The definition of leadership is so much more than the words used in the dictionary.  There are so many facets to the meaning of the word.  Leaders are usually self-made and successful through hard work and making tough decisions.  The good news is leadership is not about a person's title on a business card.  Instead, it's about taking action and achieving goals, not about position.  So if we believe that leadership begins and ends with action, then all of us have certainly taken some positive form of action in our lives; therefore, we are all leaders.  I feel all to often people misinterpret their own ability to lead. To be a leader you don't necessarily have to have followers.  You just have to individually take action on achieving your own personal goals. Are you making a real difference in your world by your leadership, and what can you do to challenge yourself? 

Every internal review of a company's marketing should ask four questions that have not been typical of marketing reviews until now:  

• In our industry, are we second to none technologically?  
• Among service industries, and compared with firms of our approximate size, are we second to none technologically?  
• Are we doing all we need today to be second to none two years from now?  
• Have we carefully considered innovative ways that new technology can be used to improve our service and grow our business?

- Harry Beckwith, Selling the Invisible

Do you make it easy for your customers to give feedback, both good and bad?  Also, when you get the feedback do you openly accept it and respond quickly?  You should.  As John Russell, former Managing Director of Harley-Davidson Europe said, “The more you engage with customers the clearer things become and the easier it is to determine what you should be doing.”  The feedback that you get from your customers, and what you choose to do with it, is paramount to maintaining longevity and acquiring loyal customers in this unpredictable consumer market.  The comments you get will give you the tools you require to always meet your customers’ needs.

However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.

- Sir Winston Churchill

Make it easy.  As a part of any employee orientation there should be time spent on noticing and reacting to the opportunities on when and how to make purchasing easier for the consumer.  Executive retreats would benefit from spending a day (or more) on evaluating the ease for the consumer to do business with their company.  The world of consumer purchasing has changed, and some companies are more in tune to these changes than others.  Consumers today are web-educated, mobile app data explorers who react to the best deal that they can understand.  Marketing messaging has, in many cases, overwhelmed the consumer.  So what's the answer?  Keep it simple/easy.