Leadership Tips from my father

Lee (LB), Weiss (September 21/25 to 30 April / 82)

My father has been dead for almost half of my life, but I think of him every day. I am grateful to have had a father, fun, loving and wonderful that it has left a legacy of decency and wisdom.

L.B. had a saying for almost every situation. Something about his style did these sayings stick, maybe a combination of humor, timing and innate cheerfulness and good sense. After his death, he wrote many friends of our family, saying that LB will always remember this and to say, for example. My mother compiled these snippets of wisdom, and when I reviewed recently, I realized what my father taught me about sales, coaching and leadership.

If someone touches the following, please list them as 'LBisms':

"THERE ARE MORE 'HORSE DONKEYS in this world than there are horses."

That said, it works for me on several levels, especially in labor relations. If I deal with someone who behaves badly, or be rude or inconsiderate or demanding, I try not to stay in their sphere. Following the advice of my father, give me the permission to deal only with people I like and respect.

This saying reminds me of not being myself a horse's ass (not always so obvious to me). A client who recently canceled a seminar I love the day was to run. He had a number of good reasons for the cancellation, however, our agreement that I pay the full fare in this situation. While writing the bill, I felt uncomfortable, and my father is saying popped into my head. I could properly pay the full fare, and I felt like an ass to be small, if this customer has given me so much business. Or I could do something different. I loaded the half.

"The last chapter was not written ON NICKI".

While I was consuming my youth (left university, lived in a teepee on one of British Columbia's most beautiful islands in the Gulf, picked apples and oysters), my father always reassured my mother that he would be OK.

I am grateful for the trust my father to me. He could see my potential when others could not, and his certainty that I could do whatever I wanted and still be successful resonates through me.

My father was a coach in the true sense of the word. He saw his sons, and our friends, bigger than ourselves seen. He could clearly see a path for us, and told us what he saw. He saw that my sister like that was good with his hands could be a wonderful occupational therapist, and my brilliant sister-in-law could be an ace accountant. He told me to go into sales.

I was completely offended. Sales? He told me that when I was 20 years. At the moment, I thought he was selling anti-intellectual, manipulative and boring. L.B. has seen in a different way. I said I was a noodge and noodnik (translation: a persistent parasite). I said it was a hard worker, intelligent, a good generalist, persuasive, with talented people, has had the best interests of the people in my heart, and I liked the variety. He told me I was very successful. After college (yes, I went back and finished), I remembered what he had said. I got my first sales job, and loved it.

'DIFFERENT' EASY. GOOD hard. "

L.B. had a great instinct. He had an uncanny sense about new products that do not fly, a process that was too complicated, people who were a little 'too full of themselves, or a wheel that needs no reinvention.

He was a stickler for quality and competence. My father was an accountant company that has always had a side business. One was a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop. It 'was constantly recruiting and training adolescents to collect the ice cream that was exactly 2 grams, treat customers well, do not tear off, to count back change and work hard. Regularly at the table spoke of what constitutes a good job and what seemed to lack.

He taught me that there are no shortcuts to good, the only way is through repeated practice.

"Neither a borrower nor a lender be."

My father taught his children to be self-sufficient, to practice delayed gratification, and not to burn bridges by being indebted to others. "Cash" was his credo.

As children, we were always short of money. Our eyes were always bigger than our wallets. (I know a lot of big kids today have the same problem.) My father taught us the art of leading a balanced life, and the lesson that living debt-free would give us choices. He taught us to borrow money from friends could ruin a friendship.

In this age of instant gratification, where larger and more is better, I bless the wisdom he left me. He has never led me wrong.

"What is a NICKEL OR DIME When you're out for a good time?"

My father was an accountant always careful with money. Some may be called cheap. Yet, every time we were on vacation, she loved to live it up. He does not spend money extravagantly (he was a product of the Great Depression and the Second World War), but in a cheerful, life-affirming and fun way.

He always said to be generous to yourself and to others, especially if you're down on your luck.

"I wish it had the courtesy to treat me like a stranger."

My father said this about his problematic mother-in-law. Apparently, my grandmother was not always so kind to him.

This principle of leadership is so incredibly simple. He says: 'If I do not like you can be indifferent to me, but average is unacceptable.' I noticed a good deal of wickedness in the workplace that takes the form of passive aggression. All we have seen, but perhaps not to give a name to it: information gossip, withholding or not fully sharing, criticizing management, and colleagues who do not support. We do not treat foreigners like this.

"The best things in life are not things."

This saying has taught me to appreciate my relationships above all else, to depend on myself and be accountable to others, to be decent, and fun.

I do not want you to think I have given tons of things from my parents, because I was. However, it affected me since a very young age to believe that the world does not owe me a life. They gave me a serious work ethic that I carry with me forever. If I want something, go after. I will not step on people to get whatever it is, and I will not cheat or steal, but I'll work until I understood or not they want more.

What this has to do with sales, leadership and coaching, Nicki?

I hope you see some value in the teachings of my father and said, and that when you work, sell, manage, coach, and lead, are a good example for those around you.

My father lived with a spring in his step, integrity in his heart, and his brand of humor. Your example of life will be what eventually becomes large as a sales manager / coach / leader.

Thanks, Dad.

Love,
Nud-nicki...