Brent Filson's Action Leadership Report is a monthly e-zine helping leaders achieve more results, faster results, continually. 
 
In this issue: KILLER STAKES GAPS: THEY'LL CRIPPLE YOUR LEADERSHIP.  HERE'S HOW TO IDENTIFY THEM AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT THEM.  (PART ONE)
 
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"Authority is a poor excuse for leadership.  Poor leaders order people to do a job.  Action leaders have those people choose to be the cause leaders of that job -- for more results faster, continually."  –Brent Filson
 
Vol. 3  Number 9 – September, 2005
Publisher: The Filson Leadership Group, Inc.
brent@actionleadership.com
(413) 458-4403
www.actionleadership.com
(c) Copyright 2005 The Filson Leadership Group, Inc.
 
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Reprinted from "Brent Filson's Action Leadership Report," a free e-zine helping leaders get more results faster (continually).  Subscribe at www.actionleadership.com and receive Brent Filson's free report: 49 Tips On Using Action To Get Results.  
 
IN THIS ISSUE:
 
SECTION 1: Killer Stakes Gaps.
SECTION 2: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.    
SECTION 3: Points of Light.
SECTION 4: Message from Brent Filson: Blowing Your Own Leadership Horn.
SECTION 5: News. 
 
================================
SECTION 1: Killer Gaps
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Here's one common complaint I hear from leaders: "My group is emotionally challenged.  No matter how hard I try to get them excited about a new project, they won't go all out.  Sure, they'll do what I tell them, but they simply won't put their hearts into it."
 
Having people from compliance to commitment is an age-old leadership challenge. In fact, my career to a great extent has been based on helping leaders meet that challenge.  Short of reading all my books, articles, and newsletters, and listening to my interviews, there is one thing you can do right now to have people be ardently committed to your cause.
 
That's recognize and close killer stakes gaps.
 
Clearly, nobody is "emotionally challenged."  Everyone has strong feelings.  The trouble is, people often don't feel strongly about what a leader wants them to feel strongly about.
 
Leaders and the people they lead are too often ships passing in the night.  Sometimes they get close to one another but that proximity more likely leads to a damaging collision rather than meaningful communication.  They often are going in different directions because they have different views of the stakes of a situation. 
 
This is where stakes gaps come in. 
 
Every leadership challenge has stakes.  Stakes are what's in danger of being lost if the challenge isn't met.  As a leader, you should always be asking when confronting challenges: "What's at stake here?  What will happen if we fail?"
 
When your understanding of the stakes and their understanding of the stakes are different, you have a "stakes gap", and when that difference is so large it threatens your ability to meet the challenge, you have a "killer stakes gap."
 
For example: I worked with the director of manufacturing at a global company which was getting hammered by competition from China.  Costs had to be cut dramatically throughout the entire manufacturing function.  From the director's standpoint, the stakes couldn't have been higher. If the cost-cutting targets were missed, the very existence of the company was threatened.  But the workers had a different perspective.  Generally, they believed the 130 year old company would never fold, not from any objective evaluations on their part but simply because they had faith its longevity.  So, they believed  the cost-cutting actions the director was challenging them to take were more of an annoyance than anything they should take seriously. 
 
The director's view of the stakes associated with cost cutting and the employees view were different; hence they were suffering from a stakes gap.  And because the gap could result, at least in the director's eyes, in the demise of the company, it was truly a "killer gap".
 
Many organizations are hampered because stakes gaps exist between their leaders and employees.  Here is a process to deal with such gaps.
 
(1) Identify the gap.  Before you can deal with a gap, you must identify the gap.  Many leaders don't do this simple thing.  For instance, the manufacturing director could have gone blithely along thinking that the employees shared in his view of the stakes.  But when I had him analyze what the employees really felt, he saw how wedded they were to the we'll-never-go-out-of-business dogma.  Getting them to admit this wasn't easy.  They communicated the dogma among themselves, but were reluctant to communicate it with the director.  The director had to get out among the people and have a number of informal conversations with them to elicit their true feelings.  Once he did, and saw how their dogma was shaping their reluctance to pitch in wholeheartedly on cost cutting, he took the first real step toward closing the gap.  The lesson: without identifying a gap, there's no way you can close it. 
 
(2) Agree.  It is not enough that you have identified the gap.  You must come to an agreement with them that there is indeed a gap and what the makeup of the gap is.
 
For instance, once the director realized a gap existed, he had to have them see it.  He had to define the gap, not in his terms but theirs.  Otherwise, they wouldn't have been committed to instituting the solution that would help close the gap.    So, he had a series of meetings with small and large groups to get their views out on the table.  In the meetings he asked, "From your standpoint, what's at stake in regard to the cost cuts?" He had to listen to their answers. He had to acknowledge and give value to those answers before he could tell them what he believed the stakes were.  Then he had to have them agree with him that a gap existed between his views and theirs.   
 
(3) Close.  In next month's ezine, I'll describe steps 3 and 4 -- how to close stakes gaps and how to keep them closed.
 
SECTION TWO: The Good.  The Bad.  The Ugly.
====================================
The good:
The opponents of Columbus at the court of Queen Isabella were right.  The issue wasn't whether  the world was flat.  That's a misconception that has come down through history.  The issue was the world's size.  The opponents of Columbus said he was underestimating its size and he could never get to the Orient by sailing west.  Columbus was indeed underestimating the world's size. The trouble was nobody knew there was a continent between the Orient and Europe.  If there had been no continent, Columbus would have sailed and sailed until his provisions gave out and perished.
 
–Stakes gaps often prove the adage, "Life is what happens to you when you are planning something else." 
 
The bad:
"To prevent violence" it was at one time customary at certain phases of the moon to chain and flog inmates of England's notorious Bedlam Hospital.
 
– Most organizations are getting a fraction of the results they're capable of because they, like the administrators of Bedlam, have the wrong ideas of what truly moves people to take ardent action.
 
The ugly:
Gallileo was forced to resign as a teacher from the prestigious University of Pisa because he advocated what was eventually proved right, that two objects of unequal weight when dropped would strike the ground at the same time. The belief that the heavier objects would strike first had come down from Aristotle.  It wasn't until Gallileo conducted an experiment, dropping two cannon balls of unequal weight from the Tower of Pisa, that he demolished that belief.  Still, because he had challenged a 2,000 year old idea, he was thrown out of the university.
 
–When attempting to close a stakes gap, remember you are often up against a status quo that may be utterly wrong but that is nonetheless can sabotage your efforts.     
 
========================
SECTION THREE: Points of Light.
=========================
"I had rather have a plain russet-coated captain that knows what he fights for, and loves what he knows, than that which you call a gentleman and is nothing else."–Oliver Cromwell 
 
"When you tell the truth, have one foot in the stirrup."  -- Hungarian folk saying.
 
"Often the most important aspect of achieving better results is a new process."  –Brent Filson
 
"In the important decisions of our life, we should be governed by the deep inner needs of our nature." Sigmund Freud
 
"Put a grain of boldness into everything you do." –Baltasar Gracian
 
"Your leadership is most importantly manifested not by your leadership but by the leadership of the people you lead." –Brent Filson
 
"It is in the ability to deceive oneself that one shows the greatest talent."  –Anatole France
 
"The great talent of the status quo is that it is able to escape good advice."  –Brent Filson
 
"Eloquence is in the assembly, not merely in the speaker." –William Pitt
 
"The only decent way to get things done is to get them done by somebody who likes doing it."  –D..H. Lawrence
 
================================
SECTION FOUR: Message From Brent Filson: Blowing Your Own Leadership Horn
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PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link.  Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.com
 
Word count:679
 
Summary: Your career advancement is predicated not only on your being a good leader but also on your being recognized by others that you're a good leader.  Many leaders, however, handicap their careers by failing to have this recognition come about in the right ways.  The author shows the right ways to cultivate the right recognition of your leadership. 
 
Blowing Your Own Leadership Horn
by Brent Filson
 
There are two streams of competitiveness running through every organization. The first goes outward: It's the organization's competitive activities toward its competitors. The second goes inward: It's the competitiveness of leaders inside the organization who are vying against one another for power, recognition, privilege and promotion.
 
To be successful in the second, leaders must not only do well in their jobs but they must also be able to have their bosses and colleagues perceive they do well. 
 
In other words, they must be able to publicize themselves -- or, to use the vernacular, blow their own horns.
 
I submit, however, that if one simply puts lips to the horn of publicity and blows hard -- i.e., makes an outward show of publicizing oneself -- such efforts will turn out to be discordant and counterproductive. The result will be people turning their backs on you rather than having them hum your tune.
 
Though it is necessary to blow one's own horn as you climb your career ladder, it is also necessary to know how to do it. After all, there is an art to the effort. Here are four steps that you can follow.
 
(1) Identify an area in your organization that needs better results. The art involves not just selecting the right results but doing so in cooperation with others.  Make sure that when you shine light on the lack of results, you do not embarrass somebody who has been tasked to get those results. Instead of making beautiful music, you could end up on somebody's enemies list! Get the responsible person's permission to focus on the area.
 
(2) Put together a team whose task it is to achieve those results. Blowing your own horn means that you want to be seen, not as the Lone Ranger, but as a team player.  Ensure the results can be achieved with a team. Enlist members to join the team by giving leadership talks. (What's in it for them to be part of the team?) Be aware, as you form the team, of any hard feelings or rough edges that might surface between and among team members and others in your organization who have a stake in the results. If you lead an endeavor that causes hard feelings, it's better to have never started it in the first place.
 
Moreover, the new team must be not only be formed, it must be MARKETED.  Both of these efforts require communications tools and skills, which can take numerous forms. First, to describe the new team or service, communications must be employed to fully define its purpose and operating principles, and the people who are involved in it.  These communications tools are descriptive in nature and may include everything from biographical back-grounders to product descriptions and data sheets.
 
(3) Achieve the results. Execution and achievement of the targeted results is absolutely critical to this phase of horn blowing. Make sure you score a win even if it's only a partial win. The idea is to get the low hanging fruit at the outset to show others that your team is succeeding, and then go for the bigger results later.
 
(4) Publicize the results. This is one of the most important steps of all, and it is a step that few leaders follow. They might put together a team that gets a few wins, but they have no idea how to publicize their efforts. The first rule in this is: To blow your own horn most effectively, make sure YOU DON'T TAKE CREDIT FOR THE RESULTS  -- YOUR TEAM MEMBERS TAKE CREDIT INSTEAD! Your efforts will get torpedoed if they look at all self-serving.
 
To highlight the successful products and services achieved by your team, you can put together white papers, data sheets, presentation papers and case-history articles.
 
Don't make this a one-time effort. You must be continually looking for results that are flagging, putting together teams to achieve the results, then marketing and publicizing the achievements. 
 
In this way, when you blow your horn in your organization, the music you'll be making can accompany you on a fast-rising career-trajectory.
 
2005 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc.   All rights reserved.
 
The author of 23 books, Brent Filson's recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS.  He is founder and president of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. – and for more than 20 years has been helping leaders of top companies worldwide get audacious results.  Sign up for his free leadership e-zine and get a free white paper: "49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results," at www.actionleadership.com For more on the Leadership Talk: http://www.theleadershiptalk.com
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SECTION FIVE: NEWS:
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Brent has instituted a affiliate program that certifies people to teach his courses.  So far, affiliates in Los Angeles, Colorado, San Francisco, Florida, Boston, China, Canada, Ohio have signed up.
The Leadership Talk: The Greatest Leadership Tool was a finalist in the "career" category of nonfiction books.  The awards ceremony was held at the BookExpo America.   
 
Brent's latest leadership books, The Leadership Talk: The Greatest Leadership Tool and 101 Ways To Give Great Leadership Talks, are in bookstores.  You can also purchase copies by calling 800-403-5368. Mention this e-zine and you'll receive a free wallet card with the Leadership Talk processes. If you purchase the hardcover book, you'll receive a free copy of Brent's new book, 101 Ways To Give Great Leadership Talks. In addition, you'll be eligible to receive a set of Brent's previously published books at half price.
 
Brent has put together two great systems that will boost your leadership and your leadership communication abilities. 
 
One is Brent Filson's The Leadership Talk System: www.theleadershiptalk.com
 
The other is Brent Filson's The CEO Public Speaking System: www.theceopublicspeakingsystem.com
 
Read Brent's interview conducted by Alistair Craven in ManagementFirst, an international business magazine out of London.  http://www.managementfirst.com/management_styles/index.htm
 
Brent's article, Are You Sabotaging Your Career?" http://www.actionleadership.com/articles/0018.html  has been translated into Chinese and  is featured in the May issue of the Chinese magazine, "Global Sources: Career Sources China."  http://csc.globalsources.com
 
During the past few months, Brent has been interviewed on more than 125 radio shows  – and many more are on the way.  If you are interested in having him on your show or at your meeting, go to the Action Leadership website and click on either the "meeting planner" button or the "media room" button.
 
Meeting planners: If you want a video of Brent's latest session, this time with a group of senior executives at a top global company, contact The Filson Leadership Group.  You can assess this video on the web by clicking on the ‘meeting planners" button.
 
Brent has a new web link on the home page, "Seven Minutes With Brent Filson".  Let Brent instruct you on a new concept that will immediately improve your leadership effectiveness.   
 
Listen to Brent being interviewed:  http://audiomotivation.com/go/brent-filson1204.htm
 
Brent has been interviewed on a number of radio shows.  He is shooting for at least 150 radio and tv interviews before the fall election.  If you are interested in having him on your show or at your meeting, go to the Action Leadership website and click on either the "meeting planner" button or the "press room" button.
 
Brent has a number of new articles up on the internet.  You can read the articles at:
http://www.actionleadership.com/articles
 
The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. is putting together a CD collection of interviews with leaders, called the "Leaders Speak" Series.  It will begin this month and can be found on the Action Leadership website.  Click on "Leaders Speak CD Series."   Brent says, "I want to interview leaders from a broad spectrum of human endeavor to be represented.  Don't be surprised to find landscape contractors, gang leaders, horse trainers, sports coaches, as well as business and political leaders.  Leadership is practiced by practically everyone, and we will bring it to you on the CDs in all the richness of human relationships."  For more information, call the F.L.G. headquarters, 413-458-4403 or email Brent at brent@actionleadership.com
 
 
 
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