Business and Money Tips

John C. Maxwell, a renowned leadership expert and author, emphasizes the importance of buy-in in leadership across his extensive body of work. He believes that for leaders to be effective, they must first secure the buy-in of their followers. Without this buy-in, even the best strategies and plans can falter because leadership is less about the leader and more about the led . Here are some key insights and proven ways Maxwell suggests to gain buy-in from your team: The Importance of Buy-In in Leadership Leadership is Influence: Maxwell often states, "Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less." The essence of leadership is about influencing others to follow, and this cannot be achieved without their buy-in. Buy-in turns the leader’s vision into a collective mission. Builds Trust and Loyalty : Buy-in is crucial for building trust and loyalty, which are foundational for any effective team. When team members buy into the leader's vision and leadership, they are mor...

A s a full-time Coach and Trainer having over 81,131 executives in 14 countries since 1996, I believe that everyone is a leader and everyone can rise to the top leadership position of any organization.  There is no requirement of background, wealth, education or connections. However, many people still don't want to be a leader because they think that being a leader is difficult and requires too many sacrifices. The top 7 misunderstandings of being a leader include: 1.   A Leader Must Be Tough.   Softness doesn't mean not effective , and sometimes being tough will alienate followers instead. 2.   You Must Be The Best.   The best may not lead  because they prefer to be led. That doesn't mean that the leader is mediocre and incompetent.  3.   A Leader Must Behave Like a Leader at All Times. This is called fake leadership because ultimately  a leader is just a normal human being like anyone . A leader is not God or a representative of ...

If you want to be successful in your business and career (and who doesn't?), it's important to know whether you're driven at work on a day-to-day basis .  The following are the 8 signs that you are bored at work and need more drive: You spend more time searching for where to find the cheapest parking for your event after work You look out at the window and admire the scenery every day, even when it is raining. "This is called living in the moment" as what you would say if being asked what are you staring at. The problem you find hardest to solve is where and what to have for lunch You're the first to respond to every group chat. Let's be frank: you are the one that started all but one of the group chats.   It takes you an hour to read through a short document or excel file You begin to wonder why the pantry lady is not here today as you seem to visit the pantry every hour You join your colleagues for smoking breaks, and you don't even smok...

Yes, leading a sales team is not the same as managing the operations team. Salespeople that got promoted into sales managers may not know how to manage salespeople effectively. This is because salespeople are not normal employees . They cannot be controlled, coerced or managed like anyone. There are 5 things to know to manage sales people: 1.  It is NOT all about Hitting Targets Many people think that if we hit targets, we are doing well.  Unknown to many, hitting targets is easy.   It is  how  they hit the targets that makes the difference.  Do they hit targets in ways that enhance future business, or do they hit targets in ways that create bad debts?   Do they hit targets with good teamwork, or are they just lone wolves?     2. Is Your High Performer Earning More than the Boss? When you have a high performing salesperson earning more than his boss, you know your company will go far. The oppo...

We know that leadership makes the difference between an organization’s success and failure, and there are many types of leadership. There are leadership from the heart, leadership by KPI (Key Performance Indicators), leadership by command, coercion and control the opposite, leadership by consultation. Among all types almost everyone say that the best leadership is leadership by example. Unfortunately most people don’t understand what leadership by example is. To many people ‘leadership by example’ means that the leader must set an example. For example, if the leader ask people to work hard, he himself must work hard not just now but forever. Some say that to lead by example, a leader must be flawless and posses all the attributes that he advocates.  The leader by example must do what he says and says what he does. Otherwise he is just a hypocrite and will lose credibility as a leader. Is this true?  It seems that this is the common understanding of leadership by...

President John F Kennedy once famously said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country".  Indeed managers often make the mistake of asking, "Who can help me here?" instead of asking, "Whom can I help?" or, "For whom can I do a favour?" If leadership is about getting others to follow you, then the more you do for others, the more others will follow you.  What can you as a leader do for your team?  There are 7 things that a leader can do for his team: Showing care and concern, especially when they are not meeting their targets Help to link them to resources so as to make their work easier Go the extra mile in not only showing them the way, but lead them the way too Share your stories of inspiration, thereby inspiring them indirectly Listen to them, especially when they are quiet and have few things to share Set the right rewards and incentive plans Build his team as people of character and integrit...

Too often leadership happens by accident. This is especially true in volunteer organizations where leadership is on 'arrowed' or sabotaged basis. Often there are so few or even no people that want to come forward, so the leader is 'appointed' by no choice. If this has happened to you before, congratulations. Because leadership by accident is one of the best forms of leadership available. You see, when you become the leader by accident, there is simply no one to compete with you for that coveted leadership position. This cuts down your opponents to zero. Even if you have no foes, you have no opponents and thus you are on a more even ground than people who have opponents. A leader that comes into a position by accident also has more opportunities to try out new things. Because nobody wants to step forward as a leader, he is free to do new things or things differently and no one will oppose him. Leadership by accident also offers us the true meaning of leadership: the w...

You'll be shocked to hear this: many leaders are leading us, but to the wrong way!  From my observations many leaders do not lead by example but instead lead by bad example. Some bad examples include: Tell people "Just do what I say" and do differently from what they say. A good example is punctuality Appoint people to do jobs and do not follow-up on their status. When things go wrong, they blame people Use abdication instead of delegation.  They delegate the task and the responsibility as well! Play politics and focus on internal fighting instead of external fighting Never reward and punish adequately and fairly. Like dare not hire and promote people more capable than himself Focus on the process to the detriment of the outcome, like too overwhelmed with KPIs and not results 'Monstering' instead of motivating people Make people angry instead of making people hungry Control people instead of leading people Never read email attachments and ask innoc...

In the current war between IS and the rest of the world, I can safely predict the losing side to be IS. This is because I learnt from Sun Tzu's Art of War that to forecast the outcome of a war between two teams, we can ask the following 8 questions: Which leader possesses greater moral influence?  Put it in another way, which leader is one that you want to follow from your conscience?  Which leader is more capable ? Which team holds more favourable conditions in climate and ground?  This may mean asking which team has better ground support and favourable external factors ? On which team are visions and instructions better communicated and implemented? Which team has superiority in its team's mind?  Sun Tzu considered the mind, not fighting tools, as the most powerful weapon On which team are the management and field staff better trained? Which team has more discipline ? Which team has better compensation, rewards and penalty systems? LEADERSHIP WI...

By now over several million of people from Singapore and the workd have paid their tribute to the late Lee Kuan Yew, who passed away on 23 March 2015.  Lee Kuan Yew loves the world, especially Singapore, very much.  In 1965, he shed tears in front of national television when he announced the separation of Singapore from Malaysia. Fifty years later in 2015, the entire nation shed tears for him.  Singapore and the world are showing Lee now how much they love him too. The funeral on Sunday 29 March 2015 reads like a 'Who's Who's' of the world leaders.  No other world leader's funeral has attracted so many visitors, not even the late Princes Diana in 1997.  How does Lee Kuan Yew love his people?  Many young people may not appreciate what he has done for the nation, because they perceive him to be a strict and fierce parent.  One thing for sure: he does not love them by spoiling them, he loves them by developing them.  From watching over hundred...