Helpful questions for your life and business

What has an Orange to do with Leadership?

Nuno F. Assis — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:17:04 +0000

Dear Readers,

After looking more closely in the last issue at the leadership principles Barack Obama used to win his election in the USA and at what you can learn from them for your day-to-day business, today I would like together with you to look at another important leadership principle you need not only need for “self-management” but also in order to help your subordinates develop from level 3 to level 4. Without understanding this principle it will be very difficult for you to lead a colleague from the third level onto the fourth level of development So that you understand the significance of the precept, I will have to give a bit of background information and briefly explain the concept of responsibility. Therefore I will begin with a question that may appear unusual:

“Why is an orange far in advance of most managers?”

You will now say: “Mr. Assis, what kind of question is that?” Now, I can understand why you react in this way – but give yourself the time to think about it for a moment. Let us repeat the question again:

“Why is an orange far in advance of most managers?”

An interesting question, because why should a fruit be in advance of us? Now, I mean in its behavior or its reactions? Any idea?(...)
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The leadership principles of Barack Obama

Nuno F. Assis — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:13:01 +0000

Dear Readers,

Before we look at the 4th level of development more closely, In this issue I would like to make a short digression with you and look more closely at the leadership qualities of a well-known personality. I am certain you will ask „Why?“ – and I would like to answer this question immediately. Having now looked more closely at the first 3 levels of development, the question often arises: “How can I now best implement that?” An initial response can be found in the analysis of leadership qualities of other famous leading personalities. But this also brings about a certain danger. When we look at the abilities of another great leader, we tend to compare ourselves with them. But when we compare ourselves we often miss the opportunity to learn because, as is the case with most people, their self-confidence is not strongly developed enough to make a comparison WITHOUT immediately looking for faults and mistakes in themselves. For this reason we will today only make a short digression and look at only three essential principles of leadership used by this leader and to which he owes his above-average and historically unique success.

A few months after the almost landslide victory of Barack Obama in the American presidential election we are faced with an historic moment: the first black president of the United States. But is that all we can learn from this election campaign? Today‘s view and analysis of this success is not about an ideology. The election is over. And while many believe that John McCain‘s economic program would have made more sense for business, particularly with regard to free trade, the tax policy and when it came to creation of jobs, almost everybody is nevertheless happy (coupled with a lot of hope) about the presidency of Barack Obama. Because his election campaign slogan was an “America for everybody” as he so passionately promised again and again. But enough about politics. Today I would like to examine with you what lessons you can draw as, a businessman or women, as an executive or as a private individual from McCain‘s defeat and Obama‘s victory. Because when we look closely three principles or lessons can be drawn which are valid for both the “politics & election campaign” stage and also for business and indeed our lives. And it was precisely on these three lessons that Barack Obama systematically built up his victory.(...)
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The third leadership level of development

Nuno F. Assis — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:59:14 +0000

Dear Readers,

After looking at the first two levels of development in the last issues, today we want to examine more closely the third level of development. However, before you concern yourself with the details of the third level of development, there are a number of questions you should look at more closely in order to check your own progress and your personal development.

• How many of your company have you identified on the second level of development?

• What have you done to support and challenge the people in your team that are on the first level of development?

• How have you increased the commitment of the members of your company on the second level of development?

• Which of your measures have had concretely measurable positive results?

• Which measures have had no concretely measurable results?

As you see each level of development leads to activities and actions you ought to implement as a leader in order to advance the growth of your company or organization. In addition, it is important that you use a duplicable system because in network marketing your success is directly dependent on the competence and commitment of your company. Therefore after reading each article you should spend a few minutes writing down your thoughts (whether on paper or on your computer) about how you can implement the tips and strategies so that they become a tactic you can use every day.(...)
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The second leadership level of development

Nuno F. Assis — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:21:38 +0000

Dear Readers,

How many of your employees have you identified in the first level of development? If you did not have time to look at your employees more closely and to judge (yes, managers do have to make judgments sometimes) which of your employees are on the first level of development, then you should make up for this now because you will require this in order to understand the second level of development. Therefore it will be best if you take a few minutes out and simply take a piece of paper or the back of an envelope or a paper serviette – and make a list of your employees. After their names write a 1 if you think this employee is on the first level of development. And what should you do if you cannot write? Well, for that case you should always carry a small dictation machine in your pocket and record your thoughts. If you have a cellphone then look at the menu. Nearly all current cellphone models have a speech recording function.

You are certainly now asking yourself why this article is beginning like this, aren‘t you? Well, as a manager you should understand that you are always managing. At all times and everywhere. Management is not just something that happens in a traditional hierarchy from the boss to the employee, but in every direction. And so too from an author to his readers. As a reader of this new column, (totally independently of your personal level of experience) you are also starting at level 1 and if you just refer in the last issue of OBTAINER to what we worked out together about how to deal with people who are on the first level of development you will understand the beginning of this article much better. Always remember: Leadership is action and not position – or formulated differently:

It is your actions that make you a manager, not you title or your position.(...)
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The first leadership level of development

Nuno F. Assis — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:04:31 +0000

Dear reader,

leadership is action and not position – a guiding principle that most managers underestimate and often use incorrectly in practice. As early as the job interview the manager can do a lot of things right – and just as easily commit decisive mistakes that lead to negative developments in the course of working together. Employees are frequently “sucked into” a company and convinced with a multitude of promises and undertakings to start collaborating in network marketing without the manager taking into consideration the fact that all of these will at a later point fall back on the manager like a boomerang. Because the actions of a manager make him into a manager in the eyes of an employee – and definitely not a pleasant-sounding title on a visiting card or a position in a marketing plan. A bitter truth that many “managers” do not want to accept.

In practice managers are confronted with a multiplicity of management styles and in view of the variety the decision about which style is correct is difficult. Just take a look at the following list of management of different management styles and consider how much you know about each particular management style:(...)
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The right recruiting process

Nuno F. Assis — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:45:02 +0000

Dear readers,

in the last issue we concerned ourselves with the search for the white stone and you received a number of questions that were intended to help you make more of your life and to conduct yourself better. For only people who can conduct themselves properly are also in a position to lead others. Again and again I am asked by top managers at lectures, in workshops or during coaching how to find the right employee and what you need to do, particularly in network marketing, to make employees successful. But what does the management of employees boil down to?

Phases & erroneous beliefs

Employees go through phases in their development. In each phase they require a different form of cooperation and management by their manager. And precisely here lies the stumbling block for successful management of employees. Many managers attempt to treat their employees as they are treated by their superiors. Or they do not take enough time to manage their employees properly and use a combination of carrot and stick. Or they try to treat all employees the same. The only thing that is right in the last method mentioned is that in some form or other there must be a system that allows the to manage the employees systematically. But nothing else. It is important not to succumb to the erroneous belief that all employees must be treated the same. On the contrary.

Although it is important to make management systematic, it should be done with so much individuality that each employee can pass through all the 5 plus 1 phases of development and so develop the greatest potential possible. There are many myths and erroneous opinions about the topic management of employees and most are based on the fact that employees that have sold well and have built up a solid product business can be made into leaders through the career plan of their company – or that this is often their only chance to generate more income and to get more recognition in the company. But precisely in this step lies the challenge for the employee and for the company. Because not everybody who can sell well is also able to be a good manager.

Responsibility of the company

Since Network Marketing consists to a very large extent of managing, training and building up employees and teams, every company in this industry has a great responsibility. Many companies try to measure up to this responsibility by transferring to their most successful s the responsibility of training and instructing the new s in their own structures and in the whole company in the framework of workshops, training sessions and or appearances. In and of itself a well-intentioned system which nevertheless shows weaknesses in the same places as previously the development of sales personnel to s did. Because what has functioned successfully with one employee will not necessarily also function with another.

In the course of my daily work I experience again and again that employees who have the potential to become good s get messed up because attempts are made to provide them with methods that have functions elsewhere in the company but which the new is incapable of putting into practice. Because just as one employee passes through different phases of development so also an passes through various phases of development. For this reason it is an important task of each company to create a management system that allows people who are not so talented to achieve above-average performance and supports them in their development.(...)
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Leadership – our responsability

Nuno F. Assis — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:29:44 +0000

Dear Readers,

A few weeks have now passed since the new year began. Probably – like many others – you have resolved to do some things in 2009. In the meantime the daily grind has caught up with you again. Let us take the opportunity together to think about what has become of your resolutions. For this purpose I would like to ask you some specific questions. Questions that I ask myself again and again. Before we come to that I invite you to consider some fundamental ideas.

Our lives

You will probably agree with me that an important purpose of our lives is to leave the world a little bit better than we found it. For this and other tasks we have through the social revolutions of the last 30 years received an unimaginable abundance of new liberties. For some of us this new freedom is exciting; for others it means dreadful insecurity. I believe that the great losers of the new unbelievable liberties on offer are particularly those who misuse their freedom to avoid responsibility and a sense of duty. And so our world has not in every aspect become better as a result of freedom. In addition for many it does not appears to have become easier to find their own way. Max Frisch said: “We can now do what we want, and the only question is what do we want? Many people have neither the knowledge nor the initiative nor the will to answer this question.”(...)
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CarinaK – Who do you think you are

Nuno F. Assis — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:18:03 +0000

Hy everybody,

today my good friend CarinaK released her new song and her first official music video called “Who do you think you are”. She has an amazing voice and is a young artist which starts her career with this video and song to get a bigger audience and more attention out there. I really like her music and as i know she can sing classical music too i am looking forward to hear more from her. But for now she needs the support of each one of you.

I have posted her video here, so that you can watch it and get a better impression. Listen to her voice and enjoy it. And if you really like it then you will find two links after her video. One where you can DIGG it, so that more people can hear from her and the other one is the link to the iTunes store where you can get her song for your next workout.

A few personal words before the video: I really like her music and i never asked you for a favour. But this time i would like to ask you for your help. Help us to spread the news and to get her song out there to a greater public audience. What the world and the countries need now is hope and as you know for most people hope comes from music too. So please we need your help and do me that favour. Thanks.

And here are the two links i promised you:

If you want to DIGG IT then click here: http://redir.ec/carinaK-new-video

And if you want to get the song for your ipod or iphone then just click here: http://redir.ec/carinaK-on-itunes

Thank you so much for your help….Readers of this post also liked these posts:

Susan Boyle – What can you learn from her performance?

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What has an Orange to do with Leadership?

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Susan Boyle – What can you learn from her performance?

Nuno F. Assis — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 13:24:05 +0000

I think most of you already watched the stunning performance from Susan Boyle at the show “Britain´s got talent”, but it is soooo amazing to see how everybody was against her at the beginning and how zynical the audience was when she came up on the stage – and how she blowed them away with her voice.

A great lesson for everybody and a great wake up call for your life too. Watch the video, turn up the volume and ask yourself what you can learn from her great performance.

Amazing, isn´t it? Did you see the reaction of the audience?

So what do you do, when everybody is against you?

How do you respond when you feel zynical reactions and everybody is laughing at you?

What do you do when you this one moment in life where you face your destiny?

Ask yourself this questions and share your thoughts on this in our comments area.Readers of this post also liked these posts:

CarinaK – Who do you think you are

What has an Orange to do with Leadership?

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The first leadership level of development

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