What can we learn now to respond to a demand for great leadership?
“No leader sets out to be a leader. People set out to live their lives, expressing themselves fully. When that expression is of value, they become leaders. So the point is not to become a leader. The point is to become yourself, to use yourself completely – all your skills, gifts and energies – in order to make your vision manifest. You must withhold nothing. You, must, in sum, become the person you started out to be, and to enjoy the process of becoming.”
Leadership : Execution and Teamwork – have you ever had versions of this happen? 2 minutes, 34 seconds
Trust – The Critical Leadership Competency – from Stephen M. R. Covey – 2 minutes, 22 seconds
To all our highly valued clients and acquaintances:
Many people are working on creating and casting visions for the future that they believe will serve well now – and it requires leadership to make it work
In the final issue of this Special 13 Week Series of Weekly Learnings, I want to offer a fresh look at state of the art resources that might help our readers strengthen their own personal leadership skills, as well as consider ways to expand that available repertoire to their teams and organizations.
While I am not claiming that this is an exhaustive list or the last say on all things leadership development-wise, by any means, I will say this. As an lifetime learner in this field, I have personally benefitted from these learnings and have had the privilege of sharing them with tens of thousands of other people in their real deal lives and leadership journeys.
It is time to strategically put more irons into the best and most optimal fires.
What are some key principles and practices that are insufficiently mastered that could transform every aspect of our lives, personally and collectively, that are barely talked about or actually worked on in a disciplined fashion?
Where might we be missing the boat and find there is still time to catch it?
Here are resources we can all easily access to better educate ourselves to become aware and conscious – more free to be and free to act – all leading to making better choices from which to see, to do and to have good growth.
For example, I remember gaining some sobering lessons from reading this book, that made me committed to uncovering any possible blind spots that might not only trip me up but could also cause others poor consequences.
Noel Tichy and Warren Bennis have each spent decades studying and teaching leadership and advising top CEOs such as Jack Welch and Howard Schultz. Now, in their first collaboration, they offer a powerful framework for making tough calls when the stakes are high and the right path is far from obvious. They show how to recognize the critical moment before a judgment call, when swift and decisive action is essential, and also how to execute a decision after the call…No one can afford to neglect this crucial discipline and no previous book ever brought it into such clear focus
As a great starter book or refresher on leadership development for you and your colleagues, I highly recommend On Becoming a Leader.
TO GIVE YOU, THE READER, AN IDEA OF WHAT I ENVISION/SEE AS TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT AND WHAT I AM COMMITTED TO IN THIS ARENA,I assembled this transcript in late 2001 – it is simply a re-cap of the audio/workbook program based upon bestselling book “Leaders: Strategies for Taking Charge” (designated by the Financial Times as one of the top 50 business books of all time.)
Another great work from Warren Bennis and his team was Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration. It uncovers the elements of creative collaboration by examining six of the century’s most extraordinary groups and distill their successful practices into lessons that virtually any organization can learn and commit to in order to transform its own management into a collaborative and successful group of leaders.
If we look to the FranklinCovey catalogue, we can start with the following:
Every day, leaders are making countless decisions and facing problems they’ve never encountered before. What worked yesterday can change overnight. The speed is relentless, the stakes are high, but the rewards are great for those who can lead a team to consistently achieve extraordinary results. How can leaders stay ahead of the curve and differentiate themselves and their teams when so much is changing so quickly?
On a completely different track, I was on a conference call recently with Captain Charlie Plumb, who spent 6+ years as a Prisoner of War in Vietnam. Charlie has lived what he believes to be the American Dream. Talk about another perspective!! He was great inspiration to other POWs and served as chaplain for two years.
I had recently gone through the book, Leading with Honor: Leadership Lessons from the Hanoi Hilton by Lee Ellis – one of the best books I have ever read on leadership. Their standards of honor are simply extraordinary.
Lastly, I want to point to one other possible resource for you to consider.
Over the years, I offered a lot of volunteer time to work to support ministries
During that period, I had the opportunity to learn from Dr. Dean R. Radtke, Founder & CEO of The Institute of Ministry Management & Leadership. For those working in ministry, I encourage you to see for yourself.
As the expression goes, the speed of the leader is the speed of the pack.
I love what I recently heard from a leader I’ve respected for many years:
“I only say what’s going to leave people bigger. If not, I don’t say anything.”
You’re welcome to share this newsletter with anyone you think will benefit.
Let’s keep connecting and authentically communicating – at your service…
Coach Don
Special offer – free (no fee) – for 30 minutes – I’m here to add value & to serve – to be my best and to do my best – I promise at least one idea to help improve your work performance and your well-being.
