The Ten Commandments of Leadership
March 18, 2010
A poem hangs on the wall at Mother Theresa’s orphanage in India. For all who are called to lead, it is a great reminder of what we should do:
1. People are illogical, unreasonable and self-centered (including me). Love them anyway.
2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
3. If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
4. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
6. The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the littlest people with the littlest ideas. Think big anyway.
7. People favor underdogs, but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
8. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
9. People really need help, but may attack you if you do help them. Help them anyway.
10. Give the world the best you have and you will get kicked in the teeth. Give the best you have anyway.
About The Author:
Chris Top 7 Favorite Leadership Books
February 12, 2010
1. The West Point Way of Leadership.
GREAT book by a man who taught leadership at West Point for 20 years.
2. Developing the Leader Within You.
All around book. Follow-up book is Developing the Leaders Around You.
3. Lincoln On Leadership.
Looks at the Life of Honest Abe and the lessons of leadership he exhibited.
4. Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
A classic on everybody’s list
5. Servant Leadership.
Reminds us we serve those who follow.
6. Leadership Jazz.
Lots about shaping the values of an organization.
7. Oh The Places You’ll Go.
(Okay, it is a Dr. Seuss Book, but I kid you not, this could be subtitled Leadership Lessons for Kids… And Big Kids Too. I read it to my kids often and am reminded of what it takes to have a successful journey.)
About The Author:
Chris Widener is a popular speaker and writer as well as the President of Made for Success, a company helping individuals and organizations turn their potential into performance, succeed in every area of their lives and achieve their dreams.
Embracing Adversity for Achievement
January 13, 2010
“Show me someone who has done something worthwhile, and I’ll show you someone who has overcome adversity.” — Lou Holtz
Success in life depends upon being strong people with clear goals and indomitable spirits. Unfortunately most of us aren’t born that way. We grow that way. And that growth can either come from us entering willfully into situations that will cause us to grow, like subscribing to Made for Success, or from the way we react when circumstances come upon us without our consent. The latter is what we call adversity.
Most of us spend our lives trying to avoid adversity, and I guess that is just as well. We shouldn’t pursue adversity, but when she arrives, we should welcome her as a foe who, though our interaction with her, will make us into better people. Every contact we have with adversity gives us again the opportunity to grow personally and professionally and to forge our character into one that will achieve much later on.
With that in mind, here are some thoughts on adversity, and how it can help you to succeed in every area of your life and achieve your dreams.
Leadership - L.P.B It!
December 11, 2009
“Dissatisfaction and discouragement are not caused by the absence of things, but the absence of vision.” - Anonymous
This article in for anyone who is currently unsure, unknowing, on-the-fence, and/or otherwise “searching” for the answer to whether or not he/she can be an effective leader.
The answer? Quite simply is: “Maybe” or “Maybe Not”!
No, we are not trying to be funny or in any way make light of the question.
The simple truth of the matter is this. Whether you think you can be an effective leader, OR you think you can’t be - You Are Right!
Just take a moment and think about the original question. “Can I be an effective leader?” We challenge you to ask this question again, but in a slightly different way.
Rather than asking, “Can I …?” - Instead ask: “WILL I be an effective leader?”
Asking the question this way, makes something very clear to the person asking the question. That “something” is that each of us has a choice to make as to what we want to be in any given moment. THE CHOICE IS OURS.
Leadership - Connect to Engage!
November 8, 2009
It’s been said many times that true leadership is measured by ones ability to motivate and influence others.
Leaders must work hard at motivating people to take action necessary to drive change and to ultimately increase results.
Even though most people would agree with the definition of leadership as the ability to motivate and influence others, most people still have trouble translating the definition of leadership into actionable and measurable steps.
The biggest obstacle faced by many leaders is simply figuring out how to effectively motivate and influence an entire team comprised of unique individuals.
Let’s face it, not everyone is motivated by the same things, nor is everyone influenced to take action or change behavior based on the same factors.
So, what can leaders do to motivate and influence the ENTIRE team?
Here is the elusive one-word answer: CONNECT.
Leaders must invest the time in each and every one of their team members to, get to know them - to build a connection based on trust, honesty and respect. (Keep in mind, this personal connection must always remain professional and appropriate. Enough said on that.)
Having Fun In Leadership
October 7, 2009
"Don’t measure your life by your goals, but rather by what you are DOING to achieve them." ?Unknown
One of the biggest mistakes leaders make is getting so wrapped up in achieving results, they forget to ensure that people are having fun along the way.
Indeed, having fun is a key ingredient of keeping employee morale up, and inspiring people to continue to work aggressively toward a common set of objectives.
We here at Leadership-Tools.com were recently discussing the subject of inspirational leadership.
Although our discussion took many detours into various subject areas, we found ourselves returning to the basic concept of - having FUN in the workplace.
As a leader, you might be thinking that “FUN” is important, but it cannot be paramount in terms of achieving results.
We challenge you, however, to not just think of having in terms of the “webster” definition.
As a leader, YOU need to define fun, and communicate YOUR definition of fun to your team.
First, let us lay the foundation with a bit of “FUN - philosophy” as we work toward our own definition of “Leadership Fun in the Workplace”.
Visions of Leadership
September 2, 2009
Right about now, you’ve made the discovery that if you intend to push your company beyond its current plateau, you will have to change the way you relate to your work. You have doubtlessly concluded this next level mandates you to let go of things like hiring, product design, perhaps even day-to-day sales - many things you handled in the past - and focus yourself on your role as CEO.
There are three stages to making the transition from chief cook and bottle washer (CC&BW) to CEO (source of the management and direction of the business).
They are:
- Understanding your highest value contribution to your company and focusing on that role.
- Recognizing your position as a leader and owning the job.
- Delegating everything else, and holding others accountable.
The Greatest Leaders Are Often The Worst Leaders
August 3, 2009
It’s a common occurrence, a CEO leads a company to record earnings, retires and in months, those once high-flying earnings are dropping like shot ducks.
Observers blame the new leadership team. But most likely the observers are wrong. It’s not just the new leaders who are screwing up. Instead, it was most likely the former CEO. Yes, the former, supposedly great CEO. Look to him for what went wrong - and what went wrong provides lessons for leaders at all levels.
The reasons are clear but seldom recognized. They get back to the raison d’être of leadership - which is not the performance of the individual leader but the improved results of those being led. The problems lie in the definition of results. For when results are defined narrowly, i.e. in strict terms of share, margin, shareholder value, profits, organizations lose their elasticity.
And the quality of organizational elasticity is linked to its culture of leadership, leadership with a broader vision of results, encompassing the necessity to hire and develop people who lead others to get results.
Three Factors Of Leadership Motivation
July 1, 2009
Leaders do nothing more important than get results. But you can’t get results by yourself. You need others to help you do it. And the best way to have other people get results is not by ordering them but motivating them. Yet many leaders fail to motivate people to achieve results because those leaders misconstrue the concept and applications of motivation.
To understand motivation and apply it daily, let’s understand its three critical factors. Know these factors and put them into action to greatly enhance your abilities to lead for results.
1. MOTIVATION IS PHYSICAL ACTION. “Motivation” has common roots with “motor,” “momentum,” “motion,” “mobile,” etc. - all words that denote movement, physical action. An essential feature of motivation is physical action. Motivation isn’t about what people think or feel but what they physically do. When motivating people to get results, challenge them to take those actions that will realize those results.
I counsel leaders who must motivate individuals and teams to get results not to deliver presentations but “leadership talks.” Presentations communicate information.. But when you want to motivate people, you must do more than simply communicate information. You must have them believe in you and take action to follow you. A key outcome of every leadership talk must be physical action, physical action that leads to results.
7 Awesome Leadership Power Generators!
May 31, 2009
7 Awe-Inspiring Leadership Power-Generating Strategies!
Here’s a really simple way you can use your personal infrastructure to increase your leadership power, create new innovative solutions and nurture your growth opportunities.
Failing to invest in your power-producing abilities will definitely prevent you from realizing success on the job and rob your future career efforts of enjoyment.
This article will show you 7 self-empowering ways to transform your ordinary power-deficits into:
=> Power-packed acts
=> Powered-up impacts
=> Power-generating results
Employing these time-tested strategies will boost your influence, improve your effectiveness and energize your leadership talents.
Empowering Strategy-1 - Envision Your Significance!
Every person has the potential to make a difference in this world. Look at how your life interacts with others and offers them opportunities to discover, contribute or create
=> meanings,
=> impacts,
=> solutions.
See yourself taking positive actions, making meaningful contributions and shaping creative solutions. To succeed, be someone who searches for and empowers meanings, impacts or solutions to enrich our work, lives and situations.
Empowering Strategy-2 - Model Success!
The first rule of investment is: “Invest in yourself first!”
