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Calvin O Iszard: Posted on Monday, May 13, 2013 7:21 AM
“I don’t have time to sharpen the saw...I’m too busy sawing!” Steven Covey - Seven Habits
"P" = Prime the Pump! When teaching Leadership to my college students - who I'm sure have no idea what priming a pump means - I tell this story.
When growing up in rural southern New Jersey we did not have city water at first. We had a well of fresh cool, pure water and a hand pump in the kitchen (hard to believe but true). My grandmother always kept a small mason jar of water next to it - to prime the pump. That small bit of water added to the machine "got it going" as my granny would say.
And she scolded me if I forgot (which I did a lot at 7 years) to fill the jar first before I needed a drink or to wash my face. And that's the point. Take time to plan ahead or there won't be the desired result. A wise leader knows that they must sometimes give their employees a "priming" to get them going in the right direction. A little bit of coaching can result in large job improvements and better results.
And a wise leader also knows that they must always make some time for this - like Covey says, if one doesn't take the time out to sharpen the saw, the job is much harder in the long run. |
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Posted on Monday, April 08, 2013 9:03 AM
"...everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler..." Albert Einstein While popular usage translates it as 'Keep it simple, stupid', Johnson translated it as 'Keep it simple stupid', and this reading is still used by many authors. There was no implicit meaning that an engineer was stupid; just the opposite. The principle is best exemplified by the story of Johnson handing a team of design engineers a handful of tools, with the challenge that the jet aircraft they were designing must be repairable by an average mechanic in the field under combat conditions with only these tools. Hence, the 'stupid' refers to the relationship between the way things break and the sophistication available to fix them. SOURCE: www,princeton.edu Managers live by the rules and if there is no rule they invent one. Leaders work with their staff to create environments that are simplified, encourage thinking and they reward new approaches and solutions to problems. Managers look to the past for answers. Good business leaders look to the future! |
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Posted on Monday, March 18, 2013 3:22 PM
"Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you." Satchel Page - great baseball player "H" - Hire Your Replacement! So many less confident managers fear the success of their own people. They seem paranoid that if the spotlight falls on a subordinate; they just might be reporting to them soon. The true "leader" in business hires their replacements - and shines in their successes. Tip - always give your reports the credit when credit is due and sometimes even when it's not - it reveals much more about a boss's "management style" - then an "att-a-boy" from the Vice President of Whatever. A major company's CEO was once asked, "If you give your staff too much credit, too much training - they just might leave you for greener pastures. He replied, "And if you don't they just might stay." |
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Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2013 2:35 PM
THE ISZARD GROUP DailyBlog RETURNS! After taking a much too long hiatus working on a major grant full time at Mercer County College we are back to Blogging - Jonathan Iszard our viral marketing wizard, Lisa Steinerd our small business guru and Calvin Iszard our PR maven will once again be posting snips and pieces we find along the way that we guarantee will improve your business and your attitude. So visit us daily for our ABC's of Good Business -- A primer that he has been complied over 4 decades of success in management - it a fun compliation of tips from "real world" experiences. Hope to see you every day. Tomorrow's Post: A = Always Inform |
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