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There are lots of words that describe me. The "professional" ones include: author, speaker, trainer, consultant, facilitator, business owner, Chief Potential Officer The Kevin Eikenberry Group - Your Leadership Help Button (of The Kevin Eikenberry Group) and leader. The "life" ones include: husband, father, son, brother, friend, Purdue Graduate, reader, and learner. The "personal" ones include, Boilermaker fan, farmer's son, tractor collector (yes, the real ones), auction lover and optimist.

All of these things (and more) make me who I am and are relevant to this blog and why it will benefit you.

Below you will find ideas, thoughts and suggested action steps to help you become a more effective leader – whatever your professional and life roles are. The path towards Remarkable Leadership (and a Remarkable Life) is just that - a path. The goal of this blog is to help you on that path, and through learning and action, become your Leadership Help Button.

By Peter Drucker

Effective ExecutiveHere are two good clues that a book is worth reading.

  1. It has been copyrighted more than once (this book, 1967, 1985, 1996, 2002, and 2006)
  2. It is written by Peter Drucker.

Put that together with the fact that it is written about a topic we all care about – being more productive – and I should be able to stop my recommendation here.

Just go buy the book.

As time goes on I talk to fewer people who have actually read Drucker. If you are one of those people and you care about leadership, this is as good a book to fix that mistake with as any.

The book, while first written in 1967, is incredibly relevant. And even though the examples aren’t new, it is really nice to read examples that aren’t about Apple, Google, or other organizations regularly written about today. Since I really shouldn’t need to say any more to convince you to read this book, I will just share two passages I highlighted this week. Perhaps they will finish convincing you that this book needs to be part of your summer reading.

“But this book itself is not a book on what people at the top do or should do. It is addressed to everyone who, as a knowledge worker, is responsible for actions and decisions which are meant to contribute to the performance capacity of his organization. It is meant for every one of the men I call “executives.”

“To be effective, every knowledge worker, and especially every executive, therefore needs to be able to dispose of time in fairly large chunks. To have drips and drabs of time at his disposal will not be sufficient even if the total is an impressive number of hours.”

This book is a classic, and when you apply the ideas, will make you more effective.

Read this book.

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Today’s quotation is short and to the point. It is completely true and too often forgotten in practice.

persuasion starts with your ear“One of the best ways to persuade others is with your ears – by listening to them.”

- Dean Rusk, U.S. Secretary of State

Questions to Ponder

- What is my first inclination when persuading someone – to talk or listen?

- In my conversations how much of the time am I doing the talking?

- How effective am I as a listener?

Action Steps

1. Think about your next persuasion opportunity.

2. Spend at least half of your preparation time on preparing questions, not statements.

3. Ask a colleague for some feedback on your listening skills.

My Thoughts

There is a lot that could be said about how true this quotation is. I’m going to be brief and give you three reasons why it is so true.

When we listen, we learn their point of view. This is the obvious and direct one. When we know the other person’s perspective and concerns, we can better address our comments to match theirs, and therefore be more persuasive.

Others want to be heard. When we focus on the other person and just let them speak, it changes their feelings about us (and therefore our message).

Listening is acknowledging. When we listen to other people, we are telling them they (and their message) are important. We can acknowledge people without agreeing with their point.  And when they feel acknowledged, they are much more likely to listen to us in return.

 

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The Power of Habits

May 15, 2013 Change
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I am often reminded of the power of habits in my personal life, and today I wanted to explore that with you and make some important connections to our role as a leader, why it can be difficult, and how to improve our success. Two Kinds of Habits While all habits are automatic responses, they [...]

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The Leadership Principles That Matter Most

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It is a bit daunting to write an article with the title I just typed. It reminds me of those questions you get asked during ice breaker exercises or at dinner parties . . . “If you could take only five books to a desert island what would they be?” I’m not very good at [...]

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To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others

May 12, 2013 Books
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By Daniel Pink This book, written by a multi-time bestselling author, starts with a clear premise: that we are all in the business of sales.  Specifically he finds that 1 in 9 Americans are involved in selling and the rest are involved in “non-sales” selling. Further he states, and experience agrees, that we spend up [...]

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The Universal Causes of Human Behavior

May 10, 2013 Change
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Today’s quotation isn’t new. Aristotle lived in the days before most all of the technology we take for granted was invented. But what hasn’t changed is human nature. Enjoy today’s quotation, and be challenged by the questions and actions that follow it. “All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, [...]

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How Leaders Should Follow The News

May 8, 2013 Decision Making
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Women, kidnapped years ago, are found alive. Wildfires. The latest big trial. Those are currently captivating people and dominating the news. Yet every week seems to bring big news that we must watch or read. The news media is, after all, in the advertising business, so they do the best job they can to entice [...]

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Doing the Impossible

May 6, 2013 Developing Others
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3:59.4 On May 6, 1954 the world heard that number. That was the time that Roger Bannister ran the mile at the Iffley Road track in Oxford. It was the first time someone ran a mile in less than 4 minutes. Legend has it that doctors thought the 4 minute mile was a barrier that [...]

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Get More Done With Trello

May 5, 2013 Leadership

I’m guessing you have made a to-do list in your life. If you are like me, you have made thousands. If you are also like me, there are some days when you feel like the re-writing of the list is a waste of your time – and you think you could be doing an item [...]

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Doing What Matters Most

May 3, 2013 Decision Making
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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was quite a guy – scientist, artist, author, politician, and more.  He is well known for some famous quotations. Today, I share one of them. This quotation is obvious and everyone will nod in agreement, yet far too often, far too few of us live in this manner. Questions to Ponder [...]

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