9 Factors of Leadership

Continuing in my series exploring what makes a professional, I bring you these nine factors of leadership. Most recently I discussed the formation of professionalism in The Significance of Humility and Own Tools. While that one was based on my own personal experience, these nine are brought to you from my notes on a CEO presentation. Can't remember who it was because the notes are dated summer 2008, and no speaker subject is noted. I was simply going to file these away, but felt better value would be gained if instead I reflected upon them here while sharing them with you.

1. Vision - Vision is undeniably universal in the leadership discussion. The future is always uncertain. People don't like uncertainty, it triggers fear; hence, follower-ship - a prerequisite to actually being a leader - is earned through having a vision and that it not suck. Recently I was asked by a fellow who is embarking upon a new career path for some words of advice. This is what I said to him, "Learn the Biz. Figure out where it is going, and make a plan to add value in that future space. Look ahead. No stopping you." Come to think of it, I was encouraging him to develop his own vision.

2. Communication - Communication goes hand in hand with vision. The speaker placed emphasis on this factor highlighting the need to communicate your vision and the organizational priorities as frequently as possible. He also stressed the need to find different and engaging ways to communicate the same thing, so your message stays fresh and memorable. This is marketing 101: The message and the sender and the receivers of the message. It's how ad jingles end up in our heads. Here, I am reminded of how you can develop a child's taste for a new food. Introduce it on 30 different occasions. Don't take the initial 29 rejections personally. Eventually we all come around to like most of the foods our parents like.

3. Keep but a few priorities - This is never more true in this age of rapid change and constant interruption. I am a list maker. Have been for years. I do believe list making is essential to goal accomplishment; however, in my time I have come to achieve sudden death from to do lists. This is somewhat similar to analysis paralysis. In that while you are managing and prioritizing what you should do, the thing that you should do - should have already been done; and now you are in deep do do. Hence, list making if taken too far becomes a form of procrastination, a character flaw akin to greed and laziness. Let's face it, we all have far too much to do and we are far too under-resourced to accomplish all that we must do; however, we can choose to do a good job on the most important things in our sphere of control. Good leaders make good decisions about what must be done from among the clamoring noise of everything else begging to be done.

4. Relentless preparation - Note this one does not say complete preparation or perfect preparation. So, let us not confuse these with relentlessness. But before we go there, let us consider preparation. If we take preparation to simply mean planning it would not be enough. Refer to keeping a few priorities above and recalling to do list sudden death syndrome. Perfection is but another symptom for procrastination, a flaw through and through. Do not be tempted to reach for perfection or completeness in your preparations. Rather take time each day, week, and month to make plans while you are doing what you should be doing. Because, preparation is everything you do to make what you do remarkable. It is in the research and due diligence you do for the things you will do or about the people you will meet - learning what must be done to get it right, or how to respect the customs and traditions of those with whom you do business; discussing with your team ways to accomplish goals or ways to successfully interact with others. Preparation also means checking yourself in the mirror both literally and figuratively; that your fly is zipped, all belt loops looped, and no spinach on your teeth; that you have taken care to be sure that your obligations and responsibilities to others are met. Always keep in mind, your followers are watching you to see how to be. Relentlessness here is a commitment to do these things and to defend your focus to doing only those things which make you and what you do remarkable. Refer also to Calvin Coolidge's quote on persistence.

5. Conviction of belief - Beliefs are at our core. They shape our values and motivations. Formed over a lifetime, our beliefs are very hard to change. By the time we enter our 30's our beliefs are intractably in place. Yet at times we are unclear about just what it is we believe. We betray our beliefs to get something we want or to prevent something of ours from being taken. People are not stupid, once we betray our beliefs we betray their trust, and so goes their follower-ship. So what do we do with this? We must become convinced our beliefs are worth defending, because there is precious little we can do to change them and a great deal we can accomplish by accepting them.

6. Willingness to take risk - Nothing ventured nothing gained should be a proverb. Yet we so often ascribe to the idea, "I will try that when I..." fill in the blank. Usually financial security fits here, but it could also be an emotional trigger such as, "I'll wear that when I lose a few more pounds". Only most of us never loose the weight or get better off. We play it safe and never live the dream while getting fatter and deeper in debt along the way. The point is, if something you believe is worth striving for above all other options, go for it. Fact of the matter financial and emotional security are tenuous at best, things easily lost once attained. Besides, even if you start out with the bank roll or with the hot bod, events can and will conspire to take away what you've got anyway. Point is no matter whether you win or lose by taking risk, you will be engaged in something worth fighting for. You will be doing something you love, and for some reason this never feels like work.

7. Optimism - Optimism is the mother's milk for your followers. Mother's milk contains special antibodies to protect baby from harmful diseases, immunity is imparted though the milk. Just as these antibodies transfer immunity from mother to child, so does your optimism transfer immunity from all the environmental negativity to your followers. And there is always negativity; hence, optimism is a choice in the face of a difficult reality. As a leader, you are contagious. You infect others with your disease. Make it a good virus. Make it optimism.

8. Stewardship of others' resources - Under the file taking care, leaders are blessed with follower-ship. That is the people in your organisation give you permission to lead. They give you their time talent and treasure with the expectation that you will not waste them. They do this contingent upon the benefits associated with your tenure. Trust is the principal attribute in this transaction. Trust is granted so long as you set realistic expectations (refer to vision and communication), and take care to meet them (refer to keeping few priorities relentless preparation).

9. Passion - Leaders are a bridge to a vision. They carry followers over to a preferred reality. It must be a reality for which you are willing to stake the time of your life. There must be something about your vision which stimulates your emotion, energy, and personal power. Because if what you are seeking does not get you excited, how can your followers be expected to get motivated just the same?

What do you think about these 9 factors of leadership?

Thanks for reading and Happy Tiling!

9 Factors of Leadership

TEC Specialty Unveils its Big Tile Mortar

For those of you in love with big tiles, and the tiles just seem to get bigger and bigger, TEC Specialty has just launched its Ultimate Large Tile Mortar.

Big tiles mean big installation challenges
If you’ve installed large format tiles, you know how difficult and time-consuming it can be. Before now, there was no single solution that addressed the multiple challenges faced by installers:
1. Slumping on Floors: Large, heavy tiles on floors slump in mortar, creating unevenness or lippage across the installation and can cause a tripping hazard
2. Slipping on Walls: Tiles on walls can slip unless mechanically held in place, creating extra labor steps, wasting time and costing money
3. Lack of full transfer: Tiles need 100% mortar coverage to avoid hollow spots and bond failures

TEC Ultimate Large Tile Mortar solves any large tile challenge in one solution. Saving you time and money. Click (here) for the dope sheet.

We look forward to using this product on our next Big-Tile tile job.

Happy Tiling!

TEC Specialty Unveils its Big Tile Mortar

Working with a LOTC

In this blog I have mentioned the Low-Overhead-Trade-Contractor (keyword LOTC in the Tagcloud), a term I coined to represent a broad population of construction services businesses such as my company, MidWest Mosaic of Toledo, Ohio. This is a story about George, a LOTC with whom I recently collaborated on a project. I provide it to give you perspective into the LOTC reality, a topic about which not so much is written. But first a little background on industry structure and then on to George.

Construction services, you see, is very local, an excellent example of a highly fractured marketplace. Large consolidated businesses - such as the infamous “no-bid” Halliburton (HAL) or the homebuilding giant Pulte (PHM) - are the exception. In fact, the everyday large construction firm is comparatively small-to-middling with respect to these large publicly traded businesses. A check of US Census data tells us that over 75% of the 330,000 plus construction contractor businesses have 10 or fewer employees, suggesting much of the construction work put-in-place in the US is put-in-place by LOTC’s. LOTC’s can be found performing the work of large organizations, even in the Halliburton/Pulte complexes, due to the ease with which work is subcontracted. The reality is, the bigger the firm gets, the less work is performed in-house; hence, the more the firm relies upon LOTC’s. But this is an idea to explore in future posts.

Now back to George.

George is a professional tiler. He enjoys laying tile and sharing his craft with clients and fellow LOTC’s alike. George appreciates their unsolicited comments that, “he does good work.” He hears this often. Upon our first meeting, George represented to me that he is among the best tilers in his town. Having worked with him, I can attest that he is indeed highly effective among the tilers with whom I had the pleasure to work over my 20+ year career. George is fast and clean – a desirable combination for a tile installer. His workmanship is both flat and true – universally appreciated qualities.

In addition to his exceptional trade skills, George demonstrated superior customer facing skills. When on the job, we were working in an ongoing retail environment (we were the noise behind the plywood dust enclosure). The tenant complained about the noise from our saws. He asked us to shut down our cutting operations and reserve noisy work for off-hours. While tile cutting can be disruptive, it is integral to the work process. One cannot just stop it without making extraordinary accommodations. Besides offering no options, the tenant’s request threatened our customer’s budget goals and schedule commitments; hence, jeopardizing the profitability of our work as well as the continuing patronage of our client. A lot was at stake. Still, George subverted our worries to the tenant’s needs by offering a reasonable alternative. George’s cool head and customer awareness saved the day.

All the while, George and I grew in our mutual respect and trust for each other as we discussed the subtle nuances of the tile trade. It’s amazing how so many pass themselves off as competent tilers yet fall short. It’s all about the provenance of the tiler. Are they masons who specialize in tiling or are they floor layers who count tiling among their capabilities? The distinction is important, especially when you consider where tile is typically utilized in conjunction with the expected quality and performance characteristics of the work. Tile may be a flooring choice, but you would never expect to see carpet in a shower, nor would you expect its lie to be flat and true conveying water from high to low. With tile there is more beneath the surface, and simply being capable of combing a notch and dealing the squares as if they are some common VCT (Vinyl Composite Tile) does not a tiler make.

Finally, when we had completed the job and were quite exhausted having met our goals and commitments, George took responsibility for jobsite cleanup above and beyond what is customarily expected. This little detail at the end is a difference maker. It said to our client, “we absolutely want your continued business”.

George’s business organization is straightforward. He is its sole proprietor, the Chief Cook and Bottle Washer. His principal hard assets are his tools and equipment, of which his full-sized work truck comprises the majority of his business capitalization; however, his most prized asset is his word, an intangible asset. I have no doubt that George’s word is far more binding than Halliburton’s. One only need look to Halliburton’s slippery escape from BP’s Deep Water Horizon fiasco. The irony here is Halliburton’s intangibles – in its name and reputation – are transferrable, making up a significant portion of HAL’s share value; whereas a LOTC’s word, while more precious, is non-transferrable, as illiquid as a mortgage backed security. Go figure.

George has a simple approach to business: Do really good work at the market price to earn the continued patronage of his clients and their referrals – all the while accepting what remains after his expenses. George does not own a computer. Moreover, he does not keep up a regular bank account. Essentially, his back pocket is his all-in-one banking and bookkeeping package. You see, George is disinterested in the numbers side of the business; naturally, he wants to focus on doing his craft. Lest we forget that accounting and bookkeeping, while immensely useful, are not prerequisites for actually doing something. Besides, LOTC’s come to be through their skill at building, not through accounting or management acumen.

While this may surprise the more marketing and management minded among you, the proof is in George’s outcome. Like so many LOTC’s, George’s effort has provided a simple yet wholesome lifestyle for his family, with whom he holds a steadfast commitment. And, up until recently, his lifestyle was on a growth trajectory – following a long standing bullish trend in the housing sector.

Unfortunately, his business model, like so many others, imploded with the housing bubble. Pre-bubble, his backlog of projects extended out for weeks, sometimes months. George used to name his price and even turn away work (usually smaller or messier jobs). Now his deal flow is spotty; his usual customers (principally home builders) are slow or no longer in business, while prices-paid are what they were 20-25 years ago. He is no longer turning away the small and messy jobs. The slow flow and low pay make it increasingly difficult for George to spend less than he takes in. His business provides the bare minimum for his home while his tooling and equipment suffer. As we write this, rising gas prices are limiting his ability to operate his vehicle.

As a LOTC hungry for work, George finds himself at a crossroads—he can continue to struggle through as is or he can change what he is doing and perhaps find a better way to get through. George and I agree a subtle shift in his marketing approach may be all he needs to improve his deal flow; improved prices-paid follows deal flow. I can offer him help because George trusts me. He knows that as a fellow LOTC, I have faced and continue to face dilemmas like these.

I choose to put these in writing.

On the Musings blog we talk about a wide range of topics useful for LOTC’s, from Marketing to Women to exploring How Prevailing Wages Hinder our ability to Create Jobs. Just enter a search in the search box or scan the Tagcloud. Here, we have a place to share successes overcoming business problems as well as failures arising from others. It is a place where we can share what we are doing and what we are thinking about doing, all in a friendly helpful way.

All of this information is available free of charge.

Take the best and leave the rest.

If you know a George or a Georgia who might benefit from our thoughts, please share this blog with them. And if there is something we’re not talking about that would be helpful for George and other LOTC’s, please feel free to leave a comment below.

Happy tiling!

Working with a LOTC

New Project Award: The Locker

Mosaic just received a contract for tilework from a local general contractor. The scope of work includes approximately 1300 square feet of 8" x 8" porcelain tile on the floor of a locker room at an undisclosed location, hence the name of the project. Two colors will be used in a diagonal pattern. Photos to follow under the tag, "the locker". With this award, Mosaic gains 14 workdays for its workforce.

New Project Award: The Locker

Photo's from Ft. Wayne

Here are some images from the Ft. Wayne project.

Meet the Ft. Wayne Crew. From left to right, Malcolm (me), Rick, and Jacob.

It all begins by placing this little cove. Have to set it at a level which we expect the floor to be. Have to also set it at a location where we expect the floor joints to be. No sweat for a layout and leveling expert. Mitre corners very nice too.

Next we jack up the walls 1/16" joint nice n flat. Were averaging 110 SF per. 8 hour manday. Pretty fast but challenging with 12" x 24" tiles.

Once the walls are all set and grouted, then we set the floor ( not wanting all the mess from walls on floor). Floor goes in a running bond( bricklayer pattern).

Here's Rick, from the crew, putting in the last piece. He's been looking for that piece all week. LOL.

Here's a shot of the finished work ready for the buffaloes to come in and hang toilets and stalls etc. It will never be as clean as this moment.

We'll be back at it next week to do the women's bathroom.

Happy Tiling

Photo's from Ft. Wayne

Marketing Tile to Women

From Jeanne Nichols

It's probably not a surprise to any one that women matter in the tile purchasing decision. They matter alot is an under statement. In her column in the most resent issue of TILE Magazine, (here) Jeanne Nichols, Owner of Star Grass Partners and Mod Mood, she defines women as "The Prominent Influencer". It appears that some of us guys are not getting the message as she indicates a recent panel on industry insights and innovations held 15 men and not one single woman.

Yep its 2011 and we men are still clueless; however, I am most at home when I have a tangible goal to meet, like laying the next 100 feet of tile. But after reading her article I am reminded that I need not be so clueless so long as professionals like Jeanne are around to inform me about the latest ways to market and sell to women.

In this article, which is geared toward the tile designer/dealer as an audience - Mod Mood being her tile and furniture store she co-owns with her husband provides a petri dish for her to continuously test and improve her theories toward sales and marketing (Not to mention her 17 year stint as VP of Sales and Marketing with The Trans Ceramica) - Ms. Nichols tells how to go about sales and marketing to this the Prominent Influencer.

She explains how, "women approach purchases: emotionally/reactive, or through research/discussion." She offers tips that can improve sales effectiveness no matter which way a prominent prospect presents herself.

The article keeps it real simple - which is probably why Jeanne is so good at marketing - there is the Before, During and After the visit to the store.

The Before makes a strong case for web presence and social media. For those of you fellas that don't get this, I suggest you read some Seth Goden, else you risk becoming a buggy whip dealer who happens to inventory tile. When I think about how my gal shops (even though she is an n of one) she spends a lot of time online researching and comparing prices features and benefits. By the time we go shopping, she is very goal oriented. I know my sisters and my mom spend a lot of time online researching purchases as well, so now we have an n of four. If the women in your life are anything like the women in my life...I think you get the picture. Its a statistical ceratinty for you: No website no deal.

The During emphasizes five things; that your store possess the same characteristics as your website; that personal contact gives you a read on how she prefers to approach the purchase (also to better demonstrate to her your good listening skills [GUYS! YOU CAN DO THIS!]); how you might and might not respond; provide interesting trivia (there's always something new in tile); and most important from my perspective, that you be genuine with your conversation.

The After emphasizes follow-up. She makes it fun for us guys by suggesting it's like dating [does this mean if I call her back just as she's leaving the store she'll think I'm a creepy stalker?] Silence of course sends the wrong message, that you are just not that into her. So its important to acknowledge, "that she was in the store, purchased the product, or to have been given the opportunity to share some ideas with her is a genuine way to continue the connection"

My take:

While we humble installers and fellow LOTC's (Low Overhead Trade Contractors) do not typically own stores, it is none the less important to take note: all of this applies to us too (except for the store part), but you do not get let off with not needing a website/social media presence. Instead of a store orgainzed for presentation at time of sale much in the same way as the web presence, we must organize ourselves for presentation at the time of service much in the same we present ourselves online. I'm here to tell you, my customers are choosing me because I blog, tweet, facebook, email, linkin and youtube. They are choosing me because I make a genuine presentation of me and what I value, so it is easy for me to back that up at the time of service. So in the long run I predict LOTC's who do not venture into the online arena with an emphasis towards dynamic (social media) as opposed to a static presence (brochureware), risk irrelevance through loss of market share or pricing power or both.

Happy Tiling!

Marketing Tile to Women

Feature Project: Forsyth and Vaquero

To whet your appetite we gave you an in progress video from the Forsyth Vaquero project on 17-Feb. Many of you have patiently awaited this follow up where I show you the completed work.

While this post comes to you on May 6th the actual project completion was shot (scroll to end) on April 1st. Hence, the good doctors have been happy customers for going on 6 weeks. The lag between then and now can best be explained by success. You see when you are a job creating LOTC (low-overhead-trade-contractor) like me, success means you end up spending quite a bit of time in the field doing the work, getting dirty, getting tired, and just plain having fun. It's difficult to post in real time.

Since the time of April Fool's, the Crew and I have been out there in the mud the blood and the beer; finishing up The Cooler, an encore to The Encore, resolving punchlist on the Urban Canvas, as well completing two new projects projects in The Bootlegger and The Manor.

In this feature we bring you a video post.

The shot starts with a lovely stained glass window. You should know the glass is not original to the house, but the window itself is. Would you believe the previous owner covered it up with a fiberglass shower enclosure, Eww! See the photos;

The stained glass is by Mike Bomar of Bomar Glass, Toledo, OH . The house is blessed with several stained glass features which may be seen in the fall issue of the American Bungalow Magazine, #71. Mike used these for his inspiration.

Well done Mike! Hat tip to you for your artistic creativity.

In the "ready for tile" video we previewed the materials. In this shot (scroll to end) you see them put in place; 5/8x5/8 Cararra marble mosaics on the floor, 3x6 Hampton crackled glaze subway tiles on the wall along with ogee trim and mosaic return. Tile is courtesy of Virginia Tile Company, Livonia, MI. Here also you get to see how we carefully mixed in cut-to-fit Cararra slabs on the window sill and jambs, the radiator enclosure, and wrapping the threshold. We used slabs to enhance the look as well as provide additional watertightness in key areas.

Here Bomar also provided the freestanding walk behind glass wall. It gives what is otherwise a smallish bungalow bath a larger open feel while not blocking the view of the window. The shower barrier is only 36" wide, yet we need not worry about water splashing about because of the shower head's overhead orientation. Designers take note on this compact trick.

We kept quite a few of the original items, because they just are not made like they used to; the site-built medicine cabinet, the pedestal sink, and the terrazzo floor and base. More on the terrazzo restoration (here)

We did put new reproduction faucet sets on the sink (and Dr. Vaquero pointed up the metals in bronze). I put a new marble mosaic inlay in the floor to create symmetry in the exquisite border (in its original configuration the border must have flowed under a claw tub completing a rectangle about the room).

Bathroom accessories are from Pottery Barn (here and here) and the Paris style towel shelf available from Amazon (here). Plumbing fixtures are from Strom, "sign of the crab", Plumbing. Paints are all Benjamin Moore colors as selected by Dr. Vaquero. The gal has guts. Dr. F does too, giving he held firm on retaining the terrazzo.

The doctors took great risk; bold color scheme, mixing old things with with new - slabs with tile, a walk behind wall and a window in the shower. Oh my! All in all the finish is quite rewarding and a great fit for their home. Remember reward follows risk, so while the bath may not be plain vanilla, this bathroom is for them. They know it and they love it. I love it too!

We pulled this off by working a group process, one in which they were firmly in control yet confidently led by yours truly. I was so pleased to be their builder. Enjoy the video. It is our gift to you.

Presently we are out at two fill-in-projects, The Pool and The Pan before we head off to the Ft Wayne project.

Happy tiling! And be sure to let me know what you think by hitting the like button up above or taking the time to leave a comment below.

Feature Project: Forsyth and Vaquero