Book Review: One Piece of Paper by Mike Figliuolo Part One - March 26, 2012
ONE PIECE OF PAPER
The Simple Approach To Powerful, Personal Leadership
By Mike Figliuolo
It is so exciting for leadership development junkies like me to pick up a new book and instantly know how you can apply it! That is what happened to me when I bought this book on Amazon.com. I tend to be the type of reader that will jump to the back and see what treasures are in the appendix then when/if I find them, I will read more. Well that is what happened to me.
Mike is an impressive guy that I connected with through networking in 2008 when I started The Ermi Group. A West Point honors grad, former professor, consultant and executive, Mike founded thoughtLEADERS, LLC. He lives in Ohio and I was able to meet him face-to-face at that time during a visit to Cincinnati, and he really took me under his wing. He is a generous mentor and has helped me in countless ways.
Mike describes his book by saying,”Imagine explaining your leadership philosophy on one piece of paper – a simple 8.5” x 11” summation of all you are and all you want to be as a leader. How powerful would it be to have a discussion about that single page with the members of your team? But that’s impossible. Or is it? This book will help you do exactly that.”
I am a pragmatic leader and I also have an affinity toward efficiency, so when I heard about this concept I just had to get it!
Here is a high level overview of what you will find in this gem, and a couple of my own examples as I reflect on my own leadership maxims.
The Leadership Maxims Approach
“One piece of paper will guide you through a simple approach for creating, articulating, and living your personal philosophy-one that can be shared on a single piece of paper.” Mike’s maxims are simple catch phrases, stories, events that happened to him that keep him honest with himself in terms of what is important to him. And Mike’s maxim that moved me the most is “He drinks 7-up.”
I tell it all the time to my coaching clients. It was simple, and powerful. In short, when Mike was an arms officer in the US Army, one of his junior soldiers was having some performance issues. A ‘problem child.” Apathetic, no pride of ownership in his work, sort of disheveled and showed up late, no regard for authority. One day on a break, they were playing cards and one of his troops went to get some sodas. Mike gave him a list with the name of the person and the type of soda to get. “Two Pepsi’s, a Dr. Pepper, three Sprites and one 7UP.” When the sodas were distributed the problem child received a 7UP and said, “How do you know I like 7UP?” Mike responded that he knew a lot of things about him and went about his day. The next day the problem child showed up on time, completed his work and actually exceeded some duties. Mike asked him what happened to change his behavior and he responded, “Well, sir, yesterday when you got me a 7UP, I realized I wasn’t some random private in a platoon to you. That’s the first time in a long time someone showed me I matter. Thanks for doing that for me. I figure if you care about me then I should probably care about the work I do for you.” I LOVE THIS STORY! Just as simple as “He drinks 7UP.”
Creating your Maxims
- Maxims by definition is a principle or rule of conduct. (p. 7)
- The best type of maxims is the short and direct ones that come from the heart and your own personal experiences.
- “The maxims approach requires you to share your life experiences with others, which can be very difficult.” (p. 10)
The Benefits Of The Leadership Maxims Approach (p.12)
- First, your maxims will help you set aspirational goals to be a better leader and to continue your personal and professional growth.
- Second, your maxims will set expectations for your team members for how you want them to behave.
- Third, your maxims will help you and your team members make better decisions more rapidly, because you will have an established set of principles for how you want to behave as a leader and how you want them to behave as members of your team.
QUOTE: “Your team does not follow you and respect you because of your title. They follow and respect you because of the person you are.” (p.18)
PART TWO – LEADING YOURSELF (p. 25-71)
- Why do you get out of bed every day? Find your motivation, because most people get out of bed each day for personal growth.
- Simply write down words, phrases, or images that come to mind as you consider these questions.
What are MY leadership maxims:
- Why do you get out of bed each day? To use the gifts God gave me to the best of my ability; provide for my family; be a catalyst for change; have some fun and enjoy waking up!
- How will you shape your future? Get it done! Be curious. Everything happens for a reason.
- What guidelines do you live by? Gotta have faith.
- When you fall down, how do you pick yourself up? Daddy. Resilience.
- How do you hold yourself accountable? If I tell everyone about it, then I HAVE to do it!
Stay tuned for the rest of the book review in a future post!
Filed under: Uncategorized by ermigrp
Tags:7-up, Leadership, Leadership Maxims, Mike Figliuolo, One Piece of Paper, thoughtleadersllc.com
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Email headline: “Great Opportunity: Your Skills Are Perfect! Big Pay Involved!”
This summer I sat on the beach, my very favorite respite, in Ogunquit, ME, after not having a vacation for two years and working very hard all year, I was finally still. I was able to relax and also realize I need to start to DREAM BIG! The last three years of my running my small firm had been very good, but it’s time to play in a bigger space. I had been meeting some fabulous people lately like Kevin Eikenberry of The Kevin Eikenberry Group and Mike Figliuolo of ThoughtLeaders LLC, who are publishing books, keynote speaking and generally on an amazing growth path. I said to myself, “you can do this Lori, you can dream bigger!” So when I got home after this insightful vacation, I started to put my plan in place.
I find that I am now on a bunch of mailing lists because I get dozens of emails from all types of companies willing and able to help me reach my Big Dreams. So I get this email for a call for people with my skill set and in a subject area I know a lot about. The pay is excellent and the opportunities plentiful. “If it seems too good to be true…” So when you are vulnerable, your radar gets compromised. You see I am also a spiritual person and I believe God puts people in your path for a reason, and the people I had been meeting just dovetailed perfectly into this vision I had set forth in Maine. So, I got a little excited.
When an email magically makes it’s way into your inbox that seems exactly what you need to see, or when the fees for a one-hour program seem generous… And when you get completely bamboozled by a sweet sounding woman owned small business, and the dialogue is a soft sell and seemingly impossible to make up.
She said all the right things, “your website is fantastic, it would be so easy to navigate through and I could easily walk through it with a client.” I am saying to myself, sure I can do this work blindfolded! (Here is where I lost my mind.) For a very small fee- $99.00, I can be added to the list of preferred speakers and that for an equally small fee, put a marketing campaign in place for her vast list of qualified prospects. “What you offer is exactly what everyone is looking for.”
- Lucrative travel
- Big fees
- Fun topics
What’s not to love?
And I am getting myself “out there” early so when my book gets published…. Sounded good to me. And she would take just 15% of anything she booked for me. Again, that seemed fair, I am often asked to pay more than that for referrals and she had a vested interest in getting me booked. She’s an agent, that seems cool. Wow, I have an agent. So I took the bait. I said yes, she took my credit card info and she’d be back to me with the proofs of my marketing campaign. Hook-line-sinker.
Three weeks go by, I send a follow up email, “how’s it going, do you need anything from me?” etc. Nothing. Hmmm, she was so responsive before. Try another email, nothing.
What was that website again? Hmmm, can’t find it, I’ll just Google it.
Oh no!!! Dozens of posts that this is a scam. BEWARE, DANGER, DON’T DO IT! RUN! Why did I not Google her sooner? I Google everything!
Call the bank, dispute the charges. Oh great, she double charged me a day apart and it slipped right past me, clever. So I wrote her another email and asked her not to hurt me or anyone else. I am a small business trying to support a family and do good work. After several hours I get a response. “Yes, I have a past, I have turned it around. Don’t believe all you read. I really can book you. Give me a chance. Let’s talk.” My skeptical friends told me NO MORE CHANCES, but I have done a lot of prison ministry and I did career coaching to help women inmates re-enter the workforce, and many are successful and thrived when given a second chance. So I was torn. I told her I would speak with her about it, but lies and fraud are unacceptable. She said she would call the next day.
I got some great advice from friends and colleagues, and I was willing to give her a try but only after I was placed and received payment would I pay her the fee. But, she never called…dilemma solved.
Moral of this story – I am a trusting person. I will always be a trusting person. So I need surround myself with people that complement me. Skepticism as I learned in this ordeal is a gift! I don’t have it naturally, but I certainly have better radar now. It is unfortunate that this is a reality in our world that we have to look at everything and question most things. I still am trusting and optimistic, but now I will do more research FIRST! As you are growing your small business, check the Better Business Bureau (which I usually do, but not this time) http://www.bbb.org/.
But I also learned from this experience. I realized a dormant skill that could really help my business grow. I hired an razor sharp Business Analyst who is a great questioner and has that skepticism I need. She is on all my vendor calls now, and has already saved me from additional peril.
All of our setbacks prepare us for a great comeback. And as Deepak Chopra says, “Understand Karma: No debt to the universe goes unpaid.”
Filed under: Uncategorized by ermigrp
Tags:Better Business Bureau, Deepak Chopra, Kevin Eikenberry, SBA.gov/wosb, thoughtleadersllc.com, US Women's Chamber of Commerce
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It is so exciting for leadership development junkies like me to pick up a new book and instantly know how you can apply it! That is what happened to me when I bought this book on Amazon.com. I tend to be the type of reader that will jump to the back and see what treasures are in the appendix then when/if I find them, I will read more. Well that is what happened to me.
