Everyday, over the entire planet, there are leaders going what it takes to achieve great things. I’m sure you see them everyday and don’t even know it.

What about the mother of three who works, goes to school and takes care of her children.

Do you know who I’m talking about?

Or maybe the young community leader who has a grand vision, little money but so much passion and commitment that people follow them.

Do you know who I’m talking about?

How about the small church on the hill that once thrived, is now struggling but has dedicated elders and new comers who believe that peace, love and justice will triumph over hatred, war and oppression.

Do you know who I’m talking about?

What about the community leader who has to herd the proverbial cats of bureaucrats, politicians and diverse neighbors who know the right thing to do but can’t swallow enough pride or ego to get things done.

Do you know who I’m talking about?

How about the small business owner who took a chance in that run down neighborhood, when everyone else told him he was crazy and foolish, yet is widely successful because he saw the neighborhoods potential.

Do you know who I’m talking about?

What about the wounded warrior who overcomes loss of a leg, the ravages of war and adjusting to civilian life by finishing a marathon.

Do you know who I’m talking about?

Everywhere around you are people just like you, leading themselves and others to success. All it takes is dedication, hard work and a little bit of luck. These are the people that inspire me. These are the people who show me what it’s like to endure and conquer. These are people just like you.

Who inspires you?

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Everyday Leaders That Inspire originally appeared on The Daily MBA on August 30, 2011.

Everyone seems to say that the “Devil is in the Details” and for the most part, that’s true. What gets leaders into trouble is when the detail is so minute that the big pictures gets lost. Being detailed oriented is a valuable skill but it must be balanced by focusing on the right details.

Digging In Too Deep

Detail oriented people love digging in. They feel that the deeper they go, the better the result.

That’s true if your job is to ensure that a nuclear power plant won’t blow up or the safety of newborn children — be my guest and dig away.

Most of the time, that much detail is not necessary. It’s better to make a decision with the available data and move on.

Analysis Paralysis

Part of digging too deep is the eventual analysis paralysis. This hurts organizations and individuals by giving them excuses for not making decisions.

Once analysis paralysis sets in, it’s hard to break out of it. People become intwined in a vicious loop of second guessing, gathering more data and more analysis.

This cycle is unhealthily because it stagnates your group or organization. Again, life and death stuff, keep digging. Normal everyday stuff, make a decision and move on.

Not All Details Are Created Equal

Some details are not worth worrying about. If a detail has no material affect on your life, limb or property, do you really need to sweat it? I mean does it really matter the type of screw you use to fasten the housing together or the color of wire no one sees or maybe the degree of tilt on the font.

In some cases, yes, it does matter but most of the time, you can change it, if it does not work out. It’s much better to make educated guesses and make a decision, then to have a detail stalemate.

How Much is Too Much

Attention to detail is an important part of our life. We must pay attention to the things that matter and make educated guesses on the ones that don’t.

Some among us will find this offensive and wrong. Their argument will be that every detail is important and that you are just not detailed oriented enough.

If you are a leader, you have to make decisions on the information you have. Sometimes the details are fuzzy.

The people who raise the detailed oriented flag usually have complete control of their world. They can influence every detail. As a leader, it will be hard if not impossible, to do that.

Important Detail Criteria

All details are not created equal. As a leader, you need to focus on the ones that matter and leave the rest to your team or to educated guesses. Listed below are some criteria for important details:

• Life and Limb: If you decision will impact the life and limb of someone, then get as much detail as you can.

• Strategic Direction: Strategic decisions require thoughtful analysis and a keen awareness of the data available. Strategic direction is something that should not be changed on a whim, so details are important.

• Important Business Deals: Any business deal where the future of your company is at stake should have every detail looked at. You can dig in too deep on ones that don’t matter but it’s better to air on the side of more detail than less.

• Significant Advancements: Anytime your group or company makes a huge leap forward, the details matter. Dig in and figure out why the advancement was made.

• Decision Magnitude: The bigger the decision, the more details required, especially if the decision is hard to reverse.

The Golden Detail Rule

When a decision is made that is hard to reverse and it has severe impact, then more details need to be sought.

As a leader, you will make decisions daily that affect some part of your organization. It’s important to realize that digging into too much detail can mire your organization into second guessing decisions and worthless work.

Just remember to make decisions with the details you have and move on.

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Knowing When The Detail is the Devil originally appeared on The Daily MBA on August 8, 2011.

Most leaders are insulated from the work their organizations perform. They tend to spend more time in the boardroom than the server room. This makes a leader ineffective. In order to really know what’s going on in an organization, you have to get out and experience what your people and customers experience.

Walkabout

Knowing the conditions of your workers and your customers will give you a competitive advantage. Reports from the field can get muddled and it’s best that a leader get out there and see first hand what’s going on. Few solutions to complex problems come from the boardroom. Rather, they come from interacting with the people doing the work, using your product and dealing with the issues and challenges every organization faces. Once a leader understands this, making the right decision is a lot easier.

Reducing Group Think

Most leaders are insulated in a bubble. This bubble is the preverbal “cone of silence” where they only hear what people directly in front of them are saying. This single message is usually filtered so much that the real situational dynamics are lost. This condition is known as group think and every organization has it.

Getting past group think requires a keen awareness of what’s going on outside your boardroom or corporate headquarters. The only way to do that is to leave the building and get out in the field.

Not Having to Shoot The Messenger

When you get out in the field, your perspective changes. Ideas, concepts and problems that you hear about start to become more clear. You also start to empathize with the plight of your team and how hard it can be to execute your vision. Doing this allows you to stay grounded in reality and not have to get your information second or even third hand. This greatly reduces the shoot the messenger problem where the bearer of bad news surprises management and gets ridiculed for being negative.

It’s All About Making Better Decisions

When a leader has first hand awareness of his factory, workers, sales offices and customers, they make better decisions. These decisions, be it small or big, show that you are a competent leader that understands your organization. This creates an environment where every level has confidence in your leadership. This confidence makes it easier to lead since people understand that the boss is tuned in.

Once you are tuned into the realities in the field, you can then adjust your approach and strategies for maximum impact. So often, the decisions leaders make are solely based on presented data and not on first hand accounts. This is a recipe for disaster and leads many a leader and company astray.

Creates a More Open Environment

Leaders who get out of the boardroom and into the server room show that they are open to suggestions. Anytime the boss interacts with employees and truly cares about what they do, the more feedback they will get. This feedback is what will drive better strategies and decisions.

An open environment also creates a more collaborative environment where everyone can discuss ideas and come up with better products and services. Leaders that close off their environments will slowly perish due to lack of new ideas, innovations and products.

Go On, Get Out There

Most leaders have the same excuse for not getting out in the field — I’m just too busy. If you are too busy to visit the troops than you are busy on the wrong things. The only way to make better decisions that lead to prosperity is to get out of the boardroom, walk around and listen to what your employees, managers and customers say. They hold the secret to your success — you just have to listen.

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The Answer is Not in the Boardroom originally appeared on The Daily MBA on May 30, 2011.

A Guest Post By John Durfee

Being in the military was always a dream of mine. When I was a kid, every game I played was based on the armed forces. Rushing a couch-cushion bunker, black-ops reconnaissance on the candy stash, even mock boot camp with my buddies. My father was in the military, as was his father and so on and so forth as far back as anybody can recall. I signed up right when I graduated high school (following the family legacy), as did many of my friends, and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. I grew through the corps as a man and as a leader as I never would have been able to through any other means. After three tours of duty and eight years in, I decided not to reenlist and entered the civilian work force.

Entering the civilian work world was a shock at first. I assume itís hard to imagine the transition between military life and the corporate work force. Take this for instance: It had been 8 years since I had considered a new haircut or had to decide what to wear to work. Those are hard transitions to make but thankfully, my Marine training took over.

In training, every Marine is taught the same basic principles of a great leader. Ask any officer or NCO and they should be able to recite them in order, word for word. The principles are as follows:

• Know yourself and seek self-improvement
• Be technically and tactically proficient
• Develop a sense of responsibility among your subordinates
• Make sound and timely decisions
• Set the example
• Know your Marines and look out for their welfare
• Keep your Marines informed
• Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions
• Ensure assigned tasks are understood, supervised, and accomplished
• Train your Marines as a team
• Employ your command in accordance with its capabilities

These same principals also apply to the corporate world — just substitute Marine for People. Following these principles to the letter will undoubtedly earn you respect, ex-military or not. However, when in the white-collar battlefield, a leader must pay extra attention to the individual needs and feelings of his team members. You just can’t lay into a subordinate, drill sergeant style, if they fail to perform a task. Civilians are not uniformly trained and thus will require unique and individual leadership tactics to best optimize their morale and performance.

There were several adjustments I had to make in the transition between managing hardened warriors and the white collar crowd. For instance, when a warrior is caught being lazy or ducking out of work, his team is punished with extra physical labor and he is forced to sit and watch. This essentially guilts him into being motivated, as well as getting his team mates to help him keep his attitude up – even if for no other reason than self preservation. From the outside looking in, it would appear that this exercise builds only dissension and rivalry. But to a warrior, it builds camaraderie as well as making each member aware of their squad mates strengths and weaknesses. This exercise wouldn’t fly in an office (Although, it would be fun to try). Instead, I implemented a points system that made a competition out of good performance. Simple adjustments like this were essential in order to be adapt Marine leadership skills without being called a tyrant in the office. By placing performance as a side benefit or punishment that happens outside of me giving it, I instill an implicit code of conduct and excellence.

By far the hardest adjustment I had to make was the sudden vacuum of pressure to make snap decisions. In a combat situation, if a subordinate asks you what to do, you tell him what to do in order to get the mission completed and keep your men alive and uninjured. You donít think about it, you donít hesitate or take a moment to research; you make a risk analysis on the spot and issue an order immediately with 100% confidence whether youíre 100% sure or not. In the office, this is bad business. Within reason, a best guess will almost always fall short of an educated decision. In the first several months, when one of my team members came to me for guidance, I would begin to immediately issue advice or orders based on my best educated guess. I would then quickly stop myself because there was information that I didnít already have but I knew was available to me. I would cut out mid-advice and ask them to get back to another task while I do some digging and I will get back to them.

Even though the transition was challenging, my Marine training allowed me to adjust, adapt and overcome the challenges of the corporate battlefield. The principles of leadership that the Marines instilled in me are lessons that anyone can apply to leading teams to success.

Gunnery Sergeant John Durfee is an Operation Freedom War veteran who now markets Airsoft Guns at Airsplat, the nation’s largest seller of Airsoft Rifles.

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11 Principles the Marines Taught Me About Leadership originally appeared on The Daily MBA on May 2, 2011.

A Guest Post by: Katheryn Rivas

Just because you don’t officially have a leadership position within your company or organization, it doesn’t mean you cannot be a leader. There are numerous ways for employees to become leaders without having the title. In fact, many companies will try to cultivate leadership in all of their employees because that characteristic can directly improve the company’s success. Additionally, if you’re an employee who practices being a leader, you also benefit by preparing yourself to take on more responsibility.

So when you think about ways to be a leader at work, try to follow some of these guidelines, as they’ll hopefully prompt you towards action worthy of a leader. And, of course, if you have any tips to add, please leave them in the comments section.

Lookout for Opportunities

Good leaders have an idea about how opportunities arise and how the company or their team can take advantage of those opportunities. This means that at the office you not only have to be able to accomplish your daily tasks, but also you have to remain aware of the greater context in which you and your company work. Knowing about industry trends, movement and goals within the company, and how your supervisors and co-workers interact will keep you prepared to jump on an opportunity.

Be Self-Aware

This is pretty simple, but you should always know your own strengths and limitations. If you are aware of your own attributes and how they affect your productivity, then you can figure out how others could compliment your strengths and support your weaknesses. Furthermore, being aware of yourself will help you become aware of other members of your team. This awareness will prepare you for those times when you need to lead a project and collaborate with others.

Communicate with Your Supervisors and Co-workers

A good leader is an effective communicator. As a leader, you should have clear and open pathways of communication between you and your co-workers and between you and your supervisors. Ideally, you should not privilege one over the other, given that communications at all levels is important. Your co-workers can be just as valuable as your supervisors when it comes to gathering information or opinions about the most recent project you’re working on.

Expand Your Job Description

In order to be a leader in the workplace, you will have to, at some point, expand your role beyond the one defined in your job description. This means that you might have to take on some extra work; however, the extra work will be worth it because it will be for a project that you took the initiative on. It won’t be busy work, but instead work on a project that you planned and implemented. In other words, you’ll be proud at having reached this achievement. You will have taken the opportunity to lead your co-workers to success. Eventually, your hard work will be recognized.. But until then, you have to be willing to take on some extra projects of your choosing.

Take the Chance

Leadership is all about rising to the occasion and taking a chance. Leaders are forged when an opportunity presents itself and they take it. So, take a chance and be the leader you want to be.

About the Author

This guest contribution was submitted by Katheryn Rivas, who regularly writes for online universities.  She welcomes your comments at her email Id: katherynrivas87@gmail.com.

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How to be a Leader Without the Title originally appeared on The Daily MBA on March 21, 2011.

A Guest Post by Brendan Cruickshank

A shift of business school curricula nationwide by the Ivy League makes me wonder about the future of the U.S. job landscape – will we lose our MBAs to other countries? A Feb. 3 Wall Street Journal reports that University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School dramatically boosted its business program’s focus on global business, marking a growing trend at prestigious MBA programs beefing up their international education more than ever. Having seen several of my friends and colleagues take their careers abroad - including to South Africa and England – the trend looks real.

I was even more intrigued as I heard the “good” news about the unemployment rate dropping to 9% in January, down by 0.4% and the lowest level since April 2009. It makes me wonder if these people dropping out of the job force may end up looking elsewhere. Some may not wish to make such a huge leap abroad, but others are more than willing. Besides meeting a most basic need – a job – the experience could open future doors and make job candidates worldlier, thus more enticing.

The Wharton School is in effect changing the “architecture” of its MBA program to cater to this trend. The new program includes classes, “modules,” in eight countries – including China, Israel and South America – and the appointment of a Vice Deans in Global Initiatives, Social Impact, and Innovation. Among the pathways students can take are Finance and the Global Economy and Managing the Global Enterprise. “The architecture of the curriculum addresses the needs of a new global generation through flexibility, rigor and innovation,” Thomas S. Robertson, Dean of the Wharton School said in the Wall Street Journal article. “Our research shows that this generation of business leaders wants greater control over educational choices, continued exposure to peers with deep, global experience and more opportunity in their academic experience to self-analyze and self-reflect.”

Mr. Robertson added that the school made the changes after interviewing 4,000 executives, alumni, faculty and students. So what can MBA candidates expect to gain from these program changes? Says Robertson, “They’re in the U.K., Israel, India, China, South Africa and Brazil. The courses would be relevant to that environment. So as we’re teaching in Brazil it’s about sustainability, and when we’re teaching in Israel it’s about technology and one of the courses in India is about health care in India and what we can learn from that experience.”

These changes aren’t just adding classes, they are fundamentally restructuring the leading business schools in the nation. Most of the changes that all of these schools have in common is the cultivation of even more leadership skills, enforcing mandatory study abroad trips, and responding to the increasing diversity of student populations. So who’s doing it? To name a few, Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, and Yale.

Last month, the Harvard Business School voted to change the slant of its curriculum toward global business, which BusinessWeek earlier reported. Among the changes, students will take a first-year course entitled Field Immersion Experiences for Leadership Development, in part developed for graduates to “make a difference in the world,” according to Harvard Business School officials. Harvard and Wharton are not alone. Fortune links the changes, in part, to the U.S. economic downturn. “The changes to Harvard’s MBA program are part of a larger series of changes at business schools since the economic meltdown of 2008. Some critics pointed a finger at business schools and their MBAs for the collapse of Wall Street and the banking system. Since then, numerous business schools – including Wharton, Stanford, Berkeley, and Yale – have unveiled both major and minor changes to their MBA programs.”

The U.S. News & World Report echoes these findings and agree the economy shares the blame. At the Yale School of Management, the magazine reports, students will take an “International Experience trip.” The program also offers increased study abroad opportunities. “Additional study abroad opportunities exist through the London School of Economics and Political Science and the Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management in Beijing,” the magazine reports, adding that students also have access to participation in the International Center for Finance (ICF). The Yale center “provides active support for research in financial economics by its fellows and disseminates their work to the world’s academic and professional communities,” according to the ICF website.

It is the job of these business schools to look out for their students’ best interests, and that means responding to the highest level of globalization ever in world economic history. Could it have mass implications for our workforce? Maybe. Will it give MBA candidates the best chance possible at success? Absolutely.

About the Author

Brendan Cruickshank (Vice President of Client Services) – Brendan is a veteran of the online job search and recruiting industry, having spent the past 8 years in senior client services roles with major sites like Juju.com and JobsInTheMoney.com. He is quoted regularly as an expert in employment and jobs trends in major media outlets like the Washington Post, US News & World Report, and Forbes and has spoken at recruiting industry events such as Onrec and Kennedy Informationís Corporate Recruiting Conference.

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Are American MBA’s Seeking Jobs Elsewhere? originally appeared on The Daily MBA on February 21, 2011.

Great speeches inspire people to act. Dr. King’s “I have a dream”, President Kennedy’s “Mission to the Moon” or President Reagan’s “Tear down this wall.” All of these speeches inspired people to act. Now, you may not have the worlds stage but when you standup and give a speech, that speech represents you and the group you are with.

Writing an effective speech requires that you prepare. I am sure some of you are probably saying, “hey, I just shoot from the hip and don’t prepare.” Well, some of you may be able to get away with that but most great speakers prepare like crazy so it looks like they are shooting from the hip. Passion is great and should show through in your speech. The thing that passion does not give you is structure, focus and the message that you want to leave people with. That message or take away needs to be crafting and honed so that your speech does not repeat itself or bore people to death. The whole point of a great speech is to capture the essence of your idea or movement and prompt people to act.

Speech writing and delivery is the single most important skill a leader needs in their arsenal because the sole job of a leader is to inspire people to act. Most of the techniques I am going to explain in this post are derived from both my experiences in giving talks and speeches. The structure comes, in large part, from a wonderful book that every aspiring speech writer should read called “Speak Up with Confidence: How to Prepare, Learn, and Deliver Effective Speeches” by Jack Valenti.

Preparing the Speech

Like anything, preparation is essential for an effective speech. The more preparation you do, the better the end product will be. Preparation starts with the following check list:

• Topic: Clearly and distinctly define your topic. This is the first step in crafting a great speech.

• Amount of Time: Time is always a premium and needs to be respected. Understand the time constraints you are under. Is this a 1.5 minute toast or a 30 minute lecture. Knowing this will allow you to edit your talk for the time allowed.

• Talking Position: If you are on a panel or talking with a group, the position you talk in matters for the flow and consistency of the overall event. Strive to figure out what others will talk about and try not to repeat what they have already said.

• Audience: Your audience will play a huge role in your speech preparation and delivery. Is it a city counsel meeting or an informal dinner party? Are the people bankers, software engineers or a mix? The audience should always been first and foremost in your mind and you should cater your words and delivery to them.

• Other Speakers: Sharing the stage with a great speaker can be a thrill but it can also be nerve racking. Knowing your fellow speakers style and delivery will also make you able to adjust your approach so you shine above even the most gifted orator.

These five items will allow you to craft a good outline of what your talk or speech with be about. All speeches or talks have constraints and it’s vital that you, as the speaker, respect and understand that. Without this understanding, your speech will fall flat and not convey what you want.

Writing your Speech or Talk

Yes, you need to write you speech down. I know some of you may find that annoying or “unnecessary” but the discipline of writing your speech or talk down will allow you to craft a much better end product. With practice, this method makes you a better speaker. Listed below are the essential parts of your written speech and how to annotate it for better delivery and readability.

• Write the title at the top: Preferably centered and in a big font.

• Put the amount of time under the title: Hitting your time limit is an important part of a great speech. By putting the time front and center, you always remember that.

• Write the theme under the title: The theme is just one to two sentences on what your speech is all about. It will guild your writing and practice.

• Double space the lines: Double spacing allows for notes and makes the text easier to read.

• Underline or bold words to emphasize: When you want to emphasize a word, underline it or make it bold. That way, it sticks out in your mind. You will understand the power of this during your practice runs.

• All caps to really emphasize: All caps should be used to really drive home a single word or short phrase.

• Increase the font on strong points: Strong phrases or sentences should be a bigger font. That way, you know to spend a little extra time on them.

• Put short sentences or phrases of emphasize on separate lines: Make sure to put your central theme or themes separate from the rest of your speech so that you can emphasize them more and see how they flow from section to section.

• Number your pages: I know, sounds like a no brainer but people do forget this. Image this. You get nervous and drop your speech (which I have done). How do you get it back in the right order without freaking out? Page numbers!

Now the fun part — writing the content. There are several ways to go about doing this and all are good. What’s important is that you write down what comes to mind in a fluid fashion. Don’t edit yourself — you will have plenty of time for that later. What I tend to do is write bullet points of what the main themes need to be. For example, if I were to give a speech on this article, the outline would look something like this:

Title: Writing and Delivering Great Speeches

Time: 5 Minutes

Theme: Describe how to write and deliver a great speech by preparing ahead of time and practicing

Outline:

• Talk about memorable speeches

• Comment on how leaders use speeches to prompt people to act.

• Outline how to prepare: Topic, time, talking position, audience, etc.

• Describe how to write one: title, theme, double spaced lines, bold and caps for emphases

• How to practice: Say it out loud, edit, repeat. Even record if able.

• Delivery of the speech: Memorize if you can, always look around, pause when required, be witing if appropriate.

• Socializing after your speech will allow you to connect with even more people

See, that’s not so hard. It’s important to outline your speech or talk so that you can build from a framework. Without such a framework, your speech creation process will be unstructured, miserable and drudgery — kind of like the speech you will give without preparing.

Some speeches or talks allow for media or slides to be projected. We will not cover that here because the fine art of Power Point is a whole other topic. The only thing I will mention about props is that they should add value to the pitch and not be redundant. Translation, don’t read directly from the slides. Most people can read and you will lose your audience in a NEW YORK MINUTE!

Practicing Your Delivery

As the saying goes, in order to play at Carnegie Hall, you need to practice, practice and practice some more. Practicing your speech will allow you to hone the highs and sharpen the lows so that it flows. An effortless, engaging speech always starts with practice.

The single best method to practice is to read your speech out loud, to yourself. This method will uncover the awkward pauses, words or transitions that don’t show up on the page. As you read, it’s perfectly fine to stop, edit and continue on.

In addition to reading out loud, here are some other methods that will make your speech sing.

• Time yourself: You never know how long a speech will be until you time yourself. A general rule of thumb is that a single, double spaced page is about 1.5 minutes but that varies with delivery.

• Record it: Hearing your speech will reveal lots of places for improvement. I would recommend running through it a couple of times, out loud, and then record it to hear how it sounds.

• Print it out and mark it up: Sometimes it’s better to print out your speech to mark it up because you can lay out all the pages and look for overall flow issues. Once marked up, roll in your edits and re-record it.

• Practice with someone else: Another person will be able to pick up on points that might not be clear or give you advice on awkward moments. If you have the time, practicing with someone else will help out tremendously.

• Say it in front of a mirror: Mirror reading will allow you to see if you are looking down too much or your animations are too over the top. This does not replace practicing with someone else but can help you fine tune your delivery.

All of these methods are designed to focus your speech. The worst thing you can do is not practice and edit as you talk. That’s distracting and disrespectful to the audience.

The Moment of Truth

Okay. This is when all that writing and practice pays off. The big day or night when you have to stand up and give your speech or talk. If you are like most human’s, you will be nervous — perfectly acceptable and even desirable. Being nervous shows you care about what you are about to deliver. The trick is to channel those nerves and control them. Here are some techniques that work for me:

• Make the butterflies fly in formation: Everyone gets nervous, even seasoned veterans. So, don’t beat yourself up for being nervous. Rather, use that energy to practice more.

• Find a quiet place to mediate: Sometimes a quick 1-3 minute reflection will do wonders to calm you down.

• Admit your nervous: Tell someone back stage that you are nervous. Most likely, they will put you at ease and that will make you feel a little better.

• Talk with other speakers: If you will be sharing the stage with other speakers, go chat with them. Ask how they deal with the pre-speech jitters. It’s also a great way to meet someone you may have always wanted to meet.

The best way to give a speech is to memorize it. If that’s not possible, then you need to lay out your printed speech in a way that’s easy to read. The method I have found that works the best is to make sure the print outs are loose and that you can easily read them. Once you start, consider some of these methods to make your speech more engaging and interesting.

• Start with a joke: Jokes always work to get the crowd on your side. It’s obvious, but don’t do anything racy. Funny stories also work, preferably ones that take you down a notch.

• Ask the crowd a question or show of hands: Speeches are about crowd engagement so start off by asking the crowd a simple question that they can raise their hand to. That way, you are getting them involved early.

• Divide the room into thirds: One aspect of crowd engagement is looking into the crowd. A good trick to seeing the whole crowd is to divide the room in thirds and scan each third regularity.

• Speak to one person: Once you have the room divided into thirds, then try and speak directly to one person in each third. This will reduce some of the jitters you might have by making the room appear smaller. Don’t fixate too long on one person but rather cycle through each third, picking a new person each time.

• Pause for effect: Nerves sometimes make people talk fast. If you talk too fast, then your points will get lost. When an important point comes up, pause before moving on. That way, it will settle in with the audience.

• Repeat important points: Repetition is also a good way to drive home important points. Don’t repeat things too much because that’s boring. One tip is to repeat the same important point a different way.

• Look up often: The worst thing you can do is just stare down at your notes and not look up. The audience wants to see you and they will be more engaged if you look up, scan the room in thirds and talk to a single person.

• Walk around and show your passion: Movement on stage will grab the audience. If you are able, walk around a bit. Use your hands to make important points. You body language and mannerisms account of a significant amount of the audience sexperience.

If you take away one thing from the list above, it should be that crowd engagement will make a weak speech seem great. If the crowd is into you and engaged, then the content can be a little less stellar and you can still be a big hit.

After the Speech

Many times, there will either be a reception or question and answer session related to your speech or talk. These are ideal times to get feedback on what worked and what didn’t. Make sure to seek out people who you feel enjoyed your speech or hated it. Ask them why they liked it or disliked it. Be bold and ask for advice on how your talk would engage them more. It’s also important to thank them for coming.

Go Forth and Be Great

See. That was not so hard. Anyone can write and deliver a great speech that engages the audience and inspires them to act. Just remember to be yourself, write it down and practice, practice and practice some more.

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Writing and Delivering Great Speeches originally appeared on The Daily MBA on February 7, 2011.

President Harry Truman had a famous sign on his desk. It read “The Buck Stops Here.” For all sorts of leaders, the buck not only stops with you but also carries a burden as it travels to you. No other position in an organization carries as much responsibility, burden, triumph, stress or excitement as it’s leader. If you are new to leading a group or company, you have probably already experienced some of the burdens that leadership brings. Some burdens, I’m sure, you handled fine, while others, pushed you to the limits of your experience and resolve to carry on. Fear not. While there are natural leaders, the rest of us need to overcome the burdens of leadership in order to successfully lead our organizations while still keeping our sanity.

The Truth is Out There

As a leader, you are put in an isolation bubble. You may not realize it but it’s there. The size of this isolation bubble entirely depends on how you deal with bad news and constructive criticism. The more you “shoot the messenger” or lash out at critics, the bigger this isolation bubble will get.

The reason this bubble exists is because, as the leader, you wield tremendous power over the future. The future of the organization, employees and stakeholders. This power changes people. They start to listen to your every word. What you say, do, don’t do, react or care about will be noticed and it makes obtaining the truth harder and harder. You should always seek the truth and can do that by applying some of the below techniques:

• Don’t shoot the messenger: How you deal with bad news will dictate how bad news is presented to you. If you don’t handle bad news well, then no one will tell you any.

• Embrace constructive criticism: Constructive criticism that’s in the best interest of the company or group should be encouraged since that’s really the only way to ensure that decisions are sound.

• Communicate your vision: Without a solid vision of the path forward, your organization will flounder and make dangerous assumptions.

• Allow others to speak truth to power: This relates to embracing constructive criticism but takes it to the next level by asking for feedback instead of having it come to you.

• Create multiple avenues of feedback: Most leaders are surrounded by like minded individuals that will insulate them from the truth. If you foster multiple avenues of feedback, you can get the most accurate picture possible.

• Be gracious about failure: Everyone fails and how a leader handles failure will set the tone for how data is presented to you. Be gracious to those who have failed and encourage them to learn and move on.

• Live in the now: Too often, people hold grudges about past wrongs. While it’s good to learn from mistakes and be cautious, it’s toxic to dwell on the past. Evaluate situations as they come. This will keep your perspective fresh.

Everyone Has an Agenda

You may think that your trusted advisors are totally aligned with your thoughts and only want what’s best for you. In most cases, I’m sure that’s true but there will be times when even your most trusted people will have a hidden agenda. It’s not that they want to undermine your authority or even your position. It’s just that sometimes, they will have an alternative motive for the advice they give. As an astute leader, you need to pick up on these clues and know when advice is for your benefit or others. Some of the signs that the advice you are getting may not be in your best interest include:

• The data does not match: A leader should be data driven. If you are being asked to support something and the data seems odd or contradictory, then beware of an alternative motive.

• Everyone agrees: It’s rare for everyone to agree about a controversial issue. So, if the issue is complex and you find that no decent is put forth, go seek it out.

• Your gut tells you otherwise: Your gut instincts are more often than not correct. So, if it feels wrong, then you are probably being lead down the wrong path.

• The decision will benefit a select few: Personal benefit is a strong motive to push an agenda. Try and look past the decision at hand and figure out who benefits before moving forward.

• Only the upside is discussed: All decisions have a downside and not discussing it may be a sly move to hide something. Always look for the downside of your decisions so you can gage what might happen.

People with personal agenda’s will do whatever they can do get you to make decisions for their benefit. In some cases, they will even try to guild you in the wrong direction so that they can discredit you or even take your job. So trust but verify all advice that relates to important decisions.

Decisions are Yours and Yours Alone

It should be no surprise that the job of leaders is to make decisions. These decisions will chart the course of your organization. Make good decisions and success because easier. Make the wrong decisions and you may be looking for a new job.

Ultimately, the decision is yours are yours alone. You can ask for as many inputs as you like but in the end, the organization will look to you to make the call. This burden can really get to some leaders and will rapidly marginalize your leadership ability unless you do something about it. Consider some of the techniques below as starting points for making better decisions:

• No decision is still a decision: Not taking action can be just as powerful as taking action. Be sure to weigh the upside and downside of inaction. Even a decision you may later change can sometimes be better than making none at all.

• You will never please everyone: Remember that not everyone will like your decision. This is inevitable. Just remember that if you are trying to look out for the best interest of your organization, then that’s the best you can make.

• Data will always be lacking: Never delay a decision due to lack of data. Data will always be imperfect, lacking or just nonexistent. Use the data you have to make a decision and move on.

• Don’t be afraid to change your mind: It’s perfectly acceptable to change your mind or decision when new data becomes available. What’s not acceptable is to waffle on core beliefs and sway on the winds of change.

• Have a rationale as to why the decision was made: Every decision has a rationale and this rationale should be communicated especially if the decision may be controversial or done with lack of data.

It Really is Lonely at the Top

Leaders are lonely people. Actually, they are not “lonely” in the sense that people are not around but in the sense that there are very few people in their position or circumstance. This isolation, which is partly due to the isolation bubble leaders create, can drive some leaders to make bad decisions and seem out of touch.

Reducing this loneliness requires that you strive to interact with other leaders. Other leaders will understand what you are going through and be able to offer advice and consultation that will make you a better leader. Talking with other leaders also gives you different perspectives into how they make decisions and what you may be missing.

No One’s Perfect

The most important thing to realize is that as long as you are looking out for the best interests of your organization, any decision or direction you take, is the one that’s right, given the data and environment you are in. Sure, you might make a mistake (actually, you will make lots), but as long as the direction you want to go is benefiting your organization, the worst they can do is fire you for going in the wrong direction. Failure is inevitable. Great leaders do fail but it’s how they react to failure that makes them great — not the fact that they never failed.

There are many leadership burdens but the biggest burden of all is the self imposed burden that every decision, every initiative or direction has to be successful. If you can get over that, then the rest of the burdens become significantly reduced.

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The Burdens of Leadership originally appeared on The Daily MBA on January 17, 2011.

Everyone loves a crisis as long as it’s not theirs. If you have worked for any amount of time, you will have experienced some form or another of a crisis. These moments of dread, terror and excitement really get your blood pumping and can define your career. For creative types, a crisis usually means the product or service you are about to birth hit some sort of snag. Maybe your fancy new way to mold plastic has a 10% yield or the client just changed their mind and your campaign’s color scheme is “totally wrong” 1 week before national launch. Whatever it might be, managing a crisis is a vital skill that all creative types need to learn, develop and practice.

Creative Crisis Management

Most creative people will experience a fair number of crisis’s because of the nature of their work. When you invent, develop, create or compose, there are a lot of unknowns that can lead to a crisis. The same creativity that allows you to invent new things can be tapped to resolve your crisis de jour. Remember, all a crisis really is, is creativity on a tight deadline.

Remain Calm

The first step in crisis management is to remain calm. I know, I know, sounds super obvious but it’s not. Most people will say they remain calm but they really don’t. In reality, if it’s your crisis, you will have a tendency to either deny it, want to fix it fast, freak out or spin the world up too quick. Any one of these responses is bad and should be avoided. To help you manage those first signs of panic, consider these methods:

• Assess the situation: In the beginning of a crisis, there will a lot of panic, confusion and freaking out. Remaining calm is important but more important than that is to take it all in and figure out how the situation is evolving.

• Collect data: The more data, the better. Being data driven in a crisis is the best way to go. This removes yourself from the emotional, political and chaos that always swirls around a crisis.

• Ask others: These others should be trusted advisors. Most of the time, they will give you invaluable insights into how to handle and manage your crisis.

• Form a team: Crisis management and resolution requires a team of talented people who share the same passion for solving the problem. Your team has to be well rounded and complementary to the skills needed to resolve the crisis.

Formulate an Action Plan

Once you have calmed yourself, formed a team and put your boss at ease, your next step is to form an action plan. This plan will be critical to staying on track and effectively managing your crisis. Without a plan, you will soon find yourself adrift in the overwhelming chaos of data, suggestions and tantrums. Your plan does not need to be perfect but it does need to contain the following:

• Who’s on your team: Communicate to all of your stakeholders who your team is. This is vital for alignment and commitment of resources.

• Pending and completed actions: Always keep track of what you are doing and what you have done. Any action should have a who, what and when.

• A name for the crisis: Name your crisis using declarative and descriptive words. That way, people know exactly what you are talking about.

• Timelines: Develop a timeline of events that documents the evolution of your crisis. This is important for the next action.

• Facts about the crisis: Always write down and communicate the undisputed facts about your crisis. Doing this allows you to focus on the important aspects of the crisis and not the facts that are already known.

• The desired results: Defining the desired result allows you to declare when your crisis is over. Without a known end point, your team will languish and focus on the wrong things.

Free Flow of Information

Crisis management is all about information management and flow. Without a constant flow of information, good or bad, people will start to wonder what’s going on. You never want to have people question the status of your crisis nor what is being done to resolve it. This does not mean that you blast out your status to the entire company — that would be counter productive. What it does mean is that you need to do certain things that convey that the crisis is under control. The methods you should employ include:

• Be all knowing: Crisis management requires a deep and thorough knowledge of the facts, data and experiments that are being carried out. Without this knowledge, you will waste a lot of time on wild goose chases.

• Admit it when you don’t know: The most powerful management tool you have is to admit when you don’t know something. That single act will short circuit a whole line of discussion. The downside is that you actually need to have a plan to figure out what you don’t know.

• See the big picture: Crisis management can be all consuming especially if you are a technical person that is knee deep in the debug or analysis of the problem. It’s best to frequently step back and look at where you are, where you have been and where you need to be.

• Produce daily reports: Information flow must be fluid and constant. Achieving this requires a methodical drum beat of daily reports. These reports should summarize, with backup data, the events of the last 24 hours and what the next 24 hours will accomplish.

• Update others personally: Personal updates to senior management and your boss are vital. These personal updates should include your feelings and reactions to the crisis and asking your superiors what they think.

Understand the Politics

A crisis brings out the best and worst in people. The worst in people is usually motivated by the political power struggle that every organization has. It’s best to identify the political motivations of the main players in your crisis early and reconfirm often. These people may be your boss, her boss or other departments that may want to use this crisis as a way to make a point or even worst, get someone fired. Political maneuvering can sometimes be hidden under the guys of “wanting to help you.” Real and true help is wonderful but also remember that some of this “help” may be for furthering a political agenda and not really meant to solve the crisis. Be aware of the following signs that offered help may be politically motivated. Also included are methods to prevent that from happening:

• Figure out who benefits or doesn’t: Some people will use a crisis to dethrone a rival while others might use it to prove a point. Whatever the case, make sure you understand who benefits and who does not from the crisis.

• Assess the quality of guidance: Some people may try and misguide you. That’s why it’s important to figure out the motivations of the person giving you the advice.

• Always bring it back to the problem: During your crisis, the motivations of others will try and derail your efforts. This will manifest itself in the “wild goose chase”, where someones wild ass theory will distract the group from the real issue. When you feel things are spinning out of control, always ground yourself in the problem and the facts of the problem.

• Be data driven: Akin to the focus on the problem, being data driven puts the crisis into a mode where decisions are made on facts and not emotions. It’s really easy to fall prey to the emotional arguments that permeate a crisis but don’t be tempted — those emotions just lead to more problems.

• Briefly explore the “wild goose chase”: Wild goose chases can be beneficial. The reason is more political than functional. When you listen and acknowledge the thoughts and feelings of others, you can focus them much quicker than rejecting their theories outright. However, you must be careful with this because the wild goose chase can detail your whole effort.

• Don’t blame others, just admit fault: Taking responsibility for a crisis is the fastest way to end the blame game and move forward. If you are in charge, the best thing you can do is step up and accept responsibility for the crisis. This is the hardest thing to do but essential for moving past the blame game and on to resolving the crisis.

• Ask for help, when needed: Always ask for help if you really need it. Don’t reject help outright without giving it every consideration. This is an important crisis management tool since you need to demonstrate your willingness to accept help while still maintaining the control you need to solve the crisis.

Known When the Crisis is Over

Solving your crisis will depend a lot on defining what the desired outcome needs to be. Again, this sounds obvious but don’t take it for granted. Knowing when the crisis is over will focus the team on solving it. Not knowing the desired end game will just waste time and energy. Your team will wander off on tangents, solve problems that don’t need fixing and waste time and effort. For some on your team, the crisis is what they live for. They love being at the center of a complex, high priority problem that gets them a lot of visibility. You need to watch this because what can happen is that the crisis can continue on just to satisfy some of your teams adrenaline rush.

Moving on Past the Crisis

Once your crisis is over, remember to thank your team. It seems like a simple thing but thanking the team is a vital part of crisis management. Thanking the team shows that you value their contributions and want to work with them again on the next inevitable crisis. By remaining calm, forming a solid team and knowing when the crisis is over you can navigate the turbulent waters of the organizational crisis sea successfully.

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Crisis Management For Creatives originally appeared on The Daily MBA on December 6, 2010.

A Guest Post By: Elysabeth Teeko

President Dwight D. Eisenhower once said that leadership is “the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” Great leaders don’t look over shoulders or crack the whip at a deadline. Leaders are the men and women who don’t have to enforce rules or crack whips. Leadership is about knowing how to inspire people to achieve objectives by allowing them to do their best in any given situation. But learning to inspire people to do their best is not something that can be created at a seminar, cultivated at a weekend retreat or found in online MBA rankings. Good leaders live their lives everyday in a way that inspires others. Leadership is a way of life. To lead a leadership life, you have to cultivate the five C’s of leadership into your life by practicing everyday. These five C’s are:

Confident

A good leader is confident in all that they do—even when they aren’t. Confidence is not a quality that comes from having all the right answers, rather it is the choice you make to be decisive while setting goals and dealing with problems. You know what leaders are called when they can’t make a confident and informed decision? Managers.

Committed

Once a leader has chosen a path or direction, they commit to follow it to its end. A wishy-washy or fickle leader does not inspire confidence or respect in his or her followers. And when the path they are on turns out to be the wrong one, real leaders know when to change course, take responsibility and commit to a new solution.

Clever

Leaders don’t have to be witty to be great. In fact, they don’t even have to be the smartest person in the room. However, a real leader knows who the smartest person in the room is and has the foresight to let that person do their job to the best of their ability without interfering.

Creative

A real leader might not paint, but he or she can see the entire painting. Leaders know how to look at the big picture, dissect it, understand its individual parts and put them back together again in the best possible way. They use their creativity to find solutions to problems and confidently place the right resources where they are needed most.

Clear

Clarity comes from the ability to translate a vision into steps and processes that others can easily and willingly follow. A good leader knows how to communicate effectively, give good direction and resolve concerns in a fair and timely manner.

Cultivating the five C’s of leadership in your life will allow you to grow as a leader. But these are not qualities that can be cultivated quickly. A commitment to leadership means working everyday on being a better leader.

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The Five C’s of Leadership originally appeared on The Daily MBA on October 25, 2010.