LEADERS: Your following must be earned

I’ve done about 5 events over the past two weeks, and this topic keeps coming up in some form. How do you close the gap between management/authority and genuine leadership? Can “managers” learn to be effective leaders?

I say YES!

Here’s an excerpt from THE SENSEI LEADER:

“… someone can be vested with a tremendous amount of authority without the capacity to act effectively—without the ability to perform in any meaningful way.

That’s the very definition of the proverbial “empty suit.” Here’s another helpful observation from John W. Gardner:

One reason corporate and governmental bureaucracies stagnate is the assumption by line executives that given their rank and authority, they can lead without being leaders. They cannot. They can be given subordinates, but they cannot be given a following.

A following must be earned.

In the same way, The Sensei must earn the authority vested in him by his students.

There are plenty of talented martial artists that make lousy teachers. There are also plenty of talented managers, bureaucrats and administrators that make lousy leaders.

There is an epidemic of people infecting positions of authority who may have outstanding domain knowledge or even a record of high performance in other positions, but still just don’t have what it takes to be a true leader.

That’s exactly what fuels the tired debate over leadership versus management.

Managerial skills are by nature more technical and functionary. You need those skills to manage process.

Leadership skills are those that make you more effective in your relationships with people.

Management always refers to a position of authority—a title. A title or position is almost always conferred by superiors or advisors and may or may not involve input from subordinates or followers.

You can also establish authority simply by acquiring a title and convincing others that you know more than they do. You can dictate a strict culture full of perfunctory rituals that reinforce your authority, status and position. You can increase authority through political maneuvering, lying and cheating.

You can even attain a position of authority by being a jerk!

Authentic leadership, on the other hand, is always dependent on acknowledgement from subordinates and peers.

No followers—no leader!

Authority is always limited by the willingness of the people under you to share their talents and abilities.

A manager may have the authority to dictate the performance of certain tasks. It takes a genuine leader to inspire the best performance in others.

Dwight D. Eisenhower sums it all up quite neatly:

“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it”

You may express leadership from a position of authority as a manager, boss, commander or executive. You may also express leadership peer to peer or up the ranks as well as down.

You can’t always share authority, and sometimes you shouldn’t.

Leadership can and should always be shared––at all levels.

Leadership is not only possible at all levels, leadership is your responsibility …

… At all levels.

LAST FEW DAYS TO SAVE 20% ON THE SENSEI LEADER!

A leader shares the wealth

Dan Price, the CEO of Gravity Payments, shook up a lot of leaders when he announced that he would slash his 7 figure salary to just $70,000––and distribute the difference with his employees. According to the NY Times:

“Mr. Price surprised his 120-person staff by announcing that he planned over the next three years to raise the salary of even the lowest-paid clerk, customer service representative and salesman to a minimum of $70,000.”

Bold move? Publicity stunt? Calculated strategy?

There is a sound strategic basis for his move––and a healthy measure of compassionate leadership.

First of all, Price is acknowledging the people who helped him through his toughest times …

Dan Price came close to closing up shop himself in 2008 when the recession sent two of his biggest clients into bankruptcy, eliminating 20 percent of his revenue in the space of two weeks. He said the firm managed to struggle through without layoffs or raising prices. His staff, most of them young, stuck with him.

At the same time, he obviously sees the strategic wisdom of rewarding the people who made his business what it is today. On FOX Business News Price said:

I do think over the long term there is an upside. Actually what I think though, is the fact that we’re a values-based business and we make decisions based on what is right, has gotten us to where we are today and I think that will get us to where we’re going to be in 10, 20––30 years from where we are now.

Compassion is about understanding the people you serve as a leader.

Price listened to the people on the front lines …

From his friends, he heard stories of how tough it was to make ends meet even on salaries that were still well-above the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour … “They were walking me through the math of making 40 grand a year,” he said, then describing a surprise rent increase or nagging credit card debt. (NY Times)

He listened––and what he heard is that his people were having trouble making ends meet––the same people that helped him create a profitable company.

One of the key leadership strategies from THE SENSEI LEADER is: “Lead by sharing––not accumulating.”

Studies continually show that financial incentives like bonuses are less motivating than a sense of purpose, autonomy and trust. Don’t use that data to justify behaving like a Scrooge.

Money may not be the most important incentive, but it is still important. The flip side is how demotivating it is when the team pitches in to drive profits and the owner scoops up all the chips.

So yes … when efforts yield profits, share the wealth!

That’s exactly what Price is doing here––and it’s right.

Money is a motivator only to a point, and Price researched that point. Again from the Times:

The happiness research behind Mr. Price’s announcement on Monday came from Angus Deaton and Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel Prize-winning psychologist. They found that what they called emotional well-being — defined as “the emotional quality of an individual’s everyday experience, the frequency and intensity of experiences of joy, stress, sadness, anger, and affection that make one’s life pleasant or unpleasant” — rises with income, but only to a point. And that point turns out to be about $75,000 a year.

In THE SENSEI LEADER I wrote, “Money is a poor incentive only once a person’s basic material expectations are met. Until and unless a person feels he’s treated fairly, money matters—a lot.”

While it’s difficult to motivate people with money alone, it is certainly important to recognize the power of fairness in influencing productivity. That’s why the “wage gap” is getting so much attention. Continuing from THE SENSEI LEADER:

There is nothing more discouraging and de-motivating than to work hard to help the company produce a windfall only to see leadership reward themselves with bonuses while the people at the front lines are cut out of the bounty.

I’m rooting for Dan Price and his company. After hearing him talk, I’m convinced his is a sincere gesture of compassionate leadership.

A final thought from my book:

“… it’s simple; don’t over-complicate it. When the people who work for you help increase your wealth––share it.”

I believe that’s what Price is doing. Give the man a Black Belt!

Your ROI in leadership character

Part of the ongoing struggle to convince companies to invest in developing and preserving the character of their leaders is the difficulty in measuring ROI.

Thank you Fred Keil of KRW International for quantifying the value of good character in leadership. Thank you HBR for sharing his findings:

Character is a subjective trait that might seem to defy quantification. To measure it, KRW cofounder Fred Kiel and his colleagues began by sifting through the anthropologist Donald Brown’s classic inventory of about 500 behaviors and characteristics that are recognized and displayed in all human societies. Drawing on that list, they identified four moral principles—integrity, responsibility, forgiveness, and compassion—as universal. Then they sent anonymous surveys to employees at 84 U.S. companies and nonprofits, asking, among other things, how consistently their CEOs and management teams embodied the four principles.

Note the traits they identified as the most important:

• Integrity
• Responsibility
• Forgiveness
• Compassion

In THE SENSEI LEADER I organize them a little differently, but these characteristics are at the very core of what it takes to be a courageous and compassionate leader––and that makes you an effective leader.

I’ve been preaching the importance of these characteristics for some time now, and people are responding. It’s no accident that my message of character centered leadership resonates more with good organizations––organizations that already see the value in continual development of these core philosophical competencies.

I can’t fix rotten characters––neither can you.

I do, however, believe that most people can learn, assimilate, develop and expand these characteristics––but only if they’re willing.

If they’re not willing––they should be fired.

Again, the struggle I’ve always had is proving the tangible monetary value. I’m not a process guy. I’m not a numbers cruncher. My expertise is in helping people become better people.

So what, exactly, is that worth?

When it comes to leadership, Kiel demonstrates that it’s worth a lot!

The researchers found that CEOs whose employees gave them high marks for character had an average return on assets of 9.35% over a two-year period. That’s nearly five times as much as what those with low character ratings had; their ROA averaged only 1.93%.

The HBR article notes that Kiel and his team were not expecting those impressive results. I don’t think most people would have. It doesn’t surprise me at all.

We’ve known for some time what type of leader attracts and retains loyal and engaged followers. Loyal and engaged followers are the most productive employees and effective managers.

This does not happen by accident.

It starts with leadership by example. Then you’ve got to provide opportunities for your people to cultivate, practice and articulate these characteristics. This means training and continual perfection of best practices and techniques––in the mindset and character of your leaders.

I found this part of the article particularly telling:

Do leaders who need to work on their character know it? In most cases, no—they’re pretty deluded. When asked to rate themselves on the four moral principles, the self-focused CEOs gave themselves much higher marks than their employees did. (The CEOs who got high ratings from employees actually gave themselves slightly lower scores—a sign of their humility and further evidence of strong character.) Fortunately, Kiel points out, leaders can increase their self-awareness through objective feedback from the people they live and work with. But they have to be receptive to that feedback, and those with the biggest character deficiencies tend to be in denial.

Humility––authentic humility, that is, is a powerful indicator of character and one of the most important traits for an effective leader. In THE SENSEI LEADER I wrote:

Humility is a quiet expression of reserve. You might not know with certainty that you’re going to win the fight, but you damn sure know you deserve to be in the ring.

Tempered by humility, your confidence is independent of the desired or expected outcome.

Humility is the quality that keeps your mind and heart open to input from other people, even from the people who work for you.

This is just one example of how character translates to tangible value for your organization.

This is the type of confidence that makes a leader attractive—whether that leader is in a position of authority or command, or standing shoulder to shoulder with you in the trenches.

This is the type of confidence that will make you an effective person and an effective leader at any level, whether you want to work in command and control or on the front lines.

And as we’ve seen from Kiel’s research, that emphasis on character can translate into a 5 fold return.

That’s a great investment!

Read the full HBR article here …

In personal and professional Mastery, the leader must lead by example

Another preview of THE SENSEI LEADER…

Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank said:

“No matter how good you think you are as a leader, my goodness, the people around you will have all kinds of ideas for how you can get better. So for me, the most fundamental thing about leadership is to have the humility to continue to get feedback and to try to get better – because your job is to try to help everybody else get better.”

For this dynamic to work successfully everyone, including those at the top, must be committed to continual self-improvement.

It may seem I’m obsessed to a degree with “self” improvement. Some people challenge me on that point. They’ll say that too much emphasis on self-improvement is, well, selfish.

I say that self-improvement is the least selfish thing you can do for others. As you improve yourself, you become more valuable to others. You become a greater resource to your team, your organization and your community.

When everyone in an organization is committed to self-improvement- to personal and professional mastery, then the entire organization becomes stronger, better- more productive, innovative and progressive.

At the risk of beating the dead horse even more, even a small improvement in each individual produces an exponential return.

I remember a story I once heard about a basketball coach who was trying to improve a struggling team. One of his first observations is that they were, as a team, lousy free-throw shooters.

Many coaches in this case would focus either on the top shooters and try to get more production there, or would commit a large effort to improving the weakest shooters. Instead, this coach set a goal. Every player would improve just one percent.

Together, the gains of just one percent far exceeded what could reasonably be expected by trying to extract bigger gains from just a few players.

It worked!

With each player contributing something, the overall performance of the team skyrocketed.

When each individual commits to the concept of personal mastery and continual self-improvement, the team and the organization become much more powerful.

If you want to lead and inspire others, start with you. This is one area where leadership it’s essential to provide an example from the top down.

The real difference between a leader and a manager

Here’s an excerpt from THE SENSEI LEADER – Save 20% –– order here!

“One reason corporate and governmental bureaucracies stagnate is the assumption by line executives that given their rank and authority, they can lead without being leaders. They cannot. They can be given subordinates, but they cannot be given a following. “A following must be earned.” ~John W. Gardner

The Sensei must earn the authority vested in him by his students…

There are plenty of talented martial artists that make lousy teachers. I believe you’ll find the same problem everywhere leadership is important- especially in business and politics. There is an epidemic of people infecting positions of authority who may have outstanding domain knowledge or even a record of high performance in other positions, but still make lousy leaders. This leads us to the tired debate over leadership versus management. Managerial skills are by nature more technical and functionary. Those skills are very useful in managing process.

Leadership skills are those that make you more effective in your relationships with- people.

Management always refers to a position of authority- a title. That title or position is almost always conferred by superiors or advisors and may or may not involve input from subordinates. You can claim authority simply by acquiring a title and convincing others that you know more than they do. You can dictate a strict culture full of perfunctory rituals that reinforce your authority, status and position. You can attain a position of authority by being a jerk! You can increase authority through political maneuvering, lying and cheating. Leadership, on the other hand, is always dependent on acknowledgement from subordinates and peers. No followers- no leader! Authority is always limited by the willingness of the people under you to share their talents and abilities.

A manager may have the authority to dictate the performance of certain tasks, it takes a genuine leader to inspire the best performance in others.

Leadership is sharing: Share the Power

Here’s another excerpt from Jim’s newest book, The Sensei Leader, on track for release in March!

Your own power- your effectiveness as a leader, only expands through sharing.

“…power is an ‘expandable pie,’ not a fixed sum; effective leaders give power to others as a means of increasing their own power. Effective leaders do not see power as something that is competed for but rather as something that can be distributed to followers without detracting from their own power.” ~Shelley A. Kirkpatrick and Edwin A. Locke from The Leader’s Companion by J. Thomas Wren

There is nothing more inspiring to your followers than your willingness to help them become more powerful.

Once again, power is your ability or capacity to act or perform effectively. The source of all human power resides in body, mind and spirit. You’d think this would be common sense- you’ve got to take care of yourself in body, mind and spirit if you want to be happy and successful or to perform to your full potential.

To  share the power, you’ve got to share the source. You’ve got to provide the support and resources for people to develop in body, mind and spirit.

So why do so many leaders ignore one or more of these areas in their own daily lives and in the lives of the people who serve their organizations, especially mind and spirit?

I’ll tell you why- it’s because it’s difficult to measure an exact return on investment in these areas. What can’t be measured doesn’t get done, right?

The problem is, the negative impact you get when you don’t invest in these areas is not just measurable, it’s frightening. The cost of not sharing the power- of not developing people in these source areas, shows up in diminished performance, disengagement, health care expenses and lost time. Losses are in the billions every year.

Support the body…

Healthy people are more productive. They use less sick time. Invest in proactive health initiatives and you reduce health insurance costs and claims.

Support the mind…

Support your people emotionally and invest in personal development. People who are supported emotionally are again more productive. They are more engaged and far less likely to waste time. They’re also far more creative and better equipped to solve problems and deal with adversity.

Support the spirit…

This is where you share vision, meaning and purpose. You want more engaged people? Give them a clear purpose and share a meaningful vision that works for both the individual and the organization. This is how you increase the spiritual capital that you see as dedication and loyalty.

If you want to lead a powerful organization, you’ve got to share the power. You do this by developing people- in body, mind and spirit.

The ONE thing every leader MUST do before starting the New Year

For just a few minutes forget about the lists…

Forget about the resolutions and goal setting.

Forget about next year’s planning…

Before you decide what you’re going to do next year, decide who you’re going to be…

What you do next year and how you do it is determined mostly by who you decide to be.

The process is not complicated and it doesn’t take a great deal of time. Here’s what works best for me…

First, take a good look in the mirror…

I’m not talking metaphorically- I mean take few minutes and actually look at who it is in your mirror.

Don’t worry about your weight or hair loss or wrinkles. Just take a good hard look at who other people see when you’re standing in front of them. What is your face telling you about who you are?

Step two- take a few steps…again actually not figuratively…

Go take a walk.

Go someplace quiet and choose a route that you know will take you at least an hour. I don’t like time pressure during this experience, so I pick a route that I know will take me an hour or more and I make sure nothing is scheduled the rest of the day, just in case I keep walking.

Some people recommend sitting for this exercise. I recommend the walk so you put some distance between your daily tasks and pressures and can experience some real alone time. Plus, it gets the oxygen flowing to the brain and helps you think clearly.

On your walk, think about who you were over the past year. Were you courageous? Were you compassionate? Were you a little wiser than the year before?

How did these characteristics reveal themselves in your thoughts and actions over the past few months? Were there times when you acted out of character?

Somewhere along your walk, allow yourself a few minutes to think about this most important question:

Did you like who you saw in the mirror? If so, why? If not- why not?

Finally, on your return trip think about who you want to be this year…

Leave any negative thoughts on the trail for now- and it’s still not time for planning and lists and goals. Think about who you want to be, not what you want to do.
It took me some time, but now I think I understand that the old masters weren’t trying to mess with our heads when they said…

…sometimes the most powerful action is no action at all.

The first step in being who you want to be is simply acknowledging who you are. Only then can you decide who you want to become.

Planning, goals, lists…all important, but not as important as understanding who you are and who you want to be. More than any other factor, who you are- your character, determines your thoughts and actions.

For the leader, who you are defines how other people see you and most of all, how you see yourself.

 Now, go look in the mirror…

…and take a walk!

Power vs. Authority in Leadership

Power is your ability to act or perform effectively- an essential ingredient in effective leadership…

Authority is more specifically the right or privilege granted a particular individual to issue orders and commands and determine course or direction within one’s area of responsibility.

In conventional thinking, there is little or no power without authority.

I see exactly the opposite. There is no authority without power…

…not for long anyway!

Authority can come from titles, degrees or positions that can be granted- sometimes with little or no authenticity.

Power comes from who you are.

Power is your capacity to act effectively…

The more effective you are- the greater positive impact you have on the lives of the people who follow you willingly, the more likely those people are to trust, invest in and support your authority.

But don’t you need authority to express power?

To a point…

However, someone can be vested with a tremendous amount of authority without the capacity to act effectively- without the ability to perform in any meaningful way.

The Sensei earns the authority vested in him by his students…

There are plenty of talented martial artists that make lousy teachers. I believe you’ll find the same everywhere leadership is important- especially in business and politics.

A Sensei can have authority by claiming a title and convincing others that he knows more than they do. He can dictate a strict culture full of perfunctory rituals that reinforce his authority, status and position…

…or- he can choose to serve.

The most effective Sensei is completely committed to these key ideals:

• Continual personal learning, growth and development
• Leadership by example- modeling the behavior he expects in others
• Leadership through sharing- through teaching, mentoring and coaching
• Personal success measured by the success of his followers
• Recognition that authority comes from the trust and earned loyalty of willing followers

Handling and managing authority is a relatively technical process…

For example- if you’re the president of an organization, you have a set of guidelines, policies and precedents that spell out the range and limitations of your authority.

Power grows directly from your willingness to learn, grow and develop…

Your ability or capacity to act or perform effectively is a direct reflection of your willingness to grow and develop as a leader, and as a person.

The more effective you become, the more beneficial you are to those you serve. That’s why they’re more likely to invest you with authority and support your authority with trust and loyalty.

Some people still try to expand personal ambitions by trying to directly expand authority. That can work, for a time, but this way you’ve always got to watch your back. Authority without power is always open to attack- vulnerable to the next coup.

But aren’t power and authority both important?

Absolutely- you can’t lead effectively without authority. It’s a matter of emphasis- of focus.

You want to focus on the fast track to authority and control?

You can gain a tremendous degree of authority by being a jerk! You can increase authority through political maneuvering, lying and cheating.

Or- will you focus on cultivating authentic power- for yourself, your organization…

…and your followers?

Leadership and gratitude

Gratitude is not a platitude- it’s an inventory…

A year end inventory is essential for any effective leader. The best method to take a complete inventory of your leadership resources is gratitude.

• You’ve got to analyze what worked and what didn’t.

• You’ve got to assess the people around you. Who helped you move forward, who held you back?

• You’ve got to take stock of your material, emotional and spiritual resources. What do you have plenty of? What needs replenishing?

Be careful. It’s all too easy to get caught up in worry and obsession over what you don’t have at any given time- what you want or areas where you came up short of expectations.

Use gratitude as an inventory basis and you’ll focus on what you have- not what you don’t…

No matter where you want to go in the coming year, you’ve got to start with what you have, right here and right now.

My gratitude practice is extremely simple- anyone can do it. It only takes a few minutes, but I also find it very useful to set aside a few hours one a specific day to really think in depth about the past year.

What better time than near Thanksgiving?

All I do is set aside some time and think about all the things, people and resources in my life. I think about experiences, good and bad. I think about my current circumstances and conditions.

Then I just say, “Thank You.”

For the people in my life that believe in my vision and my mission. For the people who support my efforts, directly and from places I might not even know about…

Thank You.

For a warm place to live and plenty of food to eat…

Thank You- I didn’t always have these things.

For my wonderful, loving and supportive wife and business partner, Alex…

Thank You.

For my friends and family…

Thank You.

For my ability to express myself by writing, speaking and through my other passions…

Thank You.

For my talents, skills and abilities and for the teachers, mentors and coaches that helped me cultivate them…

Thank You.

For my health…

Thank You.

For the material resources I have. I’d like more, but I’ve had far less!

Thank You.

For every experience, good and bad. For every mistake and lesson, however painful. For every challenge, adversity and hardship that will become part of some future achievement…

Thank You.

For my curiosity, sense of wonder and ambition…

Thank You.

For the people who find my work useful…

Thank You.

For my health…

Thank You.

For the blessing of being born an American and to have the freedom to do what I choose…

Thank You.

I just keep going until it gets quiet. I always reach a certain point where it seems I have plenty to be thankful for. This is a good place to start my next year.

I learned to do this just after I quit drugs…

I was living in my old trailer in Maine and as I remember it, it was a cold spring day, May I think.

I remember fighting back tears as I realized I had no money and as happened all too often then, I had run out of heating oil. I was immersed in self-pity thinking about what I had done to myself over the past two years.

I was sick, hungry and worst of all, absolutely disgusted with who I was, where I was and what I was.
I went outside- the sun was burning off an early morning fog it was actually warmer out there.

I remember seriously considering ending it all that day.

I started to think…

I might be cold, but at least I have a place to live. I may be hungry, but at least for today I have enough to eat. I may be sick, but I can get better.

Then I thought- it’s spring. And I’m still here.

The feeling of taking my own life drifted away. I didn’t take that feeling lightly- suicide and I were close friends.

All I could think of to say, was Thank You.

And that’s how this all got started…

Leadership is about many things, but most of all, it’s about knowing yourself and it’s about your commitment to the never-ending process of self-improvement. It’s about embracing life- the full catastrophe.

Leadership is a precious gift. It’s a gift that requires constant reflection, assessment and awareness. It’s a gift that must be cultivated- continually.

For that gift, just say Thank You…

This is an old video- but it still fits…

COMING SOON!

“The book that teaches leadership from a new perspective, and an ancient tradition.”

“This book restores the humanity to leadership…”

Leadership for the Millennial Generation – They’re not looking for anything new!

To effectively lead the new generation of Millennials, you need a very old style of leadership…

“If you’re a manager today, you probably oversee a number of employees from the Millennial generation. But you might not understand how best to recruit, retain, and steer them–and soon they’ll be most of your workforce.” ~Kathryn Dill, Forbes.com

Gen X, Gen Y, now Millennials- every couple of years we hear about how to adapt to the latest generation of employee. Each time one of these groups is surveyed, I see a deep connection to a timeless style of leadership that crosses all generations.

What is it, exactly, that the Millennials are looking for in a leader?

Dill’s report is a commentary on a survey of 16,000 Millennialsl from around the world conducted by Universum and the INSEAD Emerging Markets Institute (EMI). (Read the full article here…)

Dill sees a changing focus away from monetary incentive toward a heavier emphasis on work/life balance:

“Thus far, cash has remained king where compensation is concerned, across the generational board. But according to Universum’s research, 73% of respondents favored work-life balance over a salary bump, and an even-higher 82% placed work-life balance ahead of their place in the company hierarchy.”

This is not new!

The past several generational shifts have taught us that people are placing a greater emphasis on personal life in proportion to professional success.

The Sensei Leader understands that work and personal life are not separate, but simply two parts of the same whole. The more you can address personal needs as part of your ideal of professional success, the more balance you’ll feel.

Many years ago Lao Tzu taught:

“Ambition has one heel nailed in well, though she stretch her fingers to touch the heavens.”

As leaders, you can address this concern by understanding how personal and professional ambitions work together to help an employee derive greater satisfaction in the job.

“Forty-one percent of respondents said taking on a leadership or management role was ‘very’ important to them. The greatest percentage of respondents, 35, said this was because of compensation, but almost as many, 31%, said their motivation was a desire for influence and an equal percentage valued the chance to play a strategic role in an organization.”

Here the Millenials desire to express what I continually highlight as an essential quality of genuine leadership- the need to inspire others and to make a meaningful contribution to the organization.

Not only is it important to cultivate this desire to encourage and develop the next generation of leaders, but it is crucial to “lead by example” in this area and demonstrate that as a leader you are committed to influencing your organization in a meaningful way above and beyond the understandable desire for greater financial rewards.

“Roughly a quarter of respondents said they place value on getting promoted quickly and regularly, but a larger segment of those surveyed–45%–emphasize the importance of continuing to learn and develop new skills.”

The greatest gift the martial arts life gave me is this philosophy:

“Perfection is not a destination- it’s a never-ending process!”

Isn’t that what the Millennials are saying? They want to grow and develop. They want to discover new talents and cultivate new skills.

Provide the opportunity for growth and development and you will engender loyalty from the Millennial generation- and all the other generations you serve too!

The Millennials don’t want anything new. They want something very, very old!

Lao Tzu said this more than 2,500 years ago:

“In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don’t try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present.”

Isn’t that what the Millennials are saying today?

COMING SOON!

“The book that teaches leadership from a new perspective, and an ancient tradition.”

“This book restores the humanity to leadership…”