Posts tagged: young leadership

Leader Poet

July 21, 2010, by No comments yet

The Maxwell Leadership Bible counts the leadership style in the United States since World War II.  There has been an evolution of leadership styles over the past sixty years which illustrates the change in the generations and a move to more internalized and inspired followers.

1.   Military Commander.  Leaders returned from the war emulating the leadership styles that won the war.  They implemented a top down dictatorship style influencing from their position as a leader instead of inspiration.

2.  Chief Executive Officer.  CEOs lead through vision, goals and objectives passed to subordinates to follow.  This is a top down leadership style which depends more on execution of a strict plan than

3.  Coaches.  Recently, leaders have viewed themselves as coaches of a team striving together for a win.  In a sports obsessed society this works well because it focuses on the teams strengths and weaknesses forms

4.  Poets.  Currently more leaders are realizing the power of words and the inspirational value of empowering subordinates.  A leader poet knows with a properly formed message subordinates will be empowered to creatively achieve the organizations goals. See also: Motivation 3.0

…all the people hung on [Jesus'] words (Luke 19:48 NIV

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The Path of the Warrior

June 18, 2010, by No comments yet

A warrior is a person experienced in or capable of engaging in combat or warfare, literally or figuratively.  Most leaders are figurative warriors, those who  show great vigor, courage, or aggressiveness in everyday challenges.  Merely acting like a warrior is insufficient,  a warrior leader must become one by consistently walking the path of:

1.  Integrity - honest and sincere
2.  Impeccability – faultless character
3.  Outrageous – excessively bold
4.  Personal Power – ability to act

The leader shows that style is not more important than substance, and that creating an impression is not more potent than acting from one’s center – Lao Tzu (500BC)

Truthfulness

March 3, 2010, by No comments yet

Arrogant [Eloquent] lips are unsuited to a fool
how much worse lying lips to a ruler! Proverbs 17:5-7 (NIV)

Truthfulness is an elusive habit for leaders.  We are assaulted daily by situations that beg for lies, half-truths, misinformation, deception, and withholding.  These situations arise at work from difficult communication, positions of disadvantage to us, and fear of retribution.  Within our families they arise from personal pride toward spouses, fear of children’s actions, and discomfort with admitting to wrong actions.

The mad boss asks, “Who made this decision?”
The Christian brother states, “I’m only flirting with her, I can control it.”
The inefficient employee asks, “Am I doing ok working for you?”
The spouse demands, “Where did all of our money go?”
Your child asks, “Where do babies come from?”

A Christian Leader’s response:

1.  Just tell it. The benefits of truthfulness outweigh the costs in the long run as your boss learns to appreciates your trust and candor, your spouse loves the open communication, and your children model.  Warning, blunt truthfulness will mark you as a jerk and harm your ability to influence.  Use gentleness and patience to form your communication in a way that creates an environment of appreciation.

2.  Demand it in return. My initial briefing to new employees has always included the requirement of truth.  My nature I am a trusting person, tell me something and I take it to the bank until that something is proven false.  Once you lose my trust it’s hard to get it back.   My daughters were raised with the same requirement.  I marvel at parents who severely discipline children based on honest disclosure.  Since birth we have demanded truth and lessened discipline with it.  The result, open communication… something seemingly rare in today’s youth.

To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful. Edward R. Murrow

New Leader Top Five

March 1, 2010, by No comments yet

 I recently hired a new leader for a regional area of our large sales type organization.  During our initial meeting he and I discussed my expectations, talked about the vision for the organization, my leadership philosphy, and near term goals for his area.  I also provided him with a concise list of the top five things he could do to get off to a good start with his subordinate leaders:

  1. Be clear on what you expect and recognize those who meet or miss it
  2. Be available when and where it matters most
  3. Be an advocate for your subordinates without being an enabler of bad behavior/excuses.  Be prepared to say “no” when “no” is warranted.
  4. Be informed.  Track details two levels down
  5. Be a leader.  Don’t expect subordinates to adjust to the leadership style you’re comfortable with, adapt your leadership techniques to gain the most influence.

Of course leadership is more complex than just five things,  but when taking over a new position it’s easy to get disctacted with all of the information and decisions required.  These five things provide the new leader with a framework to build on future success as operations start to syncronize and get into a rythmn enabling them to build on what they initially established.

Daniel Pink on Motivation

February 25, 2010, by No comments yet

In this 2009 TED Conference presentation Daniel Pink examines motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most leaders don’t: Traditional rewards aren’t always as effective as we think.

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Motivation 3.0 for the Christian Leader

February 24, 2010, by No comments yet

I grew up in a time when church frequently included special gospel meetings that featured a guest preacher imploring nightly over the course of a week to get right and reap the rewards of heaven or certainly go to hell. We were encouraged to invite our friends and neighbors where every night the message and volume would escalate until a satisfactory number had responded to avoid the punishment of hell. Unfortunately, the fear motivated responses rarely resulted in life-long change, many left the church quickly never to return.

As I read Daniel Pink’s book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us it struck me that we have built a church, family, and work culture based on an inferior motivational model. In a sense, our churches are stuck in a 20th century when such practices were the norm, but fall short with today’s generation. Because we were raised in this environment most of today’s leaders are just modeling what we know.

Pink presents a compelling case for a deeper method of personal, peer, and subordinate motivation. He contends that human motivation has evolved from a basic needs model, to a “carrot and stick” model, and as he proposes, a more stable intrinsic motivation model. In modern vernacular he labels these models in the style of a progressive human operating system upgrade: Motivation 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0.

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John P. Kotter Leadership Definition

February 22, 2010, by No comments yet

Leadership defines what the future should look like, aligns people with that vision, and inspires them to make it happen despite the obstacles

From John P. Kotter’s book Leading Change

Army Leadership Definition

February 17, 2010, by No comments yet

Leadership is the process of influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation while operating to accomplish the mission and improving the organization.

An Army leader is anyone who by virtue of assumed role or assigned responsibility inspires and influences people to accomplish organizational goals. Army leaders motivate people both inside and outside the chain of command to pursue actions, focus thinking, and shape decisions for the greater good of the organization.

As defined in FM6-22 Army Leadership October 2006

Leadership Definition

February 16, 2010, by No comments yet

Leadership is the capacity to influence others through inspiration, motivated by a passion, generated by a vision, produced by a conviction, and ignited by a purpose.

As defined at a Diversity Champions Workshop by Guardian Quest

List of Ten Things We Want Most in Life

November 20, 2009, by No comments yet
  1. Opportunity to succeed (43%)
  2. The good life (37%)
  3. The pursuit of happiness (34%)
  4. The American dream (22%)
  5. A fair shake (17%)
  6. To be left alone (13%)
  7. A fresh start (9%)
  8. Everything I can get (9%)
  9. A fighting chance (8%)
  10. A new beginning (8%)

The American dream has been dropping on the list because young people don’t think they will ever achieve it.  Wanting the good life has moved up in its place.

Source:  Dr Frank Luntz, Luntz-Malansky Strategic Research 2009