Subscribe to the Three Star Leadership Blog

The Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training.

Request your free copy of Wally's Special Report: Managing Headcount in a Downturn.

For weekly tips and resources pointers, check Wally's Three Star Leadership Letter

Find out more about having Wally speak to your company or convention.

Find out more about Wally's coaching services.

"He drew a circle that shut me out,
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But love and I had the wit to win,
We drew a circle that took him in"

Those words were written by the poet Edwin Markham. Today Markham is usually not ranked among the great poets of all time. His "Lincoln, Man of the People" and "Man with a Hoe" seem too sentimental, too Nineteenth Century. Just like the letter he wrote to my father.

My dad was an orphan who took many jobs to get through high school and college. One of them was a job as Markham's secretary.

Near where I sit right now is a framed "reference" letter that Markham wrote for my father. It is ornate language in an ornate hand. It is signed with the complimentary close, "Yours to command." No one writes like that these days.

There's a lot of good writing, though. It's just different. And there is the ultimate "circle that took me in." You know it as the net.

This is post number 1000 for the Three Star Leadership blog. When I decided that I wanted to do something special to celebrate, I also decided that it needed to be something that illustrates the richness of the web and the relationships that form here. Never before in history have we had a way to share so much or to inspire each other so easily.

So I asked some friends if they would write something for this post. All of these people are bloggers. I read lots of blogs, as a glance at the blogroll will tell you.

But these people all blog on topics very similar to mine. And I have a relationship with each one that extends beyond commenting on each other's blog posts.

Each friend shares a tip, insight or quote on leadership. Each also shares a pointer to a valuable leadership resource. I'm going to share their names, then list their tips and observations and finish the post with their pointers. They are presented in the order I drew their names out of a jar.

David Zinger writes about employee engagement in a variety of venues.

Dan McCarthy writes the Great Leadership blog.

Jim Stroup blogs at Managing Leadership.

Ellen Weber writes Brain Based Leaders and Learners.

Steve Roesler is the blogger at All Things Workplace.

Art Petty's blog is Management Excellence.

Nina Simosko named her blog Nina Nets It Out.

Here are their tips, quotes or observations.

David Zinger's Tip

"So often we work hard to gain knowledge and demonstrate 132 competencies of leadership. Yet I think the true origin of leadership is ignorance or not knowing. Ignorance is not stupidity, thinking you know when you don’t. Ignorance is the willingness not to know and to ask questions and to learn. Too often we mistake ignorance for stupidity when it is not. Ignorance is the starting point for all good leadership. By the way, just because we start with ignorance does not mean we need to stay there."

Dan McCarthy's Tip

"I'm going to borrow a line from Marshall Goldsmith, a belief that's I've personally adopted and pass along to every leader I coach: To help others develop, start with yourself. Self development is the best way to learn how to develop others, it's good role modeling (practice what you preach), and if you don't, it comes across as arrogance (everyone else needs to improve, except for me)."

Jim Stroup's Tip

"The point of leadership isn't the leader – it's your team's jointly pursued goal and the path to achieving it. Never view, nor seek to understand yourself as, a 'leader' independent of these. Avoid the vain struggle to cultivate a stand-alone reputation as such. Rather than attempting to generate personal characteristics that will supposedly make you a leader, work to develop professional skills that will make you a better manager of people, and then apply them to the duties of your specific position and assignment.

If you can get your staff focused on the team's mission – rather than on you – then you will discover that you have succeeded in being far more influential than you could possibly have been had you emphasized the primacy of your personal role. Moreover, you will find that this pattern of thought and action will prove to be far more repeatable and productive of successful results in future assignments than is typically seen in those who cultivate views of themselves as leaders independent of the task, and of their 'followers,' as well.

Make it about the work, and your staff will, also. Make it about yourself as distinct from them, and they'll probably do that too. The first option will likely be more satisfying for all concerned."

Ellen Weber's Tip

"Great leadership begins in the human brain, and effective leaders win by operating a different mindset. Leadership is both born and made - in concert – and leaders who cultivate their gene pools tend to reconfigure their minds in ways that also reshape the future for themselves and others."

Steve Roesler's Tip

"'So let it be written, so let it be done.' Yul Brynner, The King and I

It's true that you have only one chance to make a good first impression. But if you are a leader, your task is to make a lasting impression.

That's why the Rule of Radio beats the Rule of  Brynner every time.

Early in my career I spent a number of years in broadcasting including a stint selling commercial time. I learned a lot about what really penetrates the human mind. It's not flashy, clever one-liners or highly-produced event.

It's repetition.

Every 60-second spot had to mention the product or advertiser at least six times. Why? That magic number allowed the listener to hear something new for the first time, begin to become familiar with it, start thinking about it in personal terms, and finally have the name embedded in memory. (Leaders:  a new program, concept, or initiative is the business equivalent).

Remember that whatever you are introducing to your team or company has had its repetitive impact on your mind for a long time. It's something you've pondered, refined, and jotted down on notepads to the point where you are totally comfortable and familiar with it. The Rule of Radio has had its way with you. It's now your job to do the same organizationally.

According to just one of many related studies, you have to make your point in 3-6 different ways if you want your 'audience' to remember your message:

If you make a point only one time, just 10 percent of the audience will remember it. If you repeat the point six times, retention jumps to 90 percent. Without repetition, 40 percent of your audience will forget virtually everything you said within 20 minutes of your conclusion. Within 24 hours, 70 percent of the audience will forget almost 100 percent of your message.

If your company is spending big bucks on a media campaign, you are already banking on the power of spaced repetition.

Leaders can have the same impact free of charge.

Now, do it. Repeat it. Again. Again. Again. Again.

Think for a minute about some of the great speeches of history. In Winston Churchill's 'We shall never surrender!' speech, he says, 'We shall...' ELEVEN times. He says, "We shall fight...' SEVEN times. And he does this in about a one-minute segment of the speech, but this is the part we remember. Likewise, Martin Luther King's most memorable speech uses the word 'dream' NINE times and the phrase 'I have a dream...' SEVEN times, all within a three-minute time span.

Art Petty's Tip

In order to get to my tip, I have to share a bit about my own leadership journey. 

Thus far, I’ve spent 25 years exploring what it means to be a leader.  Twenty-two of those years were spent learning by doing, and at times, it seemed that I was clearly following the wrong instructions.  I’ve worked hard on my journey as a leader-in-training and I’ve got a long list of mistakes and a few scars to show for my efforts.

I also have a deep sense of satisfaction at having had the distinct privilege of serving so many great people and of having been given the opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives. 

The juxtaposition of a series of challenging life events: the loss of my mother after a long illness and the loss of a great group of colleagues through the sale of our company helped clarify for me what it means to lead.

The end of a company and the end of a treasured life forced me to step back and think and write about what I had done with my time here thus far.  It was interesting how important the people were in hindsight and how secondary the business accomplishments were.

What started out as a coping exercise turned into a labor of love as I worked with a former colleague to capture the principles and lessons that we had learned thus far in our respective two decades of leading.  The essence of our 219 pages of heart-felt best thoughts on leading is that leadership is truly a profession.  Simple words that for me carry a deep meaning.

Unlike traditional professions that have extensive educational and experiential requirements, most individuals are thrust into a position of leadership with little context for their true role and with little backing in the form of coaching and support. 

Few things in life are as challenging as leading others, and there are no courses, books, programs or silver-bullets that replace the lessons learned through experience as a leader. Experience is the only true teacher for this difficult profession.

For those interested in leading and even for those thrust into this role, the earlier that they recognize and internalize the idea that leadership is a profession, the faster they will understand how truly hard they must work to develop even a modicum of competence in this role. The more that we as experienced leaders reinforce this message and support our emerging leaders, the faster we will improve our organizations and the lives of those around us.

Treat leadership and leading as a profession, with the hard work, humility and commitment that it deserves and it will in turn reward you with a remarkable sense of contribution and ultimately, accomplishment.

Nina Simosko's Tip

In terms of a tip/quote that truly resonates with me, here is one specifically related to perseverance which we all need as leaders, especially as we deal with very challenging times such as those that exist today:

"He failed in business in '31. He was defeated for state legislator in '32.He tried another business in '33. It failed. His fiancee died in '35. He had a nervous breakdown in '36. In '43 he ran for congress and was defeated. He tried again in '48 and was defeated again. He tried running for the Senate in '55. He lost. The next year he ran for Vice President and lost. In '59 he ran for the Senate again and was defeated. In 1860, the man who signed his name A. Lincoln, was elected the 16th President of the United States. The difference between history's boldest accomplishments and its most staggering failures is often, simply, the diligent will to persevere."

This paragraph highlights the value of perseverance and the willingness to sustain oneself through difficult times in order to reach an ultimate goal.  Most leaders have had to withstand failures along their respective paths and this is a very important reminder to those who are struggling today - that better things await those who can persevere.

Resource Pointers

Here are the resource pointers. I asked each participant to pick a single, valuable, leadership resource. Here's what they chose.

David Zinger: Leaders are fallible and need to learn to fall. I find Philip Simmons has inspired me about learning to fall even though he died of ALS almost 7 years ago. Here is a link to the first chapter of this book on Learning to Fall:

Dan McCarthy: I've grown attached to the daily email newsletter SmartBrief on Leadership. It's the first newsletter I open up and scan when I get to work.

Jim Stroup: Michael Wade, the Execupundit.

Ellen Weber: One link I like to check out daily is SmartBrief on Leadership. I’ve discovered wonderful articles on current leaders and leadership topics that are well worth a read.

Steve Roesler: Jackie Cameron's blog. Jackie has been around the business world, mentors younger people as well, and always has some project going on that brings a real-life boost to her posts. She would not consider herself a "leadership" writer; I consider her someone who knows about communication and, as a result, would be a good resource for our readers.

Art Petty: Winston Churchill’s Memoirs of the Second World War.  Churchill was arguably one of history’s greatest crisis time leaders, and the insights into leadership found in his writings are priceless. For those intimidated by the multi-book set, look for the abridged version contained in one hefty, but engaging and worthwhile volume.

Nina Simosko: John Baldoni's blog.

There you have it. Post number one thousand at Three Star Leadership. I thank my friends for their contributions. They're an excellent example of the way the web can bring people and information together. I'm grateful to all the other bloggers and writers who've informed and inspired me. And I thank all of my readers for the first thousand posts.

To all of you, I remain, "Yours to command."

Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.