There are many simple beliefs we fall back upon to guide us through our professional and private lives.

We all try to keep things simple, so we can operate effectively. As a result we embrace favorite ideas, principles and core beliefs to guide us though.

Everyone develops and holds innate core beliefs, but not everyone builds on the same foundations.

Let me offer several collected thoughts I have regularly seen to be repeatedly relevant in business. In no particular order, they are:

• A leader owns all problems until guidance is complete

• A problem noticed is worth investigation. Repeated symptoms should cause alarm

• Winners sense danger early and react appropriately

• Relationships should begin with respect and support

• Listen often and actively to unearth opportunities

• Nobody learns until they are ready

• Demand honesty and integrity from all, just don’t rely on it from others

• Be hard on the problem, not the person. And, know the difference

• Everyone brings value if the right position exists

• Know your downstream options before venturing on a path

• Profoundly understand the nature of your business

• Look to Nature, Culture and Experiences to decipher interactions with others

• Always respect, check and leverage your instincts

• Support and sharing through adversity builds trust

Here are two more thoughts that were deliberately offered to me by others many years ago which I have always seen as profound and particularly worthy of careful consideration. They are:

You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. (A well-known and almost homespun saying!)

Everything is important, just not awfully

We have all seen hundreds of such snippets over the years. Many prove to be variations on others, or often do not possess the insightful relevance of those listed above.

Here’s hoping these particular thoughts resonate you.

If you have a favorite you’d like to pass along, feel free to share.

Ian R. Mackintosh is the author of Empower Your Inner Manager Twitter @ianrmackintosh

I’m a great believer in celebrations. They can be for large and small events. I like to keep them frequent and meaningful.

Business and life can be filled with drudgery. Taking time to acknowledge victories keeps things in perspective. Fortunately, upon close inspection even that routine daily work activity invariably yields many positives for celebration.

Leading and Managing in the workplace consumes us with solving problems and constructing scenarios. Individually, we may take positive feelings from these results, but that’s not always enough.

More public displays and celebration confers many powerful benefits:

• Teambuilding: Sharing, Mixing, Culture Molding…
• Reflection and Personal Growth
• Regeneration
• Morale uplift
• Individual Acknowledgment
• Practical Rewards
• and, more

These are all very positive results. And, it’s wise to actively seek out reasons to celebrate rather than stumble into belated demands for such action. It’s invariably better to be proactive and creative.

Generating a culture of acknowledgment and celebration offers pleasant distraction and reward. Again, just ensure selections are meaningful.

These same philosophies hold equally true in our private lives.

As with most good experiences there are risks and downsides. So now, let’s consider False Starts.

If you celebrate prematurely or unwisely and something goes wrong, it’s bad news. We’ve all seen such gut-wrenching incidents:

• A player inadvertently drops the ball in celebration, before crossing the goal line
• The salesperson brags of an order which ultimately fails to materialize
• A CEO prematurely promotes quarterly fiscal strength that then falls short of consequently inflated Expectation

And, so on.

Lists of such failures are endless and we can all relate many.

But, the real issue here is their consequences:

• Leaders appear foolish/imprudent/inept
• Trust is lost
• Reputations are damaged
• Practical Repercussions often follow
• and, more

Celebrations are generally of incremental value. Ironically, failed Celebrations often have more permanent, negative consequences.

The simple fact is we can almost always avoid such liabilities; just don’t ever pull the trigger on a celebration till it’s in the bag.

In practice, nothing is certain until the last link in the chain is truly secured. So, figure out what that link is, and wait. If you must err let it come from practicing too much patience.

Premature acknowledgment is one of those areas where small risks, however unlikely, can have great consequences. Realistically, if:

• The order isn’t in-hand, it might as well not exist
• A check isn’t cashed/deposited and recorded, you don’t have the funds
• Metaphorically, it’s not on the score-board, it hasn’t occurred
• and, so on

Specifically, if you don’t have in-hand a definitive expression of success/victory, then it’s too early to celebrate. And, remain aware that a celebration has begun the moment you acknowledge success in any form.

Some things take longer to reach fruition than we might recognize at first glance.

For example: We finish the installation of a complex, new software system. Let’s hold off the victory lap until trials or some proof-of-value completes successfully. This software may be a bust. And clearly, analogies to this scenario are endless.

Additionally, absolute success is often less well-defined when people are involved. In this event a victory is only confirmed when they say it is.

Lastly, be aware of colleagues inadvertently announcing victories on your behalf. A boss (say, or other person) prematurely flagging a success on your turf might be insensitive to liabilities. Practically, they might just simply need a win, be untouched personally by downstream hiccups and so more inclined to such premature and ill-advised announcement.

Don’t let this happen to you. If it’s too early to celebrate, then speak up. When appropriate mention the need to wait-and-see, or reference a milestone you recommend which determines success. And, once victory is clear, then own the celebration.

Ever been caught out by celebrating too early? Have you then needed to crawl away and facilitate damage control? A repaired victory is invariably tainted.

Always celebrate successes appropriately and whenever due. But, first be sure that results are definitive and proven rock-solid.

Ian R. Mackintosh is the author of Empower Your Inner Manager Twitter @ianrmackintosh

Nothing is free, not ever.

This is said without cynicism, but rather as a warning.

Everything has a price. Value is extracted from all gifts, goods, service, thoughts and even words offered. The only issue is the form it takes.

Often we hear of things that come for free, are offered freely, or free. On careful reflection none of this stands wholly true.

In business things added on or bundled for free, are already paid for or benefit the giver in some (usually, very) direct way. Buy this and you get this free. Typically, something given in this manner ties you to a path of action, extending the seller’s reach.

Engineers might claim a development approach brings some additional feature(s) for free. Invariably there is always some real additional creation, and/or maintenance cost. Sometimes this can be attractive.

Often love is given freely, without expectation. Yet at the meanest level there objectively is normally an expectation of reciprocation or practical return. And, the giving itself can be the great value sought by many people.

Again, this is offered as insight rather than trite expose of human behavior. A price or value is invariably extracted and attached. Isn’t this just human nature?

Free goods at retailers are paid for by someone or some entity. A famous commercial example is the free razor which is notoriously funded by a lifetime of your razor-blade purchases.

Sometimes business deals are sweetened by offers of reportedly free or discounted add-ons. If these are not already pre-funded by planned or existing purchases there can often be an expectation tied to goodwill, intended to influence your downstream behavior.

If you accept this overall reasoning, why does it matter, anyway? Might not this perspective just sour your view of the world?

Is there some emotional risk in believing that nothing is free, everything has a price? Not at all, if situations are always viewed with true detachment and objectivity.

It is perhaps much wiser to be guided by these principles in business and your life. Better to understand the reason, price and intent behind every apparent gift, than be unwittingly manipulated and sometimes used.

News is free, too. Yet I have rarely seen a news service where a specific perspective isn’t squarely represented within the text of the delivery. Have you?

Relationships are similarly influenced. They’re filled with expectations, unspoken demands and requests. If there is a tolerable symbiotic balance, what does it really matter? If not, watch out.

Take a good look around at those free things you receive. What are they? Do you recognize any unacceptable and unspoken costs? Are they worth their price?

Always remember, if you perceive anything to be truly free, you just haven’t looked closely enough.

Ultimately, we all have finite resources. So, you’d better check the prices you’re paying.

Ian R. Mackintosh is the author of Empower Your Inner Manager Twitter @ianrmackintosh

Everybody gets attacks of nervousness one time or another.

It’s accepted as normal to get those butterflies, perhaps knots in your stomach, shortening of breath or even palpitations.

Many people suffer chronically and have disabling symptoms. This is generally bad for your health.

Attacks are brought on by what we perceive as important meetings, interviews, new jobs, public-speaking situations and more.

Most of us overcome the tensions with simple self-motivators. We take deep breaths, divert our thoughts, etc.

Who among us hasn’t heard the suggestion to envisage the audience at an intimidating speaking engagement as being seated dressed in their underwear? The goal is to diminish seriousness and tension in the situation.

But what if we could empower ourselves by instilling Skill, Knowledge and Core Beliefs that enable us to more permanently elevate our confidence and self-assurance?

A few days ago I held open the door at the local Starbucks for a man wearing a T-shirt boldly declaring, “I have issues.” Of course he has issues. At some level everyone has issues.

In reality humans are nervous, petty individuals wracked with neuroses and insecurities. We all have them.

A couple of years ago I recall reading a book (by Paul Johnson, “Intellectuals”) detailing the lives and characters of every supposed major intellectual from as far back as Rousseau to the late 1900s. Even these people are riddled with issues and behavioral defects.

If they are allowed their defects and imperfections, then you are allowed yours. This is important to truly know.

The longer one lives the easier to see shortfalls in people we meet. Many wear imperfections on their sleeves. Often their characters as children are clearly visible in them as adults. This is the very nature of being human.

So why do we get nervous and have those situations we fear? Is it just the novelty, or our underlying lack of self-confidence? I believe it is both.

The unfamiliarity or novelty aspects of our fears can be overcome by practice. Envisioning a situation ahead of time, role-playing, mentally preparing and pre-living events will invariably calm those troubling thoughts.

As for intimidation from those other people involved, why should you fear them? Despite their outward confidence you can be assured they have underlying insecurities, whether immediately obvious or not. So, why be intimidated? Why not just tune into the reality of their inevitable imperfections. Why can’t your flaws be of comparatively minor significance? It’s empowering to perceive things this way.

Do you ever find your performance diminished by nerves? You probably do; again, it’s part of being human.

So the next time you envision yourself being potentially impaired by some event, do some preparation; both mental and physical. And above all, recognize those folks across the room likely have many of your anxieties, imperfections and probably, much more.

Ian R. Mackintosh is the author of Empower Your Inner Manager Twitter @ianrmackintosh

Brevity in communications has become both an Asset and Liability.

Over the last decade we have accelerated our embrace of tech-driven means to speed and multiply our information access and personal interactions.

Texts, Tweets and many more vehicles service these needs, but at what price? The fewer words or characters employed in a communication, the greater are risks to clarity and precision.

Often vagueness truly is better than invisibility. Many times awareness is more important than ignorance. But frequently, there is real liability in lack of clarity or obscure intent.

“Get out, now. There’s fire,” is not the same as, “I see smoke. Anyone called 911?”

As a young graduate I recall being roasted by a Senior Engineer for imprecisely describing a technical hitch. My vagueness showed inexperience, lacked thought and useful recommendations. I recognized the problem and upgraded my commentaries, thenceforth. Truly this was a life-lesson.

Clear communications are normally essential, be they in personal, business, subjective or factual situations. Clarifying exact meanings later is all-too-often a part of consequential damage control.

“I thought you meant…,” or, “what did you mean by…,” are phrases regularly seen when things have already gone awry.

Realistically, can everyone always make sufficient time to optimize what they say or write? Probably not, but when items are Serious, Urgent and/or Important we should always take more care.

Highlighting a problem poorly or making inherently misleading comments can carry a heavy price. Perhaps simple qualifiers (“I think that…,” “I believe this…,” etc.) could often be used to offset many liabilities. Certainly this would mitigate a pet peeve of mine exhibited frequently by professionals who freely proffer statements, yet avoid offering the clarification of whether their points are opinion or fact.

I regularly see people write and/or say things that highlight their insensitivity to the importance of words and how they are used. The simplest statement can be massively changed by:

• – Word Selection

Different words can carry vastly different meanings and cultural implications: “torrential rain” is not the same as “steady rain.”

• – Word Ordering

Switch the words and change the meaning: “Will I,” is radically different from,” I will.”

• – Word Emphasis

What’s important might change dramatically in the same message: “I must go now,” differs significantly from, “I MUST go now.”

• – Communication Vehicle

Written Texts, Tweets, emails, letters, books etc. all constrain the author to communicate quite differently. Often adjustments are made to mitigate the liabilities (LOL J).

Intriguingly, the voice (eyes and body, too) offers almost infinite intonation and cultural opportunities. Thus the power of F-2-F discourse is obvious.

• – Imagery

The pictures we both convey or provide usually carry great weight.

• – And, more…

Culturally, it seems to me that we now more necessarily accept communication errors and often willingly sacrifice quality for quantity. In many cases this is a great trade-off, particularly where some insight is markedly better than ignorance. This approach feeds our inquisitiveness and piques our awareness. It also recognizes and accommodates our inherent physical separation from others.

However, when things really matter it’s generally better to momentarily reflect on WHAT you say, WHEN you say it and HOW. After all, if we get it wrong it often returns to haunt us.

How well are you succeeding with your own communications? Do you ever trip yourself up? Do your people cause you heartburn with some of their messaging? It’s probably time to reflect upon both your and others’ communication behaviors.

Ian R. Mackintosh is the author of Empower Your Inner Manager Twitter @ianrmackintosh

Ever notice that whenever we want to put a leader in a new role we always make the perfunctory demand they be a good Communicator? It’s seemingly been this way forever.

What does this really mean? What are we looking for?

Clearly the person must be skilled in articulating their thoughts professionally and be able to state them in an accurate and situation-appropriate manner.

Is this alone, enough? Not really. So, when interviewing we typically review other relevant, seemingly supporting and complementary job-specific skills such as knowledge of this, expertise in that.

Yet even these requirements do not help us fully address what we truly might want to see in the candidate.

The fact is leaders are fundamentally representatives. They head Teams, Groups, Organizations, and Companies.

A major part of a leader’s role is clarifying the needs, objectives, challenges, results and more that their organizational groups also need to communicate outwardly. So, to be really effective a leader must additionally be a great Interpreter of these issues.

Being exceptional in communicating your own thoughts and ideas is one thing, but what about the situation where you might have little specific immediate knowledge to impart? In this case when you lead any group of people you will invariably then need to advocate and present what is essentially their case, from the information they provide.

Most leaders are not inherently expert in the many diverse disciplines resident within their organizations. Nor are they knowledgeable of all the details swirling around often numerous activities.

So to represent their groups, leaders first have to dig out or review facts/detail, then assess, formulate, summarize and finally articulate the outbound communication required.

Regardless of their size, organizations normally have to seamlessly communicate both laterally and vertically. Often they need to be represented to other organizations of different disciplines. Leaders must present their issues to peers, other executives, boards, companies, customers, suppliers and more.

Often these same groups/teams have unique or specialized vocabulary while possessing diverse/sophisticated skills and knowledge.

Clearly the ability to interpret in such varied situations and for differing personnel is critical.

Ever seen recruiters, hiring managers or even boards consistently and specifically searching for an exceptional Interpreter? Not too often. This common need is rarely specifically stated. However, it is often of paramount importance that an individual’s skill in this area be exceptional.

Certainly if an individual evidences great skill as an Interpreter, you’ll often soon uncover their supporting abilities to (un-prioritized):

• Work Closely with Others
• Empathize
• Stimulate Ideas from Others
• Understand Diverse Issues
• Synthesize Concepts
• And, much more

On two occasions I was personally appointed to executive positions for the primary reason of being perceived as a good interpreter. This is notable here for two reasons:

• In neither case was I told this was a critical job requirement
• In both cases the current board and executive teams couldn’t clearly understand what the exceptionally skilled engineering team was telling them

Admittedly, these facts provide troubling food-for-thought on many fronts. Not least, why weren’t the job spec or interviews set to ensure candidates came prepared to showcase their specifically relevant skills? Nevertheless, these experiences clearly illustrate the importance of being able to Interpret from and Communicate for others.

Being a good Interpreter is not simply about having expertise in a field or the discipline in discovery. It is more important that a leader be (un-prioritized):

• Inquisitive
• Questioning
• Nonthreatening and Diplomatic
• Thorough and Rigorous
• Open-minded
• Trustworthy

It’s noticeable that many of these traits are those possessed by a good Problem Solver, too. Coincidence?

Now, returning to our theme: For Leaders in general, the larger the organization the more diverse and numerous the skill-sets embedded in the enterprise. So, inevitably as a Leader you can’t know everything, but you must preferably be able to interpret anything.

And, such competence has much broad application in personal life.

We must often interpret for others when living many of the roles in which we find ourselves.

By analogy, Mothers explain to others what their toddlers are saying. Parents support difficult, less-articulate teenagers with teachers and even family/friends. And, so on.

We are constantly interpreting by understanding the desires, wants, needs and facts presented to us by others.

In the workplace the need for skilled interpretation is obvious. You and your organization are not going to succeed unless issues, objectives, data and purpose are accurately interpreted and appropriately articulated.

Are you doing the best job in interpreting for those you represent? Their ideas and sustained efforts are essential. Do they feel understood and well-represented by you?

Take a close look at your interpretation skills. Should they be sharpened to better leverage and communicate the issues and opportunities within your organization?

Above all, remember: You can be a great communicator, but without Interpreting, then appropriately Considering, Valuing and Using the insights of others, you’re really only going it alone.

Ian R. Mackintosh is the author of Empower Your Inner Manager Twitter @ianrmackintosh

Just ran into a Silicon Valley Exec at a local party.

A very bright, well-educated guy, but particularly frustrated right now.

Given a hire everyone you need mandate, he’s been running into both unmotivated candidates and similarly challenging existing employees. This is leaving him disillusioned with the outlook.

In himself he is particularly driven, focused and accomplished but really doesn’t understand what he is seeing, culturally.

Admittedly he’s not in an obviously sexy product area, yet most companies on the planet (from initial looks) face exactly the same reality.

So, how do you fix these problems? What’s the issue?

Sorry to say but the problem here is on the complainer, our Exec. Many folks are at the bottom end of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs; working for a paycheck and not wanting to be hassled. It’s sad, but true.

Moving folks to self-motivation with resulting excellent performance is a Leadership problem. People often need to be INSPIRED to get them jumpstarted in this direction.

Great leaders Inspire, Empower and Engage those they meet, their reports and coworkers. This is traditionally accomplished by:

• Motivating
• Communicating
• Accomplishing major Results

They typically share a clear Vision and possess a truly Positive Outlook.

Such traits emerge as the leader grows in confidence and capability. They additionally evolve as a result of careful and specific learning.

In this specific case our Leader has great energy, is highly motivated and self-directed. He needs to project his (already existing) vision of why he himself is inspired, to help get these other folks going in the right direction.

Our particular Exec is actually extremely skilled at explaining his own great fascination in, interest for his work and company technology. Luckily for him he is also naturally articulate.

Leadership takes great energy and enthusiasm. Constantly supporting your people and promoting your Vision is the key to energizing a workforce.

Some employees will never strongly engage in the workplace. Deal with them, as necessary. Most people prefer to be engaged, are more highly motivated as a result and typically enjoy their much work more. So, Enable them, accordingly.

If you’re looking at demotivated workers and uninspired candidates, take a look in the mirror. That’s the first guy who must perform to turn this around.

Ian R. Mackintosh is the author of Empower Your Inner Manager Twitter @ianrmackintosh