Welcome to Viewpoints.  We hope you enjoy this special issue with a preview of a forthcoming E-book, LeaderSavers:  Seven Ways to Stay Afloat.  We’re in the midst of some updates and improvements to the website, and look forward to your continued visits.  And, here’s something I wanted to share with you and celebrate:

Eight Years and Counting…

It’s been eight years since I heard the words nobody wants to hear:  YOU HAVE CANCER.  Not the sort of call anyone wants to get from your doctor, especially in the middle of a busy day at the office.

But there IT was – and IT didn’t care whether I had time to deal with IT or not.  IT arrived quietly and without warning.  IT was prostate cancer, and I had IT.

No warning – that’s what was the most frightening.  There were no symptoms, no pain, no way to know what was going on in there.

I was overdue for a physical exam.  My wife lovingly but insistently kept reminding me to schedule an appointment.  I was busy.  I had a lot of things to do.  I had classes to teach and appointments to keep.  But finally, I ran out of excuses and scheduled the exam.  After being poked and prodded, all seemed to be OK.

Then there was the PSA, the first one I’d ever had.  Too high, said the doctor.  Maybe nothing wrong, but we’d better do some more tests and another PSA.  Still high, and possibly some slight irregularities in the tests.  Probably nothing to worry about, said the doctor.  Maybe we’d better do another test, I insisted.

This time, the test was a biopsy.  And there IT was.

Not to worry, said the doctor.  IT is slow growing and is no immediate threat.  Sometimes IT is OK for years.  We can wait and see how IT does.

Not an option, said I.  My mother died a horrible death from cancer.  The thought of walking around with a time bomb inside me was enough to make me take a good look at other options – and DO something!

The options seemed to be:

1. do nothing now;  wait and see
2. radiation treatments
3. radical surgery
4. seed implant therapy

The doctor explained each option thoroughly.  I opted for #4, the radioactive seed implants, a newer procedure, less invasive, faster recovery time, good short-term results, but not a lot of long-term success data at that time.

Well, I’ll spare you the details, but I had the implant procedure eight years ago, and I’ve never been sorry.   I get check-ups and PSAs twice a year.  “Eight Years and Counting” has become “Eight Years and All’s Well.”   I have been blessed with good results and good health.

The moral of the story?  GET REGULAR CHECK-UPS.  The exams aren’t the most pleasant of activities, but far better than the alternative.  MEN:  get a check-up NOW, and keep getting regular exams and PSAs.  If you discover a problem, don’t wait.  Consider all your options, but do something about IT.  WOMEN:  keep insisting that the men in your life get regular prostate check-ups.

You are welcome to pass this along to anyone you know who may need to read it.  If sharing my story will help you or someone you know take positive action to avoid being a victim of cancer, we’ll all be a lot happier and healthier.

Good Health to you!
Charles (Charlie) Boyer

Seven Essentials for Leadership Success.  It doesn’t really matter whether you lead a business, lead a band, or coach a football team – it’s all about people and how you work with people to get the results you want.  Mastering these seven essential skills and qualities will help you be an effective leader.

1. Build Trust and Credibility among your colleagues, coworkers, superiors, and the public.   Trust and credibility rank highest in importance in determining leadership success factors.   Establishing a climate of trust is THE central leadership issue, according to Kouzes & Posner.  One cannot lead without trust.  Trust and credibility are hard to develop and maintain, and all too easy to lose.

Creating and maintaining credibility means that you, as leader, involve others to find answers;  are willing to consider other perspectives; share information (even bad news!) openly; and keep people informed as things change.

2. Get Your Team to Work as a Well-Tuned Ensemble.  Working with highly talented individuals and their temperaments is a lot like herding cats.  It takes lots of patience, lots of praise and rewards, excellent people skills, and sometimes thick gloves.

Good teams are built when the team leader (that’s you!) has good people skills and realizes that more can be accomplished with an effective team than working alone.  Think of the orchestra conductor who makes music with and through the collective efforts and talents of individual performers, but can’t produce the sound of an orchestra by him/herself.
An effective team is the result of a lot of work (often not obvious, but it must be there) by the team leader to develop mutual trust, maintain focus on desired results, and a positive shared attitude toward change. 

3. Design, Manage, and Successfully Complete Enormous Projects.  Notice the order of the key words here:  design, manage, complete.  You can design a complex project and perhaps manage its progress – but you must also see to it that the project is completed successfully.

Tackling enormous projects is a lot like eating an elephant – it takes lots of careful planning, strategy, time, energy, good teamwork, and commitment to get the job done.   You need an overall plan, focus, and determination.  And then, you must begin – and keep going until the job is finished.  Ninety percent complete isn’t complete.  Clean up your plate.

4. Are You a Leader or a Manager?  Leadership and management are different, and require different skills, understandings, and attitudes.  Do you consider yourself a manager?  Or are you a leader?

A good manager maintains, plans, budgets, organizes, allocates resources solves problems, monitors results.  A good leader develops and achieves a vision, motivates and energizes, challenges the status quo, inspires!
The problem with the “manager or leader” question is that it appears to be an “either – or” type of question.  We’re asking the wrong question here.  The question should really be a “both – and” question.   Leaders, especially in small business and education, must both manage and lead.  Rather than ask “Which are you?” we should ask “Where are you?” on the manager – leader scale.

5. Run an Excellent Program on a Shoestring.  Unless you run a government program, there are always more demands than there is money.  Delivering a program or project in as short a time with the least cost is an expectation of most leaders/managers these days. 

If you lead an academic department, the question can sometimes be:  “Budget?  What budget?”  Leaders must be skilled resource managers as well as resource gatherers.
What must you do when everybody wants everything? It's all about setting priorities and getting everyone’s support. 

6. Develop Your Ability to Attract Others.  Being a successful leader requires attracting good people, good ideas, and good opportunities to you and to your program.

Ask yourself – how attractive are you?  Not how you look, but how well you attract positive people, ideas and resources to you or your program.
The late Thomas Leonard published a set of 28 Principles of Attraction, but said that one could make a big difference by mastering just 5 of the 28.  Here’s just one:  Become Unconditionally Constructive.  Anyone can be a critic.  What you see really is what you get – if you see a person’s weaknesses, you’ll get weakness in return.  What will you get if you concentrate instead on the person’s positive qualities and strengths?

7. Maintain a Healthy Sense of Humor.  Keep your ability to laugh alive and well - you will need it!  Sometimes the most troublesome situation can be eased with a good dose of humor.  There is usually a lighter side to almost any encounter – if you can see it from a humorous perspective.  But you must be careful.  Laugh with - never at - others.  Laugh loudest at yourself.

Abraham Lincoln loved to tell good stories – but I’ve never read one that was demeaning to another person.  He seemed to laugh loudest at himself.  Notice the quote below.
The tension in the operating room must have been enormously high when President Reagan was being wheeled in for surgery after an assassination attempt.  His quip to Mrs. Reagan (Honey, I forgot to duck) made a very serious situation seem less bizarre, and was reassuring to many people that day.
Poke holes in pomposity.  A friend of mine loved to keep things interesting by taking the wind out of the windbags around him.  But he did it in such a way that it wasn’t a personal attack – and so skillfully that the deflated windbag didn’t know what had just hit him!  I still wonder how he did that – and wish I could.
Keep smiling - people will wonder what you're up to!

A SPECIAL OFFER TO YOU:  The above Seven Essentials are excerpts from my forthcoming E-book, LeaderSavers:  Seven Ways to Stay Afloat.    Reserve your COMPLIMENTARY preview copy NOW by sending a blank email to: info@leadersavers.com with the word “ebook7” in the subject line.  Preview offer expires 8/1/06.  

The weirdos that we see on daytime talk shows … are the modern equivalent of circus freaks.  (Dinesh D’Souza)

A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.  (Dwight D. Eisenhower)

Life is tough, and if you have the ability to laugh at it you have the ability to enjoy it.  (Salma Hayek)

Always do right.  This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.  (Mark Twain)

If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?  (Abraham Lincoln)

NEXT ISSUE:  Deliver More Than You Promise.  Not the other way around!  News travels fast these days, especially bad news.  If you become known as one who consistently delivers more than is expected, the more you’ll notice that you will free yourself to perform even better and astound the people around you.  (Coming in August – after some R3 time:  Rest, Relaxation, &  Recharge)

* * * * *

Coaching is inspiring you or your team to produce the results you want.  Coaching helps you develop essential skills for success. 
Coaching helps you design environments to help you sustain your successes.  Coaching is your ultimate career enhancement opportunity.

Individuals from all walks of life are turning to coaching as “the next best thing” for their careers and their own personal development.

Infinite Perspectives Coaching can help you

• Improve your confidence and leadership skills
• Discover your conflicting intentions – and eliminate them!
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• Gain new perspectives, positive energy, and less stress.

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