Yesterday I met with my friend Andy who works for the firm that manages our finances. We meet regularly for updates and adjustments to strategy. One of the reason I look forward to these meetings is that Andy always has a very distinctive and interesting point of view. He is well informed but, more importantly, he has thought carefully about the information (which is available to all) to come up with conclusions that are specific to him.

The best leaders in any profession have a distinctive point of view. That doesn’t necessarily mean you agree with them, but it does mean that you know exactly what they think and why.

Not all points of view are created equally. They range from far-fetched and nutty to sound and wise. The best points of view are always based on two things: good information and good analysis.

That means a leader is limited by the information they receive and review and the analysis they apply.

Many simply aren’t willing to do the hard work to seek out the best information and/or make time for a penetrating analysis.

There are always many things on a leader’s “to do” list but his or her strategic necessities agenda should be relatively short, and developing a distinctive point of view should be on it.

What great leaders can you think of that had or have a distinctive point of view? And what did you learn from their perspective?

For more information and resources about developing and improving leadership in your organization, click here.

Herman Cain has suggested a memorable 999 tax plan. Because it has struck a chord with voters (both for and against), his Republican opponents had great fun commenting on Cain’s plan at the debates last night.

Huntsman said when he first heard it, he thought it was the price of a pizza. Michele Bachmann said if you turned it upside down, you’d find the devil was in the details (it becomes 666 for those not familiar with the mark of the beast reference).

Clever comments, but distracting.

Here’s the thing: Cain’s plan needs to be considered before it can be intelligently supported or opposed. Clever comments are a political slight of hand that–if successful—gets people to dismiss a proposal without taking it seriously.

I like the simplicity of Cain’s plan. At the same time I don’t know if that makes it too simplistic to be workable. But I’m not going to let humor keep me from looking into what he suggests.

Whether or not you agree with Cain’s plan (or any other serious suggestion by a candidate), don’t be fooled by the clever comments coming from the opposition. Think about it for yourself.

What do you think: are most Americans willing to look seriously at the issues, or does funny and clever win the day?

Dave Marr is a Director at t2 Management Training. t2 offers advanced leadership training to managers of all types, from team leader to Director and CEO level. Dave and his team have worked with some of the biggest brands and household names in the UK, including the NHS (National Health Service), Lloyds Bank and the London Eye. In the following blog he shares a very simple but effective technique that will make you a better manager and leader.

How a Manager or Leader can Develop Effective Listening Skills – One Simple Technique that Always Improves Team Morale

When it comes to 360 appraisals, the most common complaint by staff is the feeling that their managers have not listened to them properly. 360 appraisals are an important factor in maintaining good staff morale and are especially significant when you are growing a business and want to keep it running smoothly. To perform effective appraisals, managers need to master the ability to listen. Here is a simple way to do so, to enhance the morale in any de-motivated teams.

Often, managers do not know how to effectively listen to staff members. Whilst a manager may believe that they are listening to their staff, the individual team members may not agree and will amplify the issue in their mind, convinced that the management is not interested in them. This of course leads to low morale and feelings of neglect within the workforce.

My team find this to be one of the most common issues in the workplace. Managers that come to us for advice often label their staff as troublemakers or negative individuals and then refuse to listen to those staff members, either by interrupting them when speaking of not concentrating during conversations and appraisals.

Each time this situation appears, we use the following exercise to overcome it.  Whilst this simple exercise originates in the world of stand up comedy, it transfers perfectly to the workplace.

When appraising staff, we challenge managers to begin their response with the last letter of the last word the employee says to them. This forces the manager to listen to everything that is said to them.

If the employee says something like “I am falling really far behind on this project. The information is impossible to find and the marketing department are not passing over the figures I am asking for. I cannot complete this project on time for the annual board meeting.”

Then the manager could respond with “Great. Let me start off by thanking you for bringing these issues to my attention. What do you need me to do to help you meet the project deadline?”

There are two very positive outcomes to this exercise:

1. As the manager is listening for the end of the statement, they are not cutting the employee off mid-sentence, so the entire message is heard.
2. The manager has to pause to think of a response that begins with the right letter. This tells the member of staff that the information is being processed and that what they have said is being respected and considered.

At t2 Management Training we frequently use this technique, having seen hundreds of managers achieve much stronger results and improve staff morale. It is very easy to remember, can be implemented into working practices immediately and means that communication in the workplace is greatly improved.

What do you read every day?

Most probably get some information from the internet. I do as well, but I always read one daily newspaper (usually USA Today for a quick overview of what’s happening in the world).

Since I enjoy reading, it is easy to spend too much time on the paper. To avoid wasting time, I think about articles falling into one of three basic categories: interesting, informative and important.

Interesting articles are fun but have no relevance beyond enjoyment. Quirky articles and some human-interest pieces are filler in the news world. They provide entertainment value and, if you have time, they are small reading pleasures.

Informative articles give you information you can use, either in how you think or what you do. An article today said that motivational texts helped double the success rate of people who quit smoking (but that rate was still only 10% of those who tried to quit). This provides me some good food for thought about the potential role of technology and behavioral change, something that is important in my work.

Important articles usually require immediate action. Another article on internet security today provided some shocking statistics about how many small businesses are at risk. If you met the criteria for these at rick businesses, this is an important article.

To make the most of your reading time, focus first on the important, second on the informative and to the degree you have extra time, finally the interesting. The interesting things have great allure but can displace time needed to enrich your thinking and guide you in taking constructive action.

Nan Gibbons is a licensed personal trainer and nutritionist. She owns her own business and also travels worldwide advising at sporting events. She is also the proud mother to her son, Reid, and blogs at http://www.eatbreatheblog.com. Nan and I initially connected through social media (proving the power of that medium for leveraging one’s message) and she offered the following guest blog which I hope you’ll find useful.

I’m sure you’ve seen the commercial: A senior stumbles at home, and no one is around as she cries out “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” The voiceover explains that this woman and other elderly people who live alone need a button they could press to call for help and. This is where the medical alarm comes in – it does just that.

The good news for you as a leader is that with all the challenges you face, there is more than one button to press for help. About 105 buttons, give or take a few: your computer keyboard. There is a powerful tool you can create positive change and become a thought leader in the online community and that is social media.

Whenever you use social media, the first step is to clarify your objectives. This enables you to gain followers who engage with you and assures that your voice is heard by the right people in the right places. Before you even create an account (or, if you already have an account, before you post that next update), do this: take out a sheet of paper and a pen. Write down what really, truly matters to you or your organization. Then pare that list down to five topics. It is important to filter out similar ideas as well as get down to the heart of what truly matters. You and your organization do many things, but what are those few things you are most passionate about? What describes the type of audience you truly wish to help? Not only will this exercise help you better focus your updates toward essential issues and topics, but it will also increase your reputation as a respected voice in these areas. Being viewed as credible by others on social media outlets as trustworthy or an expert will amplify your impact.

Interaction is always key in getting people involved in any sort of organization or movement offline. It is the same online. Don’t just interact with not only those following you but also target other organizations and people of note who share your interests and passion for your cause. Pay attention to any and all people who choose to help you champion your cause; helping them be heard will help you be heard as well.

Once you’ve clarified your message and targeted your audience, the most important key is to never give up. If you wish to emerge as a leader in your community and a voice to an important cause, you must remain consistent. Provide users and followers with information they may want or need, and always be open to suggestions and asking or answering questions. It is impossible to lead alone, so a great leader knows the power of a community over just one voice. Using social media for the greater good is much simpler than you think, and it can help you draw attention to your cause, therefore guaranteeing that you’ll find like-minded individuals to help make a difference.

I first met, Simon Mainwaring, author of We First: How Brands and Consumers Use Social Media to Build a Better World, at a SANG event. He immediately impressed me with his ideas. Simon is exceedingly smart and personable-the kind of person you’d like to drink a beer with. As a columnist for Fast Company with extensive global branding experience, he is a leading edge thinker in this new world of business so I asked him to contribute a guest blog based the book which releases today:

Mark has kindly invited me to share with you a vision I have been formulating over the last several years. This vision seeks to transform the business world into a powerful force for social transformation in the world. Our planet is in dire straits, with myriad crises plaguing the advancement of humankind. The private sector has the resources, expertise, leadership and management skills to be the game-changer here. It is time for corporations and businesses to rise to the challenge and become a real “third pillar” of change in the world, assisting the first two pillars, governments and philanthropies, which are unable to cope with the scale of problems we face. Corporations and private companies of all sizes—along with consumers—must act as partners in this mission, working together to put the entire private sector into the service of building a better world.

I became interested in this when several years ago I read a speech Bill Gates gave at the World Economic Forum at Davos in 2008. In his talk, Gates challenged corporations to be more creative about how they could respond to the needs of the world’s poor. He entreated had to create new methods to account for making money so they could do business in the poorest regions where profits might be as scarce as clean water and regular meals.

Gates speech inspired me to contribute my thinking. First, I reflected on the myriad crises of the world and what needed to be done to solve them. What quickly became clear to me was that we needed to perform a significant reengineering of capitalism—overhauling it, tempering it, and transforming it to shift it from what I called a Me First into a We First economic system.

The shift from Me to We entails persuading corporations and their leaders to modify the current practice of capitalism and its business models in order to adopt new ways of thinking about commerce and profit. The basis for this shift is not abstract or utopian; it is predicated on the truth that we now live in complex, interlinked globalized world where our lives touch upon and influence each other as never before. We simply can no longer practice capitalism the same way.

The We First approach adheres to four different operating principles:

1. Recognize the benefits of mutual self-interest. We can no longer define our self-interest in immediate narrow and selfish terms. In a world of 7 billion people and 120+ countries fighting over the same resources, we must learn to recognize when mutual self-interest is more rewarding, or at the minimum, that sometimes our self-interests lie in ensuring that everyone wins something.

2. Integrate purpose into profit. We can no longer maintain our short-term, myopic focus on profit-for-profit’s sake to the neglect of purposes. The future of profit is purpose. Corporations need to make profit, of course, but we can no longer overlook that they must also play a role in contributing to society.

3.  Expand our notion of sustainability. Corporations are slowly coming around to adopting environmentally sustainable behaviors, but we need to extend the notion of sustainability into other domains. For capitalism to survive in this global world, we need it to be economically, morally, socially, and ethically sustainable as well. All five domains go hand in hand.

4.  Re-instill values. Many agree that capitalism has lost its values and it is time to reinstate them. We need to infuse values such as accountability, responsibility, global citizenship, and fairness of rewards back into the daily practices of companies.

You may be wondering, how can we conceivably implement the transition from Me First to We First? This is where my background in branding and social media led me to the answer.

We are now witnessing a new dynamic emerging between brands and consumers due to social media. Consumers throughout the world are connecting as never before, gaining access to communication tools that allow them to talk amongst themselves, share and publish their ideas and opinions, and organize social activism in ways more powerful than ever in history. Through social media, consumers now have the ability to talk back to corporations and expose bad behaviors. They can increasingly act on their desire to see corporations take on greater social responsibility in the world—using their voices and wallets to reward conscionable and well-intentioned brands through their referrals, reviews, recommendations, and purchases. They can also use their power to spread the word about not only those companies that produce bad products, but also those with inauthentic messaging, false promises, and unsustainable and irresponsible social behaviors.

But at the same time, social media also offers brands new opportunities as well. Through social networks, they can reach out and engage their audiences in deeper, more meaningful ways. They can find out what makes their customers tick, and use social media to build stronger relationships and earn greater loyalty from them.

Social media is thus providing the driving force that can bring about the change we need from Me First to We First. It offers consumers a powerful voice and leverage to help change capitalism, and yet it gives corporations and their brands a motive to engage with consumers in the process to win something as well.

This is my mission and I invite you to join the We First movement. Whether you are a CEO, executive, or consumer, there is a role for you to play, using your leadership skills and your commitment to We First principles to help all of us build a better world.

Simon Mainwaring is the founder of We First, a social branding consultancy that helps companies, non-profits and consumer groups build a better world through changes to the practice of capitalism, branding, and consumerism using social technology. More information is available in We First: How Brands and Consumers Use Social Media to Build a Better World (Palgrave/Macmillan, June 2011).  Or visit www.wefirstbook.com. Note that 10% of book proceeds go to the United Nation’s Girl Up Foundation that supports education for young women in the developing world.

I’ll admit it: I like factoids, those baubles of information that are so shiny and enticing. One of my favorite authors a few years back wrote books chock full of them. I’d highlight and underline for future reference. One problem, of course, is that factoids usually have a short shelf life. They quickly become outdated and/or obsolete.

What is a factoid? Factoids are defined as brief or trivial items of news or information. I think of them as the tasty junk food of the mind. We love to write them down and quote them whenever we can. They are usually interesting if not downright intriguing. But they’re not particularly helpful.

Recently I read that one of 10 American employees became so frustrated when unable to access email that they committed violence against their computer.

Consider: What kind of violence? Not explained. Who did the research? That wasn’t cited. When was it done? Not known. How was the survey framed? Missing information. Had that information been provided, it wouldn’t have been a factoid.

At the end of the day, the factoid isn’t worth much…until you consider the factors.

A factor is something that contributes to a result or outcome. I’m more interested in the reasons a measurable number of people would beat on their computers when they can’t get their email.

Some thinking and observation suggests these factors in business culture today:

The perceived important of email.

The sense of urgency for a response.

The increased demands on time and productivity.

The pressures that escalate inconveniences into seeming disasters.

The short tempers and edginess resulting from the above.

Factors are more helpful than factoids. They aren’t as sexy and take some contemplation and analysis. Ultimately, they point towards the issues that need to be addressed or the opportunities that are being created.

We have more information than we can use but always need good insights. Factors, not factoids, are the way to lead your thinking down productive paths to desired results and workable solutions.

Rory Vaden is a friend and colleague in the speaking profession. While Rory is a relative newcomer, he is a rising star because of his good ideas, platform power and integrity. He is the founding partner of Southwestern Consulting, a public seminar company that provides professional sales training.

The following is a nuts and bolts article from Rory’s ezine which I know you’ll find useful.

Advanced Email Strategies

It’s amazing how many of our consulting clients are struggling with email. Managing email is quickly becoming one of the biggest challenges in business today. It’s also becoming a tremendous source of anxiety and stress for a lot of people. Fortunately, I’ve been learning a lot about the subject not only from handling my personal inbox, but from some of the highest performing professionals in the market today. In hopes not to overwhelm you, I’m breaking this up into a few articles. So, here are 5 self-discipline strategies that you can use today to help you get your inbox to 0!

#1 The Batch Attack – Batching means you don’t check email except for set times during the day. You have to discipline yourself to be willing to let them build up, knowing comfortably that you have systems in place to nuke them later. Batching is more efficient because it allows you to put your focus completely on email, then focus on something else, then back on email, and then back to something else, etc. Batching also reduces your anxiety by demonstrating that you have power over your inbox and that you are not slave to the minutiae of email. There comes a point (after you are so ridiculously frustrated with the amount of emails that you get) if you let them build up to where you get so many emails that you will become numb to the stress they cause and they lose their power over you. There are so many and it’s so impossible to keep up that you stop caring that they come in. That is actually a healthy place to get to because it empowers you to, from that point on, let them build-up knowing that you will batch-attack them later.

#2 The No-Notify Technique – Turn off the Outlook notification window. This is a core principal of self-discipline: The Magnification Principle. Focus is power. Sunlight focused enough (through a magnifying glass) creates enough energy to start a piece of paper on fire. Your focus does the same thing; it creates energy. Anything (other than family) that distracts your focus during catch-up time should be viewed at as the enemy and should be eliminated. One of the biggest culprits is the ridiculous Outlook window that flashes up in the bottom right and/or the little yellow envelope. Get rid of it. Now I know some people are stuck on the idea that “I have to be able to respond to email RIGHT AWAY”. I get it. I have important deals, last minute contracts, etc. too and so do our clients. But really, do reasonable people honestly expect you to be available at their beck and call every waking moment of every waking day? And besides, who really has the time for you to call them back right away unscheduled? I prefer to do business with high-performing people and I don’t expect high-performing people to be sitting on email 24 hours a day – most of them don’t; do you? Turn off the window, batch it, and get back to them. Even if you batch, you’re still checking email 3-5x a day. This will feel awkward at first, but you’ll get used to it shortly and you’ll love the freedom you have to focus on other things during the day.

#3 The Save Out Technique – I sometimes have a hard time cleaning out my closet and giving away clothes, even if I haven’t worn them in years. Do you have that problem? Most of us have the exact same problem with email. We keep an email on the off chance that we might need it someday. I believe that psychologically there is a huge emotional cost to carrying “baggage” like that, but even if we can’t get ourselves to just delete stuff, then what I recommend is copy and paste that email to a word document and save it somewhere. If you need it, you can get to it, but it’s out of the daily view of your inbox. Clean it out.

#4 The Extended Out of Office – This is a great strategy one of my coaching clients stumbled upon by accident after a calendar goof up. When you are travelling out of the office, turn your out of office assistant on and have it say that you’ll be gone 1-2 days later (or earlier) than you’ll actually be gone. Since it takes you 1-2 days of focused uninterrupted time to catch up anyway, let the world think you are unavailable; because you are. You’re busy catching up and keeping your sanity.

#5 The Non Multi-Medium Technique – Multi-media might be the way we digest entertainment information, but it shouldn’t be the way we process all of our work information. It’s one thing to have 200 emails to catch up on, but that hopeless feeling tends to be dramatically amplified if we also have 10 voicemails, 6 sticky notes on our desk, a pile of snail mail, a stack of business cards to call back on, 4 texts to reply to and Tweetdeck up and running in the background. Yuck. Instead, funnel and try to consolidate all of those mediums into one central method for managing and distributing tasks; such as email. Even if it means you go from 200 emails to 230, it will still help you focus better. So try to somehow convert those items to email tasks (by emailing yourself, for example) so that everything can be centralized in one place. You’ll go nuts trying to keep up on all the different platforms. Clean off the clutter to conserve your desk space and your emotional energy and get it all into one manageable place. Also, turn your attention away from less critical (non-immediately income producing) tasks such as social media until you get caught up.

Hopefully that will get you off and running towards a 0 inbox!

Do you think I’m making a big stretch to suggest that train wrecks, Charlie Sheen and leadership have something in common?

You’re probably thinking only one of those things is not like the other.

I promise I won’t say much about Charlie but I find this fascinating: everyone I talk to says they are tired of hearing about him, but oddly, they keep listening.

That’s human nature. The sensational, especially if it is scandalous, always gets attention. We dread the train wreck, but it is hard to look away.

I liked the move Unstoppable, about a runaway train, for the plot and the acting. But let’s be honest: the possibility of a train wreck grabs our attention. So terrible yet so fascinating.

Whether figurative or literal, train wrecks not only get our attention but they overshadow other most positive and useful news.

The job of leadership is to accept human nature but not surrender to it. You don’t have to worry about bad news getting broadcast within and outside your organization but you must work relentlessly to make sure that good news gets noticed.

Look for lessons hidden within the train wrecks (like how to prevent future wrecks or mitigate the damage of recent wrecks) but don’t let your agenda and positive messaging get pushed to the back burner. Good leadership is about working a little harder to overcome the sensational with the substantive. And good communication is about making the good news as fascinating as the bad news.

In Unstoppable, Denzel Washington played the role of a railroad engineer whose calm demeanor, highly developed skills and clear thinking helped avert a disaster and save the day. Charlie Sheen, in playing himself, seems to relish the upcoming disaster. We can learn from both examples but as leaders we aspire to only the first.

I just received a very nice note from a candidate I supported for the Senate. He lost, but his follow up was gracious and appreciative. Of course it was computer generated–I wasn’t a major donor–but it was done well and gratifying to receive.

I also got a phone call from a major airline that had lost my bag for three days. Since I was submitting for expenses, someone called to confirm that they had approved my request. The person then proceeded to butcher my mailing address (for confirmation), leaving out the zip code and asked me to call if the address wasn’t correct. There was no call back number.

Follow up is key in both leadership and customer service. It is powerful when done right and digs your pit deeper when done poorly.

If you can’t follow up well, then you probably shouldn’t try. But thoughtful people who do follow up always get ahead.