The New Leaders E-Book

Paolo A. Ruggeri

• Herausgeber: Engage Editore
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

«The motivational drive that led me to write my first book, THE NEW LEADERS, sprang from the need to understand group dynamics and how to manage groups successfully: improving others and above all helping them to live a better, more fulfilling and proactive life. After all, people’s success is measured by the success of those around them.»Paolo RuggeriThis book, written in simple and stimulating language, is the fruit of over ten years of research. It provides an analytical description of the successful solutions adopted by managers and entrepreneurs who have been successful in creating groups of extremely motivated and productive people.The book is divided into three parts. In the first part we analyze a number of factors and causes that lead the manager’s effectiveness to decline; in the second part we provide a very detailed analysis of staff motivation; the third and last part analyzes the character and philosophy of the motivational manager and company.It includes case histories of companies that have successfully resolved personnel management problems, providing many practical examples that every manager and entrepreneur can immediately apply in order to improve their staff’s productivity.-----------Paolo A. Ruggeri has been training leaders and entrepreneurs from all over the world for over twenty years.The topics of his seminars range from leadership to the latest developments in staff motivation, organization, development of individual potential and sales.Paolo’s ability to draw ideas and concepts from various disciplines and translate them into succinct strategies and practical formulas is combined with his great skill in inspiring and motivating people.Thanks to his experience, numerous companies worldwide are achieving a leading position in their own markets.www.paoloruggeri.net

Leseprobe

Paolo A. Ruggeri

THENEW

LEADERS

ALEADERSHIPMANUAL FOR THE

MANAGERS OF THE THIRDMILLENNIUM

Copyright

Copyright © 2002 ENGAGE EDITORE

ALLA RIGHTS RESERVED

Copyright © 2012 PAOLO RUGGERI SAS

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

eBook editing by Vito Lomartire

ISBN: 978-88-89380-17-8

[email protected]

www.paoloruggeri.net

Disclaimer

This book is presented solely for educational and entertainment purposes. The author and publisher are not offering it as legal, accounting, or other professional services advice. While best efforts have been used in preparing this book, the author and publisher make no representations or warranties of any kind and assume no liabilities of any kind with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents. Neither the author nor the publisher shall be held liable or responsible to any person or entity with respect to any loss or incidental or consequential damages caused, or alleged to have been caused, directly or indirectly, by the information or programs contained herein. Every company is different and the advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should seek the services of a competent professional before beginning any improvement program.

“

Dedicated to our clients whose demand for results

encouraged us to grow, to take up the challenge,

and then to research and develop

a phenomenal know-how.

”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paolo A. Ruggeriis founder and CEO of Open Source Management and is a leading authority on leadership, people management and training of personnel.

Paolo has been training business owners and professionals in Europe and the United States for over twenty years. His main areas of training cover the following subjects:

People Management and Motivation

Leadership

Recruitment and Hiring

Sales/Negotiation

Public Speaking

Effective Management

In this book, he is making available to readers the successful techniques and actions developed in the course of fifteen years’ work, which have helped numerous small-to-medium sized companies to achieve a leadership position in their own markets.

For more information or to book Paolo for a speech visitwww.paoloruggeri.netor write [email protected]

SOCIAL NETWORKFollow Paolo Ruggeri

FACEBOOK:www.facebook.com/PaoloRuggeriOSM

TWITTER:www.twitter.com/PaoloRuggeriOSM

PREFACE

All historical eras have been marked by the presence of great leaders. Extraordinary individuals of irresistible charisma with the power to rekindle quiescent dreams and to lead great crowds toward the attainment of new visions which most people could not even imagine.

Being a leader was synonymous with being a person of great virtues, someone with the ability to understand the needs and hopes of an entire people. They were individuals who stood out for their moral integrity and inner strength. They had a major goal to achieve and an irrepressible determination to pursue it.

Equally, some eras have been marked by the presence of great mystifiers1: negative leaders who used their influence instrumentally for their own private interests and not for the common good.

It is not necessary to be a history scholar to affirm that in every historical period, in the wake of the advent of one or more negative leaders, there is a justified reluctance towards leadership. During these times it seems that no-one is really prepared to shoulder responsibility for (or is equal to the task of) leading others.

Well, whether we like it or not, we are living in one of these very eras.

The great dictators of the past century stirred up fanaticism and, during the two world wars, many followers immolated themselves out of devotion to them.

Recent terrorist events have shown, yet again, the dire effects produced by individuals who were extremely skillful in fomenting dangerous religious fundamentalism to boost their own power.

These actions, however, are clearly not real demonstrations of leadership.

Wherever we turn, it is hard to find individuals of real charismatic caliber, and people sense a total lack of both ideals and real concern on the part of those who, in theory, should be governing them. With the sad consequence that, in the absence of anyone better, people

end up turning their favorite singers or players into legends.

We can all feel this sense of vacuum, which even religions, new or traditional, are no longer able to fill because they are distant from the ever more complex needs of a humanity that is evolving without a real common goal or objective.

We are thus living in an extremely delicate historical period in which no true sovereign can be found to fill this vacant throne, a sovereign who is willing (or able) to take responsibility for actually improving human existence.

And yet, if we look around the present-day world with a pragmatic eye, we can see who might feasibly play the true, and now forgotten, role of leader.

These individuals are the new leaders of the modern era, the only ones who by their choices and actions have the power to change the quality of life for millions of people.

These individuals are the entrepreneurs and business owners found all over the world.

We are aware that this kind of statement may seem exaggerated, or even provocative. And yet, on careful reflection, how much every single company owner can do for each individual, who lives most of his day in a working environment, will seem obvious and elementary.

The company has now become the place where the increasingly obvious gaps in school, the family, and society in general are exacerbated. But it is also the place where these gaps can and should be filled.

Deciding to take on this responsibility and becoming a true leader vis-à-vis one’s company staff and society at large, could constitute a truly historic transformation, free of any political or religious ideologies.

It would mean satisfying a natural human need: having a leader has always provided a sense of security to a group and strengthened it, thereby creating the necessary conditions for the evolution of the species.

It would bring about a radical change in the daily lives of all of us, disillusioned as we are with false leaders who are as powerful as they are distant from people’s real needs.

It could mean a return to the leader in the truest sense of the term, a person capable of bringing about tangible improvements in people’s lives. It would constitute a real help to all those who devote their lives to their families and jobs and get nothing but frustration and dissatisfaction in return.

A pure leader, who brings positive attitudes, who knows how to turn the people around him into winners and who can give a great and worthy goal to all those who thrive on growing throughout the course of their lives.

A new leader, in fact, as described in a simple and illuminating way in this book, which is bound to overturn the stereotype of the entrepreneur, seeing him as the creator not merely of material wealth but also – and most importantly – of inner resources.

INTRODUCTION

This book is the fruit of ten years of research into the motivation of personnel.

The know-how it contains is not the result of laboratory analyses conducted in the absence of human beings or of extensive studies by previous authors who have written about leadership. It comes from years of hard work and experience in the field that has made us one of the most innovative and pioneering companies in this sector.

It is addressed to entrepreneurs rather than scholars, so the text is written in simple and direct language, geared towards practical application.

The book was originally conceived as a gift for our numerous clients. During our courses and conferences, we were often asked for advice as to what texts they should read in order to get more ideas on the management of human resources. As the years went by, the bibliography we were having to provide was getting longer and longer and didn’t take into account all the data from the extensive research we had carried out and the practical cases we had solved.

We therefore tried to compile a text that would include the successful ideas, attitudes and actions of managers who get the best results from their staff. Reading the book is an intensive journey into our self-limiting ideas, into the causes and secrets that lie behind individual productivity or lack thereof. It contains a detailed explanation of the characteristics that a group or a manager has to have so that their staff’s productivity can constantly grow.

The text is a structured collection of ideas, suggestions and procedures that all managers can easily apply to improve the motivation and productivity of those whom they manage. Each chapter provides a series of activities that can be put into practice directly and at negligible cost. Thanks to the book’s strong practical bias, even by just using the information contained in ANY ONE of its chapters, managers will immediately see the people around them becoming more motivated and engaged.

The book is divided into three parts. In the first part we analyze a number of factors and causes that lead the manager’s effectiveness to decline. This is not because we think ourselves so brilliant as to have something to teach to highly successful managers and entrepreneurs, but because we have often found that underlying a manager’s difficulty in motivating others effectively are a number of self-limiting ideas or behaviors which in the long run cause them to suffer and put up with their company and its employees rather than interact successfully with them.

If your company is already very successful, in this first part you will find substantial confirmation of the rightness of your approach as well as several useful suggestions on how to strengthen it and improve its effectiveness.

In the second part we provide a very detailed analysis of staff motivation. We share with the reader a series of studies and field tests that show clearly what managers who earn the devotion, loyalty and hearts of those they manage actually do. We also provide a time management system that enables overloaded managers to gradually let go of activities that are less important for the management of their companies and to devote themselves to expansion, development and real leadership. In Chapter 7 we analyze what action should be taken in order to turn the group we are managing into a real group, i.e. a set of individuals who have espoused a cause and embraced the company’s objectives.

The third part of the book analyzes the character and philosophy of the empowering manager and company. It allows the individual and the company to carry out a self-analysis in order to create a catalyzing, non-inhibiting environment that can foster staff development and improvement. We will look at the leader’s role and weapons, as well as debunk many false myths about leadership responsible for producing managers who, while claiming that their staff are their most important resource, in practice unwittingly do everything to demotivate them.

As you read on, you will realize that by putting into practice the information given in the book, not only will the people around you change but you yourself will begin to feel (or feel anew) the healthy enthusiasm that all leaders feel during the best days of their group’s creation.

Over 2000 years ago, Aristotle claimed that every effect, good or bad though it may be, can be traced to a cause. This law has been at the root of man’s every scientific advance. Success or failure in staff motivation and management, too, can be traced to some very specific causes, i.e. natural laws which when violated inevitably lead to lower productivity, lack of motivation, less than excellent performance and, in extreme cases, a workforce with strong union activism and hostile attitudes.

When managers understand and follow the natural laws and founding principles underpinning human resource management, not only will their employees and company perform better, but they themselves will feel reborn, because being able to develop and use their staff’s potential opens the way to great expansion opportunities for them.

Although the book may seem to be describing a new trend in personnel management, that trend is much more widespread than one might think. “New leaders” are not holograms and don’t just feature in books on company management. They are a vibrant reality, often active in small-to-medium sized companies that are initially anonymous, but when they appear on the market they cause a clamor and create problems even for much bigger and more organized competitors.

As Walt Disney, the genius of the imagination, used to say:

“You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.”

With my best wishes

Paolo Ruggeri

PART1The New LeadersHOW WE LIMITOURSELVES

CHAPTER1ON GOALS

What sparks our vitality? What makes us feel more alert motivated and fired up? A goal!

Hundreds of books have been written about goals, but personally, I am still surprised and fascinated by the power of goals in bringing you closer to success.

Now sit quietly in a room and imagine yourself experiencing the following situation:

You have just won 50 million Dollars at the national lottery. Yes, you really are the winner! Lady luck has taken you in her arms. After the due celebrations, now is the time when you actually have the 50 million in your bank account. How does your life change?

I would like you to analyze it for a minute with me (please really do this mental exercise):

What kind of house would you go and live in? Try to describe it:

Is it a mansion? Does it have a swimming pool? How would you like it to be furnished? How about a vacation home on an exclusive island in Polynesia or the Caribbean?

What kind of car would you drive? Would you keep the same car?

Imagine you had the 50 million in your bank account today! What kind of car would you drive? The latest Mercedes model? A Lamborghini? A Ferrari?

What activity would you devote yourself to? Would you go on a trip around the world? What places would you love to visit if you had no financial worries? Do you have any hobbies you would like to take up?

Would you like any other “gadget” to have fun with? A boat, maybe? That SUV you have always dreamed of owning, a snazzy motorcycle?

Now let’s take a look at your professional life, that is, if you still mean to have one. What sort of business would you like to embark on, or continue with, that would give you a lot of satisfaction?