Aligned Leadership:  A Model for Extraordinary Achievement
— Greg Kilgore, Wednesday, July 7, 2010

It is my vision that you, me, and all of humanity work and play together free, enriched, fulfilled, and rewarded.  All of the articles I post, the information I share, the projects to which I contribute, and the clients with which I engage are in support of this vision.  (For more about my professional passion, please visit Ventures for Transformation.)

September 2009, I posted an article about leadership, Leadership Essentials, which has been viewed 1,400+ times (source: Posterous).  In that article, I present the following essential leadership strategy:

Responsibility. Values. Commitment. Strategy. Planning. Execution. All the while, alignment to the values. Begin again with responsibility. Repeat. The game to play to win all the other games combined.

Also, in that article, we explore the value of most of those aspects of fundamental leadership strategy.

In this article, I emphasize the most critical aspect of effective leadership and WHY it is so valuable to understand and to embrace...

The most critical endeavor of effective leadership is ALIGNMENT (or "Aligned Leadership.")

Whether you are embarking upon a campaign to create change within a community, a marketplace, a small business, or an organization, Aligned Leadership is required.  Without Aligned Leadership, short-term goals may be attained, but sustainability, lasting growth, innovation, and extraordinary rewards will never be achieved.  Effective leadership is only ever Aligned Leadership, otherwise leadership is ultimately ineffective.

Aligned Leadership is a phrase that implies "alignment" is required between something and something else.  So what then is to be aligned with what?  And why?  Simply stated:  Everything you do must be aligned with your VALUES and fundamental COMMITMENT(S).

Why?  A career of study and practice of adult learning styles, training techniques, achievement coaching, and human performance development reveals: People choose and act upon what INSPIRES them.

~  ~  ~

Here are the basics of the model of Aligned Leadership with enough complexity to get the big picture...

Identify and declare your VALUES. >>>  Define and communicate your VISION Statement.

Determine and declare your COMMITMENTS.  >>>  Define and communicate your MISSION Statement.

Determine, define, and maintain:  models, processes, rules, policies, systems, and methods.  >>>  All the while MAINTAIN ALIGNMENT with the VISION and MISSION.

Observe, consider, and respond to the cards you are dealt, in other words, the external environment, availability of resources, internal interpersonal dynamics, etc. >>>  All the while MAINTAIN ALIGNMENT with the VISION and MISSION.

~  ~  ~

Many of the terms here (vision statement, mission statement, models, methods, etc.) have evolved (or devolved) in corporate and business culture over the years to the point of being considered absurd.  There is one reason alone why that is true:  Leaders failed to maintain alignment of actions with Values and Commitments.  Leaders fail to maintain alignment because they  allow several aspects of human nature to get the best of them.  A few stand-out challenges of human nature facing leaders (and team players) are...

• Novelty:  I've been studying adult learning styles most of my career.  One thing is clear:  We very often take for granted and forget critical know-how knowledge the more familiar we become with the exercise of performing the exercise.  To reinforce sustained performance excellence and continuous improvement, we require being re-introduced to critical know-how knowledge in fresh, new presentations, stories, and contexts.
• Ego:  We associate basic instinctive survival with looking good and being right.  So much so, we instinctively and habitually avoid doing what's best for others and even ourselves to avoid the appearance of impropriety, wrongness, and looking bad to others and even ourselves.
• Short-term satisfaction and short-term memory:  We will choose short-term gratification much more often than long-term satisfaction.  Often, we will put-off until tomorrow actions that we do not enjoy and then forget our long-term motivations altogether for those actions.  Ultimately, often the actions don't ever get fulfilled.

Recently, I discovered Simon Sinek's presentation about the importance of WHY.  To quote a few Internet sources:

Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership all starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?" His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers -- and as a counterpoint Tivo, which (until a recent court victory that tripled its stock price) appeared to be struggling.

All organizations and careers function on 3 levels. What you do, How you do it and Why you do it.  The problem is, most don’t even know that Why exists.  The Why is your driving motivation for action.  The Hows are the specific actions that are taken to realize your Why.  The Whats are the tangible ways in which you bring your Why to life.

If you want a pleasant diversion into Sinek's perspectives, they are right on-point with the practice of Aligned Leadership, they are stated somewhat more simply than this conversation, and his presentation is enjoyable to watch or hear...

So, I emphasize here:  Once you are grounded in your "Why" (VALUES and COMMITMENTS), everything you do (sales, marketing, business process, human resource management -- everything) must BE ALIGNED with your Why.

~  ~  ~

I've been gratified to learn that there's recently been a rising-up and definition of a new role in some organizations, the CSO, Chief Strategic Officer.  The role of Chief Strategic Officer is defined as as a high-level senior executive whose main responsibility is to ensure that execution flows from strategic planning by assisting the chief executive officer with creating, communicating, executing, and sustaining strategic initiatives within a corporation.  Chief Strategy Officers are normally executives who have worn many hats in business.

Chief Strategy Officers are responsible for three critical jobs that are considered to be the most important aspects of successful strategy execution: (1) Must portray a company's strategy to every business unit within a corporation so that all employees, partners, contractors understand the corporate wide strategic plan and how it backs into the companies overall goals.  (2) Must drive immediate results within a corporation, whereas the CEO is normally responsible for driving long-term results and providing vision.  (3) Must drive decision-making that creates immediate change.

The CSO often influences organizational development, typically in close coordination with the CEO, including consumer innovation, business process outsourcing, financial structure, product supply chain, regional expansion, communications, and acquisitions.  The CSO ensures a robust organization design which is a key component of a successful market focus and position; market focus and position of course being a building block of a high-performance business.

I might also refer to the CSO as the "Chief WHY Officer!"

~  ~  ~

Did you notice my VISION and MISSION at the start of this article?

It is my vision that you, me, and all of humanity work and play together free, enriched, fulfilled, and rewarded.  All of the articles I post, the information I share, the projects to which I contribute, and the clients with which I engage are in support of this vision.

I invite you to hire me to collaborate with you to achieve this vision for you, your business, and your big games in life!

Of all the complex business strategy decisions to deliberate, "commission-only versus salary with commissions or bonuses," is certainly the most tricky and the most important.

Over twenty-plus years in business, I've heard all the debates and the pros and cons of each approach, and I have seen each approach work and fail in varying degrees.  There didn't seem much point for me to re-tread all of the same old issues on this topic, but I did think it would be helpful to uncover perspectives and insights that are already out on the web, and to bring them together in one place for review.  Albeit, these are the insights that I've identified with which I agree and my experience validates so that bias does apply.  So here are a few citations that bring together the most salient points...

There are three situations or combination of situations where commission-only sales seems to work well...

1. When the product is easy to sell, commission only provides a way for the salesman to maximise his earnings. I have a friend that sells advertising on a commission-only basis, when his peers have a base combined with a much lower commission.  He chooses commission-only as he spends his day working lists of old customers which have a very high percentage of people that are ready to make a buying decision.
2. When the salesperson is already selling to the target audience and your product would simply be layering-on additional revenue with perceived minimal effort.  This option also covers selling though an ad hoc opportunity, e.g., "I sat next to this guy at lunch and..."
3. Commission-only also seems to work best when their are short sales cycles measured in hours or days.  Long sales cycles cause two issues: First, the time investment increases requiring a much greater ROI for the salesperson.  The second issue is the risk the sale will be “undermined” by competition during a long sales cycle.

When does it not work...

1. Obviously it's not going to work when you get the reverse of the above:  When your product is difficult to sell, when your salespeople have to find brand new customers, and when there are long sales cycles.
2. However it also doesn’t work when it's an excuse to not invest in your sales activity.  I don’t mean just pay retainers, I mean not even providing adequate training, management and follow-up.  All too often commission-only is perceived as an “I’ve got nothing to lose” solution because it supposedly costs the vendor nearly nothing.  The reality is that it can lull you into a false sense of activity or worse you can have your brand completely trashed.
3. It doesn’t work when the agreement is informal or the audit-trail is poor quality.  Both which normally translate into perceived breaches of the agreement, a lack of trust, and sales coming to a stall-out.  All too often I see merchant-banker types fighting over who was owed the commission on a deal that mutated and had mutltiple parties involved along the route to a transaction.
4. Finally, it doesn’t work when what each party brings to the table isn’t valued properly by the other party.  For instance, I am endlessly approached by people who wish to access my network for free (the one I have slaved long and hard to build) and only wish to pay me if they can conclude a transaction – an activity I have no control over.  Another regular theme is that I can have a website built for them at no cost and then make margins from their brilliant product.

A couple of other points to consider...

1. A commission-only sales force has little interest in providing customer service beyond the sale.
2. The hiring and management of commission-only staff can can be a huge drain on the management team as these people are all independent operators.

Source: Does Commission-only Sales Actually Work? (above)
By brendan at 3 March, 2010, 9:37 pm

The first condition required for this model [commission-only sales roles] to work is a short sales cycle. Most people either do not have the patience or simply cannot afford to wait three to six months to complete a sale and earn a commission. In addition to the requirement that these staffers have the financial means to support themselves for several months, a long sales cycle dramatically increases the difficulty of maintaining their interest and motivation...

The second prerequisite for success with this compensation model is a relatively simple product. Consider the items sold by successful home-based and network marketing firms such as Amway: vitamins, long-distance service, household cleaners, the list of products trends very heavily toward simple to understand and consumable goods...

Contrary to the idea that commission-only sales representatives are free, since they are only paid on what they sell, there are two huge costs of using such a sales force:  1. The hiring, training, and supervision of these workers can overwhelm the management team.  2. Independent sales representatives are given little incentive to provide customer service beyond the sale.

Source: The Commission Conundrum (above)
Column by Francisco Dao

How do you find the good reps?  It’s very difficult! The good productive rainmakers usually work with big brands that we all know. The others are very picky about who they will represent. They will ask much of you – do you have current accounts that produce revenue that they can now manage so they can earn business is ready to do business. You must have a great website, enticing brochures, great spec sheets, alluring packaging, and other basics your need to succeed. If you are not ready to play with the big boys, the good reps will take a pass on your and move on to greener pastures.

Should you hire a sales person in house?  I know, money is tight. You barely make enough to pay your mortgage never mind a high priced sales pro. But here lies the dilemma – do you invest in a dedicated proven sales pro who will devote himself to you? How do you know they will perform and at least cover their cost of having them on staff? Perhaps you tried this in the past and have gotten burned – big pay with little or no sales from them. This is always a tough call, but, if you are truly in it for the long haul, you need to invest in good sales people. They are the heart of your organization. Without sales, nothing else happens. We believe one of the best investments you can make is to bring aboard the highest quality sales help you can afford.

Source: Should you hire commission only reps or hire in house sales people? The inside story... (above) by Jim DeBetta, February 22, 2010

There are many reasons why salaries and bonuses are better for both real estate principal and salesperson alike... How you reward your sales team impacts significantly on both the profit of the [business] and on the earnings of the salespeople themselves. When you pay salespeople - or anybody - a percentage of your gross income, you sacrifice profit. When comparing the three most common systems used in real estate agency sales and using the same expenses, the same gross average selling fee, and showing the break-even Points for all three systems, the office that breaks even first is the independent office paying "salaries and bonuses" to its salespeople. Does this mean that the salespeople are worse off? NO!

So why does our industry persist with reward systems that are both unprofitable for the office and are detrimental to the financial health of all but a few of the salespeople working under those systems? [Business] leaders are afraid of losing money paid in salaries to people who do not perform, so they opt for the commission-only system which they believe will minimize losses.  Yet, without adequate hiring programs to properly train and test new recruits, then the chance of failure is high. Just as the recruit reaches the point where he or she is about to make money, the person leaves. This leads to the industry leaders complaining, "You can't find good people!" ...To build a winning team you need a few things working for you: Your office must be ATTRACTIVE. You must have HIRING PROGAMS that minimize the risk of lost salaries paid to the wrong people. You must have TRAINING PROGRAMS designed to get your new people to a satisfactory knowledge level... Your TRAINING PROGRAMS must continue developing your new people for as long as they remain with your company. These four ingredients explain why our Top 100 salespeople perform as well as they do, and thanks to salaries and bonuses there is sufficient profit for the agency to thrive as well.

Source: Commission-Only Versus Salary-and-Bonus (above)
Pittard Training Group Leadership and Sales Bulletins

The number one mistake businesses make is in assuming that commission only sales people are just like employed ones, just paid differently. If going down the freelance route is going to work for you and your business, you need to radically rethink, and the best way to start that process is to put yourself in a freelancers shoes...  He is taking a leap of faith (after due diligence) that you will pay him on time and not go bust in the meantime, that you will provide the service promised to the clients/customers he finds for you, not leaving him to answer the angry after sales calls, and most of all, that there actually is a market for your products at the prices you are asking him to sell at.

[Rules for commission-only sales to work...]
Rule 1: Be realistic and honest. If you have found selling your product yourself difficult, or it has a long lead time, tell him so.
Rule 2: Learn from businesses who have successfully used self employed sales people for years. They know you have to keep your people busy, by providing leads, appointments or data to work with (depending on the type of business). Expecting a freelancer to provide all his own leads, with no data provided to get him off and earning quickly will mean you loose them very quickly.
Rule 3: The quicker you pay his commission the more loyal and hard working he will be.
Rule 4: Motivation rules!  Sales people are a complicated breed, and freelancers the most complicated of all! They spend their lives motivating themselves, and get a group of them in one room and usually there’s a party! They are as a group the most “up”, optimistic, enthusiastic people on the planet. Yet, when the bubble bursts, many can bomb with a speed known only to Newton!  To keep a freelancer motivated and on task, you need to be aware of your role in managing him. Anything you do, any process you have, any communication (or lack of it) could affect whether you are the parachute, the soft place to land, or the trampoline which will get him bouncing back up again, this time even better than he was before and doubling his sales. Become a Sales Manager par excellence, and if you can't, then hire one!
Rule 5: Do not expect him to work under the same terms and conditions, or to have the same relationship with him as an employed sales rep.
Rule 6: Train, train, train! Give him the best product and product related sales training possible. Even if he is experienced in selling a similar product, he still needs to know yours inside out.
Rule 7: Do NOT confuse marketing with sales.  What you have on your hands is a hungry sales machine, not a marketeer. Sales mops up where marketing leaves off. He needs you to provide him with the marketing tools, presenters (and pitch), leaflets, business cards and back office support.
Rule 8: Think of recruitment as ongoing.  Freelancers rarely stick around long. They can be the “ladies of the night” of the sales world.
Rule 9: Always recruit more freelancers than you think you need.  The drop off within the first month of contracting with a freelancer is very high. The reason is simple. Just as you aren’t needing to commit to them long term, so they aren’t needing to commit to you.
Rule 10: Budget for success. Remember the “free” in free-lance means:  Not “tied," not “no cost!" There are three main areas to budget for: recruitment, training and management costs.

Source: Commission-only sales, the right choice? (above)
By Liz Sparkes, 17th Mar 2010

There are quite a few valuable insights from the sources above.  I'll add at least one more...

Consider all of the human-relations understanding, communications, behavior-styles adaptation, leadership, and management required to manage traditional salaried employees...  Now, consider applying all of that know-how and then some to managing employees who admittedly choose as their primary motivator whether or not you and your company is doing everything it can to support their success at earning even $1 let alone $100, $1,000, or $10,000. Recruiting and managing a commission-only sales team is a game that can be played and occasionally won, but I do not believe that it is for the faint of heart or the inexperienced.

One last note: Whether you are seeking to hire a salaried employee or a commission-only sales freelancer, here's a fairly good article about "How to recruit top notch sales people."  I especially like the eight interview questions.

To achieve your best, you must set "peace of mind" as your first priority, and then create your life (and your workplace) to support it.  This is true at an individual's level responsibility for self.  As well, this should be an on-going personnel-maintenance/support issue for management and executive leaders within companies and organizations.  It's not default human nature to achieve and thrive with this approach, so it requires extraordinary intention, commitment, and efforts to apply this methodology:  First priority, peace of mind...  All other priorities follow that priority.  It is amazing how individual performance becomes extraordinary and organizations become authentically powerful and successful when this commitment is adopted within the organization's mission and is honored by embracing it.  http://gregkilgore.me

Business quiz: If your company has to decide between doing what’s right and making a profit, which should it be?

Answer: Both.

What if the distinction between business and doing good vanished? What if all those who engaged in business were committed to a deeper purpose, and all those committed to doing good were entrepreneurial and enterprising? What would it take for a world of seven billion such people to solve all the world's problems?

If you are one of these people, wondering where to go from here...

Visit FLOW.

The Orlando Business Journal (OBJ) recently reported:  Anheuser-Busch InBev Reports $1.5B Profit.

I found at least two points in the article compelling from a business analysis perspective...

First, with all of the economy doom-and-gloom buzz still resonating in the media and water-cooler conversations throughout the U.S., a beverage company (InBev) turned $1.5B in profit up from $690 million reported a year ago before their merger with Anheuser-Busch.  I find it fascinating and encouraging that two corporations, leaders in their industry, merged and doubled profits for one of the companies.  There's something to be learned from A-B InBev wouldn't you say?  Though revenues are down 10 percent from the $10.9 billion the combined companies reported a year ago before the merger, InBev's profits still doubled.  I don't think that the OBJ article presents enough salient details to fully identify all of even the most critical causes for the profitability, however the OBJ article does mention significant cuts in expenses while yet rolling-out two new products.

I was also struck by the quotes at the end of the article that assess A-B InBev's business growth strategies:

"The third-quarter results confirm that the company's cost-cutting efforts, while risky, will lead to margin expansion..."

And:

"We continue to believe that if InBev cuts marketing expenses too much or if its personnel cost cuts drive off key managers at Anheuser-Busch, the top line could suffer, and, given the firm's leverage, profits would probably suffer as well."

Anheuser-Busch InBev is taking a stand for the value of new product development, maintaining a healthy marketing budget, and retaining effective management and leadership.  Given the report of profits, especially during the economically gloomy fervor of 2009, I think Anheuser-Busch InBev is worth listening to now and probably worth further study of their business growth strategies and operational tactics.

Cyber criminals take advantage of the increased number of legitimate e-cards sent during the holiday season to send out their own fraudulent, and potentially damaging, e-cards. These spammed messages may try to lure you into clicking on malicious links in order to compromise your PC with a Trojan horse or virus.

Be extra vigilant in the weeks ahead when you get an e-mail claiming, "You've received an e-card," unless you're certain it's from a trusted friend or family member. It only takes a moment to check out an e-card, and it could save you hours of headaches:

• Examine the e-card notification closely before clicking on any links contained within it. Are there typos in the message? Does it lack a personalized greeting that identifies you by name? Those are warning signs.
• Look at the link you're asked to click on in order to receive the e-card. If it ends in ".exe," it's an executable file—a file that automatically executes code to install and run programs and routines. A legitimate e-card will not have an executable file, so seeing one is evidence of a scam. Do not click on the link.
• Check the headers of the e-mail to see if the Web address is different from the one displayed in your Inbox. If it is, this is another warning sign.

Should you receive an e-card notification containing one or more of these "red flags," do not click on the link. Simply delete the e-mail from your Inbox. In addition, continue to follow these basic security precautions:

• Use a firewall.
• Use antivirus and antispyware software and keep it up to date.
• Never download or click on anything from any unknown source.
• Don't accept an end-user agreement without reading the fine print first; you might inadvertently agree to install spyware or something else you don't want.

Exchanging holiday e-cards can be a wonderful part of the season. Just make sure you keep your eyes open before you open those e-card links.

[Source: Cornerstone Publishing Group Inc., SkyBest Communications, eNewsletter of Skyline Telephone Membership Corporation]

Caterina Fake, co-founder of Flickr and Hunch.com, shares a provocative point of view in her recent blog post, Working hard is overrated:

...a lot of what we then considered "working hard" was actually... panicking, working on things just to be working on something, not knowing what we were doing, fearing failure, worrying about things we needn't have worried about, thinking about fund raising rather than product building, building too many features, getting distracted by competitors, being at the office since just being there seemed productive even if it wasn't — and other time-consuming activities.

She goes on to conclude:

Much more important than working hard is knowing how to find the right thing to work on. Paying attention to what is going on in the world. Seeing patterns. Seeing things as they are rather than how you want them to be. Being able to read what people want. Putting yourself in the right place where information is flowing freely and interesting new juxtapositions can be seen.

What do you think?

What if a major corporation was charged with inventing the first stop sign? They'd brief their agency and let the agency do their thing. Sorta. Welcome to corporate creativity where groupthink and endless revisions help good ideas get executed. Sorta.

The Ugly, Yet Elegant Truth About Business Success — 
Greg Kilgore, Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Let's start at the end: Business success is not achievable.

Success does happen. Desired outcomes do occur. Preferred results can manifest. You can be cause to some effects for sure. Yet, it's an illusion that you were ever the ever-present, all-powerful, master-of-all-possible-variables architect of the successful end game.

With the exception of the sciences and technical disciplines governed by apparent absolutes of the laws of physics and mathematics, and even then there is still room for rogue factors, games of business, human relationships, group dynamics, market forces, consumer trends, microeconomics, and macroeconomics are all too variable to ever really be predicted with a reliable degree of certainty. Every game in business, from high-finance to the enumerated production of widgets in a well-honed, scalable manufacturing process is still a game of chance.  Perhaps you could term business as games of risk rather than chance because you can endeavor to mitigate the risks and stake as many desirable outcomes as possible, but still then the unpredictable, unanticipated, and ultimately inexplicably unexpected can happen. The worldwide banking debacle is evidence. And if the "science" of manufacturing was reliable, we would never need automobile or appliance warranties. There are always really too many variables to ever predict success let alone 100% or 70% or even 50% defect-free outcomes.

So why do we play as if we can prepare, anticipate, expect, depend, and hope for any particular outcome? The ego. Ego is a perseverant aspect of our human nature. It's an energy that can be source to drive, motivation, ambition, and zeal. Yet, when left to run on auto-pilot such that it influences or governs reason, then ego will overshadow awareness, presence, attentiveness, creativity, intuition, acceptance of the world as it is, and peace of mind that the world is already as it should be. Ego creates confidence in the false reality that you can ever (or lead others to) perform enough of the just-so causes to ensure just-so effects. Most of us live with ego in auto-pilot mode. Another way of putting it: Ego lives your life when you are not paying attention to your life.

The ego of the typical banker, investor, marketer, sales director, and manufacturing line supervisor deludes the business person into believing that awareness, presence, attentiveness, creativity, intuition, and acceptance of the world as it is can be side-stepped for application of models, systems, and processes. "I can be saved from the unexpected and the risks. The world is safe and predictable. All I have to do is [model, system, and/or process here] to achieve my goal," the business person tells themselves. And yet, some estimates suggest that seventy percent of projects fail. Most businesses fail before they ever become profitable. For that matter, an inexorable number of marriages are dissolved in the free world. Is anything really ever true to forecast or prediction?

What is there to do then? If you can't be guaranteed that reproducing a franchise's business model to spec or implementing the best-seller's "10 steps to success" will produce the same results as it seemingly did before, then what's the point in trying? Actually, there is no point in "trying." Enough of the double-speak? Ok, then what's the point in "doing" this or that in the hopes of expecting any this or that to come of it? It's really not double-speak to say that the "point" still isn't what matters either. Then why work or not work? Why start a business or not? Again with the "why"... Like "point," the "why" doesn't really matter either. You can make going to work or running a business or making an investment matter for any reason you choose. And it's helpful to the human psyche to choose a purpose for inspiration. That's all well and good. But the reasons, the point, the matter of the matter isn't where a game of business is actually played.

What's really available is that each of us simply gets to choose.  Personal empowerment or group or organizational momentum simply starts and sustains from the space of choice. Choice is the non-point point of it all. It's just that you get to choose. So, choose or not. If you do choose to move forward with a business venture or a project or an investment, then what you know now is that it is about having a choice—or another way of putting it—having a vision and a commitment to that vision. Some people call a commitment to vision a mission.

Now, if you do choose to fulfill on a commitment to a mission, just because the choice is what has just been available to you all along, then you experience the most non-ego space to play at business that you've ever experienced. You are free to exercise and explore awareness, presence, attentiveness, creativity, intuition, acceptance of the world as it is, and peace of mind that the world is already as it should be... And assess, strategize, plan, implement, measure, assess, adapt, strategize, plan, implement, measure, assess, adapt... All the while choosing again and yet again to maintain your commitment to your mission. I sometimes call maintaining your commitment to your vision sustaining "alignment" with the mission.

Then success is a simple premise... If you can sustain alignment to the mission until factors you can influence *and* all of the factors you cannot influence converge to yield a preferred result, then success happens.

Theoretical scientists and researchers practicing pure scientific research have been intimate with the true depth and complexity of variability and utlimate uncertainty of life for some time. These practitioners are practicing a state of egolessness that allows a relentless pursuit of possibilities without knowing what the possible applications could be for as yet unknown discoveries.

So, what is business with integrity, true to the complexity and variability of life, perhaps "enlightened business?" The game is: Choose. Envision. Define mission. Sustain alignment with mission. Play like convergence can happen. Be present when convergence happens. Enjoy. Repeat. That's really what's going on in business. You know you are out of touch with what's really going on in business when work feels serious, tense, dreadful, angry, or disappointing. I've heard it said that expectations are resentments under construction.

If you want to be present when what's possible occurs and able to enjoy it when it happens, then simply choose to sustain your commitments and stay in the game: assess, strategize, plan, implement, measure, assess, adapt, strategize, plan, implement, measure, assess, adapt... Don't get hung up on absolute expectations or arrogant certainties of expectations and forecasts. Be open to the possibilities, and be present when convergence happens. Enjoy. Repeat.

If this article has resonated with you, then you may have come to realize that the Truth about business is not ugly at all. The truth about business is elegant. Choosing the context of that elegance, you are an enlightened business player. It was the ego's illusion of business scarcity, win/lose, competition, greed, and supposed certainties that is the uglier truth after all.

Leadership Essentials — Greg Kilgore, Thursday, September 10, 2009

There are many theories and models about Leadership. Some of which I have read that have resonated with me and even inspired me. Some of which I have studied. Yet, ultimately, when I speak of Leadership, I can quote the best ideas I've ever heard and share them as I've embraced them, or I can just talk straight from the gut and the heart about my personal experience and understanding. Another time I suppose, I can share the laundry list of writings and teachers that have come before me. For now, I am going to speak of Leadership as it has impacted my life, and in turn the lives of those that I have been able to touch.

First, leadership requires being responsible. The buck stops with you. It's not that you can be all things to all people or achieve every objective yourself. Yet, when the game isn't progressing, are you being responsible? Are you holding those responsible that you've invited to play the game with you?

I've partnered with and coached countless business owners, managers, and so called leaders. Those who are always the first and last person to be responsible for the myriad aspects of their business achieved their goals or a valuable variant whereby they could reach for new possibilities. They had to extend their reach beyond his or her personal grasp by recruiting others to be responsible as well, but the leader who wins his games is the leader who takes complete responsibility for whether or not the game was winnable in the first place. Business leaders who hand off the ball without taking responsibility for whether or not all of the variables are at play to ensure victory before the hand-off have no one to blame but themselves if the venture fails. What never fails is that the least responsible leaders are always the one's complaining that their team, staff, or reports are failing them.

As important, though not more so, is that a leader stands for something. What do you stand for? Odds are, you stand for something, you just don't declare it often, and so you might not know how to put words to it yet. Perhaps you don't actually stand for anything yet, but you want to. In either case, some self-exploration is required. Once you've determined which values matter enough to you so that you will commit to them, and which values you want for others, now the game is on! Just to illustrate a point: If your empassioned value is "prosperity," then what there is to do in your life and your work can certainly have something to do about that. When you realize that the achievement of prosperity often necessitates the involvement of others, then you invite others who share your value of prosperity to play a game with you. Or you find talented partners who you inspire to share your commitment to the value.

As a leader, the first role to play (very often neglected amidst all of the pressing to-do's) is the role of "facilitator of alignment." Alignment is the next most essential trait to exhibit as a leader and to foster with others who have been invited to play your game(s). Strategic execution, the last in my short list of leadership essentials, is not so lofty a goal in a business or a venture. Execution that succeeds comes from strategy that generates plans that are aligned with the values to which a business or venture has been committed.

To review: Responsibility. Values. Commitment. Strategy. Planning. Execution. All the while, alignment to the values. Begin again with responsibility. Repeat.

Now, much can be said about best practices to maintain commitment, effective planning, righteous execution, and communication aptitudes and emotional intelligence to share the vision and mission of a venture. We can drill down into those topics on another occasion. Today, let's just get that leadership doesn't require a mastery of all the best practices. Some leaders are quiet. Others raucus. Some are technical. Others visionary. Some are catalysts. Others cooperative and collaborative. You get to choose what style of leadership you want to express as well. Leadership can be manifested by anyone, anytime, anywhere. Leadership starts within and expands and manifests, becomes real, between people.

An interesting exercise I discovered involves spending a few minutes standing in front of a mirror. Stand in front of a mirror and witness yourself. Don't assess or evaluate whether or not you look good or bad or whether or not your hair is just so. Just "get it" that you can be seen simply, matter-of-factly. Next, imagine someone standing next to you that you would find satisfaction leading to play a business or venture game with you. See him or her standing there (in your mind's eye of course), and imagine he has an appreciative and fulfilled expression on his face. Then imagine someone else. And yet someone else. Try to be specific with who they are, and why they would be following your lead to participate in a game of your choosing. When you've filled the space somewhat in the mirror of your mind's eye, witness your self again, and get that all of the people standing next to you in front of the mirror can look into the mirror and witness you also. And you them. And they themselves.

There's a lot of powerful psychology and awareness going on in that exercise. More than I will elaborate upon here. Ultimately, what the exercise gives you is a sense of how others can see you and you them and they themselves. Relating to each other simply and with positive anticipation of appreciating each other and being aligned with each other is the beginning of being responsible to each other.

Responsibility. Values. Commitment. Strategy. Planning. Execution. All the while, alignment to the values. Begin again with responsibility. Repeat. The game to play to win all the other games combined.