Lessons to Build Effective Leaders

Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway was challenged by some friends to write a story in six words. He responded to the challenge with the following story: For sale: baby shoes, never worn. Hemingway has inspired the Six-Word Lesson series of books.

These brief and highly condensed best practices are for busy leaders and managers who just want the essence of the ideas now.....and maybe more information later.

Six Word Lessons to Build Effective Leaders, 100 Lessons to Equip Your People to Create Winning Organizations is part of this book series published by Pacelli Publishing.

These lessons come from my lifetime of experiences in business, public office and nonprofits. I have served in many roles of leadership and management and learned from many different sources including the school of hard knocks, great mentors and coaches, my competitors, informative books, case studies and travels abroad. Each lesson also links to other related best practices and resources for more depth and detail.

Hire and Retain the Best People

• Right person for the right job
• Job description defines who is needed
• Screen candidates with key job elements
• Don’t wing it; interview with purpose
• Fit employees like hand and glove
• Turn over rocks. Learn before hiring
• Hire more home runs; reduce strikeouts
• Invest in onboarding for successful integration
• Grow your employees; build your organization
• Constantly upgrade your team and talents
• Reduce excessive and costly turnover mistakes
• Weak or inadequate management causes failures

Motivate Employees with Mission and Purpose

• Leadership must have passion and motivation
• Expect excellence. Don’t accommodate poor performance
• Power your business plan with involvement
• Share real information across the organization
• Take safety seriously and reap dividends
• Leaders must define and future culture
• Root out demoralizing practices and culture
• Define and communicate your secret sauce