February Leadership Development Carnival

February 8, 2010 by Bret L. Simmons · Filed under: Leadership

The February Leadership Development Carnival is now live over at TalentedApps. Thanks to Mark Bennett for doing us all a great service by putting this edition of readings together. As always, you will find great articles by some of the best thinkers and bloggers on leadership. Shoot, you can even find an article by me

Thanks also to Dan McCarthy of Great Leadership for making the Leadership Development Carnival consistently excellent month after month.

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Student Branding Blog: Seth Godin’s “Linchpin”

February 8, 2010 by Bret L. Simmons · Filed under: Behavior, personal branding

My most recent article for The Student Branding Blog is now posted. In it, I recommend that students read Seth Godin’s new book “Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?“ I reviewed the book previously here and concluded that although Seth’s message is not entirely original, it is still a powerful message.

Especially in tough economic times, if you are not remarkable you are replaceable. Because the overwhelming majority of your peers are content with the mediocrity that pervades their lives, including their work, it is not as difficult as it might sound to become the remarkable person in the crowd.

But it’s impossible if you don’t see your mediocrity and resolve to behave your way to excellence.

Are You Untouchable?

Excellence Is A Form Of Deviance

The Land Of Excellence

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Tags: Excellence, grit, learning
Posted in Behavior, personal branding | No Comments »

ATT Service Recovery: A Follow-up

February 5, 2010 by Bret L. Simmons · Filed under: Leadership

I recently wrote about an experience I had where ATT had a service failure that they used Twitter to help them recover from. As a result of my laments about ATT service on Twitter, my complaint was addressed and I received two separate calls from people at ATT to make sure I was satisfied. One of those folks, Randy Brown, also sent me a letter to apologize and invite me to call him directly if I have any more concerns about ATT service. You can see that letter by clicking on the link below:

attletter

I think that is impressive. In fact, I can’t recall ever getting a letter like that when a company as giant as ATT dropped the ball. But that is the way that it should be.

We can think of all kinds of excuses why companies should not send letters of apology to customers after they recover from failure, but excuses are irrelevant. Customers rightfully expect more when they spend hard earned and increasingly scarce dollars, and smart companies will listen to those customers, strive to impress them, and drive their competitors out of business.

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Tags: accountability, customer satisfaction, Excellence, service
Posted in Leadership | 7 Comments »

Alita Burke: Thank You For Your Leadership

February 4, 2010 by Bret L. Simmons · Filed under: Leadership

In my January 2010 newsletter, I invited my subscribers to tell me about the best leader they have ever known personally. I offered to publish these stories at my blog to recognize these leaders for their service. One of my subscribers, Jackie Christensen, shared with me the story of her favorite leader, Alita Burke. The story I share below is in Jackie’s words, and Jackie graciously gave me permission to publish it here and share it with you.

I am a subscriber to your newsletter and when I read about you wanting stories of great leadership there was only one person who came to mind for me. That person is Alita Burke. I have had many bosses before and after her and no one has compared to her leadership. She is the type of leader who knows and understands her people. She knows those on her team she can rely most on and those who will give her the honest information/feedback she needs. If she cannot get information in a meeting from the team and yet knows there is a problem no one will talk about, she knows who the person on her team is she can go to and get the information in order to fix it if she can. She is the type of leader who will always stand behind her people if she thinks they are right, no matter the cost; who will take a decision/idea to the top to get approval if she thinks its right; but is also the type of leader who will tell you when you are wrong without hesitation. She is the type of leader you always know where you stand with her. She is the best in the company I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with and I’m probably one of her great supporters and will not hesitate to let others know how wonderful she is. She is the type of leader every company wishes they had more of!

Alita has always treated peers with dignity and respect. She never raises her voice. If you need to be corrected for something with Alita it is always done in private and its done when it happens not day/week etc later. One of the best books she ever got me to read was the One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard. She is excellent at developing people by example and by sharing leadership and motivation books/knowledge with them.

Thanks for sharing this story, Jackie! And thank you, Alita, for all you do for the people you have been given the privilege to lead.

Do you have a story of a great leader that you would like to share? If so, contact me because I’d love to hear it.

My Best Leaders: Part I

Another Great Leader

Another Great Leader: The Paradox of Repsect

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Tags: Excellence, fairness, integrity, partnership
Posted in Leadership | No Comments »