I snapped this picture at a national chain pharmacy sometime during the last year.  I can't tell you which one, but it rhymes with "Fall Spleens." 

It was taped to the top of a Rubbermaid cart with wheels.  I forgot I had this photo on my phone until recently.  Everytime I see it, it makes me laugh.  But I also wonder...

What kind of message does this send to its employees?

Manager: "Go stock the Gatorade aisle and the camera aisle!"

Employee: "Sure - can I use the cart?"

Manager: "Are you out of your mind?  Where do you think you are?  Cart usage is a privilege, not a right?"

Employee:  "But without the cart, I may have to make 15 trips back and forth from the stockroom."

Manager: "So what?  That's your problem.  You see, a few months ago, someone used the cart and did not empty and clean it after they used it.  Therefore, I must punish all the employees instead of dealing with the one person who was in error".

Employee:  "So you subscribe to the notion that you should shoot all of the dogs just because one has rabies?"

Manager:  "Absolutely.  Brilliant thinking!"

Employee (under breath): "You are an idiot" (or something similar)

When it comes to your employees, I totally agree that some things are privileges and some are rights.  For example...

A harassment-free workplace...        RIGHT

Leave early on Wednesday...           PRIVILEGE

Open and honest feedback...            RIGHT

Casual Friday...                                   PRIVILEGE

Use of a cart to carry supplies...        RIGHT!  (in my opinion)

True leaders give their employees the tools and resources they need to do their jobs.  If an employee takes advantage of them, the leader needs to get with that employee and solve the issue.

Don't punish all for the mistakes of a few.

Good night Mrs. Hale, wherever you are, and thanks...

        

True Leadership is about putting others first.

True Leadership is about making sure your "team" is well taken care of.

We have had some good examples of True Leadership these past few days.

From a national perspective, I give you Lou Piniella .  Sweet Lou has lived and breathed baseball since he was a little kid.  At 66, he still has years of good managing ahead of him.  But no more...

True Leadership beckons in the form of his ailing mother.

Lou believes family comes first, and is putting his money where his mouth is.

From a state perspective, I give you Cecil Whitmire.  Cecil was the the leader of the restoration of the Alabama Theater in Birmingham, and has been a fixture at the theater for many, many years...

Except when his wife and mother were ailing - and then he made sure he went to be with them.

From a local perspective, I give you Kristin Schlenker, a juvenile probation officer at Jefferson County Family Court.  Kristin is a friend of mine who was very excited to attend the Greater Birmingham Chapter of ASTD  professional luncheon meeting today...

...until her son was sick.  She stayed home to take care of him and missed the meeting she was so looking forward to attending.

All three are great examples of leadership!

Leaders - put remember to always put your family first!  In the end, nothing else matters...

        

"Sucks" is one of those words that I still struggle with.  My parents considered it a 'bad' word, just like the rest of the George Carlin words.

Today, I am unsure how I feel about it.  I do not like it when my kids use it, and I attempt to use it very sparingly in my training sessions so that I do not offend anyone.

But here is the truth.

Meetings suck!

They really do.  They don't stink.  They don't offend.  They don't annoy.

They just downright suck...

This was validated for me this weekend as I read Patrick Lencioni's book Death by Meetings .  It follows the typical Lencioni model of a leadership fable followed by the applicable model.

I finished this book in 2.5 hours on Saturday, because I identified with it.

If you are a leader, PLEASE read this book and implement its ideas.  But just to tide you over, here are a few more ideas that will assist you.  I am not quoting from any website or any book - these are right from the mind of Pete...

1.    Don't have a recurring meeting unless you are in the middle of a project. 

2.    When the project is over, please kill the meeting. 

3.    There are other ways to communicate besides meeting.  Please use e-mail, phone, and drop-in's to communicate with me as well.

4.    Keep having meetings!  They ARE useful.  The networking, brainstorming and team-building that happens in meetings is essential to a successful business. 

Leaders who run good meetings are good leaders.

Those leaders who don't, suck.

        

There I was this past Sunday, having a great time in Bible class...

Someone then mentioned Matthew 23, and so I opened up to Matthew 23:10, and I saw the following verse:

 ¹⁰"Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. (NASV)

I looked over to my wife and stated, "Well this is bad news...since my entire career path is based on LEADERSHIP!"

She reminded me to be careful not to take anything out of context.  So when we got home, we looked up that same verse in different versions of the Bible, and we found...

¹⁰Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ.^[a] (NIV)

¹⁰Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. (KJV)

¹⁰ And you should not be called 'Master,' because you have only one Master, the Christ. (NCV)

and suddenly I felt a lot better.

How about you?

As a leader, do you truly listen to what your employees are telling you, or do you take their words out of context?

Make sure you take time to listen correctly, as there may be different versions of the same story.

Read on, and lead on...

        

"Brace" yourself today, readers.  This one may get a little clever!

I went to the dentist last week.  It was my first visit in 5 years.  My idea of mouth management is brushing twice a day, but that is all.

I went in expecting the worse.  And then I heard her say those words...

"You have zero cavities.  And your teeth look really good.  Here, take our free whitening kit..."

I was stunned!

So how does my poor dental hygiene relate to leadership?

Simple.

I got lucky!

I left my teeth alone, with just a little overview and maintenance, and luckily, they are OK.

But what about your employees?

Can you let them go for five years with just a minimal amount of 'checking in?'  They might be OK, and you might get lucky, but the odds are one of your employees will have become a "cavity."

They might be disengaged, underperforming, stealing, or worse - all because you are just doing the minimal amount of brushing to keep them going.

Here's a idea - your employees need to be flossed regularly.  They may need 6 month check-ups.  Some may need to be straightened and some may need to be whitened and some may need fillings.

Or they all may be OK and healthy with no cavities.  But do you want to take that chance?  Does your organization want you, as a leader, to just hope that they are all OK?

Do yourself a favor.  Check-in with your employees regularly...

before they all fall out, and you have to do the unthinkable...

hire some dentures!

        

Because if you cling too tightly, you're going to lose control!!!!

(They just don't make songs like that anymore...)

I have been trying my darndest to keep my daughter from growing up.  This fall, she will be going into the 7th grade.

Up until now, she has not had a cellphone, and she has not had her ears pierced.

Daddy 2, Madison 0.

Until just recently that is.

Much to my chagrin, my daughter is now the proud owner of pierced ears AND a cellphone.

Madison 2, Daddy 0.

My point is this...

As leaders, you have employees that you are holding on to.  They are high performers, and you do not want to lose them.  You want to keep them all to yourself for as long as you work.

One of my mentors, Adrianna Tibaudo, once told me "You're only successful if you make those around you successful!"

She is right.

Develop your people, give them all they need, and then help them get where they want to go.  Eventually, they will grow up and go on to bigger and better things.

That's what leaders do...we develop people!

After all, they can't stay 12 forever...

        

Very graphic title, I know...

But sometimes that's what it takes to make you read a blog.

Just like Hollywood thinks that's what it takes to make you watch a TV show.

Let me put this in perspective...

Yesterday, my wife and kids and I were having Sunday lunch with my in-laws.  Over the course of conversation, my 12 year old daughter shared that she was really enjoying a TV show called "Pretty Little Liars" which airs on the ABC Family Network (more on that later).

Here is the official text from the website about the show...

"Rosewood is a perfect little town. So quiet and pristine, you'd never guess it holds so many secrets. Some of the ugliest ones belong to the prettiest girls in town -- Aria, Spencer, Hanna and Emily, four estranged friends whose darkest secrets are about to unravel.

One year ago, Alison, the Queen Bee of their group, disappeared and the girls swore they'd never tell what really happened that night. They thought their secrets would bond them together, but just the opposite is true. Then again, who's to say what the truth is in Rosewood. It seems everyone in town is lying about something.

Now, as the mystery surrounding Alison's disappearance resurfaces, the girls begin getting messages from "A," saying – and threatening – things only Alison would know. But it couldn't be Alison. Could it?"

Now, that is how my daughter described it to her grandparents.  And from that point of view, it sounds like a interesting, family oriented, teeny-bopper show, doesn't it.

But wait!  I had to add my two cents - which went something like this...

"While that is true, sweetie, don't forget that it is the character development that makes this show so enjoyable...

-Teen girl #1 has decided she may be a lesbian and so she is trying out new things...
-Teen girl #2 has decided to sleep with her 25 year old teacher...
-Teen girl #3 has anger issues and is frequently arrested, so in order to keep her out of jail, her mom has decided to sleep with the arresting officer to allow the charges to be dropped...
-Finally, Teen girl #4 is very smart (finally, a good role model!)...except she finds it useful to steal her sisters fiancee' and also to steal her schoolwork and submit it as her own (so much for that...)"

(I guess that is why they market ABC family as "A new kind of family...")

Same TV show - two different interpretations.

Now, my parental decision to let my 12 year watch this debacle aside, there is a key lesson to be learned here...

There are ALWAYS two sides to every story.

As a leader, it is your responsibility not to take everything at face value.  Get into your organization and find out what is going on.

Are you employees telling you the down and dirty details...or are you just getting the standard marketing paragraph that is heavy on big picture and short on details?

Leaders need to know how to get the right information from the right people at the right time.  Learn this skill and learn it quickly...

or you may end up leading your own set of liars...pretty or otherwise.

        

I was once told that great leaders are also writers.

Not good writers, or great writers...just writers.

Just a few years ago, it was virtually impossible to get your thoughts out there.  Now there are multiple ways for each of you to share your leadership messages...

• Start a blog
• Tweet once a week
• Write articles for your local community newspaper or your local business journal
• Write a book
• Write a chapter in a compilation book

And that is what I have finally done.

After 13 long months of back and forth editing, I now am the proud owner of 300 copies of a book titled Yes You Can! Reaching your Potential while Achieving Greatness.  It is a compilation book that contains leadership lessons from writers such as Warren Bennis and the late Jim Rohn...

...and me!

Writing allows you to do many things.  You can share your message.  You can motivate others.  You can attempt to influence change.

Do I want to get rid of these 300 copies that are taking up space at my house?

Yes.

Do I want YOU to buy a copy of my book at the discounted rate of $16.95 exclusively at www.peteblank.com ?

Yes.

But even more important, I want you to write. 

Great leaders write.  So get your thoughts out there for all the world to see.

Your followers need you...

        

I know that I am late to the party.

The ship sailed and I was not on it.

I hope there is still room on the bandwagon for me.

I am talking about Tribes, a Seth Godin book that was released in 2008. (Yes, I know his latest book is Linchpin, and I hope to get to that one by 2012).

I just read it.  I loved it.

I want to create a tribe.  I want to create a tribe of local government employees who want to change the status quo - who want to rock the boat - who want to improve the system.

Surprisingly, these people are not as hard to find as you might think.  I meet them every week in my leadership training classes.

If you are a civil servant in local government, RUN - don't walk - to your local bookstore or library and get a copy of Tribes.  You will be able to read it in 2-3 days, and then we can talk...

...talk about what we are going to do together to change the culture of local government.

Let's get started.  Who's with me?

        

Incoming freshman to the University of Georgia this September now have one more elective to choose from...

PLL 100 (Poor Leadership Lessons 100).

The prerequisites are:

1. must be willing to drink, drive, and fail a field sobriety test
2. must be willing to have a younger woman in your vehicle, preferably past midnight, while your wife and kids wait at home for you
3. must be willing to record a PSA that will be shown in the football stadium before every home game that explains the dangers of drinking and driving!  (See PSA below)

All joking aside, it is never good when your athletic director - the person in charge of being a role model for all student athletes on campus - is arrested for DUI. 

I think it is safe to say that this was an example of poor leadership.

UGA President Michael Adams stated that "...this is not an example of the kind of leadership that I expect our senior administrators to set."

Really???

But here is the million dollar question for all my leaders out there?

Would YOU give him a second chance?

The bad news is that there is no right or wrong answer to this question.  But as a leader, you need to know in advance where you stand on the second chance issue.

Once you allow a second (or third) chance for your employees who make mistakes, you will most likely have to offer that chance to every employee who errs.

However, if you have a zero mistake policy, then it needs to be enforced without exception.

As a leader, I live in the gray.  I am not a big fan of black and white.  However, when it comes to this issue of second chances, even I would have to pick a position and stick with it.

Leaders, one day you may have to make this decision with one of your own employees, so take time today to put yourself in the shoes of UGA President Adams.
 
Ask yourself what you would do with Damon Evans. 

Would you let him go?

Or would you give him a second chance?

Because after all, you can't spell "second chance" without S-E-C...