西部落：做职场中的最强者（在线收听）

I think if you wanna get some excitement in your life, you ought to become a leader. How do you influence others? How do you make a difference in their life and the organizations that you are gonna lead?

So not everyone is a born leader, they need a little help along the way. What are some of the big mistakes that people make when they are in leadership responsibilities whether be, you know, in the workplace or perhaps even at home they think they've got it down, some of because they are the designated leader.

Well, I think the biggest mistake er, is they don't reali, realize that there's two parts of leadership. One is the visionary direction part, which is where we're going, you know, what are the goals? What we are trying to accomplish? And the leaders got to take a major role in setting those. And once the goals are clear now the second part of leadership is how do we get there. That's when you have to philosophically go to the bottom in the pyramid, and become the coach, cheerleader, supporter of people as they are the ones that are gonna be accomplishing the goals, so we teach people about vision and direction and implementation.

So say you want to be a leader in the form of your own small business and everywhere you turn these days, mom-and-pop businesses are being gobbled up by the big conglomerates, so what's your outlook on those who want to be that entrepreneur, someone who wants to lead and organize their own business?

Well, I think first of all you have to find something that you love to do, that you have energy with because then you'll take the time to be the best. And then you have to find out, OK, how can I make a business out of that? You know, "do I wanna be a coach?" er, "do I wanna be a teacher?" er, "do I have a product that I think people might be interested in?" So find something you are passionate about and then of course the big issues in running a business and not getting gobbled up is you need good finances and so you need to have some people that'll help you get off the ground and then you got to know more about managing and leading people.

All right, and say you are someone who is just now entering the workforce. Yes, you are excited and passionate about what you've chosen to do but somehow you gotta keep the momentum going. You get it into the job place or the job market and then you know suddenly you kinda disillusion that wow, this's a little bit harder than I thought. How do you maintain that kind of excitement so that you can excel?

Well, I think the best advice I've ever given to people is when you go to a job, find a mentor, find somebody who's older than you that has some experience than you and ask them if they would be your mentor. Because a lot of times we get a job and it's more difficult than we thought and we don't know where to turn and so a lot of companies don't set that up, so set it up for your, yourself.

1. mom-and-pop:being or relating to a small owner-operated business

2. mentor:n.A wise and trusted counselor or teacher