In the spirit of starting off the new year with something new I am adding a new category of topics to Thinking On Energy – Leadership Fundamentals. This new section of the site will cover topics that are broader than just energy and will provide a forum for ideas, discussion, and concepts all related to leading people and business.
Topics may at times dip into management matters vs. leadership areas, but the real focus is on the leadership fundamentals I have practiced over the past 20+ years. I believe anyone who is determined to provide great leadership to their business, community, or family can benefit from many of these ideas and approaches. That said, I am certain that many of of these topics can be improved through debate and discussion and I hope readers will join me in that process through this site.
I am going to start off these topics by working with some interview material that Fran Tarkenton and I created for his business mentoring series that Fran provides through http://www.gosmallbiz.com. Starting with these videos and topics we will then frame each topic with further questions to explore and discuss.
The first topic is “An Engineers Approach to Business”. 
In this episode we review the processes of breaking down very complex business challenges into solvable problems and how this engineering fundamental can be useful in any area of business from sales to finance. From the first seeds of an idea for your business to evolving that idea into a solution that that customers will pay for is a journey over many small hurdles. Solving each of these problems takes discipline and tenacity, but it is also something that can be taught and trained. We will explore those methods and approaches starting with the first video in the series.
Our second topic is, “Connecting Your Personal Mission to Your Business”. 
This discussion is focused on helping your employees understand what makes them happy and finding ways to connect those passions to their daily experiences at work.
This starts with refining your own passions and making sure the company’s mission connects with employees.
Next we will review, “In Pursuit of Relevance”. In today’s fast paced world with constantly changing tastes and priorities staying relevant to your customers, your industry, and to your employees is a constant challenge. 
Most importantly we must recognize that what made us relevant yesterday may have little value tomorrow. This why I view this as a “pursuit” that never ends no matter how much success you are having today.
Finally in this initial series of topics we’ll talk about listening. One of my biggest personal challenges at times and certainly the key to good leadership the importance of listening hard cannot be over emphasized. 
We all know that hearing everyone out from suppliers to customers and certainly coworkers and employees, but sometimes we need reminding that it is listening to those that disagree. In this episode we’ll talk about, “Listening to Diverse Opinions” and why that opposing view may be the most important to consider.
Thinking On Energy 