Bob Sprague has a new blog on Leadership called Personal Clarity, and it’s going to be worth the read. (http://www.personalclarity.me) Bob is one of those guys I know that teaches about Leadership and truly lives it out. I value his insight. When I was 19 years old he influenced how I thought about Leadership and helped me pursue my journey towards being a better leader. For the last 25 years Bob has served me as a mentor, good friend, comrade in arms, and fellow parent (which is an amazing breeding ground of leadership lessons). Bob knows leadership well. It’s kind of like his pet project only it’s been during his entire adult life so far and maybe longer. Now that I think about it, Bob might have been born with a Leadership book at his side. I wonder if that version had pictures, hmmmmm?
When you lead in life it doesn’t happen in a vacuum nor is it just an external exercise of control. Leadership requires great thought and concern for where you will lead people and how you will do it. Every leader also needs council in life, and Bob Sprague has been one of those trusted voices to me and my wife Kathryn along the winding road of experience. When Bob talks about Leadership starting from within with Self-Leadership, I want to stand up on a table in a crowded room and scream, “YES, YOU HAVE TO START HERE, LISTEN UP!”
I believe Leadership is so important that it is 1 of the 8 parts of business we use to create a holistic view of business. These eight pieces - Leadership, Marketing, Finance, Management, Client Fulfillment, Lead Generation, Lead Conversion and Innovation/Creativity - are all foundational to business. If you don’t have any of them you will have a very difficult time running a sustainable business. I believe that if you are lacking in Leadership then you don’t have a chance of your business being sustainable - it’s that important. Leadership must be present and the kind of Leadership that is deep and powerful must start from within or it is a house of cards susceptible to any slight breeze.
If you are going to read any of the 737 million references to Leadership Blogs on Google then I would suggest that you include Bob’s new blog on Leadership. Read it, sign up on the RSS feed and every once in a while interact with it. It could help your small business go the long haul. When I discovered that Bob was going to write a blog on the subject it immediately caught my attention. I know Leadership is important and Bob Sprague’s wisdom and council on the subject have helped our company, Half a Bubble Out Marketing, make it into the top 30% of all businesses started over the last 35 years in America. That’s no small feat and without leadership we would have ended up in the small business graveyard a long time ago. So please, do yourself a favor. Add Bob Sprague’s Blog, http://www.personalclarity.me to your list of must reads. I think that most of you will be glad you did.
Thanks for reading,
Michael K. Redman
