Honing “CEO skills” isn’t just for CEOs—it’s for every manager who wants to do a better job and every employee who wants to be promoted.

Sure, you may not know as much, or have access to, the same information as the boss, but don’t let that stop you.

It’s similar to managing a fantasy sports team, you know all the easy information and a little research usually gives you a lot more with which to work.

You can make it even more interesting and fun by recruiting colleagues to choose other companies to shadow and compete.

Whatever level you’re at, you may know a lot about your company already and a lot more is in the public domain.

What’s most important in running a company? Obviously, the list below isn’t everything, but it does offer ten of the most important things to get you started running the fantasy version of the company you choose.

• You may not be a CFO, but you better know your numbers: where they come from, how they interact, and where they’re going. This includes knowing/learning to read financial statements, annual reports, etc.
• No matter what your career path, know about your company’s market (no matter how cool and cutting-edge your service, product or e-concept is) so you can understand who buys it and why, what the competition offers and how your company products or services differ.
• Every successful company must have a competitive edge, whether it’s unique products/services, pricing advantages, company culture (think Zappos), etc. Learn how to define your company’s competitive edge and understand how to communicate it clearly to the whole company so that everyone is focused on making it happen.
• Clearly identify the goals of the company, then work to turn them into specifics. Assure buy-in by making sure employees understand the interaction among their goals, the company’s goals, and those of other people.
• Hire the smartest people available and give them an environment that enables them to produce; then watch your company’s strengths increase in direct proportion to your people’s growth. Remember, people are most productive if they know, and help determine, their work and the range of their control.
• Make sure that there’s an obvious and direct relationship between the rewards people receives—salary, stock, bonuses, medals, whatever—and the success of the company. The biggest rewards should go to those who understand the company’s goals and ethically do whatever it takes to achieve them.
• Create a culture in which the messenger is never shot; that way you’ll always get the earliest possible warning of potential problems.
• You set the tone of the organization. If you’re political, secretive, nitpicking, or querulous, then that’s how your organization will be, because, no matter what, employees will always do as you do, not as you say.
• Never criticize an employee in the presence of others. Praise in public, criticize in private.
• Companies are like tripods, with customers, investors, and employees each representing a leg. If you don’t pay equal attention to each the company will tip over.

Track your choices, decisions and actions against the reality. Give yourself a high five when your ideas pan out, and learn when they don’t.

You’ll be amazed at how fast the learning from your fantasy business pays off in your real work!

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Do you like to impress people? Do you want to be seen as intelligent; a person who is going somewhere?

Then here’s a secret few people think about.

Successful people are usually great communicators and the hallmark of great communications is clarity of thought. What people don’t think about is that clarity applies to all communications—including insults.

Practice clarity in all your communications and if it’s necessary to insult someone, and at times it is—or at least it feels that way—your insults should be offered with the same clarity and a whole lot of class.

The need for clarity is obvious—you want the person you’re insulting, and anyone else who is cognizant of it, to not only know your opinion, but to be impressed with your elegance.

Any idiot can say, “She’s dumb” or “he’s a *%$# jerk,” but those insults have no real meaning.

In fact, the minute you resort to expletives to describe a person or action you prove yourself to be a person of small intellect and smaller vocabulary.

Clarity is the key—using the fewest words, while allowing no question as to meaning or intent, as is shown by these three historic figures.

Clarence Darrow: “I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure.”

Abraham Lincoln: “He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I know.”

Oscar Wilde: “He has no enemies but is intensely disliked by his friends.”

Additionally, when you’re insulted, especially by someone with clarity and class, you want to respond in kind as was done here.

George Bernard Shaw sent a note to Winston Churchill saying, “I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend… if you have one.”

To which Churchill responded, “Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second… if there is one.”

No question as to what either thought of the other.

Mark Twain was a master of perfectly barbed clarity, “I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.”

And before you think that the art or the clear and classy insult is a thing of the past, take a look at three modern examples,

“He has Van Gogh’s ear for music.” –Billy Wilder

“He has the attention span of a lightning bolt.” –Robert Redford

And I absolutely love this one,

“He had delusions of adequacy.” –Walter Kerr

Practice with a friend, it’s fun and you will acquire a skill that sets you apart.

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Based on reader reactions, last week’s wisdom quotes were a hit; as promised, here are the rest.

There are many wise words attributed to Chinese Proverbs and these certainly qualify, “A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows public opinion.” These days, public opinion vies with “leaders” for the same followers—those who don’t want to bother thinking for themselves.

Bill Cosby has the right response to that, “A word to the wise ain’t necessary, it’s the stupid ones who need the advice.” Of course, they don’t listen, but that never stopped anyone from trying.

Following Gandhi’s teaching is a good way to move towards wisdom, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” Now, that is really smart advice, ensures that you have a great past, a wonderful present, and is the closest you can come to guaranteeing the future.

Leo F. Buscaglia said, “We seem to gain wisdom more readily through our failures than through our successes. We always think of failure as the antithesis of success, but it isn’t. Success often lies just the other side of failure,” and I think he’s on to something. As dark as things seem now we’re all going to emerge from this stronger.

Abraham Lincoln really understood that; he said, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” Too bad so many on and around Wall Street failed that test, but it does take us full circle to the proverb that started this week and a powerful motivation to make your own decisions.

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See all mY generation posts here.

I have some great links for you today, but I only want you to read them if you hold tight to the Leadership Turn caveat while you do it.

In case you don’t remember, the caveat is that leadership information is useful to you whether you are still in school, a stay-at-home parent, a worker, middle manager, or the person in the corner office. Everyone leads at one time or another, so tweak the information to fit what you need at this moment.

First, some useful information from a book review called 7 Lessons for Navigating the Storm, the 7 actions listed can be implemented by anyone in or out of crisis.

Speaking of navigating, the Navel Leadership blog lists 11 Principles “To help you be, know, and do…,” I think you’ll like them.

Especially for my women readers, and anyone who plans on functioning in the now-and-future world, a write-up of two books, Women Lead and Remarkable Women. If you want to read them try your local library or Amazon.

Parents are the first leaders most of us follow—more or less. I wonder how a parent who yells handles similar frustrations at work. Because, like any other leader, the longer we are with them the more effort it takes to earn our trust and respect.

Finally, from Psychology Today, learn about “the cheap psychological tricks used by bad leaders.”

Enjoy!

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Got some cool stuff for you today.

More from Business Week’s Innovation on why now is a great time to juice your innovation efforts and what a number of companies are doing. Whether you run a large company, are a micropreneur or working for the man, but dream of doing more you’ll find ideas and encouragement in the stories. Don’t hesitate to click around on other topics. Innovation offers up amazing stuff.

Another BW story sounds a cautionary warning on the recession’s potential effects on a generation of workers, similar to what happened in Japan a decade ago.

On a lighter note, here is an update on how Zappos is using social media (why are we not surprised) to further connect their culture and their customers. Think about how your company could benefit and back your suggestions up with this and other articles, especially if their about your competition.

Finally, Have some fun and read through the winners of this year’s Ig Nobel Awards. The Ig Nobels are given by Improbable Research, “Improbable research is research that makes people laugh and then think. We collect (and sometimes conduct) improbable research. We publish a magazine called the Annals of Improbable Research, and we administer the Ig Nobel Prizes.” I love the Ig Nobels; they demonstrate the amazing creative spark found in the human race.

I hope you enjoy my picks and find both information and inspiration in them.

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Sometimes we amaze ourselves. Not because someone else says something, but because we revisit something we did a week or a month or longer in the past and we see it from the outside—and we are amazed.

We look at it and marvel; the quality and execution impresses; the inherent value surprises; and we revel in the fact that it is our creation.

It doesn’t matter what it is, big or small; whether it was produced at work or elsewhere; it doesn’t even matter if anyone else will ever see it.

We look and we are amazed.

This happens to me when I read something I wrote a month, a year, a decade ago. Not everything, but more than I would expect.

It doesn’t matter if anyone else agrees or says anything, although it’s great when they do, but I read and am amazed.

Today I want to share my amazement with you.

A few months ago I received an email from the editor of The Conference Board Review inviting me to submit an article for the next issue.

The Conference Board Review is the quarterly magazine of The Conference Board, the world’s preeminent business membership and research organization. Founded in 1976, TCB Review is a magazine of ideas and opinion that raises tough questions about leading-edge issues at the intersection of business and society.

And not just for the online version, but to appear in the actual magazine.

When I opened the hard copy and read my article that is when the real amazement hit.

The article is called Management vs. Leadership and is the second of four articles on leadership. I hope you’ll take time to read them all, then come back and comment.

One more thing, just for the thrill of it, review things you did in the past and be amazed.

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Image credit: The Conference Board

A few months ago I received an email from the editor of The Conference Board Review inviting me to submit an article for the next issue.

The Conference Board Review is the quarterly magazine of The Conference Board, the world’s preeminent business membership and research organization. Founded in 1976, TCB Review is a magazine of ideas and opinion that raises tough questions about leading-edge issues at the intersection of business and society.

And not just for the online version, but to appear in the actual magazine.

I often go back and read stuff I wrote days, months, even years ago and it never ceases to surprise me. I read the TCB article online (no longer available) and that was cool, but today the magazine came and I read it again. The thrill of seeing something I wrote in a slick magazine like TCB Review was great, but when I reread it I was blown away.

Not because someone else says something, but because revisiting, but because something we did a week or a month or longer in the past and we see it from the outside—and we are blown away.

We look at it and marvel; the quality and execution impresses; the inherent value surprises; and we revel in the fact that it is our creation.

It doesn’t matter what it is, big or small; whether it was produced at work or elsewhere; it doesn’t even matter if anyone else will ever see it.

We look and we are amazed.

I hope you will take time to read it and come back and comment.

One more thing, just for the thrill of it, review things you did in the past and I’ll bet some of them will blow you away, too.

Image credit: The Conference Board

Every day we make choices and, as kids, learning to make wise ones is one on the most important things that should happen as we grow.

But it doesn’t always happen.

The great thing is that you can change and learn to make good choices at any time in your life—it is an integral part of leading yourself.

One of the most important choices anyone makes is found in the people they choose to have as part of their life.

Although I could write my own ideas of what that means, I’d like to share something I received from a friend. I can’t find who the author is, so I’ll credit the prolific Anon.

Everyone Can’t Be in Your Front Row

Life is a theater – invite your audience carefully. Not everyone is spiritually healthy and mature enough to have a front row seat in our lives. There are some people in your life that need to be loved from a distance.

It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you let go, or at least minimize your time with draining negative, incompatible, not-going-anywhere relationships/friendships/fellowships!

Observe the relationships around you. Pay attention to: Which ones lift and which ones lean? Which ones encourage and which ones discourage?

Which ones are on a path of growth uphill and which ones are going downhill?

When you leave certain people, do you feel better or feel worse? Which ones always have drama or don’t really understand, know and appreciate you and the gift that lies within you? When you seek growth, peace of mind, love and truth, the easier it will become for you to decide who gets to sit in the FRONT ROW and who should be moved to the balcony of your life.

You cannot change the people around you…but you can change the people you are around! Choose wisely the people who sit in the front row of your life.

Copy the last sentence and tape it to your monitor and the bathroom mirror; forward the post to every person you care about—not with a lecture, but with a hug; discuss it’s meaning with your kids—they are never too young to learn this.

Take a long, hard look at who sits in your front row; if you don’t want them there you don’t need to have a major confrontation, just quietly lower their priority in your life and assign them to a seat at the back—even if they have you in their front row.

I know that I’m in the front row of several people who sit in the rear of my audience, but I say nothing, because nothing would be gained. They would be deeply hurt for no reason; they have little-to-no impact on me because they are far back and where they choose to seat me is none of my business.

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A reader, “John,” emailed me with a question and suggested that I respond in the blog, because he felt that the information would be useful to everyone and I agree.

Miki, like many people these days I was laid off and have had a lot of trouble finding work. I finally interviewed and they have told me that I’ll be receiving an offer next week.

It should be terrific, but I’m very concerned about the manager I’ll be reporting to. I was in the department for most of a day and never saw anyone smile or joke with a colleague; people seemed to be tip-toeing around and trying their best to avoid this person.

The interview included conversations with three other people, one in the same group and the other two are people I’d be interfacing with. None of them would discuss the hiring manager, not a word and the internal guy practically freaked when I asked him what the manager was like to work with.

I know that beggars can’t be choosers, but I’m really concerned. I don’t want to accept and then quit a few months later. I have enough savings to hold out for awhile longer, but have no idea what else might open up.

I remember something you wrote a long time ago that a person can’t be miserable for 8+ hours a day and then come home and be fine.

So, what do you think?

John remembered correctly, 20+ years of experience has proven to me that people aren’t water faucets—they can’t be miserable in half their life, turn off the feelings and be happy in the other half.

Under normal circumstances, including a normal recession, I’d suggest waiting, but there is nothing normal about what is going on.

The great advantage that John has if he decides to accept the offer is that he is knows something is wrong, knows there is fear in the air, knows the hiring manager is the likely source.

Knowing all that, John is in the position of being able to build protective barriers around his psyche before he comes under fire.

He needs to discuss it with his wife and explain to his close family and closest friends; doing so ahead of time alerts them that he may be in very difficult situation and need extra support. It’s important to have the conversations now, not when he’s inside and under attack.

In doing all this, John needs to be very careful not to turn it into a case of assumptions and self-fulfilling prophecy.

In short, John needs to hope and strive for the best, but prepare for the worst.

It’s always best to avoid a toxic boss and to leave one as quickly as possible, but desperate times call for unusual actions and a lot more preparation.

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