That’s what we do.  Our mission statement in fact is : “To help people find a wiser, better way to lead their life and their organization.”

How do we do that ? One day at a time and most importantly with respect and kindness…with a smile through the phone to provide our clients the tools and templates that will assist them in their journey.

That isn’t always easy - sometimes we fail miserably at it but just as quickly as we fall we pick ourselves up and work at being better everyday.   I find it fascinating that many people in the business of writing, training or consulting about Personal Excellence, building Leadership Excellence, don’t practice what they preach.

Anyone can recognize a good idea or a best practice - but to apply it to their own life takes practice . We all find ourselves at odds with someone we do business with because the other party is not concerned with raising their own personal bar of excellence.  The most difficult will point fingers of blame, be offended and be down right toxic and abusive to those they are working with instead of finding productive ways to communicate and find workable solutions.

Sometimes the elephant in the room is YOU - that big ego gets in the way of uplifting the lives of those you do business with.

Today, to counter the negative shouts of those dis-satisfied with the world, we want to share with you a couple of “the best of the best”.  Those in our daily work world who champion the cause of excellence.  And we do recommend their services, products and books to you. Call them.

Bob Prosen, one of our Champions of Excellence, is the author of Kiss Theory Goodbye and CEO of The Prosen Center for Business Advancement - selected as one of the Top Leadership Development Programs of 2008.

We get his newsletter from time to time and he has some great advice on starting 2009 right!

Top Ten Tips to Jump Start 2009

Even though it’s end-of-year crunch time, don’t forget to have your 2009 plan ready to go. January 2nd will be here before you know it, and it’s imperative that you hit the ground running.

Too many companies wait until the New Year to develop their plans and objectives.  Top companies operate differently. They make all 365 days count!

Winning Tips

• Establish your top 3-5 quantifiable objectives
• Assign specific objectives to your team
• Ensure there’s an accurate and timely measurement system in place to keep score
• Ask what each of your team members needs to achieve his/her objectives
• Provide the resources and tools needed to win
• Take a close look at everyone’s performance and deal with poor performers - don’t procrastinate
• Create an incentive system that encourages everyone to reach higher
• Eliminate excuses and focus on solutions
• Replace storytelling with reliable data that speaks for itself
• Schedule time to think and plan

Remember, at the beginning of the day, it’s all about possibilities. At the end of the day, it’s all about results! P.S. Take time over the holidays to write down your top three personal goals. Post them where you can see them, and ask yourself every day if you’re making progress.

2009 Get Ready To Win Program

This past Tuesday we were pleased to meet with our friend Jim Madrid here in our Leadership Excellence offices. Jim was visiting Utah for the Thanksgiving holidays and going to the Jazz game, but unfortunately not do any skiing (because there’s not any snow…yet).

Jim is well known for his history with Lou Tice’s Pacific Institute as a speaker and trainer and is now an acclaimed author with is Entelechy personal development system titled “Get over it and Get on With It.” He has been a friend of our editor Ken Shelton for over 15 years. He is most certainly a champion of excellence.

While Jim was here he met with our sales and marketing team and they talked about how to stay motivated in a challenging economic time. Here are some highlights of that conversation: (more…)

Our good friends over at Makana Solutions have some small business solutions: (more…)

A note from our editor, Ken Shelton -

Again today as I’m editing December’s Sales & Service Excellence, I read the sage advice: “If you happen to read a magazine article that meets a client need, send the article to them with the note: ‘Thought this would interest you.’”

Imagine if all of us asked our friends, associates, clients and customers, “What challenges do you face in developing your people?” and then sent them an article with the note, “Hope this helps you.” We might also invite them to explore the online searchable library of Leadership Excellence (and soon, Personal Excellence and Sales & Service Excellence as well) and thus experience excellence. (more…)

David Gill is a long-time friend of Leadership Excellence and Ken Shelton, our editor in chief. Executive Excellence Publishing is the proud publisher of David’s book “It’s about Excellence” which is available from Leadership Excellence through Amazon -

It’s About Excellence: Building Ethically Healthy Organizations by David W. Gill (Hardcover - Mar 10, 2008)

David also sends out an excellent newsletter every month which you can subscribe to by clicking here.

We wanted to highlight this excerpt from the news letter titled “Protect Life & Health” (more…)

Our good friend Kevin McCrudden - President of Motivate America - held the American Motivation Awards this past week on Veterans Day - Tuesday, November 11th - in New York City at The Manhattan Center. The celebration was a complete success: (more…)

In eight days, the 2008 American Motivation Awards will be held on Veterans Day, Tuesday, November 11th in New York City at The Manhattan Center. Our good friend Kevin McCrudden is the President of Motivate America and is doing some amazing work. (more…)

Here at Leadership Excellence, we’ve recently been exposed to, and impressed by, an organization leading the way to help those in need. It’s called the Alliance of Students Against Poverty (ASAP) and they have a local chapter right here in Provo, Utah where we’re located. (more…)

Glenn Beck - who was featured on the cover of October’s Personal Excellence - received the first inaugural Pioneer in Leadership award by the BYU Marriott School of Management on Saturday. Ken Shelton and Scott Spjut were both in attendance for the evening and were impressed with what he had to say. Here are some highlights: (more…)