Peggy Anderson has compiled a great tabletop book of inspirational quotes that is sure to be enjoyed by anyone that gets the pleasure to read through it. Great Quotes from Great Leaders is a wonderful book filled with photographs and quotes from the most famous leaders in our history. The quotes are informative and entertaining. The photos that are included in this 160-page edition make it even more appealing.

This book has quickly become a favorite as a gift to customers and clients from people in the business world. Because it is so well written and illustrated, those that receive it as a gift are sure to be mesmerized with it for great lengths of time. It is hard to put the book down once you begin reading through the passages and the sense of inspiration that comes from the quotes can spark great ideas and direction for those that read it.

Great Quotes from Great Leaders was written to inspire and it does a wonderful job at it. Peggy Anderson has included quotes from some of the world’s greatest leaders and most respected individuals over time. The quotes from Franklin Roosevelt give us the strength and desire to push forward in the face of adversity. He speaks of our desire to live as free people and our need to push through any doubts that may stop us from achieving the goals that we have set forth for ourselves.

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Many factors contribute to success in a person’s life. The 10 Qualities of Charismatic People, written by Dr. Tony Alessandra, takes a unique approach to the subject by making his premise that successful and charismatic people are different from others in their qualities, characteristics and abilities. With effort, practice and personal development, you can turn yourself into a person with great charisma, someone that others want to follow and mimic.

In The 10 Qualities of Charismatic People, Dr. Tony Alessandra discusses ten qualities of the individual that can be developed by those who desire success in their lives, attraction from others, and want to experience more attention. Among these qualities and characteristics that The 10 Qualities of Charismatic People teaches, personal development plays a huge role.

Communication Abilities

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One common topic in employee relations training is how to increase employee engagement. If your company values employee engagement, the human resources department must work to create an engagement strategy using the resources available. With the right skills, developing and maintaining high employee engagement can be done even with limited resources. A comprehensive human resource training program should cover the development of an engagement strategy as well as cover the tools needed to assess the current engagement climate.

There are a variety of drivers of engagement. One might argue that the largest driver of engagement has to do with the leaders of the company and how they interact and build relationships with coworkers. Employees that leave a company cite that a main reason of dissatisfaction is that they had a bad relationship with one of their leaders. Maybe the leader didn’t provide a good vision or direction, maybe the employee did not get meaningful feedback on their contributions, or maybe the leader was simply unapproachable and cold. Motivational and inspiring leaders are probably the most important driver of employe engagement. Employee relations training can give human resources the tools they need to help their leaders encourage engagement.

Another driver of employee engagement is more directly related to the human resources department, which is where a good human resource training program comes into play. This next driver relates to a solid rewards program – financial rewards, bonuses, raises – these all make employees feel more secure and are great incentives for employees to engage. Employees that have financial difficulties are much less likely to feel attached to their work, even if they enjoy it. Financial stress does not drive employee engagement. A company must provide a good rewards system to foster more engagement.

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Project managers must face a variety of challenges in their day to day work. Project uncertainty is a given, but training in project management can help project managers better face and overcome these difficulties. Training in project management and leadership can make the difference between a project’s success or failure. Being effective and making the right decisions are important parts of being a project manager.

There are four major types of project uncertainty that a project manager might face. The first is variation – this type of uncertainty is compounded by the small uncertainties associated with each part of a project. If there are five main parts to a project and each has a timeline variation of two weeks around the completion date, that is actually a variation of 10 weeks total for the project. The project manager has to be aware of and deal with all of these uncertainties simultaneously to keep the project on track.

The second type of uncertainty is foreseen uncertainty. Although these uncertainties are foreseeable in that they may happen, the project managers and workers don’t know if they actually will. These uncertainties are different from variation – these are more major and may need risk management. One example of foreseen uncertainty can be seen in the pharmaceutical industry. Maybe a drug in development turns out to have side effects; these are foreseen because they happen with most drugs, and a plan needs to be developed for how to deal with them. Training in project management can be helpful to learn how to develop contingency plans.

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The term “groupthink” was first used by Irving Janus in 1972 when he was researching why teams made excellent decisions one time, yet made disastrous decisions another time. The two most famous and widely used examples of groupthink that led to disastrous outcomes are the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion. In both cases, people had information that could have prevented the disaster, but the organizational climate was such that they were afraid to speak up.

Janis found in his research that most catastrophic decisions were the result of lack of conflict or opposing viewpoints within the team. When there is no conflict, there are no alternatives to analyze and teams have a tendency not to gather the necessary information to make an informed decision. According to Janis, groupthink usually happens when these conditions exist:

There is a strong, dominant, and persuasive team leader

There is a high level of cohesion within the team

The team is under a lot of pressure from the outside to make a good decision

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In the early 1970’s Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard developed one of the most popular and used leadership models which is called Situational Leadership. While I think a more appropriate name would have been situational management since it deals primarily with task execution, the model is still very relevant and useful today. I’ve had several situations while working with managers that we have used the model to help manage staff more effectively.

The theory behind the model is very simple. Effective managers adapt a leadership style that is appropriate to the situation rather than use the same style all of the time. A big “ah ha” for one of my clients recently was that the model applies to tasks not people. The same person will have to be managed differently depending on the task involved.

When determining which style to use, the manager assesses the situation from two dimensions. The first is the person’s level of competency for the task. Competence is the level of skills and knowledge that a person brings to the assigned task.

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There has been much written about the turnaround of the Chicago National Hockey League franchise – from being almost dead last in attendance to winning the Stanley Cup in June of 2010. In 2004, ESPN had named the Blackhawks the worst franchise in sports. Most recently, Forbes highlighted the team’s success and called it the greatest turnaround ever in sport’s history.

A great deal can be learned about leadership from the recent history of the Blackhawks and their drive to become the best team in professional hockey. For those who follow the team closely, you probably know that they have recently traded and released a number of players who made key contributions to the championship season. Despite these trades, the leadership lessons still hold true.

The team’s turning point has been linked to the ascent of Rocky Wirtz to the chairman’s role. But it actually began with the drafting of Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane by Dale Tallon, the former general manager, prior to Rocky Wirtz’s taking over the team. These two players make up the core nucleus on which the team has been built.

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A key role and responsibility of any manager is to develop those people who report to them. Often, when developing subordinates through delegation or training activities, managers may fail to take into account that each person has different learning preferences.

Answer each of these questions:

When putting something new together, do you:

A.Read the instructions

B.Ask for an explanation

C.Go ahead on your own

When contacting a person for the first time, do you prefer:

A. Meeting face-to-face

B. Talking on the phone

C. Doing an activity together

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Bobby Cox, the manager of the Atlanta Braves baseball team, is retiring at the end of this season after 29 seasons as a manager. He is fourth on the all time list of wins by a manager. His teams in Atlanta won an unprecedented 14 straight division titles from 1991 to 2005. Even with all of his on field success, almost universally he is referred to as a “players manager” by anyone who has ever played for him.

The business world could use more “players managers”. I am a baseball fan and watch a lot of the Braves games. Throughout the season, I have heard different people interviewed and make comments about Bobby Cox. As I listen to the different comments, I believe there are some things about him and his approach that would make managers in the business world better at getting results through people.

Even though Bobby Cox is a players manager, he is a tough disciplinarian. He runs a tight ship. He expects everyone to show up every day and give their best effort. In most cases he handles discipline in private. He doesn’t do it publicly in front of other players or in the press. On rare occasions he has pulled a player from the game for lack of effort to make a point.

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Last week as I went through airport security, waiting for my husband who was getting the grand pat down for the zillionth time since his hip replacement operation eighteen months ago, I was musing about how we normalize the abnormal.

Going through security, checking for vials or sharp objects, or whatever, is now a common way of life. Does anyone remember when we could actually greet someone right at the airplane gate? Yup, just walk right in and be there to give a hug as soon as they left the plane.

Ah, those were the good old days. No more.

The big question for leaders today is how do we help ourselves and our employees survive and prosper in the constant chaotic environment that is called the modern day world? This time calls for leaders who know how to surf. Okay, not ready for the big waves in Maui? For landlovers the metaphor is really enough. So, everyone ready for surfing?

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