Revolutionary Management

I am reading a great book at the moment entitled Revolutionary Management by Alan Axelrod. This book provides insights into the leadership style and thought of John Adams.

John Adams was one of the Founding Fathers and a key architect of American independence. His was a time of momentous change.

His management style was grounded in service. He worked behind the scenes to ensure that the agenda of American independence became a reality. He was always asking the crucial leading question, “Then what?”

Top managers are people who get the right things done in the right way and in the right order to achieve the desired result. Adams epitomized this approach.

The book provides lessons in management extracted from Adams’ diaries, dissertations, instructions, discourses and papers.

I highly recommend the book to stimulate your reflection and thought about management in times of change, from first principles, through rational decision making, to successful execution.

The book is available here.

Handling Setbacks in Business

All successful business people experience failure at some time in their life and work.

How does the successful business person overcome the dark times of disappointment, frustration and failure in business?

The first thing to do is to remind yourself continually of your reason for being in business, for whom and to what end. This takes the form of rejuvenating and renewing our faith, commitment and dedication to our sense of Mission as a person and as a company.

In my web-based business, for instance, my Mission states, "The Essential Business Coach exists to help you gain insight and clarity about your business and delivers a coherent, holistic approach in developing yourself and your organization."

By reflecting on this statement almost daily, and living it all the time, I experience a strong desire that rekindles my enthusiasm for what I do and for who I am.

The second critical element that I have found essential in handling setbacks is to refocus and get very clear about the big picture Vision that I hold for my business activities and enterprises.

For me, this is about my ongoing transformation as a business person and the development of the organizations that I am involved with. Getting in touch with my Vision enables me to see beyond the setbacks of the present to a quality world future.

The third element requires thinking strategically and cascading this into the detail of the business, so that actual progress is made toward the Vision that we hold in a planned manner. This requires honest, hard work.

By getting things done, one step at a time, we find ourselves moving forward again. By holding fast to our Vision, in keeping with the Values that we embody, we move through these low times in our work and come out the other side more resilient, determined and focused.

Keeping a Journal

Writing our observations down is a key skill to develop as a business person. This is because much of our work occurs within highly verbal environments.

I have noticed that, in a very busy schedule, a great deal of a manager’s time is taken up with lots of small conversations that last about five minutes.

It is critical then, for the high performing manager, to take the time to note the salient points that are being made during the course of a day. A journal also provides a way of recording our own observations about what is going on around us.

By writing down our thoughts, we assist in our memory of them. At a later date, these notes serve as a wonderful stimulus for new business ideas and changes in our own ways of doing business.

I encourage you to have a journal. It will assist you no end in examining your own behavior. If you practice using a journal, you will find that you improve your own performance, on a daily basis, on the road to excellence.

Values – A Code to Live By

The reason for having a clear set of values is that it enables us to make effective decisions and keep a clear mind, even in the most turbulent circumstances.

Values give us focus, and they are a means for measuring both our own behavior and the behavior of the people that we work with and encounter in our business.

Each day, I reflect on at least one of the core values that I hold and practice it throughout the day.

For instance, I value silence. I find that by focusing on this value during meetings I am able to control my emotions and maintain self-control. I will often make notes in my journal and reflect on them over the course of the meeting to ensure that I keep myself in check and only speak when appropriate.

By practicing and living up to my set of values, I find I achieve great results in my relationships with other people, as well as with the financial rewards that ensue.

Benjamin Franklin, whose writing I find both enjoyable and instructive, has a wonderful section in his autobiography around thirteen virtues that he practiced to temper the conduct of his business.

I encourage you to avail yourself of his wise counsel. You can access his writing on the subject of virtues at www.school-for-champions.com.

When you focus on your core values and live by them, you will be pleasantly surprised by the positive impact this has on your personal and professional development.