What happened to integrity in leadership?

In our business we are guided every day by 14 Points of Culture.

What does that mean?

At ActionCOACH, we think it’s vitally important we play at 100% within certain guidelines and “rules of the game” … and by following these points we do just that.

There’s also a lot of evidence to show improved performance can be tied to a positive and highly accountable company culture, and I like to think our success is a further reflection of that.

What are the 14 Points of Culture?

You can see them all right here …

ActionCOACH’s 14 Points of Culture

While each of the 14 Points are important, two in my mind really stand out … and those are Ownership and Integrity.

To reiterate these points …

Ownership means that I am truly responsible for my actions and outcomes and own everything that takes place in my work and my life.

I am accountable for my results and I know that for things to change, first I must change.

Integrity means I always speak the truth. What I promise is what I deliver. I only ever make agreements with myself and others that I am willing and intend to keep.

I communicate potential broken agreements at the first opportunity and I clear up all broken agreements immediately.

Anyone who knows me knows I take these very seriously and they have helped me become a strong leader for my team.

But I also see many in business and in our own culture moving away from those ideals and, in the process, eroding the foundations of the collective culture we share.

It makes me wonder, what do we expect from our leaders and heroes?

Do we expect them to be strong and show integrity that the rest of us should emulate, or do we expect them to act as badly as the worst of us?

In my opinion, too often it’s the latter and because of this the ideals of integrity are diminishing on a daily basis.

Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich and future Hall of Fame pitcher Roger Clemens are two examples of leaders in their respective professions in the spotlight who seem to have misunderstood their roles and the power of their positions.

In doing so, they’ve shown absolutely no integrity by refusing to take ownership of their actions.

Blagojevich has been the poster child for political corruption, while Clemens is being indicted for allegedly lying to Congress and refuses to come clean despite facing criminal indictments.

While these two men shouldn’t be role models, they are in the public eye; they are also well-known and indicative of the attitude that many have concerning heroes and leaders.

Blagojevich’s alleged criminal actions were bad, but his lack of integrity and ownership in his failure to accept any responsibility for his predicament, while continuing to do the rounds on a media tour, seems somewhat sociopathic.

When the charges were first brought, Blagojevich said he would do whatever it takes to clear his name.

He also claimed that the charges brought against him were nothing but the product of a witch hunt by a politically motivated prosecutor.

But Blagojevich was taped discussing Obama’s Senate seat, referring to it as “F’ng golden,” and not something he was going to give away for free.

From those statements (along with hours of other recordings), it’s pretty clear that Blagojevich’s intentions weren’t completely honorable and he expected some personal reward from whomever he bestowed the seat on.

It is hard to dispute hard evidence like audio tapes, but every step of the way Blagojevich has tried.

He claims that he never took the stand in his recent trial because the prosecution didn’t prove their case, yet 11 of 12 jurors voted to convict him on all 24 counts he faced.

He was convicted on just one count (lying to the FBI), but the prosecution plans to retry Blagojevich, while the former governor plans to appeal his lone conviction.

Blagojevich’s actions while governor are enough to show he lacks the necessary integrity to be a leader, but his constant use of the media to perpetuate lies and claim the high ground crystallizes his utter lack of integrity and maybe even an underlying narcissism.

But it isn’t just the political world where lack of ownership and integrity is affecting society.

It is on full display in the world of sports, especially in the aftermath of Major League Baseball’s steroid scandal.

“Let me be clear. I have never taken steroids or HGH,” Roger Clemens told a House of Representatives committee investigating performance enhancing drugs in 2008.

Unfortunately for Clemens, there are mounds of evidence to the contrary.

His former personal trainer claims to have seen him use steroids (as have some former teammates), including former good friend and current Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte, who may be called to testify against Clemens.

Despite all the evidence pointing the other way, Clemens has been sticking to his story since the indictment.

“I never took HGH or Steroids. And I did not lie to Congress,” Clemens said on Twitter recently. “I look forward to challenging the government’s accusations, and hope people will keep an open mind until trial. I appreciate all the support I have been getting. I am happy to finally have my day in court.”

Clemens is taking a major risk by letting his indictments go to trial, rather than taking a plea. But a plea would mean that Clemens is guilty no matter what he says, so he must continue to fabricate a story because the truth will probably not set him free.

Clemens is charged with six felony counts, including one count of obstructing justice, three for making false statements and two for perjury.

The future Hall of Famer and seven-time Cy Young Award winner faces a combined maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1.5 million fine if convicted on all counts, although even if convicted he probably wouldn’t face such a steep punishment.

A more likely outcome if Clemens is convicted should be a sentence within the range of 15-21 months.

So what do the sagas of Blagojevich and Clemens tell us about the culture we live in?

We are suffering from a lack of integrity because the people who are role models and leaders are completely unaccountable and refuse to take responsibility for what they’ve done.

Ownership and Integrity have eroded to the point where people can’t distinguish the real thing from the fake.

We elect governors who openly solicit monetary gain for government positions.

We have sports heroes who not only aren’t role models, but are liars who refuse to tell the truth even when confronted with overwhelming evidence.

Today, the people who some consider heroes and leaders are corrupt Wall Street CEOs who lose billions, yet still retire rich.

Basically, thanks to the lack of integrity we see on a daily basis, we have lost faith in our heroes and faith in our society and in human nature in general.

That’s why I think it’s so important that we all try to live at 100%, not only in our work life, but in every aspect of our lives.

We won’t ever be, after all, perfect.

But having and following and actually living by good values and strong guidelines (like our own 14 Points of Culture) … while actually being accountable to those guidelines … is a great way to start.

Jodie Shaw

Learnings from Conference …

After having a couple of weeks to get back to the States after our Global Conference in Barcelona, Spain, I’ve had the opportunity to reflect on some of the education and learnings (as well as some of my own takeaways) from this year’s event.

First, I want to congratulate all of those coaches who won awards at the event and who were recognized by their peers for excellence and results.

Business Coaching is one of the most challenging, yet rewarding, professions in the world, and I’m always proud of the great work our coaches do for their clients.

I suppose the biggest new initiative that came out of Conference is our guarantee.

I’ll have more on this later (our official launch is slated for October 1) … but accountability for our own system is something we’ve never really leveraged or advertised in an overt or commercial way – until now.

Not only will our guarantee help our coaches in their own sales process take the risk out of that process, it is also a testament to the innovation our company continues to produce as a leader of our industry and category.

So … lesson number one is finding ways to take the perceived (or actual) buying risk out of your product may be challenging, but if you can find a way to do it, you just may propel your company into a new realm of success.

The second lesson I took from conference is how business coaching impact communities … and this was really evident in our discussions about the results of our past year’s Coaching for a Cause campaign.

The second year of this campaign is scheduled to begin (coincidentally) on October 1 and will run through March 15, 2011.

Last year, our coaches helped the non-profits they coaches raise an additional $3.4 million in donations (beating our stated goal of $2.5 million).

Not only did the extra donations greatly help non-profits in need, the greater benefit is that those organizations now have the knowledge and tools in place to replicate their results … even if they decide to go on their own without a coach.

The good news is … many of those non-profits want to remain as part of the program, and many more have waited a year just be part (as they may have missed the cut-off last year).

Still others have only recently heard about the program, and are extremely eager to join.

This year’s goal of $5 million in extra donations is a stretch … but doable.

Beyond the numbers, the stories shared by our coaches who drove the program last year, and the transformations in business practices they were able to guide and achieve, are truly remarkable, and serve as an inspiration that drives us to continue to share our system with as many non-profits (and for-profits!) as possible.

Finally, I was impressed with our coaches’ success in getting results for clients (particularly in the U.S.) in the face of massive economic uncertainty and an overall economy that just seems stuck in first gear.

While many Americans don’t realize it, other parts of the world are very strong economically, which means our coaches in Australia and New Zealand are dealing with an entirely different set of issues and challenges with their clients.

In the U.S., however, our coaches are working day in and day out with owners in economically recessed (and in some cases, depressed) areas … and in turn are helping them generate more sales, more cashflow and in some cases, more profit, than ever before.

Not only does this positively impact individual owners and their teams, those results give credence and credibility to our system … and allows our coaches to in turn expand their network of success stories and referrals.

That is extremely heartening, and a great contrast to the headlines that greeted me on my return to Las Vegas.

Which leads me to the biggest lesson of all …

If you don’t know what business coaching is … find out right now.

(This link will help:  ActionCOACH.com)

If you’ve met with a coach but haven’t hired one yet … hire one today.

And if you are working with a coach but are running into challenges or obstacles … tackle them today and move on to things that will make you money.

Business coaching works … and ActionCOACH guarantees its system of coaching can and will work for you.

(OK … officially after October 1!) …

So don’t wait for help for your business any longer.

ActionCOACH business coaching will work for you.

The only question is … will you work with an ActionCOACH?

Jodie Shaw

P.S.
Go here  to get more information on Coaching for a Cause …

Coaching for a Cause

P.P.S.
By the way, our 2011 Global Conference is scheduled for Miami …

You can get a glimpse of what’s to come here …

2011 Global Conference in Miami

JS

No credit … cash only! (Otherwise known as “Swipe Fees Part 2”) …

Here’s more on how “swipe fees” can really add up for a business, and how many companies (like high end restaurants) simply won’t take plastic anymore …

Swipe fees … (part 2) …

Note also how some of those fees can end up costing more for companies than health insurance, and you can see the importance of knowing all of your numbers, all of the time.

However …

Before you go and cancel out all of your merchant agreements with the credit card companies, you should also take into account the opportunity costs of your customers NOT having the ability to pay with plastic.

For some businesses, it might make sense to raise prices to cover the cost of the fees, instead of taking away from customers the ability to stretch their purchasing power literally at the point of purchase.

Again, your decisions should be based on your numbers AND the growth potential of your current business, customer base and resources.

It’s always better to find ways to grow your top line and bottom line versus cutting expenses.

So while it might make sense for certain companies to see how “swipe fees” may or may not be impacting their profits, it also makes sense to see how a few percentage points of growth in some key drivers in your business can make more difference than saving those points on the expense side.

And you can see for yourself how that can work for you and your business at this link right here …

5 Ways iPhone app

Jodie Shaw

Tuesday’s Answer … Branding or leads? What do you think?

So … what’s more important for a company (including yours) … branding?

Or leads?

Many creative types who work in ad agencies (and who love to spend an owner’s money) would say branding.

After all, without a brand, how do you drive customers to your business?

But think of it another way …

Without leads … how do you build a brand?

In the world of ActionCOACH, marketing isn’t creative or high concept layouts.

Marketing the ActionCOACH way is simply math.

If an ad generates cost effective leads for your business, it’s a good ad.

If it doesn’t, it’s not.

This is a hard lesson for a lot of marketing people and agency types to deal with in working with our company (or even in our company!) … and our clients.

Because as a marketing-driven CEO, I only care about tactics and strategies that drive leads into a company … at a profit.

That’s the only way to turn your marketing “expenses” into “investments”.

After all, could you afford to continually buy a share of stock for $10 and sell it for $5?

So … why would you continue to buy an ad or run a marketing campaign that doesn’t make you money?

Branding or leads …

Which is more important for you?

Jodie Shaw

“Will the health care tax credit help small businesses?”

That seems to be the question a lot of small business owners and business journalists are asking …

How much will reform really cost?

And here’s another article on the same subject …

Baltimore Business Journal …

Months have gone by since this bill was passed and signed, but there is still a lot of confusion over costs and the overall impact on small business.

Maybe these articles can help you answer some of these questions … and I’m sure there will be more information moving forward on this critical issue to business profitability.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate is still above 9% … and it’s hard for business owners to give health insurance coverage to people who aren’t employed.

But that’s a subject for a future post (or two)!

Jodie Shaw

A shocking stat, an invaluable skill …

Here’s an example of a stat our company would love to see reversed over the next generation of business owners:

“Fewer business owners said they plan to put off taking a vacation, according to a new survey. In the Discover Small Business Watch study, 51% said they would delay vacation plans, down from 58% a year ago. In addition, the number of small-business owners who say they work six days a week has fallen to 56% from 61% last year.”

There’s more here …

Entrepreneur.com/Daily Dose blog

… but it goes without saying more business owners are finding that the dream of business ownership sometimes doesn’t match the reality.

People go into business for any number of reasons, but most of the owners we work with at ActionCOACH cite more personal freedom and a better lifestyle as their two main reasons for striking out on their own.

Obviously, if you are part of the more than half of surveyed business owners saying you need to postpone your vacation, the “more personal freedom” side of the equation needs some work.

My solution for you, of course, is to get a Business Coach.

One of our “tests” for owners is to ask them “point blank” what would happen if they just up and left their company for the next three weeks.

Would the company survive?

From these numbers, the answer most owners have to that question is obvious.

Most owners simply don’t have the trust in their own abilities as business people, or have not been able to systemize or leverage their knowledge in any meaningful or significant way to leave their shop “unattended” for weeks (or even days) at a time.

The best way to get more time in your business?

Systemize and train your team so you can delegate tasks, or outsource those activities that you’re spending too much time on and could be handled more effectively by a professional (bookkeeping being one of them).

More importantly than that?

Learn once and for all “how to” run a better business.

How?

Find a mentor. Read a book. Get an ActionCOACH.

Look at it this way:  Once you really learn how to run a business, you can apply that knowledge over and over again, no matter what business you are in.

How powerful is that?

In fact, if one day a magical genie appeared and promised to show you how to consistently generate profit in any business … would you take up the offer?

How valuable would that skill be now, tomorrow and in the future … and how could that knowledge benefit your family and employees?

Well, that’s exactly what we teach at ActionCOACH.

I certainly don’t suffer from a lack of certainty or confidence, and a big part of that is from knowing that I could go anywhere in the world and in time, make any company profitable – or steer the owner of a losing business into a different, but more profitable one.

It’s not a boast … just a fact – based on the “test and measure” of our system over the last two decades.

So if you are in the majority of business owners who don’t want to take a vacation … learn how to get more time for yourself away from your business.

While you’re at it, learn how to get more money in your business as well.

It’s a skill that will reward you for years to come.

So … go get that skill (and some other valuable business building skills) here …

Your FREE business coaching session …

… with a free coaching session with an ActionCOACH Business Coach in your area.

It’s free. It’s easy. There’s no cost or obligation.

And it just may be the best hour you’ve spent on your business in a very long time.

One more thing I can guarantee!

Jodie Shaw

Bottlenecks to productivity …

Every quarter, we have a TEAM training session based on a theme, and for our second quarter it was based on the book “How Full is Your Bucket?” by Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton (which you can get here … 800 CEO Read) …

For our third quarter, we will be reading Brian Tracy’s “Eat That Frog!” … in which Tracy systematically presents proven ways to boost productivity for yourself and your teams.

As a franchisor, ActionCOACH is by definition a business system that is licensed to our franchisees under our trademark … and working within a system and from a system is a great way to leverage your own productivity.

In fact, franchising is a great way for first-time business owners to start and run their own companies, simply because there is a proven system and methodology in place for a new owner to follow, rather than wasting time, effort and resources trying to figure things out on their own.

The “short-cut” to results (if you could call it that) … is in the system as a guide to getting an outcome.

And the more clear you are about what you need to do … the easier it is to do those things that will get you the results you want.

In fact, there are three areas you can start to work on today to improve your own personal and business productivity … and they involve getting or putting together:

 1. Better systems (or starting the process of systemizing your activities and operations)
 2. Better communication (both externally to others and internally to self)
 3. Better training (meaning “learning” comes before “earning” … in any career and any business)

Bottlenecks in any or all of these areas negatively impacts productivity.

In turn, work on any or all of these areas will start to move you from being stuck in process to starting to produce good results … the type of results that can move you ahead miles when others are limping along.

In our business, we use the term “leverage” a lot … and all leverage means in this context is “getting more with less” or “dividing to multiply.”

Can you get more with less if you have better systems in place?

Could you do more with less if you communicated better with your team, your vendors … or yourself?

Could you divide activities and multiply results if you (or your team) had better training in technology or delegation?

Think about those questions in terms of where you are right now, and where you want to be … in a month, in three months or in a year.

Then start with better training … and start with the person you see every day in the mirror.

Because “things” will only change for the better if you do …

More on this in future posts …

Jodie Shaw

Finding positives in the BP negatives …

What’s the value of humility and admitting fault in increasing the power of your own personal leadership?

Incalculable, from my perspective.

If anything can be learned from the steps and missteps in BP’s PR efforts (or lack thereof) … it is that accountability, humility and acceptance of responsibility are important factors in getting people and audiences on your side in a leadership role.

Another good take on this can be found here …

Forbes article …

… and also reinforces the power of taking personal ownership of not only successes … but failures as well.

Understanding the psychology behind one of the great lines from the Forbes article, “where have today’s golden parachutes and the ‘I’m not to blame,’ ‘I didn’t do it’ or ‘I didn’t know’ excuses, gotten us?’ … is that if we have the power to accept personal ownership and personal responsibility for events and outcomes, we have the power to exert more credible and more persuasive influence in a leadership role.

Few people accept the premise of an all-knowing, all powerful, omnipresent leadership style that only is all-knowing, all powerful and omnipresent when things are going well, only to claim “I’m not to blame,” “I didn’t do it” or “I didn’t know” when the chips are down or when things go wrong.

In fact, a well-rounded leader understands that in order to build a bigger vision and rapport, he or she needs to operate from a set of core values that includes integrity, consistency and congruency.

The best leaders lead by not only letting people know “what could be,” they also let them know “what is.”

And if the “what is” is bad or negative, denying that “fact” is evidence the leader is, at a fairly deep level, in denial of “reality.”

So … better to own up, even if it is painful (it is … and always will be).

But the short-term pain in admitting a wrong or a failure isn’t as bad as the long-term consequence and pain of going around the truth or operating from denial of the facts at hand.

As embattled and possibly soon-to-be ex-BP CEO Tony Hayward has so painfully learned (hopefully learned, that is …) over the past two months.

Jodie Shaw

More anti-business “help”?

I won’t say the following is troubling, or a case of “too little, too late,” just a case of “interesting” …

“The House has approved a $30 billion government fund available to community banks to increase lending to small businesses — a move expected to help create jobs and spark economic growth. While House Democrats project that banks would use the fund to leverage up to $300 billion in loans, Republicans criticized the bill as another bailout for banks that would do little for small businesses.”

Regardless of the new and stimulating proposals moving through the Congress, I’m not sure the current overall anti-business atmosphere will do anything but prolong the our chances for real recovery.

A big part of this is the fact that entrepreneurial access to credit is still a problem, three years into our current slow-down:

Small business credit woes …

Entrepreneurs thrive (as do companies) when the “Rules of the Game” are clear and leadership from the top encourages risk taking and innovation.

Yes, policy should hold companies accountable, but it shouldn’t hold them hostage, or force them into deals and schemes that make no economic sense from a profitability point-of-view.

Interesting that in a capitalistic-oriented system, and in dealing with money generally, we use the following words:

• Trust
• Appreciation (as in capital appreciation)
• Gain
• Profit
• Maturity (as in bonds or other financial instruments coming to maturity) …
• Credit

However, it seems as if the policy makers are more interested in finding ways to “fix” all the opposites of these words, instead of finding ways to boost incentives to get more of these positives.

The politicians don’t seem to remember (or know) that small business leads all recoveries, most innovations and is the driving force behind every economic boom in the modern business era.

Washington’s continuing denial of this fact means the U.S. slowdown will continue … and will continue longer than necessary.

Jodie Shaw

53 questions to help you identify your ideal customer …

Have you seen the movie “The Terminator” where the robot character scans faces in a crowd to identify his potential target?

That is what I like to think every business owner should do … at least if he or she want to successfully grow a business.

Taking a page from “Marketing 101,” the business owner who successfully can identify his or her target or core market is miles ahead of the owner who relies on a “shot gun” approach.

I may be more oriented to this way of thinking based on my background; however, the further I’ve gone up through the ranks of marketing, finance and operations, the more I see the value of this “marketing-oriented” approach to running a business.

So how does this process of target identification work?

Back when I worked in advertising, the pitch team would spend hours getting into the head of consumers. One campaign I remember pretty well was for athletic shoes targeted towards the “Tween” market.

Three weeks prior to the pitch, I remember spending time at a video arcade, skateboard park, reading multiple titles and issues of magazines aimed at this audience, conducting focus group discussions, doing online surveys, researching the internet and reading huge university studies on our target.

Usually after that … the ad agency within the “pitch team” would deliver all of that information to the entire team, who would come up with a “character” … or a visual representation of our ideal “customer.”

I daresay most ad agency people are very visually-oriented, so having an actual person to identify with is an important step in the identification and the campaign process.

To accomplish this, the team would put together a series of photos (usually just a model from a magazine), together with words glued onto “a mood board” of this person, as well as their likes and dislikes, including what they read, what they wear, their interests and hobbies, their fears and so on.

The next step was to give this newly formed and identified character a personality … and usually that personality or image would best be represented by a famous person or persona.

Sometimes the pitch team would even come up with a song that resonated with the attitude of the subject … and play it over and over during creative brainstorming.

Then and only then does work on the campaign begin …

And you thought all of the work … (if you could even call it that!) … at the typical agency was glamorous and fun!

So … what kinds of questions come up during this process to help narrow our target and make sure our message is effective with our target and our niche?

Here’s a way for you to tap into the types of questions top marketers ask about their target audience.

Not only is this an interesting exercise for all of us to do on a periodic basis, it just might help you unlock some key attributes that exist in your target already … keys that you can in turn target with a product or service you have in your business right now.

Now, get ready to get in the “mind space” of your target audience for a while.

Below are some questions asked of a typical brainstorming session in an ad agency that reveal some very interesting answers about your own target market …

1. Is the target male or female typically?
2. How old are they?
3. Are they married? If yes, how long have they been married for? Is this their first marriage?
4. Do they have any kids? What ages are they?
5. Do they own or rent their home?
6. How many rooms in their home?
7. Is this far away from where they grew up?
8. How many cars do they have?
9. What are the make and models of these cars?
10. What level of education did they achieve?
11. What was their main motivation purchasing a particular product or service?
12. How far do they live from your business?
13. How do they get to your business?
14. If they get to your business by car, what do they listen to when they drive if anything?
15. What magazines do they like to read?
16. What are their past times and hobbies?
17. Do they play sports? If so which ones? Who is the leading sports hero for these sports?
18. Do they gamble?
19. How many hours a week do they work?
20. How many times do they vacation each year?
21. Where do they go to?
22. What sort of technology do they own at work?
23. What sort of technology do they own at home?
24. What sort of car, home, technology do they aspire to own?
25. How do they dress for work each day?
26. Do they have the internet at home and work?
27. Are they an early or late adopter of technology?
28. What sort of music do they listen to?
29. Do they drink alcohol? What would they order as a drink?
30. What newspaper do they read if anything?
31. What type of movies do they like?
32. How many books have they read in the past 12 months? Are they fiction or non-fiction?
33. Do they wear glasses?
34. Are they bi-lingual?
35. Do they have a political affiliation?
36. Where to they work? Or, do they own their own business? If so, is it home based, office based or store based?
37. If it is store based or office based, is it located in the downtown business district, a retail mall or shopping center, business park or an industrial park?
38. What do they worry about?
39. What do they fear?
40. What makes them happy?
41. What makes them sad?
42. What would embarrass them?
43. What do they wish they had less of?
44. What do they wish they had more of?
45. Do they own a pet/s? What sort of pet? How many?
46. How often do they fly? Is it domestic travel or international travel? What is the purpose of that travel (business or recreation)?
47. How fit and healthy are they?
48. What celebrity, sports hero would they like to be?
49. How much do they take home each month?
50. Are they spenders? Or are they thrifty with their resources?
51. Their best friend would describe them (in 5 words as …)
52. Their team would describe them (in 5 words as) …
53. If you asked them how they felt most days, they would say that they were …

The benefits of this type of exercise are numerous … and we’ll talk more about those benefits in upcoming posts.

However, the main benefit is to give you a better idea who is it you are trying to sell to … and if what you are currently selling is what your target (read “ideal”) customer really wants to buy.

Plus, it can help you start to segment your customers into “A’s, B’s, C’s and D’s,” … a powerful exercise that can turn your company around very quickly for the better.

Wouldn’t it be great to only sell to “A” and “B” type customers?

Those who are loyal and looking for a business that appreciates them and gives them great value with every transaction?

Those who tell their friends how great of a company you have?

Those who don’t beat you up on price all the time, and who don’t mind paying a premium to do business with you?

It is great … but you can only get to those top customers by doing your own homework and identifying who they are, and what they want, need and desire.

Much more on this in upcoming posts …

Jodie Shaw