-Safe Strategies For Building High-Performance Organizations. Then reinforce what you learned by listening to the audiotape album of the same title so that you can begin to build powerful new habits that will enable you to fully engage every employee. (To order, call 800-828- WOLF or visit www.WolfRinke.com for more information.) Source: Wall Street Journal, 3/13/01, p. A1. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION, SUGGESTION OR A SUCCESS STORY? We are getting some great success stories from our subscribers, and would like to hear what's working, or not working, for you. Mailto:WolfRinke@aol.com. ======================================================== 2. DEVELOP A COMPELLING PERSONA by Karla Brandau ======================================================== In my pursuit to become a more effective leader, I studied people who have compelling personas' and discovered four important characteristics or traits that must be developed to become a person of influence: — Purpose — Integrity — Charisma — Collaboration In short you must develop a powerful PICC: Purpose acts as catalytic force. It is the organizing principle for everything you do. One night shortly after we were married, my husband and I were watching a TV movie about Vince Lombardi, the legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers. I will never forget one scene. Lombardi had just taken over as the coach of the downtrodden Packers and was in a press conference. The reporters were anything but kind as they made jokes about Lombardi's purpose to win! One reporter, with a sneer in his voice, said, "When you say you will win, does that mean you will win two games this year?" In a controlled rage, Lombardi said, "Let me tell you about winning, mister. Winning means that you are willing to give more and play harder than anyone else. If you're smaller, you better run faster. If you're slower, you better hit harder. If you'd put that to practice in your life, you'd be winning Pulitzer Prizes instead of sitting here in a snow storm asking stupid questions." Lombardi used purpose to ignite the fire of his team. The Greenbay Packers won Super Bowls I and II. Integrity represents your moral conscience, much like the little boy in the grocery store who wanted some grapes. His mother tasted a grape, found it to be delicious, put two big bunches in her cart and continued to shop. When they reached the checkout counter and the mother had written a check for the groceries, her young son tugged on her jacket and in anything but a timid voice said, "But Mommy, you didn't pay for the grape you ate." The mother looked at him, dug through her purse, found a penny, laid it on the counter and said, "That is for the grape I ate." Proving again that our children are often our best coaches. Charisma is about coming from the heart not the head and getting other people to willingly want to go where you want to take them. Susanna Clark described it as follows: "You've got to sing like you don't need the money. You've got to love like you'll never get hurt. You've got to dance like there's nobody watching. You've got to come from the heart If you want it to work." In short, charismatic people give life 111% and fill the world with sunshine. Collaboration means that your primary focus is on helping others, best expressed by Zig Ziglar who said: You get everything in life you want, if you help enough other people get what they want. A Kikuyu proverb states: "When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers." Collaborators seek to build win-win solutions for everyone so the grass, or the organization, does not suffer. They have a gentle touch much like Clint Eastwood developed when he became a director. According to John Balzar Eastwood doesn't yell, "ACTION" when he is ready to start a scene. Instead he says a casual, "Okay." Eastwood explains that when filming Rawhide he learned that when you yell "ACTION" it sends adrenalin through the actors and the horses causing the horses and sometimes even the actors to jump out of the shot. The result: lowered productivity and morale because everyone has to start all over again. If you want to be more effective as a leader, choose one trait to develop more fully in the next few months. One word of caution: don't choose the one that comes the most naturally to you. Instead choose the one that will stretch you the most, practice it relentlessly until it becomes a new habit and you too will be on your way to developing a compelling persona. Source: Karla Brandau, http://www.kbrandau.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For FREE articles, inspirational messages and money saving offers on books, audio and videotapes that will help you and your organization succeed FASTER visit our website: http://www.WolfRinke.com or call 800-828-WOLF (USA); 410-531-9282. ======================================================== 3. WINNING ACTION STEPS ======================================================== TAKE ACTION Lesson re-learned from my work with a consulting client: it's not knowledge that enables you to win. It's acting on that knowledge. So take action on one thing today—anything—that you have been putting off. If nothing comes to mind, read the preceding Leadership Lessons from General Colin Powell. Implementing just one lesson has the potential to catapult you to the top faster. DO WHAT YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE DOING A seminar participant asked: You've provided us with a fail-safe system to improve our management effectiveness. Why are not all managers successful? My answer: because it is easier not to be successful. Human beings are governed by habits, and changing our habits requires discipline. And discipline to do what we don't feel like doing is what most of us lack. Once you get yourself to consistently do the things you don't feel like doing you will succeed faster, guaranteed. CHECK WHAT YOUR COMPETITORS ARE DOING AND DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT The way to compete in a global economy is do have a unique selling proposition (USP) in the market place. Don't believe it, look at Herb Kelleher who scratched out the business plan for Southwest Airlines on a cocktail napkin in 1967. The plan was simple: do what other airlines are not doing—short hauls, frequent flights, no hubs, only one type of aircraft, keep things simple, and most importantly create a climate where work and flying is fun. Has it worked? Southwest operating costs per available seat mile are 7.73 cents. Compare that to their closest competitor, America West 8.44 cents, up to the least efficient 12.72 cents for US Airways. Result: Southwest Airline has been profitable for 27 of the 30 years they have been in operation. No other airline comes even close. Plus they save travelers about $6.3 billion per year. ======================================================== 4. HUMOR BREAK ======================================================== Conversation overheard at a local McDonalds: Customer after studying the menu board intensely places his order: I would like a half dozen Chicken McNuggets and a Coke please. Teenage employee: We don't have a half dozen McNuggets. Customer: You don't? Employee: No, we only have 6, 9 or 12 McNuggets.
======================================================== 5. ABOUT THE EDITOR ======================================================== Dr. Wolf J. Rinke, CSP is an internationally recognized motivational and management keynote speaker and seminar leader who delivers customized presentations that combine story telling, humor and motivation with specific "how to" action strategies that participants can apply immediately to improve the quality of their personal and professional lives. He is also a highly effective management consultant and executive coach. You can reach him at 410-531-9280 or email WolfRinke@aol.com ======================================================== 7. CONTACT AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION ======================================================== Dr. Wolf J. Rinke, CSP President Wolf Rinke Associates, Inc. P.O. Box 350 Clarksville, MD 21029-0350 USA (410) 531-9280, Fax (410) 531-9282 For orders in the US (800) 828-WOLF (9653) Email: Mailto:WolfRinke@aol.com Website: http://www.WolfRinke.com If this was forwarded to you and you would like to receive your own FREE subscription mailto:WolfRinke@aol.com and type the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject box. To remove yourself from this mailing list, please type the word UNSUBSCRIBE WM in the subject box. PRIVACY STATEMENT: We will not make your name available to anyone. Period!
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