MikkiLeaks by Phil Liebman

MikkiLeaks!
A new column for my eZine written by my dear friend, fellow Vistage Chair, Phil Liebman from my home city of New York... because I adore his writing style and his infinite wisdom I “volun-told” him, to become my newest monthly columnist.

 

MikkiLeaks!!!

Classy-Fide Information - Available on a “Need-to-Know” Basis...

That YOU need to know!

by Phil Liebman   

For years I wrote a weekly piece - Monday Morning CEO - Confessions of an Accidental Success. I had come to understand that many people who run companies were like me. They stumbled their way into success, if they were lucky enough to survive the fall to the top. They perhaps bootstrapped a worthy idea for a business, or may have even been a member of the lucky DNA club and taken over a family business, or even bought an existing one and were lucky enough to have purchased the right company at just the right time...but like me, had no clue what it would take to build a sustainable businesses going forward. (I was fortunate to get out alive when mine crashed and burned twenty years ago.)  

We assume that what got us here will get us there. And then there’s that terrifying reality that often lurks in our heads at around 3:30 AM suggesting, “What if that’s not true?” So, I began to think: we need to expose the truth! But look what happened when Edward Snowden tried that. He’s shivering in an old army blanket in a perfectly damp and chilly caviar and vodka crypt somewhere under the Kremlin. All Putin has to say is, “It’s nice work if you can get it.”

The secret is learning how to become a deliberate leader rather than an accidental success. And how does one find such secrets? Well, continuing my own string of improbable luck, I happened upon one of Mikki’s Ezines boasting that she was a member of, and pretty darn high up, with the NSA! And when I discovered that she meant the "other” NSA - I thought my luck had finally run out. There would be no way to wiretap the phones and intercept the private emails of the greatest business and thought leaders from around the world.  

But as luck would have it the search for truth and the unearthing of secrets wouldn’t end there. Mikki graciously offered me this spot each month to share with you the secrets of what it might take to deliberately lead a successful business and a successful life. She told me I could do this as long as I like, with the possibility I could bust out early with good behavior. (OK, so I’m doomed.)  

Each month I will share my personal truths about deliberate leadership, secrets stolen from the news, heavily guarded ideas that only a very select few people ever get to see (well, until the authors’ publishers made them available for purchase on Amazon) and occasional home-movies posted on YouTube. So, in the meantime I recommend you read “Steve Jobs” by Walter Isaacson. That should keep you busy until next time.  

And it may inspire you to see how such a deeply flawed human being can create a company that sought to, and then did, change the world. There is hope for me yet.

In order to hide my true identity  I am pretending to be myself. No one will ever think of looking for me here.

Phil Liebman is the CEO, Founder and Chief Leadership Catalyst at The BullFrog Group, where he has the privilege to work with heroic leaders to help create a world that is made better through the efforts of the men and women who lead and run successful businesses. He is also a freelance writer, speaker, Vistage Chair and a Fellow at the Thayer Institute for Leadership Virtuosity.