Over the last year we noticed a huge drop in delivery rates to newsletter subscribers. Each month I put a lot of time into producing The Leader Letter and some months felt like we were sending it straight to the "junk" filters.

At a conference in December, I learned that it wasn't just us. Apparently it's getting trickier and trickier to navigate firewalls and spam filters for everyone, as fraudsters grow their list of tricks to make it into mailboxes like yours (and mine.)

During one of the forums dealing with marketing, we learned how legitimate folks are protecting themselves, and their lists, by signing up with third party e-mail providers that make it their business to keep on the white label lists at major ISPs.

After chatting with a few different folks, Aweber.com came highly recommended.

As a result, if you’re reading this message and would like to continue receiving The Leader Letter we need you to sign-up again through the form on our home page – www.clemmer.net.

This is the last month we’re using the old system, so sign-up now and you’ll continue to get the same great newsletter delivered to your inbox each month!

Writing Moose on the Table gave me the chance to bring to life many of the leadership principles I wrote about in my five previous books, and spoke about during my decades of facilitating workshops and retreats. Researching, outlining, and writing a book always deepens my thinking and provides me with a framework to create practical workbooks and workshops that apply the principles or approaches I just wrote about.

So I am currently finalizing my design for a new workshop built around Moose on the Table. It’s called “Breaking Through the Bull: Removing Barriers to Building a High-Performance Organization” and I’ll be delivering it in eight Canadian cities this April along with a national media book tour. I am also working on the practical workbook or discussion guide that will be used in this workshop and later available for purchase as an implementation guide to Moose on the Table.  Go to www.breakingthroughthebull.com for details and to register for the April workshop series. My last series of public workshops was in 1999 (around the release of Growing the Distance.) At this point we don’t plan to have any other public workshops beyond the April sessions.

As with all my workshops, I customize half-, one-, and two-day versions for specific in-house applications. Contact Heather at [email protected] or (519) 748-6561 to book me or explore the options.

On February 25^th from 1:00 - 2:00 Eastern Standard Time (GMT - 05:00) I’m delivering an overview of the key points and practical applications embedded in my new “Breaking Through the Bull” workshop. Go to www.breakingthroughthebull.com for more information on what I am covering on the webcast, how it works, and to register.

I wrote last month how my author anxiety was lessened by very positive early reviews (and our printer purchasing copies for his entire management team while the ink was still drying.) My stress continues to drop as many more written and verbal reviews are now rolling in. I especially like to get the “I could not put it down” feedback as well as insights into how readers “delayered” and interpreted the symbols and messages I tried weaving into an entertaining story.

“Jim, I loved the book and could not put it down until I finished!  It is a great way to open the eyes of ‘Moose Hunters’ everywhere.  I have recommended the book to our Coach network and hopefully you will be receiving many more requests for the book!”

Diane Cappel, Organization Effectiveness Coach
Dow Chemical

“Jim's latest book, Moose on the Table, brings attention to a not so un-novel situation in a very novel way. Jim brings into focus a scenario that affects many people in many organisations in a way that makes reading about it fun. This increases consideration of the key issues that cause it to occur in the first place. It's too easy to pass over these learnings in a text book. Jim's storytelling makes them much more enjoyable and consequently increases the learnings and ability to reference it to others in the team.”

George Gilraine, Facilitator/Internal Management Consultant
Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals A/S, Denmark

“Moose on the Table is educational and entertaining. From beginning to end the story had me fully engaged. I particularly liked how Jim so creatively manifested Pete's subconscious battles with himself through the humorous and painful struggles with the character of Alfred. Their 'conversations' and confrontations revealed the fragility of the human spirit. It also reminded us to listen deeply to our inner voice. By doing so, we can reclaim our resourcefulness, resiliency, and intuition to successfully deal with adversity.  Jim skillfully wove the threads of Pete's self awareness into a remarkable personal tapestry of tragedy and triumph through inner reflection leading to outer leadership. Readers will easily identify with and learn from the main
character - Pete Leonard.

Moose on the Table needs to be in everyone's motivational/self-help library.
It's a novel to read and reread.  Each time the story will be fresh and inspiring.”

Kamara Hennessey, B.Mus. RMT (ORMTA:CFMTA)
Program Coordinator (BFO~H/B), Burlington, ON

Peter Dunfield, Senior Advisor, Safety Health and Environment at Syncrude in Fort McMurray, Alberta sent this photo of a thank you memento he was given after his presentation a few years ago to The Construction Owners Association of Alberta (COAA). Peter had asked for my permission to use one of my Moose-on-the-Table slides to raise the issue of alcohol and drug use in Alberta’s construction industry. He challenged his audience by stating, “We need people to step up and acknowledge that alcohol and drug use in construction is a moose on our table and not be OK with maintaining the status quo any longer.”

Peter talked like a true leader navigating change “above the line,” as he further challenged everyone at the conference to deal with this moose. “We don’t need to wait for the Government to clarify and tell us to do the right things. We can address the alcohol and drug issue right now if we choose to do it! There are a lot of people out there waiting. Waiting for legal precedent, waiting for legislation, waiting for others to move first. Why are we waiting?  Let’s not ask for permission to do the right thing…let’s just do it!”

My good friend and fellow Kitchenerite (yes, he lives right here in the centre of the universe), Jeff Wilbee, would heartily agree. Jeff was head of Addictions Ontario. He was awarded a “Courage to Come Back” award earlier this year. You can read his inspiring personal story at http://www.camh.net/Foundation/Events/Courage_2007/2007_courage_jeff_wilbee.html. Jeff now provides workshops, presentations, and consulting to organizations willing to address the alcohol and drug moose. He and I have talked numerous times about the social and organizational stigma of addictions and how so many people try to make the moose go away. But just as Pete Leonard (the central character in my new “edutaining case study” book Moose on the Table) found out, ignoring a moose like this actually makes it grow bigger, bolder and even attracts more moose (this is touched on in the chapter entitled, “The Call of the Riled”.) Whether at home, with friends, or in the workplace, we enable and feed a moose-like addiction by pretending it’s not there or hoping that it will go away if we ignore it.

Hats off to courageous leaders like Peter and Jeff for causing others to squirm by naming the moose! That’s an important first step in any moose hunting exercise.

The Leader’s Digest: Timeless Principles for Team and Organization Success and its  Practical Application Planner provide an explicit roadmap or how-to framework for the implicit approaches chronicled in Moose on the Table. As this pair of leadership development resources were designed to do, many management teams are now using them to learn together as a group (you can read more about this at http://www.clemmer.net/books/tldpap_intro.aspx.)

Here’s an excellent example of a supervisory management team using these materials very effectively:

“One of our new superintendents asked if our Training and Development group could recommend reading for his supervisors and himself that would be part of their annual review.  We recommended The Leader’s Digest  with workbook (The Leader’s Digest: Practical Application Planner) for his team to work through in their group. 

Each section was assigned as homework with a face-to-face after the assigned time.  Over the past six months, they have completed both the reading and workbook together.  Here are some of their comments:

·        “The Leader’s Digest was fun to read. It did not get boring. It has some valuable info in it that can definitely be applied by frontline leadership in our mills.”

·        “A very easy read. The concepts were easy to understand and the book gave many examples of how to use the tools.  I recommend the book to all supervisors and managers at all levels.”

·        “A common sense approach to leadership and coaching others.”

·        “Easy to understand, practical and interesting enough to keep me reading.  Many of the examples brought the full meaning into focus.”

·        “The book was well laid out and easy to read with the side bars and humor. I would recommend that the rest of the region reads this book.”

·        “A lot of good information in the book. Getting everyone together to talk about it and to apply the information to our mill helped to solidify application. I would suggest other plants do something similar.””

             Bob Salstrand
             Boise Cascade Inland Region, La Grande, OR

I am pleased to present a version of my Moose-on-the-Table (“Breaking Through the Bull”) workshop at the Healthy Workplaces Conference at the White Oaks Conference Resort and Spa, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario on March 27^th. All conference participants will receive a copy of Moose on the Table. Go to http://www.yourworkplace.ca/conference for details on this powerful session. You can save $50 on your registration by putting the code JIM401 on your registration.

A few months ago, The Globe & Mail ran this item:

“Want to make employees happier? It might help to say thanks.

Sixty-five per cent of U.S. workers say they'd like to receive more appreciation on the job. And 68 per cent say they'd prefer to be thanked in person rather than by e-mail, according to a survey of more than 2,300 U.S. employees by staffing firm Adecco USA and Harris Interactive."

I have written fairly extensively about the power of recognition, celebration, and appreciation to inspire people in their team or organization. It's such a critical leadership skill that I even designed and deliver a half-day workshop entitled “Recognizing, Celebrating, and Appreciating: How to Reenergize, Reinforce, and Inspire Ever Higher Performance.”

You can view and download a series of my articles and book excerpts on recognition, appreciation, and celebration at http://www.clemmer.net/articles/subject_14.aspx. You can also peruse about a dozen Improvement Points on recognition at http://www.clemmer.net/newsletter/ipoints_14.aspx (when you're there, click on the link in the Improvement Point to read the full article.)

“Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.”
- Gandhi

“Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off. Good leadership involves responsibility to the welfare of the group, which means that some people will get angry at your actions and decisions.  It's inevitable, if you're honorable. Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity: you'll avoid the tough decisions and you'll avoid confronting the people who need to be confronted.”
- General Colin Powell, Chairman (Ret), Joint Chiefs of Staff

“The trouble with her is that she lacks the power of conversation but not the power of speech.”
- George Bernard Shaw

“From the Airbus A380 to the Denver Airport baggage handling system, the failure of major projects seems to be a common theme in today’s business landscape. According to a new study, it’s not just big business that suffers from project failure. Research released from a Crucial Conversations Online Survey revealed that 82 percent of employees say there are significant organization-wide initiatives underway in their workplace that will likely fail, and 78 percent say they are personally working on a ‘doomed’ project right now.

…More than 90 percent say they know early on when projects are likely to fall short. 77 percent compare their failing projects to ‘slow motion train wrecks.’ 81 percent say approaching a key decision maker about the project is nearly impossible.”
- Press release from Vital Smarts, "Pssst! Your Corporate Initiative Is Dead and You’re the Only One Who Doesn’t Know"

“No tree becomes rooted and sturdy unless many a wind assails it. For by its very tossing it tightens its grip and plants its roots more securely; the fragile trees are those that have grown in a sunny valley.”
- Seneca the Younger

“Too many organizations descend into underperformance because they can’t confront the painful gap between their strategy and the reality of their capabilities, their behaviors, and their markets. That’s because senior managers don’t know how to engage in truthful conversations about the problems that threaten the business — and because lower-level managers are afraid to speak up.” - Michael Beer and Russell A. Eisenstat, "How to Have an Honest Conversation About Your Business Strategy,” Harvard Business Review

Improvement Points is a free service providing a key thought or quotation from one of my articles, provided three times per week, directly to your e-mail inbox. Each complimentary Improvement Point links directly into the full article on our web site that spawned it. If you'd like to read more about that day's Improvement Point, you can choose to click through to the article for a quick five-minute read. This is your opportunity for a short pause that refreshes, is an inspirational vitamin, or a quick performance boost. You can circulate especially relevant or timely articles or Improvement Points to your team, Clients, or colleagues for further discussion or action.

Here are the three most popular Improvement Points we sent out in January:

“Many people lose the boss lottery and, through no fault of their own, end up reporting to an ineffectual manager. You may not have chosen your boss, but you don't have to be a victim of his or her weaknesses.”
 - From Jim Clemmer's article, "Bad Boss:  Learn How to Manage Your Manager”
http://www.clemmer.net/articles/article_306.aspx

“‘How long have you worked here?’ ‘Ever since my boss threatened to fire me.’ Far too many people have retired, but still show up for work. Others have resigned but still go through the motions and are on the payroll.”
 - From Jim Clemmer's article, "Apathy and Cynicism Zap Our Spirit”
http://www.clemmer.net/articles/article_49.aspx

“We must ring true to ourselves by exploring our inner space, gathering feedback on our personal behavior, and ensuring consistency with our stated values and principles.”
 - From Jim Clemmer's article, "Growing the Leader in Us”
http://www.clemmer.net/articles/article_81.aspx

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The CLEMMER Group
10 Pioneer Drive, Suite 105, Kitchener, ON N2P 2A4
Phone: (519) 748-1044 ~ Fax: (519) 748-5813
E-mail: [email protected]
http://www.clemmer.net