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prma Leza grew up in a family
of migrant workers who picked
strawberriesin California,cherries
in Michigan, potatoes in Alabama and
cotton in Texas. Norma 's father, sensing
her potential, hoped she would remain
in school, go to college and become a
teacher. Instead, Norma dropped out
in the tenth grade. My eighth-grade
teacher wrote the names of the children
of migrant workers on the board as
part of the vocational school track, not
the college track, Nor ma rem emb ers.
I thought that m eant I could never go
to college. I didn't thin k I had any other
future than to work in the fields.
She married another migrant worker
and worked by his side. However, she
kept recalling to her father's dream for
her. Finally, she acted on those hopes
by seeking work at a public school
system in Aldine, Texas. Witho ut a high
school diploma the only job she could
get was that of custodian at an elemen-
tary school. While there she returned
to schoo l, receiving a GED. She became
a teacher's assistant and took college
courses in the evenings. She earned
a bachelor's degree and two master's
degrees, became a teacher, an assistant
principal, and, most recently, a prin-
cipal. Today, Norma is a positive role
model for potential school drop-outs.
After they hear my story they usually
go back to classes, she
says.
I tell them ,
'You are the one w ho is going to have to
tur n your life arou nd.' She motivates
others , saying: Go back to school. If
you are in a rut, you can get the skills
to get ou t. People say they can't because
they have children — well, I had ch
dren too. People say they can't becau
they don't have any money — wel
worked during the day so I could go
school at night, and I paid every pen
mys lf
no loans. If y u want someth
badly enough, you have to make sac
fices, not excuses.
No rma Leza is a leader. She is able
establish goals and then take the ste
necessary to achieve those objectiv
Whether one is a business leader
student leader, military leader or c
porate leader, there are qualities wh
are common to all who lead. Here
seven habits of highly effective leade
These are characteristics that anyo
can access, tap into , and use in order
lead as well as to live a mo re produ cti
satisfying life.
8 Diversity Employers Magazine
I
DiversityEmptoyers com
Winter 2 11
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T he I P H abi ts o f H ighly fifective L eaders
Highly ef fect ive
leaders are h ighly
op t i mi s t i c
Rather than think the world is out
to get them, they think the world is out
to give them. Consider the philosophy
of Stan Dale, founder of the Human
Awareness Institute and author of
F a n -
tasies Can Set You Free
"I 've always been
the opposite of a paranoid. I operate as
if everyone is part of a plot to enhance
my well-being." Highly effective leaders
always accentuate the positive. They
understand the wisdom of Napoleon
Hill's observation, "Every negative
event contains within it the seed of an
equal or greater benefit." Highly effec-
tive leaders always accentuate the p osi-
tive. In his book. Secrets
of
losing
th e
Sale Zig Ziglar shares how a positive
approach can overcome resistance and
objection when a potential customer
says,
"It costs too much." Ziglar's re-
sponse: "The price is high. I don 't thin k
there's any question about the price
being high, Mr. Prospect, but when you
add the benefits of quality, subtract the
disappointments of cheapness, multi-
ply the pleasure of buying something
good, and divide the cost over a period
of time, the arithmetic comes out in
your favor...If it costs you a hundred
dollars but does you a thousa nd dollars
worth of good, then by any yardstick
you've bought a bargain, haven't you?"
Highly ef fect ive
leaders are
resourcefu l
When problems emerge, they re-
spond with creative solutions. Mickey
Mouse began his life as a silent cartoo n
character. But by the time Walt Dis-
ney finished creating the first Mickey
Mouse movies — all silent — sound
had become so popular that no one
wanted to buy his silent Mickey Mouse
cartoon. Walt, who was completely
broke, told his brother and partner,
Roy, "Do n't worry. I'll just ad d sound."
Using his own, cost-free voice, Disney
transformed the silent Mickey into a
talking mouse known and loved all
around the world. Consider also the
resourceful approach taken by Harvey
Mackay, CEO of the Mackay Envelope
Corporation. In 1980 he took one of
his best customers to Lake Placid for
the W inter O lympics. They specifically
went to see the hockey finals between
the Soviet Union and the United States,
which was one of the main events of
H ig h l y e f f e c t iv e le a d e r s
l i v e b y th e w i s d o m o f t h e
J a p a n e s e p r o v e r h :
F a l l d o w n s e v e n t i m e s ,
g e t u p e i g h t t im e s .
that O lympics. Mackay paid "a fortune"
for what he was assured were excellent
seats.
When he and his customer got to
them, "We were behind an obstruction
and so high up you could get a nose-
bleed. The customer was unhappy; I
was emb arrassed. Even though it wasn't
my fault, did
I
let him sit there bro odin g
abo ut the m iserable time he was having
in my company? No " Mackay went
to the main floor seating, spotted two
high-school students, and asked them
whethe r they were interested in switch-
ing seats for $100 — a sizeable sum for
high-schoo lers in 1980. "They tho ugh t
1 was nuts, sm iled, said yes. They w ere
happy. I was happy. My customer was
happy. And the United States won the
game."
Highly e f fect ive
leaders are very
persistent
They live by the wisdom of this Jap-
anese proverb: "Fall down seven times.
get up eight
times."
When they receiv
resounding "No " they see it merely
one word on their path to a resou
ing "Yes " Today, Michè le Ho sk
owns a syrup manufacturing compa
However, she was never supposed
know the recipe for the unique sy
which her great-great-grandmoth
America Washington, a former sla
created. Her family tradition called
the secret recipe to be handed down
the third daughter in each generati
Hoskins was the only daugh ter. She h
to beg and plead for eight years bef
her mother finally gave her the reci
"I thought the syrup would be a go
product to market. The only thing la
ing was capital," she says.
Even though she had three you
daughters and was going through a
vorce, she quit her job, sold her con
car, furniture and some jewelry to ra
$150,000 to start the business. "M
family thou ght I had lost my min d. B
I knew it was going to work." Develo
ing several flavors, she negotiated co
tracts with two major grocery chains
Chicago but was still struggling. Th
she heard about racial discriminat
issues that a large restaurant chain w
having. Realizing the company w
looking to address a diversity initiati
she began calling the restaurant he
quarters every Monday at 10:30 a
Week after week, her calls were refus
and voice messages weren't return
Nevertheless she continued call
every Monday at 10:30 for two yea
Her persistence paid off as the rest
rant awarded M ichele's Eoods an ini
contract worth several million dolla
Highly e f fect ive
leaders lead w i th
grea t i n tegr i ty
"Honesty is the cornerstone of
success, without which confidence a
ability to perform shall cease to exi
said Mary Kay Ashe, founder and C
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of M ary Kay Cosm etics. The best lead-
ers treat people and organizations they
way they would like to be treated: with
honesty, integrity an d truthfulness. Lee
Iaocca was chairman when Chrysler
became involved in a scandal involving
turning back the mileage on executive
demo-cars. He stood up in front of
the press the next day admitting that
Chrysler was wrong and that the be-
havior was dishonest. W ithin a day, the
scandal was over.
Highly effective
leaders are
disciplined.
Peter Drucker is considered the
founder of mod ern management. A
CEO invited Drucker to meet with his
comp any executives and
recalls:
He was
close to 90 years old then and not in the
best of health. But from the moment
Peter arrived, he remained in control
of our meeting. For five or six hours,
he bored into me like an auger. What
so impressed me from that encounter
was Peter's discipline. No thing w as go-
ing to interfere with his performance.
He simply refused to let himself be less
than brilliant. It was an astounding
display of the power of will. After tha t,
whenever I caught myself operating at
less than 100%, I would think , 'You've
got to get your game together. Peter
Drucker m anaged to do it when he was
close to 90 — you're not even 60. '
Another example of a leader with
fierce discipline is figure skater Michelle
Kwan. The Olympic silver medalist who
has fans all over the w orld says, If had
o choose one quality that has been key
to my success, I'd have to say focus. I
hink to myself 'What's important?
h at do I need to do to reach my goals?
Am I still having fun?' Before a perfor-
mance, I focus only on what I have to
do on the ice, despite what's going on
around me. Afterward, I focus on how
I skated and whether I did my best, re-
gardless of wh ether I won or lost. If I've
done my best, I don't regret anything.
Because of that I feel like a winner,
whether I am on top or not. The point:
Highly effective leaders are like Peter
Drucker and Michelle Kwan. They are
self-motivated and self-disciplined.
Highly effective
leaders are good
at tim e
m anagem ent.
Time is a precious commodity.
Strong leaders respect time - their own
time and the time of
others.
They don't
allow it to be misused and abused. O ne
man, David, explains what happened
after he became chief operating officer
of a technology firm: When I first
joined the company, I told my depart-
Tim e is a
precious
com m odity.
Strong leaders respect tim e -
their
ow n
tim e
and
the tim e
o f
o thers.
hey don t allow it to
be misused and abused.
ment heads that I expected our twice
weekly meetings to last no longer than
thirty minutes tops. They all nodded
and promptly dismissed the idea. De-
partment tradition had established that
two-hour meetings were the norm.
At his first early morning meeting,
David took off his watch in a grand
gesture, placing it on the table, hoping
it would convey his earlier message of
a 30 minu te me eting . After twenty-five
minutes had passed, I told my group
that the m eeting needed to end in five
minutes. Five minutes later, I gathered
my papers, smiled broadly an d said the
meeting was over, wished th em a good
mo rning and walked out. He left be-
hind a slightly stun ned, bewildered an d
embarrassed group of managers. As he
left, he reminded the m: Thirty min -
utes is plenty of time to do everything
that's important. It just doesn't allow
much time to waste. Let's be prepared
and stay focused the next time. The
following day he sent a short e-mail
restating his position , I respect you
and yo ur time . Both are too valuable to
spend in meandering discussions. Let's
have an agenda and stay focused. Their
next meeting ended satisfactorily after
27 minutes.
Highly effective
leaders ask,
ask, ask.
Percy Ross, a self-made millionaire
and ph ilanth rop ist says, You've got to
ask. Asking is, in my opin ion, the world's
most powerful and neglected secret to
success and happiness. Wh en M artin
Edelston was setting up a company
to publish newsletters and books, he
expressed frustration to Peter Drucker
that his company meetings were boring
and unproductive. Drucker advised:
Ask everyone for two suggestions
on how to make the company more
productive. As simple as it sound ed,
Edelston h ad no t previously considered
asking for ideas from employees. I did
just that and the suggestions came in
faster than I could write them down.
Even though staff members have been
offering their ideas for years and years,
I continue to be amazed at the quality,
quantity and originality of the sugges-
tions,
he says today.
Today, there is a shortage of highly
effective leaders. People and organiza-
tions are constantly searching for them .
Tho ugh you may feel you have
flaws
and
shortcomings, override those concerns.
Tap into your leadership potential and
lead with a magnanimous spirit and a
broad vision. •
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