Who is a leader? A leader is more than just a manager, a leader raises up those around them to help them meet their highest potential. A leader must learn to motivate and inspire those around them for the greater good. Who exactly is, or has the potential to be, a leader? YOU
Leaders are found in every industry, some are labeled as Director, or Chief, or Head, or Lead, but most others are leaders because of what they do… they transcend the plaque on their door. Leaders are athletes, coaches, consultants, educators, engineers, lawyers, politicians, professors, tradespersons, etc… just to name a few. The effectiveness of a leader weighs heavily on the strength of their relationships and their ability to maintain clear focus.
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
– Maya Angelou
Traditional relationship-building strategies to achieve these goals are becoming increasingly difficult to employ in a world that lacks as much IRL time and attempts to maximize video chats and asynchronous communications. How then do we lead in a time/place of continual disruption? Hybrid work? And a lack of good ole fashion face-time? Leaders need help.
“There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self.”
– Ben Franklin
Globalization is here, are you prepared? Effective and efficient leadership strategy is a cycle of investing and reinvesting in people, teams, and the organization. Leaders must continuously reshape spending as they realign to social changes and market forces. A rapidly changing landscape often requires that we, as leaders, shift our focus, build the plane while flying it, and hold ourselves accountable for the end result. Leaders point to a higher purpose as a guiding light, a goal that followers will agree to as greater than any one of their individual pursuits yet very important to every individual. What is this focus? Money? Posterity? Faith? The Planet? All or some of these? Determining your goals as a leader is challenging. Leaders need help.
Asking for help and/or knowing we need it is tough. So I will provide the required guidance on that: YOU NEED HELP.
Help is on the way
I had the privilege for writing the introduction to Dr. Bruce Piasecki’s latest book: A New Way To Wealth.
This short but smart new book is based on Dr. Piasecki’s 40 years as the owner and CEO of a management consulting firm, the AHC Group. A clear message in his work is the power of doing more with less. Piasecki’s firm has helped Toyota enter the global market with their hybrid powertrain. They helped Walmart enter Africa efficiently, with strategic partners across five years. In recent years, they worked on competitive frugality with such globe-spanning giants as bp on its energy transformation, and Merck and Walgreens on their needs to flourish in a time of Covid19.
Piasecki’s career is about the art of competitive frugality. Dr. Piasecki grew up a factory kid on Long Island, made his way to Cornell as a basketball star, and up the corporate stairwells of the firms noted in his client history and ongoing membership workshops known as the Corporate Affiliates Workshop Series.
This book is the help you need to prepare for learning to lead effectively in our changing society, navigate times when intervention is required, and leverage your leadership skills to use social capital to create a culture of frugality during tough economic times.
What you are about to experience is the ultimate summary of his career: a down-to-earth, Bruce Piasecki readable, and optimistic narrative in nine chapters and a prelude that sing.
But wait, there’s more!
Dr. Piasecki’s ground-breaking work has informed the creation of a meaningful leadership learning series where we develop an understanding of the how Doing More with Less IS Success through three key principles:
#1 Social Capital: do not forget the people and the rules in the act of making money
#2 Competitive Frugality: return to a classic sense of productive restraint
#3 Competitive Advantage: only you can find your competitive advantage for creating wealth
“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”
– Benjamin Franklin
Ask people what a good leader is and you will no doubt get many answers, a leader means many things to different people… but a leader means something to people. The call to leadership is a journey that need not be taken alone. Join us and Dr. Piasecki as we amplify your good practice and refine your areas in need of improvement. You can be an effective leader. We are here to help!