PPB October 2015

Strahan, president and CEO of Tastefully

Simple, received the Ernst & Young

Entrepreneur of the Year Award, she said, “I

didn’t build this company. An amazing team

of dedicated, passionate and loyal people did.”

3. A leader demonstrates an unshake-

able positive attitude.

In other words, he exudes energy. He dis-

plays enthusiasm. He projects cheerfulness.

And it is nothing short of contagious. I’m

sure you’ve come across some leaders like

that. No matter what is going on, you’ve

noticed that leader’s department or company

is filled with people who are pumped up,

excited and connected. You may have even

wished you were a part of his organization …

because it’s only natural to be drawn to such

high levels of energy.

Of course, the leader may not always

feel

positive. That’s life. But as military genius Laz

Tzu pointed out, “Leadership has been defined

as the ability to hide your panic from others.”

Or as we say today, “Fake it ’til you make it.”

4. A leader accepts responsibility.

Unfortunately, it is all too common to see

an ego-driven leader take all the credit when

one of her decisions works out well. But

when one of her decisions proves to be

wrong, she cannot be found, has nothing to

say or blames someone else for her failures.

A real leader, on the other hand, accepts

responsibility. When necessary, she’s able to

say, “I was wrong. I’m sorry.” As President

Dwight Eisenhower said, “Leadership consists

of nothing but taking responsibility for every-

thing that goes wrong and giving your subor-

dinates credit for everything that goes well.”

5. A leader is a goal setter.

Invariably, great leaders are goal setters. In

fact, you would be hard pressed to point out any

great leaders who simply wandered their way to

success. Maury Burgwin, the chairman at the

Institute for Management Studies, proclaims,

“The best path to success is to script your

desired outcome.” And then, “To reach that

desired outcome, script your tactical plan to get

there. In my affairs I have a polished, practiced

script for everything I hope to achieve.”

6. A leader has a passion for winning.

In other words, getting by is never good

enough. A leader wants to win. He wants to

be the best, produce the best and bring out the

best in others. That’s why Daryl Flood, presi-

dent and CEO of Daryl Flood, Inc., is recog-

nized as running one of the best, most success-

ful moving businesses in the country. As he

says, “Successful leaders follow best practices

that garner the loyalty and respect of their

employees, and one of those best practices is

seeing their leader have a passion for winning.”

7. A leader has a passion for winning

with

others.

Twentieth century educator G. Arthur

Keough knew that. He wrote, “Greatness is

not standing above our fellows and ordering

them around. It is standing

with

them and

helping them to be all they can be.”

This winning

with

others may be the

very reason that the Mayo Clinic is consid-

ered to be one of the finest medical institu-

tions in the world. It follows the philosophy

of its founding leader, Dr. William W. Mayo,

who said, “No one is big enough to be inde-

pendent of others.”

8. A leader builds relationships.

That doesn’t mean that she has to be

buddies with everyone on the team or in the

organization. That may not even be wise.

But she has to build strong, positive, respect-

ful, cooperative relationships with everyone

possible.

When I asked Ed Caldwell, vice presi-

dent of Protective Life, what accounted for

his success, he answered, “I have been blessed

with four mentors and bosses over the past

30 years who took the time to build a rela-

tionship with me, who gave me candid feed-

back on the differences between leadership

and management, and provided specific guid-

ance at key points in my career. Those rela-

tionships created what I consider to be the

real turning points in my personal and pro-

fessional development.”

9. A leader celebrates.

A leader doesn’t wait for the sale-of-a-

lifetime or a miraculous business turnaround

before he celebrates with the team. He knows

that little things count. In fact, little celebra-

tions can make a big difference.

As psychologist Dr. Terry Paulson points

out, “When people are asked to consider

what works, too many look for the big

things—those things that get measured and

reported. But many times, it is the consistent

little things leaders do that mean the most to

their teams.”

Or as Jill Blashack-Strahan adds, “When

we’re all stressed out, that’s when we need to

take the time to celebrate what’s right with

the world and our business.”

10. A leader exhibits calmness in

rough waters.

When Vaclav Havel became the first

elected leader in the new country of the

Czech Republic, the citizens were uncertain

of their future. So he told them, “Hope is not

the conviction that something will turn out

well, but the certainty that something makes

sense regardless of how it turns out.”

And Larry Blakely, process and improve-

ment director at Ernst and Young, says,

“When you’re up to your eyeballs in alliga-

tors, it’s hard to remember you’re not there to

drain the swamp. You’re there to be a calming

influence in the midst of the storms.”

You may not be a

born

leader. But you

can learn to be a leader. And a good leader, a

great leader, an effective leader exhibits these

10 behaviors. Start practicing them now and

you’ll be amazed at how well they work.

76 •

PPB

• OCTOBER 2015

THINK

Alan Zimmerman, PhD, has spoken to more than a million people around

the world, giving them the tools they need to achieve their goals on and off

the job. As a prominent, sought-after author and speaker, he works with a

variety of organizations and professional associations. His clients universally

characterize him as genuine, down-to-earth, practical and powerful. Dr.

Zimmerman has received numerous awards and honors for his contributions

in the fields of attitude, communication and leadership. Most recently, the

National Speakers Association awarded him its highest honor, the Speaker

Hall of Fame. His latest book,

The Payoff Principle: Discover the 3 Secrets

for Getting What You Want Out of Life and Work

, is available from Amazon,

Barnes and Noble and