The buck stops with the leader. Ultimately, they are accountable for the performance of the entire system.  When something is not working, people often make excuses or  avoid taking responsibility and just try to push through, typically leading to further delays in productivity and to results. This is not a luxury the leader has. So to maintain the integrity of the system, a leader often has to point out the company’s standards that are not being met and enforce a solution, or at least motivate another leader within the system to generate a solution and be accountable to the results. When a system is in overwhelm, standards often tend to decline rather quickly as people rush through their processes, and it is imperative that the leader step in, assist with solving the overwhelm and then reset the standards and a new course of action. Recognizing that standards are dropping and engaging staff in the conversation about solutions happens from the top down.

Where do you set your standards?

How do you hold your team accountable?

Do you step in when you see standards not being upheld?

What is your process to resolve such an issue?

Teleclass: EDGE: A Leadership Story: The Future of Business From the Minds of Ten Top Professionals

Date: Monday, July 14

Time: 7:00 P.M. Eastern

What happens when you get ten top professionals on a call together to discuss the future of business and leadership? You walk away inspired to change the way you think, live and operate in business. Join Bea Fields as she shares this open call with her partners from EDGE: A Leadership Story for a call you don’t want to miss. Fields will be joined by Michael Gerber, Michael Port, Corey Blake, Dave Buck, Carol Dickson-Carr, Eva Silva-Travers, Kimberly George, and Roger Dewitt. Each professional will be asked a question they have never been asked before about the future of business, and you don’t want to miss their answers. This is BIG!

Register Here Today

Listed with Conference Call University

About the Presenters:

Bea Fields, Co-Author: EDGE! A Leadership Story

Bea Fields is the President of Bea Fields Companies, Inc. and the Founder of Five Star Leader Coaching and Training, a leadership consulting firm currently serving over 800 clients world-wide.

Her latest book, co-authored with Scott Wilder, Jim Bunch and Rob Newbold, Millennial Leaders: Success Stories From Today’s Most Brilliant Generation Y Leaders is now on sale through Barnes & Noble and Amazon. The new book explores and analyzes Generation Y - the young adults currently between the ages of 18 and 30 - from a socio-economic standpoint. The book highlights 25 members of this generation who have already made a name for themselves, and provides crucial insights for business and political leaders seeking to tap into this demographic. Along with Corey Blake and Eva Silva Travers, Fields is also the author of Edge: A Leadership Story (Writers of the Round Table Press: May: 2008). http://BeaFields.com

Corey Blake, Co-Author: EDGE! A Leadership Story

With more than a dozen national commercial campaigns including Mountain Dew, Pepsi, McDonalds, Wrigley’s, Hasbro, and Mitsubishi under his belt and appearances on popular T.V. shows like The Shield, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Diagnosis Murder, VIP, and Fastlane, Corey Blake put an end to his lucrative commercial and television acting career to pursue his passion for writing. In 2000, he founded Elevation 9000 Films and went on to spearhead the original Elevation 9000 Film Lab that eventually inspired the motion picture production company LA Film Lab Entertainment and Writers of the Round Table Inc. http://WritersoftheRoundTable.com

Eva Silva Travers, Co-Author: EDGE! A Leadership Story

Eva Silva Travers holds an Associate of Arts Degree in Radio and Television and a Bachelor of Arts in Literature and Writing Studies. With roots in both print and broadcast media, Eva is a writer with a broad scope of experience. In the corporate world, she has enjoyed success as a writer, producer and digital editor for several production companies and as a radio newscaster/announcer. Her real passion, though, thrives in the creative world. Eva has been involved with the creation of numerous scripts, screenplays and treatments for major production companies and is co-author of Edge! A Leadership Story with Bea Fields and Corey Blake. She devotes most of her energy to growing the Creative Department for Writers of the Round Table, both as a writer and a project manager. Prior to finding “The Table”, Eva sold a screenplay to internationally recognized Graz Entertainment after winning a Student Emmy Award for a documentary on teenage alcoholism while in college. In addition, she speaks and facilitates workshops in schools and public forums on the creation of engaging characters and successful manuscripts. She is an active member of the Los Angeles Writers Group. http://WritersoftheRoundTable.com

Michael Gerber, Author of The E-Myth Books

Michael Gerber has focused his career on inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs with his unique solutions to small business growth, effectiveness, and efficiency. He has established his revolutionary perspective as the gold standard for small business development, becoming what Inc. Magazine called “the world’s #1 small business guru” and one of Business Week’s bestselling authors of the past decades. Michael is the author of seven E-Myth books, including The E-Myth Revisited, which has sold more than three million copies worldwide, making it the most successful small business guide ever written. In 1977, he founded E-Myth Worldwide®, a business that has coached, trained, and educated over 60,000 small business clients in 145 countries. Now 70 years young, Michael Gerber lives with his wife, Luz Delia, in Petaluma, California, where they are intentionally and joyously pursuing their shared vision for transforming the world one small business owner at a time through their most recent venture, “In the Dreaming Room.” http://inthedreamingroom.com/

Michael Port, Author of Book Yourself Solid and Beyond Booked Solid

Michael Port Called a “marketing guru” by the Wall Street Journal, Michael Port, has lectured, trained, inspired, and provided coaching and consulting services to over 20,000 business owners in the last two years alone. As a speaker, he has headlined events with leaders like Brian Tracy and Tony Robbins. Michael is the author of the national bestselling Book Yourself Solid, The Fastest, Easiest and Most Reliable System For Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even If You Hate Marketing And Selling and the soon to be released Beyond Booked Solid: Now, Build a Bigger, Better Business By Leveraging the Power of People and Processes to Make More Money While Working Less. http://www.bookyourselfsolid.com

Andy Wibbels, Author of Blogwild!

Andy Wibbels is an award-winning blogger and author of the book Blogwild! A Guide for Small Business Blogging . He has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Entrepreneur and other media as a recognized expert in blogging and related technologies. Andy has helped businesses all over the world leverage new media to build visibility and increase sales. Andy Wibbels is an award-winning blogger and author of the book Blogwild! A Guide for Small Business Blogging . He has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Entrepreneur and other media as a recognized expert in blogging and related technologies. Andy has helped businesses all over the world leverage new media to build visibility and increase sales. http://andywibbels.com

Dave Buck, CEO of CoachVille.com.

Dave Buck MCC, MBA is the CEO of CoachVille, the largest and fastest growing business and personal coaching organization in the world. The CoachVille vision is to unleash the greatness in all people everywhere through coaching. He worked with Thomas Leonard to found CoachVille in 2001 and has delivered coach training programs to thousands of coaches.

Dave’s coaching career is diverse. He began coaching as the assistant coach for the Seton Hall University Men’s Soccer Team in 1995 and coached for 10 seasons. He began life coaching in 1997 and over the last 9 years has coached close to 1,000 individuals. Dave is a Master Certified Coach (MCC) with the International Coach Federation.

Dave has revolutionized the coaching profession by creating Pattern Language Coaching™ – a coaching method that dramatically reduces the time required to become a masterful coach.

In 2004 Dave was awarded the first annual International Coach Federation (ICF) Peace Maker award for bringing CoachVille and the ICF together.

Dave taught an MBA program for the Seton Hall Stillman School of Business called “The Joy of Business”, based on the 28 Principles of Attraction by Thomas Leonard. http://www.CoachVille.com

Kim George, Author of Coaching Into Greatness

Kim George is the author of Coaching Into Greatness: 4 Steps to Success in Business and Life, published by Wiley & Sons. The book introduces Kim’s groundbreaking work around the concept of AQ, Abundance IntelligenceT, and how people can eliminate the barriers that keep them from doing what they can do.

Kim is the Founder and CEO of The AQ Institute, a coaching, consulting and training community focused on bringing Abundance IntelligenceT to the world. www.AQInstitute.com

Carol Dickson-Carr, CEO of Power-Ed Solutions and Managing Personal Resources

Carol Dickson-Carr is a productivity coach for entrepreneurial spirits and helps them make money using their creativity as she does in her own business. She has taught in community and business colleges, at the university level, and in private consultations to provide both academic knowledge and practical strategies for creating a fulfilling life.

Other areas of her expertise include: productivity, creativity, communication skills, audio production, time management, and self-discovery through personal assessment tools–particularly the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Carol is also the creator of the interview audio series, Master Your Time and Live Your Dreams: Conversations with Coaches and Creatives Who Get It Done! and is also co- author to the book, A Guide to Getting It: Purpose & Passion. http://power-edsolutionsinc.com
http://www.managingpersonalresources.com

Roger DeWitt, CEO of Coaching NYC, Inc.

As a Business and Life Coach, Roger DeWitt comes to the coaching table with many years of business experience both as an entrepreneur and in organizations and over 20 years of experience as a successful and working actor. Approximately 50% of Roger’s clients are business and community leaders and professionals from a variety of backgrounds and 50% are working performers and creative professionals. His expertise in presentation skills and voice combined with his business savvy make Roger an exceptional marketing, prospecting and sales coach. His mix of talents provides his clients with a very unique edge in all aspects of business and life…from sales to business development to interpersonal communication. He finds that he is particularly adept at helping the “professionally creative” start and run their own thriving business by harnessing the power of their natural creativity and building both personal and business confidence in the process.

In addition to his coaching business, Roger has been and continues to live his second passion of being an actor. He has been seen on television, film and the Broadway stage. Around the country on tour and on Broadway, Roger has been seen in such shows as The Phantom of the Opera, Jekyll and Hyde, Ragtime, The Woman in White and on TV in shows like The Snorks, The Jetsons, Law and Order and Rescue Me.

Roger has a BA in psychology from Loyola Marymount University and is a Certified Graduate of Coach University. He holds the designation of Associate Certified Coach (ACC) with the International Coach Federation.

http://coachingnyc.com/

Register Here Today

I was meeting a few days ago with a few younger biz leaders, and out of the blue, someone asked me “Bea…what do you think the key to success is?”

The answer just flew out of my mouth “Just help people out.”

I cannot tell you how true this is. Throughout my life, I have been a “helper”. I just can’t “help it.” Okay…enough of the corny stuff. People call me generous, but I honestly learned this trait from my parents and grandparents. We all believed that when someone needed help, you did not wait for them to ask. You just went and helped them. Some people call this a character flaw in me, because I often give way too much. I call it a blessing.

I have found in life that the most important question you can ask a friend, colleague, customer, employee or boss is “How can I help you?” Then…go help them. If you just ask the question without any follow through, then your word cannot be trusted. If you ask and then act, the rewards you feel from giving can fuel your passion.

At some point along the way, we all have to strike that balance…between helping people who constantly take from us and knowing how to be in a mutually supportive relationship. You have to know when to be of support and when to then ask for help, and if someone refuses to help you out, well…just do your best to still be kind and be very selective about how much giving you do back to the person who is constantly taking from you (I call those people the blood suckers, and we all have them in our lives unless we choose to do something about it.)

Over the last two years, I have written two books and have contributed two chapters to two other books, and I have certainly learned who the true “helpers” are in my life. And, they did not turn out to be the people I thought it would be. I thought the people I have helped out numerous times over the last few years would be there by my side, but they weren’t and did not seem to really care. Hey…that’s certainly fine, but I have learned that the people you might least expect to be there will be there in a flash…if you just ask and continue helping them out along the way. I have learned through this process that I have had to surround myself with a brand new group of people who are respectful of the work I do, who enjoy spending time with me and who want the best for me, so it’s then delightful to be in a helping relationship with them.

So…go out today and help someone, and then turn around and ask someone in your life for help. Let me know how it turns out for you.

Scott Wilder and I will be on The Coaching Show tomorrow morning at 8:00 Pacific/11:00 Eastern on WSRadio.  We will be exploring the topic of leading, managing and coaching Gen Y in the workplace.

According to a survey by Peanut Labs, San Francisco, 51% of Gen Y social networking users (between the ages of 13 and 25 years old) said they either never click on banner ads or only do so once or twice a month.

Get the full story here on BrandWeek .com

This is interesting.  I am someone who honestly does not even notice a banner ad.  I am looking for information…not ads, so maybe this has something to do with it?   That Gen Y is looking for information…not an ad.  Also, Gen Y is going to buy based on what their friends tell them, not from a flashing banner ad. Keep it simple!

The Pew Internet & American Life Project reports that “two-thirds of internet users under the age of 30 have a social networking profile, and half of these use social networking sites to get or share information about politics or the campaigns.”

The Pew Internet & American Life Project reports that “two-thirds of internet users under the age of 30 have a social networking profile, and half of these use social networking sites to get or share information about politics or the campaigns.”

Great article today in USA Today.  Lots of great ideas on marketing to Gen Y.

Interesting post by Rusty Weston on Fast Company on the retention woes for Gen Y. This really caught my eye:

“Taleo teamed with Harris Interactive to conduct a survey of 2,045 adults ages 18 and older, a series of questions about their first jobs and first employers.

Three out of five respondents said that their first employer did not provide a clear path for advancement. Of course, the reality is that few employers provide a clear path to anything, much less to the corner office.

Other key findings:

• Describing how their first job made them feel, 13% said they couldn’t wait for Friday to arrive, 10% wanted to quit every day and 8% felt it was a waste of their time
• 19% of 18-34 year olds wanted to quit their first job every day, compared to 3% of those 55 years old and over”

My response:

In the work I do with Gen Yers and their bosses/leaders, the common complaint I hear is that Gen Y is bored. Because they have been so exposed to so much stimulation, the Millennials I have met say that they most want variety and meaningful work. Companies like Intuit are addressing this through top notch rotational development programs, which gives young workers tons of opportunities to do something different every day. Maybe it’s time to shift the way we all work…spice things up a bit, and keep it interesting.

Tom Heck sent me this video today. Great take on generations at work by Pricewaterhouse Coopers. Thanks Tom!

Millennial Leaders