Do you sometimes get the feeling that the folks who populate our legislatures, no matter the party, either sit on their brains or just don’t bother bring them to work?

I often hear people wishing that someone of intelligence would run; someone of substance like those that their parents or grandparents talk about.

Apparently our politicians have been sitting or forgetting for a lot longer than people realize, so the good old days may not be all that great.

Of course, people break the law all the time—and sometimes that’s a good thing.

In 1760 Philadelphia passed a law making it illegal to put pretzels in bags. I wonder if they sold them in boxes…

Baseball took a major hit in Oklahoma, where it is illegal to the ball over the fence or out of a ballpark. If still enforced I wonder if it would cut down on steroid use…

Driving has generated many laws since autos were invented and here are some of my favorites.

California law prohibits a woman from driving a car while dressed in a housecoat. I wonder what kind of dress was banned for men…

California may sound sexist and petty, but lawmakers in Tennessee and New York obviously have absolutely no faith in their constituents. What makes me so sure?

Tennessee has a statute making it illegal to drive a car while sleeping.

And if that isn’t silly enough, in New York it’s against the law for a blind person to drive a car. I wonder if they can legally drive other types of transportation…

A real favorite dates back to 1930 when the great state of Virginia passed a law that prohibits corrupt practices or bribery by any person other than political candidates. I wonder when that law was extended to the rest of the citizens…

But it is California that takes the cake California, where dirty dancing was (probably) invented, has a statute dating back to 1925 that makes it illegal to wiggle while dancing. I wonder if that extends to walking and other forms of locomotion…

One caveat, it’s possible that some of these laws have been repealed and others could be urban legends, but as far as know they are real.

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/biscuitsmlp/3044867827/

There are many inspiring stories about people who went above and beyond or whose actions changed the world—or just their own little piece of it.

Here are four people you’ve probably never heard of, but we can all learn from.

Why would 16 year old Holland Reynolds force herself to crawl across a finish line in a championship race? Winning? Yes, but not for herself, for her coach.

“It’s because of his honesty that when you receive a compliment from him, you know you’ve done really well, and it makes all the runners want to strive to please him.”

Much is made of people who go from poverty to success, but some are more unique than others. Meet Bimola Devi worked decades before starting her company a few years ago. As a result she has enabled 500 other poor women to support their families. She trained and employs more than 70 artisans and revenues of more than one million Rs. in 2010. But she doesn’t seem impressed with what she has done.

“It is not a kind of work that I can do alone. I have to take the support of my friends, family and students. I can now make many products from my embroidery work.”

Did you know that the man most feared by despots around the world is 83 year old Gene Sharp? He can’t use the Internet, but a long time ago he wrote a book…

But for decades, his practical writings on nonviolent revolution — most notably From Dictatorship to Democracy (link to PDF), a 93-page guide to toppling autocrats, available for download in 24 languages — have inspired dissidents around the world, including in Burma, Bosnia, Estonia and Zimbabwe, and now Tunisia and Egypt.

There is much talk about technology that changed the world, the printing press, locomotive, automobile, Internet/World Wide Web, but today Wally Bock introduced me to Malcolm McLean. It took 20 years, but McLean changed our world as much as any of the things I mentioned; his innovation directly affects sixty percent of world trade by value.

To the end of his life, Malcolm McLean would remember the specific day that he got his big idea. The year was 1937. The place was Hoboken, New Jersey.

What does the boss really contribute to her organization?

The culture; it’s the boss’ MAP that forms and shapes the culture for her organization.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a mom and pop operation, startup or global giant; whether the company has two, two thousand or twenty thousand employees; whether the boss is called owner, founder, president or CEO.

Cultural ideas can’t percolate up from the ranks without a top boss who enables the bottom-up culture in the first place, as well as providing the fertilizer that allows ideas to bloom.

It’s not enough to announce the cultural attributes in which you believe, such as no politics, and then ignore political actions because you believe that your senior staff are adults and won’t engage in behavior that goes unrewarded.

Even those who manage culture by benign neglect must see to it that there are repercussions for actions that flaunt the corporate culture just as there are for actions that violate legal issues such as harassment.

And all this is just as true for the individual subcultures that establish themselves around every manager in the company all the way down through team leader.

Creating and caring for the culture should be written into every manager’s job description at every level.

If that seems a bit extreme, keep in mind that study after study has proven that culture affects productivity, engagement, innovation and retention.

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Sex sells, always has, always will. Marketers and advertising folks use sex in a variety of ways, mostly indirect (sorry, you won’t look like the model because you use the product).

Entrepreneurs quickly saw the opportunities in combining sex and the internet and I’m not referring to the porn industry.

Instead think match.com and eHarmony where sex is mostly an unspoken part of their business.

But the market is a long way from being tapped out; today’s entrepreneurs are going after their brass ring via micro-niche dating sites.

Do you love all things Apple? If so it stands to reason, or so these entrepreneurs believe, that you will find your love match faster among those who feel the same way.

Four other entrepreneurs are focused on, what else, entrepreneurs. This is a good idea, since anyone who has been around an entrepreneur for any length of time knows that the process of creating a company is similar to giving birth only with months of labor rather than hours. That makes building a relationship difficult at best. They have little time to court, let alone gout socially, and are often too exhausted to talk, let alone do anything else.

Then there is the big daddy of nitch sites, only this entrepreneur’s efforts address four nitches and isn’t driven by his personal passion or beliefs—but strictly by the premise, “find a need and fill it.” The needs include the super hot, sugar daddies, cougars and infidelity. Not exactly a business you share at your kids’ soccer games, but one with $60 million in revenue ($20 million in profit) and counting.

What other nitches do you think would fly?

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kyz/2893897527/

Stock xchng image credit: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1213571

This is a guest post from Becky Robinson, who writes Weaving Influence, and is also working with Kevin Eikenberry on the launch today of his new book, From Bud to Boss; Becky is Director of Social Media Marketing and Community Building.

In all honesty I haven’t read the book, but I can say that Kevin is well-grounded and typically gives solid, common sense advice.

In this post, Becky offers up her own savvy input on the importance of team support.

The Final Mile

If you’ve worked on a big project lately, you know that fatigue can set in as you approach the final days before the launch.

In mid-December, I joined a new team to help with the promotion of a new book, due out for publication today.

I am working with two authors who I knew, in varying degrees, before I joined the team. At that point, they had already done the work to bring the book to print: the planning, the writing, and the editing.

In many ways, I joined them during the 4th quarter, the 9th inning, the final mile of a marathon.

By the time I get to the final miles or yards of a long race, I am running on pure guts. To keep myself going, I remind myself of how far I’ve come, how little I have left in comparison, and why I am running in the first place.

Yet despite my mental gymnastics, I find myself slowing. Many times, until I can actually see the finish line, I am barely shuffling along.

When I’ve run long distance races before, I’ve watched with envy as fellow runners are joined by friends or family members in those last miles. Suddenly, those runners pick up the pace, encouraged by the presence of others to help them along. Their friends have fresh legs and they seem to impart extra energy just by their presence.

Ending a race well is important.

Having a strong team to surround you is a great way to increase your chances of success when you are completing a long term project. When you feel depleted, you can rely on the energy and enthusiasm of your teammates. When you feel refreshed, you can give support to others.

You can even add team members to your project during the final miles to gain their strength as you finish your project. When they join you with fresh legs, you’ll find yourself running even faster toward your finish line.

If you’re interested in the new book I’ve been working on, you can learn more at www.frombudtoboss.com. From Bud to Boss: Secrets to a Successful Transition to Remarkable Leadership is a new book from Kevin Eikenberry and Guy Harris. If you buy the book today, you will be able to access great bonuses from our partners.

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Today is Valentine’s Day.

Along with showing love to the expected (romantic interest, kids, family, friends) why not show some love to those with whom you work as well as those who orbit the rest of your world.

One way to show love is to notice. As I said a couple of years ago,

“No one is expecting you to solve the problems, but you can reach out and touch just one life. If everyone over 21 did that we would be well on the way to change.”

All I can add is that we better start noticing before all the lights are turned off for good.

Now go see your friends and tell them; have a ‘noticing’ contest together with a ‘doing’ contest.

Before you can practice random acts of kindness you need to notice.

Why not give your whole world a Valentine by promising yourself to make noticing/doing a habit all year ’round?

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomasrstegelmann/1409418299/

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Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, so I thought I’d see if there were any quotes about love that could apply to the business arena and I found some—kind of.

But at least they’re a bit thought provoking and not mushy.

Amanda Cross is the pseudonym of one of my favorite authors and she offers some advice that is will worth absorbing, “Odd, the years it took to learn one simple fact: that the prize just ahead, the next job, publication, love affair, marriage always seemed to hold the key to satisfaction but never, in the longer run, sufficed.” In other words, the sooner one learns that the grass is rarely greener on the other side the better.

The Marquis De Sade is not someone I typically look to for insights, but this comment seems apropos of many of today’s so-called leaders—in business and politics, “The more defects a man may have, the older he is, the less lovable, the more resounding his success.”

Speaking of loveable, here’s a bit of common wisdom that definitely hits the mark, “One reason a dog is such a lovable creature is his tail wags instead of his tongue”

Of course, common wisdom also says, “Marriages are made in heaven, but so are thunder and lightening.”

Oops, I think common wisdom may be getting a tad cynical.

Here’s one more that I really like; it cites a skill well worth cultivating and one that more politicians and industry titans could certainly use. The source is Lord Mansfield and he said, “A speech is like a love affair. Any fool can start it, but to end it requires considerable skill.”

Be sure to join me Thursday for an entrepreneurial story about love—or at least sex.

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmscottimd/616642026/

Mark Stelzner at Inflexion Point looks at the January Leadership Carnival through the lens of Valentine’s Day and the non-romantic relationship of worker and boss.

Who (And What) To Choose?

We’ve all found ourselves in a questionable relationship and wondered if it was worth staying together. At a pre-Valentine’s crossroads, our wise and helpful friends would recommend sitting down with a blank sheet of paper and itemizing what redeeming qualities may exist. Let’s see what these leadership list makers conjured up:

• Molly Cunningham suggests 5 Ways for Leaders to Improve Productivity.
• Oliver Wang of BSchool.com offers 15 Inspiring Biographies for Aspiring Leaders.
• Kelly Davis shares 21 Excellent YouTube Videos to Learn About Organizational Development.
• MacKenna Stevens of Masters in Social Work catalogs his list of the Top 97 Unemployment and Joblessness Blogs.
• Natalie James of Dr. HR, PhD itemizes the Top 50 Up and Coming HR Blogs.
• Trainer, coach and consultant Mike Rogers provides 8 Important Tips to Help You Waste Time in Meetings.
• Bernice Frankel shares 21 Surprising Facts About Leadership Research.
• QAspire’s Tanmay Vora helps those Creating a Learning Organization: 10 Actions for a Leader.

So Many Questions.

So you’ve decided to press forward and pursue your leadership development sweetheart with complete abandon. Yet still, there are so many questions left unanswered. Here are some shower-worthy items to ponder as you prepare for your big business date:

• Working Girl’s Laura Schroeder wonders, Why Would ANYone Work for House?
• Wally Bock of Three Star Leadership asks, How Do I Praise Thee?
• Mary Jo Asmus of Aspire-CS wants to know, What Assumptions Are You Making?
• Adi Gaskell of Chartered Management Institute ponders, Is Business Planning A Waste of Time?
• Women of HR’s Lisa Rosendahl asks, What Kind of Role Model Are You?
• Lynn Dessert of Elephants at Work wonders, Can You Measure The Payback or ROI In Coaching?
• Tanveer Naseer wonders, Are You Leading From Inside a Fishbowl?

Polite Dinner Conversation

You want to make a good impression and seem like a decent conversationalist. Attentive, but not too needy or self-involved. Here’s are some items sure to allow you a measure of whimsy while maintaining the panache and flair of a modern leadership guru:

• Jane Perdue of Get Your Leadership BIG On shares Leadership and the Power of Storytelling.
• Sylvia Lafair opines on Business Leadership Strategies: Teaching Multi-culturalism.
• Dean L. Forbes of Powerful Principles of Personal Growth reminds us of The Whole Person Concept.
• Management is a Journey’s Robert Tanner helps us Create the Guiding Coalition.
• Stephen Warrilow suggests Facilitative Leadership as The Key To Dealing With Resistance to Change.
• Next Level Blog’s Scott Eblin shares some new math with Sorry, You’ve Used Up All of Your Meeting Budget.
• What Do You Want From Them’s Anna Smith demonstrates The Rise of Female Leadership.
• All About Living With Life author Charles Chua C K offers his thoughts on Effective Ways to Lead.
• Positive Organizational Behavior’s Bret L. Simmons shares his thoughts, With Honor.
• Great Leadership’s Dan McCarthy teaches you How to Pass the Leadership Baton.

It’s Not You, It’s Me

Of course, even the seemingly best planned leadership romance can end in an ill-conceived malay replete with hurt feelings and charged emotions. So if a bended knee to pick up a dropped napkin doesn’t turn into the organizational proposal you were hoping for, excuse yourself from the table and grab your cell. Aren’t you fortunate to have friends like these to talk you through it?

• Leadership and Learning’s Kevin Eikenberry asks for Five Minutes – A Key to Successful Time Management.
• Judith Lindenberger of The Lindenberger Group suggests we Take Charge of Conflict.
• Miki Saxon of MAPping Company Success questions whether you Manage Like Microsoft.
• Art Petty of Management Excellence offers How to Handle a Feedback Attack from Your Boss.
• Libery Buzz SC’s Vidal tackles Aggression: Life Lessons Learned from Girls Basketball.
• What Is Personal Growth’s Sean Burrows takes the edge off with How to Stay Calm and Relaxed When Feeling Angry.
• The Fortune Group’s Andy Klein feels that Effective Leadership is Founded on Accepting Personal Accountability.
• Janna Rust of Purposeful Leadership helps you Survive the Role Transition: Be Strategic.
• Ajax Social Media’s Jason Seiden reminds us of Why You Should Hire Moms.
• Lead Change Group’s Heather Coleman-Voss gives the wink and nod with Just Trust Me.

Check Please!

Now calmly return to the table and flag down the waiter – it’s time to wrap up this romantic rodeo. And don’t let your leadership date get all pushy or touchy. No amount of office flowers or sugary treats can replace the respect you’ll have from walking away. There are plenty of other leaders in the “C” and you’re a strong swimmer. Just remember…

• Chris Edmonds of Driving Results Through Culture calculates The HUGE Toll of Workplace Bullying.
• Create Learning’s Michael Cardus recalls that Before the Promotion He Was Nice and Had Potential.
• The Human Race Horses’ Mike VanDervort suggests that Resistance Is Futile – You Will Be Assimilated.
• Michelle Cramer of LinkToPro teaches an important skill in Learning How to Say “No”.
• Linda Fisher Thornton of Leading In Context connects Leadership And… Ethical Thinking.
• ReThink HR’s Benjamin McCall sees A Bad Opportunity For Someone Else, A Better Opportunity For You.
• John Gibbons of i4cp wonders if you’re Playing Not To Lose.
• Cultivating Creativity’s Bob Lieberman suggests Letting Go Of The Task.

Live to Love Again

Return home, pour a glass of wine, kick up your feet and breathe. You’re going to be just fine and it’s time to go back to basics and begin to look toward the future. You’re good enough, you’re strong enough and doggone it people like you!

• The People Equation’s Jennifer V. Miller suggests Making the Most of Leadership Assessments.
• Wilson Insight’s Amy Wilson offers Simple, Practical Advice on Motivating Staff.
• Kevin W. Grossman of Marcom HRsay offers Baby Zen and the Importance of Mindful Presence in the Workplace.
• Epic Living’s Eric Pennington provides The Path To An Epic Life.
• The LeaderLab’s David Burkus shares Happiness and Hierarchies.
• Alice Snell of Taleo Research offers In Succession.
• Be Good Ventures’ Nick McCormick suggests you Go Out and Co-Create!

Image credit:  MykReeve on flickr