52 Weeks of Leadership: One Week at a Time: You Shall Do Greater Things

By Curtis K. Chocholous

Read this short fifty-two weeks of back-to-basics leadership--one week at a time--to discover--or maybe rediscover--what it means to master the fundamentals of business. 52 Weeks of Leadership will--if you make the trip--set you on a course to acquire profound knowledge. Fully acquiring and applying that knowledge is entirely up to you. The ultimate goal of every leader should be to help people go to a higher level and reach their potential because potential is something that should always be increasing. Human potential, like voltage, is easy to measure. In doing so, you and your business associates shall do greater things. This book contains fifty-two short stories written to stir the heart, inspire the mind, and help business leaders and their people achieve far greater levels of success and happiness in business and life. The last story is yet to be written--that's your story--and my goal is to help you write it.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9798887519821

Book preview

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52 Weeks of Leadership

One Week at a Time: You Shall Do Greater Things

Curtis K. Chocholous

ISBN 979-8-88751-981-4 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88751-982-1 (digital)

Copyright © 2023 by Curtis K. Chocholous

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Unless otherwise noted, all Bible references used are from the New King James Version (NKJV).

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Introduction to 52 Weeks of Leadership

Week 1

Improve Your Management System

Week 2

The Miracle of Born-Again Leadership

Week 3

How Great Leaders Lead

Week 4

The Choreography of Business

Week 5

Calibrate Your Business

Week 6

The Magical Twelve Minutes

Week 7

When Leaders Connect

Week 8

When Speed Is a Trap

Week 9

The Regenerative Culture

Week 10

Decision Aptitude

Week 11

The Important Little Lines

Week 12

Try Business Therapy

Week 13

Detox Your Culture

Week 14

Leadership Huddles

Week 15

Accountability and Grace

Week 16

Three Leadership Traps to Avoid

Week 17

Elevate Others

Week 18

The Root of All Business Problems

Week 19

Why a Positive Workplace Matters

Week 20

Culture Killers, Builders, and Creators

Week 21

The Workplace Campfire

Week 22

The Hi-Tech Lo-Touch Dilemma

Week 23

Beyond Business Intelligence

Week 24

The Genius of Creative Tension

Week 25

The Best Kept Business Secret

Week 26

How to Build Leadership Capital

Week 27

The Lead in Leadership

Week 28

Leaders Motivate to Win

Week 29

Do Business Your Way

Week 30

Macro versus Micromanagement

Week 31

The Chief Mood Regulator

Week 32

The Dignity of Work

Week 33

Be a Culture Fixer-Upper

Week 34

The Paradox of Pain

Week 35

The Vital Leadership Link

Week 36

Failing to Plan Is a Plan to Fail

Week 37

Leadership Fitness

Week 38

Multitasking Drains the Brain

Week 39

Five Leadership Words in One

Week 40

Making Great Leaders Again

Week 41

Select Real Leaders

Week 42

The True Test of Leadership

Week 43

Virtuous Revolutionary Leaders

Week 44

Employees Make the Best Consultants

Week 45

The Standard of Leadership

Week 46

Specialize, Simplify, and Soar

Week 47

A Leader's Priceless Ingredient

Week 48

Clarify Priorities and Stay Focused

Week 49

The World's Greatest Leader

Week 50

Sea-Level Leadership

Week 51

Three Questions Every Leader Must Answer Correctly

Week 52

Your Story

About the Author

One Week at a Time

Introduction to 52 Weeks of Leadership

To help leaders take control of their organization, I created the 80/20Ltm Management System using the 80/20 Principle. It has withstood the test of time during a turbulent generation and provides the knowledge and know-how necessary to successfully operate in any organization, from start-up to succession.

It is with sincere gratitude that I thank and dedicate this book to Jesus, my family, mentors, business associates, and readers. It contains fifty-two short stories written to stir the heart, inspire the mind, and help leaders and their people achieve far greater levels of success and happiness not only in the workplace but also in the entire arena of life.

Josef Steindl said, For a very long time, the Pareto law (80/20 Principle) has lumbered the economic scene like an erratic block on the landscape; an empirical law which nobody can explain.

It is my hope and prayer that by reading 52 Weeks of Leadership, you will discover, explain, and be blessed in applying its logic.

A leader's ultimate goal is to help people reach their ever-increasing potential. May this book help you and your associates realize this ultimate goal and, as a result, do greater things.

Week 1

Improve Your Management System

Provide Leadership Direction

Leadership shapes the character of an organization for better or worse. As William Penn expressed it, Governments like clocks go from the motion men gave them; and as governments are made by men, so by them they are ruined too. Therefore, governments rather depend upon men, then men upon governments.

Business organizations also go from the motion leaders give them and therefore depend upon leaders to give them the right motion and to keep them moving in the right direction.

Stop Human Drift

All of human history proves that man's basic nature is to drift in the wrong direction. The cause of man's natural tendency to drift stems from the heart. It's been written, The heart is deceitful above all things. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9).

America's founding fathers recognized man's propensity toward wrongdoing. Thomas Jefferson said, In questions of power, then let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.

The constitution is indeed a noble attempt to influence and produce virtuous human behavior to preserve truth, freedom, and liberty as one nation under God. Business organizations can effectively prevent human drift by implementing behavioral standards to create a safe and productive work environment that will ensure good success and prosperity.

Establish Accountability Structure

The cause of most organizational problems is a lack of accountability. As organizations go about their daily activities, leaders should be equipped and capable of facilitating and enforcing workplace standards of accountability. To the trained eye, even a short tour through a business site can reveal a great deal about its accountability structure, which is also sometimes described as company culture.

Great leaders set clear expectations and facilitate success in a way that brings out the best in people. Leadership roles and responsibilities can be greatly simplified when people operate within an effective accountability structure. Accountability structures are an integral part of the overall management system. An organization chart is made complete when an accountability structure is added to it, but without doing so, an organization chart is a rather useless productivity tool.

Dr. Juran, often called the father of quality, created the Pareto principle. He helped managers separate the vital few from the useful many in their work activities. The vital few, from a customer perspective, should be the focus of every business leader and organization. Every member of the organization should also focus on their vital few as part of their individual accountability structure.

Insist on Improving Your Management System

Accountability structure is an inextricable component of an interdependent management system that prioritizes using the 80/20 Principle (Pareto law) in every aspect of the business to generate the most money with the least expenditure of assets and effort.

According to Richard Koch, 80/20 Principle extraordinaire, The 80/20 Principle can help chief executives, line managers, functional specialists, and any knowledge worker, down to the lowest level or the newest trainee.

A weak management system lacks absolutes that can lead to shoddy workmanship, late deliveries, questionable quality, routine disruptions, thievery, and all kinds of business issues.

To improve your management system, I suggest you and your team start by discussing, defining, and documenting how your current management systems work. Ask yourselves, if it's not documented, is it a sufficiently effective management system? Would you say your business operates in a casual