My husband Mike was the Mayor of Southern Pines at the early age of 32. He served for two terms, and he has been politically active since that time. He is now somewhat of a sage. People from all political parties and all sides of issues walk in and out of his office throughout the week to get his advice on a variety of topics. Why him? Because he knows where the land mines are.

In leadership, developing political savvy is a must. Otherwise, you run the risk of being governed by your followers. While I am a huge fan of self directed leadership, at the end of the day, someone high at the top has to have the credibility, trust and integrity to make tough decisions, and this comes from being able to navigate complex political situations with finesse.

It is not uncommon for leaders to shy away from corporate or community politics, and in my opinion, this is just being naive or just plain stupid. Politically savvy leaders know to operate well behind the scenes, who the key players are and how to engage those key players with integrity so that they get on board. A politically savvy leader also knows where the land mines are, and they walk gingerly around them. A politically savvy leader never plays favorites, but he or she knows exactly what to say and when to say it and understands that working the political system is like walking through a maze…you eventually get to the result, but it is confusing and strategic at each and every turn.

If you are someone who is politically savvy, congratulations. If not, I highly recommend the book Political Savvy by Joel DeLuca. The book offers a political mapping technique that is simple but so effective. Just remember…knowing where the land mines are and knowing how to navigate the political system in your organization are half the battle!

With leadership comes great responsibility:  The responsibility for revenues, the responsibility for people, the responsibility for public image, and the list goes on and on.  And, it is not uncommon for many leaders to over-manage in an effort to get things done.

If you are someone who has a challenge with over-control, the first question is to look closely at why this is happening.  Take this quick quiz, and answer “yes” or “no.”

1) I over-manage, because I am way too busy to communicate with my team.

2) I over-manage, because I am the only one who can get things done the right way.

3) I over-manage, because I am impatient.

4) I over-manage, because I don’t trust other people.

5) I over-manage, because I am a control freak.

6) I over-manage, because I feel guilty about giving people too much work.

7) I over-manage, because my board is breathing down my neck.

8) I over-manage, because I am impatient…I want the job done NOW!

9) I over-manage, because I don’t have the money to pay for great talent.

10) I over- manage, because I am afraid to make a mistake.

It is not uncommon for a meddling leader to have not jut one but several of these challenges.  Once you decide which of the above are your big challenges, there are opportunities for coaching on each and every one, and they begin with your own behavior.  If any of these challenges resonate with the pains you are feeling as a leader, shoot me an e-mail to bea@fivestarleader.com.  I am happy to meet with you for 15 minutes to talk through your challenges to see what types of solutions may be available.

David Cook has been my favorite Idol for the last 6 weeks or so. I was not the biggest fan in the beginning. He seemed to get defensive when Simon gave him feedback, and he came across as a bit arrogant. But as time went on, this Gen Y man grew into a leader.

I love watching someone grow, and enjoy learning the leadership lessons I observe during that growth period. These lessons are leadership behaviors we can all learn from and live by.

1) David Cook is authentic. He stayed true to his personality throughout the competition. Not one time did he try to be something he wasn’t.

2) He took risks. Cook took songs from decades ago and made them hip and relevant to today’s marketplace. There were several times when I could hear the songs he sang being played in a movie soundtrack (and to me, that is a true test of relevancy…I don’t know why I think that, I just do.)

3) As time moved on, David Cook stepped up and showed that he has a tough skin. He began taking the criticism dished out (especially by Simon who was particularly tough on Cook,) and he worked with that criticism and improved each week.

4) During last night’s final show, David was showing up like a leader. He had a presence that showed his maturity, and he truly “owned” the stage. But…not one time did he try to overshadow David Archuleta. He shared the stage with him and gave him equal “stage power.”

5) He showed his vulnerability. It is tough for a rocker to stand on a stage and shed tears, but Cook let them flow (as he should!) Showing raw emotion is tough for leaders. They think in some way that it makes them weak or soft. The opposite is actually the case. By showing raw emotion, you make a connection with your audience.

6) Finally…David Cook made the hair on my arms and on the back of my neck stand up. He touches people, and I think most would agree with me. His passion and inspiration are so critical for leaders of today. And…he’s just darn cool!

Congratulations, and best of luck to you in the future. Watch below as he hears the news and then sings the winning song Time of My Life (great song!)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=HByINm6Bgbs

Join Y-Talk Radio tonight at 7:00 p.m. for this special interview with Mr. Youth’s Managing Partner, Brandon Evans

Mr. Youth has been trumpeted by Inc. Magazine as being one of the fastest growing private businesses in the USA, and rightfully so. The company believes that marketing to a young audience should be fun, innovative and pursued with excellence. During this special Y-Talk interview, we will be talking with Mr. Youth’s Managing Partner, Brandon Evans about the new Consumer 2.0 study which explores The Five Rules To Engage a New Breed of Customer.

http://MrYouth.com
Listen to the show

Over the last two years of working closely with colleagues and hundreds of millennials, I have been inspired by stories of both struggle and hope. And with each story told, I became more and more clear that a huge part of my life path is to be of support to our emerging leaders.

Storytelling is one of the most powerful tools you can use to connect with other people and to make an impression, because each time you tell a story, people connect with you on a human level. While you can certainly use rhetoric and intellectual facts and figures to build your credibility, you will hit home when you engage people using a time in life when things changed, or a story about your roots or a time when you fell.

One of the best articles on this subject is the article Storytelling that Moves People by Robert McKee and Bronwyn Fryer. In the article, they say “If you can harness imagination and the principles of a well-told story, then you get people rising to their feet admid thunderous applause instead of yawning and ignoring you.”

I leave you today with a question “What stories can you tell?” Once you answer that, then go tell it!

Southern Pines, NC (PRWEB) November 27, 2007 — Executive Coach, Bea Fields, joined a distinguished panel of Generation Y business leaders at the International Coach Federation (ICF) Annual Conference in Long Beach, CA, to present on the topic of Coaching at the Speed of Y: Bringing Coaching to the Next Great Generation of Leaders. Along with Scott Wilder, Jim Bunch and Rob Newbold, Fields is the co-author of Millennial Leaders: Success Stories From Today’s Most Brilliant Generation Y Leaders. (http://MillennialLeaders.com).

Fields shared the stage with co-author, Scott Wilder, General Manager of Intuit’s Online Community, David Charles Cohen, Chief Executive Maestro of Writers of the Round Table Inc., Misti Burmeister, CEO of Inspirion, Inc. and 19-year old Ben Casnocha, Founder of Comcate.

“It was truly an honor to be co-leading this presentation with such a dynamic group of young leaders,” said Bea Fields, President of Bea Fields Companies, Inc. “I had the opportunity to interview Scott, David, Misti and Ben in 2007 for the Millennial Leaders book, and to be with them in bringing such an important topic to my professional colleagues was inspiring. These visionaries are having a very positive impact on our future, and the public needs to know about them and their successes.”

Fields’ mission with this presentation was to provide professional coaches with strategies on how to achieve greater levels of success by learning how to attract Generation Y while inspiring older generations to gain a greater understanding of Gen Y’s world views.

“Based on the positive response from over 275 attendees, I believe we achieved our mission,” said Fields. “Gen Y leadership is a hot topic, and I believe we provided the audience with a fresh perspective on the challenges Generation Y is facing and how we as professional coaches can start working with them to support them in being successful in the future.”

Millennial Leaders brings readers a unique, close up look at the people responsible for the cutting edge of social and business trends. The authors offer interviews with Wilder, Cohen, Burmeister and Casnocha as well as 21 other key Generation Y experts.

To learn more about Scott Wilder, David Charles Cohen, Misti Burmeister, Ben Casnocha and the Generation Y leaders featured in Millennial Leaders, visit http://www.millennialleaders.com/meet_the_experts.html

For more details about Millennial Leaders: Success Stories from Today’s Most Brilliant Generation Y Leaders, visit http://MillennialLeaders.com or contact Bea Fields at (910) 692-6118.

In chapter 3 of Millennial Leaders, we talked to Dr. Rebecca Ryan of Next Generation Consulting about what it takes for a city to be “cool enough” for Gen Y to want to live there.

Ryan and her colleagues have developed this amazing handprinting system. They interviewed thousands of Gen Y young adults, and the results of the interviews revealed seven key indices that prove to make cities “cool” for Generation Y. Cities included in the study are: Nashville, Milwaukee, Oswego County (NY), Birmingham, Charlotte, Tulsa, Brevard County (FL), Iowa, Vermont, Canton (OH), Akron, and the Illinois-Quad Cities. The seven indices are:

1) Vitality. This is the community’s commitment to the environment.

2) Earning index. Does the city have a breadth of occupational options.

3) Learning index. Great K-12 education and options for contuning ed are a must.

4) After hours index. How much is there to do after 5:00 p.m.?

5) Around town index. How easy is it to get around town and “stroll” from one place to the next without having to drive from location to location?

6) Cost of lifestyle. Can Gen Y afford to live in the city?

7) Social network. Does the city have a rich social fabric, including a diversity of backgrounds and cultures?

Next Generation Consulting is really hot, hot hot! (or cool according to Gen Y). A copy of Next Generation’s handprinting systems can be located here: http://nextgenerationconsulting.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/consulting.
handprinting_madison.

Andy Wibbels has a great thread going on his blog:

Trimming the Freaks

I posted a comment, and I want to leave it here as well:

A little over two years ago, I made the decision to “topgrade” my clients, referral partners and team members. This term was coined by Bradford Smart, and the term refers to the true A players of the world, and they come with about 45 great qualities (and they score a 10/10 on these qualities) such as intelligence, strategic skills, leading edge, excellence, independence, risk taking, likability, listening, leadership, experience, energy, inspiration and the ability to think critically (and many others).

As I looked at “my list”, it was filled with people who had landed on my website simply to get “free stuff”, and these same folks were contacting me constantly by e-mail wanting more “free stuff”. So I moved my opt in box off the home page of Five Star Leader, redesigned my website for a much more elegant/high end look, and I began being quite selective about who I asked to join my network. People don’t know it, but when I meet with them, I am actually running them through my “topgrading” assessment system. I have done this so often that I now have the assessment memorized, and I know how to ask certain questions to see where they land. If they are falling short of the “topgrade”, then we can be acquaintances, but we are never going to be great partners.

A lot of people call me arrogant for this. A lot of people call me “high and mighty” for taking this approach. For me…it just makes great sense…it calls me to play the biggest game I can play in life, because if I am going to hold my clients, partners and team members to this rigorous scoring system, I better damn well be able to live it as well.

The thing that I find most fascinating is that the topgraders in my life are NOT on my newsletter mailing list. They have never once signed up for something free…they actually pay thousands of dollars to work with me or send people who can pay high fees to me, and they don’t seem to even know that I have a website, and they don’t have time to bug me with crazy questions. They don’t get mad when I contact them to let them know about a new program like the Gen Y Project (BTW…which is another way to trim down the people who drive you crazy…open a new program that has NOTHING to do with why they signed on in the first place, and they will unsubscribe like crazy), and they champion me…they don’t drive me crazy.

I am a Guerrilla Marketing Coach, and I am sure that one of my first mentors, Mitch Meyerson, would tell me something different…that I need to be building a big list, but you know what…I want a QUALITY list of people. I want to know that I have 50 “topgraders” on my team who have 50 other “topgraders” around them.

So…the answer…Look at what you are doing to attract the people who drive you bonkers. What profession are they in? What are they doing with their lives? Why is it that they have so much free time to drive you crazy? Maybe it’s time for a complete overhaul!

Many businesses of today are often driven to compete strictly on price, quality, and features of their products and services. Companies who prosper over the long term don’t simply offer the best deals, the best quality, or the most impressive bells and whistles. If you want to win big in today’s cutting edge world of business, you have to begin by thinking differently and by challenging the status quo. Whether you are a new or an established business owner, these ten powerful strategies, taken from the Personal Environments Learning Club of CoachVille will position your company for big success.

1. Adopt the Philosophy of “Givers Gain.”

In 2003, the members of Business Network International (BNI) passed over 2 million referrals to each other. Founded by CEO Ivan Misner, BNI is a business and professional networking organization that offers members the opportunity to share ideas, contacts and most importantly, referrals. Misner founded BNI based on the philosophy of “Givers Gain,” which is the belief that in order to get business, it is important to first give business. One of the critical factors in achieving success rests in the ability to develop reciprocal relationships where two parties naturally refer business to each other on a consistent basis. “It’s not what you know but who you know” has never been so true as it is in today’s competitive world of business. For more information on Ivan Misner and his philosophy of “Giver’s Gain,” access this interview with Misner here:

http://www.cvcommunity.com/utility/showArticle/?objectID=1452

2. Focus on Soft Innovations

In today’s competitive marketplace, the old equation of spending more on advertising to increase profits it not working as it once did. In his book, Free Prize Inside, author Seth Godin, makes a strong case for using soft innovations as a way to get noticed in this crowded and noisy world. Soft innovations are the small yet insightful ideas that can take your product or service from good to remarkable. They are often hidden, and they usually solve a problem that is “ peripheral to what your product is ostensibly about.” At first glance, you think the soft innovation does not mean much, but once you have it in place, it becomes an essential part of your product or service. Examples of soft innovations include Starbuck’s Cards, Dinosaur-shaped pasta for kids, and Amazon.com cutting its ad spend and offering free shipping with the money saved. For more information, read an interview with Seth Godin in Today’s Coach here:

http://www.cvcommunity.com/utility/showArticle/index.cfm?objectID=1524

3. Re-Groove!

How do you operate when the heat is on? How do you respond to chaos? When new skills or new behaviors are needed, how do you respond? Knowing what to do and how to do it is one thing but being able to respond effectively and to keep your cool under pressure and on a consistent basis is a very different ballgame. As leaders in today’s world, it is crucial to learn how to work differently and how to be able to shift and bend to meet expectations which are here one day and gone the next. The half-life of a great idea or a new product or service has never been shorter, and it is up to you as a business owner to become masterful with reshaping strategies, adding new perks to old products, and to stay on top of your game in the face of dramatically changing circumstances. You may find that your strength of achievement was required to get your company up and running but that same strength is now squelching the creativity of your team. It’s time to Re-Groove! It’s time to unlock the incredible potential that is inside of you that is required to get the job done under present day demands. If you are dedicated to re-grooving (getting past the old worn out grooves of your past conditioning and the rut that we often get into,) it is essential to work with a coach or trainer who can coach you through the new behaviors quickly and in real time. By learning to re-groove, you will be able to create incredible opportunities for your company and for yourself with lightning speed.

4. Make Your Brand a “State of Mind.”

Are you winning when it comes to style, a smart and accessible mix of products and services, and first rate customer service? If so, Bravo! However, this is just a part of the equation of what it takes to truly succeed. In order to create a brand that is truly memorable, it is crucial for you to live an inspired life and to make your brand a “state of mind” for your customers. This state of mind could be a feeling of trust and confidence, a sense of well being, or a state of knowing that you are buying from a company who has your best interests at heart. This state of mind cannot develop behind the confines of the walls of your business. It grows and develops when you are in the middle of your potential buyers…in restaurants, traveling, checking out the competition, playing sports, tinkering with a hobby, having fun and lots of it! If you are living fully and in relationship with others, you will be re-energized every day and you will give your customers a vision of what an inspired life actually looks like, because you are living one! Your brand will become much more than your trimmings…it will become the connection that others feel when they think of you as a valued person in their lives.

5. Become Masterful at Mobilizing Resources.

The ability to galvanize resources, both human and monetary, and to build effective and efficient projects with them is a critical component of success in today’s marketplace. We are quick to look first at the monetary costs of a project and quickly get cold feet, when the reality is that we have valuable resources hidden in our personal and professional lives which may not cost a dime. Social capital is one resource that is one of the most valuable assets available to business owners of today. The term social capital emphasizes that very specific benefits are made available from the trust, reciprocity, information, and cooperation associated with social networks. The value of social capital is that people can draw on the wisdom of each other to solve common problems, especially as it relates to money, time, and resources.

6. Buck Conventional Wisdom.

In 1971, Rollin King and Herb Kelleher decided to start an airline that you might say…was different and a little bit quirky. They began with one simple notion: If you get your passengers to their destinations on time, at the lowest fare possible, and make sure they have a fantastic time doing it, people will choose you over a competing airline. This is the story of Southwest Airlines, who chose to move beyond the status quo by offering services and a sense of style that bucked conventional wisdom. With their focus on fun, games, and “Love Southwest Style,” this top ranked airline has made its mark with its strong focus on stellar customer service and conveniences such as allowing customers to proceed to their departure gate without stopping at the ticket counter, skycap, and a self-service kiosk. Most importantly, Southwest has honed in on searching for important personal qualities in those they hire– the perfect blend of energy, humor, team spirit, and self-confidence to match its famously offbeat culture. Southwest was once dismissed as a maverick, as their strategies seemed strange to the traditional “airline powerhouses.” These same powerhouses are now looking in awe at what this “maverick” has built. The strategy of originality worked…It had the sticking power required for huge success.

7. Become a Talent Farm.

When recruiting new employees, what are you looking for? Raw talent? Raw communication skills? Intellect? Athletic ability? Commitment? Skills? Flexibility? What about all of this and more? If you are a company who wants to operate at the leading edge, where change is the greatest and success is the goal, you will want to recruit the most talented group of people you can find…those people who are self- starters and who are living boldly in the world. By developing a “talent farm” culture, you can instill a mindset of excellence from the top to the bottom of your organization. This culture encompasses a deeply held belief that having high caliber people is crucial to your success. With this “talent farm” approach to recruiting, your company will also be required to continually recruit top talent. Successful businesses and organizations have a strong sense of what they are looking for, and they are always on the look for new talent and ways to retain them for a lifetime.

8. Embrace Your Core Values.

What is it in life that you most value? Do you value beauty, leadership, creativity, stability, or family? You can choose to orient your life around your wants and needs or the list of things you feel you “should” be doing, but if you embrace your core values and build your life around them, you will find experience inspiration and joy at a level you never thought was possible. Whole Foods Market is one of the fastest growing supermarkets of today, because its commitment to fresh, nutritious products is a value that keeps customers coming back for more and keeps employees happy, hard working, and committed. When you focus your business on doing what feels right and what fulfills you, you will have no regrets, because you have been true to the very core of your being.

9. Become a “White Hot Center” of Influence.

A “white hot center” of influence is an organization or group that you most want your company to be aligned with and in a relationship which is reciprocal. One connection into a visible and strong center of influence can position your company to attract a stream of qualified opportunities. (Example: You are an interior designer, and you want to be in the middle of Southern Accent or Better Homes and Gardens Magazine.) In order to attract a “white hot center” of influence, you have to become what you want to attract. Be well educated, highly skilled, experienced, trained and innovative in your product development. Fill your network with other business owners who are up to big things in the world and who are experts in their respective fields. Attract talented people into your company, and tap each and every talent and skill available. As you begin to raise your bar in all areas of your business and enhance your network, you will eventually become a “white hot center” that will attract others by the thousands.

10. Just Begin.

Start where you are, and begin today to create success in your life. Drop the excuses, reasons or people to blame, dis-empowering attitudes and behaviors and get on with the business of living the life you know you were born to live. Do what you know you want to do, and do it with passion. Begin today to create the tomorrow you want. As Peter Drucker said, “The best way to predict the future is to create it”

This piece was originally submitted by Business Coaches, Bea Fields of Five Star Leader Coaching and Training and Kimberly George of Coaching Into Greatness.

Each day, I work with leaders who say “I really want to get better results…more money, more productivity, more free time, better products and services.” My response: Your ability to move into action and to achieve bottom line results rests in the power of your thinking. These ten strategies will support you in transforming your desires into concrete action.

1. Expose your fears.

Fear is a gift that was given to us at birth as a means of protection and to provide us with safety from harm. This innate fear often becomes distorted, and as adults, we begin to react with anxiety, sabotage, and self-defeating behaviors. Ask yourself this question: “What is my main fear? Is it fear of rejection, commitment, loss, change, or of growing up?” Once you have identified this fear, speak it out loud to one person and write it down on paper. Once you expose your fear, it is very possible to break through its control over your life.

2. Identify your beliefs.

Our belief system is formulated in numerous ways through our environment, family, friends, society, religion, the media, politics, and cultural influences. Quite often, negative beliefs can cause us to act in ways that actually repel success. Do you believe that “Money is evil” or “To be successful, you have to work way too hard,” or “Girls should be seen and not heard?” If so, you may be pushing away the thing that you most want in life. By identifying your negative beliefs and replacing them with beliefs that empower you, you will begin moving in a direction of lifelong success.

3. Assess your communication style using the DISC.

The DISC is a fantastic assessment tool which provides individuals with a nonjudgmental language for exploring behavior. One of the key foundations of personal and professional success lies in understanding yourself and realizing the impact that your behavior has on your life and the lives of others. This one instrument can help you be more productive, improve your communication with others, and ease conflict and frustration in all life areas.

4. NOW! Discover Your Strengths.

The strengths profile finder from the book NOW! Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton, Ph.D. is a revolutionary program which can show you how to discover and then develop your unique talents and gifts. One of the secrets to achieving big results and for feeling more fulfilled lies in exercising your strengths, not in dwelling on your weaknesses. This tool by Buckingham and Clifton can guide you to becoming a high performing and empowered individual.

5. Tap into your creativity.

Many adults move through life thinking “I am not creative,” and wondering “What if?” As humans, we all have the ability to be wildly creative, and sometimes, this requires practice. Through the support of tools such as “Five Star Mind” by Tom Wujec, you can begin to unlock and expand the creative potential that lies deep within you. Using puzzles, mind-mapping, word association, and the power of curiosity, you can stimulate your intuition, innovation, and creative expression. As Napoleon Hill stated “All the ‘breaks’ you need in life wait within your imagination. Imagination is the workshop of your mind, capable of turning mind-energy into accomplishment and wealth.”

6. Focus!

A good idea can become a fantastic and profitable idea when it is given true focus. Your ability to concentrate begins with removing external (phone, interruptions, and noise,) and internal (fear, worry, and doubt) distractions. Creating a brain dump is a first step in the direction of focus. By purging all that is in your mind onto paper, you will create the room you need to begin focused thinking. From here, finding a time and place to focus and choosing one priority to concentrate on will make you more productive and will start your walk to greatness.

7. Join or Start a Mastermind Group.

Did you know that Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone were all members of a Mastermind Group? This group of Leaders knew something many of us do not know. They knew that the key to their success was in their ability to rely on each other for feedback, ideas, accountability, and above all…support! These men controlled much of the industry of the United States during the height of their careers. Innovation and expansion in human thought often result from teams that mentally capitalize on the principle of collaborative thinking. With spontaneous expression and interchange of thoughts with folks who are up to big things in life, a mastermind group can shift your awareness, expand your thinking, and can take you to unprecedented levels of inspiration.

8. Be devoted to extreme self-care.

You have heard it hundreds of times, but are you living it? Be devoted to a life of great sleep, daily exercise, a balanced diet, meditation, and luxuries such as massage. Begin today to formulate a plan for self care that will give you the energy to not only tackle life’s challenges but to one that will inspire you to greatness.

9. Teach what you most want to achieve.

Teaching is about sharing and using your own experiences in order that others may learn from your learning. The teaching process can also support you in developing yourself and is all about learning from other people. When we teach, we are developing, both personally and professionally, as we learn from our students, and most significantly, we are more likely to put our knowledge into action. By teaching what you most want to achieve, you will develop the knowledge and skills to take you where you most want to go in life.

10. Strive for mastery.

Mastery is defined as a possession or display of great skill or technique. By going for mastery with your goal, you will be playing a much bigger game in life, calling you to set your sights much higher. When your goal is mastery, you will be devoted to finding better ways to deliver what you offer, you will be expanding your knowledge, and you will find yourself achieving much more than you ever thought was possible.