“Honesty is not the best policy,
it’s the ONLY policy.”

Howard Putnam
Former CEO of Southwest Airlines

Blagojevich, Madoff, Enron, ugh! What is happening? When did the word LEADER become synonymous with dishonest? Well friends, it’s time for the rest of us to take over. Because the lesson learned from all of this is that while deception, half-truths, and manipulation may get some to the top, the chances of staying there without a foundation of integrity aren’t very good.

So let’s make it our objective in 2009 to be the types of leaders that USE honesty to get to the top, regardless of how difficult being honest can often be. In fact, research done by the Tom Peters group shows us the most important elements followers look for in leaders are as follows:

·      88% say HONESTY

·      75% say VISION

·      68% say INSPIRING

·      63% say COMPETENT

Now here’s the prep. There will be some time over the next 48 hours when you will have a choice to make. And at that moment you will be given the choice to deliver your message with 100% honesty or something less. And once you choose honesty, you have set in motion your greatest asset to becoming a top performing salesperson, manager, CEO, friend, spouse or parent. And I can honestly say, I can’t wait to see how many lives you positively influence in 2009.

Listen to Brian discuss honesty and FUN with former Southwest Airlines CEO Howard Putnam on his weekly radio show by visiting http://www.preciseselling.com/Radioaccess.htm. President of Kansas City-based PRECISE Selling, Brian delivers seminars and internet training programs on sales, customer service, leadership and presentation skills to companies of all sizes. To find out more, visit him at www.preciseselling.com or email Brian at bsullivan@preciseselling.com. To learn more about Howard Putnam’s outstanding leadership programs, visit him at www.howardputnam.com

“Before you can inspire with emotion, you must be swamped with it yourself.
Before you can move their tears, your own must flow.
To convince them, you must yourself believe.”
-Winston Churchill

One of the greatest gifts God has given us is emotion. By showing your emotion, it allows others to get a glimpse of what the heck is going on inside of that skin of yours. And when you give others the ability to see what is in your head and heart, your ability to positively influence them is greatly increased. Think of some of the greatest leaders in history and how they used emotion to convey their message. Now think of that big meeting you have this week where you are trying to influence others, and jazz that presentation up with some raw emotion. Let others see that you firmly believe what you are “selling.” It will be that expressed emotion that will mean the difference between attaining your meeting objective and falling just a bit short.