Leaders developing leaders.

Courageous Leadership

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

BAM! You’re A Leader

Courage is the main quality of leadership, in my opinion, no matter where it is exercised.—Walt Disney

Many of us were promoted into leadership positions because we were great at what we did. We excelled in our role, we executed tasks with precision, and we met or exceeded goals and deliverables.

All of a sudden “BAM”; you’ve become a leader with direct reports and are not sure what all is involved. It doesn’t matter that you’re unclear on what’s required in your new role, or that your “people” skills needed to be developed, refined and/or refreshed.  Sound familiar?

Some of us have had the opportunity to have a mentor and be afforded career development opportunities.  Some of us have not had a smooth transition into our new leadership role, and quite honestly have difficulty moving forward.

The good news is that we can help ourselves by learning new tools, and acquiring techniques and methods that are considered to be essential for leadership effectiveness. This can be humbling, and it takes courage for successful professionals and technicians to admit they have gaps to fill.

A good starting point is to increase awareness levels; what’s working well, what is not, what skill-sets need to be updated, and are customer/client needs being met?

We have a complimentary self-assessment that we think you’ll find helpful. You (confidentially) rate yourself in the areas of Awareness, Magic Dust, VMGM = B, Communication, Clarity, Accountability, Conflict, Influence, Relationships, Feedback, Inspiration, and Continual Learning. To request the assessment click here.

After scoring yourself on a ten-point scale (from poor to superb), you will document your strengths and target development areas, and provide names for those you feel can provide you with developmental assistance. It will conclude with you determining “next steps” and timings.

Leadership development requires courage and commitment – and, it’s a process not an event. (We know; you’ve heard this before. Numerous times!)

Why not utilize this leadership roadmap to update your development plan? Take your first step towards courageous leadership today!

LEADERSHIP IS ONLY COURAGE AND WISDOM, AND A GREAT CAREFULNESS OF SELF.
—John Buchan

Divisive or Inclusive?

The effect of leadership failure on any organization of people is the same: Polarization, instability, and if left unchecked, destruction.
–Steve Tobak

We continually provide tips and share stories about becoming a more effective leader, and we also discuss optimal behaviors and skill-sets that the strongest leaders possess.  Why?  Because if we don’t continually work at being our best, we may find that we have unintentionally created instability or uncertainty, and find that our team is floundering.

Effective leaders set the tone for their entire team/organization. They share their vision, mission, goals, and strategies, and they create and communicate a roadmap for reaching the desired point of destination.

They focus on inclusiveness. They communicate. They clarify how each colleague can contribute to achieving shared goals. They help everyone understand how and why they each have a role, helping minimize obstacles within the roadmap.

In Deloitte Insights, Juliet Bourke and Bernadette Dillon published The Six Signature Traits Of Inclusive Leadership:

SIX SIGNATURE TRAITS

  • COGNIZANCE – Bias is a leaders Achilles heel
  • CURIOSITY – Different ideas and experiences enable growth
  • CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE – Not everyone sees the world through the same cultural frame
  • COLLABORATION –  A diverse thinking team is greater than the sum of its parts
  • COMMITMENT – Staying the course is hard
  • COURAGE – Talking about imperfections involves personal risk taking

These concepts should sound very familiar.  We equate them to:

Awareness  – of self and others and the value provided
Continual learning – never get complacent or lose the desire to improve and listen to differing perspectives
Emotional Intelligence – understand the difference between IQ and EQ and leverage the strengths
Collaboration – working together to find a solution is a win-win
Accountability, persistence and commitment – don’t give up despite barriers or failures
Courage – We coined the term CourageAbility™ (and wrote a book!)

Is inclusive leadership part of your work culture?

QWIKTIPS – click to read why FEAR IS A BARRIER TO SUCCESS

MLK = Courage and Integrity

Average leaders focus on results, and that’s it. Good leaders focus also on the behaviors that will get the results. And great leaders focus, in addition, on the emotions that will drive these behaviors. –Hitendra Wadhwa (professor, Columbia Business School / Founder, Institute for Personal Leadership)

On Monday the United States celebrated the life and memory of Martin Luther King, Jr.  Dr. King was a minister, a civil-rights activist, an advocate of nonviolence, and a Nobel Peace Prize winner (1964).

He was also a leader that lived his life with courage and integrity and encouraged others to do the same. He held true to his beliefs, and promoted the behaviors required for everyone to be judged on their personal qualities, (not their color) and that violence not be responded to with violence, but rather with actions of peace. Talk about living and leading with courage and integrity!

Dr. King influenced so many without being arrogant, without being a bully, without looking down and speaking poorly of others, and without being divisive.  Quite the contrary, his focus was on peace and unity, and one of his most famous quotes was “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?”

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

In closing, we want to share one last quote: The time is always right to do what is right.
Great words to live by don’t you think?

THIS WEEK’S QWIKTIP!

Read why FEAR IS A BARRIER TO SUCCESS

Mindset Re-Swizzle

Rule your mind or it will rule you.–Horace

How’s your personal and professional mindset? As 2017 is coming to a close, are you still energized and motivated? Would a “re-swizzled” mindset help? SUCCESS magazine (January 2018) provides content on the following:

STAY STRONG
Mentally and physically; incorporate exercise in both.

SELF-CARE
Every day build in time for self-reflection or meditation.

CHANGE LANGUAGE
Replace your negative thoughts and words with “I can/I will” verbiage.

GET INTENTIONAL
What’s your purpose and intent? Do your behaviors support them?

FUEL CREATIVITY
Pause and reflect on new perspectives and alternative views.

DEAL WITH IT
We all have to manage the unexpected; don’t let them derail you.

LEARN MORE
Commit to continual self-development; add reading to your goals.

BE COURAGEOUS
Being a leader requires courage!

OWN UP TO IT
Be accountable; hold others accountable; document improvement possibilities.

AIM HIGH
Set stretch goals and establish steps to help stay on track on reflect progress.

How can you re-swizzle your mindset to benefit your life and career?

THIS WEEK’S QWIKTIP!

Read about
BEING ADAPTIVE AND AGILE

Moral Leadership

How We Do Anything Means Everything –Dov Seidman

As leaders, we need to understand the culture of our business, be aware of the pulse of our team, co-workers, and business partners, consistently communicate goals and strategies, and make decisions based on our knowledge of the above.

Dov Seidman, founder/CEO of LRN, an ethics and compliance management firm, believes companies will thrive when ethical business cultures exist. (He’s also an author, attorney, and columnist).

It’s been reported that over two-thirds of U.S. citizens believe that none, very few, or only some corporations operate in a fair and honest manner. Pretty disheartening isn’t it?

So what does it take to create and support moral leadership?  Seidman suggests to first start by cultivating trust, values, and passion.  (TRUST, once again surfaces as a key critical component). He also provides 4 guiding principles:

Moral Leaders Are Driven By Purpose

They focus on progress, not just on results and the bottom line. Journeys force us to learn, adapt, experiment, and embrace and learn from mistakes. 

Moral Leaders Inspire and Elevate Others

They ask people to be loyal not to them, but rather to the overall purpose and mission of the organization.

Moral Leaders Are Animated by Both Courage and Patience

It takes courage to speak out for a principle or larger truth, especially when that leader is in an uncomfortable or vulnerable territory. Think of patience as a way of extending trust to others by allowing them the time to be more thorough, rigorous and creative. 

Moral Leaders Keep Building Muscle

Authentic leaders don’t stop learning and growing just because they’ve accumulated formal authority. They continue to build moral muscle by wrestling with questions of right and wrong, fairness and justice, what serves others and what doesn’t. 

Additionally, Seidman states that moral leaders “pause and continually ask if what they’re doing—or what their company or organization is doing—is compatible with their purpose and mission”.

How would you answer that question?

QWIKTIPS –  read more about ACTIONS AND BELIEFS

Seidman says: When you demonstrate moral authority, people follow you not because they have to, but because they want to.

MLK – A Courageous Leader

Average leaders focus on results, and that’s it. Good leaders focus also on the behaviors that will get the results. And great leaders focus, in addition, on the emotions that will drive these behaviors.
–Hitendra Wadhwa (professor, Columbia Business School / Founder, Institute for Personal Leadership)

This week the United States celebrated the life and memory of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. King means many things to many people. He was:

  • A great preacher
  • A civil-rights activist
  • An advocate of non-violence
  • A great leader

We want to add that he was a “Courageous Leader”. It required courage to control his anger, to not return violence with violence, and to maintain and promote his mission of peace.

Dr. King influenced so many without being arrogant, without being a bully, without looking down and speaking poorly of others, and without being divisive. His focus was on peace and unity, and one of his most famous quotes was: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?”

Inspiring Quotes From Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. had hundreds of inspiring quotes. We like one below, and replaced the words “education” and “educate” with “leadership” and “lead” to add a different twist:

The function of LEADERSHIP is to LEAD one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true LEADERSHIP.

Here are some more Martin Luther King, Jr. quotes that we’d like you to think about in terms of leadership:

  • A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.
  • Means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.
  • Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.
  • The quality, not the longevity, of one’s life is what is important.
  • The time is always right to do what is right.
  • Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.
  • The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

Leadership Insights Based on MLK’s “I Have a Dream” Speech

Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech highlighted what great leaders do. Michael Hyatt published an article based on this speech and shares the following insights (with our comments beside them).

  • Great leaders do not sugar-coat reality. They deliver hard messages and share realistic expectations.
  • Great leaders engage the heart. They understand the importance of being passionate about what you do.
  • Great leaders refuse to accept the status quo. The need for growth and innovation is a constant.
  • Great leaders create a sense of urgency. Time is always an important factor.
  • Great leaders call people to act in accord with their highest values. Integrity is the top rated leadership value.
  • Great leaders refuse to settle. Persist and persevere!
  • Great leaders acknowledge the sacrifice of their followers. Recognize and reward efforts and accomplishments.
  • Great leaders paint a vivid picture of a better tomorrow. True leaders are visionaries.

The list of what great leaders do could be endless, but one we’re big on is that leaders must have courage.

Without courage you’ll never step out of your comfort zone, you’ll likely not live your dream, and you probably won’t empower yourself and others to go where they have never gone before.

We challenge you to live your life with courage and to leverage it to be the leader you aspire to be!

QwikTip and QwikCoach

PeopleTek’s Strategic partner, E-Coach, specializes in online coaching tools.

QWIKTIP: Read about how to SHARE YOUR STRENGTHS 

And for those with a QwikCoach license, refresh your existing skills and acquire new skills by visiting the QwikTips library for leadership ideas and techniques.

If you don’t have QwikCoach, it’s an excellent resource for growing your leadership skills remotely that you should consider.

LEARN MORE ABOUT QWIKCOACH

Help turn your leadership knowledge into leadership action!

4th Quarter Check-In

Can you believe we’re in the last quarter of 2016? That means we have less than 3 months to accomplish our goals and take action on leadership development plans.

NOW is the time to review organizational and personal goals, assess unfinished business, and begin planning for 2017.

Aim higher. Stay focused.
–Brandon Adams

4th Quarter Check-In Questions

  • Have achieved goals been acknowledged and recognized?
  • What targets have been missed or neglected?
  • What are your priorities for the next 3 months?
  • Does your organization have a talent retention plan?
  • Does it have leadership bench-strength?
  • Is technical savvy sufficient to keep abreast of changing times?
  • Have relationship enhancements occurred as needed?
  • Has action been taken on becoming more courageous leaders?

As a reminder, Courageous leaders:

  • Have and live a dream.
  • Document goals.
  • Commit to goals.
  • Understand personal and team strengths.
  • Communicate.
  • Address conflict.
  • Develop others.
  • Delegate.
  • Enhance a skill.
  • Remain controlled.
  • Give rewards.
  • Succeed and learn from failure.

Answering the questions listed above and utilizing the courageous leadership skills will position you to take appropriate actions to differentiate between IMPORTANT issues (those which contribute heavily to goals and objectives and have high value) from URGENT issues (those that require immediate attention but may not contribute to the success of meeting goals and objectives).

All of our behaviors are intended to support our goals, mission, and vision. Aim higher and stay focused!

BONUS – QWIKTIP – MAKE SURE EVERYONE IS ONBOARD