Blue Collar Leadership

In this episode, I'll share 5 reasons why low impact leaders won't remove weak, low impact, toxic players from their teams. Toxic team members destroy the morale of their team. Low performers hold themselves, their team members, and their organization back. However, low impact leaders choose to let them contaminate their team day after day, week after week, and often, year after year. For me, ther...

In this episode, I share why it's important to acknowledge our weaknesses. I'll be sharing a story about the time I was in Guatemala with John Maxwell and an executive asked me, "If I tell my team my weaknesses, won't that make it harder for me to lead?" I said, "Sir, if you believe that you have a false assumption. You're assuming they don't already know your weaknesses."

If we're on a journey to climb to the next level and beyond, we'll always be under construction. What do I mean? We should always be focused on personal growth and development. When it comes to growth, we must become comfortable being uncomfortable.

Turnover has always happened and will always happen. However, excessive turnover is a symptom of a problem, not the problem. The root cause of a turnover problem below is a leadership problem above.

There's no need to keep trying to decide if you are a leader, a follower, or a manager. You are all three all the time. You are constantly leading and influencing others (leader), personally and professionally. You are constantly being led and influenced by others (follower), personally and professionally.  You are constantly managing things and processes (manager), personally and professiona...

When conducting leadership development training at organizations that haven't done anything like this in the past, I'm often asked by concerned managers and leaders, "What happens if we invest in training and developing the people and they leave?" I always say, "That's a great question. But, I've got a better question. What happens if you don't invest in training and developing the people and they...

Are you leveraging gratitude to build trust with others which increases your influence with others? Henry Frederic Amiel stated, "Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts." When it comes to high impact leadership of self and others, gratitude is character trait that reveals who you...

There are two types of competition. Everyone is familiar with one type: those who are trying to steal your customers. However, most people overlook the second type: those who are trying to steal your people. In this episode, you'll learn the key to effectively attaining and retaining top people.

High impact players who are making things happen at work are often ridiculed by their teammates. Those doing the ridiculing are insecure and attempting to prevent others from moving to the next level and beyond because they don't want to be left behind and/or they don't want to do the work to move themselves ahead. So what do they do? They ridicule others in an effort to slow them down. Don't do i...

Average is a relative term. In this case, it means those people you hang around and associate with by choice. Average people want to keep us average. Only exceptional people want to and are capable of helping us climb to the next level and beyond. To get to the next level and beyond, you will most likely have to leave some people behind, not because you are better than them, but because you are he...

In this episode, I'll share "why" and "how" you should be using LinkedIn to grow your professional network and advance your career to the next level and beyond. When it comes to LinkedIn, many people don't know what they don't know. Facebook, Instagram, and other similar social media platforms are fine for sharing about your personal life. But, LinkedIn is the professional platform where you are m...

In this episode, I'll share The Transformation Equation with you. You'll discover the 5 Foundational Components of Transformational Leadership. Organizational transformation is about attaining long-term, positive, and fundamental improvement that goes far beyond short-term initiatives and change management. However, leading transformation requires key components. When one of the key components is...

Blue-Collar Leadership: Leading from the Front Lines (Part 30 of 30) You must bet on yourself. Living intentionally leads to amazing results. Living accidentally leads to depressing disappointments. A better tomorrow won't just happen. You must become intentional and make it happen.

Blue-Collar Leadership: Leading from the Front Lines (Part 29 of 30) Develop yourself intentionally. Growth doesn't just happen. You must be intentional and make it happen. Accidental growth vs. intentional growth is about as effective as accidental exercise compared to intentional exercise...not even close. And the results...not even close.

Blue-Collar Leadership: Leading from the Front Lines (Part 28 of 30) Stretch yourself intentionally because all of your growth happens outside your comfort zone. Jim Rohn said it best, "If you work hard on your job, you'll make a living, but if you work hard on yourself, you can make a fortune."

Blue-Collar Leadership: Leading from the Front Lines (Part 27 of 30) Do it better than expected. Doing things better than expected increases your influence; doing things worse than expected decreases your influence. As George Washington Carver said so well, "When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world."

Blue-Collar Leadership: Leading from the Front Lines (Part 26 of 30) Do it better than expected. Doing things sooner than expected increases your influence; doing things later than expected decreases your influence. Making it happen is great, but making it happen sooner than expected can pay huge in the influence department. Why? Because you're building trust.

Blue-Collar Leadership: Leading from the Front Lines (Part 25 of 30) Do more than expected. Doing more than expected increases your influence; doing less than expected decreases your influence. As St. Francis of Assisi stated, "Start doing what is necessary; then, do what is possible; and suddenly, you are doing the impossible."

Blue-Collar Leadership: Leading from the Front Lines (Part 24 of 30) Helping others always helps you. If you want to increase your influence, always be the first to help. Everyone remembers the first to help, few remember the second. With people, the little things are the big things. As Ria Story says, "Those who have a heart for serving others in some way will build influence far beyond those who...

Blue-Collar Leadership: Leading from the Front Lines (Part 23 of 30) Helping others succeed ensures you will succeed. There's enough for everyone. There's plenty of everything for everyone. A person with an abundance mindset shares knowledge and ideas. As a result, they increase their value and their influence. A person with a scarcity mindset hoards knowledge and ideas. As a result, they decrease...

Blue-Collar Leadership: Leading from the Front Lines (Part 22 of 30) Ask for more responsibility. When you accept more responsibility, you will gain more influence. When you take responsibility, you will maximize your influence. Leaders are always looking for team members who don't avoid taking responsibility.

Blue-Collar Leadership: Leading from the Front Lines (Part 21 of 30) Think of yourself less. There's a fine line between arrogance and confidence. It's called humility. As Ken Blanchard says, "People with humility don't think less of themselves. They just think about themselves less. Arrogant people create distrust. Confident people build trust.

Blue-Collar Leadership: Leading from the Front Lines (Part 20 of 30) Seek first to understand. You will always learn more from listening than from speaking. If you truly want to increase your influence, slow down, pause, and choose to listen first. When you do, you're allowing the other person the courtesy of influencing (leading) you first. Once others feel completely understood, they are far mor...

Blue-Collar Leadership: Leading from the Front Lines (Part 19 of 30) Followers choose leaders. A low impact follower does less than expected alone. A high impact follower does more than expected with others. All great leaders were first great followers. As Truett Cathy, Founder of Chick-fil-A, said so well, "To excel in leadership, you must excel in followership."

Blue-Collar Leadership: Leading from the Front Lines (Part 18 of 30) Bosses make things happen with people who have to help them. Leaders make things happen with people who want to help them. As USMC Lt. General George Flynn remarked, "The cost of leadership is self-interest." High impact leaders know it's not about them. But, they also know it starts with them. They know others will choose to fol...