This past weekend I spoke at the United State Air Force Academy’s 15 annual National Leadership and Character Development Symposium.

Over 4,000 cadets, visiting students, business, education and military leaders gathered to spend several days exploring the theme Impassioned Citizenship: Can One Make a Difference?

I was honored to be invited to speak. My work has focused on the fact that not only can one make a difference, but that one does make a difference. The only question at the end of the day–as a citizen or otherwise–is what kind of difference did you make?

If you’ve never had a chance to visit the Air Force Academy, make the time to do so when you’re in Colorado Springs. Like all of our service academies, you’ll see the finest and the best pursuing high ideals and seeking to be of greatest service.

I don’t often use the word “ought” but I’m making an exception: if you’re a leader, you really ought to read Peggy Noonan’s column Declarations in the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal. Her insights are consistently exceptional.

This past weekend she wrote about Barack Obama and his speaking skills. She agrees that he speaks in a compelling and appealing manner and then offers this: “But, in fact, when you go on the internet and get a transcript of the speech and print it out and read it–that is, when you remove Mr. Obama from the words and take them on their own–you see the speech wasn’t all that interesting, and was in fact high-class boilerplate.”

She goes on to say that this was not true of John F. Kennedy or Martin Luther King.

She questions if Obama is eloquent. Heck, I’ve said he’s eloquent. She says not. “Eloquence is deep thought expressed in clear words. With Mr. Obama the deep thought part is missing. What is present are sentiments.”

There is much for all of us as leader to learn here. First, Noonan doesn’t instantly buy popular opinion. She questions it and takes a second harder look. This is good practice.

Second,  she is careful with language. While you may not agree with her, it is difficult to find fault with her argument because she is careful to define how she is using words. She acknowledges the importance of emotion but goes beyond it to substantiate her point of view.

Finally, we would all be well served to have our own speeches transcribed to see how they read. Most of us would aspire be being eloquent, but I personally want to express important thoughts and not just compelling sentiment.

How many important conquests have ended in a whimper? How often have leaders declared victory too soon? When is it prudent to declare success?

These are important considerations for leaders. Cloudy outcomes are more common than decisive victories. Credibility is undermined by prematurely declared success or a fizzled outcome and followers are discouraged or even demoralized.

A good campaign, whether military or business, has a predefined definition of success. If you can’t measure it, you won’t know if you’ve achieved it. That definition needs to consider success as defined not only by the leaders but by all those involved in its achievement.

I frequently observe teams, task forces and committees toiling on without any clue as to when their work will be done. They haven’t defined completion, much less victory. Noy surprisingly their efforts are thus uninspired and lethargic.

Aim for a victory that can be readily identified when achieved.

Those were the words John McCain used to describe Barack Obama’s campaign promises. While I’m not sure I agree, it was a lovely turn of the phrase.

Unfortunately I find McCain’s promises to be substantive and boring. That’s a problem for him.

Leaders, including politicians, are always challenged to deliver meaningful and substantive messages in inspirational and encouraging ways. If I have to choose between the two, I’ll take substance over style. When it comes to the general electorate, however, that isn’t generally the case.

What are you doing to make your substantive ideas enticing and exciting to those you lead?

The president of an organization I work with was complaining about being second guessed. He had made an unpopular decision and everyone, it seemed, thought they could have done better.

My advice: Get used to it. Being second-guessed goes with the territory. Often the only people who will truly sympathize with you are other leaders who have the same thing happen to them.

This is one reason why “Big L” leadership–leadership at the top with a title–isn’t for everyone. We’re all sensitive to criticism, some more than others. We may never enjoy being second guessed but we need to get over being bothered by it.

Clint Hurdle, coach of the Colorado Rockies puts it well. He says, “I wish I’d read the book. Everyone else has read it–the book that explains what I should have done instead of what I did during the game. There must be a book and everybody has read it except me.”

When you’re a leader others who almost always have far less information believe they could have done better. Maybe. But more likely if their decisions were really better, they’d be the leader instead of you.

Can a company be a remarkable performer? I believe it can. For an example, read my post about Boston Beer Company’s remarkable performance in making hops available to smaller brewers who were in desparate need of the critical ingredient. Read about it here.

In the age of political correctness and relativism, we are often led to believe that all opinions have equal value.

They don’t.

Some are right, some are wrong and most are somewhere in-between.

We do ourselves and our culture a disservice by accepting the opinion that fried eggs are covertly running our planet has equal value to the rational opinion of an expert that is grounded in research and fact. We have limited bandwidth and attention span. We don’t have time to listen to every opinion; the prudent person wants to give his or her attention to opinions of value.

Discernment is the ability to judge the validity of an opinion or argument. I hate to sound old and curmudgeonly, but I think discernment is becoming a lost art.

Opinions of value and worthy of our consideration are grounded in fact and not only emotion. They are thought-out which is to say the holder of the opinion has done the hard work of thinking about what he or she believes. No opinion is free of personal perspective but good opinions have considered their counter-points and are honest about any validity found in an opposing view.

Opinion slinging today seems more built on volume and categorization. Unpopular opinions are shouted down and categorized as “evil” or “hateful” when often they are simply “opposed.”

I find some of my best food for thought in the contrary opinions of others. I recently blogged about Bobby Knight and my conclusion is different today because I listened to someone with a different opinion and different information than I had. I did not know that Bobby Knight believed only a few of his players were bound for the pros so his objective was to prepare them for success in life, not just basketball. I was unaware of his emphasis on academic excellence. While I still disagree with some of his behavior, I have a new respect for the coach. My opinion changed because of an opposing but valid opinion.

Some of the hardest work I do is to consider the opposing opinions of others. When I’m lazy, I dismiss them. When I’m at my best I consider them. But I save my mental energy for those who have informed opinions well-thought-out and grounded in reality.

That’s what makes an opinion valuable.

In the aftermath of the tragic shootings at Northern Illinois University yesterday there are many suggesting simple solutions to a complex problem.

Unfortunately, complex problems rarely have simple solutions.

We grieve with those who were affected by the senseless act of a cowardly shooter. Close to the event it is impossible to separate emotion from clear thinking about implications for the future. Of course we must, as a community, university and culture, look for solutions.

One prevalent comment is the solution of eliminating guns. As someone wrote online, “No guns, no shootings.” While I sympathize with the heart of the sentiment, the conclusion is erroneous.

Consider a prison environment where weapons of any kind are prohibited. Despite the best efforts of guards and prison authorities, prisoners still get stabbed. Knives are forbidden, but those intent on doing harm don’t care–they make their own.

My purpose here isn’t to debate guns or gun control but to comment on the desire for simple solutions. If a problem like school shootings were easy to address, we would have stopped those tragedies long ago. It is a complex problem that will require more than simple solutions; it will require those willing to grapple with the complexities to arrive at a  solution that, like the problem, will be complex. And that is always a challenge of leadership.

We hope that those of you who lead, train leaders or desire to lead, regardless of title, are as excited as we are about our new DVD training curriculum based on Mark’s best selling, You Don’t Need a Title To Be a Leader: How Anyone, Anywhere Can Make a Positive Difference.

Mark’s dynamic new leadership training program begins with the story behind the book’s title of a woman who sought to make a difference, not gain a title, and consequently had enormous impact on her company, colleagues (and everybody who’s invested in this difference making book!). His concise curriculum demonstrates to you and your teams that anyone can be a leader on the job and in life by embracing the qualities that genuine leaders share:

• Thinking about what you want to accomplish before beginning a project; hardly a novel idea but too often not given enough attention
• Caring about and listening to others
• Focusing on the success of those around you rather than on individual achievement
• Looking for ways to encourage the contributions of everyone around them
• Drawing on the power of shared values; the glue that binds us to a common vision

You Don’t Need a Title Leadership training takes you beyond simple authority and shows you how to achieve true power with people (leadership) as opposed to merely exercising power over people (title). The idea of an Army of Lions led by a Lion is a central theme of Mark’s speaking and writing. Imagine that kind of power and purpose in your organization!

The You Don’t Need a Title To Be a Leader DVD Training Curriculum is now available through the Sanborn Store. By the way, in addition to many fine products for sale in our store, we also provide several free leadership resources for download along with a wealth of other articles, archived ezines and just great content in general that will help aspiring and experienced leaders alike, lead better.

If you want to know what kind of impact You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader can have on training up your leaders, you’ll be interested in this case study from the VP of Human Development for a $200 million medical equipment and services company.

What if . . . ?

These two powerful words usually conjure up the results of past decisions—how things might have been different and better if only . . .

But they are equally powerful when applied to the future. We can’t change the past. But the future? That’s a totally different story.

What if a CEO or organization leader had such a reputation for effectiveness as a leader-manager that she never had to go looking for new employees? There was always a long line of job applicants ready to do whatever it took to work for her. (Example: In 2006 Google received one million job applications and made 5,000 hires.)

What if a teacher was so extraordinary that many of her students stayed after school for tutoring, not because they needed to but because they wanted to? (This happens to teachers like Jaime Escalente, subject of the film Stand and Deliver, who changed the lives of his inner-city students at East L.A.’s Garfield High School.)

What if a restaurant had such good servers that customers asked to sit in a particular server’s section, and was even willing to wait if necessary to do so?

What if a pastor was so effective at communicating that first-time church visitors came back the following week, and brought others with them? (Example: By his own admission, the first few rows of seats at Pastor Tommy Barnett’s Phoenix First church in Phoenix [weekly attendance: 15,000] look like “the bar scene out of Star Wars,” so diverse is the eclectic crowd that comes to hear him preach.)

I know—at this point you’re probably saying, “But those are the exceptions to the rule—the superstars. I’m not sure I could ever develop that kind of reputation in my line of work.”

Why not?

What if you were so good at your work, such an asset to your company, that your employer would do almost anything not to lose you?

What if you performed in such a way that people buzzed about your remarkable performance and wanted more of the product, service, or ideas you provide?

If you knew how to consistently get people to demand more and more of you and whatever it is you do, it would be because of the encore effect.

What are you doing today to create an encore with your employer, customers or colleagues? What time and effort have you invested to create an encore at home with your spouse and kids?

In September of this year you can read my new book The Encore Effect: How to Give a Remarkable Performance in Anything You Do. In the meantime, I’ll share ideas and techniques you can use to get people to want more of you and what you do.

Aim for an encore.