The Exuberant Accountant - Scott Heintzelman

Every business is looking for a competitive advantage and some are finding that being truthful with customers is paying dividends (while some are turning to deceitful ways to gain a short term advantage). 

It is sad, but being honest and truthful is becoming more uncommon in the business world. Conversely, being truthful in all business dealings serves as a refreshing, competitive advantage. We all like to do business with someone we like and trust; customers will return and bring repeat business (and tell friends) to those that honor their commitments. 

Read what my friend Phil Clemens (CEO of Clemens Family Corporation (i.e. Hatfield Meats) has to say about truth in his most recent monthly email. 

“Anyone who doesn’t take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either.” - Albert Einstein  

Great leaders know it is never right to tell a lie. Society tells us – it was just a “little white lie,” it didn’t hurt anything or anybody and after all – everyone does it. (Isn’t this the very excuse that makes us, as parents, cringe when used by our children? We don’t allow them to use this excuse, so why would we tolerate it from our business associates?) Einstein reminds us that truth is truth and if you aren’t truthful in small things, you will never be truthful in large ones – in fact, you can’t be trusted with large ones.  

Thomas Edison was undeniably one of the great men in U.S. history. Most of us know him as a brilliant scientist and inventor, but few know about his great business mind.

Most of his inventions were not simply an accidental discovery, but rather a planned process. One of his most famous quotes “Vision without execution is hallucination” indicates how much he valued not only idea generation, but implementation.

I recently received Phil Clemens “May Thought for the Month” and believe Phil’s words and Edison’s quote contain sage advice for all leaders.

With over 1,000 inventions, Thomas Edison was certainly a man who had a vision to make this world a much better place. Edison not only had vision – he executed. 

One of my favorite men of history is Winston Churchill and he had numerous great quotes including the title of this blog post - "Mountaintops inspire leaders but valleys mature them." 

I recently received Phil Clemens “April Thought for the Month” and thought his words coupled with some wonderful quotes from Winston Churchill may be valuable to share with others at this time. I know many organizations are still feeling the impact of the recession and feel like they are in the “Valley.” I hope this short post will inspire you to press on. 

When you are on the top of the mountain you have a great view and in business – it means you are at the top of your game. You can dream about the impossible dream and soar among the stars – you can be greatly inspired. But, rarely when things are going well do we really grow; in fact, that is when you sit back and say – “I deserve this.” 

During my lifetime I have had the privilege of watching many leaders in action. People like my parents set a tone that hard work would always pay rewards; or my college professor who inspired me to reach for new heights. I often think of many of my coaches who pushed me harder than I thought possible to achieve more than I could only dream. 

Each one of them had a different style and used their areas of strength or personality to their advantage. The one thing that was common in all of the great leaders that I served under was that they all did three things well: 

• They educated.
• They innovated.
• They elevated.