BOOK IT: Make Time For Your Write Stuff

By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to help you write your book. Reading time: 3:11.

You’re smart. You’re thoughtful. You’re insightful. Your colleagues tell you that you should write a book. But you’re too busy –even with the services of a ghost writer to prod you. You just don’t have the time.

Me neither. That’s why I had to find the time to write my book and now I want to help you find the time to write yours.

Here are a few examples from other leaders who converted their excuses into excursions and booked their own flight into the publishing world.

They wrote their books despite overwhelming odds. They found their Write Stuff despite challenging obstacles. And they reinforced their leadership role –one chapter at a time. So can you.

EXCUSE No. 1. “I just don’t have the time.”

Wayne Dyer wrote Your Erroneous Zones in 18 days; Voltaire wrote Candide in four weeks and Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in six weeks. In two months, Winston Churchill wrote his first book Savrola. Continue reading “BOOK IT: Make Time For Your Write Stuff” →

Customer Leadership Mint #9: An Altar on Wheels

This is the 9th of a 10-part series on Customer Leadership.

In this LEADERSHIP MINTS series, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Steelcase Inc. (founded March 16, 1912) and salute their Customer Leaders (a.k.a employees). Those highly motivated Customer Leaders have consistently helped the Grand Rapids, Michigan-based company reign as the office-furniture industry leader for most of its 100 years in business.

By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an example of how committed Customer Leaders can foster an exhilarated work experience bordering on the spiritual.

Jack, the Steelcase truck driver, was on time as usual. He pulled his sparkling blue and chrome tractor trailer into the customer’s parking lot and delivered something much more than quality office furniture.

He delivered a showcase of the Steelcase corporate culture: Steelcase’s eye-catching, award-winning 18-wheeler well-known and well regarded in the truck industry.

Just ask Pastor Bill of Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago.

“I have had a worshipful experience when I witness the beauty found in a sleek, clean, beautiful Steelcase truck.”

Pastor Bill was so impressed with the spectacular appearance of the Steelcase Wheeling Wonders he called the company to make a special request: Continue reading “Customer Leadership Mint #9: An Altar on Wheels” →

Building a Monument to the Force of Change

By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to help you stay vigilant in the face of change.

Boll Weevil Monument in Enterprise, Alabama

Imagine building a monument to a pest. No, I haven’t gone bug-eyed crazy yet.

Building a monument to a pest is exactly what cotton farmers did in Enterprise, AL when the boll weevil devastated their cotton crop and forced cotton farms to start growing peanuts and other various crops, a life-style change that opened the door to greater profitability and prosperity.

The Boll Weevil Monument still stands prominently in a busy downtown intersection and its message is still relevant: don’t get too comfortable especially when you have all you eggs in one basket. Cotton was king in southeastern Alabama for generations until the Boll Weevil virtually ate away its economic heart.

In 1919, farmers in particular and business leaders in general dedicated the 10-foot monument that features a statue of a woman, resembling the Statue of Liberty. She is holding a 16-inch depiction of a boll-weevil in a gesture of honor -respectfully more than triumphantly- over her head as if to say:

“Behold the Boll Weevil and Beware of Complacency

Especially in Highly Successful Organizations.”

Today, 93 years later, the Boll Weevil Monument still commands attention in Enterprise, AL as a reminder that good times can change suddenly and the most adept leaders live each day fighting off complacency and seeking diversity.

Indeed the most effective leaders I’ve known consistently design and develop their own imagined version of the Boll Weevil Monument to not only survive but thrive in these tough economic times.

Today’s ImproveMINT
Guard against complacency to keep your leadership thinking in mint condition.

You might also like these previous Leadership Mints on staying vigilant:
Seasoning your Age with Sage

Starring in your Commanding Role

Earning your Mettle of Honor

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Turning Your Weakness Into Your Strength

By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to turn the lemons in your life into lemonade.

I needed a cup of coffee. Bad. Let me revise that with proper emphasis: I NEEDED a cup of coffee. You know the feeling. That vending machine looked like an oasis to me. I had no change. I only had three wrinkled one-dollar bills.

But the dollar-bill change machine spit out all three of my attempts to feed it. I was desperate. HELP! A service man from the vending company happened to be restocking a nearby candy machine. He came to my rescue.

He took my wrinkled dollar bill – and wrinkled it some more. I CRINGED. Oh, no. That’s going to ruin that dollar even more and the machine will spit it again and again. I was wrong. He folded it lengthwise, creased it, flattened it and then fed it into the machine. The machine gobbled it up and soon I was gulping down the coffee. Ahhhhhhh! You know the feeling.

That vending machine service man demonstrated to me that sometimes you gain strength through a perceived weakness.

After all a leaf will stay afloat longer if its sides are curled up, even though the curl would seem to weaken the structure. Continue reading “Turning Your Weakness Into Your Strength” →