the art of leading

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“Whenever men and women straighten their backs up, they are going somewhere, because a man can’t ride your back unless it is bent.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a leader. He was a leader because he had the courage to fight for what he believed in, regardless of the obstacles that he faced. He knew that he would be subject to backlash.

He withstood jail, hate, criticism, threats, and death. He kept his back straight, vigilant of the next rock in his journey, but aware of the ultimate goal: equality. In this context he said what appears at the beginning of this article. He knew that if he bent his back, all the naysayers would pounce and try to go for the kill. They would try to ride his back. But he wasn’t willing to do that, because he knew what he wanted.

This doesn’t mean that he was stubborn. Perhaps he detoured, and certainly he had doubts about his vocation, as every human being does. But he didn’t bend his back.

As a leader, you should be prepared to be countered by many situations. But leaders are leaders because they are convinced of a vision, and are driven almost obsessively by that vision. This obsession is strong enough to ward off these obstacles. It permits you to face these obstacles with a straight back. That’s the only way that you can walk toward your goal.

Now, I’m not condoning “macho-ness”. Sensibility and tact are always valuable tools for the leader. But giving in, bending your back, will never get you to your proposed destination. You’ll be too worn out from all the weight you’ve carried.

Categories : Confidence, Courage, Failure, General Leadership, Goals // 2 Comments »

The main reasons why Hillary Clinton is on top of the Democratic field are NOT found in the following list:

• lots of money
• well-connected husband
• lots of experience
• good looks
• charm
• charisma
• political organization
• some special circumstance
• intelligence
• representing change
• Etc.

I’m not saying the above factors aren’t important. Some of them do contribute to her lead. But there’s another factor that I believe is just as relevant, or perhaps even more so, than the others.

The real reason why Hillary Clinton is on top

It’s contrast. No, not contrast with past candidates. Not even contrast with her Democratic opponents, although candidates should differentiate themselves from the others (after all, how else are we supposed to decide who is the best candidate?).
[Read more →]

Categories : Change, General Leadership, Politics // 2 Comments »

Many people don’t want you to be successful. They cannot deal with the fact that someone other than themselves is the center of attention. Call it envy, jealousy, or whatever you want. Some people will just be unhappy when you develop as a leader.

You, as a leader, need to know how to deal with this type of situation. Don’t turn you back from it, because sooner or later these disgruntled people will be obstacles in your way to realize your vision. Here are some ways you can cope:

1. Approach - Sometimes personal insecurity stops people from recognizing the success of others. This may be solved by just approaching them and “talking things out”. Who knows? Maybe they’ll feel you’re a nice guy after all.

2. Listen - Envy and jealousy is usually accompanied by criticism. Maybe some of these criticisms are in fact based on sound reasoning. Listen to them and find out if they’re right, or if the criticism has no base. If they’re right, work toward improvement. Perhaps that won’t stop you from being the object of envy, but at least you’d be able to get something out of it. It the criticism is unfounded, skip to #5.

3. Clarify - Many people may feel threatened by your intentions. They may feel that you harbor secret plans to destroy their worlds. If they’re wrong, just go and establish your real intentions. Try to release the guard of these people and make them know that you’re being straightforward. If you do plan to change many things, you have to persuade them and make them feel like going “out of the box” is the best thing. After all, persuasion is what leadership is all about, isn’t it?

4. Involve - A lot of people who dedicate their lives to fretting about the success of others really just want a piece of the action. Make these people feel like they’re part of the reason why you’re mission is being carried out. In fact, actually make them a part. Their supposed “envy” may just be their way to say, “Hey, I feel excluded!” Remember many people are driven by recognition, and if you give it to them you may create a more productive, clutter-free environment.

5. Ignore - Let’s face it: Many people are just jealous of you, and nothing you do will change them. You may try, as well you should, but in the end real change is in the hands of the person who needs to change. Internal roadblocks may have to be eliminated so that their exterior reflections are eliminated also. If, after a risk-benefit analysis, you feel that trying to persuade someone isn’t worth it, then don’t. Just ignore, and focus on the important stuff.

Categories : Communication, Envy, General Leadership, Goals, Recognition, Relationships // 1 Comment »

Let’s face it. Leadership is not an overnight thing. Very few of us are handed the power to influence large masses or even small corporate departments. But we can do small, simple things each day to put our leadership skills to practice, and develop those that we need to improve. Here are some of those things:

1. Persuade a friend to do the right thing.
2. Praise your kids for things well done.
3. Find support for that special project at work you’ve always thought about.
4. Join the Toastmasters, Rotary, Lions, etc.
5. Speak up at class, if you’re a student.
6. Start a non-profit in support of your cause.
7. Start a business.
8. Speak up on behalf of someone who can’t.
9. Recommend something to someone.
10. Give thanks to someone for something.
11. Volunteer to give a speech, and give.
12. Start a blog.
13. Send a letter to your newspaper.
14. Meet someone. new.
15. Learn something new about someone you already know.
16. Teach something you know to someone who doesn’t.
17. Volunteer to be the team leader at school or work, when asked.
18. Build something without following instructions.
19. Pick the restaurant for your date tonight.
20. Run for office in you community.
21. Turn off the TV, so you can read more.
22. Stand up straight.
23. Act confidence when you interact with others.
24. Offer to help around the house.
25. Help an old lady cross the street.

Categories : Action, Confidence, General Leadership, Personal Development // Add Comment »

Picture yourself five years ago. What are your dreams? What are your goals? What are your plans? Are you pretty sure that you’re gonna’ reach them? How confident are you? Do you have your next five years planned out to perfection?

Now come back to the present. Did you actually reach them? To what extent? Of course, everything didn’t go exactly as planned. Maybe you achieved all your goals. Or maybe you simply stalled. Or maybe you have been hit by the storms of everyday life, as is normal.

That happens too. We think we’re Supermen or Superwomen and suddenly something happens to change our course. [Read more →]

Categories : Action, Change, Failure, General Leadership, Goals, Personal Development // 2 Comments »

Once in a while, an article comes by that condenses a tremendous amount of information into an easily digestible format. I was recently alerted about such an article in Inside CRM called The Manager’s Cheat Sheet: 101 Common-Sense Rules for Leaders. Please take a look at it…I’m sure it’ll interest you.

Categories : General Leadership // Add Comment »

Brains, Guts, and the Capacity to Act

By Stephen H. Baum

author of What Made jack welch Jack Welch

What allows a leader to take the steps needed to solve a problem or master a
difficult situation? What keeps the desire to act from being impetuous and
uninformed, as in “ready, fire, aim” behavior? The answer is that the
capacity to act effectively and decisively is a complex mixture of brain and
gut, a combination I call threads in thinking. It includes these qualities:

* An ability to distill a situation to its simplest dynamics; to
understand the issues and the consequences of doing nothing; and to
formulate a specific plan.

* Being extro-spective: seeing the business in the larger context of
the industry and in the marketplace; seeing a situation from a high-altitude
view and making sense of it on the ground.

* For opportunities, an ability to see the true benefits and risks,
which are not always obvious.

* Possession of a mental library of truly relevant analogies and other
mental models that can be applied to characterize the situation in a way
helpful for making a choice.

* An ability to identify valuable sources of advice, experience, and
wisdom (inside the company and out); to elicit information and know when to
do so.

* An instinct for calibrating the value of and motive for facts and
information people are giving you, the subtext of real agendas.

* An ability to discern both financial and nonfinancial impacts and
include them in the calculus (company reputation, morale, future business
options), then weigh the risks.

* An ability to anticipate issues and define a point of view so you
don’t have to do it for the first time under crisis.

* Being able to think a couple of moves ahead, as in chess, or as
Steve Kaufman put it: “the ability to look around the corner and see what’s
coming.” This ability and most of the others can be tested and developed.

It’s a tall order, but remember that no one starts out with all of these
abilities. You develop these threads and judgment only with experience. This
is done mainly through on-the-job training. Just remember how many of the
leaders we’ve been discussing failed in school, how many were far from the
top of their class, how none were rocket scientists. Only by working through
major challenges in the first place do you develop and nurture these
abilities until they become part of you and part of your instinct.

In the Eye of the Storm

Deciding that you must act, and then acting, is not as straightforward as it
seems. Circumstances will often make your decision to take action in the
first place very challenging. Remember [Read more →]

Categories : Action, Communication, Confidence, General Leadership, Loyalty, Personal Development, Proactivity, Relationships, Responsibility // Add Comment »

The Art of Leading will participate in Blog Action Day. Here’s what it’s about:

The goal is to bring the blogging community together, for just one day, talking about one issue — and for Blog Action Day 2007 (Oct. 15, 2007), that issue is the environment.

I look forward to contribute to this initiative by writing about leadership in environmental issues, so stay tuned!

Categories : Environment, General Leadership // Add Comment »

Yesterday I talked about stupid people. Today I’ll talk about smart people. Both stupid and smart people hold strong to their beliefs. But the beliefs of stupid people are prejudicial and close-minded. The beliefs of smart people are well analyzed and open-minded.

The first step to being smart, as opposed to stupid, is to exercise your intelligence and adaptive capacity, which set you apart from ants and lizards. I told you how human beings are supposed to be “smart”. It isn’t too difficult. Just look for whatever caused you to screw up, fix it, and try not to repeat it.

Read and learn about different ways to attack the same problems. Explore and search for new answers to old questions. Make new questions. Fix old answers. Learn from your mistakes and apply those lessons. Accept your errors and amend them. Adapt to circumstances. Be open to change and criticism. All these are somewhat simplistic ways of being what human beings are supposed to be: smart.

Categories : Failure, General Leadership, Personal Development // Add Comment »

Persuasion, which is what leadership centers on, many times takes place in a negotiation environment. Each time you persuade your counter-party to do something, you may be considered to have achieved a victory for you or your organization. The best situation to be in and strive for is the one where all parties have “won” in their own ways. This is something that Stephen Covey, in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and Roger Fisher and William Ury, in Getting to Yes, talk about expansively. Covey calls it the “win-win or no-deal” philosophy.

But still, there are moments where leaders may be advised to grant less importance to “winning” than normal. I’m not saying you should necessarily lose on purpose, but under these circumstances, losing may not be totally negative. These are the moments that I consider to be the most appropriate for “losing”:

1. Relationship is more important than the issue - Do not fight your victory when the loss of the relationship with the counter-party is bigger than that victory. You may get to enforce that contract with your client through litigation, but that may mean the loss of your biggest client in the future. After all, leadership is based on relationships.

2. Winning will require you to violate your principles and values - Principled negotiation is not utopian. I believe that it is very possible indeed to win in a negotiation while still maintaining the basic principles you value the most in your life. If you have to violate your own integrity to win, it’s best not to.

3. Losing here will help you win later in a more important issue - Negotiations normally contain more than one issue, depending on their complexity. Carefully weigh the relevance of each one, and decide if “losing” on one will give you leverage to “win” on a more significant one.

4. You just don’t care - This may be a dangerous situation. What is irrelevant to you may be relevant to someone else. But if the stakes involved are close to meaningless and there are more important things to think about, you have to consider the possibility of conceding. Fighting just for dignity when it isn’t worth it frequently creates an irrational and emotionally charged environment.

5. When it becomes apparent that no fair solution will be reached - More than losing the negotiation, this may be seen as not negotiating at all. The reason I included this is because sometimes mutual defeat for both parties is pretty certain from the beginning. In this case, just don’t waste your time.

Categories : Communication, Failure, General Leadership, Goals, Negotiation, Relationships // 2 Comments »