As we were kicking around the latest and greatest happenings in our worlds, I took the opportunity to ask Greg to share his advice for those  Type A’s who are looking to move into executive leadership.

Here’s Greg’s advice on how to get a bigger piece of the pie.

1.  You must know how to manage your time and your mind.

“As CEO, the toughest choice is knowing how to best manage your time and your mind.  As you get higher and higher on the ladder, you give up more and more of your time and your mind to issues that you may not have previously considered.  You must be constantly thinking about the results of others… the morale of employees, how the company is advancing, whether or not the business plan is accomplishing the company’s goals.  It’s no longer about your own results.  You have less and less brain space to focus on yourself or your family.   If you can’t manage your time and your mind, you’re not going to be successful.”

2.  Understand the financial impact of your decisions across the board.

“You are only as good as your bottom line.  More and more often pay is being tied to performance.  And it’s not just your performance but the entire company’s performance.  The company’s financial responsibility is shared responsibility.”

3. Explore your career and lifestyle options early in your career.

“Use your education years and the time in your 20’s to explore opportunities in lifestyle and career that you believe will help you feel fulfilled today and into the future.  Don’t make a commitment too early.  Find a career or industry that you will still enjoy years later.  And develop a secondary interest, such as a hobby or volunteer work, so you don’t become too job focused.”

4. Learn project management skills.

“The biggest gap we have between our experienced baby boomer leadership team and the next generation is strong project management skills.  No one is being taught project management.   Someone who has great project management skills will be invaluable to growing companies.”

When I ask why the employee hasn’t been given her walking papers, the boss usually spits out, “Because she’s one of our best producers.  She’s too valuable to fire but she makes my life hell and stirs up everybody else!”

I love these kinds of employees and you should, too.  Here’s why.

They’ve still got a fire burning in their gut.  It’s just a misdirected fire.   As a leader it’s a lot easier to re-direct a fire than it is to rekindle cold embers.

I’d much rather have a passionate, pain-in-the-butt employee than one who is a business-as-usual employee or – even worse – an employee that has quit but still comes to work collecting a paycheck.

Re-direct the passion and you’re going to transform the pain-in-the-butt into an outstanding contributor.   I’ve done it myself and I’ve seen it done by other leaders countless times.

But here’s the deal.  You can’t just keep doing your same old leadership tricks and hoping for a different outcome.  You’ve got to drop your attitude and dig beneath your own frustration to discover what is motivating the employee to be difficult.  You need to become Sherlock Holmes.

Here are some questions to help your investigation:

1.  Is the employee angry about some perceived injustice?  (Hint: Bosses tend to expect more out of high performers than they do other employees.)

2.  Is the employee bored?  (Hint: High performers often feed on change and challenge and love to collect the next trophy.)

3.  Is the employee wanting more power and influence in the workplace?  (Hint:  Money only goes so far in rewarding a high performer.  Respect, responsibility and authority – even if it’s coming from the gossip club – often fill the gap between money and meaning.)

4.  Is the employee frustrated about some aspect of their job?  (Hint:  High performers frequently don’t like rules that seem ridiculous or decisions that don’t contribute to results – like time wasting staff meetings or ill-informed strategies.)

5.  What have I done to contribute to this problem?  (Hint:  High performers want to be heard and valued by the folks in charge.  If they only get your attention by causing problems, then that’s what they are going to do.)

One last thing.  Ditch the hero routine.  Don’t try to save a bad apple.  It’ll ruin your whole team.

Let’s face it.  Occasionally even the best leaders hire a dud or inherit a crazy person.  I know because I’ve been in both situations.  If your pain-in-the-butt employee is acting unstable or is a real threat to other people or your business, consult with your HR department pronto to determine the safest and quickest way to deal with them.   Don’t tackle this challenge by yourself.

But… if you have a pain-in-the-butt, high performing employee, get busy!  You’ve got a diamond waiting to be polished.  Want to solve the high performance puzzle quicker?  Call me.  859-266-2436.

Yes, that me.  A lightning bolt.   I can’t help myself.  It’s in my DNA.

In my first ‘real’ job, I got sick of listening to my co-workers sit around and whine about how overworked and underpaid we were, so I petitioned our employer – the city government – to raise our wages.

The suits on the city council were shocked and appalled that a 21-year old, fresh-out-of-college female would have such audacity to question the status quo.  They called my boss and demanded to meet “the militant troublemaker”.  I found it all quite amusing.

A few months and one whopper of a pay raise later, a co-worker presented me with lightning bolt earrings and a lightning bolt t-shirt.   Giggling, she said, “Cannon, those guys never knew what hit them!”

Four years later, emboldened by success, I zapped, scorched and incinerated my way to record setting profits in my first big leadership role.  Determined to succeed regardless of the cost, I left a trail of charred and smoldering souls in my wake.  Intoxicated with my own power, I had morphed into a lightning bolt bully.

Then one day I went up in my own flames.  My mother’s childhood admonishments echoed through my head, “You shouldn’t play with fire!  Someone’s going to get hurt.”

It was only then that I realized the full responsibility of being a lightning bolt.

Over time I mastered the fine art of tossing lightning bolts to illuminate instead of decimate and to catalyze instead of paralyze.  In the darkest and most menacing of storms,  a friendly lightning bolt is a flashlight for the soul.  It shows you where it’s safe to step and helps you see your way to the desired destination.

With some work, I transformed myself from a lightning bolt bully to a lightning bolt leader.

It’s true.  You can’t escape who you are… but you can master the fine art of who you are.

Thirty years later, I still can’t stand whiners…  I still have the audacity to question the status quo and… I still occasionally get called a ‘militant troublemaker’ because I refuse to play the ‘good enough game’.   And I’m still a lightning bolt…  in a more artful and masterful way.

Have you mastered the fine art of who you are?

After the game, Pat Summitt, Tennessee’s coach and all-time winningest Division 1 basketball coach was quoted in the Lexington Herald-Leader.

“In 35 years coaching, this probably has been the least energy of any team I’ve coached,” Summitt said. “I’m not good at coaching effort. It was a total lack of passion. I don’t know that you can teach that to a player.”

Coach Summitt hit the nail on the head.  You can coach, teach, inspire, motivate, strategize, challenge and bend over backwards but it’s all wasted energy if your team – whether it’s in sports or business – doesn’t put forth effort… if they don’t have a fire burning in their belly.

Same holds true at work.  If you’ve got an employee that simply doesn’t seem to care about anything or doesn’t seem to want to put forth effort, why keep them?  Especially in today’s deep pool of top notch talent looking for a job.

There’s never been a better time to get rid of the deadwood.