Bolan Consulting

01/03/2023

Know when you belong in a room and never let anyone tell you differently. I’ve been there, present by invitation, validated by the confidence of people that matter, by the people who are in the know, by the decision makers. Accepted before I arrived and welcomed by everyone, everyone except that one cynic, the person least qualified to speak looks at you with irrelevance, offers a cold shrug, and asks “Why are you here?” The cynic doesn’t know why you are in the room, or why you were even invited, this is because like everyone else who is pompous, they look to see your credentials on your forehead and some affirmation on your chest. Their vision isn’t good enough to see that confidence that you stepped in the room with, their senses aren’t sharp enough to feel how your presence added to the stature in the room.

Know when you belong in a room, speak with confidence, walk with confidence, know why you are there, listen keenly to the other qualified leaders in the room, learn as they speak and add value when you do. Leaders find the qualities that are useful in others, they seek reasons to qualify not disqualify. Leaders are self- critical and self-admonishing, What they ARE NOT is self-deprecative, they don’t have to say it, their very aura will tell you, “pay attention long enough and you will know my name”.

11/01/2022

LEADERSHIP IS HEAVY!

If you are a leader you carry the weight of all associate’s dreams, their goals, their aspirations. The burden of not providing them with opportunities to succeed. The disappointment of seeing them with barriers you failed to remove. The anguish of seeing any associate get hurt. The burden of managing many different personalities. The plight of navigating different emotions.

Like every smart lifter you must have great power position, keep a wide support base; this may be in the form of peers, friends, often times this support base is family. Keep good posture; ensure you are looking in the right direction and both body and mind are aligned with fulfilling the task. Body language in important when conveying strength in leadership. Lift slowly, always taking great pains to be clear minded and steady.

Responsibility is a burden you must be prepared and willing to carry, there is grave mental and physical repercussions when handled incorrectly. Trust is fragile, if it drops it may be broken; the responsibility of both your employee’s success and your own is only outmatched by the heavy reality of having failed to lead. Leadership is a hard load to bear, if you can’t carry it give it to someone who is willing. Leaders never seek the easy way out, they seek the right way out. Leaders don’t walk away from problems, they walk towards issues and work towards finding the solutions. Leadership isn’t easy, if you want lightwork walk away, you’re in the wrong position.

There’s an old saying that says “when things go wrong leaders look in a mirror, and when things go right leaders look out a window” -Anonymous. This is one of my most favorite quotes, leaders are conditioned to carry this weight with humility, and rightly so, but do not be afraid to look out that window after successfully defeating adversity and saw “I LEAD MY TEAM THROUGH THAT”

by Andrew Bolan

09/19/2022

When your reputation far exceeds your attempt at Branding!

Ever shopped at a Organization’s store after reading their post on LinkedIn and think to yourself.
I need to call their CEO in for an interview so he/she can answer the following question.

“Forget why you would want to hire me, after shopping in your stores why would I want to work for you?”

Forgive the arrogance, confidence, or just plain honest assessment sir/madam. I noticed you had job openings advertised for Store Manager and District Manager. I shopped in three of your stores today and I was a little less than impressed. There was poor or no service, dirty cluttered aisles, and poor in stock, here are my qualifications, experiences, and achievements. If I had 3 job offers today, why would I work for your company?

I assume the most common answer would be, “That is exactly why we need applicants like yourself to join our organization, we believe you are the change agent needed to pull the company in the right direction.”

But is that really possible? Can an organization be changed from the ground up? If it can, at what cost? What would you have to endure, and for how long? Don’t let organizations off the hook during an interview. Do the homework, have a good idea of their culture, understand what the commitment will look like if/when you join. Work on yourself, make yourself attractive to employers and never enter an interview without questions of your own. Know your worth, understand both the job and the job offer for this is the only way to ascertain if you are being oversold or undervalued.

09/07/2022

True

Intense and all-consuming work styles are often celebrated as the only way to get to the top and be a super productive leader. But does it have to be that way? Over the last 20 years, a group of executives has been meeting and sharing innovative ideas f...

09/07/2022

Consistency

Leaders don’t be a prisoner of consistency for consistency can be the enemy of growth.

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds…….Speak what you think now in hard words, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said today.” – Ralph Emerson

If you must be consistent;
Consistently be fair and impartial to all your associates
Consistently learn and evolve
Consistently improve
Consistently change

Do not fail your team in the name of consistency, if there is new information do not be afraid to change your position. Do not be the leader who is afraid to adopt an idea because it wasn’t yours, consistently stiff-necked for fear of seeming inadequate. Leaders who maintain the status quo out of fear of seeming inconsistent will ruin your organization, a prisoner of consistency leads the same way in all situations in order to avoid making real time decisions. It’s easier that way, for real time decisions require thought and analysis, new opinions require being self-critical, moving in a new direction requires justifying why you changed trajectory; contradicting your own instructions requires admitting that maybe you were wrong or that circumstances changed.

Instead, apply objective reasoning to each situation consistently. Make all decisions stand on their own merit, act in spite of consistency when a situation warrants it and as a result of consistency where logic demands it. NEVER BE CONSISTENT BECAUSE OF CONSISTENCY.

07/24/2022

The Deception of Perception!

Companies often end up in a cycle of poor leadership as a result of their perception of great leadership. Whether you have noticed it or not we’ve all been a part of it. The system which allows the loudest voice to be misconceived as the person most qualified to lead, not entirely incorrect if the qualifications include having the potential to be loud and boisterous. Ask for some feedback and peel away the onion, if every time you ask about this individual the most mentioned quality is that they are loud and obvious, then maybe you should dig deeper to find other qualities which supports the perception of them having leadership skills. Body of work is important, just because they read the speech doesn’t mean that they wrote it, believe it, or even agree with it. Not an absolute science obviously, but the visionary, the architect and the builder are seldom one in the same. Be careful of the deception of perception, give applicable credit to the builder while never discounting the visionary.

07/19/2022

Sobering

07/18/2022

I DIDN'T SAY THAT!

Yes you did!
Remember that associate you walked by disrespecting another associate? You told them it was ok to disrespect your customer. Remember that associate who said “I haven’t slept in two days” but still you let her continue working? You told her it’s ok to get hurt on the job. Remember that associate you asked “How are you?” and she replied “So so” but yet you kept walking? You told her you really don’t care. Remember that associate who said “I feel uncomfortable” yet you didn’t stop to find out why? You told him that your company doesn’t care about the state of their employees. Oh wait, remember that associate who told that joke about the handicapped employee and you laughed and had no retort? You told him that it was ok not to care about the team.

You say it all the time to your associates, whether you hear it or not, they sure do. Communication is most certainly art not science, It’s a objective art form. It’s Maya Angelou on a stanza; It’s Michelangelo with his hands; It’s Ralph Emerson with a pen; It’s Martin Luther King speaking to one million men.

Consider what you don’t say to associates, it’s what they hear the most. Consider your approach, consider your body language, consider your non-action. If you turn your back to a hearing impaired associate who reads lips, you have just communicated something that will be remembered forever. Talking involves speech which involves sound, Communication is a transfer of information. They are certainly not one in the same.

By Andrew Bolan

07/18/2022

Truth stands on its own!

Quote of the day.

07/12/2022

Leaders are no longer cloned, not manufactured from an assembly line, not fabricated, not mass produced. Leaders today must be unique, disruptive, accepting of dissent, self critical, analytical. They should know when to look in the mirror and when to look through the glass; they should know when to walk through a door and when to make one; they should know when to be the foundation and when to be a wrecking ball. If all your leaders are the same, you are walking backwards into the past not stepping forward into the future.