Leadership Blog
United Way would like to show our appreciation for our company sponsors, donors, employee campaign managers, volunteers, and advocates. As a thank you for their support, below are articles from Through Eagles Eyes, written by Diane Winn and Tom Searcy, which will be posted monthly. These inspirational articles will discuss today's management and leadership hot topics.
Diane Winn and Thomas Searcy co-founded Through Eagles Eyes, Inc. in 2006. Through Eagles Eyes, Inc. is a talent management organization. It works with medium sized companies to drive profit growth through their people development. Improved productivity throughout an organization is its goal. Both Diane and Tom have extensive background in the financial consulting field (over 50 years combined) which gave them extensive experience in understanding the challenges business leaders face, as well as gaining expertise in coaching them through those challenges. Diane is a Professional Certified Coach, one of only a few in Indiana, and Tom is certified in neuro-linguistic programming, the basic science of communication that forms the basis for coaching practice. Also, Eagle Eyes' ability to support performance excellence for its clients took a giant step forward with its alliance with Kerry Garman, SPHR, a highly skilled professional in training, coaching and organizational development.
Visit www.througheagleseyes.com to learn more about how Eagles Eyes can help your organization.
February 2012
We have touched on the subject of business underperformance before, but an opportunity of this magnitude compels us to focus again on this issue.
We have highlighted before that the first decade of the 21st Century, in terms of real economic growth was one of the three worst in our country's history. Unfortunately, 2011 wasn't anything to write home about, either, and because of the imposing number of economic challenges creating a powerful financial drag to growth going forward, a number of respected economists are wondering aloud whether we are facing yet another "lost decade".
Even more concerning to us here at Through Eagles Eyes, several states in the Midwest, including Indiana, are in the bottom 20% of per capita income growth. So in the midst of a poor national record of growth, we are very near the bottom of that barrel as well.
Primarily because of overwhelming levels of government, business and personal debt throughout Europe, Japan and the United States, economic headwinds could be with us a while.
So what is this great opportunity we speak about? Well, if we believe our most respected business leaders, writers and researchers, this financial malaise is simply a result of an absence of effective leadership over the past ten to fifteen years. One thing we know for certain, being great as a leader is more about choice and determination than anything else. Thus, the opportunity.
The outstanding companies of our time do everything they can to hire the best people, get them in the right positions, train them continuously, treat them fairly, inspire them, use every bit of the talent they have to offer, give them autonomy when they have proven themselves, and make sure they have every resource they need to do the best job possible. When companies step up to this level of commitment, they are rewarded with high productivity, high profitability, great stability and outsized growth.
There are simply very few organizations whose leadership is able or willing to muster the discipline and determination to produce exceptional performance. Well less than 3% of all organizations prove themselves to be anything beyond merely average.
While we won't claim such a rarified level of performance is easy to build or maintain, we've seen enough examples to know such excellence is a matter of choice and relentless willpower. Winston Churchill said, "We will never, ever give up! Ever!" Great leaders in every walk of life are like that.
Aubrey Daniels, perhaps the most highly respected Organizational Development expert in the world today has updated his book, Bringing Out the Best in People, which details many of the essential leadership and management principles required for enduring success in business today. Over the next several months we will write about what Mr. Daniels has to say and what he suggests business leaders do to fully implement these principles in their organizations.
Going forward in today's business environment, being average won't suffice. Only the highest commitment to excellence in every phase of business will ensure success. The professionals at Through Eagles Eyes stand ready to support those efforts.
Tom Searcy
Diane Winn, PCC
Through Eagles Eyes, Inc.
