31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
47 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 3 years ago - ★★★★ - 3 ratingsAnyone can become a better leader with the right information and guidance. Hugh Ballou shares his experience and knowledge from 31 years of leadership coaching and training in this concise leadership tutorial.
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Episodes
Growing Your Nonprofit from the Customer Up
May 12, 2021 04:00 - 1 hourGrowing Your Nonprofit from the Customer Up Interview with Bill Woolsey With decades of experience in starting and leading ministries, churches and networks, Bill Woolsey now invests his life in men and women who want to reach people for Jesus in new, creative ways. After serving congregations in the Midwest, he and his family planted CrossPoint Community Church in Houston, a congregation that led his denomination (LCMS) in baptisms for much of the 2000s. In 2009 he led the launch of FiveT...
Leadership Challenges in Managing a Land Conservancy Nonprofit with David Perry
November 24, 2019 05:00 - 55 minutesLeadership Challenges in Managing a Land Conservancy Nonprofit with David Perry DAVID PERRY, Executive Director is a Blacksburg native, has been with the Blue Ridge Land Conservancy since 2006, when he was hired as the land trust’s project manager. He became assistant director in 2011 and executive director in 2012. Dave is chairman of the City of Roanoke’s Mill Mountain Advisory Board and a member of the Roanoke Kiwanis Club. Dave has a master’s degree in park and resource management from ...
Becoming A Better Leader Monday Momentum 14
July 29, 2019 22:47 - 8 minutesThe Pillars for Success Strategy: Leadership without a strategic framework for an organization will compromise the results, overwork the leadership and teams, and waste time and money. A strategy is a Solution Map defining where the organization wants to be and how to get there. Here are the key elements: Vision & Mission Market Unique Value Proposition (UVP) Goals Skills: Leadership, communications, and financial results are all grounded in effective relationships. Creating a cult...
Becoming A Better Leader Monday Momentum 13
July 08, 2019 23:03 - 7 minutesBecoming A Better Leader Monday Momentum 12 Becoming a Better Leader Monday Momentum Book Resources for Leaders Quotes and Notes from Hugh’s book list: Today’s notes are on The Tao of Leadership, by John Heider This little book is full of useful and counter-intuitive ideas. It’s things we usually don’t consider. Many leaders are way too “hands on” with their leadership in attempting to make things happen, when they should be observing how things happen and guide when necessary. M...
Becoming A Better Leader Monday Momentum 12
July 01, 2019 04:00 - 7 minutesQuotes and Notes from Hugh’s book list: Today’s notes are on Extraordinary Relationships: A New Way of Thinking About Human Interactions, by Roberta Gilbert This book is about the leadership methodology created by Psychiatrist, Murry Bowen, M.D. His colleague, Roberta Gilbert has taken the writings of Bowen and put them into systems for learning. I have worked with Roberta for about 10 years in seminars and private coaching. I find that this is the most effective and useful leadership me...
Becoming A Better Leader Monday Momentum 11
June 25, 2019 00:28 - 7 minutesLeadership Book Quotes Quotes and Notes from Hugh’s book list. Today’s notes are on “As a Man Thinketh”by James Allen One of the three books Jim Rohn said everybody should have is, “As a Man Thinketh” along with “Think and Grow Rich” and the Bible. Each of these books is full of wisdom of the ages and is timeless. This little book is a short read. Each time I re-read it, I see different things and the things I saw before mean something different. It’s work reviewing monthly. Even though ...
Becoming A Better Leader Monday Momentum 10
June 17, 2019 17:04 - 7 minutesBecoming a Better Leader Monday Momentum Book Resources for Leaders Leadership Resources: Books, Hugh's Notes and Quotes Quotes and Notes from Hugh’s book list. Today’s notes are on the 2 Napoleon Hill books on my list: Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill https://amzn.to/2IenAVY Napoleon Hill On the Air: The Five Foundations for Success, Napoleon Hill transcriptions https://amzn.to/2Z7YZsS Think and Grow Rich is a classic self-help book which is the basis of much of the teachin...
Becoming A Better Leader Monday Momentum 9
June 10, 2019 18:06 - 6 minutesBooks Here's my list of the top 10 books to develop and to stay on top as a leader: Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill https://amzn.to/2IenAVY Napoleon Hill On the Air, Napoleon Hill transcriptions https://amzn.to/2Z7YZsS Extraordinary Relationships: A New Way of Thinking About Human Interactions, by Roberta Gilbert https://amzn.to/2MtNF8I The Tao of Leadership, by John Heider https://amzn.to/2IdLhO9 As a Man Thinketh by James Allen https://amzn.to/2F1JOtF The Tyranny of ...
Becoming A Better Leader Monday Momentum 8
May 27, 2019 04:00 - 8 minutesBalance…or Not! I’m writing a new book. I’m thinking of calling it Adrenaline as a Way of Life. Or maybe I’ll try Time: There Will Never be Enough of It, So Squander What You’ve Got. Here’s a sneak peak at my chapter outline. Chapter One: E-mergency Answer all emails at once. Do not delay. Stop whatever you are doing and answer that baby. Chapter Two: Adrenaline is My Motivator Save tasks that are “due today” until the last hour, better yet, the last half hour of your workday so you will...
Becoming A Better Leader Monday Momentum 7
May 20, 2019 14:16 - 7 minutesBalance: Getting and Staying Centered In this episode, I’m starting to focus on my “Four Leadership Principles”: Foundations, Relationships, Systems, and Balance. Today we focus on balance. Even though it’s the fourth principle, it’s the one that makes the others work. If we can’t manage our use of time, the musical version of this principle is “Value the Rests.” In music the rests have a distinctive purpose and are not just the absence of sound. They are punctuation. They are a regrouping o...
Becoming A Better Leader Monday Momentum 6
May 06, 2019 04:00 - 9 minutes - 17.1 MBBecoming a Better Leader Monday Momentum Communication is Based on Relationship We constantly focus on communication as an isolated process, when, in fact, it’s related to how we relate to others. Communication is based on relationship and not simply on data. – Hugh Ballou Validation Is Asking the Right Questions The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place. – George Bernard Shaw Did you get my email? “Did you get my email?” is a typical qu...
Becoming A Better Leader Monday Momentum 5
April 29, 2019 21:02 - 9 minutes - 17.1 MBBecoming a Better Leader Monday Momentum Top 5 Leadership Deficits Top 5 Leadership Deficits "If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”– Frederick Douglass There are many things that we as leaders do that are not effective and many times we actually set up problems or make problems worse. I have mentored and coached leaders in many fields for 31+ years and still have challenges myself in these areas. We are never clear of dysfunction, especially when we are blind to our own def...
Becoming a Better Leader Monday Momuntum 4
April 22, 2019 20:44 - 6 minutesBecoming a Better Leader Monday Momentum Transformational Leadership Rethinking Leadership “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” - John Quincy Adams The definitive leader is a transformational leader. Transformational leadership was birthed from educational systems and the military. The writings of BM Bass and JM Burns are cited in many, if not most, articles on transformational leadership. In the best sense, transformation...
Becoming a Better Leader Monday Momuntum 3
April 15, 2019 15:38 - 9 minutesManaging Self: The Foundation of Leadership Leaders primarily are influencers. In order to influence others positively, we must first influence ourselves, that is, learn to manage our time, our emotions, our work, and our life. I’ve been a student of the work of Murray Bowen for over 12 years and have found it to be the most helpful and profound source of leadership knowledge anywhere. The fundamental concept is Differentiation of Self, which is managing self and understanding self. It’s ...
Becoming a Better Leader Monday Momentum 2
April 08, 2019 16:00 - 6 minutesDefine Your Life Goals “If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy and inspires your hopes.” —Andrew Carnegie Now that you’ve defined what you want your life to look like, it’s time to define your achievements in your personal life. Here’s some examples: I have established a nonprofit foundation to continue giving to charities as a legacy I have sufficient income to support my lifestyle and to give to charity I travel when and where I want...
Becoming a Better Leader Monday Momentum 1
April 01, 2019 04:00 - 6 minutesDefine what your life will look like before starting or growing your enterprise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
31: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 31, 2019 04:00 - 16 minutesDay #31 - Continuing Improvement Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers. -Harry Truman Read good books with a highlighter in your hand. Mark the passages that stand out. Put the book away and read others. Come back to this book sometime in the future and have a different color highlighter in your hand. Notice that you highlight different passages than you did previously. You are ready to learn something new that you weren’t ready to learn the last time you read that bo...
30: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 30, 2019 04:00 - 9 minutesDay #30: Have a Coach I absolutely believe that people, unless coached, never reach theirmaximum potential. -Bob Nardelli Why do you need a coach? Personal Awareness - Locate and address deadly blind spots. Improve Leadership Skills - We don’t know what we don’t know. Build Confidence - We need a cheerleader and accountability partner. Sound Out Ideas - We can solve more problems if we have a confidential advisor to be a sounding board. Gain Objectivity in Perspective - See how ot...
29: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 29, 2019 04:00 - 8 minutesDay #29: Support Groups No two minds ever come together without, thereby, creating a third, invisible, intangible force which may be likened to a third mind.-Napoleon Hill Napoleon Hill, in his book Think and Grow Rich, gives many examples of “mastermind” groups. This is another type of accountability and advocacy support. Regular meetings of this team will help you pool the best thinking skills of each member and the result will be greater than the sum of the parts. In fact, this is the de...
28: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 28, 2019 04:00 - 9 minutesDay #28: Managing Stress Stress is an ignorant state. It believes everything is an emergency. -Natalie Goldberg Stress is our internal scripts telling us lies. We can manage everything, if we believe we can. We can manage our own emotions. If stress is an emotion, then it can be managed internally. Move from feeling to thinking whenever you see that emotions are taking over your being. Worry is not a productive leadership skill. Empathy, worry, fear, anxiety, and the like are emotions t...
27: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 27, 2019 04:00 - 9 minutesDay #27: Managing Time Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days. –Zig Ziglar This is a funny title, because we can’t manage time! We can, however, manage our use of time. We all have the same amount of time every day. Not all of us use it wisely or even to our best interest. My definition of a leader is a 3-part definition. A leader is a person who: Gets things done - it’s not activity, it’s accomplishment. Knows how things get done - ei...
26: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 26, 2019 04:00 - 7 minutesDay #26:Hiring Staff and Consultants Having the wrong person is worse than not having a person at all. - Hugh Ballou It’s possible that I took the above quote from someone, but I can’t find a source for it. It’s so true, however. We hire someone for a position because we need someone by a certain time, and we hurry the process, making a quick judgment without the proper attention to the process and to the signals they send. We need to listen carefully with our eyes and ears to precisely wor...
25: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 25, 2019 04:00 - 7 minutesDay #25: Evaluations If you are building a culture where honest expectations are communicated and peer accountability is the norm, then the group will address poor performance and attitudes. -Henry Cloud Evaluations are how we examine the progress or value of a program or activity and/or job performance. Frequent evaluations help to determine whether or not we leaders and our teams are on track for a predetermined objective. Evaluations serve many purposes and show up in many forms. Th...
24: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 24, 2019 04:00 - 8 minutesDay #24: No Job Descriptions A job description is a form invented by HR departments to validate their job. It has taken form as a list of tasks, which is a form of micromanaging.- Hugh Ballou I love to borrow the quote from a colleague of mine that the Job Description is an invention of the HR department, which is the department of Human Remains. That’s not very flattering. HR professionals are important watchdogs for compliance in organizations. In fact, organizations without this ...
23: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 23, 2019 04:00 - 8 minutesDay #23: Avoiding Micromanaging: Coaching and Mentoring A coach has some great questions for your answers; a mentor has some great answers for your questions. - Anonymous The most deadly activity I see, and the most common as well, is micromanaging. It’s the “BOSS” syndrome. Telling people what to do isn’t effective in today’s world. Learning to delegate is one of the most difficult skills for today’s leader to master. We have seen others show up as BOSS and command the space by telling e...
22: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 22, 2019 04:00 - 6 minutesDay #22: Flash Meetings The longer the meeting, the less is accomplished. -Tim Cook Flash meetings are a methodology that I didn’t invent, like most of the stuff I teach, and is likely not a common enough practice for many people to be aware of either. A flash meeting is like the name implies - it’s short and, hopefully, over in a flash. Many times, the meeting is conducted with everyone standing. People are less prone to wasting time when standing. The purposes for the flash meeting ...
21: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 21, 2019 04:00 - 8 minutesDay #21: Team Action Planning When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps. -Confucius This is the step for making things happen. It’s the integration of strategy into performance. The team goes into action with the steps they have created, that they now own, you have approved, and all is transparent. In this step, the accountably mechanism isn’t you. The accountability now rests with the team members themselves. Actually, peer-to-pee...
20: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 20, 2019 04:00 - 7 minutesSystems Day #20: Meetings Meetings are at the heart of an effective organization, and each meeting is an opportunity to clarify issues, set new directions, sharpen focus, create alignment, and move objectives forward. - Paul Axtell The Agenda is the enemy of productivity in meetings.- Hugh Ballou Bad meetings are a killer of team empowerment. - Hugh Ballou Here’s the module where I explain why a meeting agenda is the enemy of productivity. The agenda is a checklist of activities. I...
19: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 19, 2019 04:00 - 7 minutesDay #19: Team Performance Covenant Making covenants is an expression of a faithful heart; Keeping covenants is a expression of a willing heart. - Bonnie D. Parkin What a covenant is: Merriam-Webster: a written agreement or promise usually under seal between two or more parties especially for the performance of some action. It’s important to create an operational profile of how team members function within this particular leadership container. To set up this process, ask team members to th...
18: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 18, 2019 04:00 - 8 minutesDay #18: Getting Team "Buy-In" Great teams do not hold back with one another. They are unafraid to air their dirty laundry. They admit their mistakes, their weaknesses and their concerns without fear of reprisal. - Patrick Lencioni Patrick Lencioni’s 5 Dysfunctions of a Team: Dysfunction #1: Absence of Trust Dysfunction #2: Fear of Conflict Dysfunction #3: Lack of Commitment Dysfunction #4: Avoidance of Team Accountability Dysfunction #5: Inattention to Team Objectives To have a hig...
17: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 17, 2019 04:00 - 7 minutes - 14.4 MBDay #17: Corporate Culture Culture eats strategy for breakfast.- Peter Drucker, Author Here’s a process for establishing a high-functioning corporate culture for any type of enterprise. If you are starting a new venture, it’s better to focus on the culture from the beginning, since it’s much more difficult to go back and correct habits that have already been established. It’s difficult anyway, since people are accustomed to a top-down, autocratic, tell-me-what-to-do type of arrangem...
16: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 16, 2019 04:00 - 8 minutesDay #16: Group Dynamics and Conflict Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means. -Ronald Reagan In human emotional systems, we see the good, bad, and ugly of others in good times and in times of stress. We show up like we showed up many times, like we did and do in our family of origin. We have developed behaviors and responses over time, and sometimes are not aware of these behaviors or responses. This is not a judgment of good or bad. It ...
15: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 15, 2019 04:00 - 7 minutesDay #15: Team Agreements Unless both sides win, no agreement can be permanent.- Jimmy Carter Leaders set up problems in many ways. One clear way we set up conflict in teams is by assuming that everyone knows what you want and you know what they want. There is a personal satisfaction factor in working together. When we don’t clearly define our overall expectations with the position description and overall satisfaction, we create conflict. We have conflict in every group. In fact, conflict i...
14: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 14, 2019 04:00 - 6 minutesDay #14: Roles & Responsibilities However you envisage your role in life, all you can do is perform it as best you can. - Brian Aldiss The price of greatness is responsibility.- Winston Churchill It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do. It makes more sense to hire smart people and train them enough so they start telling you what to do. - Steve Jobs Defining roles and responsibilities is key to understanding what individuals will do and accomplish inside any l...
13: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 13, 2019 04:00 - 6 minutesRelationships Day #13: Team Competencies Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results. - George Patton You have created your strategic plan, right? If not, stop and go back to do it now. It’s important to have the end in mind before starting the journey. Be sure that you are on the right pathway and have laid down the tracks for the journey. In the template you got when you purchased the action guide, there’s a title for each com...
12: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 12, 2019 04:00 - 8 minutesDay #12: Personal Growth Plan Income seldom exceeds personal development.- Jim Rohn Jim Rohn influenced many, many high-income earners in his lifetime. He almost always said to work on yourself harder that you work on your business. The older I get, the more I resonate with that statement. I constantly hear from entrepreneurs, especially, that they have read about leadership and want to focus on something important, implying that leadership isn’t as important as “getting things done.” Let...
11: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 11, 2019 04:00 - 6 minutesDay #11: Skills and Gaps The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds. - John F. Kennedy The popular narrative on leadership is to focus on “Strengths” and “Weaknesses.” As you might have come to expect, my calling is to change the paradigm by changing the language. Many of us don’t think that we are “weak” just because there’s a particular skill that’s not at the top of our competency list. And being transparent and open about defining weaknesses is not a particul...
10: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 10, 2019 05:00 - 8 minutesDay #10: Accountabilities and Metrics If you are building a culture where honest expectations are communicated and peer accountability is the norm, then the group will address poor performance and attitudes. - Henry Cloud As previously noted, having a plan is essential to fulfillment of a vision; however, having a plan is not insurance for achieving the vision. As the old saying, in its corrected form states, “The proof of the pudding’ is in the eatin’.” Here’s where good intentions get s...
09: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 09, 2019 05:00 - 7 minutesDay #9: The Performance Secret – DVDs Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment. - Jim Rohn We define magnificent vision and mission with incredible objectives and powerful goals, and then we sit back and go, “Wow!” It seems so big that we feel overwhelmed. We just defined how to begin breaking down those bigger end results into achievable steps. Here’s the genealogy: Long-Term Objective - 3-5 years Short-Term Goals - 1-year or less Milestones - 30-day benchmarks Actio...
08: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 08, 2019 05:00 - 6 minutesDay #8: Plans for Action Strategy is a commodity, execution is an art.- Peter Drucker This is where the “rubber hits the road,” as the saying goes. Once you complete your strategic plan and define your long-term objectives and short-term goals, what you have is simply a piece of paper with words. It’s a plan, for sure, but nothing happens without leadership. Your vision is only as good as its implementation. Your implementation depends on you and the team you lead. Certainly, the leader ca...
07: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 07, 2019 05:00 - 9 minutesDay #7: Long-Term Strategic Objectives and Short-Term Goals Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off of your goals. - Henry Ford With each module in this podcast, we drill down into the component parts of organizational leadership. It’s crucial that you, the leader, are focused on outcomes and not on activities. Without goals, there’s a lack of coordinated activity. Goals allow each person to push the boat in the same direction. Too many goals may be detrimental and ev...
06: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 06, 2019 05:00 - 6 minutesDay #6: Strategic Plan Success is 20% skills and 80% strategy. You might know how to succeed, but more importantly, what’s your plan to succeed? - Jim Rohn The words “Strategic Plan” strike fear into the hearts and minds of entrepreneurs. It sounds restrictive, cumbersome, time consuming, and many other things. Many think that having a written strategic plan limits their creativity, when the inverse is true. A strategic plan is a container for creativity. Once you have identified the roa...
05: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 05, 2019 05:00 - 9 minutesDay #5: Organizational Vision and Mission Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others. - Jonathan Swift An essential part of successful strategic planning was in creating our core values and guiding principles. Now everything we do must be in line with those. Next in importance is the development of our Vision and Mission Statements. I realize that everyone teaching strategic planning is not on the same page with definitions of these, however concepts are similar. Vision: the...
04: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 04, 2019 05:00 - 11 minutesDay #4: Guiding Principles It’s important to define our core values as we begin to plan for our future and the future of the enterprise we lead, however these values are static. They might be single words or short phrases that are open to interpretation in different ways by different people. For example: Integrity is one. It’s a word. What do we do with it now? How do we apply that word to decision making? Does the word mean different things to different people? Therefore it’s important to...
03: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 03, 2019 05:00 - 7 minutesDay #3: Organizational Core Values Core values are the fundamental beliefs of a person or organization. These values dictate behavior and can help people understand the difference between right and wrong. Core values also help companies to determine if they are on the right path and fulfilling their goals by creating an unwavering guide. Take inventory of your personal values to be sure that you are in alignment with the organization’s core values. This is also key for any team members - s...
02: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 02, 2019 17:00 - 6 minutesDay #2: Personal Life Vision A dream is the creative vision for your life in the future.- Denis Waitley Set your personal life vision in order to protect yourself from getting sucked into the vortex of running an organization at the expense of quality of life. Define the life you want first, and then develop the organization that will support your quality of life. We often think we can ultimate get to that quality of life if we work really, really hard…but all too often, we have developed ...
01: 31 Days to Becoming a Better Leader
March 01, 2019 17:00 - 10 minutesEveryone can learn to improve their skills to lead an organization or to fully utilize a vision and mission. Nothing happens without effective leadership. Many wrong ideas keep leaders from success. In this step-by-step series of podcasts, everyone can learn from Hugh Ballou's 31 years of leadership work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices