To lead well, we must have the box well defined.
Know your people.
Know your budget.
What do you need to make your numbers?
What numbers do you need to make?
You have know to what's available to you. What's in your box? What do you have to work with?
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
When this blog started out Alethes (our company) had 400 loan officers and 70 corporate employees. That started changing in mid to late 2008. Along with the mortgage industry's whoas, we've had our own; some due to what's been imposed on us, other self-inflicted.
Googling through the archives you'll find a maturing format in this blog. It was originally titled "Focus and Reflection," and there was a great deal of focus and reflection, but not near enough inside-the-box THINKING and BEHAVING. We, or at least I, talked a lot about leadership, but not near enough about following, and there were some unhealthy passive-agressive agendas among those on my leadership team. And we talked and acted out too much outside-the-box thinking.
Hopefully, I've learned a lot and will use this knowledge to change. I'm patiently working each day to learn where I'm going with my life, and my business. Still plenty of hurdles and slamming doors to deal with, but what doesn't kill you, will make you stronger. There are alot of opportunities out there for the survivors and I just need to remember that changes need to be s l o w .
Besides, if it does kill me, I'll be in heaven!
------------------------------------------
The postings on this blog will vary in nature. Some can be very direct, others a “positive attitude” message. It is often a mixture of numbers, thanks, where we are at, some possibilities of the future, and/or uh ohs. I regularly attempt to draw myself and others to the past; from there we learn from our mistakes and victories.
While many of the original posting were primarily about corporate specifics, the intent will be to push and pull more from the overall culture of Alethes and include branch agendas.
One of my disciplines is Vulnerability; this, in part, means transparency and is a behavior for living out the core ideology of our Mission and Value Statements. At times, I’ve been accused of disclosing too much, but, I want you to trust there is little I'm holding back. If I have facts, and I deem them appropriate to disclose, I talk about them. I’ve been as vocal about the facts and changes as legally possible. I will always separate the facts from the speculation.
With the consistent industry changes, I'm constantly running scenarios and considering possibilities. While most never come to play, some have. I've also said, many times, "I don't know."
I look back at the many changes at Alethes and some of the announcements I've made don't seem so harsh, today, but they were hard at the time. And we've had some real surprises and disappointments. All-in-all, some have called it a cleansing while others have thought of it as a "purge."
I'll just say it has been a real growth experience and while I would rather have had better results, I'm personally a better person because of it. Alethes' mission statement says that we will glorify God and looking back I can see how we did not do that very well in a lot of ways. Now, in the tough times I'll have to concentrate on how to lead well and glorifying him. My manual for that is the Bible and specifically the book of 1 Peter.
To that end....
Googling through the archives you'll find a maturing format in this blog. It was originally titled "Focus and Reflection," and there was a great deal of focus and reflection, but not near enough inside-the-box THINKING and BEHAVING. We, or at least I, talked a lot about leadership, but not near enough about following, and there were some unhealthy passive-agressive agendas among those on my leadership team. And we talked and acted out too much outside-the-box thinking.
Hopefully, I've learned a lot and will use this knowledge to change. I'm patiently working each day to learn where I'm going with my life, and my business. Still plenty of hurdles and slamming doors to deal with, but what doesn't kill you, will make you stronger. There are alot of opportunities out there for the survivors and I just need to remember that changes need to be s l o w .
Besides, if it does kill me, I'll be in heaven!
------------------------------------------
The postings on this blog will vary in nature. Some can be very direct, others a “positive attitude” message. It is often a mixture of numbers, thanks, where we are at, some possibilities of the future, and/or uh ohs. I regularly attempt to draw myself and others to the past; from there we learn from our mistakes and victories.
While many of the original posting were primarily about corporate specifics, the intent will be to push and pull more from the overall culture of Alethes and include branch agendas.
One of my disciplines is Vulnerability; this, in part, means transparency and is a behavior for living out the core ideology of our Mission and Value Statements. At times, I’ve been accused of disclosing too much, but, I want you to trust there is little I'm holding back. If I have facts, and I deem them appropriate to disclose, I talk about them. I’ve been as vocal about the facts and changes as legally possible. I will always separate the facts from the speculation.
With the consistent industry changes, I'm constantly running scenarios and considering possibilities. While most never come to play, some have. I've also said, many times, "I don't know."
I look back at the many changes at Alethes and some of the announcements I've made don't seem so harsh, today, but they were hard at the time. And we've had some real surprises and disappointments. All-in-all, some have called it a cleansing while others have thought of it as a "purge."
I'll just say it has been a real growth experience and while I would rather have had better results, I'm personally a better person because of it. Alethes' mission statement says that we will glorify God and looking back I can see how we did not do that very well in a lot of ways. Now, in the tough times I'll have to concentrate on how to lead well and glorifying him. My manual for that is the Bible and specifically the book of 1 Peter.
To that end....
Monday, May 25, 2009
Following Well: Peter....and not so well
The largest part of my study the past 4 months has been on Peter; the New Testament book and the man who wrote it.
Peter is a great example of someone that's willing to do his calling poorly until he learned to do it well. Originally a follower of John the Baptist, his brother Andrew led him to Jesus where he both embarrassed and distinguished his role.
Peter followed well because he was not detered by set backs (like denying Christ), but collected himself and continued to strive for the vision. He reached for the prize.
To that end.....
Friday, May 22, 2009
Competitive Advantage Nots?
What is not a competitive advantage?
1. your competitors lack of performance
2. stories about your competitor
3. trying to make your competitor look bad
4. comparing yourself to your competitor
Except on a rare occasion you should not even mention your competitor. Yes, you need to know how you are in comparison to your competition, but please...don't use that as a selling point. Don't try to tell someone on how good you are by telling them how bad the competition is.
Tell YOUR story - Tell YOUR competitive advantage.
Every time you mention your competition, you loose.
What are your COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES? Do you know? Are they written down? Do you talk about them?
To that end.....
1. your competitors lack of performance
2. stories about your competitor
3. trying to make your competitor look bad
4. comparing yourself to your competitor
Except on a rare occasion you should not even mention your competitor. Yes, you need to know how you are in comparison to your competition, but please...don't use that as a selling point. Don't try to tell someone on how good you are by telling them how bad the competition is.
Tell YOUR story - Tell YOUR competitive advantage.
Every time you mention your competition, you loose.
What are your COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES? Do you know? Are they written down? Do you talk about them?
To that end.....
Monday, May 18, 2009
The Courage to Follow
I've written and talked over the past three years about leaders leading leaders. The church community I'm a part of, Austin Ridge Bible, has grown well over the past 4-5 years and our senior paster, Brad Thomas, mentioned yesterday that it is in part because the members follow well.
That's an example of leaders leading leaders and doing it well. A good leader follows well. Not blindly, but purposefully, and with integrity.
Along those lines, I ran across the following post on LinkedIn recently. It was the title that struck me: The Courage to Follow....
That's an example of leaders leading leaders and doing it well. A good leader follows well. Not blindly, but purposefully, and with integrity.
Along those lines, I ran across the following post on LinkedIn recently. It was the title that struck me: The Courage to Follow....
http://linked2leadership.com/2009/05/01/the-courage-to-follow/
Follow well.
Friday, May 1, 2009
What does the box look like?
The box, if we're talking about Alethes, and I am, is incredibly smaller today than a year ago. Ha - it's incredibly smaller than it was three months ago.
Today, the box has eight corporate employees comprised mainly of accountanting and administrative types. We are closing down our mortgage banking facilities and are going back to being a pure broker.
We are consentrating on being the best-the-business at paying loan officers rapidly and letting them broker out their business. The box is well defined on the first part of that concentration but not so well on the second.
Brokering loans has become a subject of concern over the past few months and some believe it will become a thing of the past in the next few months. I am one that differs considerably on that opinion. I emphasize opininion because I they, opinions, don't make good strategies. Exeriences are much easier to sink your leadership teath in to.
Experience shows me there are ways to manage the controlls on our mortgage brokering business.
Experience shows me that loan officers want choices.
Experience shows me that we need good loan officers, working with good processors, on good loans.
Experience tells me that the leadership at Alethes needs to step up and pay attention.
We truly need to be a company of Leaders Leading Leaders - Well.
To that end!
Today, the box has eight corporate employees comprised mainly of accountanting and administrative types. We are closing down our mortgage banking facilities and are going back to being a pure broker.
We are consentrating on being the best-the-business at paying loan officers rapidly and letting them broker out their business. The box is well defined on the first part of that concentration but not so well on the second.
Brokering loans has become a subject of concern over the past few months and some believe it will become a thing of the past in the next few months. I am one that differs considerably on that opinion. I emphasize opininion because I they, opinions, don't make good strategies. Exeriences are much easier to sink your leadership teath in to.
Experience shows me there are ways to manage the controlls on our mortgage brokering business.
Experience shows me that loan officers want choices.
Experience shows me that we need good loan officers, working with good processors, on good loans.
Experience tells me that the leadership at Alethes needs to step up and pay attention.
We truly need to be a company of Leaders Leading Leaders - Well.
To that end!
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