Vision

Vision

My vision is to develop economic leaders throughout the country, and strengthen the business community.

When it comes to “advantages” in life we usually think of strength, knowledge, capital, tools, technology, people, and military prowess. Although we can’t personally deliver an advantage of military prowess in our training and coaching systems, we do deliver on the other areas of having a vision of forward thinking in business.

We leave the military strength to be developed by our soldiers who fight for our liberties and freedom that we enjoy. I am proud to support GO*VETS Foundation in training and educating our veterans in launching and growing their small business.

Call them advantages or call them benefits, here is we should expect from our mentors, coaches, and leaders:

Wisdom – The first thing we want to establish is becoming a Trusted Mentor. When you work with a coach in sports, and that coach has a vested interest in your success, you find that success if you follow their counsel. They should want to earn your trust.

Experience – The management team should have many years of combined business and leadership skills. Your business coach or mentor should have proven business experience and a mentoring mentality that has driven many businesses to incredible heights of success. More importantly, they should have already seen the good, the bad and the ugly of business, and their job is to pass on their experience to steer you through the maze of business.

Clarity – We all should be more interested in helping others achieve positive results in your business, even when it might not be what you want to hear. The mentors job is to help you succeed, and not win a popularity contest.

Seeking Out Opportunities – Together, we should be constantly on the look for opportunities that will benefit our colleagues and strategic partners. When you attend a seminar or workshop, it should be about the power of looking for opportunities to do business with others. The workshops should be full of proven ways to find incredible opportunities, and an excellent source for networking.

Strategic Alliances – Any company needs to have multiple alliances to help them succeed in business. The mentor should have a network of companies and corporate contacts, and want to introduce their clients and strategic partners to others. Basically, they should be all about networking and increasing theirs, and your reach through strategic partnerships, and pass these relationships on to the network.

Solid Communication – If we can’t clearly communicate what our corporate vision is, then how can we expect others to know what we do; or to buy from us. Communication has to start with telling the truth, even when it’s painful. Communication is the foundation in which we build from. A lack of communication; dishonest or sugar-coated communication with details conveniently left out creates cracks in that foundation, and cracks create weakness. Your empire must be strong and cannot afford any cracks in the foundation.

Integrity – If there is one key principle to remember in building a successful empire, it is in keep­ing agreements, which allows us to honor our commitments and maintain a high level of trust with our colleagues and associates.

Common Sense – All too often leaders take the path of least resistance, which in most cases leads to destruction. Common sense is hanging by a thread in so many companies today, and it usually comes down to self-interests promoted by individuals, instead of the good of the organization. We must bring common sense back into the order of running a successful enterprise.

www.brianhazelgren.com

What Can Solomon Teach Us Today…Part 2

Have you ever noticed how leaders today want to make certain that their decisions are correct before they act. Yet they forget that this is virtually impossible to have everything perfect when we live in a world full of imperfect information and loads of uncertainty.

Sometimes important decisions are postponed and clear objectives become unrealized. This seems to happen when we dont have a clear course to follow – and that is sometimes the primary reason why businesses fail. When there is no clear path to follow, leaders provide vague direction, and they heistate in leading their team by making a decision.  They may even desperately hope their team simply figures out the answers along the way. This is obviously a problem, especially when the leader or manager can’t seem to ever line up their expectations with the end result. The manager has a certain set of strategies to follow, while the other person has set their own course in their mind, and the two sets of ideals rarely meet.

Leaders today want to be accurate in their assessments of critical situations, and then again accurate in the delivery of their answers – nothing wrong with this. However, as leaders we must clarify our position and make it clear what we expect the outcome to be. If we don’t know the outcome, then we should help our people understand that with proper planning comes targeted execution. Efficiencies are created, and effective communication takes place to help us achieve whatever anticipated outcome we set out with.

I’ve learned over the years that as leaders, we must make clarity more important than being accurate. I have worked with people who want to think things through to furthest point out in the atmosphere. They can’t make a decision to save their life…let alone a decision to save or support the company. Not only is it annoying, it zaps your energy watching these people sit and hope things fall into place.

Employees, family members, church members, teammates, etc. will learn more from leaders when they make decisions and take decisive action, instead of waiting for the stars to align. Too many managers today will analyze a situation to death, and experience decision constipation. They are so consumed with the thought of possibly failing that they fail to make a decision…any decision, because if they make a decision it could be the wrong one, and if it’s the wrong one they might get fired—oh no! Take a deep breath and use a little common sense.

Lee Iacocca, former CEO and Chairman of Chrysler Corporation was a master of making decisions and standing by his beliefs and values. I don’t always agree with Mr. Iacocca on politics, but you have to love his management style and how he does what he says he will do. He doesn’t mince words, and he gets the job done.

Mr. Iacocca was not able to pull everything together in 1978 and make things work seamlessly for Chrysler, so he had to go to the government to get government-backed loans. He also bargained with the union for cuts in salary and benefits. He reduced his salary to $1.00 per year to show that everyone at the company must be willing to sacrifice if their company was to survive. He was able to understand the worker as well as the executives, and somehow pull them together. By 1983 Mr. Iacocca had Chrysler back on their feet, and on July 13, 1983 Chrysler paid back all their government loans that totaled over $800 million. He made a public statement, “We at Chrysler borrow money the old fashioned way. We pay it back.” Where is Mr. Iacocca now when we need this kind of wisdom at the White House??

 

Everlasting Principle #2  - Provide Clarity

www.brianhazelgren.com

Dont Wait Until Everything is Perfect

I like the quote by Mark Victor Hansen…

“Don’t wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.” Mark Victor Hansen

All too often we let our dreams slip through our hands, because we fail to take action. Its up to each of us to follow our dreams and find the success you hope for, and deserve!

Everlasting Wisdom Principle #2 – Provide Clarity

Provide Clarity -

Leaders today want to be accurate in their assessments of critical situations, and then again accurate in the delivery of their answers. However, as leaders we must clarify our position and make it clear what we expect the outcome to be. If we don’t know the outcome, then tell your people with proper planning comes targeted execution. Efficiencies are adhered to and effective communication takes place to achieve the anticipated outcome. Many leaders today want to ensure that their decisions are correct before they act. This is virtually impossible to achieve in a world full of imperfect information and loads of uncertainty. Sometimes critical decisions are postponed and clear objectives become unrealized, instead of setting a clear course to follow. When this happens leaders provide vague and hesitant direction to their teams and simply hope their subordinates figure out the answers along the way.As leaders we must make clarity more important than being accurate.

www.brianhazelgren.com