In 1991 Saddam Hussein unleashed a ceaseless barrage of SCUD missiles upon Israel. Strategic targets included the industrial site housing Intel’s Israeli division. Dov Frohman, the head of the Israeli division, knew that, even amidst the siege, orders from around the globe must be filled and shipped. Failure to deliver might cause Intel leadership to spread production to other countries in order to minimize future risk. Frohman announced that the plants would continue production, however, reporting to work would be voluntary with no reprecussions for those who abstained. As SCUDS rained down on Tel Aviv, 80% of the employees came to work, toting gas masks and many bringing their children to stay in “sealed playrooms.” In defiance of terror and in the face of life-threatening circumstances, not a single order was missed or late.

Over the last couple of decades the foundation that undergirds a leader’s effectiveness has shifted from authority to influence. By today’s standard, this means that people won’t invest in your strategies or initiatives unless they have first invested in you. While there are many compelling reasons why people believe in a leader, ultimately it comes down to one word, trust. We simply will not follow someone who has not earned our trust! Trust has three components: character, competency, and consistency. The last of these implies that others’ trust in us will deepen if we do what we say we are going to do. In other words, one of the absolute, non-negotiable aspects of gaining influence and impact as a leader is honoring our commitments.

Dan Senor and Saul Singer, authors of Start-Up Nation, depict a supreme demonstration of commitment when they recount Intel’s foray into the Israeli economy. In 1985, Intel’s senior management made the risky decision to manufacture nearly all of its 386 microchips in Israel. Not only were they nervous about producing the bulk of their most important product in one location, in a country five-thousand miles away, but also were leery of the geopolitical risks of investing in a country completely surrounded by hostile forces. Character, competency and consistency prevailed and deep trust in the Israeli leadership was earned – not a single order, amidst the shelling was missed or delayed!

This event had a monumental impact upon Israel’s ascension to one of the world’s foremost technology leaders – not to mention the upon Israel’s overall economy. Secure in the fact that Israeli workers would consistently defy fear and daunting obstacles as a matter of national pride, once-hesitant investors poured money into Israeli economic initiatives. They trusted their investments would be safe and commitment delivered!

My advice to the anxious leader who wants to achieve great responsibility and influence: Don’t overcommit to the point of failure, but once you make a commitment, do what you say you are going to do. Meet your deadlines. Prepare as promised. Deliver what you say you will deliver. Make a commitment to become a person whose word is his bond! In time, your reputation will grow, word will spread, trust will run deep, and your circle of influence will expand! Secure a greater impact tomorrow by focusing fully on your commitments today.

Change leadership: “C”ing is believing

While change in any organization is natural, effectively leading people through change is not. In fact, it is a very difficult task. Studies show that nearly 70 percent of all change efforts fail, largely because most people view change as threatening, so they are resistant to it.

Effective leaders have learned the secrets of successful change leadership. They have adopted this “must C” list that will move people past “resistance”, and actually get them “on board” with the change process.

Casting Vision: In order to get people “on board” with change, they must first understand where it is they are expected to go. Effective leaders are able to bring colleagues to the core of an organization’s purpose and vision through dialog and reminders that they can’t be all things to all people, but they can accomplish the vision they set out to achieve. This is a central difference between a manager and a senior leader. As a change leader, you must cast a strong vision of where you are headed and why it is you are going there. This is akin to a captain at the helm of a boat, constantly reminding the oarsman where they are going. The problem most leaders have is they undercast the vision; and instead focus on the problem. If this gets repeated daily, your vision is lost and you are setting yourself and your company up for failure.

Communication: You need to communicate clearly, consistently and continually to everyone affected by the change. But it is not just the skill of communicating to employees that is important. It is the wisdom to create a communicative environment. You must create an environment that encourages a fearless desire for all employees to be truthful in identifying issues that are barriers to the successful implementation of the vision. Colleagues must also feel free to make suggestions and bring forward solutions without fear of “stepping on someone’s turf.” Finally, you must create an environment where “under the table” issues are willingly brought into the open, discussed and corrected. You need to develop both formal channels (meetings, newsletters, electronic communications) and informal channels (seeking out thoughtful leaders, being available and accessible, and 1:1 conversations over and over again) of communications as a means to create the communicative environment.

Conflict Management: Regardless of how well thought-out your vision is, and how well you’ve communicated about the change to the people around you, conflict will still emerge. However, this doesn’t have to be a negative. Conflict can be an opportunity to heighten trust. But in order for this to occur, you must manage it –and the people presenting it – respectfully. You must remain under emotional control at all times. You will hear many things during this time of change. Some information will be true, some will be assumptions, some will be misunderstandings and some will be created. Your goal should always be to seek win–win results while maintaining the vision of the organization. By asking more questions than making statements, you will acknowledge the feelings of others without contributing to any true or false impressions. By asking strategic questions, you will help others assess their feelings and gain new insights about the change process.

Change Leadership: Initiating change creates discomfort. As a leader, you must understand this and that the following predictable process will occur as a result: Every action causes an equal and opposite reaction. You cannot take this personally. Instead, you must identify your thoughtful leaders – those people who have influence over others regardless of their position or job title – to foster the change, wherever they have influence, whether it’s in the mail room, lunch room or the board room.

The keys to increasing the speed of change in your organization is engaging these thoughtful leaders to help spread the enthusiasm, listening deeply to their feedback on how to fine tune the change plan, and being transparent as a leader. Once you do this and focus your energy on giving time, affirmation and attention to the thoughtful leaders, your bandwagoneers will be motivated to get “on board” in the change process!

In June we will be two years removed from one of the worst economic recessions to ever hit our nation. While economists point to June 2009 as the ending point of the “Great Recession”, many, if not most, of our nation’s businesses continue to struggle.

While there were, and continue to be, many factors at play in our recovery from the recession, one of the most important for businesses is the focus of its leaders. As a leader, whether in good times or bad, you must continuously focus on achieving your overall vision and goals for any chance at success, and not become mired in “paying the rent” activities that don’t add any real value.

In the 1940s, quality management pioneer Dr. Joseph Juran recognized a universal principle he called the “vital few and the trivial many” which later became known as Pareto’s Principle or the 80:20 Rule. What he found was that in any equation, a few items (20 percent) are vital and many (80 percent) are trivial. In manufacturing, 20 percent of the defects cause 80 percent of the problems. For project managers, 20 percent of the work (the first 10 percent and the last 10 percent) consumes 80 percent of their time and resources.

Your activities and time also fall under this 80:20 Rule, which means you too, need to be appropriately focused. I always encourage the leaders I work with to make a daily list of ten items they want to accomplish, prioritizing them in order of importance to achieving their goals. Based on the 80:20 Rule, if you accomplish the first two items on your list (20% of your list) you will have accomplished 80% of your day’s goals! While it may make you feel better crossing more items off your list, remember that even if you accomplish the other eight items first (80% of your “to do” list) you will only have achieved 20% of your day’s goals – not a great day!

Another key to Pareto’s Principle is delegation. As part of your prioritization process, determine if a task is best handled by you or if someone else more appropriate to do it? For example, paying the rent is essential to your business’ survival; however, the CFO does not have to be the person who actually writes the check. In this case, oversight to make sure the rent got paid might be the Pareto and not the actual activity.

The value of Pareto’s Principle is it keeps you focused on the 20 percent of activities that matter most. That’s because those 20 percent will produce 80 percent of your results. Many of the leaders of the businesses that were part of that early recovery from the recession in June 2009 and before were focusing on just those activities.

When the fire drills of the day begin to sap your time, you must refocus yourself on the 20 percent (two items) you listed as the most important. If something on the schedule has to slip and can’t get done, make sure it’s not part of that vital few.

As a leader, working smart is no longer enough. You must work smart on the right things – the vital few!