October 12, 2020

What school failed to teach me about good leadership

Source: Pexels

Standout leadership is not discovered in any textbook. It is born in the trenches where results are achieved, conflict occurs, people engage and pain is experienced.

Every day is different. Each day teaches you something new.

My schooling as a leader covered more than 12,000 days; here are the key lessons they taught me.

1. Fast is better than perfect

Unfortunately, school teaches us that every problem has a right answer. This belief is a non-starter in business, where workable and remarkable solutions are often inelegant and messy. But they are effective because they capture the hearts of the people implementing them.

Business is fluid. It can’t be explained by trend analysis. ‘Plan A’ rarely works. If you are doing lots of imperfect stuff fast, you are on the right track.

2. Losing is a better teacher than success

Success encourages you to stay with the playbook that has worked so far and doesn’t force you to deviate.
Losing, on the other hand, forces you to get out of your comfort zone, to try a different approach and create a new box to play in.
When you lose, study your failure from every possible angle. Your post-loss analysis will guide you effectively as you encounter future situations.

The best leaders I knew always looked for opportunity in the face of adversity.

When looking down the barrel of a gun after a loss, many traditional leaders respond in one of the following ways. They:

▪️throw up their hands and claim unfair.
▪️make excuses due to a lack of resources and budget.
▪️shout foul play due to a competitor’s clever move.
▪️blame employees for the inability to execute their plan.
▪️denigrate the economy for the unplanned turn of events.

Great leaders don’t spend much time whining about the fact the target was missed. They are more concerned about learning from the result and recovering from it.

Standout leaders try to find the ‘pony’ that created the excrement they are buried in.

Failure teaches the leader that:

▪️virtually nothing happens as planned.
▪️a thoughtful response to the unexpected is a real competitive advantage.
▪️‘Plan B’ is more important than ‘Plan A’.
▪️the dynamics around execution are critical to success.
▪️customers haven’t been satisfied in some way; a deeper understanding of what’s going on with them is vital to finding the pony.

Find the pony buried in your failure and act fast to recover and create more value. The market will remember how you found and leveraged the pony, not that you lost.

3. What got you here is irrelevant

It won’t get you to where you need to go. The past is merely a record of what worked then; it’s not a prescription of what will work now or tomorrow.
It’s all about ‘What have you done for me lately?’ Every new challenge requires something different from you. Have the discipline to ask ‘What do I have to do differently now that I have new responsibilities?’

And keep your feet moving. Every day should be a new day in terms of doing something remarkable.

4. Outrageous demands sometimes get met

People who are known for unique skills and have strong currency within an organization earn the right to be bold, to stick out their chins and blatantly ask for what they want even though what they want may be considered ‘ridiculous’ in terms of what has traditionally been acceptable.

But individual leverage is vital (the organization needs you to perform a key and necessary role) and timing is critical (they need you to do it now).
If both leverage and timing are in your favour, you will be surprised with what you can accomplish. Make yourself invaluable; watch for the opening and don’t be afraid to ask.

Outrageous demands get met because others think more of you than you do.

5. Suck it up when you think you’ve been screwed over

You will always have setbacks, situations where someone else has got the prize, be it the position in the organization you wanted or a role you wanted to play. That’s just the way it is.

What really matters is how you deal with an outcome that doesn’t go as you would like. The key thing to understand in these circumstances is that it’s done. You have zero ability to change the decision that has been made. The only thing you have any degree of control over is what you do next.

So pause, take a deep breath, absorb the punch; congratulate the winner; muzzle your ego and move on to fight another day.

6. Nosiness define good leadership

The antithesis of stand-off leadership is the ‘jump-in’ leader where they stick their nose in everything they consider important to the execution of the organization’s strategy.

They know which functions are critical and what projects will determine success or failure, so they make a point of probing the status of crucial activities in detail trying to get a picture of what is needed to ensure the expected goal is achieved.
Every day of the week they stick their nose into something different. And they do it personally with no backup entourage.

The ‘Probing Proboscis’ sees their role to determine barriers to strategy execution and to provide the lubricant necessary to keep things moving.

7. Eat your own dog food

It’s not about what you preach, it’s about what you do to demonstrate your words. Far too often leaders preach a set of values and yet don’t consistently practice what they say.

They talk about creating a risk-taking culture but punish those that make mistakes. They talk about being customer focused but they have no calendar time dedicated to meeting with customers.

They talk about people as the most important asset of the organization but they have a closed-door policy and it is impossible for employees to get face time with them.

This type of behavior does not go unnoticed by employees. Employees see the inconsistency between words and action and they are left with the conclusion that it is all a facade and the leader doesn’t really mean what they say.

As a result the organization falters. Little progress is made towards a healthier future. Employee satisfaction plummets. Competitors plunder.

The ‘do as I say and not what I do’ thing doesn’t work. It’s an insult to people’s intelligence. Leaders must step up and eat their own dog food.

8. You can’t train people to like humans

The more than subtle takeaway here is that training has its definite limitations. Yes, you can train people to follow procedures and you can train them to perform routine tasks. And, yes, there are certain skills that can be taught such as how to build a sales funnel, how to segment a market and how to apply a forecasting model to project future results.

But if the job is to serve other people, training doesn’t cut it because in order to take care of the needs and wants of another person you really have to like engaging with them first. And the prerequisite to effectively deal with others is have to have the caregiver gene in your DNA.

People with this human bias can only be found through the recruitment process.

You can’t train people to like humans; you have to hunt for them and recruit them.

9. Doing it is 10 times better than talking about it

Theory and academic principles are important determinants of success in business, but cannot be relied on to drive superlative performance and amazing results. It’s one thing to have a brilliant plan on paper but it’s quite another to transform the theoretical solution into expected results.

The only way a plan on paper succeeds (or fails) is to get on with it and do it, learn from it and modify it on the run.
Invest 80% of your time on ‘doing it’ rather than on postulating on the efficacy of the plan and how brilliant it is.

In sum…

Each day I spent as a leader taught me something I could only learn in the heat of the action. These lessons were key to my career; let them be your guide as well.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 10.12.20 at 05:00 am by Roy Osing
• Permalink

October 11, 2020

My 50+ audacious podcast shows will help you and your business soar

Check out these podcast shows—over 75 now!—where I break down my seventh book, Audacious Unheard-of Ways, and show you how to grow your business and your career.

***NEW! In this episode Chris Dubois and I break down the Moves I made and the Methods I used to incorporate the right business toolset to stand apart from the herd and get a BILLION DOLLARS IN SALES! Unbound

***NEW! “Business plans are traditionally too expensive, they take too much time, they’re too rigid, and they’re not properly implemented. Roy Osing advises on his Strategic Game Plan with a rule of three: focus on the three things that will produce 80% of your results.
Beware, though, of being diverted by what he calls the “Yummy incoming”, the distractions that will pull you away from your game plan.” — Chris Ashmore, for Business Essentials Daily. Don’t Be Distracted by YUMMY!

***NEW! “We All Live in Red Oceans” podcast on Business is Blumin!
Some people preach that you should look for a “Blue Ocean” where you have ZERO competition. That would be nirvana, but for most business leaders, we have to learn how to win in “Red Oceans” with hungry competitors and powerful customers.
Listen and learn how I not only survived in a Red Ocean, I grew a startup business to A BILLION IN SALES!

***NEW! “Osing’s mantra—be different or be dead—has been the backbone of his audacious journey, driving him to constantly innovate to create ripples of value for his customers.
Osing dissects the magic of differentiation through offering customer experiences that customers can’t resist while ensuring that you’re the only game in town offering it.
This discussion is peppered with personal encounters of working with small companies, outlining the significance of differentiation, and the power of prioritizing the customer experience above all else.
Osing also dives into the world of audacious Leadership by Serving Around and how this seemingly simple idea can pave the way to success in business.” The Power of Differentiation and Audacious Leadership

***NEW! In this Mindset for Growth Show, we unpack my crazy secrets to growing a startup TO A BILLION IN SALES. They’re not complicated but they work.
Pick one gem to try and see what happens! From a Startup to A BILLION IN SALES | Part Two

***NEW! “Ready for a jaw-dropping journey into the world of audacious entrepreneurship? I just had a mind-blowing chat on the Grownlearn Podcast with none other than Roy Osing, the genius who took a startup to a BILLION in annual sales!
We spilled the beans on “The Audacious Entrepreneur’s Guide: Roy Osing’s Journey to a Billion in Annual Sales.” From crafting bold brands to tackling those make-or-break business moments, Roy’s story is nothing short of extraordinary.”

From a Startup to A BILLION IN SALES | Part One.
What’s the motivation to BE DiFFERENT? Why go on this “painful” journey? Why put up with the backstabbing? Why be The ONLY One? The Mindset Growth Podcast.

In this episode, I discuss why most organizations are too myopic in their #sales #strategy, pushing monthly or quarterly goals rather than embracing a long-term strategy for effective sales. I share my ‘customer report card’ Move to refocus sales teams on nurturing the customer rather than foisting pushy sales techniques. Business Essentials Daily

In this Chasing Happiness episode, we strip the layers of a journey that transformed a startup into a billion-dollar powerhouse.
Roy Osing, a maverick in the business world, shares his unfiltered, raw insights on what it takes to scale the heights of entrepreneurial success. From laughable mistakes to strategic masterstrokes, get ready for a rollercoaster ride of emotions and lessons.” Turning Bold Ideas Into Billions

The Audacious Unheard-of Ways of Using Practical and Common Sense Strategies to Drive Success, The Disruptive Minds Podcast

“Special guest Roy Osing shares very thought-provoking and audacious ideas to help you differentiate yourself from your competition, so you can achieve your goals sooner rather than later and maybe even exceed what you thought possible. This is a must listen to interview.”, The Accountability Podcast

Audacious Leadership is all about breaking away from the normal way leaders practice their art. In this ‘Biz Gone Social’ show we explore the Moves I made to successfully grow a startup to A BILLION IN SALES! Biz Gone Social Podcast

“Roy discusses the importance of breaking out of the “sameness” that businesses have accepted as the norm and standing out to be the ONLY ONE doing……(fill in the blank). We discuss practical ways to make that happen and touch on some of the points from Roy’s many books.”, Customer First Podcast

“This week I was lucky enough to interview a very cool and articulate guy named Roy Osing. One of the highlights of Roy’s illustrious career was driving a company to a BILLION in annual sales. Roy documented his journey in a book - not the ordinary how-to textbook type - but based on what he did differently to actually grow a business to a billion in annual sales.
Let’s fly all the way to Vancouver and explore Roy Osing’s ocean of thoughts through his book ‘Be Different or Be Dead’!”,  The First Customer Podcast

A Journey to A BILLION in Annual Sales. “Join me this week as I talk with Roy Osing, Author of “BE DiFFERENT or be dead,” about his journey to bring his company to $1 billion in annual sales. Roy and I talk about how he reached this milestone through learning on the run, “leadership by serving around” and building trust and consistency within his organization. Roy shares many tips that he has implemented throughout the years and encourages front line recognition and a strong culture to create a successful team.” The Positive Polarity Podcast

From a Startup to a Billion Dollar Sales. “In this episode, host Michael Brooks dives deep into the world of business success with Roy Osing, a renowned business advisor with a remarkable journey. Roy takes us through the audacious strategies he employed to take a small data company and grow it into a billion dollar industry behemoth. If you’re an entrepreneur, business owner, or aspiring leader looking for practical, real-world strategies to scale your business, this episode is a goldmine of insights you can’t afford to miss!”. The Scaling Edge Podcast

Growing Business at an Audacious Level, Your Spectacular Life
The Audacious Unheard-of Ways Roy Osing took a Startup to A BILLION IN SALES. “Roy provides tangible tips and frameworks for developing effective business strategies, leading teams, standing out from the competition and more. You’ll come away with new perspectives and motivation to take your business to the next level.” The Profit Answer Man Show
Famous Interview with Roy Osing. “ Roy is a stellar man with a grand vision and unique walk .. very cool cat….” Joe Dimino, Neon Jazz

Unleashing Audacity: Being DiFFERENT and Dominating the Market. “ This is an episode you won’t want to miss, packed with practical advice, proven strategies, and audacious ways to break away from the norm. Join us in the conversation and learn how to stand out in today’s competitive business landscape. So, tune in, get inspired, and learn how to be audaciously different.” Financial Freedom for Physicians
How a Guy Took A Startup To A Billion In Sales. “Dive into the remarkable journey of Roy Osing, a true powerhouse in the business world. Roy has seen it all and done it all.”, The Pete Primeau Show
Breaking Away From The Herd: Why it’s critical to break away from the herd, be different and the key elements of an audacious leader, The Audacious Living Podcast
How to be the ONLY ONE who does what you do, In Turn Podcast
How to Avoid Being Forgotten, Design your Legacy
Keys to a Great Sales Team, Business Essentials Daily
Standing out. Defining the Fox. Being The ONLY One, Remarkable People

Your Mistakes Could Win You Business, Business Essentials Daily
Differentiation. Why? Why now? Ian Selbie Sales Pro
Being Memorable with Dazzling Customer Service, Business Essentials Daily
What’s Wrong With Blue Ocean Strategy? Business Essentials Daily
How to Build a Remarkable Personal Brand, Author to Authority
How to Stand Out, Spark The Genius

You Can’t Sell People on Ideas Alone, You Must Deliver Results, Time to Shine Today
Building a Unique One-of-a-Kind Business Strategy, Business Essentials Daily
Executing Bold Moves to Unlock Billion-Dollar Growth, The UNLOCKED Show
A Journey to A BILLION IN SALES, From Embers to Excellence
Roy Osing Helps People Cut Through The Noise, Life’s Essential Ingredients

Don’t run with the herd! Business Essentials Daily
How Being Different is the Real Path to Success, Hurricane H
Small Business Mobes for Unbelievable Growth and Success, Time to Thrive Show
How to be Audaciously Different, The KAJ Masterclass LIVE Podcast
Why Compliance Sucks, , Coaching in Session

I’m a guy who took a startup to A BILLION IN SALES, The 12|30 Podcast
Win In A Competitive World With Strategic Differentiation, CPA Marketing Genius
Roy Osing, The Original “How To” Guy, Online for Authors
How to Outperform Your Competition and Achieve Astonishing Growth, Biz Help for You
How I Took a Startup to a Billion in Sales, SalesPop!

The Contrarian Leader, The Introspective Manager
How to Use Books as a Strategic Tool to Standout, The Author Factor
How to Build Your ONLY Statement to Declare Your Uniqueness, Mind for Success
How to Build a Remarkable Personal Brand, Stuck in My Mind

Satisfy Cravings not Needs, Business Essentials Daily
Avoid the Price Trap, Business Essentials Daily
Breaking Through the Noise: Building a Winning Brand that Stands Out From Everybody Else, Curate Your Success
BE DiFFERENT or be dead, Deep Conversations with Dope Individuals

Hiring people Who Like People, Business Essentials Daily
Making Your First $1 Billion, Late Boomers
Debunking Leadership Myths, Business Essentials Daily
The Audacious Communications Skills I Learned as a Leader with Roy Osing, Publicly Speaking with Peter George
Breakaway from Boring! Be Different, Be Audacious, Straight Talk About Small Business Success
Avoid the CLAPTRAP and Move to the ONLY, Weekly Wins and Losses with James Heppner

Differentiating for Success, Success for Life
Creating an ONLY Statement to Differentiate Your Organization, Lubar Executive Education
How to Differentiate your Business and YOU, Terminal Value
Being an Audacious Leader is about Breaking away NOT Pivoting, Leading to Fulfillment
How’s That for Marketing, Leadership Powered by Common Sense

To Have a Successful Career, It’s Important to be YOU, Pursuit of Relentless
It’s Not Complicated. Look Here For the Roy’s Simple Stuff That Works, Business That Matters
Don’t be #1… be the ONLY ONE, Business Essentials Daily
Behind the Numbers is a Different Leader that ‘Lights Fires in People , Behind the Numbers
Be Audacious with Roy Osing, Straight Talk No Sugar Added

Be Audacious and Different, OR Be Dead, InnovaBuzz
Roy Osing’s Leadership Rules for being Audaciously Different, Zoe Routh on Leadership
How to Break Out, Be Different and Make an Audacious Impact, Evolution of Brand
Here’s What Sales Must Do To Succeed In 2022, The Confessions of a Sales Pro
Be Different or be dead Leadership, Tech Pro Unicorn

The ONLY way to Build a Great Business, Hive with Us
From a Startup to a BILLION, Science of CX
Audacity or Death, Fire in the Belly
If Your Sales isn’t Different, it’s dead (or soon will be), The Business of Sales
Going Boldly is about Being DiFFERENT, Russ the Big Guy
Audacious Leadership - Why it’s Absolutely Critical to your Organization’s Success, Lubar Executive Education

Why Innovation Needs You Need to be an Audacious Leader, Mind the Innovation
Roy’s Unheard-of Ways to Achieve A BILLION IN SALES, Aim to Win
How to be Different and Audacious, Leadership is Changing
An Audaciously Different Brand Story, BrandAPeel: Brand Storytelling in a Digital Age
To Live Your Best Life, Live Label Free (But BE DiFFERENT), Label Free Podcast

Cheers,
Roy

Order your copy of ‘Audacious’ NOW at:

Amazon
Google Books
Barnes and Noble
Indigo.chapters.ca
Books-A-Million
Indie Bookstore
Bookshop.org

• Posted 10.11.20 at 06:23 am by Roy Osing
• Permalink

October 10, 2020

6 proven benefits of working with a mentor

A mentor can help guide you in the right direction when entering the professional world by opening doors and offering constructive advice to ensure you reach your full potential.

6 key benefits are outlined below.

Improved productivity — A mentor can help you stay focused on your career goals by actively helping you shape and go after them.
They can also offer tips for ways to stay engaged and motivated at work or in a job search.

New perspectives— A mentor, particularly if they are outside your current network, can offer a fresh perspective based on their own unique, personal experience.
If you continuously talk to the same people, your perspective can get stale.

Unbiased feedback— A mentor can offer constructive advice to help you make improvements to your performance or resume as well as regarding setting reasonable goals.
They let you know if your career goals aren’t realistic or maybe are not ambitious enough.

Expertise in your field— A mentor can help you gain expertise in your field and aid you in gaining a strong foundation to advance.
They can help you stand out from other candidates when applying for higher level jobs by providing key insights about what should be on your resume and what to say during an interview.

Improved communication— A mentor can help you improve your communication skills, and in particular, allow you to practice talking about yourself. By practicing with your mentor, you’ll better understand how to highlight your strengths and address your weaknesses.

Increased confidence — With your acquired expertise, you’ll likely feel much more confident. Confidence can help boost your performance and level of motivation. A mentor can help you feel capable and ready to take on your next professional challenge.

Check out the visual below from the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences for helpful tips for finding a mentor.

— Julia Morrissey is a content creator that writes on topics ranging from business to lifestyle. When she’s not writing you can find her running in Central Park in New York City or eating vegan donuts.

• Posted 10.10.20 at 04:33 am by Roy Osing
• Permalink

October 5, 2020

5 hidden secrets a great leader can learn from the frontline

Source: Pexels

5 hidden secrets a great leader can learn from the frontline.

One of the benefits of leading many different types of organizations over my 30+ year career was having a window to observe and study other leaders.

Let’s face it, honing your leadership skills is not a one-of event; it’s a process of learning new skills that are required in the role and practising them day in and day out.

I found that looking across at how other leaders practised their craft was an excellent source of learning material; I saw what worked and didn’t work and was able to pick and choose to enhance my own repertoire of skills accordingly.

Most of what I saw in other leaders was quite pedantic. They typically followed the leader book prescribed by the experts in the field and by academics who wrote papers on the subject.
It was a rare occurrence to witness a truly different approach to what the crowd of other leaders was following.

But every once in a while I would see a leader who turned their back on traditional practices; someone who was non-compliant with what everyone believed to be a requisite for effective leadership.

They loved the frontline.

The most amazing leaders I know spend most of their time with the frontline

What I saw was a leader who was always with their frontline employees — service reps, salespeople, credit and collections people, receptionists and call center reps; the people who were on the organization’s line of execution and dealing with customers.

A leader who valued the frontline more than any other group.

They stood out because very few leaders see people down deep in the organization as a priority demanding their time.

Honouring and living with the frontline provides these benefits that enable leaders to perform head and shoulders above their peers.

1. Irritants to execution

They learn what is preventing flawless execution of the organization’s strategy; systems and process issues and other barriers that get in the way of achieving expected results.

Being face-to-face with those who have to work with the internal laws governing the customer engagement process gives them the ability to identify the grunge and dumb rules that must be eliminated to make employee jobs easier and customer service better.

In addition, this insight generally doesn’t readily come from the leader’s direct reports who either don’t know what’s going on or who want to protect their turf.
Knowledge gained from the skip level leader is invaluable and should be expected of any leader. But only the special ones get it.

2. Business plan flaws

They discover the flaws in the business plan; those elements of the strategic intent of the organization that aren’t working because there are barriers and practicalities that prevent it from being implemented in the precise way it was designed.

On paper the strategy may have looked perfect but in the naked light of day where people are involved and competitors prey, it is not possible to stay the course.

The frontline are often brutally honest about your strategy; they don’t hesitate to tell you what won’t work and the challenge for leaders is to listen to their feedback.
Listen to them and tweak the strategy to reflect the realities of execution in the field.

Old school leaders have difficulty moving off the tabled strategy and they often live to regret it.

3. Competitive activity and secrets

Leaders who are in the frontline learn what the competition is doing in real time fashion, creating the ability to take whatever evasive or opportunistic action required and to spot and attack their weakness.

Most leaders rely on traditional methods to obtain competitive intelligence. Periodic studies are conducted, findings are analyzed and action taken as appropriate.
But the process takes time; there is a lag between when the intelligence is gained and when action is taken, often nullifying its effectiveness.

Being with the frontline gives the leader a continuous stream of information on what is going on in the moment. This ability yields faster action and better results; lag time is replaced with real time response.

4. Movers and shakers

Leaders who are with the frontline constantly are able to identify people with high potential for future opportunities in the organization.

They get to see with their own eyes — as opposed to receiving reports from their direct managers or human resource folks — how certain individuals perform, their attitudes and their capabilities to offer further value.
They get to develop relationships with these people in the workplace and provide the mentoring so many need but don’t receive from leaders.

And as a result, the leader increases their personal currency and strengthens their brand as someone who is competent at spotting and developing high achievers for the benefit of the entire organization.

5. Employee engagement

By being in the face of the frontline, this leader is able to get a front row seat on what is necessary to enhance employee commitment and engagement in achieving the goals of the organization.

They don’t rely on, as their peers are forced to do, reports by specialists and other third parties in the field to advise them on what is needed to reach a higher level in employee buy-in.
They learn first hand what is needed to capture the hearts and minds of those charged with delivering results; they see what is needed; they feel what works and what doesn’t.

And they learn what works to engage one employee doesn’t necessarily work to engage another. Every person is different; everyone responds differently to motivational methods.
This leader knows that personalized methods of engagement are required for each employee, not a shrink wrapped corporate program applied to all.

6. The biggest mistake

The biggest mistake a leader can make is not be all in with the frontline where successful organizational performance is either created or destroyed.

To serve the frontline is to step out of the textbook leader herd and make an amazing contribution to their organization while those who choose to follow common leader doctrine are lost in the crowd.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead book series

• Posted 10.5.20 at 05:16 am by Roy Osing
• Permalink