Monthly Archives: October 2011

October 31, 2011

How To Communicate With A Leader With A Different Personality

By Chris LoCurto
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I had a great conversation with a pastor in California about how to deal with a lead pastor whose personality style isn’t the same as yours.

It’s a great question, and truthfully, one most of us deal with. You’re not likely to work for someone with the same personality style you have. While a lot of leaders hire people like them, there’s still enough of a separation that each person’s style is different. Therefore, you need to discover the best way to work with one another. If both are well versed in personality styles and lean in each other’s direction, it’s not as hard. But when they’re not, try this:

  • Get to know you – You have to first get to know you! If you don’t understand yourself, you can’t really understand why you act, react and process the way you do. And the key to giving information is understanding how you receive information. Once you know this, you can adjust your style to better communicate with others — not changing who you are, just adjusting how you communicate.
  • Get to know your leader – A conversation takes two people…for most of us at least. So you need to understand the personality of the person you’re communicating with. How do they give and receive information? At what speed do they process? Do they have tendency to gather all the available information, or do they leave out the details?
  • Get to writing – As you learn the strengths and weaknesses of the person you are communicating with, you can identify the areas that will either help or hurt you. In other words, if you are a high C personality, you need details, and that makes working with a high I personality difficult. They will bring excitement, enthusiasm and motivation, but it’s also possible they will leave out some details that you consider vital. So make a list of the things you need from this person every time you communicate with them. Then check the list off as you go.
  • Get to resolve – Be sure to replay the conversation in your mind and ask yourself if you received all the information necessary for you to be successful. If not, address those points quickly.

As you do this you will set yourself up for success. But you should also work to convince your leader of the need to know their own personality style. Once they understand themselves, they can do a lot of the necessary work.

Question: How have you made adjustments to get what you need from present or past leaders?

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23 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in Leadership, Small Business

October 28, 2011

Obama Is Forgiving Student Loans

By Chris LoCurto
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That’s what I heard from a young lady at the car rental place yesterday. She was very sweet and took good care of us. And on the way out she asked what we do.

Like always, I answered that we teach people how to handle their finances. And before I could talk about leadership, she excitedly asked me what my most important bit of information was. I told her to stay out of debt — Surprise, surprise! That’s when she asked, “What do you think about what Obama’s doing? He’s forgiving student loans.”

Ugh!! How does this happen?!

I told her I don’t think it’s right for people to go into debt and then pass the consequences of their bad money choices on to the rest of the taxpayers.. That’s when she made a comment about Obama having money set aside to take care of the loans. I quickly informed her that Obama doesn’t have any money for these student loans. The money to pay for Obama’s “forgiveness” will come from those of us who actually pay taxes — unlike the 47% of Americans who don’t pay taxes but want big business to pay for all of their debt. (Sorry, had to throw that in there.)

She responded by saying, “So I’ll pay for it anyway? I don’t know that much about it. I haven’t really read up on it.” And since my car wasn’t ready, she walked away and hung out in the little booth outside. I guess our conversation was over. When my car finally came around, she came back out and did the walk around with me. I asked her if what I said made sense to her. She told me she really didn’t read up on it so she didn’t know that much about it.

So I put it to her this way: It would be like me buying this Suburban with debt and then making you pay for it because I made bad money choices and couldn’t make my payments any longer. The government doesn’t have money except what we as tax payers pay.

I watched and waited for the light bulb to go off. It did, but she still seemed confused.

I left thinking about how many millions of people think Obama has some magic vault of money that he must have brought with him from his personal account to D.C. And he’s going to save all the people in America who have made poor decisions with money so they can keep making bad decisions. Or wait…maybe the “forgiveness” will cause all of those folks to start making wise money choices. It could happen…right?

Question: What are your thoughts on how people view the Government’s “bank account”?

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52 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in EntreLeadership, Financial, Leadership, Small Business

October 27, 2011

Grand Stand Coaches

By Chris LoCurto
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Let me clarify that I am a 49er faithful. But I live in Tennessee, so I go watch the Titan’s as well. So the Titan’s vs. Texans was not exactly a….good game. In fact, the Texans spanked the Titan’s 41 – 7. It was less than pleasing to watch.

But how can you expect to win a game when all of the coaches are in the stands? I mean, I’m sure the guys yelling out all the things that the Titan’s should do, or what they were doing wrong, were on staff…right? How else could they be so educated on the game? Ok, you know this is pure sarcasm.

The truth is, the dorks behind us must be brand new to the sport of being a fan. They cheer when the team is doing well, and immediately go to booing if a play gets busted. String a set of bad plays together, look out! The super fan is now turning on the team he’s such a great fan of. It’s amazing the depth of their loyalty.

My buddy Ron Cook and I were cracking up because one guy literally called play after play and missed every one! It went something like this – guaranteed, they’re gonna run it right up the middle, guaranteed! Nope, it was a pass play. Guaranteed, screen pass! Nope, stretch play. Ronnie would look at me and count of the missed calls from our grand stand coach…0-1…0-4…0-8. 11 calls later he hadn’t called a correct play yet.

Then some guy stood up and yelled with all of his might, DON’T TACKLE, TRY STRIPPING THE BALL!!! At this point, Ronnie takes out his cell phone as if he’s calling Munchak himself and says, Yeah, try stripping. Yep, forget tackling, go straight to stripping. Uh huh, it should work. While we were disappointed in how the Titan’s played, we were laughing our tails off at the collective genius of the play callers in the stands.

The bad thing is, it reminded me of how many people have a tendency to do that in their day-to-day as well. All around we have people who have never experienced the game, yelling from the stands how people should play. Or what calls they should make. In fact, many times it happens from team members around you or on your team.

Yelling with all your might from the stands, down to the field through 70,000 other voices, that the team should stop tackling and start stripping the ball, shows your absolutely ignorance about football. On top of that, it shows that you have no good ideas, or constructive help in the current situation. Same goes when people sit in the stands and say what this leader, or that team member should do.

If you’re so concerned with that person, get out of your seat, walk down to the field, and use your vast experience with the current situation to help out. Otherwise, how ’bout you sit there and just cheer on the team so they hopefully get some encouragement from you. I’m just sayin’.

Question: How have you seen team members tear down instead of help build?

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22 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Leadership, Small Business

October 26, 2011

What To Do With Weak Leaders

By Chris LoCurto
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Here’s a question from the EntreLeadership Podcast:

I work for a company that has very poor leadership. What should I do in a situation where I want to be led by strong leaders? I have a lot of ideas how to run the company better, but there is no “team” atmosphere, and the boss’ head is basically buried in the sand.—B.M.

The first thing that jumps out at me is personality styles. Most likely, the leader is a high S on the DISC profile, which means he has a very amiable personality. He’s very slow to act and slow to make decisions. He hates conflict and is concerned about messing people up by making the wrong call. With that in mind, it sounds like you are a high I, probably with a decent amount of D in you. You’re an influencing personality that needs to constantly be challenged.

If this is correct, it makes sense why you’re frustrated. A leader becoming stronger only happens through maturity, and any personality style can get there. Just because someone can bark out orders doesn’t mean they are strong. It just means they’re a dictator. If your main goal is to be led by a strong leader, you may be out of luck at this company. Until he is taught to be a strong leader, he’s not going to be one.

However, if you want to get your ideas across and make some changes in the company, that’s a different story. The key, as John Maxwell would say, is influence. In order to get your ideas to your leaders and to have them act on them, you must influence them. If they see you as the constant complainer or the person who appears to be insubordinate, they won’t listen.

However, if you spend your time serving them and showing them that you know what you’re talking about, they will start to listen. They have to feel as though you have their best interests at heart, as well as the company’s. Show them:

  • How you take on responsibility with a “buck stops here” attitude.
  • How you are able to tackle any task they give you with energy and enthusiasm.
  • How you always make sure you keep them completely in the know with what’s going on.
  • How you create a team atmosphere yourself.
  • How you work with others and help them to be successful.

As you do these things, your leadership will notice. As you show them how much of a servant you are for them, the team and the company, they will begin to listen to what you have to say.

Question: How have you convinced weaker leaders to implement your ideas?

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29 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in EntreLeadership, Leadership, Small Business

October 25, 2011

Setting Up Commission Structures

By Chris LoCurto
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There are many ways to pay your team members. The most common are:

  • Hourly
  • Salary
  • Salary plus commission
  • Draw against commission
  • 100% commission

In my mind, the first two leave no room for motivation. There’s no incentive, other than getting fired, to sell like crazy. Many entrepreneurs have asked me why their team members aren’t motivated to sell. When I dug into it, I would find that they are paying them a $45,000 salary. Uhhhh, I know plenty of non-motivated people who would put their feet up on a desk for 45K.

There has to be something that causes them to have to sell, and that’s usually paying just enough to put food on their table. It should be something that keeps them thinking more effort equals more money. Less effort equals food stamps. If you have to pay a salary, keep it low, so they make their living on the sales instead of the salary.

My favorite is the draw against commission. This means that you are paying them a small base, which they pay back through sales. For example: If you pay a 24K base, which is 2K a month, and you pay 10% of gross sales, they have to sell 20K of product each month just to break even. So basically if they don’t sell anything, they only cost you the base that you’re willing to pay as a draw and a bit of overhead, like phones and space.

You have to be careful and make sure they will be able to sell through that draw. If not, they will become desperate. And nothing is worse in sales than a desperate sales person. They can’t sell their way out of a paper bag. If it will take some time to fill the pipeline, then you might cover their base for a while until they are able to cover it on their own. In other words, pay them a salary for a few months instead of a draw.

There is one potential problem with this type of commission structure: if they begin to owe you. If they go month after month not covering the draw, then technically they now owe the company. This is not a good place for anyone. Again, insert desperation. I have made the mistake of changing a team’s comp plan with a draw, only to have everyone on the team owing me money.

Needless to say, sales got worse as the unpaid draw got bigger. When I realized it, I pulled them in one by one and let them know that I screwed up, and I was going to eat the amount owed to me and fix the comp plan. Each salesperson actually cried when I did that. And then, guess what happened? Sales! Yep. They each went out without the feeling of impending doom and sold like crazy.

Whatever plan you choose, it’s important to make sure you’re not violating the law of common sense. If it isn’t a win-win for both parties, don’t do it.

Question: What comp plans for sales people have you seen work or not work?

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18 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in Leadership, Small Business

October 24, 2011

Servant Leadership From A Quarterback

By Chris LoCurto
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Last week was the EntreLeadership event that I teach here in Nashville. After speaking for 20 hours in three days, my brain is still trying to form actual sentences.

The event is about leadership. And if you’ve listened to me much, you know that I believe servant leadership is the only style that ultimately works. It is your job to spend your time making your team successful – period! You should be asking them if there’s anything they need. Do they have any questions? Do they understand all the aspects of their jobs? Is there anything you can do to help them?

Recently, the great Marianna Gibson sent me an article in the Nashville City Paper written about the Titan’s new quarterback, Matt Hasselbeck. It’s a great story that includes how he became a QB as a freshman in high school. Funny reason! Down in the article was a paragraph that made me proud:

“At the end of the day, I think for me, I’m just trying to do whatever I can to help the guys on the offense — specifically on the offense as a quarterback — to help those guys be successful — whatever that means,” he said. “If you’re working out in the summer and you’re the guy that brings the water for everybody … it’s almost like you’re serving them.”

“OK, what can I do to help you? What can I do to make your job easier?”

Servant leadership! What a concept in a sport that seems to have lost the meaning of team. OK, that was a little harsh … maybe not. It’s refreshing to see a guy, who by all rights leads the team on the field, by actually serving them. Wow! That type of leadership garners the respect of those around you; even if those around you are incredibly talented in their own right.

Traditionally, “bosses” put themselves in the role of dictating to their team. Servant leaders try to stay off the self-imposed podium. Instead, they try to lift their team by meeting their needs and providing whatever it takes to, once again, make them successful.

Question: What does servant leadership look like to you?

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21 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in EntreLeadership, Leadership, Small Business

October 21, 2011

Shocked At A Jeff Foxworthy Show

By Chris LoCurto
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Last night I attended a charity benefit for Rocketown in Nashville. A non-profit facility that was a dream of Michael W Smith‘s. It’s a place where youth from all over can hang out and build relationships with each other, as well Rocketown staff. A place where they could get involved in after school programs and Bible studies.

The charity was an auction to raise money so they could keep the doors open for the youth, as well as send 140 kids to camp. Items auctioned off included many signed guitars by musicians, including Carrie Underwood, signed footballs by Titan’s players, and other really cool items. The top prize was a 57 Ford Thunderbird given by Michael himself.

If all that wasn’t enough, Jeff Foxworthy was the headliner of the evening. And let me say, I laughed so hard I snorted a few times. Other people at my table had the pleasure of laughing at me snorting. I laughed the hardest when he talked about how seniors are like pharmacists. He said, I was at my mother-in-law’s house and realized I was having sinus issues. That’s when she asked if I wanted to stop the draining or not feel my head?

She then pulled out a bag that looked like it was full of Skittles, gave me the green pill and said take one of these. I woke up two days later in the back yard talking to Elvis. That’s when she yelled at me GET UP YOU BABY! I TAKE FOUR OF THOSE AND DRIVE TO THE GROCERY! Later he talked about how people with bad breath are always the close talkers. Jeff said, you offer them gum or a mint, and they always turn it down by saying something like – oh I’m ok, I don’t like the taste of those. Well you just keep chewing on that cat poop then.

While it was great to be able to laugh for a little while, the thing that I loved the most was discovering just how much work Jeff does with the homeless shelter in Atlanta. For over a decade he has been helping out every week as well as leading a Bible study. That just blew me away.

His job is making people laugh, but his heart is helping others. It’s incredible to know that someone of his status, who could give lavishly from his wealth and leave it at that, spends every week at a homeless shelter showing people Jesus with jeans on. That makes me proud of Jeff Foxworthy.

Not only did he warm the muscles in my cheeks, he also warmed my heart. I went to charity auction to be a blessing, and I walked away blessed. I gave from what I had, but left a richer man!

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25 comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Random Thoughts

October 20, 2011

When Leaders Throw Team Members Under The Bus

By Chris LoCurto
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This week, I’m teaching EntreLeadership here in Nashville. The topic of throwing team members under the bus is a common conversation. Here’s a post I wrote earlier this year on the topic.

As a leader, one of my pet peeves is watching other leaders not take responsibility. In fact, I think it’s ridiculous for a person to be in leadership if their only goal is to make themselves look good. And yet, I see it all of the time. I watch leaders who are very proud of the title but aren’t willing to do what is necessary to live up to it. They try to take on as many responsibilities as they can. When they fail, the first thing they do is blame one or more of their team members for the failure.

Worse than that, they throw those team members under the bus to their leadership in an attempt to get out of the line of fire. When you lead like this, you paralyze your team because they don’t know what you’re going to do to them next. They operate out of fear instead of respect and loyalty. And the funny thing is: This type of leader thinks that nobody notices that they are throwing people under the bus.

That’s not leadership! Nor is it for the leader above them, who doesn’t take the time to find out what’s really going on because they can’t handle drama. Guess what? In leadership, there’s going to be drama! It comes with the job. In fact, there should be a manual that you’re handed when you become a leader that’s titled, “Scotch and Psychiatrists: A Leader’s Guide to Drama!” (I’m kidding … You don’t need a psychiatrist! OK, you don’t need the Scotch, either. :-) )

Leadership is the privilege and the authority to serve. The key word there being serve! It’s not my job as a leader to pass on blame. It’s my job to do everything in my power to make sure that my team is set up for success. And sometimes that means taking a bullet or twelve for them. In the end, if they don’t succeed, it’s my fault anyway. Somewhere along the line, I either didn’t train them well enough or I didn’t make sure they had everything they needed to be successful.

Get in there and be the type of leader who stands side by side with your team. Show them that you are willing to take the bullets with them. “But Chris, I have some real idiots on my team. I don’t want to take their bullets!” Then roll up your sleeves and do everything you possibly can to make sure that it’s not really you who is the problem. If you can say that you’ve done everything you can, and they’re still an idiot, then it’s time to let them be an idiot somewhere else. But, until you can rule you out, you’re the problem!

Question: Have you experienced this type of leader? 

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31 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , | posted in EntreLeadership, Leadership, Small Business

October 19, 2011

Why You Can’t Stay Focused On The Past

By Chris LoCurto
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As unmanly as it is to say, I actually like The Lion King. I know. I know. I can hear all of you saying, “But Chris, you’re so studly! How could you possibly?” So go ahead … tell me how studly I am………………(crickets).

I like it because it’s a great story, and it has some really classic scenes. One of the best is when the hyenas are gathered in a circle, and they keep chanting the great lion Mufasa’s name.

1st hyena: Mufasa!

2nd hyena: Ewwww. I hear that name and I shudder… Do it again.

1st hyena: MUFASAAAAAAAA!

That’s just good quality stuff right there. But my favorite part is when the lion cub Simba has run away from everyone because he thinks he is responsible for Mufasa’s death. Rafiki finds him in hiding and tells him that he needs to come home.

Adult Simba: I know what I have to do. But going back will mean facing my past. I’ve been running from it for so long.

[Rafiki hits Simba on the head with his stick]

Adult Simba: Ow! Jeez, what was that for?

Rafiki: It doesn’t matter. It’s in the past. [Laughs]

Adult Simba: Yeah, but it still hurts.

Rafiki: Oh yes, the past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it or … learn from it.

[Swings his stick again at Simba who ducks out of the way]

Rafiki: Ha. You See? So what are you going to do?

Adult Simba: First, I’m gonna take your stick.

The truth is that the past does hurt. We’ve all made some serious mistakes that we’re not proud of. (If you haven’t, it’s coming. Sorry.) And because of it, we have a tendency to run from the future. That’s right, we will keep ourselves from doing something that God has ordained because we’ve made a mess of something before. We become afraid of how bad we might screw up again. But you need to know that the past is the past! That’s why they call it that! It’s over, gone, done and done! We need to move on and not allow our past failures to control our future. Every great leader has quotes on how much you must fail to succeed. If they know it, why don’t we?

And God doesn’t want to leave you there in the past and taunt you about it day after day. One of the greatest examples of someone who messed up, but God redeemed, is Paul. Paul was Saul, a guy who used to kill Christians. We believe that it was he who held the coats of those who stoned Stephen. And yet, God turned him into the greatest evangelist. You never read that God was there every day saying, “Hey, don’t forget you used to be a murderer. That’s really kind of bad in my book.” Instead, He used him to help me to know about my place in Heaven.

The next time you allow the mistakes of the past to ruin your day, stop and think about Paul and how some of his days went. It’ll change the way you feel. As a leader, you need to be keenly aware of where your people struggle in the area of making mistakes. If it’s from the past, you won’t get them to take many risks for the future.

 Question: How have you gotten over past mistakes? (No mistake details needed. :-) )

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27 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Leadership, Small Business

October 18, 2011

Who Really Runs This Our Country?

By Chris LoCurto
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Over the past decade or so, publicly held Fortune 500 companies have contributed to a decrease of over two million jobs. At the same time, privately held and family owned small businesses have contributed to an increase of eighteen million jobs, as well as over half of our GNP. According to the Census Bureau, 98.3% of all businesses are less that one hundred people.

What is that saying? Small business is actually running more of this country than big business. Family owned business is putting people to work while big business is laying off. So the truth is, small business is the reason this country is as strong as it is. That doesn’t sound right, because most of what we hear in the media is about all the control, power, and greed big business has. What you don’t hear, is how much of the opportunity available in America is made possible by mom and pop shops all around this country.

We are hearing a lot of rhetoric in the media of how badly big business can ruin this country with tax loop holes. In fact, my post yesterday seemed to hit a nerve on both sides of the discussion….or argument, however you look at it. Because there is so much discussion of the top 1% and how much they need to pay more in taxes. What’s getting missed is that the top 1% isn’t made up of billionaires. In fact, it’s not just made up of millionaires either. It’s folks that are making more than $380,000 income a year.

Who’s does that consist of? A lot of small businesses that are employing most of America right now. While the discussion seems to be about how the high incomes of big corporate CEO’s need to change, we have to realize that they make up a small percentage of the 1%. If we tax the daylights out of the top 1%, we’re not just making those CEO’s pay for it all, and it’s not going to get rid of your personal debt, instead, it’s going to be putting more tax on the companies that are adding jobs right now.

In turn, those companies will begin to slow down in the hiring process. Why? Because when you have to spend more money, your bottom line gets smaller. When that happens, you do what’s called tighten up. In effect, you stop hiring people, so you spend less money. And the additional taxes get passed on to…wait for it…the consumer! Yep. Even though I heard an “expert” on TV the other night explain how increased taxes to business get passed on to either labor, or the owner. WHAT?!?! This person obviously has never owned a business. And just how do you pass expenses on to labor anyhow?

And I can promise you that no owner in his right mind is going to look at increased taxes and say that they are going to suck it up and not pass them on to the consumer. That’s exactly where it’s going. It only makes sense. So, I wanted to take a different turn with the topic of the 1% today and see just what you thought when it comes to small business. So the question for today is, do you think that the bad decisions of a select few big business CEO’s should be passed on to most of the small businesses in our country?

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19 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in EntreLeadership, Leadership, Small Business

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