You are a leader if someone is following you. This could be as simple as one person watching you and following your example and encouragement, to being a leader in your home, your community, your workplace or even your nation. Leadership can take many forms, but typically it often involves managing people- one of the most difficult of all tasks. It means coordinating and motivating the actions of others to achieve a common goal. A leader has to establish that goal, and gain the willing agreement of others to be governed by and work together towards that goal.

The style of leadership taken by any leader is usually predetermined by the personality and motivational values of that person. They are who they are, as a personality, and that has a strong influence on the way they lead and communicate with others.

The study of personality traits has been on going for centuries, and there is a great deal of agreement in the conclusions and findings of personality characteristics. In this article I am going to refer to the different types of personality in color form, adopts the categories applied by Linda Berens and Don Lowry.

Every personality type has particular talents and skills that lend themselves to good leadership. Any form of leadership however, is greatly enriched and enhanced if it is able to draw on the strengths and characteristics of the other styles.

A leader who has a strong Gold personality type is personally committed and dedicated to the goal. They work hard, and expect their team to do the same. They lead from a place of belief that the work is important, and has to be done right. Gold leaders value tradition- the ways of the past are proven ways, and so do not take well to new ideas unless they are well proven to have potential.

Leaders with a strong Blue personality are motivated by their commitment to the people involved, and a strong sense of community. They have a democratic style of management, valuing the input of employees and team workers. Blue leaders tend to see the big picture, and have the ability to inspire others with the vision.

The strong Green leadership style also sees the big picture as well as the complexity of detail. Green leaders excel in strategy. They bring intellect, ingenuity and design into the leadership role. They research and analyze facts and concepts, constantly looking for improvements for working smarter rather than harder. Facts and information are all important to the Green leader, and they pay little attention to the value of feelings and relationships.

Action is the focus of the Orange leader. Administration and organization exist to make action possible. They are great troubleshooters. The Orange leader leads by example, setting the standard to follow. Orange management style can be quite authoritarian and abrupt as they are impatient with opposition, and expect their directions to be followed. Above all Orange leaders welcome change believing that the old ways can always be improved on. A new project represents, adventure, a challenge and potential fun, all of which the Orange personality thrives on.

Every leader has a combination of all four personalities, but one will always be the stronger, more natural way to operate in. A leader’s style may also be a blend of their main strength, combined with their second strongest style. A wise leader will understand the strengths and weaknesses of their personal leadership style and use those team members with different styles to bring balance and greater efficiency in meeting the shared goal.

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My acquaintance Alex contacts me on the phone to inform me that he has found some on-line gambling websites that I just have to check out. I have never really been heavily into gambling, but I figured okay, I may give it a try. And So I tested out some blackjack and poker, only truthfully, they simply aren’t my cup of tea. And Then I see these on-line e-lottery internet sites and I figure that all over the internet I can take part in all different lotteries around the planet. Instantly to me this looks a lot more joy, then I thought I would give it a trial run. Firstly I tried out my luck at euro lotto, you know a European lottery. I chose my e-lottery numbers and then awaited and hoped that I will win the jackpot. I didn’t on that attempt only when the euro millions results came out; I was highly surprised to see that I had in reality come really close to the winning lotto numbers. I tried out a few other world lotteries, but I found that I had come so near the first time on the euromillions, that I just had to give it one more go. Now to date, I have not won millions of dollars, but all the same, I have scooped some money, and so I continue to play the euro lottery and picking lotto numbers, going for the big win. I am one of those souls who like to believe in the likelihood of hitting the jackpot, because it’s hard to reckon making that kind of money any other way.

As for my friend, he still stays on with his love of online gambling and finds himself at the on-line casino for at least an hour at a time. He likewise has won some money, but it is up and down and the difference is, when you lose at gambling you usually lose a good deal but when you lose at the lottery, it doesn’t cost you as near as much. I reckon that the lottery is the only way for me to go plus the notion of hitting the jackpot and on top of that, it is only costing me just a couple of pounds “makes it more appealing”.

“How do you handle the obstacles that get in the way of achieving your goals?” This
was one question I asked many Silicon Valley business people that I interviewed a
few years ago.

The day I asked this question to Cesar Plata, the networking guru of
www.InfoBayArea.com, he seemed puzzled. He paused for a moment, looked at me,
and then questioned me with one word, “Obstacles?” I nodded yes and remained
silent waiting for his answer.

“As with anyone launching a startup business,” the trail blazing entrepreneur said, “I
have endured many personal and financial sacrifices and struggles. I did not see
these efforts as barriers; I accepted them as learning experiences. The way I see it,
they were simply unmet challenges.”

“Unmet challenges?” I asked curiously wanting to know more.

“Yes,” he said.” When something doesn’t work right, you try another way and
another until you achieve the results you want. In my mind there are only unmet
challenges.”

Oh, I get it, I thought. You just keep on going until you reach your goal. You stay
focused and keep on trying until you succeed.

Unmet challenges: Cesar opened up a whole new world for me on how to handle my
goals. Forget obstacles. Stomp out the word, roadblock. Break away from fear.
Block out, stuck. Don’t say, “I can’t do it.” Instead I must say, “That step didn’t
work, I’ll try the next one.”

Each time I work on my goals now, I relax, take a deep breath and just do it. Every
step of the way along life’s journey I know that I will handle those unmet challenges
with ease. Thanks to Cesar I meet more of my goals now and look forward to
handling those unmet challenges.

- - -

You can find Cesar Plata’s story in the book Top 10 Traits of Silicon Valley
Dynamos at http://cloutpower.com by Author, Joan Clout-Kruse. She is also the author of the e-
book: ABCs of Success at http://powerhousewriting.coma book that helps
people remember the success principles.

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You’ve heard of the Peter Principle: “People are promoted to their level of ultimate incompetence”. But what the Peter Principle doesn’t tell you is the nature of the incompetence. For the most part, it’s leadership incompetence.

A human resources director told me, “Brent, we hire people for their skills and knowledge, but we fire them or fail to promote them or promote them for their leadership abilities — or lack thereof.”

In other words, throughout their careers, people are promoted to take charge of bigger and bigger groups — until they take over a group that’s too big for their leadership abilities.

One main reason they come up short in abilities is they are constantly and unconsciously falling into two leadership traps.

I’ll describe the traps, how to get out of them, and how not to get into them in the first place.

The traps can be particularly deadly because they are in many cases self-set — and even self-triggered. What’s worse: the vast majority of leaders who get into them don’t have a clue they’re caught. It’s one thing to be in a trap and know you’re in it: You try to get out. But it’s a problem of another magnitude to be in a trap and not know you’re in it. In that case, you’ll stay there.

THE FIRST TRAP: “I need …”

A marketing leader in a major global company was stumbling. His team was failing to achieve the targeted results. He told me, “The good news is they do what I tell them. The bad news is they do what I tell them — ONLY what I tell them. Other than firing the worst of the bunch or transferring others out of the team, I can’t figure out what to do. And if I don’t do it soon, I’ll be the one fired or transferred!”

I asked if I could sit in on a team meeting to scope out the situation. “Be my guest,” he said. “But I don’t see what good it’ll do. The problem isn’t in the meetings. Everybody agrees what needs to get done when they’re in the meetings. The problem is the results after the meetings.”

The meeting had been going only for only a couple of minutes when I saw what was wrong. Afterwards, alone in his office, I told him: “They’re not the problem. YOU’RE the problem. You’ve fallen into two leadership traps.”

He looked at me incredulously. “What traps?”

I explained that leaders often fall into traps that prevent them from getting the full measure of results they’re capable of. And the deadliest traps are often the ones of their own making.

The first trap is the “I need . . . ” trap.

Leaders fall into this trap when they say, “I need you to hit the marketing targets, I need you to get more productive, I need you to (fill in the blank)”. I NEED … I NEED … I NEED ….

Why is this a trap? The answer: the Leader’s Fallacy. The Leader’s Fallacy is the mistaken belief by leaders that their own needs are automatically reciprocated by the needs of the people they lead. It’s a fallacy because automatic reciprocity doesn’t exist. But so many leaders go blithely along driven by the Fallacy and so fall into the “I need . . . ” trap.

For instance, the marketing leader thought he was motivating people to get great results. However, during the meeting, he was constantly repeating, “I need … “. So, in reality, he was ordering people to get average results. Of course, leaders don’t order people to get average results. But average results are usually the outcome of order leadership.

The order is the lowest form of motivation. The order leader’s focus of my-way-or-the-highway can’t get great results from people on a consistent basis simply because people usually can’t be ordered to undertake extraordinary endeavors. They must choose to do so. When he said, “The bad news is they ONLY do what I tell them.”, he was unknowingly afflicting them. They were simply responding to an order then going into a kind of suspended animation (masked by busy work) until the next order came along.

In Part 2, I’ll describe how to get out of this trap.

2005 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.com

The author of 23 books, Brent Filson’s recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is founder and president of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. - and for more than 20 years has been helping leaders of top companies worldwide get audacious results. Sign up for his free leadership e-zine and get a free white paper: “49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results,” at http://www.actionleadership.com

It’s that goal setting time of year again.

So what is the difference between those that achieve their goals and those that forget about their goals?

One major factor is the difference between demanding perfection and appreciating progress. When you set a goal, do you demand perfection or appreciate progress?

Here are a few strategies to benefit from this critical distinction.

Demanding Perfection

So many people get stuck in the myth that in order to change, you have to do it perfectly with no slip ups.

That’s just not reality.

Here are a few signs that you are stuck in demanding perfection:

• If you slip up just once you say the heck with it and trash the whole plan.
• You feel constantly defeated when trying to change.
• You try to change too much at once. There is just no way to lose 30 pounds in one month without amputation.

Appreciating Progress

Even the smallest amount of progress is still progress. It’s still change.

Here’s a few tips on how to focus on appreciating progress:

• Celebrate all improvements, even the smallest changes.
• If a change looks too big to accomplish, break it down into smaller more manageable parts.
• Do a little bit more, go a little bit further each day.

You can demand perfection or you can appreciate progress. The choice, as always, is up to you.

Visit The Article Guy for more leading edge tips and tools for writing articles that bring you prospects, publicity and profits. You can also subscirbe to our monthly Article Empire Tips Newsletter. You are also invited to visit my Express-Start Article Writing Program for more information on the next article writing tele-seminar.

Sports footwear is probably the most imperative piece of equipment you’ll splash out on so it’s very important that you select the best shoes.

A great number of people don’t realise that there are several differences in the way sports footwear support your feet. It’s not good for your feet if you participate in football or tennis in the identical shoes that you wear whilst running.

“It has been reported, that sixty-five percent of the UK’s recreational men sportsmen and women sportsmen put on the wrong trainers for their preferred sport,” he says. “Trainers are the most needed piece of exercise kit you will ever get hold of and varying what you wear on your feet can prevent injuries.” Find superb deals on camping equipment online today.

Football can put a great deal of strain on the feet, in particular when playing on synthetic pitches such as AstroTurf. The shoes can also put tension on your feet, & it’s not uncommon for a footballer to suffer from corns, calluses or damaged, thickened & ingrown toenails. A fantastic, well-fitted pair of shoes is important and there shouldn’t be any signs of pressure on the foot after a football game or training session.

Racquet sports: It’s important when participating in racquet sports, for example tennis or squash, to elect on shoes exclusively designed for the purpose. These sports involve lots of side-to-side movement & jogging shoes won’t give the demanded steadiness. Racquet sport footwear are heavier and more solid than jogging trainers, because their toes are produced for stop-&-go action. Comfort should be your key concern and it is very important to substitute your sports shoes commonly.

Hill-walking is a great way to begin an exercises schedule, whilst the more daring go for mountaineering. It is wonderful for your cardiovascular health but is lower impact and so comes with less risk of injury.

Ever wondered what is Credit Counselling? There are occasions when you might encounter a financial situation that is beyond your scope which is when a session with a credit counsellor could be beneficial.

If you’re not disciplined enough to create a workable budget and stick to it, can’t work out a repayment plan with your creditors, or can’t keep track of mounting bills, consider contacting a credit counselling organisation. Many credit counselling organisations are non-profit and work with you to solve your financial problems. But be aware that, just because an organisation says it’s “non-profit,” there’s no guarantee that its services are free, affordable, or even legitimate. In fact, some credit counselling organisations charge high fees, which may be hidden, or urge consumers to make “voluntary” contributions that can cause more debt.

Most credit counsellors offer services through local offices, the Internet, or on the telephone. If possible, find an organisation that offers person to-person counselling.

If you are not sure of how to contact a counselling service, check with your financial institution, local consumer protection agency, friends or family as they may be a good source of information and referral.

Reputable credit counselling organisations can advise you on managing your money and debts, help you develop a budget, and offer free educational materials and workshops. Their counsellors are certified and trained in the areas of consumer credit, money and debt management, and budgeting.

Counsellors discuss your entire financial situation with you, and help you develop a financial plan to solve your money problems. An initial counselling session typically lasts an hour, with an offer of follow-up sessions.

Be wary of credit counselling organisations that:

charge high up-front or monthly fees for enrolling in credit counselling.

pressure you to make “voluntary contributions,” another name for fees.

won’t send you free information about the services they provide without requiring you to provide personal financial information, such as credit card account numbers and balances.

You may freely reprint this article provided the author’s biography remains intact:

John Mussi is the founder of Direct Online Loans who help UK homeowners find the best available loans via the http://www.directonlineloans.co.uk website.

Mesothelioma is a rare cancer of the tissues that line the body’s internal organs. Nearly 2,000 new occurrences are detected each year in the whole US. Of this group, almostthree out of four of instances involve the sac around the lungs, named the pleura. This is known as pleural mesothelioma. In almost 10 to 20 percent of cases, malignant mesothelioma could affect the tissue that encompasses abdominal organs, called the peritoneal membrane, resulting in what is then recognized as peritoneal mesothelioma.

Being introduced to asbestos is positively the largest cause for this rare sickness. Following asbestos exposure, the delay to development of the mesothelioma disease could be twenty to forty years. Because of occupational introduction, malignant mesothelioma is nearly 3 times more likely in males, than in females. Because the mass of cases moves upward with age, there are about ten times more instances in the men more than age 64 than in the men in their midlife.

Developing Cancer of the mesothelium is a grave cancer, which, at the moment, has a very low percentage of overall endurance. Nonetheless, if it is diagnosed early, regimens are then in existence that might seriously extend the patient’s life. Advanced therapies continue to be and are being developed by the way of clinical trials.

A willingness to change first is one of the major pre requisites for leaders!

If the situation is deadlocked or blocked, they need to find the best opportunity, shift their personal perspective to accommodate it and take action from there. This is no matter how personally attached they are to their current position!

Three sixty degree feedback is a great example. The manager/leader is given feedback from their management, peers and reports; expected to take it on board, and integrate the necessary changes to become more effective within the team!

Sometimes the feedback is very concise and confrontive.

The program manual’s documentation on how to make change happen is almost non-existent. We are very poorly aware or educated about what to do here. Many leaders are left with a desire to change and no information on what to do to make it happen other than manipulate themselves, this is painful, energetically draining and not sincere.

So how do we do it?

By analogy it is based in energetic principles of physics and chemistry. When we take something that is negative and something that is positive and add them together they neutralize each other and we end up with something else instead.

In our personal lives we can see this in the break down of relationships especially with divorce: the strength of the original attraction becomes the force of the repulsion for the ex partner. If both the attraction and the repulsion were added together they would neutralize each other out and there would be no need for action, anger or pain.

In business, a recent senior client summarized their use of information as either a weapon or a gift. They were insightful, and presumed others were too, about a particular set of circumstances. When the other party seemed to be not getting the ‘common sense’ of it, they would use their information as a weapon to inflict harm. In their more patient moments, or more equal relationships they used information as a gift, to enable the other person to move forward freely.

Through our work this client took the energy they held for both issues, the weapons and the gifts, and added them together. What surprised them was the sense of the transformation and the moment of profound realization - their “ah ha!” about the difference.

These opposite and equal forces are called polarities. Love and fear are polarities of each other and represent two of the most potent forces for creation or destruction on the planet. We make tremendous efforts to keep them apart from each other to create results and to limit opportunities with our fiercely held unconscious assumptions!

The key here is that we need to work out what we love and what we fear that are equal and opposite forces, we then need to bring their energies together within us and allow them to meld, neutralization will occur and a moment of profound “ah ha!”.

You actually already know how to do this unconsciously. It is what actually happens when we are really stuck and it matters. If we really don’t know how to make it happen, but ‘it’ really matters, we often let go of knowing how and allow the outcome to present itself! Our role then is to take advantage of the opportunity! Most of us know how to do this!

Think about times you have run out of ideas, options and actions on what to do yet the outcome or contribution still has your full commitment. What has happened? Write to me and tell me your experiences (email address on web site).

My example is that I have gluten intolerance that has involved much disturbed sleep due to cramping of my digestive tract. When I have eaten well and still have insomnia I have been very intolerant, as my sleep bank is already regularly overdrawn!

I remember once being awake three nights in a row for many hours for no apparent reason. I thought I knew all about how to work with polarities, bringing the energies together and neutralization. On the third night I ran out of ideas about what the poles might be before I got distracted and fell asleep again. I distinctly remember giving up knowing how to do this, but still deeply desiring my sleep. In the morning the last thing I could remember before falling asleep was this thought.

My body is a machine to some extent that ‘runs’ programs; my job is to choose a useful program! Given it has all the usual associated stimuli, it is dark, it is quiet, everyone else is asleep, then it has the potential to ‘run’ the sleep program or the insomnia program. Clearly, something unconscious is giving it directions which one to select. In letting go of knowing how, we can enable our innate wisdom to come to the fore and sleep returns.

As part of my personal coaching business, I set homework for clients to integrate their new perspectives and skills into their lives. Information is only useful when it works for them and they can use it to acquire wisdom in their lives.

I am constantly surprised at the tough circumstances in which they choose to ‘give it a go’! Areas I would be fainted hearted to suggest, as I know how committed they are to their unconscious assumptions (their love).

What I often fail to concurrently perceive is their constant and deep frustration at being stuck so often at this common point (their fear). Their need to move beyond this barrier of assumption is so profound, that the first opportunity to do so is taken with both hands and ridden to success!

Next time you are really stuck, work out what you love about the situation, it may be the rush from the fear! Work out what you fear about the situation, it maybe that you will never have this level of rush again. Bring the two energies together in you.

If the result is neutralization, you have dealt with a polarity and now practice of the choice is required to reinforce the new ‘programming’. If it hasn’t shifted then you need to look further for the equal and opposite nature of the two poles.

Change at this level is profound and sustainable. Your choice has been enabled for this issue and you can now deliver modulated behavior rather than only on or off results. For example my client can now be wise about the use of the information, rather than only use it as a carrot or a stick.

This article may be reproduced in printed or web format, provided the resource box below is included.

Rosemary Johnston is a professional corporate and personal coach. Working with executives from some of Australia’s largest and most successful companies for over 15 years.

Rosemary’s new book, “How To Develop Your Leadership Style and Skills to take charge of your life and career” is now available to download at her web site. Read about some of the success Rosemary has had coaching leaders in Australian blue chip companies. http://www.leadershipfirst.com.au

Honor Stole

Honor stoles are accessories used in the graduation ceremony given to the graduates with a higher achievement. They are made from silk material making is look elegant and of high quality. Wearing an honor stole
makes one feel full of prestige and comfort. The stole is worn over the shoulders dangling to the front. It is worn over the gown and made in a unique design with various features. The stoles are found in three major categories, plain colors, imprinted stole and full customized stoles.

The plain honor stole is most common and is among the basic stoles normally used in most graduation ceremonies. It can be found in various colors ranging from black, white, red blue, yellow or any other color recommended by the academic institute. It upholds high quality, class and design and the material used is silk made from a heavy weight fabric. The plain stole signifies accomplishment and at the same time preserves tradition. The gold stoles are made in gold color from an elegant silk fabric. The gold stole feature imprint in black color to represent the level of education one is graduating from or the honor of the academic achievement. The custom graduation stole can be personalized to have the name of the institution or the graduate. The difference in the custom stole is that one can have their own imprint and color lining to suite their preference.

GraduationSource, a leader in graduation regalia products since 1960.