You might have seen me post the odd acerbic remark on Facebook regarding the leadership (or lack of it)  offered by those in our society who aspire to such things.

Since they seem to have no measurable yardstick on leadership, I thought I would write about leadership from a man who is the greatest leader this world has ever known.

Genghis Khan.

First let me give you an analogy (paraphrased from John Man) so you understand what he managed to achieve in his lifetime.

If the USA had been founded by an illiterate slave who used force of personality, charisma and determination, to break foreign rule in America , unite all the people of all races as equals, employ an alphabet where none existed before, create the constitution, create the rule of law for all including leaders, build a secular state with real religious freedom, re-invent warfare using combinations of tactics that were used against him, march an army from Canada to Brazil, and create a free trade zone with commerce from one end of the empire to the other. Add to this is a rapid communication system and diplomatic immunity whene none had been practiced before.

How could one man do all that in a lifetime?

In a word – Leadership.

Here are the principles of leadership that worked for him, and which seem to be lacking in part or, sadly, in whole by most of our so-called “leaders” today. Which ones do you identify with?

1. Control the information.

What is a leaders story? Joseph Nye said “A good narrative is a great source of soft power.” In the case of Genghis Khan, his narrative went something like this – born into adversity, he overcame it and took on what he believed was a divine mission.

He communicated that mission and others took it up as their own. His character led to persuasion, and that lead to group action, unity and conquest.

How many of todays political and industry leaders are on a divine mission?

2. Accept criticism.

When Genghis Khan was a boy he killed his half brother Begter. It was a crime, and he was severely rebuked by his mother whom he loved in all the world. Her caustic dressing-down and anger was something he never forgot.

He didn’t get bitter and twisted over it. He accepted it, and let others tell the story, as part of character development, rather than cover it up he way modern leaders might do.

After this experience he was always open to criticism and advice.

3. Get a vision that people can share.

The Khans vision of tribal unity was seen as a threat. Yet his quick successes in battle against rival tribes, coupled with his core belief his mission was divine – this created loyalty in those he conquered. They took up the mission as their own, and in this way conquered the world.

What was the vision of Ghandi? Did he inspire loyalty? Did his people take up his vision as their own? Was he seen as a threat?

How many leadership “vision” statements have you seen that are nothing more than marks on an office wall, sneered at by those who are tasked to enable the reality?

4. Keep Promises.

This is the biggie in my opinion. The integrity which everything else is built on. This is what sticks in my guts and twists about when “leaders” make pronouncements or pontificate.

It’s the character trait that can make cynics of us all if we let it.

When the army of Genghis Khan and Toghril were three days late meeting up with Jamukha’s forces, because they were secretly marching on the Merkit to get Borte back, Jamukha rebuked them with these words…

“Did we not agree that we won’t be late
At the appointed meeting,
even if there be a blizzard
At the gathering
Even if ther be rain?
Are we not Mongols, for whom a “yes” is the same as being bound by an oath?”

They took the criticsm with good grace – this was another lesson Ghengis Khan never forgot – as leader, whatever happens and whatever you promise, you keep your word.

If a leader has no integrity, trust vanishes, morale stinks and joint action is impossible. Reputations and dreams fall apart.

How many leaders do you know who make promises, explicit or IMPLIED and keep them?

More on leadership in the next post.

Stay awesome – lead well.

Rick

My Iphone 4 finally arrived. I am so excited – I can now take random movies and load them straight up to Youtube from anywhere in the world. And run my business from it too.

So all I had to do was move the contacts from the old one to the new one, and all the settings and I would be right – right?

So I backed her up and plugged in the hew one. “BARP! you need Itnnes 10.2 to update this Iphone”

Ok easy – download 10.2 and away I go. Erm no… Seems I need OSX10.5 to run that and I only have 10.4.

Ok I just upload the old phone onto the OSX10.5 laptop and all is well yes?

Erm no… It doesn’t want to do that in any meaningful way, seems the newer version of Itunes doesn’t like my old Iphone version OS either.

SO gotta ask why can’t two Iphones talk to each other over Wireless network and sync that way? Who knows, the propellor heads at Apple certainly aren’t into useability…

In the end I backed up the contacts via the address book on the old computer, uploaded it and restored to the address book on the laptop and was able to download onto the new Iphone 4. Still had to recreate the old Itunes library items and play lists. Seems those are not easily transferrable either.

Wasted almost a whole working day discovering this and in the end had to work it out myself. Forums were useless, full of half answered geek talk, and Apples website worse than useless, and all the answers sites were only half right too. What is it with people who can only talk (or type) in two second sound bites before they go off on some other tangent?

Hmm is there an opportunity here I wonder?

Stay awesome

Well I finally did it. Chucked everything that I was working on out and embarked on my dream that has been dormant for the last 30 years.

I have always been somebody who is curious about what lies over the next horizon, and before I married and “settled down” did a heap of travelling. In fact I am at my happiest moving towards the next horizon, meeting new people and experiencing everything life has to offer.

My kids have left the nest, I hated what I was doing and the negaivity associated with it, and decided that it is now or never. Wife not very happy, but I am sure we can come to an arrangement that will include her too.

I also come form an old horse culture, over 2,00 years old, possibly much older, and I have a love of history, particularly that of warrior cultures in East Asia,  the Middle East and over to Western Europe

Enter LiveHistoryTours.com where we try as much as possible to go and experience life where history happened.

And therein lies a problem – there are not many places left in the world where you can see and mingle with people who are essentially unchanged from what they were like hundreds of years ago, or where they only see you as an income source rather than a guest or friend.

The scope is huge too, so I finally picked my theme – follow Ghengis Kahn and his hordes from Mongolia through to Poland where they finally stopped.

And here is an interesting fact – part of that horde is even today alive and well in the south west of my fathers native land where they fianlly stopped their westward march. That in itself is an interesting story but you will have to go and see the LiveHistoryTours site to read it.

History and the landscape is littered with such anomolies – this is what makes it so interesting.

This is my passion. I am riding in the hoofprints of Ghengis Kahn. Maybe one day you will join me?

Stay awesome

Rick

This blog has been kinda dead lately so I have decided to change things a bit. I am no longer training folks since my accident last May 2009, because of a couple of nagging back issues.

So this will now become a personal blog, where I expound on stuff I think is important, and you may too. Things like living a life of integrity, what ethics means to me, some anecdotes and updates on family goings on and whatnot.

If you want business building websites built, follow the links. If you want Hybrid Consulting to help grow your business, head here to Performance Marketing Warriors. If your business needs internet marketing packages specifically, look no further than Gold Coast Internet Marketing.

Speaking of congruence, that site is top of local Google search for internet marketing on the Gold Coast. This just proves the importance of local search in the future economic scheme of things, amongst others. And that I can do what I say I can do.

So many companies get bamboozled and buy SEO and other online services from companies who are not even on the first two or three pages of Google, much less the number one listing themselves for what they sell … Money and opportunity wasted unnecessarily.

One of my clients client used the internet to get more leads – yellow pages and referrals weren’t enough. Now about 40% of their new business comes from their website and they are growing where other businesses in the same sector are finding things very tough. Google the phrase “gold coast montessori” and see how Fridays Child fits in. They appear high in organic, online video and the local search box.

Congruence. Integrity. Alien concepts to some folks, but the very stuff of a long lived business.

Stay Awesome
Rick

Just sent out another batch of emails as part of my “who answers their email” research program. This one is Home Air Conditioning (HVAC) installers. Will be interesting to see how many reply.

BTW the final tally of accountants was 33/64 which was 2% less than expected. So it begs the question, why spend all that money o…n a yellow pages ad with an email or web address IF you aren’t gonna answer sales enquiries from it?

Growing Up or Growing Old?
By: Author Unknown

The first day of school our professor introduced himself
and challenged us to get to know someone we didn’t already
know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched
my shoulder. I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old
lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire
being.

She said, “Hi, Handsome! My name is Rose. I’m 87 years
old. Can I give you a hug?”

I laughed and enthusiastically responded, “Of course you
may!” and she gave me a giant squeeze.

“Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?” I
asked. She jokingly replied, “I’m here to meet a rich
husband, get married, have a couple of children, and then
retire and travel.”

“No, seriously,” I asked. I was curious what may have
motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.

“I always dreamed of having a college education, and now
I’m getting one!” she told me.

After class we walked to the student union building and
shared a chocolate milkshake. We became instant friends.
Every day for the next three months we would leave class
together and talk nonstop.

I was always mesmerized listening to this “time machine”
as she shared her wisdom and experience with me. Over the
course of the year, Rose became a campus icon, and she
easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress
up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from
the other students. She was living it up.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our
football banquet. I’ll never forget what she taught us. She
was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began
to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her 3×5 cards on
the floor. Frustrated and a little embarrassed, she leaned
into the microphone and simply said, “I’m sorry I’m so
jittery. I gave up beer for Lent, and this whiskey is
killing me! I’ll never get my speech back in order, so let
me just tell you what I know.” As we laughed, she cleared
her throat and began:

“We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old
because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to
staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have
to laugh and find humor everyday. You’ve got to have a
dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many
people walking around who are dead, and they don’t even
know it!” she said.

“There is a huge difference between growing older and
growing up. If you are nineteen years old, lie in bed for
one full year, and don’t do one productive thing, you will
turn 20 years old. If I am 87 years old, stay in bed for a
year, and never do anything, I will turn 88. Anybody can
grow older. That doesn’t take any talent or ability,” she
added.

“The idea is to grow up by always finding the opportunity
in change. Have no regrets. The elderly usually don’t have
regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not
do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.”

She concluded her speech by courageously singing “The
Rose.” She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and
live them out in our daily lives.

At the year’s end, Rose finished the college degree she
had begun all those years ago. One week after graduation,
Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over 2,000 college
students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful
woman who taught by example that it’s never too late to be
all you can possibly be.

I have seen most of the movies these clips are from – how many have you watched?

Live an inspired life.

Rick

p.s. I have a new internet marketing site for brick and mortar businesses – go see

I am no anarchist but people can show extraordinay courage in the face of oppressive government. This song is beast …

I am starting to get stronger finally… my accident was in May so it has been a long time.

The right shoulder is still very “crunchy” and sometimes when I stretch my sternum goes “crack” too. My main concern is the fact I have a very weak situation with any “pushing” moves like a bench press.
I am lucky to get 60kg up at the moment when before the prang I could do 110 partials.

My thinking is this – I probably have some ligament damage, and maybe crushed muscle fibres from the sealtbelt too. So the key to fixing it is to really strengthen up the shoulder muscles and upper back to hold everything together with muscle and tendon rather than ligaments alone.

Will keep you informed. BTW my site Gold Coast Personal Training has hit Google’s front page after eight weeks. Not bad if I say so myself. If you want this sort of performance for your website, give me a call, and let’s hatch a plot to get your site onto Googles front page too.

Well wishes.
Rick

Here is a video from one of my favourite personal training outfits. Enjoy!