In my new book coming out later this spring, Leadership by Invitation, I explore the concept of answering the call to lead.  What will it take to answer that invitation?  A new commitment to investing in yourself and in others to create the impact and influence needed to lead.

So if we need to make new investments, we need to be prepared to make the necessary deposits that will result in a positive return on that investment.  As I was balancing the checkbook the other day it struck me that our Leadership balance sheet is much a checkbook.  You make deposits and you make withdrawals and what you have to work with is represented on the bottom line.

Credit Cards Don’t Work When It Comes To Leadership

I know you understand that if you want to take a withdrawal, at some point in time, you needed to make a deposit in order to make that withdrawal.  Let’s take a look at a few things that leaders need to keep in balance to lead.

Look, the day is going to come, if it hasn’t already, that you need to make a withdrawal from your leadership bank and if you don’t have the funds to cash that check, you will lose the opportunity to make a difference is someone else’s life.  Credit cards don’t work when it comes to leadership and we can’t ask life to take a time out until we build back up our account.

I have heard more than once that if you want to see where someone is committed, look at their calendar and look at their checkbook.  Those two things will show you where you deposits are being made.  The question is whether or not they are in something that will allow you to make a withdrawal down the road.

Life Has No “Time Back” Guarantee!

TIME

If there is never enough time, and there never is, how can we expect to make the necessary withdrawals to invest time in others.  Leadership is influence, right?  Most leaders are consumed by the needs of the people they lead.  It’s not intentionally set up that way, but those in authority, the leaders, are typically expected to solve the problems.

So how does a leader make those time deposits?  They can start by EMPOWERING others to make their own decisions.  Part of being a leader is casting vision, and communicating that vision will allow others to understand the desired outcome and make decisions, on their own or within their team, that will produce that same outcome.

Another great way is to DELEGATE.  I love what my mentor John Maxwell told me.  If someone else can do something 80% as well as you, let them do it.  You don’t have to do it all yourself!

You Can Wear Your Running Shoes In The Boardroom

HEALTH

Most of us live in a culture that is simply moving faster than we like.  If you want to live in the age of technology, you need to be prepared to move at light speed like the rest of the world.

I love the quote “Lead, follow, or get left behind.”  If we don’t take the lead on leading ourselves to take the necessary steps to show up with physical energy, mental clarity and emotional stability, (Tweet This / Share on Facebook / Post to LinkedIn) how can we be expected to instill that in others?

As a leader, what deposits are you making to allow for those withdrawals?  Are your eating, exercising and sleeping habits providing the deposits necessary for you to make those withdrawals when a twelve hour day is needed?  I have said it before.  The toughest person to lead is me.

What Is Your Disaster Management Plan?

We are usually last on the list and leaders, by nature, put others first.  This is a formula for disaster.  Look at the most successful leaders.  They show up with energy, clarity and for the most part physically fit.  Any clues to be found there?  Do you think they are making the right deposits?

I have heard more than once that if you want to see where someone is committed, take a look at their calendar and their checkbook.  That’s my challenge for you today.  Take a look at those two things and see what they are producing for your bottom line.

That leads to an related question of great importance.  What adjustment do you need to make today to build up equity in your Leadership Balance Sheet?

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Barry Smith    1/24/14   photo by author   © Building What Matters 2014

The post Deposits and Withdrawals – What’s On Your Leadership Balance Sheet? appeared first on BUILDING WHAT MATTERS.COM.

The picture in this post is of my three kids – really two but the female in the picture is our youngest son Spencer’s girlfriend Paige and for all intents and purposes, we already count her as ours.

They flew in from Boise on Saturday and I picked up our oldest son, Scott, at the airport about six hours ago.  Michelle and I have been looking forward to this ever since we decided a few weeks ago to fly Scott back home from the University of Hawaii for Thanksgiving.  I guess you kind of get used to being “empty nesters”, but when you get them all back home, it doesn’t take long to remember what it used to be like.

Life is full of change from the day you are born until the day you breathe your last.  It’s sort of funny how the things you appreciate change from year to year.  This has been the longest stretch our family has ever been apart – since last Christmas.  Scott will graduate in about a month and we will be talking over the next few days on his plan for the future.

I guess as time goes by, I find myself thinking a lot more about the good times from the past and how they will compare the the future.  Our kids will soon be starting their own careers and families and new traditions will be started and new memories created.

I have seen so many posts the last few days on being grateful.  Many were about success and accomplishment, but the ones that resonated with me were the ones about memories – the stuff you can’t buy or plan.  The kind of memories that just happen spontaneously.

I was sitting on the couch with Paige watching a Hallmark Christmas movie earlier as Scott and Spencer talked in the back of the room about – well I guess stuff that young twenty somethings talk about.  It really didn’t matter what they were saying, just that they were saying it to each other, face to face.  Paige and I kept trying to guess what would happen next in the movie.  It was really simple, yet priceless in terms of the memory that I will have from it.

Michelle, apparently the only sensible one, was upstairs asleep fueling up for a busy day tomorrow.  It was so rewarding for me to see the look on her face as Scott walked into the kitchen when we got back from the airport.  Expectations fulfilled and anticipation replaced by the excitement that her first born was “in the house.”

Obviously the theme of the week, at least in the states, is gratitude.  So a few things I am grateful for – obviously the full house with all present and accounted for but also a few other thing.  One of them is you – I am very thankful for a loyal group of followers that add value to me every day.  Another thing is that I now have a new appreciation for the “little” things in life that make such a big difference.  I think sometimes we forget those little things.

I challenge all of us to look at every day as a day to give thanks.  No matter what happens, there is always something to be grateful for.  HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

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Barry Smith   11/28/13   photo by author   © Building What Matters 2013

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I believe it goes hand in hand with the statement that I have heard over and over from my mentors; “People do business with those that they know, like and trust.”

I remember when I was back in High School and making $4.17 and hour at a local grocery store bagging groceries.  I think I was a pretty typical kid at the time.  I wasn’t too concerned about saving money but wanted to get the most for what I spent it on. The cheaper the price, the more I would get for my dollar, right?

Somewhere between then and now I learned that this is not always right and the older I get, the more I understand that quality is what you are really paying for, not how big or fancy the box is.

So what is quality?  Is it determined by how long something lasts?  Or maybe, but how good it makes you look?  I think when it really comes down to it, quality is defined by how that product or service makes you feel.

There are basically two different types of things we purchase with our money.  Products and services.  So see if you follow my logic here.

If you buy, for an example, a new vehicle.  Sure you want it to look good and run good but what will really define the quality of that vehicle?  I will suggest that the real lasting impression of the quality of that car will be how it made you feel.

Did it make you feel safe?  Did it make you feel like you made a good investment?  Did you feel like you could depend on that vehicle to get you around no matter what the conditions were?

I remember when our oldest son bought his first car.  It was a used 4-door Mercedes Benz.  Of course he thought it was cool because it was a black Mercedes and made him look like some type of intimidating mafia dude.

But Dad liked the car because it was safe.  It drove really nice and was built with the safety of the passengers in mind.  That car made me feel secure when the kids were out driving it.  That was the quality as I saw it.

I think quality is a little more difficult to define when it comes to services.  I love asking the question; “What do you want?”  It amazes me how many people really don’t know.  They think they know, but when you get the heart of it, they don’t.

Many times it starts with possessions, a new car, a bigger house and so on.  But when you go a little deeper, it becomes about security and quality of life.  A lot of people I have worked with start of believing that stuff is what will make them happy.

Sure, it might help, but it really comes down to finding that quality of life that most never find.  To wake up in the morning and be excited about what will happen next, even if you don’t know what it is.  To be able to do the things you want to do and not be consumed by the things that you have to do.

So what is quality?  It will be different for everyone, but I challenge anyone to tell me that things will ever mean more that the experiences that came along with them.  I believe quality is defined not by what you received but by who you became doing it or using it.

Stuff doesn’t make you feel good.  What you do with it is what leave the lasting impression.  So a question for you to ponder today to see if you can determine the quality of some of your most prized possessions.  “What is the greatest memory you have from your most expensive possession?  Whatever that memory is will determine the real quality of that possession.

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Barry Smith    8/26/13   photo by author   © Building What Matters 2013

The post Quality: It’s How You Make Them Feel That Counts! appeared first on BUILDING WHAT MATTERS.COM.

My field experience had no doubt enabled be to connect on a higher level than anything I ever learned sitting in a chair in front of a computer screen or as an attendee at a training event but that “additional” training had taught me how to use what I have learned in the “real world” much more effectively.

How we think and how we process information is the key to maximizing what we know and applying it so it can benefit others.  What we learn in a specific job is usually confined to a somewhat consistent environment.  Over time, we get comfortable with that environment and make similar decisions consistently.

The problems begin when things don’t go as they always have (if this hasn’t happened to you yet, it will) and we are faced with making decisions we have not had to make before.

Training on communication, leadership and personal growth will enable you to make decisions that our greatest leaders make every day.  There is not a job out there that can’t benefit from these skills.  Great leaders are great communicators and challenge themselves to grow every day.

The picture in this post is of the husband of a very good friend of mine.  When she sent the picture to me, it immediately struck me that the military is a great example of why training is so important.

What do you think would happen if we left it up to on-the-job training for our armed forces?  Yes, they learn a tremendous amount from being on the front lines but what if they did not go through the extensive training that they all do.

The most important business related to the safety of our nation, and our allies, depends greatly on the training our soldiers have received.  No political statement here, but what if we did not put the effort into training these individuals that keep us safe?

Look around at the successful businesses that you deal with, maybe even your own. My bet is that they all provide some type of additional training beyond what is learned simply by showing up in the morning.

So is on-the-job training enough?  In some cases, absolutely not.  In other cases, it may not have such a significant impact as the military but this I know;  “When you train your people, you build your people.”   And your people are what will make or break you.

So what training are you providing to your employees?  If you are an employee, what training is your organization providing to you?  There are hundreds, even thousands of trainers out there that could potentially make a difference in your business and in the lives of your people.

I chose communication, personal growth and leadership in this post because those happen to be the values that I believe in the most and focus on in my business.  With almost every new potential client, I ask three questions:

1. What type of training have you done in the past?
2. What is the biggest challenge (personal or organizational wide) that you are facing right now?
3. What would be the desired outcome if we were to work together?

Just something for you to consider the next time you walk into the office and see a problem that just won’t go away.  Hope to hear from you soon!

Alright, I suppose that was a sales pitch but honestly, in your list of priorities, how important is the security of your job position or the longevity of your business?  What are you doing to protect it?

Your people are you biggest asset and your biggest liability.  So how much are you investing to protect your assets and limit your liabilities?

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Barry Smith    7/29/13   photo courtesy of Stefanee Darnielle   © Building What Matters 2013

The post Is On-The-Job Training Enough To Succeed? appeared first on BUILDING WHAT MATTERS.COM.

I believe that it is not how we balance our time that leads to success and happiness but more specifically, what we are balancing.

Turn back the clock three years.  My idea of balance used to be adding more of the important things like family, relationships and fun to the other side of the scale to offset the weight of the “work” that was always keeping that side of the teeter-totter firmly on the ground.

I don’t know why it took me so long to figure out that no matter what I did, work was always winning out.  Somehow I believed that it was possible to simply add more to the other side and eventually things would balance out. Funny thing – they never did.

Then the light bulb came on and I realized that the solution was not adding things on the important side, but eliminating things from the “not so important” side.  My original logic, had it actually worked, would have only broke the seesaw in the middle bringing both sides crashing to the ground.

I have a new theory now and it actually seems to be working.  Now some of you may disagree but it makes sense to me.  I have heard many say that we need to keep our work and personal lives separate.  I disagree.  I actually think this makes the challenge more difficult.  Now understand both my wife and I are self employed so this may not work for you but it is definitely worth considering.

Let me start by saying that there is definitely a need to totally unplug from work every once and a while to simply recharge your batteries and clear your mind.  But for the most part, it is unrealistic to think that your work and personal lives can be separate.

So if you buy into my logic so far, here is how it works.  The key to balance is to keep the amount of things you are balancing at a limit that you can control.  The more control you have, the closer all those things are to the middle of the plank that they all rest upon.

Think of it like this – we all remember when we were kids and were on the teeter-totter (or seesaw), right?  If you were on one end, it took an equal or greater weight on the opposite end to move up and down.  In other words, 100% or greater to your weight to balance.  When the weight is close to the center, it takes less movement to bring it into balance.

My point – I have now removed those heavy objects that were all the way out at the end, those objects that required a lot of added weight on the other side to bring things into balance.  Now I have control over most of my list, and my life, and it takes less movement on my part to keep things balanced.

Yes, I still deal with the occasional lopsided crash, but all in all I hit the ground much less than before.

So my question for you today is this – “Is your life filled with things that hang on the far ends of your control or are most of them close to your core set of priorities allowing you to keep them in balance?”
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Barry Smith    7/1/13   photo by author   © Building What Matters 2013

The post The Key To Life Is Balance … Or Is It? appeared first on BUILDING WHAT MATTERS.COM.

I don’t believe that anymore.  Anyone who has paid any attention to anything over the last five years has seen people lose everything they had.  Tough economy, poor investing, over-leveraging credit, fill in the blank.  The bottom line is that people all around us, possible even you, have lost their assets and some would say their security.

The environment that we live in has taught us that the “accumulation of wealth” is the way to secure your future and the future of your children.  Now I’m not going to pretend that wise investing and money in the bank are not good things but the problem comes when we believe that is what provides our security.

Life happens and we all know that what we have can disappear overnight.  So where do we really find security?  I believe we find it within.  True security comes from knowing that outward circumstances will not control the world you live in.

I was meeting with a potential client earlier this week and I told him that short of something connected to the health and safety of my family, I believe there is really nothing that could happen that would significantly rattle my world.  I stand by that statement.

My wife and I have been extremely blessed to have always been able to meet our needs.  We have what we feel is a nice house in the country, our vehicles are paid for and we are able to pay the bills.  But I recognize that as life goes sometimes, even those things could be gone tomorrow.

But the thing is, I don’t think it would that catastrophic if that happened.  We both are very secure in who we are and are very unattached to what we have.  Our security lies in who we are.

I admit, I have not always felt this way and I have no problem with those that value financial security.  I guess what it comes down to is what is important to you.  Sure I want to be debt free and financially independent but that’s not what makes me feel secure.

One of my favorite quoted from John Maxwell is “People won’t remember what you said and they won’t remember what you did.  They will remember how you made them feel.”  That’s where my security comes from.  How I can make people feel.  As long as I can do that and my family is safe and healthy, that’s all the security I need.

Look, you could be the richest person on earth but if your security is in the wealth, your missing out on what life is all about.  I realize this is all my opinion, but I have been on both sides of this issue and being happy with who I am always wins out over being happy with what I have.

So the question is obvious; Where do you find your security?
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Barry Smith    6/28/13   photo by author   © Building What Matters 2013

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For me, happiness is loving what you do and being fulfilled from whatever it is.  Yes, whatever it is.  In my opinion, it has nothing to do with money and it has nothing to do with fame.  It has everything to do with success.  Defining success is what makes the difference.

Saturday was a happy day for me and it didn’t cost a nickel.  It is the simple things in life that sometime bring me the most happiness.  What happened Saturday?  I went for a walk.  It was more than just a walk.  It was a walk on a beautiful spring day (almost 70 degrees where I live and that is a beautiful spring day) on the road I live on in a rural area east of Portland, Oregon.

The best thing about it though, was I got to take this walk with my wife.   We are both busy with our careers and savor the moments like these that are too few and far between.  I love our community that we live in because it sort of feels like a throw-back to the old days.

Walking where we live, you will typically see more animals than cars.  Horses, cows, llamas, chickens, ducks, geese and of course dogs and cats to name a few.  The most noise is from the airplanes flying overhead on their way to the Portland airport but that just serves as a reminder that I don’t live where that plane is going to land.

Oh, sorry, I kind of got caught up in my story.  The point is that what makes one person happy may not make another happy and all too often I think many of us forget to do the things that really make us happy.  Worse yet, you may have completely forgotten what those things are.

I was riding with a friend the other day and he had just hung up from a negative phone call.  I knew he was frustrated, so I asked him to tell me five things he was happy about.  Instant attitude adjustment!  See how simple that was!  So why do we have such a hard time doing the things that truly make us happy?  Maybe because we are too caught up on someone else’s definition.

I am planning on taking more of those walks with my wife.  I think they make her happy too.  We like to spend time together and we both like where we live.  Only makes sense to do something that we both like together.

I don’t know what makes you happy but I do know this.  You are not doing enough of it. You remember that silly song when we were kids (when we were almost always happy) “If you’re  happy and you know it clap your hands …”  Well maybe it’s time to start clapping your hands again.

If you’re not happy and you know it, quit waiting for something or someone to come along so you can be happy.

My encouragement for today:  Figure out what makes you happy and go clap your hands!

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Barry Smith   www.buildingwhatmatters.com      4/2/13            photo by author

The post Happiness: More Than It’s Made Out To Be! appeared first on BUILDING WHAT MATTERS.COM.

I have learned (and am still learning) the hard way, when to say yes and when to say no.  I think many of the mistakes I have made over time really come down to the fact that I was not very intentional about the decision I made.

One of my mentors recently told me that he always waits 24 hours before giving a yes or no answer.  I acknowledge that some times this is not possible but if you really think it about it, most of the time you have the opportunity to say “let me get back to you.”

Taking the time to give the answer allows you to review your schedule and determine whether or not the yes is actually going to help or hurt your big picture.  Let’s face it, most of us feel like we already don’t have any extra time so how can we even fit one more “yes” into the equation?  Simply put, saying yes to something is saying no to something else.  A quick yes does not allow time to determine who or what will get the no.

Here are some thoughts on what intentionally taking that 24 hours will get you:

• BALANCE – When you have more yes’s than no’s the scale will be tilted to heavy to one side.  Evaluating the commitment that goes along with the yes may, in itself, provide you the answer.
• CREDIBILITY – Which would be more credible, the person who always says yes and completes half the things he commits to doing or the person who often says no but completes all the things he says yes to?
• FOCUS – Taking the time to answer yes or no will allow you to focus on the entire picture.  There may be much more to yes that you originally thought about.  The time to focus may enable you to clarify exactly what “yes” means.
• PROBLEM SOLVING – Sometimes there is an easier solution to the question.  Taking some time may produce and answer to problem that does not even require you to say yes.  I like this one – it makes me look smart and doesn’t use up much of my time!
• RESPECT – Following through when you say yes helps you to gain respect.  Saying yes and failing to come through breaks down trust.
• PRODUCTIVITY – Do you ever find yourself starting something and then jumping onto your next yes before you finished the last one?  Too many yes’s usually results in too many “I’m not done yet’s.”
• PLANNING – By now I hope you all realize that your life should be lived by a specific plan.  Your personal GPS for life.  Saying yes too often is like taking a trip and stopping at every store along the way.  You will never reach your destination.

OK, is that enough reasons to call a timeout next time someone wants to add you to their agenda?  It takes discipline to be intentional about when to say yes or no.  The next time you have the choice to say yes or no, ask yourself this question …

“What will I be saying no to by saying yes?”  The answer to that question just might give you the answer whether to say yes or no.

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Barry Smith   www.buildingwhatmatters.com      3/25/13            photo by author

The post Intentionality: You Can’t Be Everything To Everyone appeared first on BUILDING WHAT MATTERS.COM.

Many people reading this may have no problem saying no.  I think those people are doing one of two things. They are either doing exactly what they want or they are doing nothing at all.  I am not trying to offend anyone here, but think about it. Some people say no because saying yes would take them out of their comfort zone.  These people probably have less stress in their lives, but they also, in my opinion, will never reach their potential.

Then there are the people that say no because they understand that the choice between yes and no is a simple choice of whether or not the decision will be conducive to them reaching their goals.  The question of “why” plays a big part in reaching this clarity.

I know that I need to be able to say no if I am going to achieve my goals this year.  This may seem pretty straight forward, but for me it has been something that has caused much grief and held me back from many things I have attempted to do.  In the past, I have really struggled in this area.  I have been accused of being, among other things, a fixer and a pleaser.  On the surface, these seem like good things but the truth is that sometimes saying yes is the worst decision you can make.

Here are some great reasons why you need to learn how to say no:

BALANCE

My wife tells me all the time that the key to life is balance.  I think I have finally realized the wisdom in this statement.  Saying yes when you should be saying no tips the scale too far in the wrong direction.  How can we expect to maintain balance in our life when we can’t control our own agenda?

COMMITMENT

This is a huge word for me.  Full of good intentions most of my life has cost me.  “Sure, I can do that.”  “No problem, I should be able to fit that in.”  Do I need to go on?  These statements, although in a helpful spirit, have resulted in my failure to achieve the important things.  The things that really matter like my family and my health.

STRESS

Does this sound familiar … “There are not enough hours in the day.”  “If I only had a little more time.”  These phrases really say the same thing to me – stress!  Adding more things to our list than we can handle always results in stress.

PRODUCTIVITY

Have you ever wished that you could get more done every day?  I haven’t since … well, since I got up this morning.  We all want to be more productive and we all want to be successful in reaching our goals.  Do you have enough time today to do the things that NEED to get done?

EMPOWERMENT

To me, this is the big one.  One of my big desires in life to to empower others.  To empower them to become who they were designed to be.  I have come to realize that in order to do that, sometimes we need to say no.  Often by saying yes, we do the opposite of empower, we enable.

The bottom line is this … the only person that has the ability to say no is you.  Most of us fight this decision because we want to help.  The fact is that in order to help others, we need to help ourselves first.  Likewise, in order to lead others, we need to lead ourselves first.

Today’s challenge – Say “NO” to something that someone else can or should do themselves and focus on what you really need to be doing.  What will you say “NO” to today?

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Barry Smith   www.buildingwhatmatters.com   1/28/13            photo by author

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I recently heard a church sermon on the idea of why it is important to thrive.  The Pastor talked about thriving both physically and spiritually.  These are both important to me, but I believe the concept can apply to any area of our life.

For a long time I had lived in that survival mode.  Waking up each day, already overwhelmed with the things that I never finished yesterday, let alone the list for today.  As I look back on those times, I see the impact that feeling “two weeks” behind all the time had on me.

Full transparency here, most of this was my own doing.  Life is about choices, and I was not making very good ones.  In an effort to under-promise and over-deliver, I was really doing the opposite.  The worst part of this is that my family was generally the one not getting the attention they deserved.

I came up with all kinds or reasons to justify my actions and behaviors.  In fact, this went on long enough, that I totally believed it to be true.  My addiction to survival was keeping me from thriving.  Three things I heard in that sermon really add some clarity to why it is important to thrive.

1.  WHEN WE THRIVE, WE HAVE A BETTER PERSPECTIVE ON THE BIG PICTURE.

Surviving results in a limited view of the possibilities that are available to us.  We are consumed with the “now” and don’t have the vision to see what the future holds.  When we spend all our energy on what is not done yet, we are simply unable to plan for what we could be doing.

Thriving adds a new dynamic to our conscious thought.  We gain the perspective on what a better world and a better life look like and can visualize what our potential could lead to. Simply put, thriving allows us to live, and live fully.  Thriving is the only way to live out our purpose.  Surviving is living out someone else’s.

2.  WHEN WE THRIVE, WE PRODUCE INTERNAL ENERGY.

Do you feel tired or overwhelmed with life?  Do you feel like you just have no energy left?  The reality is that surviving sucks the energy out of us.  We get up, struggle to get done what is on the “list” and wonder why we can’t seem to get the things done that we really want to.

When we thrive in life, the excitement and momentum built through that living produces energy.  That energy will continue to build and “now what” in a negative sense becomes “what’s next” in a positive sense.  How would you like to wake up everyday excited about what is going to happen.

3.  WHEN WE THRIVE, WE EXHIBIT AN EXTERNAL GLOW.

No, I am not getting weird on you here, but think about it – can’t you tell which people are enjoying life and which are merely enduring it simply by the look on their face, their attitude and the way they act?  Think about a vegetable garden.  Picture one that is thriving as compared to one that is only surviving.  People are no different.  Those that are thriving are easily identifiable by their outward appearance.

At the end of the day you have choices to make.  If you want to thrive, start doing the things you have to do today so that you can do the things you want to do tomorrow.

So two questions for you …

• 1.  What do you have to do?
• 2.  What do you want to do?

The more important question might be in how long it has been since you even asked these questions!

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Barry Smith   www.buildingwhatmatters.com   1/21/13            photo by author

The post Are You Really Thriving Or Just Surviving? appeared first on BUILDING WHAT MATTERS.COM.