Great leaders have their thumb on the pulse of the organization. Without a pulse the organization dies. If you are to improve your leadership skills you must know the pulse of your organization.

You can only know the pulse of the organization by absorbing yourself within the daily activities and action of the business. To feel the pulse you must feel the passion.

If you’re not feeling the passion, then your pulse may very well be dead. Maybe your pulse is dead because you’re burned out. How can you be burned out when you’ve never been on fire?

You are responsible for your own fire. I’m just trying to give you a match to get you going. Firing up your own passion will ignite your organization.

Real leaders have a pulse. Real leaders feel the pulse. Real leaders inspire a pulse.

Hope you’re on fire. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

I often wonder what dealers, managers, and leaders are looking at. At times it seems they are looking, but they don’t see.

Yogi Berra once said: “You can observe a lot by just watching.”

And sometimes even when they see, they don’t hold people accountable and take corrective actions.

Believe it or not, people want to be held accountable. It’s hard to hold people accountable when we haven’t set or determined what the expectations are.

Once expectations are set then we have to have a way of measuring the progress. Measuring progress is probably one of the easiest things to do in the automobile business.

When the measurements are not satisfactory we have to communicate the results and seek corrective action.

Once the corrective action plan is in place it all starts over again and at some point there has to be, there just has to be, a consequence for failing to measure up.

And that’s where the biggest problem occurs. Not wanting to hand out the consequences is when leaders look, but don’t see.

I see it all the time. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

I don’t care what you know. I care what you can teach others to do. That’s what leaders do. They teach. They coach.

It’s a wonderful thing that you have talent and great skills, but if you can’t teach it to others then your organization’s growth is limited. You limit your own growth when others aren’t growing.

I cannot tell you how many times in my career I’ve seen talented managers not be able to teach others. Consequently when they are not on the job, nothing much happens. Productivity goes in the tank and the company suffers.

Should the B team be blamed for not getting the job done? No, the team leader who should be doing the teaching and the development of the staff should be blamed.

As much as you may think you’re “IT,” you’re not. If you can’t teach it then you ain’t “IT.” That’s all I’m gonna say. Tommy Gibbs

In 1983, against long odds, Jim Valvano led his underdog NC State Wolfpack basketball team to the NCAA basketball championship. He’s also very much remembered for his inspirational 1993 ESPY Awards speech given just eight weeks before he died of cancer.

His motto was, “Don’t Give Up . . . Don’t Ever Give Up.” In that speech he said there are three things we should do every day:

1. Laugh.
2. Think. You should spend some time in thought.
3. Cry. You should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy.

His point was if you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day.

Matthew McConaughey won the best actor award at the Oscars this past week. He said he needs three things in his life to survive:

1. Someone to look up to. I would also suggest you need someone to look up to. It might be God, someone in your family, business or someone who’s mentored you.

2. Someone to look forward to. In his case, and yours as well, he looks forward to his family. What do you have going on in your life that you look forward to? Is it accomplishing the next great challenge?

3. Someone to chase. He chases his hero. He said he was chasing himself in 10 year increments. That too makes sense. We all need something or someone to chase. Being in the chase makes us better.

Laughing, thinking, crying, having someone to look up to, something to look forward to and something to chase is what fuels the passion of life. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

Evan Longoria is an all-star third baseman for the Tampa Bay Rays. Having been an excellent player for a number of years he has become their leader both on and off the field.

In a recent article he and manager Joe Maddon discussed some of the burdens Evan faces as the leader of the team. I’ve never thought of leadership as carrying burdens; I’d rather think of it as the opportunities of leadership:

1. Being up when you are down.
2. Picking others up when they are down.
3. Doing the right thing when it’s easy to do the wrong thing.
4. Being respectful when your instinct is to do the opposite.
5. Getting after it when you feel drained.
6. Making changes when staying the course is comfortable.
7. Doing what you have asked others to do.
8. Speaking softly when you’d rather make a lot of noise.
9. Making a lot of noise when you’d rather speak softly.
10. Showing up early when you know you can come in late.
11. Making tough decisions that others can’t and won’t make.
12. Delegating authority so others may learn and grow.

What great opportunities you have as a leader. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

I was watching the downhill skiing at the Olympics this past week and couldn’t help but notice that as the skiers went through the corners how much they were actually on the edge of the skis. Being on the edge of the skis is what gives them speed. Being on the edge is what gives them the edge.

In your business being on the edge gives you speed. If you are going to have the “speed edge” you cannot have fear. Having the fear of being on the edge is what may be holding you back.

When you ski on the edge you’re going to fall. It’s hard to tell how far you can go until you fall once in a while. Falling helps you find the “real edge.” Finding the “real edge,” is what makes you better and actually gives you the edge.

Not being on the edge is skiing on the flat part of the ski. Being on the flat part of the ski slows you down. Are you skiing on the flat part of success?

Every once in a while you need to let it hang out on the edge. Let the skiing on the edge begin. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

This video clip shows people really pushing it. Pushing it to the next level. They are pushing it to the extreme. What about you? Are you pushing it? Are you even close to pushing it to the extreme? Are you satisfied with the status quo?

When you come to work each day, is it the same old same old? If it is the same old same old, have you looked in the mirror lately or are you blaming others for “it” not getting pushed?

I send you these emails to help push you along. The reality is you’re the one that needs to do the pushing. Start pushing, that’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

Video-People Pushing It

It’s not about stealing stuff. It’s about stealing time. How much time in a given day is stolen by the sales team? How much time is being stolen by the entire staff? Totally stolen?

Would you fire someone if you caught them stealing? Stealing time is the same as stealing stuff.

Most sales people wait on maybe 3 people a day. How much time does that take? What happens to the rest of their day? Are they being productive with the rest of their time?

Think about what a good deal it is to be a sales person today. Sales people have very little money invested and yet they have millions of dollars of inventory at their disposal.

They have a free receptionist, a great prospecting CRM management system to work with, free computers, and free training. And, all sorts of support from BDCs to delivery coordinators. Not a bad gig, yet there’s a lot of productive time being stolen.

One of the basic premises in Bruce Tulgan’s book, “It’s Ok To Be The Boss,” is if you go into a restaurant and get bad service from the wait staff it’s not their fault. It’s management’s fault for allowing it to happen in the first place.

Same deal with you. If stealing is going on at your store, it’s not the fault of the sales person or the person stealing “time.” It’s someone in management and maybe that’s you? That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

Patrick York, COO of the Gillman Companies, headquartered out of Houston, TX recently sent me the following email:

“You know what? I love Friday nights. I say that for two reasons. First, I get pumped every Friday night just like teams get pumped in the locker room before a BIG game because Saturdays are our BIG VOLUME sales days. The second reason I love Friday nights is because I get my weekly dose of straight talk and inspiration from my friend Tommy Gibbs.”

Forget about the part about Tommy Gibbs. Let’s focus on what Patrick said about getting pumped on Friday nights for the big game on Saturday.

Winning the big game on Saturday doesn’t happen because of what you necessarily do on Saturday. It happens because of what you did the week, the month and the year before you ever got to Saturday.

All the great teams, be they Automobile teams, football teams, basketball teams, or any other teams, win based on their willingness to prepare for the big game.

Yep, most people want to win, but most people don’t have the will to prepare to win. That’s all I’m gonna say. Tommy Gibbs

Actually I know what we have in common. We have winning in common. That’s why you check in with me from time to time and read my material. You’re looking for ideas to help you to keep winning.

You and I may have different ideas about what winning means to us. Fundamentally it’s about keeping score regardless of what the “score factor” might be. The “score factor” might be number of units sold, it might be gross profit, it might be income, it might be net profit, or it might be how many people we have helped make a better life for themselves. It’s all about keeping some sort of score.

It’s important to surround yourself with people who have things in common with you. If they are not interested in keeping score then they are not interested in winning. If they are not interested in winning then you don’t have much in common with them.

If you don’t have much in common with them then you need to be a real winner and rid yourself of their presence. It’s not just about winning, it’s about running up the score. Yep, that’s what you and I have in common, we wanna run up the score. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs