Howard Schultz demonstrated why he is an effective leader that as been able to grow Starbucks into a premier global brand. Commenting on Starbuck’s downturn in business, Schultz didn’t blame the economy but said, “The problems we are facing have been self-induced. That’s why I think we’ll be able to fix them.

In as similar vein, I spoke for Macy’s West today and heard Rudy Borneo say to store managers, “If I could erase ‘economy’ from your minds, I would. It isn’t about the economy. It is about what we do.”

He wasn’t suggesting that economic conditions didn’t matter; he emphasized that taking responsibility for growing your own business matters more. The economy is tough but it has for many become an easy scapegoat.

These are two refreshing examples of responsibility.

Remember when you were a kid, lying in bed, listening to scary sounds that seemed to be coming from the closet or somewhere in the dark recesses of your room? Do you recall thinking “Just don’t look.” You didn’t want to find a monster lurking in the shadows and hoped  you would fall asleep before anything bad happened.  Of course there were no scary monsters in the closet. You know now that you wouldn’t have found them even if you looked.

It is time for leaders to start looking closely because there are real threats that won’t go away after they fall asleep.

I rarely make predictions, but I’m pretty confident of this one: someday, we’ll look back at this period of time and realize that with the demise of Bear Stearns, the sub-prime debacle, the Feds intervention in ways never done before and the myriad problems entangled, we’ll realize how close we were to the cataclysmic economic-meltdown that financial advisers referred to when they used phrases like  “…of course if that happens, then all bets are off.”

History usually becomes the great clarifier, and there is little value skill involved in looking backwards and understanding what happened. The problem today is that leaders in the financial services sector, government and business in general saw the writing on the wall. Even semi-knowledgeable investors heard the sounds coming from the closet–and decided not to look.

Why? The reasons are many, beginning with denial, greed and even unfounded optimism. Not many students want to tell the teacher he or she can’t teach even though every student knows it. So managers and leaders in the current economic mess all sat quietly at their desks for their hands folded.

Despite my degree in economics, I’m not writing to suggest any solution to the current economic crisis. I just want leaders of every ilk wherever they might be on the planet today to remember this: it is time to start looking at the scary stuff. Denial isn’t a strategy. Following the popular course doesn’t make you a leader. And if you aren’t willing to deal with what you see when you start looking a little closer–and I know this sounds harsh–maybe you aren’t the leader you thought you were.

Clinton and Obama are focusing on healthcare coverage, and it is an important subject. But if you want to look at something scary, start pondering the numbers related to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Those monsters are banging around in the closet with reckless abandon, but I’m not seeing many U.S. politicians willing to take a look, probably because they know what they’ll find.

Social and cultural crisis are rarely a surprise. They usually show up on radar far in advance and start steadily pulsating and growing. They get noticed, but since they’re not big enough to make headlines, they get ignnored. That is, of course, until they’re somewhere between significant and cataclysmic in size.

If you lead, or aspire to lead, start looking more closely at the problems on your radar. You might have to sell and cajole to get others focused on what you’re seeing, but that’s part of the challenge of leadership. Deal with those issues, organizationally and otherwise, before they end up as headlines that use words like “catastrophe” or “meltdown.”

This past week I was interviewed by Dr. Paul Jenkins at Live On Purpose Radio. You can listen to the podcast here.

Dr. Paul, as his is known to his listeners, is an encouraging speaker who offers lots of good ideas for successful daily living. I first learned of him through my blogging network and think you’ll enjoy his message.

Talk and news shows are following the obvious trail left by Eliot Spitzer and bringing escorts, madams and pimps on their shows to teach us all we don’t need to know about their criminal activities. You don’t need to search it out; these appearances are turning up everywhere.

What I find disconcerting is the rock star status audiences seem to be give these common criminals. Charging more for an illegal service doesn’t make it any less illegal. Audiences applaud and cheer while escorts–a decidedly more pleasant term than whores–and their handlers share their behind the scenes look at one of the world’s oldest professions.

Not that long ago audiences might have tolerated these “guests” with minimal applause; today we cheer and embrace their bad behavior.

Jason Itzler has been called the “King of Pimps” for his activities. He, like most professional criminals, looks much like any other person of his age. Of course he’s done a couple years at Riker’s Island prison.

When asked by an interviewer if he had any regrets, he hesitated and admitted he did.  Was this going to be a moment of semi-redemption? Would he be sorry for facilitating the moral demise of both employees and customers? Would he regret marriages torn apart with his help?

Nope. He regretted his loss of freedoms while doing time at Rikers.

Of the three “hosts” of the show I watched where Mr. Itzler appeared, one seemed noticeably bothered by his guest’s past. The other two? You couldn’t really tell. They might have been interviewing a politician or civil rights leader.

But the audiences? They seem to enjoy the titillation and cheer the tawdry.

We sometimes think of remarkable performances as grandiose events, but sometimes the little things are remarkable.

A friend is coming by my office later this week to pick something up. He emailed me to find out what he could bring as a surprise treat for my assistant Martiza. He wanted to show up with something that would brighten her day, whether a Starbucks drink or some sweets.

That kind of thoughtfulness is quite remarkable.

Don’t neglect the little things. Individually and collectively they make others want more of you and how you make them feel.

Eliot Spitzer saturates the news with his scandal and resignation as governor of New York.

Why did he do it?

I haven’t a clue. Anything I or anyone else suggests is at best informed speculation. There might be something to be learned from his own explanation but I doubt it. It would be interesting but not necessarily instructive.

The lesson from Spitzer comes not from the example but the question it begs: why do leaders–or anyone–do what they do? Why do some risk losing it all? Why do others live out their values and commitments?

To benefit from the question, you’ve got to make it personal. All leaders can benefit from periodic and regular introspection to make sure their own train isn’t about to come off the tracks.

Knowing the former governor’s reasons won’t help you. But making time to reflect on your own reasoning, rationale and risk taking will be very instructive.

Stan Garfield has an excellent knowledge management blog here. He included my book You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader in an excellent list of leadership books you can find on his blog as well.

It is getting hard to listen to the political candidates and their promises. Any time any candidate of any party promises to give you something new, ask one simple question:

Where will the money come from?

The answer: he who receiveth will also giveth. Funding for programs is a reallocation of existing funding (money is taken from other programs), an increase in the deficit (money the government doesn’t have to spend) or, most likely, an increased tax burden on Americans who pay taxes.

You don’t need a degree in finance or economics to understand that something for nothing doesn’t exist in the real world–it exists only in the minds of politicans looking for easy votes.

As I’m waiting for a flight here in San Diego, CNN is playing in the background. Much of the news is saturated with presidential candidates. I wasn’t really watching or listening until a clip of Hillary Clinton started playing. It was lengthy and, so help me, she yelled every sentence. It is very off-putting for any candidate–or leader for that matter–who becomes so captured by the emotion of the moment that he or she yells ideas. Even Obama, normally a skilled orator, has lately gotten caught up in yelling many of his lines.

Good communicators use a full range of vocal variety. Raising your voice or yelling should be considered an exclamation point. It gets tedious! It isn’t effective! It makes it hard to find what is really important! Selling is hard when you’re yelling!

And it doesn’t matter if you’re running for office or addressing your departmental staff meeting.

The reverse is also true. A total lack of emotion has many of the same consequences. John McCain doesn’t yell much, be he drones a fair bit. Monotone delivery makes it hard to know what is signifcant and what is not it is confusing much as a run on sentence is confusing it bores people to death making it easy to drift and not pay attention.

Telling isn’t selling either.

Take advantage of the myriad methods for communicating your message in such a way that your words will influence rather than simply inform.

We often eat at the On the Border near our home. It is kid friendly, we like the food and I particularly like the margaritas. We often receive excellent service but the other night the service was remarkable.

I liked Drew as soon as he came to the table. Most wait staff introduce themselves, but when Drew did, he didn’t seem to be going through the motions. He was prompt, friendly, knowledgeable and efficient. That’s pretty good, but not remarkable.

We had somehow lost or misplaced our “frequent diner” card which had enough points for a free dessert. We discovered this as we were finishing up and Drew was handling a party of 12. We felt bad even mentioning our situation given how busy he was, but he wasn’t bothered. He quickly looked us up in the system, tried to get us a replacement card, and comped us the dessert we wanted in-between taking orders, delivering food and checking on all his other guests.

When the manager came by we complimented Drew on his performance. Evidently we weren’t the only ones to notice as his manager simply said, “He’s one of the best.”

As I’ve often quoted, Abraham Lincoln said “Whatever you are, be a good one.” Drew isn’t just a good waitperson; he’s remarkable.