All Posts By

Chris McClure

3 Agricultural Actions That Can Transform Your Leadership

Producing results is expected of leaders, but many fail to live up to their potential because they aren’t intentional with what they do on a daily basis. Many leaders are left wondering why they couldn’t achieve more.

However, it’s possible to produce massive results when you become intentional with your daily activities and improve your thinking.

In order to produce optimal results in your life and business, follow this simple (not necessarily easy) three-step process that we see in demonstrated in agriculture:

1 – Plant Seeds

Salespeople understand that in order to acquire new customers and clients, many seeds have to be sown daily. Not all seeds bear fruit. Some produce massively. However, leaders often overlook this in regards to developing and managing their followers. If you want better leaders, you must sow seeds in the form of skill and character development consistently. If you want stronger teams, you must invest time and attention to make it happen. Nothing worthwhile happens by accident. It takes intentional planting day in and day out over extended periods of time so you can later receive the fruit of your labor.

2 – Cultivate Growth

Beyond consistently planting seeds, leaders must work daily to make sure weeds of dissension and disengagement are removed. You must invest time, energy, and resources into your followers so they can perform and produce at the level you expect of them. You must make sure your team and organizational environments are conducive to growth rather than dysfunction. You simply can’t leave growth to chance. Planting seeds isn’t enough. You must also make sure the soil is in good condition to produce the fruit you want.

3 – Yield Results

If, and only if, you’ve done the consistent diligent work to plant seeds and cultivate growth you’ll then later achieve the results you desire. Yielding tremendous results is what everyone wants, yet many leaders aren’t intentional about the planting and cultivating aspects to achieve them. The results you achieve are evidence of the upfront work you’ve put into the process. Annual reports reveal how the organization did over the previous 12 months. As a leader, you must focus on increasing your inputs in order to increase your results. While you can’t always control your results, you can control the effort of planting and cultivating. If you need more leaders in your organization, then you need to develop more people. The time to start raising up new leaders isn’t when you need them. That’s too late. You must be diligent now in order to have quality trained leaders available to you when you need them most.

If you care for your people and are a person of high character, you can still fail as a leader if you’re not producing results. People want to be on a winning team. Shareholders expect a good return on their investment. Customers and clients expect quality from your organization. When they don’t get it, they move on to someone else who will provide it. Producing results matters too much to leave it up to chance.

Imagine having a pipeline full of skilled leaders who you can place in a variety of roles as your organization grows. 

Imagine having a culture that fosters the growth and maturity of leaders now and into the future.

Imagine reaching the end of each month, quarter, and year excited to see your organization or team producing incredible results repeatedly. 

This can be your reality when you intentionally plant and cultivate so you can yield increasing results over time.

In my new book, The Magnetic Leader: 18 Essential Actions of Leaders People Love to Follow, I go much deeper into Essential Action #18 – Produces Results. CLICK HERE to learn more and to purchase your copy today!

Until next time…make today GREAT!

3 Key Ways to Guard Your Integrity as a Leader

We’ve seen way too many key leaders in a variety of sectors “fall from the top” because of poor moral or ethical choices. Yet somehow we find ourselves surprised each time. The reality is that it shouldn’t be surprising if we’re actually watching how they live and lead.

Integrity is a value that organizations and individuals often proclaim, but struggle to uphold. If you want to become a leader who people trust through thick and thin, guarding your integrity must be a high priority.

Consider the following three ways to improve or operate with integrity more consistently:

1 – Define and Know Your Values

Many leaders don’t live out their values because they don’t know what they are. Organizations often make their core values public and evident to both their employees and customers. People rarely do the same. I believe it’s a simple oversight that has significant ramifications. I encourage you to invest time listing and defining what your core values are so you can intentionally live up to them. If you struggle with this exercise, ask someone close to you to share the values they see you living out. If you’re not living out what you want to portray, define at least one aspirational value to work toward displaying. This will help you raise your own bar toward excellence.

2 – Communicate With Words, Demonstrate With Actions

We’ve all been around people who say one thing, but do another. The problem with this in leadership is that someone is always watching and followers do what they see. You can’t expect them to live up to a standard that you refuse to model. Be bold and share your personal core values with your followers and ask them to tell you when you let them slide. This provides credibility and a stellar example to them. Encourage them to define their own values, share them with you and their peers, then live them out daily.

3 – Advance Your Reputation With Credibility

It’s often said that your reputation precedes you. This is very true. Just think of how you think about certain people before you ever meet them. Their reputation is either good or bad in your mind because of what others have said about them in advance. When you guard your integrity by defining and living out your values, your reputation will be aligned with how you want people to perceive you. As you intentionally act based on your values, your credibility and reputation will improve.

Integrity is too important to leave to chance. You must prioritize each day to develop and guard it. 

Imagine having clarity on your personal values and holding yourself to a higher standard than most others around you. 

Imagine living out and demonstrating your values each day as you live, work, and play.

Imagine walking into business meetings and social engagements with people looking favorably on you before you ever arrive. 

This can be your reality when you do the deep inner work of knowing and living out your core values.

In my new book, The Magnetic Leader: 18 Essential Actions of Leaders People Love to Follow, I go much deeper into Essential Action #17 – Guards Integrity. CLICK HERE to learn more and to purchase your copy today!

Until next time…make today GREAT!

Welcome to the Magnetic Leadership Podcast!


Welcome to the brand new Magnetic Leadership podcast!

On this podcast, we’ll be discussing real-time, real-world leadership issues while helping entrepreneurs and executives become the kind of leaders people love to follow so they can attract and retain their ideal employees, customers, and clients.

In this episode, author and leadership coach Chris McClure shares a brief overview of what to expect and what’s to come.

You can learn more and order your copy of  “The Magnetic Leader” at www.MagneticLeaderBook.com