In class last night we discussed what makes a business successful. Obviously in these poor economic times, cash flow takes primary importance, but aren’t there other things that must complement financial savvy to keep your business afloat.

Studies show that companies on the Fortune 100 Best Places to Work list are more successful after they make the list. Their stock goes up almost immediately after the well-read magazine makes its announcement. I’ve always wondered why that is. The list is scored primarily on a company’s culture and employees are randomly chosen to fill out a survey that scores management’s credibility, camaraderie, pride, trust and several other key ingredients to having a warm-fuzzy culture. So do investors believe that if management is treating its employees well then they probably handle their money with integrity, too? Or is it that if they are handling their money well, they may have more to spend in salaries and high pay makes for happy workers? But it’s more than just being happy, it’s about productivity, right? 

According to my professor, not everyone agrees with that last statement and all the articles we’ve read say that happy employees aren’t always more productive. But I’ve already shown that the Fortune list of happy workplaces fare better in the market.  

And the numbers don’t lie, so I’m still searching for the correlation.

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but to be a good leader you have to be a good listener. There is nothing more annoying than being asked a question, giving your response and then the person who asked you the question repeating your answer in different words ten minutes later like its the greatest concept they’ve ever heard. Seriously?

This applies in so may arenas. Just pay attention, people. No one will respect you if you don’t expect them enough to pay attention to the answer they give you for a question YOU’VE asked them. Ug. This applies to parents, bosses, mentors, friends, professors, pastors, you name it. It’s not rocket science. Just don’t be so self-absorbed.

I’m pretty disappointed in my leadership ability as of late, but I constantly struggle with deciding whether leadership is more about being open-minded to people or more about leading the people whose strong opinions closely relate to mine.

I wanted to go to a tea party today. Lots of people made history. But I tend to stay away from ruffling feathers and even though I work with mostly conservatives I didn’t want to be THAT girl. The girl who is so right-wing that people think she’s crazy. But deep down, that’s who I really am. I’m not against anyone else’s opinions and I am more than happy to respect their more liberal beliefs and agendas. But why wasn’t I a gutsy enough leader to make history with my fellow conservative Americans even though i know it shouldn’t affect my relationships with my more liberal counterparts?

It’s funny how you want to stand out from the crowd but often the most comfortable place to be is hidden deep within it. And I don’t think that makes for a very good leader.

I always think it is interesting to watch leaders in the workplace and evaluate their various styles. Just like we discussed in class, some obviously lean more toward task-based leadership and others toward people-based. I wonder if you surveyed 100 people, what type of style would they choose to be led.

I can’t help but think everyone would pick people-based, but that’s probably pretty closed-minded of me. Just because I’m an extrovert does not mean that everyone would likely choose to be developed by their superiors in the work-place. It seems like there are a quite a few people you run into who simply want to do their jobs and get out. Professional development is the last thing on their minds.

In fact, one of them recently took a nap in his/her office after only working here for a couple of weeks. Which kind of leadership do you think they prefer?

I know I’m supposed to be discussing leadership in a work or civic environment, but what about breaking down leadership in as simple a setting as one’s family?

There is quite the negative connotation when people hear the biblical passage about women submitting to their husbands… so much so that my husband and I were told we weren’t allowed to use it as part of our vows that took place in a CHURCH. Crazy, huh? Asking people to cut out bible verses in a church? I actually used to have a problem with the concept as well, until I realized it doesn’t mean I don’t get a say or decision in matters. And I think that’s where most of the problem lies – in the world’s interpretation of that phrase.

Think about it. In everything we do there has to be some type of leadership hierarchy. We cannot all be equals in our organization or nothing would ever get accomplished. Teams don’t work without a coach, homes aren’t rented without a landlord, companies don’t run without a CEO. The decision-making power has to live somewhere or we’d all just sit around twiddling our thumbs.

With that said, it all has to culminate somewhere as well. In my religion, it culminates with God. I submit to my husband (this doesn’t mean we don’t both make decisions, it just means that he is supposed to be my leader which works rather well even for someone as opinionated and potentially feminist as myself), and he submits to God. It’s called a biblical-world view. And God is the ultimate form of leadership. And it works. Because with the Bible we have the truth, and if my husband follows God’s law and I submit to him, it works out perfectly.

Can you be a leader and act like a five-year-old at the same time? That might be my problem. I’m a big kid and I like to do kid things and I haven’t been as excited as I am right now in quite a while because I get to dye Easter eggs this weekend with my nieces. It’s a holiday tradition and one I’ve looked forward to all year long since I was probably three years old. Easter eggs people!! Fun! No more pretending to be an adult all the time!

So, I started wondering today if I can still be a leader/mentor to my nieces even though I mostly just want to play with them. Or does the playing on their level help? Do they think I’m a total goober who they never want to grow up and be like or are they all, “I want to be just like Aunt Lala when I grow up.” I kind of doubt that last part but a girl can dream, right?

I want to be a good leader/mentor/role model, but have equal parts of fun. Because that’s what they’ll remember.

I think there are definitely some supervisory-type  transferable skills I’ve gathered from non-work-related experiences, but the only specific work-related supervisory experience I’ve had was with an intern at my former place of work. I couldn’t have possibly made more mistakes with her so I feel like I’m already much more prepared for the next time the opportunity comes along.

She quite honestly was horrible. And it’s hard to discipline a horrible employee when they aren’t paid. And although she was doing it for school credit, I just didn’t have the heart to make her fail. She was a semi-friend of mine. (first mistake) She was cute and sweet, but did not have the skill set or a sense of responsibility or the motivation or the dependability or any resemblance of a stake in the organization. And that’s sad, because the organization was a fun non-profit that’s mission supported kids’ education. So my only conclusion was that she didn’t have any compassion either.

But now I realize a lot of it was probably my fault. I’m a super perfectionist, so I definitely had trouble delegating responsibility and trusting that she would stay on top of things. I got really discouraged when she didn’t get excited about assignments like I did, but she honestly probably didn’t understand their importance and I didn’t take the time to explain. I’m not great at confrontation either so when she showed up late or not at all, I typically didn’t say a whole lot about it – which obviously perpetuated the problem. My biggest regret is that because I didn’t do these things, I didn’t teach her anything. I forgot that sometimes being an intern isn’t just to help you complement skills you learn in college, it’s where you learn how to have a job in general. Honestly, I don’t think I had ever used a fax machine until my first internship.

I’ve still got so much to learn, but I can use a fax as well as any other dinosaur in the profession.

I often wonder if I ever want to be a manager. I actually like being a doer most of the time, but I do think managers can be doers, too. My current manager is a doer and a good leader. She takes care of her people and doesn’t put up with injustices or unfairness. I like that.

There are so many questions I constantly ask regarding management. When do you know you’re ready? How do you let your superiors know you’re ready? How do you prove you’re ready? Is there an unsaid mandatory years of experience? If I have to have supervisory experience, how do I ever get that if I don’t become a supervisor?

Either way, I’m probably not ready, but want to make sure I’m on the path for some day in my organization.

And it all comes back once again to entitlement. Maybe I’ve overdosed on the kool-aid but I really think people should represent their companies well. Be a leader or an advocate for your place of work. Especially if you really like your job and want to succeed there. Especially if you are a young person and you already get a bad rap for having entitlement issues. You need to stop and think about why you feel you deserve things you haven’t worked for.

I row on a corporate rowing team and my company sponsors about four teams total. Although the company pays for the VERY pricey fee to participate and you just get to reap the benefits, there is one guy on one team that feels he deserves more. And in front of the entire league where people are representing various companies, he made that very known.

We get memberships to the boathouse and use of all their equipment, but that isn’t enough. He was upset that he doesn’t get to take the free classes that were offered last year. It’s fine if you’re upset about the policy but the way he handled it was immature, selfish and represented tha company poorly. He caused a scene in front of everyone and was EXTREMELY disrespectful to the boathouse coordinator in front of everyone. He argued repeatedly about how the fee we pay is super pricey and he deserves these classes. I kindly reminded him that he doesn’t pay the fee anyway but because his brain works in such self-consumed ways he had no idea what point I was making.

I just don’t like being lumped in with people’s bad attitudes.