Category: Leadership

The leadership category on Jay Wren’s website (jaywren.com) focuses on practical insights and strategies for effective leadership, particularly within a corporate or organizational context. It emphasizes the development of “authentic leaders” who prioritize self-awareness, honesty, and humility, fostering trust and success.

Key themes within this category include:

Authentic Leadership: Building trust through self-awareness, honesty, and humility.
Leadership Development: Providing actionable steps for companies to hire, train, and grow leaders, including principles of responsibility, authority, and accountability.
Creating Future Leaders: Highlighting the importance of internal leadership development for long-term growth, morale, loyalty, and engagement.
Measurable Success: Emphasizing that effective leadership is not just a concept but can be measured by results, with a focus on proactive training and mentorship.

In essence, Jay Wren’s leadership category offers guidance for individuals and organizations seeking to cultivate strong, ethical, and effective leaders who contribute to overall success.

Mentors: A Source Of Power Or A Waste of Time?

Mentors: What is a mentor? How can a mentor help you? What skills do you need to benefit from mentoring? What type of mentoring will work effectively for you?

Mentors:  A Source of Power or A Waste of Time?

For many people, a mentor is a source of inspiration, wisdom, and solutions.

Some people rely on their mentor for mental and emotional direction.  In my case, I have a friend who has a great ability to see things in perspective.  He mentors me when I am concerned about the things that happen in my life.

In other cases, mentors with practical or professional experience can help you make decisions on your education, health, career, finances, or business.  Again, in my case, I have had mentors whose professional experience helped me solve problems in my business.  In other cases, their knowledge helped me network with people who had experience that my mentors lacked.

“The Coach” Who Mentored Tech Geniuses

From 1974 to 1979, Bill Campbell was head coach of the football team at Columbia University. Later in his career, he became chairman of the board of trustees of Columbia University and chairman of the board of Intuit. Furthermore, he served as vice president of marketing and as a board director for Apple and held other positions on advisory boards and as a corporate executive.

Steve Jobs at Apple, Larry Page at Google, and other tech executives referred to Campbell as “The Coach” for his mentoring skills in helping them with their careers.

Even the superstars of industry have mentors to help them throughout their careers.

Are You Wasting Your Time?

Well, yes, you might be.

The person who is mentoring you might not be able to help you.  A valuable mentor is not just someone who listens to your problems.

Specifically, mentors are helpful when they listen to you and help you gain perspective, wisdom, or information to solve problems.

What Qualities Do You Need to Use a Mentor?

People who benefit from mentoring must can keep an open mind.  Furthermore, they must have the desire to learn from others.

Specifically, people who benefit from mentoring have the emotional intelligence to park their ego when people tell them things they may not like.

Therefore, to benefit from a mentor, you must have an open mind to accept different ideas.  If you are a person who does not like to hear the point of view of other people, you will have trouble listening to a mentor.

Lastly, you must be at a point where you want what a mentor can offer.  My first mentor had a very successful business. In this case, I enjoyed his being around him and hearing about his success.  Specifically, learning what he was doing helped me learn about the things that I needed to do.

Working with a Mentor Requires a Commitment on Your Part.

Benefitting from a mentor requires that you do a few things.

First, stay in touch with your mentor.  At the least, you need to call your mentor.  Furthermore, meeting with your mentor once a week or even more often helps a great deal.

Second, you need to listen to your mentor.  Some mentors are helpful by listening to you.   However, if you do all the talking, you will not learn much from your mentor.

Success Made Simple: Do These Things.

Success Made Simple: What are the things that successful people do differently?  How can you simplify your life to simplify your success?

Success Made Simple

There are many things that successful people do.  Here are some of those things.

Success Made Simple: Act Once.

Some projects need extra effort and attention.  Sometimes completing those projects is frustrating, boring, or even annoying. It is easy to take up a distraction.

When you stop to talk with a co-worker or sneak in a little social media time, you lose your focus.  Returning to the task takes time to refocus and find the spot where you left off.

Act once by ignoring distractions and completing a task

Success Made Simple: Own Your Mistakes.

Mistakes happen.

Blaming other people may make you feel better.  But it does nothing to correct the problems from your mistakes.

You don’t always have to admit to others that you made a mistake.  However, you do need to be honest with yourself and own your mistakes.  With a little self-honesty, you can make huge strides in self-improvement.

Success Made Simple: Assess and Adjust.

Owning your mistakes is just one of the steps in assessing and adjusting your behavior.

Every day things happen that can thwart your plans.  Successful people don’t focus on the frustrations.  They focus on solutions. Immediately, they assess and adjust.

A simple way to assess and adjust is to ask some simple questions.

What is the new situation?

How practical is it to continue with the current plan?

What adjustments will lead to have a successful day?

Success Made Simple: Take Leadership.

Some people think about how great it would be if things changed or if projects got off the ground.  However, that is as far as many people ever get.

Successful people don’t wonder how things can change or how projects can get started.

They take leadership and make changes.

Success Made Simple: Organize.

Successful people have a place for everything. They keep the correct things in those places.  Saws and hammers go above the workbench.  Paper clips go in the top right drawer of their desk.

Successful people don’t waste time looking for the things they use once or twice a year.  They know where to find those things when they need them.  When the job is done, they return those things to the correct place.

Creating the Story of Why You are Great

Creating the Story of Why You are Great: What makes people want to hear or read about great people?  How can you make people want to hear or read about you?

Creating the Story

Think about the simple tools of advertising.

Advertisers use images.  They include music.  They create a message to try to appeal to you.

But why does advertising work? When does it become effective?

Strip away the images.  Turn off the music.  Delete the advertising copy.  Start with a blank sheet of paper.

What is the story that advertisers want you to know?

The Meaning of the Message

Of course, advertisers are presenting a product or service.  Advertisers are giving a sales pitch.

But the message is not just about the product or service.  The story is about what the product or service does for you.
Advertisers want you to see how the product or service will surround you with attractive people or take you to beautiful places.  They want to show you how the product or services make you feel safe or prosperous and popular.

Advertisers make their story about you.

Creating the Story of Why You are Great

Your story of why you are great works when you present like a rock star.  Rock stars become stars when they create a great experience for the audience.  The performance is not about the rock stars.  It is about the experience of the audience.

Of course, your story is about your accomplishments.  The story is about your work and your challenges.  It is also about how you turned your work and your challenges into success.

In fact, the audience may care about your success.  They may be happy for you.

However, what makes your story effective is how it makes the audience feel and think themselves.  Furthermore, telling your story correctly creates positive expectations from your audience.  You story will tell people why they should connect with you.  It will tell people why they should hire you or buy your product.

Wired For Success: Five Steps to Upping Your Mental Game

Wired For Success: Some people procrastinate, worry, and accomplish very little. However, other people get into action, have peace of mind, and achieve success.  What do these people do differently?

Wired For Success: Five Steps to Upping Your Mental Game

Wired For Success: Some people accomplish very little. On the hand, other people get things done and find success.

How are these people different.  What are the things that successful people do to get wired for success?

Focus on the Present Moment.

Get out of your head and into the world around you.

Ruminating over the past is painful and unproductive.  Furthermore, fretting over the future wastes energy. Both clutter your mind.

Start with a Small Step.

Do you have trouble getting to that long-term project?  To say the least, you are not unusual.

Many people don’t start working on a large project until the day before the deadline.

First, don’t decide to tackle the entire project.  Just decide to do something simple.

For example, if you have a major presentation to give, just decide to write the outline.  Just decide to write one paragraph.
Overtime, things will come together.

Breathe

Just taking a deep breath will help you get back into the present moment.  Taking twenty minutes to relax and focus on your breathing will clear your mind and boost your energy.

Snap into Action

You see sports fans standing to cheer when the team takes the field.  The energy and the enthusiasm increase when the people in the crowd stand and cheer.  Clapping, smiling, cheering, laughing, and standing boost your energy and give you mental focus.

If you don’t feel excited about your work, act excited about your work.  Use body language and action to wire your mind for success.

Gratitude Lists

Gratitude lists wire us for a positive state of mind and gives us energy.

Make realistic yet simple gratitude lists.

Everyone has problems.  People wired for success enjoy life, even when tackling problems.  How do they do this?  They remember to see the good things in their life.

How Leaders Create Powerful Teams and Reduce Turnover

Powerful Teams: Leaders use different methods to create powerful teams and reduce turnover. Here are some simple steps that any leader can use.

How Leaders Create Powerful Teams and Reduce Turnover.

Leaders use different methods to create powerful teams and reduce turnover.  Here are some methods that simply work.

Keep an open door with your team members.

It is one thing to ask your team members to respect your time.  It is quite another to block them off just because you can’t be bothered.

Encourage your team members to give you feedback and updates.   Set up a list of things that they must tell you about no matter what.

Give directions that can’t be misunderstood.

Tell the people what you want them to do.  Then ask them to tell you what they understand about what you have told them.

Having your team members do work that does not achieve your goals, only to have to do it again, frustrates them.

Giving them clear direction helps them be more successful and feel engaged and successful.

Text and Email with a Purpose.

Before you send a text or an email, write down the purpose of the message.

Make the purpose of the text or email the first sentence in your communications.
Use Critiques to Increase Competence.

Finding fault just discourages your team.  Take a minute to ensure that they understand what you expect them to do.

Criticism creates stress.  Helpful, clear direction creates engagement and increases competence.

Give Progress Updates and Interim Encouragement.

Check the progress your team is making on projects.  Update the team members with changes and corrections as work progresses.  Encourage team members to continue the good work they are doing.

Delegate, but don’t abdicate.

Empower team members to make decisions.  State clearly how much authority that they have and how you expect them to use that authority.

However, don’t just assume that they will do everything the way you expect.  Check in them frequently to encourage them and to keep them focused.

Use Emotional Intelligence as a Tool for Success.

Emotional Intelligence is the process of responding with intelligence and giving direction based on the best interest of the business.  It is easy to let your ego take over and run roughshod over your team members.

Sometimes you must be firm.  However, angry outbursts don’t work effectively with every team member.

Carefully gauge how you respond emotionally based on the conditions and based on the emotional intelligence of the team member.

Successful Leaders: What is the one thing a leader must do?

What is the one thing a leader must do? There are all kinds of opinions on what leaders must do.  But what is there is one thing that all successful leaders have in common.

Leadership Gold by John C. Maxwell

Successful Leaders: What is the one thing a leader must do?

There are countless articles on leadership. These articles seem to miss one critical point.  This point is on the things that leaders do.

Many articles define leadership.  These articles ask the question between a leader and a manager.  The answer to that question seems simple.  Leadership is a trait.  Management is a job function.  Manager is a job title.  However, some leaders who have no title at all inspire people to follow.

Common Views on What Leaders Do

Some leaders are inspirational teachers.  Other leaders are practical teachers.  There are leaders who micromanage.  Some leaders delegate.  They leave all the decisions on how to do things to the people who are doing them.

Each one of these practices is important.  But none of them is essential to the one thing that makes leaders successful.

Successful Leaders State the Mission

A successful leader states the mission.

Build the bridge.  Create the product.  Design the ship.  Write the plan.  Seize the city.    Whatever mission a group has, someone first must state the mission.  Making that statement is the job of the leader.

From the mission statement, all the work can follow.  How to build the bridge, create the product, design the ship, and seize the city all follow the mission statement.

If teams do not know the mission, how can they become successful at accomplishing the mission?

Missionaries

Some people wonder at the incredible power of the teachings of Christ.  No matter what your feelings about religion, the spread of Christ’s teachings is one of the most influential events in the history of the world.

How did this event happen?  Through missionaries, that is, people charged with fulfilling the mission.  The Book of Acts has instructions from Christ to go out to nations across the world and teach people what he had said.

The Leaders of the American Revolution

The foundation of the United States began with a mission statement.

June 11, 1776, the attendees of the Second Continental Congress appointed five people to write the mission statement for the birth of a new nation.  Thomas Jefferson authored the document.  When finished, the Second Continental approved the mission statement titled it “The Declaration of Independence.” 

Successful Leaders: Know Your Role

In a leadership role, you may have many responsibilities.  Remember that your most important responsibility is to state the mission.

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