Archive for February 2012

Leadership In The Line of “Duty”

February 27, 2012 Achieve Success Academy 9 comments

Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be. Ralph Waldo Emerson

D=Desire, Drive, Determination & Dedication

Desire

The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential. These are the keys that will unlock the doors to personal excellence~Confucius

Drive

We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people. Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way~George S. Patton

Determination

The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand~Vince Lombardi

If you possess these 4 words, there are no limits for what you can achieve. You must believe in yourself because if you don’t no one else will.

U=Understanding Others Through Mastery of Personalities

Peace can not be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding~Albert Einstein

Understanding the personalities of those you influence is a huge component of how successful you will become. It will dramatically increase how you present and how they receive. I would suggest you study the DISC Personality chart to get a better understanding of how one’s personality works. If you master this skill, your success is virtually guaranteed.

T=Trust Your Training & Talent

Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit~Aristotle

My mother once told me that I have two ears and one mouth for a reason. She told me to listen more and talk less.

If you want to be a successful leader and/or entrepreneur it all starts by trusting your training and talent. Morale starts at the top. Allow your people to work independant without looking over their shoulders. Leaders should manage the systems they have in place, not their people.

Y=You Matter

I want you to be everything that’s you, deep at the center of your being~Confucius

The only one that will look out for you is You! No one else can be depended on for your success. My saying is this, “I’ll see you at the top or from the top”. The only one that will get you there is You. You have to commit yourself to wanting success more than you want the air you breathe. If you are not willing to sacrifice this, you will stay in the same position in the same location. Resolve today to want success more than you want the air you breathe. Your success will be virtually guaranteed if you live your life with this in mind.

I hope you enjoyed this blog on Leadership In The Line of Duty. Duty=Desire, Drive, Determination & Dedication, Understanding Others Through Mastery of Personalities, Trust Your Training & Talent and You Matter. My goal is to inspire the talent with-in you, to assist you in bringing out your WHY power, bringing you to the next level so you too can experience the success you so truly deserve.

I’m John R. Salkowski, Founder of AchieveSuccessAcademy.com, Leadership Expert, Author, Speaker, Retired Police Officer, Survivior of PTSD and Self-Made Man.

I can be reached via email at John@JohnSalkowski.com

Copyright 2012 Achieve Success Academy All Rights Reserved

 

 

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Top 10 Must Have Characteristics of a Great Leader

February 21, 2012 Achieve Success Academy One comment
A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better~Jim Rohn
Do you have what it takes to be a great leader? I bet you do. I believe everyone can attain the great qualities and characteristics needed to be an effective leader. The objective behind being a great leader is this: Helping people and/or organizations who are doing poorly to do well. Helping people and/or organization who are doing well but want to get better. The whole idea of great leadership is to get results. To bring them to a whole different level of success.
The task of leadership is not to put greatness into people, but to elicit it, for the greatness is there already~ John Buchan
Being a great leader means bringing out the best in people. Everyone wants to be the best they can be. It’s our job as leaders to do that. We need to find and focus on the strengths of people not their weaknesses.
In my previous career of Law Enforcement, I was surrounded by good and bad leaders. The good leaders focused on making people better while the bad leaders would focus on making people worse. It was astounding to me that the bad leaders would come to work everyday and do nothing but negative leadership. What do I mean by negative leadership? They would focus on the mistakes of people. Instead of making them learn from their mistakes they would punish them and never give good advice and/or training to make that person better. They would lie in wait like a lion hiding from a zebra getting ready to attack. This would happen day in and day out. Just waiting for their people to make mistakes. Being totalling reactive instead of proactive. They would focus on the negatives and not the positives in people. This type of leadership is a sinking ship. This will make any organizations morale go into a tail spin. And if you were ever part of an organization withe horrible morale, you know exactly what I mean. If you want a successful organization, no matter what industry, you need to have great leaders that focus on the strengths and not the weaknesses. To learn, grow and achieve results a great leader must focus on making their people successful by focusing on their strenghths.
Leadership: the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it~Dwight D. Eisenhower
Here are the TOP 10 Must Have Characteristics of a Great Leader:
1) Be a Role Model- You must lead by example. You should never ask someone to do something that you wouldn’t do yourself. You must be seen by your people, and the public as being an expert in your field and an expert in leadership.
2) Have a Mission-Leaders know what their mission is. They know why the organization exists. A great leader has a well thought out (often written) mission describing the purpose of the organization. That purpose need to be descriptive, clear and understandable. Every employee should be able to identify with the mission and strive to achieve it.
3) Have Vision-Where do you want your organization to go? A vision needs to be descriptive enough to encourage people to imagine it but concrete enough for followers to see it, understand it and be willing to climb onboard to fulfill it.
4) Be Goal Oriented-How is the organization going to achieve its mission and vision and how will you measure your progress? Like a vision, goals need to be operational that are specific and measurable. If your output and results can’t be readily measured, then it will be difficult to know if you have achieved your purpose.
5) Have Integrity- Do the right thing all the time. Not sometimes but all the time.
6) Be Passionate in all you do-You must love what you do. You must want success for the organization and the people more than you want the air you breathe.
7) Be Compassionate-Successful leaders are comfortable relating to other people; they easily create rapport and are more extroverted than they are introverted. These factors help leaders seem approachable, likeable, and comfortable in their position. Those qualities contribute to staff wanting to interact with their leader. They also help motivate employees to do a better job. When workers can relate to their boss, they believe that their boss is more concerned about them, with their performance, and with their output. Furthermore, they believe that they can go to their boss with problems they encounter on the job without fearing consequences for not knowing how to resolve issues.
8) Great Communicator-It does little good to have a strong mission, vision, and goals if the leader cannot easily and effectively convey his ideas inside and outside of the organization. He must regularly be in touch with key individuals, by all forms of communication. Of course, the best way to ensure other people receive and understand the message is with face-to-face interactions.
9) Be Inspiring-Employees need someone to look up to for direction, guidance, and motivation. A great leader needs to be that person. Nevertheless, there are times, when many employees need the boss to inspire them by word or action.
10) Be Ambitious-Nothing builds a picture of success more than achievement, and achievement is the number one factor that motivates just about everyone across all cultures. When employees see that their leader can lead and direct, has a clear vision and attainable goals, and actually gains results in a timely manner, then that person’s credibility increases throughout the organization. Great leaders must modestly demonstrate their skills to give their constituents valid reasons to appreciate and value their efforts.
I’m John R. Salkowski, Founder of Achieve Success Academy, Leadership Expert, Author, Speaker, Entrepreneur, Retired Police Officer and PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) Survivor.
I can be reached via email at John@JohnSalkowski.com
Copyright 2012 Achieve Success Academy All Rights Reserved

Top 5 Ways To Stop Feeling Like Your in Prison Monday Through Friday!

February 13, 2012 Achieve Success Academy One comment

America is the land of the second chance – and when the gates of the prison open, the path ahead should lead to a better life~George W. Bush
Feeling Like Your in Prison

 

Do you feel your anxiety level going up before your work week starts? Do you sleep really sound on Sunday night knowing that Monday morning is just hours away? Do you stress all week wishing it were Friday?
I know exactly how you feel. I’ve been where you are. I, too was a slave to the clock. I, too was trading time for dollars. It came a time that my anxiety level was so high that I had to make an urgent decision whether to stay or leave. It was affecting all aspects of my life.
My mind was like directing traffic in a busy intersection in downtown New York City in rush hour. It kept me up at night. I was bombarded by different thoughts such as what will I do, will I make it, can I earn the same amount, will I be happier, will I lose everything that I worked so hard for.
If you know me or have read my previous blogs then you know that I am a huge proponent of listening to your inner-voice. It is spot on every time. Period. If you choose to listen to it. Some people choose to ignore it. Some choose to over-ride it. I choose to listen to it.
A fear of the unknown keeps a lot of people from leaving bad situations~Kathie Lee Gifford

 

Scared to Death
The fear of the unknown is the scariest of all. Not knowing how things will turn out. Not knowing where you’ll end up. Will you lose everything? Who will I let down? People want to see you fail. It’s a fact of life. People love negativity. They love to hear gossip of others. Mostly negative gossip. Very seldom will you hear of anyone talking about your successes. Face it, it’s a fact of life that negativity sells. So what! You don’t have to be a part of it. Who cares what others think. No one is paying your bills. No one is putting food on your table. No one is providing you shelter. So who cares about what people have to say.  You must do what’s best for you and only you.

The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows~Buddha
Failure Is No Option
I made a conscious decision to leave a secure job with health benefits and 5 weeks of vacation after 15yrs. So many people ask me Why are you doing this? How can you do this? Isn’t it scary leaving security?
They are all valid questions. However, I personally believe security breeds comfort. Security breeds not fully living up to your true potential. You see, I am driven by success. I push myself to unbelievable limits. I am extremely discliplined. It’s the way I am made. Everyone is different. Everyone has their own opinion about security. There is no right or wrong answer. It’s truly based on ones personal ideologies.
Your personality must be conducive with leaving security. If you long for the security of having a solid job, making a living, having health benefits and vacation than this blog isn’t for you. Again, there is nothing wrong with wanting these things. Frankly, I believe the general population is brought up this way. It boils down to what makes you happy. Period!
Here are the Top 5 Ways to Overcome Your Prison Sentence:
1) Do What You Love
It is hard to argue with this one.  Have you ever found anyone that is successful doing something they hate?  I guess you can take the definition of success to any extreme, but I have a hard time accepting that anyone living in misery doing something they hate can be called successful.  Naturally, doing what you love gets you the motivation and the excitement required to achieve success.  In fact, for many, doing what you love is success in and of itself.
2) Follow Your Passion & Perfect Your Game
If your definition of success is being great at something then studies have shown that the secret to success is to practice at perfecting your game and following your passion. These studies even argue that natural talent is irrelevant and that it’s all about practice and passion.
3) Be Unique
It’s hard to imagine a clone being a symbol of success. Success is about bringing your own unique ways into the world, adding diversity and value. Most experts will agree that if you want to be successful you have to find your niche, you have to find ways to leverage your own unique gifts.
4) Believe in Yourself
I have yet to find a successful man or woman who does not believe in themselves. If you don’t believe in yourself, who will? Studies have shown that success is influenced by your mindset. If you want to be successful, start believing in yourself at once.
5) Never Ever Give Up
Last but not least, you must never ever give up. Every successful guru will tell you this. To be successful you must persist through your failures, criticisms, rejections and all the other negative things in life. Success is a journey, not a destination. In your journey of success, the only time you can say you are not a success is when you give up on your journey.
I’m John R. Salkowski, Founder of Achieve Success Academy, Retired Police Officer, Survivor of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), Leading Authority on Conquering your Fear, Overcoming Your Adversity & Achieving Greater Success in Your Life. Speaker, Entrepreneur and Self-Made Man.
I can be reached via email at John@JohnSalkowski.com.
Copyright 2012 Achieve Success Academy All Rights Reserved