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| Leadership Information |
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Dont be Afraid to Lead!
In most aspects of human activity, the pendulum of fashion swings back and forth between extremes, passing briefly through the point of balance on every swing. For a while, we were told leadership was all about setting clear objectives and holding people accountable. Then the pendulum swung away to focus on "soft" leadership skills, such as empowerment, coaching and mentoring. Of course, the reality is both are necessary. But that's usually too subtle a message for snake-oil salesmen and management gurus. It doesn't easily lead to saleable products or training events. I've never found a consulting firm recommending free common sense as a solution, when they can offer expensive (and usually more simplistic) techniques. Give Me Something To Work With Here! A lot of management fashion is a load of hogwash mixed with overblown, twisted dogma. Take empowerment. It's simple common sense to give people authority they need to do the job they're paid for. If you surround them with scores of petty, bureaucratic rules, you'll prevent them from doing their job and increase your costs at the same time. You can't argue with the sense of this. Yet empowerment has been inflated into the latest in a long line of management panaceas, with books, courses, video tapes and the usual commercial circus. Managers need training in empowerment as much as they need training in washing their hands after using the bathroom. They don't need techniques, they just need to do it. Forget the armies of commercially-inspired consultants. Empowerment is a simple idea anyone can understand -- and most did until it was converted into a set of techniques and theories. What Do People Really Need? Tell them what to do, make sure they understand, give them the means to do it and get out of their way. The leader's job is to make sure people have what they need to do the job they're paid to do. That can be demanding of character and intelligence. But since neither of these qualities can be commercialized and sold to the gullible for thousands of dollars, there's no market. If you are a leader, lead. Never be afraid to do it. It's your job. If you don't lead, you have no use or purpose -- and no amount of business school jargon will change that either. Adrian W. Savage writes for people who want help with the daily dilemmas they face at work. He has contributed more than 25 articles to leading British and American publications and has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and The Chicago Tribune. Visit his blog on the ups and downs of business life.
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Coaching The Personality of Leadership Have you ever wondered what type of person or personality makes the best leader? Most would consider the answer to that question to be the person that has the greatest success, the largest organization, or the best staff. Conversely, have you ever wondered how it is that a person with little drive or entrepreneurial skills ends up in a leadership position? You know the type person I am writing about, a person that could not lead a dog on a walk, but has been given the responsibility of leading a large and well-established organization. Using Your Intuition "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure." -Nelson Mandela, Inaugural Speech, 1994 The Best Ways To Multiply The Extraordinary Leadership in Your Organization Extraordinary Leaders are those who understand that in order for the organization to grow and make the maximum impact that it can, the leadership base in the organization must grow first and grow strong enough to hold the growth. If this does not happen, the organization will either not grow or will grow and then crumble because there is no solid foundation of leadership. The effort to multiply leadership must be ongoing and purposeful. Here are some ways to get your leadership base growing strong and wide! Leadership Development and Jumping Out of Airships A German silent film melodrama depicts an airship bombing London during World War I. Lit up by searchlights and strafed by fighters, the crippled airship loses altitude as the captain frantically jettisons dispensable gear to lighten weight. Eventually, the only weight left is human. So the captain orders members of the crew overboard. A grisly scene unfolds as the airmen, one by one, without parachutes, step up to the hatch, salute the captain and the first mate, then jump to their deaths. Lightened, the airship returns safely to Germany. Leadership Skills: Four Ways of Overcoming Perfectionism We pay a high price for perfectionism. "What perfectionism?" we perfectionists mutter. "We've known for years perfectionism is not healthy so we have dealt with this issue and strive for personal excellence only!" Really? Managing Monsters in Meetings - Part 1, General Strategies for Unproductive Behavior It happens easily. You're conducting a meeting and suddenly a small side meeting starts. Then someone introduces an unrelated issue. Someone else ridicules the new issue. Everyone laughs, except the person who mentioned the idea. Then someone insults the person who told the joke. Two people stand up and walk out. Others complain that the meeting is a waste of time. 5 Tips to Help You Win Big & Become a Village Hero A few years ago, I returned to my impoverished village in Haiti. Many in the village came to see me-the tiny and diseased child they did not expect to make it. Some of them used to call me Souyen and kokobay-words that mean "crippled." A man from the village, Alfred, reminded the people how they treated me. "Today" He said, "He returns as our village hero." Leadership Push vs. Pull? At your next staff meeting consider leading your team through the following discussion. Quality Leadership The Lakota tribe of Native Americans has no word in the language for "I" or "me," only "we" or "us." Mahatma Gandhi insisted on traveling in third class carriages (on the train)because, as he explained, 'there is no fourth class.' " The Three Faces of Leadership This article was published in the Nov. 2003 edition of Hamilton, Ontario's BIZ Magazine under the title "Leadership's Triple Crown" LM Beyond Authority: Debunking the Top 3 Leadership Myths Have you noticed that across the business world people are recognizing that we are fast outgrowing the thinking and language of hierarchy, but we're also struggling to create a new, more collaborative future? The challenge for all is to figure out how to operate in this emerging paradigm-the one that our own efforts are helping to shape. Ten Ways Women Can Visualize Themselves As Leaders Women should not be afraid of or feel guilty about taking a leadership role--in their organization, in their community, in their own lives. What could you accomplish if you were leading your life instead of simply living your life? Ten Characteristics of Leadership Many people are interested in the characteristics of a great leader. There are many lists of these traits. These are quotes taken from an article by Bill George former chairman and CEO of Medtronic. According to him the most important trait is to be yourself! 7 Awesome Leadership Power Generators! 7 Awe-Inspiring Leadership Power-Generating Strategies! Trust - The Most Vital Component in Leadership "Trust is the emotional glue that binds followers and leaders together." Helping Others Develop Their Potential Most of us find ourselves in a position to help others achieve more of their potential than we realize. Sure, as leaders, supervisors, and parents we can see ourselves in that position; but the fact is that all of us are uniquely qualified to help at least one other person in our lives reach their potential. I believe it is part of our purpose in life to serve others in this way to encourage and support people we care about in becoming their best selves. 7 Excellent Ways To Improve Your Leadership Skills! Did you know that there are 7 really effective yet powerful ways to improve your leadership learning opportunities? Pay No Attention To The Man Behind The Curtain! As the 'Great And Powerful Oz' once said to Dorothy, "Pay No Attention To The Man Behind The Curtain!" and as you know, appearances can be deceiving they are also one of the first things people judge others by. For instance, you recall the old saying 'Never Judge A Book By Its Cover?' well guess what we still do! The Three Essential Attributes of a Leader: (Part 2) Bringing Others to the Vision We need to engage our listeners and transform them into excited, willing and committed supporters of the vision - for the duration of delivery! In Leadership, The Eight Ways Of Right Action (Part 2) In Part 1, I said that leaders who can't have people take right action are ineffective, and I listed four of the eight ways of right action. In Part 2, I'll describe the remaining four ways.
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