I have worked with numerous leadership groups at events across Australia and in Europe in the last few months and discovered an interesting trait.

In exploring the effectiveness of different leaders in different organisations and cultures, I found one consistent barrier to effectiveness in every scenario - EGO.

It appears that in climbing the corporate ladder, those people driven by the power and prestige of the leader's role are actually least effective in that role.

The EGOmaniacs tend to surround themselves with 'yes' people and useless support staff that give them the feeling of confidence and effectiveness. Yet, their staff and subordinates can see through the false persona and the results is lower productivity, lower morale, higher staff turnover.

How can you detect an egomaniac leader? Look for these signs...

1. Egomaniacs have a personal assistant that does mundane tasks that they could do themselves i.e. return phone calls, return emails etc. This is often justified by the phrase 'I am too busy to return calls and emails'. RUBBISH. I spoke with John Tolmie the CEO of Darrell Lea last year and was impressed to hear he operated thousands of stores and factories across the globe without a personal assistant, he writes all his own memos, operates his own diary, no ego, just results!

2. Egomaniacs make random half baked decisions based on the moment rather than exploring the options and making strategic, sustainable decisions. They are also quick to reverse decisions sometimes in minutes; they flip-flop their way to outcomes.

3. Egomaniacs don't accept advice. In fact in the face of good advice they often take the reverse option because they believe that if they accept direction from someone else it undermines their position.

4. Egomaniacs delegate the hard stuff, like terminating employment, giving a harsh performance review, getting rid of a supplier or contractor. They want to win in the popularity stakes and don't want to ruffle any feathers.

So, my advice to you is look out for the ones climbing the ladder in your organisation and either pull them into line, teach them how to lead properly or get them off the bus. Also just take a few minutes to look in the mirror because you may be an egomaniac, the trouble is egomaniacs cant see themselves in the mirror so you may just have to ask for some good honest feedback!

Cheers and GET REAL!

How Alison is making a difference...

My passion in life is making a difference and inspiring people to make a difference. I am also inspired by people that make a difference. I met Alison by accident on the beachfront at Terrigal on the weekend.

I was sitting in a beachfront cafe having a coffee when I spotted a woman picking up all the discarded cigarette butts along the beachfront path, she was just wandering along picking them up, putting them in a bucket and occasionally stopping to say 'hello' to people passing by.

I thought, "what a terrible job, she must be working for the council as surely no-one would do this voluntarily". I watched her for a while and for some reason got the impression that maybe she wasn't being paid to do it, so I just had to ask, and you guessed it she wasn't.

I told her I couldn't believe she would be wasting a beautiful sunny Sunday picking up other peoples cigarette butts and asked if I could buy her a cup of coffee. So Alison sat down with me and told me the story. She is retired, from the UK and lives in the local area. On her morning strolls she noticed how ordinary the area looked and one Australia Day decided to do something about it.

She made up her own 'Bin your Butts' bins and put them out, expecting them to be destroyed by the following day.

Much to her surprise they were not only there the next day but they were full of butts. She then decided to take it a step further and pick up the ones that don't make it to a bin and she has now been doing this for years.

Not only does she do it but she has raised the bar, she now also calls the council if she discovers graffiti, vandalism or damage along the beachfront.

Alison says that it keeps her young and alive by giving her something purposeful to do, she gets great exercise, it makes sure she sees her elderly dad who lives at the other end of the beach each day, she gets to have conversations with heaps of people and she is doing something that makes a REAL difference to the community.

You might think that she would not have much time for smokers but she is quite the opposite, she feels sorry for them "they just want to relax and have a few puffs" she says and when she asks them to be more careful with their butts she says, "they are more than helpful". Not only does Alison do this herself but she also now has a website www.wastewarriorsworld.com dedicated to helping others do the same sort of thing all over the world.

I like the quote on the home page...

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has" Margaret Mead

If you see Alison in your travels, buy her a cup of coffee and take the time to have a chat with a remarkable lady who has chosen to get off her backside and make a REAL difference.

TOO OLD or TOO YOUNG

People often use the "I am too old" excuse to rationalise why they just won’t get real about their goals or dreams and it is such a poor excuse. It happens at the other end of the scale as well, with people saying “I am too young”, “it’s too soon”, “not now” and “I have plenty of time for that”. For these people it just never happens, because one day they wake up and it is now “too late”, “I’m too old” or “have no time”.

Are you guilty of this?

And if so, what is holding you back?

What excuses do you regularly hide behind? How do you justify not committing, not taking action, having no desire or putting in little effort?

Australia's ‘Biggest Loser’ was won recently by the oldest ever contestant on Australia’s version of the show Bob Herdsman. Bob lost a massive 87.6kgs or 52.21% of his weight to win the show.

When you think about it what is REALLY stopping you? Nothing!!! It is never too late, just ask Bob. It is never too early either to start to create your future; in fact it is better to make the changes early because it takes less time and effort to get to where you want to be. If you let bad habits form and grow it takes longer to change them and bring them under control, the journey back is far greater.

So throw the excuses out, let Bob’s shining example inspire you to make a REAL difference, the time to start is now, do something today that will make a difference tomorrow

Still not convinced...

Mozart wrote his first symphony at age 7

10-year-old Tatum O'Neal won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Paper Moon in 1973

At age 14 Nadia Comaneci got a perfect 10

Shane Gould was 16 years old when she won 3 Olympic Golds

71 year Katsusuke Yanagisawa is the oldest person to have climbed Mt Everest

Ruth Rothfarb, who started running at the age of 72 because she was “tired of all the talk about boring funerals”, ran her first marathon at age 81

Pablo Picasso continued to paint prolifically until his death at age 93

The United States oldest Mayor, Dorothy Geeben is 100.

You are never too old or too young…

ARE YOU MAD, no really, are you MAD

What will you do today that will make a difference tomorrow?

MAD stands for making a difference. My question to you is actually about fulfillment. We are only truly fulfilled when we are making a difference, when our contribution to something makes us feel worthy or useful or connected.

There are many areas in which you can make a difference and you do not necessarily need to be changing the world, in fact I believe that all major changes in the world begin with just one person, look at rock and roll, Elvis Presley- computers, Bill Gates, electricity- Albert Einstein, athletics- Roger Bannister and we could go on and on.

So I believe in order to change the world we need to make a difference and we can make that difference one person at a time. Who will you make a difference to today? What will you do today that will make a difference tomorrow?

It could be as simple as saying something nice and sincere to a work colleague, praising someone in your family, helping someone in your community, taking care of something in the environment.

It could be writing an opinion to the local or national newspaper, it could be volunteering, it could be speaking to a school group or university, it could be writing an ebook or real book with your manifesto of enlightenment.

Big or small, huge or quaint, you CAN get mad and the sooner you do the better you will feel and the better the world will be.

cheers

Rowdy www.rowdy.com.au

GET REAL about change

"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending." Maria Robinson

Over the last month I have been working with leaders in the United States and Australia on the direction their businesses are going, and what the best strategies and tools are to get them there.

I am surprised at the amount of leaders who are focused on "getting back to where we were." That is just not going to happen, the world has changed. Well, the world is always changing; however the current economic climate has created radical change.

Change is happening all the time. Normally it happens slowly and progressively and as a result we adapt reasonably easily to it. But when it happens radically we feel like we have been thrown off a cliff and we just want to scramble back to the ledge we were standing on prior to the massive change.

The reality is the ledge is no longer there, the world and business has changed. So rather than panic about a return to the old situation, we need to be proactive in creating new solutions and strategies that will take us into the future and put us at the cutting edge when the upturn comes.

This is a great time to reassess our business models, our teams and our structure.

A great time to refine our processes and procedures.

A great time to redefine our delivery and our products.

A great time to refresh, re-energise and reinvigorate our employees and to reinvent ourselves as a business.

These are the things we never get the time to do and put off because of the need to create, build and grow. These are the things that get left to last because they don’t add to the bottom line.

If you want to get ahead of your competitors, do these things NOW while things are slower and you will be able to create an organisation, team and individuals that are in the best position to take advantage of the opportunities that open up as the economy grows stronger.

WHATS IN YOUR BACKPACK??

As we grow and develop throughout life we collect things, and carry them with us, sort of like in a backpack. Sometimes we know what we are collecting and sometimes we collect things that we are unaware of, we collect things that others can see that we cannot and we collect things that other people slip into our backpacks without us knowing.

So right now you are carrying around a backpack full of beliefs, values, habits and ideas.

When was the last time you cleaned your backpack out?

If life is weighing you down, if you are stressed out, if you just cant seem to get ahead! It may just be time to lighten the load, throw away some of those useless items that having being weighing you down for years, hang on to the ones that are most useful and ,maybe look for some new items to carry in your backpack that make you feel refreshed and reenergized.

Is there stuff in your back pack that is festering and putrid??? Are you carrying someone else's?????? And when you are struggling, do you have someone to share the load with, or someone who will carry yours when you are weak or drained?

On the other side, do you put your hand up to carry someone else's load, to give someone a hand when it seems too tough??? Can you help your colleagues, friends and family sort their backpacks out.

Next time you are walking down the street, check the amount of people huddled over, looking at the ground, struggling with the backpack of life.

Make sure you clean yours out so you can walk into the future with your head held high and with all the tools to enjoy the journey

Possibility

Does the cotton wool society shut you down? Are you too busy trying to conform to the expectations of society to be yourself?

It is hard to be true to yourself when you are busy being true to the expectations of others. You know exactly what I am talking about. Expectations about what to wear, what to drive, where to live, where to go, what to eat, what to watch.

The cotton wool society tries to keep you inside your box, watch this on the box, work in this box, live in that box, drive around in that box. The cotton wool society also tries to make us follow the same patterns, what will you do when you leave school, you should get a job, you should buy a car, then you should find a partner, you should get married, you should buy a house, you should have kids, you should save for your retirement, and on and on it goes.

When you take a step back from all this conformity and think about what you REALLY want, what you REALLY stand for, you open up a complete new range of possibilities, you stop trying to be reactive and become proactive and create the life and success you REALLY want.

GET REAL about your possibilties!!!!