Tag: Love

Great Leaders Look for Opportunities to Show This

Great Leaders Look for Opportunities to Show This

Jon Rennie

Great leaders know that success is the result of extra efforts by amazing employees. These leaders look for opportunities to show their appreciation.

Looking for Opportunities

Last week, I was out in the factory and saw my company’s top mechanical engineer working on a drill press. He was modifying parts so they could be used in production. I knew he had been there all morning reworking these parts because we had a big customer order that had to go out. It wasn’t his job but he did it anyway because he cares deeply about the success of our company.

As a leader, I couldn’t just walk by and ignore his efforts. I stopped and talked to him. I told him how much I appreciated him and the work he was doing. He didn’t have to be standing at a drill press all morning working on these production parts but there he was. I had to acknowledge his extra efforts.

The Problem with Most Leaders

The problem with most leaders, however, is they miss these opportunities. Most leaders are sequestered in their offices and oblivious to what’s happening with their teams. They are unaware of the extra efforts their best employees are doing every day. These employees are left feeling overwhelmed and underappreciated.

One of the most frustrating things I see in leaders is a negative or indifferent attitude towards people. Many choose a career in leadership who don’t have an appreciation for the impact they have on their teams. Unfortunately, these leaders usually find they are less effective when they lack a people-focused mindset. The reason is that leadership is inherently a people business.

“Leadership is a people business.” Jon S. Rennie

The entire role of a leader is to motivate a team of people towards accomplishing an objective. Great leaders know this and they know it’s important to show appreciation. They also know people are messy. People have issues, problems, emotions, quirks, hang-ups, baggage, and can be unpredictable. A great leader can see past the flaws, love their people, and motivate them to do great things. In my opinion, you can’t be a great leader if you don’t love people.

“Great leaders aren’t afraid to love their teams.” Donald Miller

A CEO who Cares

Donald Miller, founder and CEO of Storybrand, sees it the same way. I like his thoughts on this subject as he reflects on the culture he built at his company. One of the core values he put in place was to “make his employees’ dreams come true by serving clients faithfully.”  I thought it was interesting that he purposely intertwined serving customers with the dreams of his employees. In his view, loving your employees and showing appreciation means helping them reach their full potential.

“Great leaders can see the greatness in others when they can’t see it themselves and lead them to their highest potential they don’t even know.” Roy T. Bennett

Miller credits the growth of his company to the “secret ingredient” of love. Things changed at his company when they started to live out these core values. As he loved and respected his employees, they loved each other, and they worked as a team to better serve customers. He built a culture of respect with a foundation in love.

He has two fundamental rules which have helped him create a culture of love and respect:

  1. Hire people who are better, smarter and faster than you.
  2. Never mess with their hearts.

Make a Positive Impact

If you’re a leader, you have a deep impact on the lives and careers of the people working for you. You need to be patient with their flaws and take time to truly appreciate their contributions. The biggest problem with employee engagement in most companies today is that employees feel their bosses don’t appreciate them.

Imagine how they will react when they see their boss truly cares!

Reach out to me a Twitter and let me what you do to show appreciation for your team members.

Are Employees an Expense or an Asset? The Answer May Surprise You

Are Employees an Expense or an Asset? The Answer May Surprise You

Jon Rennie

“Being an employee of several different companies, I can honestly say that I’ve felt like nothing more than a line item on a spreadsheet somewhere that an accountant is desperately trying to eliminate.”

This comment was written by a reader on my recent article, Putting Employees Ahead of Customers, and it got me thinking. Why do so many managers treat their employees like a cost that needs to be eliminated?

My conclusion was that the problem may be related to accounting. Why? Because in accounting, employees are an expense.

Consider this. By accounting rules, the cost of workers is treated as an expense on the income statement. In fact, personnel expense is one of the highest costs a company incurs. Many managers see this sizable cost every month and conclude that people are expensive. They see people as a problem. By seeing people as a costly expense, these managers think that a quick way to more profits is by reducing people or salaries. They look at employees as an expense or a problem that must be reduced or eliminated.

“Assets are company resources which have future economic value.”

Great leaders see things differently. They consider employees as an asset. In accounting terms, assets are company resources which have future economic value. Instead of seeing employees as a problem, these leaders see them as a valuable resource. They know that people have the capability to grow sales, satisfy customers, improve processes, innovate products, and do countless other things that add money to both the top and bottom line. As a CEO, I see daily examples of this in my business, Peak Demand.

If you think of employees as an asset, as I do, you treat them differently. You understand the importance of keeping them happy and operating at peak performance. You recognize the importance of leadership. You realize your team will be at their best when they are loved, appreciated, respected, engaged, and acknowledged.

It seems simple to me but it’s not often practiced. I think one of the problems is the lack of leadership training in business schools. Most graduate and undergraduate students take multiple courses in accounting but they may only attend one or two lectures on leadership. The result is we are sending young managers to the workplace with a belief that numbers are more important than people.

“Great leaders know better”

In accounting, employees are an expense but great leaders know better. They know people are an asset that represent the future results of a company. They see their team as an important resource that needs to be led properly to maximize performance. They understand their team will be at their best when they are loved, appreciated, respected, engaged, and acknowledged.

Where do you stand? Do you see employees as an expense or an asset? Have you worked for a manager who treated you like an expense or a problem that needed to be reduced? How did that feel? Have you worked for a leader that treated you like an important asset? What was that like? Let me know in the comment section below.

This Start-Up Story is a Must Read for Every Entrepreneur

This Start-Up Story is a Must Read for Every Entrepreneur

Jon Rennie

Forget all the phony internet garbage about how glorious the life of an entrepreneur is. Ignore the Instagram pictures of Ferraris and private jets with the word “hustle” written over it. If you want to understand what it’s like to start a business, you need to read this book.

Phil Knight is incredibly successful. He is worth more than $24 billion. The company he started is worth more than $86 billion. But the story of how he built Nike into the world’s leading sports brand is priceless.

“There were many ways down Mount Fuji, according to my guidebook, but only one way up.” Phil Knight

The success of Phil Knight and Nike is truly exceptional. What’s not exceptional is the story of how he built his company from the ground up. The challenges that Knight faced in starting and building his company are common to every entrepreneur.

“The cowards never started and the weak died along the way. That leaves us, ladies and gentlemen. Us.” Phil Knight

That’s why this book is so powerful. If you’re dreaming of starting a business to become an overnight success, this is your wake-up call. If you’re already an entrepreneur and you’re struggling through the daily grind, this is your second wind.

“When you see only problems, you’re not seeing clearly.” Phil Knight

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike is, by far, the best business book I have ever read. Maybe it’s because I’m a year and a half into a business startup or maybe it’s because of the detailed, personal perspective that Knight weaves into the story, but this book demonstrates how difficult it is to build a great company.

Knight’s success can be attributed to two main character traits. He was deeply passionate about shoes and he was persistent. He had what Angela Duckworth now defines as Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance.

“Grit is passion and perseverance for long-term goals.” Angela Duckworth

Phil Knight’s journey from a crazy idea of importing Japanese running shoes to building a successful, global brand is anything but a short story. Knight faced cash flow problems, lawsuits, unfaithful partners, government investigations, media scrutiny, employees leaving for the competition, and the loss of endorsing athletes. He tackled all these challenges because he believed in his company, his team, and what they stood for. He continued to push forward despite the overwhelming difficulties he faced.

“History is one long processional of crazy ideas.” Phil Knight

This is the story of an overnight success that took more than 18 years. If you’re starting a company or building a business, you probably know it won’t be successful overnight. But how many of us would give up after 2, 3, or 5 years of continuous struggle? For Knight and his team, they battled for close to two decades to get Nike off the ground.

“Whatever comes, just don’t stop.” Phil Knight

In the end, passion, desire, hard work, family, and lifelong friendships allow Knight and his team to overcome all odds. This is an incredible, well-written story that should be mandatory reading for all entrepreneurs.