the art of leading

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Some interesting links about leadership (and some other things):

Miki Saxon of Leadership Turn talks about three things that are simple, but are key to practicing leadership. Three Basics of Leading

Leaders need to be in shape! The Zen Habits blog tells about some ways we can fire ourselves up to exercise. 31 Ways to Motivate Yourself to Exercise

Very interesting slide show, over at slideshare.net, about the history of leadership, posted by the user Tudor. A Brief History of Leadership

Interesting way to look at leadership, over at Reason-2-Smile’s Weblog: Leadership: Habit of Asking

Jonathan Frye of LeadershipJot.com remembers us about the importance of being a model to others. A Unique Indicator for a Leader from an Employee Break Room

Not directly about leadership, but it’s always good to have knowledge about a variety of things, and Steve Pavlina provides that. Proof

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By, Dr. Anthony F. SmithAuthor of The Taboos of Leadership
People have paid me a lot of money over the years to answer the following
question for them: How do I become a great Leader? I will often answer them
with the following questions:

Q: How do you become a great parent?

A: Do great parenting, day in, day out, over a sustained period of time.

Q: How do you become a great consultant?

A: Do great consulting, day in, day out, etc.

So, how do you become a great Leader? You guessed it, do great Leadership,
day in, day out, over a sustained period of time!

The field of Leadership Development, with its plethora of books, seminars,
courses, videos, and executive coaches, has become a billion dollar
industry. Unfortunately, I believe that much of what is embodied within the
industry is simply misleading and deceptive. Books such as ‘Leadership for
Dummies’, ‘The Idiots Guide to Leading’, and ‘Leadership Made Easy’, all
capitalize on the fact that many want to be a leader, but few are actually
able, or want to put forth the effort required to really become one. (How
would you feel about a book entitled “Brain Surgery for Dummies”?) At one
point, we need to get real about leadership. Like diet programs that claim
you can eat all you want and still lose 20 pounds in a week, leadership
“products”, make similar claims, and therefore resort to oversimplified
theories and falsehoods that invite leader want-to-be’s to consume anything
that looks like a magic pill to Leadership. Well, unfortunately, there are
no magic pills to becoming a Leader, just like there are no magic pills to
losing weight, getting fit, making a million dollars, or shaving 10 strokes
off your handicap in golf. Simply stated, becoming a Leader occurs when one
exercises the arduous process of effective Leadership, day after day, week
after week, and year after year.

Q: So, what is Leadership you ask?

A: Leadership is a process (not a position) whereby an individual works
through a series of iterative stages by;

Stage 1

* creating a vision,

* establishing an objective and set of goals,

* setting direction,

Stage 2

* and following through by intentionally seeking to influence followers
(both established and potential),

* to perform the various tasks needed to realize the vision,

* to their full potential,

* for as long as possible,

Stage 3

* until the vision and goals are realized.

One can look at this definition as a “check-list” to Leadership; Do I have a
vision; a picture of a desired end state that is compelling to others? Are
people performing to their full potential? Who do I need to help me realize
this vision? Am I intentionally seeking to influence people to perform their
best? What else needs to be done, and who should do it?

Now, I realize individuals may find themselves at various points in a given
stage, before they choose to engage in the process of leadership. For
instance, one may be working in a division, or an organization, that already
has a clearly established vision, set goals, etc. In such a case, assuming
that the individual agrees with the vision, the leadership process begins at
Stage 2. We all must realize that part of the difficulty of leadership is
that some people are great visionaries, but lack the competence and EQ to
influence others to rally around their vision. Others, may not be great
visionaries, but are very influential and inspirational to those around
them.

What I have observed in my years of studying leaders, is that very few have
all the gifts and talents themselves; what many of the great ones do have,
is a self awareness of what talents they do have, and the self confidence
and security to surround themselves with others who can compliment them, and
compensate for their own lack of skills.

In closing, let me make one point clear; it is my intent to encourage as
many people as possible to exercise leadership as often as they possibly
can, for as long as they can!

When people are lost because they lack a “vision”, and you happen to “see”
an end goal that they can not see, then at least exercise Stage 1 of
leadership. By doing so, it doesn’t necessarily mean you will emerge as
their “leader”, but you will have engaged in “leadership.” If one of your
colleagues is not performing to their “full potential”, intervene and
intentionally try to influence them to raise their performance. Remember,
human performance is nothing more than the function of one’s skill and will
to perform a task; therefore, if one is not performing to their potential,
it is either because they lack the skill, or the will, to do their job.
Figure out what is impeding their performance and try to either coach them
to build their skills, or inspire, challenge, and motivate them to raise
their will to perform. Let’s be clear;

Everyone can not become a leader, but every one can engage in a lot more
leadership!

When I wrote my book, The Taboos of Leadership; The Ten Secrets That No One
Will Tell You About Leaders and What They Really Think (Jossey Bass, 2007),
I was accused by some that by “revealing” the un-savory aspects of
leadership, I was discouraging many from wanting to lead. Unfortunately,
they missed my message. As I state in my book, if we are serious about
trying to build the Skill and Will of future leaders, we owe it to them to
disclose the truth, as difficult as they may be, so that they may be better
prepared to engage in leadership, day in, and day out, over a sustained
period of time, thus increasing the probability that one day they will
indeed become great leaders themselves.

Leadership is the one and only path to becoming a leader.

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By Christine Comaford-Lynch, Author of Rules for Renegades

Great people can make a mediocre product a success. But mediocre people can make a great product a disaster.

Experience has taught me that you don’t have to have a great product. A good
product is ok. Great people make the difference. Fact: You need a great team
in order to succeed. Fiction: You need to have that great team in place from
the get-go. Building teams takes time.

So let’s discuss who you need on your team, how to build/support/retain that
team, how to find your team members, and who your extended team members
should be. All the other risks you face, such as market size and technology,
won’t have half the impact of your team.

Tip #1: Be Diverse

A successful team must be composed of diverse players. You’ll need
Visionaries, Leaders, Implementers and Infrastructure Builders/Supporters.
Visionaries appear at all levels, but must, of course, be highly visible in
executive management. These are the people who will “see” the future of the
products or services of your company as well as new markets you should
enter. Leaders will also be in executive management as well as throughout
the ranks. Leaders have the uncanny ability to make their mission everyone
else’s. A great leader can inspire and motivate people to do anything.
Implementers make things happen. They build the products/services and market
and sell them. The Infrastructure Builders/Supporters will create the
foundation, processes and procedures of the company to keep it running
smoothly.

The Visionaries need the Leaders to check and disseminate their vision, the
Leaders need the Implementers to execute their orders, and everyone needs
the Infrastructure Builders/Supporters to support the company’s operations.
If you are missing one of these roles, fill it soon. In the meantime hire a
temp executive - a rent-a-controller is better than no controller.

Tip #2: Rock The Culture

The best way to build, support and retain a great team is to encourage a
rockin’ culture that everyone wants to be part of! Your company should have
values that everyone agrees to uphold. These should be posted visibility,
printed on coffee cups, etc. Everyone throughout the organization must be
empowered to “call” any team member on not honoring the values. Here are
ours: add massive value, take ownership, make and keep commitments, respect
one another, and be positive. I’ve seen solid, enduring, and humane work
environments created by endorsing values and I’ve seen the opposite without
them.

Encourage the following virtues too: humility, communication, empowerment,
generosity, focus, fiscal responsibility, innovation, and patience.
Remember: hiring grade A people creates grade A teams. Fill the top slots of
the org chart with grade A people, then let these execs flesh out their
teams. Communicate cross-company weekly - people like to know what is going
on. And finally, help every team member envision their next promotion or
two. I once had a startup where I told the senior execs that I expected them
to start their own companies in a few years (that was their “next
promotion”). I told them to learn all they could, then when the time came
I’d help finance their new ventures. Talk about building loyalty!

Tip #3: Choose Wisely

Now that we know who we need and the environment to hire them into, let’s
look at the attributes to seek out.

1. Smarts. Hire the smartest people you can find. They’ll find their way out
of the majority of messes they’ll get into. This takes guts, but
entrepreneurs have them!

2. Pedigree. An MBA doesn’t impress me. A GSD does. GSD = Gets Stuff Done.
Someone who has results, results, results all over their past has a pedigree
every bit as powerful as an Ivy league degree.

3. Commitment. I don’t mean the fluffy stuff. We’re talking the heavy, deep,
man/woman on a mission stuff. When the grenades are flying the committed
person doesn’t go AWOL. There is nothing more powerful than emotional
equity. No amount of stock options even come close.

4. Plays well with others. I became an entrepreneur because I didn’t play
well with others, and thus was not employable. But I learned. And it’s been
one of the greatest lessons I’ve ever embraced.

Numbers 1-3 are required, number 4 can be learned. But you’ll save yourself
a lot of heartache by getting all four up front.

The best way to find your team is by schmoozing. Go to every industry event
you can and tell everyone about your great company and who you are looking
to hire. Then interview wisely. Check out John Kador’s The Manager’s Book of
Questions. It’s a terrific interviewing tool. Also use your extended team
(see below) to check out your potential hires. Give each candidate two
offers: one with a fair salary and fair amount of stock, and the other with
a lower salary and a higher amount of stock. If you have equity to spare,
there’s no sense in burning all your cash on salaries.

Tip #4: Build An Extended Team

Your extended team will be made up of your investors, board members, and
advisors. Regarding investors, pick ‘em well by creating and executing a
capital acquisition strategy (more on this in a future column). The board
and advisors you’ll have more control over. You’ll most likely have a board
of 5-7 people. I prefer seven, with two seats going to investors, and two to
the CEO and one other exec. The remaining seats should be given to people
you trust and who will help you. For advisors, create a board of about ten
people, max. The profile for both directors and advisors is an industry
heavyweight, model customer, credibility booster, as well as savvy business
person with great connections. Make sure that each advisory board member
plays a specific role, such as helps with strategic alliances, or works with
the sales, marketing, or technical teams. This keeps them focused. Keep your
extended team committed and passionate with monthly email updates. Needless
to say, everyone should get stock options (with the exception of the
investors). The amount will range from .25% - 3%, based on the stage of the
company. You’ll lure killer board members and advisors by having a killer
business. But remember that filling in a board will take time. Most startups
don’t fill all board seats within the first year of operations. Be picky!

So build yourself a great team and get cracking on a great product. Then if
it turns out only good, you’ll still be way ahead of the pack!

_____________________________________________________________

Christine is CEO of Mighty Ventures ( <outbind://152/www.MightyVentures.com>
www.MightyVentures.com), an innovation accelerator which helps businesses to
massively increase sales, product offerings, and company value. She has
built and sold 5 of her own businesses with an average 700% return on
investment, served as a board director or in-the-trenches advisor to 36
startups, and has invested in over 200 startups as a venture capitalist or
angel investor. Christine has consulted to the White House (Clinton and
Bush), 700 of the Fortune 1000, and hundreds of small businesses. She has
repeatedly identified and championed key trends and technologies years
before market acceptance. Christine’s best selling book, Rules for
Renegades, is available now on <outbind://152/www.RulesForRenegades.com>
www.RulesForRenegades.com or wherever books are sold.

Categories : Teamwork // Add Comment »

Although this article uses the lawyer as an example, “Thought Leadership” is a very useful leadership resource in many areas. Thought leadership could be very effective to persuade others, especially due to the low barriers of entry into the internet, which can be used to distribute information more effectively than ever. Enjoy!

Thought Leadership - A Long-Term Investment by Steven Matthews

Categories : General Leadership, Links // Add Comment »

This post is my contribution to Blog Action Day. The purpose of this initiative is to get thousands of bloggers talking about one topic. This Blog Action Day’s topic is the environment.

The environmental issue is a leadership issue. It involves persuasion, negotiation, inspiration, motivation, and all those other “-asions” and “-ations” that leadership is supposed to address. Therefore, leadership should play a central role in this discussion.

These days, the environment is on everybody’s minds. Obviously, Al Gore has been partly responsible for such attention, with his Nobel Peace Prize and all. Scientist, politicians, economists argue over the actual existence of global warming, its cause, whether it is human-caused or natural, and so on. But hey, let all the science to, umm…the scientists. For the purposes of this article, I’ll take the sensible premise that global warming is a reality and that humans have a significant role in it.

So what role can, and should, leadership play?

It has been drilled into everybody’s mind that one of the most important functions of leaders is to persuade people to adopt a stance and take action. The discussion of environmental issues has a huge need of effective persuasion.

Granted, I don’t believe that it is still a great necessity to persuade people that global warming exists. Even severe critics of global warming discussions admit that it is a reality.

What is more important than that is to persuade people that they can do something to improve what the future holds for our planet. In other words, we need leaders to persuade people to practice what I call personal leadership.

Why?

Put simply, this cause is not one which will advance with a big social movement led by a central leader. It’s too big of a deal for a small group of people In my opinion, the mission of curbing global warming and environmental pollution will be achieved through micro-collaboration. People will have to contribute whatever initiative, however big or small, that is possible.

What kind of initiative?

A classic simple action that may contribute greatly, from lessening dependence on oil to helping the economy, is to use FC light bulbs instead of standard light bulbs. Or perhaps you can use the train instead of the car. In fact, you can use the train instead of the car just one day of the week, and still generate some impact. Using this personal leadership, you can serve as an example to whoever you may influence. You have to urge this micro-collaboration. That is leadership in practice. And that is what will be necessary to change the course of our planet.

And what about the bigger-than-life leaders who will single-handedly change the world?

Occasionally some great individual leader will emerge as a motivating presence. Al Gore has taken a role, regardless of what people think of him, of proactivity. Nevertheless, he nor any other individual will be a savior, regardless of how many awards he wins. In this age of tipping points, long tails, and wikinomics, social micro-collaboration will be the key to reversing the damage that humans have caused to the environment.

Explore Blog Action Day!

Categories : Action, Blog Action Day, Change, Environment, Persuasion, Proactivity // Add Comment »

Previously I wrote a post called Self Confidence to be a Leader. This article, Leadership by Hypothesis, by Pete Pande of Forbes.com, summarizes that importance of self confidence in a leader. Here is an excerpt:

“Why “leadership by hypothesis?” Two simple answers: 

–Every decision a leader makes–every goal set, target defined, strategy developed–is fundamentally a hypothesis, a more or less educated guess about the future and the correct path to success.

–The more conscious you are of your hypotheses, the better you can manage the inherent uncertainties and risks every leader and organization faces—and in many cases, use those uncertainties to your advantage.

The best leaders are comfortable with hypotheses.”     Keep reading!

Categories : Action, Confidence, Courage, General Leadership // Add Comment »

I came across this article. It contains basic information about leadership abilities in general. Take a look: Building Your Leadership Skills on BNET.

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Want short and sweet suggestions to deal with failure effectively? Read this post over at LeadershipJot.com, by Jonathan Frye.

3 Steps for How to Respond to Failure

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As you already know by now, former Vice-President Al Gore was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. I won’t enter into whether or not he deserved it, but it is another step in his “re-invention”, of which I wrote a post a couple of months ago. I decided to re-post it, for those of you who didn’t read it the first time:

Successful investor. Best-selling author. Oscar-award winner. Movie producer. Multimillionaire. Savvy businessman. Ten years ago nobody would have fathomed that those terms would someday describe Al Gore. Yet they do. In the past decade he has founded Generation Investment Management and Current TV, produced An Inconvenient Truth, and wrote best-selling books such as his last one, The Assault on Reason. Granted, you don’t have to agree with his politics or views. But nobody can deny that he has transformed himself from a mocked and non-charismatic politician into a thriving businessman and leader in environmental issues.The former Vice-President has somehow found the way to revamp his image and increase his level of influence.

In my humble opinion, the key has been increased self-confidence (see Self-Confidence to be a Leader for a better explanation). He just seems happy with his work, and that is projected into the increased assertiveness of his public speaking and other dealings. This ‘reinvention’ or ‘transformation’ has catapulted him into a new, higher level of influence. This new ‘leadership’ is demonstrated by the fact that many people would like for him to run for President in 2008. Now, people actually listen to what he has to say. People watch his Oscar-winning movie, read his best-selling books, and invest in his companies. Today another of his initiatives, Live Earth, takes place. It’s the latest example of his newfound scope of influence.

I repeat: you don’t have to be a tree-hugger to appreciate the importance and potential of reinvention. Sometimes leaders reinvent themselves slowly. Other times they make a total overnight transformation. Sometimes these reinventions are for the worst. Many times they revitalize leaders and increase their level of influence on others. Try it. Get out of the rut and do things differently than before. Find new ways to live and set new goals. Your reinvention might be just what is needed to become a better leader.

Categories : Environment // Add Comment »

I just finished reading this book, and want to share with you my observations. Of course, the best thing you can do with this or any book is to read it for yourself. But at least this review might help you in that decision.

Structure

The structure of the chapters was very reader-friendly. They all consist of an anecdote, an explanation of that anecdote, conclusions, and recommendations. I’ve always liked books that don’t leave their topics up in the air, and give a call to action. One of this book’s virtues, in my opinion, is precisely that. Another virtue is the focus on transmitting messages through story-telling. The effectiveness of stories isn’t a new discovery, but they do let you see the concepts in action, and Mr. Baum, in my opinion, achieved that.

In terms of structure, I do find that the book may have been structured with a different “skeleton”. Perhaps I would have preferred to structure the book around the ten “shaping experiences” that Mr. Baum first listed on Chapter 1. I do acknowledge, though, that the author used some kind of criteria to decide on this factor.

Substance

Let’s go to the important part, the substance. The book has a lot of messages, obviously. As I said, I think that the 10 “shaping experiences” are the backbone of the book. Out of those 10, the one that resonated the most with me was #1, “swim in water over your head.” I’ve always thought that putting yourself in supposedly impossible situations is a great way to grow. But two less obvious concepts jumped out at me.

The first was the importance of developing an educated instinct. The author referred to this mainly as “emotional readiness.” The book conveys the significance of shaping experiences in the development of what I refer to as instinct. The main theory is that as one gathers lessons throughout different situations in life and business, one can draw on those lessons more readily. That was very clear throughout the book. Perhaps some examples were somewhat repetitive, but other than that the concept of “emotional readiness” is central.

The other concept that I got out of the book was how those experiences throughout life contribute to what Mr. Baum refers to as “personal growth.” I’m somewhat of a personal-development junkie, so this stood out in my mind. Again, some stories may have been too shallow and repetitive, but all in all, they illustrated the message.

Verdict
Good. I think it achieves what it sets out to achieve. It conveys the importance of personal growth through life experiences. That may even overshadow the somewhat repetitive or shallow instances of the book. So what should you do? Buy it, read it, and find what is useful to you.

Here are some other reviews that may be useful:
Reviews in Amazon

Time-Work in Progress

Three Star Leadership

Barnes and Noble

Written Voices

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