Leaders developing leaders.

Courageous Leadership

What Do You Want In A Leader?

Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to high sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.
—Peter Drucker

Have you given much thought about the type of leader you want to work for?  What skills and behaviors matter most and inspire you to thrive and perform at your highest level?  Another way to look at it is to assess the type of leader you don’t want to work for. That may be easier!

Over the years we’ve listened to what our clients have shared but we’ve never taken a formal poll.  Here are some of the more common wants that we heard:

  • Inspirational
  • Humble
  • Builds trust
  • Sets and leads towards a vision
  • Caring and passionate
  • A desire to develop others
  • A good listener
  • Provides meaningful feedback
  • No hidden agendas

Steven J. Stowell, Ph.D. and Stephanie S. Mead, MBA did conduct a survey from 2100+ individuals and asked for the top three qualities they wanted in their leaders. The results were:

  • Communication skills (45.2%)
  • Interpersonal skills (44.2%)
  • Values and ethics (41.9%)
  • Personal attributes (30.2%)
  • Coaching and feedback (21.8%)
  • Credibility (22.3%)
  • Direction and strategy (16.7%)
  • Management essentials (5.6%)

Did you find any of the poll results surprising? Soft-skills and people skills seem to be the prevailing “want”. Were there any key omissions from your list, and do you think technical skills are a need?

Let us know!

People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision.
—John Maxwell

MLK Jr. and Leadership

No person has the right to rain on your dreams.
–Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This week we celebrated the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. King was a minister, a civil-rights activist, a Nobel Peace Prize winner (1964), a promoter of equality, an inspiration for harmony and growth, and a great leader. He has been quoted hundreds of times, and we wanted to highlight a few:

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.
As leaders it’s up to us to rally team members, ensure shared goals are supported, and to create opportunities for collaboration.

Learn a little about the past, and you may end up with a pretty nice future.
Awareness is key! What worked well? What changes could be made to be more effective?

If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.
Not everything goes as planned, expect and plan for obstacles and be persistent.

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. Courage faces fear and thereby masters it.
Successful leadership requires courage. Leaders empower themselves and others to go farther than they ever dreamed possible.

People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.
Clear and timely communication, inclusion, and building relationships eliminates walls.

And, we’ve shared this before but it’s worth sharing again. Professor Wadhwa provides the following insights from Martin Luther King, jr’s “I HAVE A DREAM” speech:

  • Great leaders do not sugar-coat reality
  • Great leaders engage the heart
  • Great leaders refuse to accept the status quo
  • Great leaders create a sense of urgency
  • Great leaders call people to act in accord with their highest values
  • Great leaders refuse to settle
  • Great leaders acknowledge the sacrifice of their followers
  • Great leaders paint a vivid picture of a better tomorrow

May no one rain on your dreams, may you inspire others to never give up on theirs, and may doing “right” always be a priority!

The best way to solve any problem is to remove its cause.
–Dr. Martin Luther King, jr.

Leadership Self-Assessment

You need to assess yourself on a yearly basis and see how far you have gone
and what you still need to work on.
–Sunday Adelaja

For those familiar with our book “12 Steps For Courageous Leadership” you’re aware of our belief that courage is the most important attribute required in order for leaders to be effective and successful.

Below are the 12 “Courageability” factors we’d like you to self-evaluate. Score yourself from 1 – 10
(1 = poor and 10 = superb).

Score

_____ Lives and works with passion

_____ Documents and shares your goals

_____ Commits to addressing and tracking your goals

_____ Understands and leverages your strengths and the strengths of others

_____ Communicates with confidence and clarity

_____ Manages conflict and understands how it can be inspirational

_____ Develops others

_____ Effectively delegates

_____ Continually commits to enriching your skill-set

_____ Remains controlled at all times

_____ Consistently rewards and recognizes others

_____ Learns and grows from failures

How were your scores?  Were any below 7?  What about less than 5?

Are you a courageous leader?

Take time to regularly assess how you spend your time. Be ready to make changes that suit the goals pursued at a particular time.
― Israelmore Ayivor, Shaping the dream

 

Independence and Courageous Leadership

Men make history, and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.  –Harry Truman

This year U.S. Independence Day celebrations (generally celebrated July 4th) will likely be different from those in past years. Picnics, beach and lakefront gatherings, parades, and even fireworks are being scaled back in hopes of encouraging social distancing while better managing the possible spread of COVID-19.

So, instead of thinking about the celebrations, let’s focus on the courageous leadership required to obtain Independence. Note: Did you know that 175+ other countries also celebrate Independence Day?

Independence Day events generally honor the sacrifices required to physically separate from old governments/regimes and start fresh.

In most cases these are national holidays and a time for celebration and reflection. It’s also a good time to remember all the courageous leaders that valued the need for change, growth and persistence despite resistance.

In the United States, on July 4, 1776, 56 men met in Philadelphia and passed a resolution declaring their independence from England, allowing for the creation of a new government and new ways of thinking.

These men were true leaders, they were courageous, they were risk takers, and they certainly weren’t fearful of change! They were also committed to motivating and inspiring others to support a new way of life, despite knowing there would be challenges.

Changes in the workplace can’t be compared to the magnitude of changes in governments, but as leaders we can still inspire improvement. What can we make better? Are there new products, processes, or services we can implement? What’s not working well? Have you solicited opinions from colleagues of all levels and listened to their ideas?

Bottom line, are you leading with courage, and are you empowering yourself and others to go beyond where you/they have gone before? (We’ve coined this CourageAbility™). And, what are you doing to inspire others?

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.–John Quincy Adams

12 Steps For Courageous Leadership Recap

CourageAbility – The ability to live your dreams and professional life the way you desire, while achieving your goals and exceeding in your ambitions and objectives. It is taking and empowering yourself and others to go where you or they have never gone before!

In 2011 we wrote our first book: 12 Steps For Courageous Leadership – Start Your Journey Now and thought that this is a good time to revisit the steps.

It’s not easy being a leader. It takes courage and commitment, the willingness to step out of our comfort zone, the need to readily adapt to change, and the obligation to develop our skill set and the skills within our organization. Below are 12 essential steps:

Step 1)   Have and live YOUR dream. As leaders we need to have the courage to acknowledge and leverage OUR passion.  If you are living someone else’s dream, have the courage to say it; it’s not a problem to accommodate others, but realize and acknowledge that it’s your choice.

Step 2)   Document your goals. Put your goals in writing, communicate them, and enlist others to help track your progress.

Step 3)   Commit to your goals.  This can be difficult and requires taking action. Schedule the time in your calendar for what you’re committing to do. Saying you’re going to do something is not commitment; DOING it is.

Step 4)   Understand your strengths and the strengths of others. You can’t do everything yourself; allow others to help you.  Bring the experts into your life. Take a risk. Understand the strengths of others, help them grow, and allow them to take ownership.

Step 5) Communicate with Confidence and Clarity. This is our most important task and we’re continually working on it.

Step 6)   Understand and manage conflict with a purpose.  Without conflict there is no leadership. Conflict must occur for there to be growth, and it must be done in a healthy, honoring, respectful manner.

Step 7)   Grow and Develop others. As leaders our job is to help others achieve their goals and objectives. Are you mentoring others to help them grow?  Do you and your team have Individual Development Plans?  Do you track their progress?

Step 8)   Effective Delegation. This, combined with number 4, is critical. If you are doing everything yourself, you’ll get burned out. You may be surprised and find others can do it even better!

Step 9)   Regularly solicit feedback and commit to developing a skill.

Step 10)  Remain Controlled; composure is critical for a leader. Emotional intelligence is a skill that can be measured and developed.

Step 11)  Reward and Recognize. Do you reward others based on goals, or just randomly? Rewards need to be consistent and based on the actions/behaviors/results you would like to see more of.

Step 12) Succeed and Learn from Failure. Risks need to be taken or very little change will occur.

Be courageous and take action on the 12 steps!

Stay safe!

We challenge you to live your life with courage, leverage it to achieve success, and make a difference!

What The Best Leaders Do

Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand.
—General Colin Powell

Admittedly there are many skills, behaviors, and traits that differentiate the most effective leaders from others, and we wanted to share yet another perspective.

Professors from Harvard Business School’s General Management Unit were asked “what qualities distinguish extraordinary leaders from merely average ones?” Danielle Knox compiled the results and shared the following:

1. They clarify the complex shared John Shad, Professor of Business Ethics
“They can communicate very clearly and succinctly—usually with short words and short sentences—and even on complex issues. They’ve developed the skills necessary to really get to the heart of things.”

2. They embrace new thinking was what Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Ernest Arbuckle Professors of Business Administration provided.
“They resist distilling their work into just one thing! Excellent leaders see nuances, contradictions, possibilities for error, counter-trends, and opposing views. In short, they listen, include many viewpoints, learn from critics, and remain aware that trends could shift quickly. And then they are better armed when they act quickly and decisively.”

3. Chester A. Huber, senior lecturer of business administration and former CEO of OnStar said: They balance confidence and humility
“Great leaders have the ability to act decisively and with confidence to inspire their team while simultaneously displaying a humility that respects and encourages their team’s best efforts. They’re great learners that view successful outcomes as both achieving specific objectives and improving their organization’s ability to deal with its next wave of challenges.”

4. They unite employees around a mission said Joseph B. Fuller, Professor of Management Practice.
“Effective leaders communicate the organization’s objective function—what are we trying to accomplish, what’s the definition of victory, how should we measure our success—constantly and broadly within their institution. That ensures alignment and allows them to delegate responsibility for designing and implementing plans to achieve those ends to the maximum degree possible.”

5. Leonard A. Schlesinger, Baker Foundation Professor selected: They set high standards
“The answer to this question has proven to be relatively timeless in spite of all of the more recent pronouncements. The classic Handbook of Leadership has defined the effective leader as someone ‘who sets high standards and expresses caring.’ Virtually all written since this articulation has proven to be a variation on this theme.”

6. They avoid distractions is what University Professors Rebecca M. Henderson and Natty McArthur provided.
“They focus!”

Of the 6 qualities identified, which do you most identify with? Are there any you’d like to develop?

The leader has to be practical and a realist yet must talk the language of the visionary and the idealist.
—Eric Hoffer

The Critical “C’s”

The key to an ideal workplace, in one hyphenated word, is this: self-awareness.
–Neil Blumenthal

Awareness continues to be our theme and we suggest conducting a self assessment in what we call the Critical C components.  Rate yourself 1 – 10 in each category (10 = highly effective); any area that scores less than 8 can be considered a target growth area:

SCORE
Clarity                                   _____
Communication                  _____
Coaching                               _____
Courage                                 _____
Compassion                          _____

In the past we’ve only talked about 5 Critical C’s, but we ran across a quote by Zig Ziglar that said “you must make a choice to take a chance or your life will never change“, so we’re adding 3 more:

SCORE
Choices                                _____
Chances                               _____
Changes                               _____

Some may be easier to rate than others; ask colleagues, trusted friends, and even family members how they would rate you. It’s a simple form of feedback that may provide you with some great insights. It’s also a great starting point to identify where you are today, and gets you thinking about where you want to be.

Determine what’s most important to you and listen to your inner voice. What behaviors can you modify?  Eliminate? Incorporate?

We all benefit from increasing our awareness levels as it enhance relationships, improves results, and drives us to be a more effective leader. Where will you start?

Working together on solving something requires a high level of humility and a
high level of self-awareness.–Paul Polman

Confidence, Courage, Success

We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which
we really stop to look fear in the face… we must do that which we think we cannot.
–Eleanor Roosevelt

Do you agree that leadership requires courage and confidence?  We do. So much so, we created the word “courageability” and defined it as “The single most important attribute any leader must have in order to be effective and successful”.

Not only is courage required for leaders to be successful, it must be supplemented with confidence.

Leaders are expected to be confident regardless of the situation. They are expected to be authentic (sharing what is meant and felt), they take risks to achieve results (and expect others to do the same), and they must “Take others where they have not been before and would not go by themselves”.

Success Magazine provides the following about CONFIDENCE:

1. Persevere
Take a step toward pushing your big idea off of the ground. Failure is inevitable. Don’t let it stop you from acting on your dreams.

2. Practice self-care
Words have the power to damage our self-esteem and leave us reeling. When this happens, list your strengths and remind yourself of the value you have to offer.

3. Push back
Today, build your confidence muscle by haggling five times. Ask for a complimentary drink at lunch, or request a loyalty discount from your cable provider. Revel in your newfound bravery and commit to negotiating once a week.  Note: This is hard for many!

4. Be good enough.
Perfectionism is good until it inhibits you from completing a task because you’re hung up on the details. Eliminate the word perfect from your vocabulary and accept that sometimes good is enough.

5. Be the calm.
A good leader knows the next crisis is just around the bend. Prepare for the bad times by anticipating various scenarios and planning your response.

They sound pretty simple but we all know that situations will arise that will challenge us. “Gremlins” may have us doubt ourselves and erode confidence levels.  Be aware of them. It doesn’t hurt to re-evaluate plans, but don’t over-think them. If it feels right to you, it probably is.

Bottom line – lead with courage and confidence!

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
–Winston Churchill

A Leader; A Legacy

President Bush solidified his legacy of principled, pragmatic, and compassionate leadership.
— Gov. Larry Hogan

The world has lost a great leader. U.S. Republicans, Democrats, Independents and even those with no party affiliation, as well as foreign leaders, expressed their condolences with the passing of George H.W. Bush.  He is mourned and his accomplishments celebrated.

A simple summary of his life was that he was dedicated to a lifetime of public service and a desire to make the world a better place.

Here’s why many claim President Bush (41) was the most accomplished U.S. President:

  • A World War II veteran and Navy pilot
  • Two-term congressman
  • Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
  • Ambassador to the United Nations
  • Vice President of the United States
  • 41st president of the United States
  • Father to the 43rd U.S. President
  • Helped end the Cold War
  • Instrumental in German unification
  • A lifetime Public Servant

Below are comments from both Domestic and International Leaders:

  • A true patriot and statesman who embodied decency and selfless service
  • A man of the highest character
  • His legacy of public service may never be matched, even though he’d want all of us to try
  • Sound judgment, common sense, and unflappable leadership
  • Through all that he accomplished, he remained humble
  • He loved his country and lived a life of courageous service
  • You did not have to agree with President George H.W. Bush to respect him
  • He served our country with dignity, integrity, and a commitment to American values
  • His administration was marked by grace, civility, and social conscience
  • He showed political wisdom and foresight, sought to make informed decisions even in the most difficult situations

There is no better summary than what son Neil Bush shared: This is the end of an amazing life.  And from the U.S. Navy: Fair winds and following seas, Sir. We have the watch.

May he Rest In Peace.

George H.W. Bush’s lifetime of service and decades of dedication to honor and duty leave an indelible mark on our nation and on our hearts.– Gov. Larry Hogan

Independence, Leadership, Courage

Men make history, and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.  –Harry Truman

The U.S.A. celebrates Independence Day on July 4th.  It began in 1776 when 56 courageous individuals decided it was time for a change.

Did you know that 175+ other countries also celebrate Independence Day? As far back as 1143, Portugal officially became an autonomous state, and as recently as 2006, 55.5% of the Montenegro population voted in favor of Independence.

In most cases these are national holidays and a time for celebration and reflection. It’s also a good time to remember all the courageous leaders that value the need for change and growth, and persist despite resistance.

We all know that being a leader is not easy, that it requires courage and commitment, and the ability to motivate and inspire others. It can also require being a risk taker, and not being afraid of failure.

Here are some notable failures that persisted:

Abraham Lincoln – Experienced 12 major failures before being elected the 16th U.S. President

Albert Einstein – His teachers said “he wouldn’t amount to much”.

Ludwig van Beethoven – His music teacher once said “as a composer, he is hopeless”.

Steve Jobs – He felt he was a public failure when he was fired from Apple.

Walt Disney – Was fired from a newspaper for his lack of imagination.

The Beatles – In 1962 they were told they “had no future in show business” and that “groups with guitars are on the way out”.

Bottom line, are you leading with courage and commitment?

And, what are you doing to inspire change in others?

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.–Winston Churchill