Business is changing, are you keeping up?
I have not spit any business advice in quite a while, but I received some input this weekend that hit me as extremely simple, relevant, insightful and valuable.
I have a friend who is a Six Sigma, black belt Ninja 
for a fortune 300 company here in Michigan. My understanding is that his job is to dive deep into many different areas of the company, seek to understand, and then to offer insights and perspectives to improve those areas if he can.
When I asked him to give an overview of his process for trying to express an opinion, and improve upon, areas of a company that he may not fully understand…his answer struck me…
“I JUST LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE WHO ARE DOING THE WORK.”
He went on to explain that he has observed over the past 10 years that management can no longer take a top down approach to leading their employees. Today’s workers are educated and informed, and the best way to lead them is to simply ask them “What can we do, to help you do what you do, even better?”
By asking questions like this and others, and by genuinely trying to inspire and serve the workers he is tasked to help improve, he earns their respect and trust…and can get things done! In contrast, he believes he would be a complete failure if he simply observed an area, made notes, and then told these folks what HE thought they needed to DO. That is the management style of the past, that just doesn’t work here anymore!
Anyways, it was a great conversation, and I could go on for an hour. The bottom line is this…The only thing that is truly required of anyone in a leadership position, in business today, is to serve those you work with!
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January 30th, 2012 at 7:57 pm
Awesome work, not easy but the will to do is what matters.
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January 31st, 2012 at 12:58 am
Wow, marvelous weblog structure! How long have you ever been blogging for? you make running a blog glance easy. The whole glance of your site is excellent, let alone the content!
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February 1st, 2012 at 10:43 am
Yea, it is definitely a two-way street when it comes to smooth functioning and progress. Respect has to be earned. It is impossible to get the full support of your workers unless they respect you and your efforts to move the company ofrward.
-Jean
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September 20th, 2012 at 12:22 pm
Client commitment has become something of a contradiction. Successful and maintaining a client is getting more complicated, as e-commerce and international competitors have motivated customers with more options and the capability to quickly exchange their company from one organization to a opponent.
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October 20th, 2012 at 10:22 am
Today’s workers are educated and informed, and the best way to lead them is to simply ask them “What can we do, to help you do what you do, even better?”
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November 13th, 2012 at 7:36 am
The Fit To Change report highlighted that 97% of business leaders felt that to tackle change successfully, strong leadership is the key ingredient, along with the capacity to change and having the available resources to make it happen.
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February 2nd, 2013 at 3:49 pm
Ah, a very well put, and true logical way of being sucesssful!
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March 1st, 2013 at 9:36 am
When I requested him to provide an introduction to his procedure for trying to show an viewpoint, and enhance upon, places of a organization that he may not completely understand…his response hit me…
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