I read another fantastic leadership article by Executive Coach Carol Giannantonio.   Carol is a success coach to the executives at major corporations.  There are a couple of key points in the article and it is nice to see more leadership gurus in the world referencing the thoughts from Chris and my book – Launching a Leadership Revolution.  The readers of this blog deserve the credit and praise for promoting the book and selling over 100,000 copies for charity.  Keep it up and let’s see who else will reference the leadership principles.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

 

“The world needs transcendent leaders whose eyes we trust, whose heart we know, whose soul is rampant in all that they do” – Robert Rabbin.

 

What does it really take to be a great leader?

 

As an Executive and Business Coach, I ask my clients this question when setting leadership goals. One of the first steps in achieving success in leadership is creating a vision of what a great leader means for you. This vision, along with a plan, continuous action, courage and commitment create some of the “greatest” leaders.

 

Many of these great leaders “follow in the footsteps of other great leaders and use coaching to reach their leadership goals. Why? Because coaching is a powerful tool that involves lifting a person’s vision to higher sights, raising their performance to a higher standard, and building a personality beyond its normal limitations to its full potential.

 

So as you set off on your quest to becoming a great leader, here are two steps you may want to “follow”.

 

1. Develop “Double vision” – Great leaders have a “vision” of what being a great leader means for them. They know what it looks like and feel like and they act accordingly by practicing good leadership skills. It also means having “vision” In this case I mean the ability to talk about the future as if it were already here. Steve Jobs often does this. He creates a clear picture in people’s minds of how a new product will change the world — before it’s even launched. He gets people excited about the future he sees in his mind. That’s an innate talent. Stepping out on a limb like that comes much more naturally to some people than to others. The good news is, if you haven’t got that skill, you can develop it!- It’s not so much about your own technical expertise as it is about inspiring other people to be better at what they.

 

2. Become a great follower. Along with the skill of vision and leading comes the skill of “ability to follow”. What I mean by this is the ability to identify and follow the patterns of success within your organization-follow the footsteps of others who are “great leaders”.

 

Here is what other great minds say about this concept.

 

In “Reinventing Leadership”, Warren Bennis wrote, “Good leaders should also be good followers. If you’re coming up within an organization, you must be a good follower or you’re not going to get very far. Leaders and followers share certain characteristics such as listening, collaborating, and working out competitive issues with peers.”

 

In “Launching a Leadership Revolution”, Chris Brady and Orrin Woodward, stress the importance of becoming a Performer in leadership development-the need to create a record of performance. “You need to become a great follower, a great contributor.”

 

According to Brady and Woodward, the quickest way of gaining a track record of performance is to master the patterns of success already established in your organization.

Thus, the goal of every leader is to become a “Performer” who successfully works with and master the existing patterns of success within the organization.

 

As a successful “Performer” you have the knowledge and expertise to help others accomplish similar results. You gain recognition, respect and power in the organization. You have influence, another key ingredient to successful leadership.

 

Sam Rayburn says it all in this wonderful quote: “You cannot be a leader, and ask other people to follow you, unless you know how to follow, too.” 

Rocky Balboa’s shares his view of life and the attitude to win!

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Do you have an attitude of victory or defeat?  If we are going to make a difference in the world, we must first start with our own attitude and thinking.  Here are my favoritie quotes on attitude.  What is your favorite quote on attitude?  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Attitude is reframing the thinking about the events in your life to empower you towards victory, instead of disempowering you towards defeat. – Orrin Woodward

 

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.  – Herm Albright

 

Attitudes are contagious.  Are yours worth catching?  – Dennis and Wendy Mannering

 

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine. – Anthony J. D’Angelo

 

If you don’t get everything you want, think of the things you don’t get that you don’t want. – Oscar Wilde

 

If you don’t think every day is a good day, just try missing one. – Cavett Robert

 

Oh, my friend, it’s not what they take away from you that counts.  It’s what you do with what you have left. – Hubert Humphrey

 

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. – Winston Churchill

 

Every day may not be good, but there’s something good in every day. – Author Unknown

 

Happiness is an attitude.  We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong.  The amount of work is the same. – Francesca Reigler

 

If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. – Mary Engelbreit

 

So often time it happens, we all live our life in chains, and we never even know we have the key. – The Eagles, “Already Gone”

 

The only people who find what they are looking for in life are the fault finders. – Foster’s Law

 

He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts. – Samuel Johnson

 

Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures. – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

 

Every thought is a seed.  If you plant crab apples, don’t count on harvesting Golden Delicious. – Bill Meyer

 

To be upset over what you don’t have is to waste what you do have. – Ken S. Keyes, Jr.

 

Defeat is not bitter unless you swallow it. – Joe Clark

The only disability in life is a bad attitude. – Scott Hamilton

 

If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.  ~Vince Lombardi

 

I don’t like that man.  I must get to know him better. – Abraham Lincoln

 

There are no menial jobs, only menial attitudes. – William J. Bennett

 

To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it. – Confucius

 

I don’t think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains. – Anne Frank

 

The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes. – William James

 

Could we change our attitude, we should not only see life differently, but life itself would come to be different. – Katherine Mansfield

 

Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things. – Robert Brault

 

Whenever you fall, pick something up. – Oswald Avery

 

Success is due less to ability than to zeal. – Charles Buxton

 

We awaken in others the same attitude of mind we hold toward them. – Elbert Hubbard

 

We plant seeds that will flower as results in our lives, so best to remove the weeds of anger, avarice, envy and doubt… – Dorothy Day

 

I am an optimist.  It does not seem too much use being anything else. – Winston Churchill

 

[W]hat counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight – it’s the size of the fight in the dog. – Dwight Eisenhower

 

I have learned to use the word impossible with the greatest caution. – Wernher von Braun

 

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.  One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise. – F. Scott Fitzgerald

 

The human spirit is stronger than anything that can happen to it. – C.C. Scott

 

Too many people miss the silver lining because they’re expecting gold. – Maurice Setter

 

We cannot direct the wind but we can adjust the sails. – Author Unknown

 

The block of granite which was an obstacle in the pathway of the weak, became a stepping-stone in the pathway of the strong. – Thomas Carlyle

 

Misery is a communicable disease. – Martha Graham

 

The world is full of cactus, but we don’t have to sit on it. – Will Foley

 

If you have the will to win, you have achieved half your success; if you don’t, you have achieved half your failure. – David Ambrose

 

A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes. – Hugh Downs

 

Very often a change of self is needed more than a change of scene. – Arthur Christopher Benson

 

Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses. – Alphonse Karr

 

If you call a thing bad you do little, if you call a thing good you do much. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

 

I never really look for anything.  What God throws my way comes.  I wake up in the morning and whichever way God turns my feet, I go. – Pearl Bailey

 

Men who never get carried away should be. – Malcolm Forbes

 

Become a possibilitarian.  No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities – always see them, for they’re always there. – Norman Vincent Peale

 

Surrounded by people who love life, you love it too; surrounded by people who don’t, you don’t. – Mignon McLaughlin

 

Physical strength is measured by what we can carry; spiritual by what we can bear. – Author Unknown

 

We all live under the same sky, but we don’t all have the same horizon. – Konrad Adenauer

 

We can destroy ourselves by cynicism and disillusion, just as effectively as by bombs. – Kenneth Clark

 

The impossible can always be broken down into possibilities. – Author Unknown

 

An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered.  An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered. – G.K. Chesterton

 

Impossible is a word only to be found in the dictionary of fools. – Napoleon

 

Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out. – Art Linkletter

 

I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn’t learn something from him. – Galileo Galilei

 

The man who has no inner life is a slave to his surroundings. – Henri Frédéric Amiel

 

Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles. – Alex Karras

 

People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

I have found that if you love life, life will love you back. – Arthur Rubinstein

I read an article by Mark McNeilly that captures the principle of character and how it flows into the long-term results of an organization.  Without character, all the flowery words and images will ultimately backfire against the leaders.  Hypocrisy is not a value system that followers will support.  The question is, “Are you who you say you are?”  If not, you will be found out.  If yes, people will buy into your vision because they have bought into you.  All true leaders should work on their personal character first, followed by relationships and task—rounding out the Tri-Lateral Leadership Ledger.  Chris Brady and my book – Launching a Leadership Revolution -covers the Tri-Lateral Leaderhip principles in depth.  Over 100,000 copies of the hard cover version of LLR have been sold and all of the royalties have gone to various charities.  The readers of this blog are making a huge difference and getting character based leadership into the hands of industry leaders.  Enjoy the article and decide to live a life that can be written in the clouds for all to see!  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

 

What do character and strategy have to do with one another? To successfully carry out a strategy that will bring long-term benefit to your company, one must have character.

 

Sun Tzu had this to say about character:

 

“And therefore the general who in advancing does not seek personal fame, and in withdrawing is not concerned with avoiding punishment, but whose only purpose is to protect the people and promote the best interests of his sovereign, is the precious jewel of the state…Few such are to be had.” Sun Tzu

 

To become such a leader, to put others before yourself, is not an easy task. It demands sacrifice. You must be willing to build your character and not just your image, to lead with actions and not just words, to share your employees trials, and not just their triumphs, and to motivate emotionally, not just materially.

 

Much has been written in the last few decades about management methods, devices and tricks one can learn to manipulate people to do what one wants. However, little has been said about what true leadership is really based on–character. To lead and command properly, a person must have certain character traits and virtues.

 

“By command I mean the generals’ qualities of wisdom, sincerity, humanity, courage, and strictness…If wise, a commander is able to recognize changing circumstances and to act expediently. If sincere, his men will have no doubt of the certainty of rewards and punishments. If humane, he loves mankind, sympathized with others, and appreciates their industry and toil. If courageous, he gains victory by seizing opportunity without hesitation. If strict, his troops are disciplined because they are in awe of him and are afraid of punishment.”

 

In business there are many unknowns. Therefore, wisdom is important for it allows a leader to clearly define the company’s strengths, weaknesses and opportunities and build a solid strategy. Courage is essential because, without it, a leader cannot take advantage of wisdom with bold action when the time requires it. Sincerity and humanity are crucial because, at the heart of it, leading a team, department, division, or company means accomplishing success through other human beings. Discipline is necessary, for it is required to ensure that strategy is executed successfully. All these traits are a manifestation of a strong, positive and well-developed character.

 

A study that looked at hundreds of North American companies concluded that “after 4 years, 15%-25% of the variation in profitability was due to the character of the chief executives.” So character is therefore critical in being successful in your business (and I might add, your personal life). As Sun Tzu said,

 

“Those who excel in war first cultivate their own humanity and justice and maintain their laws and institutions. By these means they make their governments invincible.”

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I loved this Stanford commencement speech from Steve Jobs.  Success is success in any area that you pursue.  You will have dreams, struggles, victories, defeats (which winners turn into experiences), and increased wisdom to start it all over again.  Steve Jobs was adopted.  I can’t help but think of what the world would have lost had Jobs been aborted instead of adopted.  To us it is a societal issue, but to the babies it is a matter of life and death.  I think Steve Jobs would have fit right in at the leadership event in St. Louis.  Jobs is creative, humble, and constantly stretching his boundaries.  Enjoy the commencement speech and ask yourself: are you living your life to the fullest?  I encourage you to give this world the best you have and make a difference with the gifts God gave you.   Grab a notepad and take some notes on this speech.  Please share what you have learned with the rest of our readers!  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Here is a superb interview with Noel Tichy from Computerworld in 2006.  I believe Dr. Tichy captures the essence of the Team difference in this interview.  The leaders on the Team have developed a Teachable Point of View (TPOV) and recognize that true leadership is developing other leaders.  This is one of the main reasons why I believe we will go to millions of people—the leaders recognize their calling is to build others as well as themselves.  I love the quote by Dr. Tichy, “The job of a leader is to win today while making the organization better for tomorrow.”  Are you developing as a leader?  As a leader, are you developing other leaders?  The Team is Launching a Leadership Revolution and it starts with you!  How many parallels do you see between what Professor Tichy teaches and what the Team teaches?  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

 

A lot of leadership advice is too high-minded to be readily applied. But not the advice of Noel Tichy, former head of General Electric Co.’s famed leadership development center, Crotonville, as well as a professor of organization and management at the University of Michigan. Tichy has also written many leadership books, including Cycle of Leadership and The Leadership Engine. Tichy’s focus is on what leaders can do to ensure that they develop other leaders while still yielding a business return. Computerworld contributing writer Mary Brandel asked Tichy to pass along some wisdom to today’s IT leaders.

 

What is the best thing a leader can do?

 

Be a teacher and develop other leaders while the organization keeps winning. The worst people in the world to do this are consultants, professionals and training staff. It is up to the leaders of an organization to be the teachers. Only small minorities of leaders do this, but the ones who do are role models. And they don’t teach Harvard Business School cases; they get their leaders to work on real projects as part of their development. This is what former CEO Jack Welch and now Jeff Immelt at GE do. GE has sent teams to Southeast Asia to look for acquisitions and to Korea to assess the GE strategy. Roger Enrico, former CEO at PepsiCo, sponsored over 200 growth projects at Pepsi that resulted in over $2 billion in new revenue growth.

 

What is the worst thing a leader can do?

 

Not develop other leaders. We have a terrible track record in the U.S. on this front. At the CEO level, it means not having a successor, thus indicating a broken leadership pipeline. Think of the examples: John Akers gets fired at IBM, and they have to go outside the organization to get Gerstner. Merck had to go outside and get Ray Gilmartin, who failed. HP went outside twice: Fiorina, who failed, and then Hurd came in from NCR. The job of a leader is to win today while making the organization better for tomorrow.

 

What is the most important lesson you’ve learned as a leader of leaders?

 

I learned the most from Jack Welch at GE. In the mid-1980s, I left the University of Michigan for two years to transform the GE Leadership Development Center — then a 30-year-old corporate university — into an action learning platform for change. Then, because the center only dealt with about 5,000 of GE’s 320,000 employees per year, we needed ways of getting everyone engaged, so Welch and a team of us launched Work-Out, a program in which line executives ran their own workshops on leading change. We also developed a program that prepared the top 10,000 GE leaders to teach and lead change. The point is that organizations need multiple mechanisms of leading and teaching that along the way must yield growth and/or productivity improvements.

  

What is the most important thing you try to teach leaders?

 

I try to teach them to articulate what I call their “teachable point of view.” That is, what are their strategic ideas for their organization? What values do they expect members of the organization to exhibit? What is their emotional energy, in terms of energizing thousands of people around their ideas and values? And what is their edge — how do they plan to make the tough yes/no calls on business and people issues? In addition, I help them design and prepare them to teach multiday workshops with their own people.

I read an enlightening article on the constructive/destructive leadership patterns from Greg Thomas.  Greg describes the key differences between an encouraging growth culture and a fear based dictatorial culture.  I have worked with both types of cultures and emphatically agree that organizational cultures are created at the top.  What type of leader are you?  Do you believe in the potential of others or do you need to control, dictate and intimidate them?  In my opinion, the command and control organizations are dinosaurs and the talented individuals will run from the fear based cultures to find a growth based culture.  Leaders do make the difference.  To paraphrase Jim Collins, “Get the right people on the bus—get them in the right seats—then determine what the team’s objective is.”    What are your personal experiences with cultures created by both Constructive and Destructive Leaders?  Which type of organization brought you the most rewards in your personal and professional life?  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

 

Many years ago I worked for a division (called a unit) of a Fortune 100 corporation. This large corporation allowed each division to operate independently with their own president and executive team while expecting certain profit and margin accountabilities. The division I worked for had a president named Harry. He was truly a legend in his own mind and believed, as a paternalistic leader, he was beloved by the employees. But virtually all employees I knew despised him and resented his arrogant, authoritarian and demeaning behavior. I was told that Harry was brought into this unit as a “hatchet man” in the 1950’s to reduce bloated overhead, and that he settled in to a 30-year career of tyranny and fear.

 

Harry was famous for the many people he abruptly terminated, often out of anger or rage. By the mid 1980’s the corporation decided it was time to terminate him and this was done suddenly on a day when an unannounced corporate executive showed up and told Harry he was fired. The employees could hear shouting through the closed office door and soon Harry stomped out angry and resentful. He later told some friends that it was the way he was terminated that bothered him! He was upset that he wasn’t allowed to say “goodbye” to his friends and co-workers.  It struck me as a paradox that Harry didn’t think this was important for the literally hundreds of employees he had terminated during his 30 year reign of terror, yet he felt that he had a “right” to say goodbye. Actually, almost everyone wanted to say “good riddance” to Harry rather than goodbye! Harry exhibited destructive leadership, and the effects on all the stakeholders of the organization were obvious.

 

This true story of Harry reminds me of an absolute law of leadership. A single leader can’t personally motivate others for very long. A good leader promotes a positive culture that allows others to be motivated and people must use this upbeat atmosphere to motivate themselves. But, on the other hand, a single destructive leader can personally destroy the motivation of others and promote a negative organizational culture.

 

Allow me to discuss the difference between destructive and constructive leadership. The chart below shows some of the differences. Compare this chart with your organization and see how you measure up.

 

Type of leadership:              Destructive Leadership              Constructive Leadership

 

Type of motivation used:     Fear/Force and bribery              Empowers and inspires

 

Vision provided:                   Short-term focus                      Long term focus

 

Result of leadership:            Instills passive aggression         Instills empowerment

 

Environment:                       Creates negative workforce      Creates trust and openness

 

Effects on managers:           Managers promote fear             Managers promote “win-win”

 

We will begin by examining destructive leadership. Unfortunately this is by far the most common type of leadership exhibited in the world today. Fortunately, it is slowly beginning to lose ground in the Western world. It is typically centered around a philosophy of control. The destructive leader doesn’t truly believe in the potential of others. In an authoritarian hierarchy, those at the “top” are considered enlightened and important. Those not at the top are considered to be inferior in intelligence and value. Destructive leaders often look upon themselves as the father-like benefactors to the dependent average workers. They view the average employee as childlike, simple and in constant need of strong motivation. The type of motivation used by a destructive leader is usually fear or force. Fear is maintained by making the workers feel disposable if they refuse to conform to the dictates of the leader. Therefore workers must be controlled by an elaborate number of “do’s and don’ts” to force compliance. In this environment workers must also be suddenly terminated as an example to others that it can come at any time or for virtually any reason. 

 

In the company I mentioned at the start of the article, this was the mentality of the destructive leader named Harry. When I joined the organization in the 80’s, males at the headquarters office were not “permitted” to have facial hair, all were expected to wear dark suits and it was forbidden to have a cup of coffee at your desk. Even though there was an elevator to the 2nd floor of the office building, employees were not allowed to use it.  Employees were also forbidden to post calendars or pictures on the walls of their small cubical. Harry even designed the office to be wide open with short glass partition walls so he could see what everyone was doing! Only Harry and his executive team had offices with real walls and doors.

 

Since turnover is high in this kind of environment, bribery is used to keep the best employees. In lieu of a positive working environment and fulfilling work, the destructive leader knows they must bribe the most talented with above average salaries to keep people they need. Promises of exclusive perks and large bonuses are used to control the managers that are considered the most valuable. It is more important to buy their loyalty than risk them pointing out genuine problems or questioning poor decisions. Even a destructive leader knows the organization needs the talents of others to operate effectively and profitably. Therefore they buy off the managers they believe they need in order to mute their independence or a challenge to the leader’s authority. The subliminal message given is, you can make more money and perks here than anywhere else, and if you lose this job you may not be able to make this kind of money again!

 

In contrast, the constructive leader deeply believes in the growth and potential of others. Everyone is considered an important part of the team that makes the organization work. Constructive leaders look upon themselves as coaches and mentors. They believe in their people to the degree that they are willing to invest in constant training and the development of a learning organization. They don’t consider others to be workers, employees or children, but valued stakeholders. Those who inspire constructive leadership recognize that everyone has a stake in the growth and success of the company. They nurture the development of a positive culture where others are empowered to make responsible decisions without fear or reprisals. Of course, the organization has strong values and sound policies but these exist to provide order and mutual respect, not to control or limit others. The constructive leader believes in a fair and generous compensation package for everyone and not simply the selected few.

 

Some recent surveys have indicated that most workers claim they would be willing to work for 15% less income if they worked for an organization and job they really loved! Constructive leaders work very hard to engender a fruitful working environment and don’t need to bribe others to keep them in the organization.  From the most talented to the least experienced, most stakeholders enjoy what they do and where they work. The subliminal message is, you may be able to make more money somewhere else, but this is a great place to work with outstanding people. Grow and develop your career here!

 

The next difference in the two types of leadership is vision. The destructive leader views the organization and worth of others in the short-term. There is always an emphasis on “profits or margins” for the next month or next quarter, often at the expense of the future. When results don’t meet with these short-term goals, people or offices are easily disposed of. Yet no matter how many hard working employees are terminated, no matter how bleak the financial picture, there is always plenty of bribe money to pass around to the executive team or managers in order to keep them from bolting to greener pastures. Because of this lack of real vision, destructive leaders typically leave organizations weaker when they depart than when they first arrived. Oh yes, the financials of the organization may look stronger on paper, but its future has been stunted and gutted for the brief short-term gain of a few.

 

The constructive leader has both short-term goals and long-term goals, but the long-term vision of the organization takes precedence! Profits and margins are certainly important goals but people are more important than profits! The future of the company is more important than the sales or profitability of the next quarter. The constructive leader knows that the bottom line to being the best is not simply having the latest technology or finest products. Your competitors can quickly catch up or surpass you in these attributes in a rather short period of time. The bottom line to being an excellent organization with a phenomenal future is having the best and most highly motivated people.

 

The end result of these two types of leadership is the difference between night and day! The destructive leader creates an environment of passive aggressive behavior within the organization. These are employees who are de-motivated and performing only enough to be considered acceptable. Since many are frustrated and angry they pretend to accomplish more than they actually do. They resent being controlled and subliminally sabotage policies or change forced upon them. They put their efforts on “auto-pilot”, resist change and take a “wait and see” attitude toward anything presented as new or different. The managers become politicians and obsessed with protecting or growing their own “empire” rather that serving the overall needs or goals of the organization. Communication suffers since it only moves vertically within departments rather than horizontally throughout the organization. When it does move horizontally, emails are often larded with too many “cc:s” in order to compensate for severe communication flaws.

The constructive leader creates an environment of trust and competence. People feel good about their roles and potential within the organization. Teamwork is not a trite buzzword, but a reality. Communication is open and shared throughout the company. Decision-making is promoted at the lowest possible level of work activity. When poor decisions are made they are turned into learning experiences, not humiliation festivals. The constructive leader wants to know what when wrong and what can we learn from it rather than who is wrong! In this culture people feel free to serve the needs of the organization rather than waste precious resources in office politics or protecting their “back-sides”. 

What about the managers in both of these types of organizations? Sadly, the destructive leader promotes and nurtures a clone of himself/herself. Since the managers are motivated by fear and bribery they tend to manage others the same way. Employees and their talents are under appreciated, the policies and values of the organization are one sided and often against the best interests of the employees. If dire situations require the termination of an individual or a group, it is usually done suddenly. There is often little sensitivity demonstrated and the termination package is minimal and scanty. In contrast, the constructive leader promotes a tutoring and respectful approach toward the managers. In turn, they tend to manage others the same way. Employees and their talents are considered a great asset and resource and the policies and values of the organization reflect this attitude. If dire situations require the termination of an employee or a group, it is done predictably and not as a “shot out of the dark”. There is great sensitivity and compassion demonstrated because the constructive leader acknowledges that the life-style and family of these employees are also affected.  The termination package is generous and indicates a sincere appreciation for the years served at the company.

 

So how do you compare with these traits? Does your organization reveal the effects of constructive or destructive leadership? Now, how about your family or local community? Don’t forget the principle of cause and effect. If what you see is negative and discouraging, there is a root cause for this effect. Looking back on Harry it is sad to believe he spent his entire life as a destructive leader. He never understood how wrong he was and he never changed.

 

But, we can!

I read a fantastic leadership article on the power of trust to improve working relationships in any business or team.  Chris Brady and I have taught a principle for years called, “Slow to go fast.”   We meant that you have to slow down and build the relationship before you can accomplish any great task.  My personal attitude is that I want to be friends first and then team partners.  I am not interested in shallow non-trusting relationships.  I desire deep meaningful relationships with people who will go to bat for one another when the chips are down.  This has been one of the biggest blessings for Laurie and me – we have some of the deepest and trusting relationships with many super people.  Trust is earned by showing trust first and this article does a great job in describing the art of earning trust!  Read the article and evaluate how you are doing with this leadership essential – Trust.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

 

Trust is an essential basis for a productive, satisfying and fun business environment. Suspicion corrodes working relationships and undermines people’s confidence in themselves and their colleagues. Leaders need to offer trust, since the only way to prove whether others are trustworthy or not is by experience. Organizational leaders have nearly all the power, so it’s usually up to them to set the ball rolling. Trust is always a gift. As a leader, you need to be the one who begins the giving process.

 

What does it take to initiate a process of trust? Courage, certainly, and the willingness to take a risk.  Employees, who have been denied trust, maybe for years, don’t find it easy to accept responsibility in an instant. You’ll need to help them rebuild their confidence in themselves. You’ll probably have to deal with more than few cynics as well: people who claim to approve the idea of trust, yet constantly find reasons why it shouldn’t be this person, in this circumstance, at this time.

 

Risks versus Rewards

There are always risks involved in offering trust. Some people—very few, in my experience—will consciously abuse your trust. If so, you may also need the courage and wisdom to refuse to allow the actions of a tiny minority to shape the way you deal with everyone. Others may stumble and betray your trust without intending to. You need to be willing to show them mercy and provide help, not instant condemnation. It’s easy to focus primarily on the negative possibilities: the people who will not live up to the trust placed in them. In reality, the potential for positive outcomes is high enough to tilt the balance of advantage that way.

 

The results of trust abused are obvious. You find yourself blamed for being “naive” and “too soft.” You suffer a loss of credibility and political standing. You may have to deal with a problem you didn’t expect, or try to reverse losses that might have been avoided by putting less trust in others.

 

But what are the risks on the other side: The risks of creating a culture marked by chronic lack of trust? Those risks include:

 

A culture of obsessive secrecy, so important information is not shared and unnecessary mistakes are common.

 

An organization where all significant decisions, (particularly financial ones), must be referred upwards, clogging senior management time and slowing progress to a snail’s pace.

 

A “silo” organization, with little or no sharing of information between departments, so the wheel is regularly re-invented.

 

Internal competitiveness that swamps efforts at co-operation and takes attention away from competing in the marketplace.

 

Growing numbers of “in groups” and cliques that wreck communication and distract the organization through excessive political partisanship.

 

Resulting strong class consciousness between “insiders” and the rest.

 

A culture of protecting your butt first and getting results or serving the customer last.

 

Staffs that are paid to do jobs they don’t do fully, because their bosses don’t trust them, so do the work themselves instead.

 

Saving Time

Building trust takes time, but far less than is wasted by needing to check every significant piece of work and do more work you than makes any sense. Part of the deluge of work swamping leaders is due to lack of trust in their subordinates. Delegation no longer seems an option.

 

The more time leaders spend with their people, the more likely they’ll feel they can trust them. It’s human nature to be somewhat suspicious of those we don’t know very well. You can’t guarantee that giving your staff more time will always increase mutual feelings of trust, but it’s bound to help. A little time invested in this way can save a lot of time later, when staff truly does what they are supposed to do, and take much of the burden of routine work away from those in more senior positions.

 

There’s a bonus to creating trust. When your staff trusts you, they will look out for you. Many a leader has been saved from bad mistakes—and not a few political ambushes by rivals—because of timely warnings by alert subordinates.

 

Whom Do You Value?

Trusting someone is essential to valuing them. Imagine saying to someone, “I truly value your contribution to our team . . . but I don’t actually trust you.” There’s no value without trust. That goes for customers as much as employees. All those fine words and positive feelings about valuing the customer are destroyed in an instant by a single instance where the customer realizes he or she isn’t trusted. Exactly the same happens with employees. The message is quickly spread that nobody is really valued by the organization, save those in the charmed circle at the top.

 

Command-and-control executives display little or no trust towards anyone other then themselves and their chosen cronies. This exacerbates the “us” versus “them” attitudes that mistrust produces. Add to this the “audit mentality” that prevails in many businesses, and you have an attitude that those not found to be untrustworthy have simply been too clever to get caught (yet). The “audit mentality” usually defines most financial decision as significant and requires them to be referred to one of a handful of officers given the authority to spend money. If you can’t trust managers to spend a few hundred dollars wisely, what can you trust them to do?

 

Slow Down!

Speed and haste undermine trust. Many leaders don’t intend to suggest a lack of trust in their people, but that is how their actions are interpreted. There isn’t time to explain or coach, so they do the job themselves instead. With maybe only a few moments to make a decision, it seems obvious the leader should do it—there isn’t time to risk making a mistake. That isn’t how it will look to the staff, whether it’s true or not. Staff will believe the leader does the work herself because she doesn’t trust them to do it properly.  “She’s a control freak,” they’ll tell one another. “She makes every decision of any importance. Oh, she says it’s because of time pressures, but the real reason is she thinks we’re all dummies. She doesn’t even trust us to make the decisions that are crucial to our work.”

 

Don’t risk it. Even the “losses” caused by a few genuinely untrustworthy people, and the inevitable frailties of human nature, are minor compared with the damage leaders do when they choose to withhold their trust from the people who work for them. Too many organizations today are wasting money and resources by failing to use the full creative abilities and commitment of their people. Chronic mistrust soon shows on the bottom line.

 

It’s not just true that if you pay peanuts you get monkeys. If you treat people as untrustworthy through assumed incompetence, low motivation or downright dishonesty, that’s exactly what you’ll get. When you treat employees as feckless dummies, all the good ones will leave, while the rest behave exactly as you seem to expect. A leader without the courage to trust people is as much use as any coward in a fire fight.

Assignment:  What do leaders that you follow consistently do or not do to earn/inspire trust and loyalty?

Here is the incredible “Last Lecture” from Randy Pausch a PHD from Carnegie-Mellon.  Randy has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and has only months to live.   The professors at Carnegie-Mellon have a tradition of giving a “Last Lecture” to their students.  The first eleven minutes is Randy’s last lecture shared again on the Oprah show.  Some of the key points to think upon from this courageous man are:

1. Anything is possible to someone willing to dream.

2. If you don’t get your dream – you still learn alot in the process.

3. Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.

4. People who care will push you.  It’s only when they no longer care that you will not be pushed.

5. Brick walls are in your life for a reason – they let us prove how bad we want our dream.

6. You can spend your time in life complaining or playing the game hard.

7. Live your life properly and the dreams will come to you.

8. Tell the Truth.

9. Apologize (Properly) A. I’m Sorry  B. It’s My Fault  C. How do I make it right?

10. Wait & people will show their good side.

11. People are way more important than things.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncoSRKoU6GQ]

 

I am convinced that a person who does not know world history is severely limiting the amount of experiences to draw upon in times of crisis.  The true story of Xenophon and “the Ten Thousand” men who marched out of Persia is inspirational, educational, and filled with leadership wisdom.  There are many parallels between the five month march of the Greeks out of Persia and the last six months for many reading this blog.  Here is the Wiki history for the background on Xenophon’s and the Ten Thousand’s march.

 

In his advance against the Persian king, Cyrus the Younger used many Greek mercenaries left unemployed by the cessation of the Peloponnesian War. Cyrus fought Artaxerxes II in the Battle of Cunaxa. The Greeks were victorious in that battle, but Cyrus was killed. Shortly thereafter, the Greek general Clearchus of Sparta was invited to a peace conference, at which he was betrayed and executed. The mercenaries, known as the Ten Thousand, found themselves without leadership deep in hostile territory, near the heart of Mesopotamia, which was far from the sea. They elected new leaders, including Xenophon himself, and fought their way north through hostile Persians, Armenians, and Kurds to Trapezus on the coast of the Black Sea. They then sailed westward back to Greece. On the way back, they helped Seuthes II make himself king of Thrace. Xenophon’s record of the entire expedition against the Persians and the journey home was titled Anabasis (“The Expedition” or “The March Up Country”). It is worth noting that the Anabasis was used as a field guide by Alexander the Great during the early phases of his expedition into Persia.

 

Now that you have a background of Xenophon and the 10,000 mercenaries, you will enjoy the leadership lessons drawn from Xenophon’s book Anabasis.  Here is a summary of the leadership lessons written by Robert Enzenauer.  What parallels can you draw from the experiences of Xenophon to apply to your life?  Enjoy the article and learn to lead better from Xenophon’s experiences.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

 

Many popular books have been written describing the leadership principles of heads of state, Biblical figures, athletes, military commanders and even fictional heroes.

 

However, according to management expert Peter Drucker, the first systematic book on leadership–and perhaps the best book–was written by Greek historian Xenophon.

 

Few leaders outside the military even know this extraordinary individual.

 

Xenophon was one of the well-to-do disciples of Socrates who left Athens to serve with the Greek contingent “the Ten Thousand” raised by Cyrus the Younger of Persia against Artaxerxes.

 

These troops served Cyrus at the disastrous battle of Cunaxa (401 BC). When Cyrus was killed, the Ten Thousand were forced to flee or surrender to the Persians. After the Persians killed the Greek generals, Xenophon was chosen as one of the leaders of the heroic retreat from Babylon to the Black Sea, with the Greeks fighting their way through an unknown and hostile land.

 

The success of the five-month march, one of the most famous in military history, was a triumph of discipline and improvisation in the face of overwhelming odds. Xenophon not only managed to lead his men out of Persia, but succeeded in keeping the army intact as a fighting force.

 

Xenophon’s Anabasis (translated March Up Country or The Persian Expedition) was translated and first published widely in English around the dawn of the 20th century. Drucker read Rex Warner’s 1949 translation and mentioned Xenophon’s writing in his classic The Practice of Management, first published in 1955. Xenophon’s vivid account was revised and reprinted with corrections in 2001 and is now widely available.

 

Xenophon was a prolific writer. His writing is a veritable treasure trove of examples of successful leadership. Leadership according to Xenophon was the art of inspiring the spirit and the act of following, regardless of the external circumstances. In more metaphysical terms it was the art of turning the soul toward some purpose.

 

Leadership requires an understanding of human nature Xenophon did not offer checklists of recipes. Rather, he sought to establish a standard for what leadership ought to be. Business leaders should acquaint themselves with this fascinating military figure. Here’s a look at some of Xenophon’s leadership principles that he shared through his writings that are applicable to today’s executives.  

 

Leaders expect positive results

 

After the Battle of Cunaxa where Cyrus was killed, the Greek army was demoralized and discouraged as they saw no way of marching 1,000 miles back to Greece with 10,000 soldiers through unfriendly country, not to mention that they currently faced a numerically superior army.

 

Xenophon assembled the officers and spoke to them. “All of these soldiers have their eyes on you, and if they see that you are downhearted they will become cowards, while if you are yourselves clearly prepared to meet the enemy and if you call on the rest to do their part, you can be sure that they will follow you and try to be like you.”

 

Xenophon expected positive results and he got them. The Ten Thousand escaped from Artaxerxes and followed Xenophon on the most amazing march in history, despite countless battles and hardships.

 

Leaders set clear expectations for performance

 

According to Xenophon, the leader’s primary responsibility in forming his organization is to teach his followers the difference between correct and incorrect performance and behavior, thereby establishing a coherent, attainable set of expectations. For Xenophon, the leader, not the followers, is to blame if expectations are unclear.

 

Leaders provide a vision of the future

 

Xenophon thought vision was key. He wrote that “there will be a great rise in their spirits if one can change the way they think, so that instead of having in their heads the one idea of what is going to happen to me? They may think ‘what action am I going to take?'”

 

Leaders inspire their followers

 

Sustaining morale was an imperative for Xenophon. The commander who kept his men in a state of readiness, in good physical condition, sustained a competitive spirit and did all he could to ensure their safety.

 

Xenophon asserted, “You know I am sure that not numbers or strength bring victory in war; but whichever army goes into battle stronger in soul, their enemies generally cannot withstand them.”

 

Leaders succeed during adversity

 

According to Xenophon, the true test of a leader is whether people will follow of their own free will even during times of immense hardship. Xenophon regarded it as highly indicative of good leadership when people obeyed someone without coercion and were prepared to remain by him during times of danger.

 

In describing the superior leadership of Clearchus, Xenophon noted. “When he was in an awkward position, he kept his head, as everyone agrees who was with him anywhere.”

 

Leaders set the example

 

Xenophon felt that a great leader had to establish himself in the good opinion of his men and to do this he had to be a model for them by enduring hardship, showing confidence and leading by example.

 

On one occasion, covered in snow and warm in their beds, the men were unwilling to rise from their sleeping places and face the cold. Xenophon made the point of getting up, although he admitted the need to summon up courage to do so, and started splitting wood for a fire. His example was followed and soon many were doing likewise.

 

On another occasion, Xenophon was encouraging his men forward while on horseback, when Soteridas criticized him for being mounted while, he, on foot, was tired because of carrying his own shield. Xenophon’s reaction to this was to dismount immediately, take Soteridas’ shield from him, push him out of line, take his place and march with the men.

 

The reaction of the men to this was to hurl abuse at Soteridas and to pelt him with small stones until he reclaimed his shield and allowed Xenophon to remount.

 

Xenophon described Clearchus as a good leader. “Here was a good opportunity of seeing how Clearchus led his men, with his spear in his left hand and a staff in his right. If he thought that any of the men detailed for a job were slacking, he would pick on the right man and beat him.

 

At the same time he went into the mud and lent a hand himself, so that everyone was ashamed not to be working hard with him.”

 

Leaders are accessible and available

 

As for Xenophon himself, “Everyone knew that it was permissible to come to him whether he was in the middle of breakfast or supper, or to wake him from his sleep and talk to him, if they had anything to say which had a bearing on the fighting.”

 

Leaders show initiative

 

According to Xenophon: “… in heaven’s name, let us not wait for other people to … call upon us to do great deeds. Let us instead be the first to summon the rest to the path of honor. Show yourselves to be the bravest of all the captains, with more of a right to leadership than those who are our leaders at present. As for me, if you are willing to take the initiative like this, I am prepared to follow you.”

 

Leaders lead from the front, not from the rear

 

During a march with Seuthes, the King of Thrace, Xenophon came to a part where there was a lot of snow. He examined the ground to see whether there were any footprints leading one way or the other.

 

After finding that there were tracks on the road, he came back quickly. “We shall be upon these people before they know anything about it,” he said, “I shall now lead the way with the cavalry, so that, if we see anyone, he will not get the chance of running away to give information to the enemy.”

 

Leaders provide timely and fair discipline

 

Xenophon was a believer in firm and just discipline. He viewed good morale as of prime importance and saw discipline as a foundation on which to build. He noted the harm that can result from “not punishing people who were behaving in a disorderly way. The result is that, by turning a blind eye to them, you have given the worst elements among them a chance of becoming insufferable.”

 

He was adamant about fairness, as well. “I admit, soldiers, that I have struck men in cases where there has been lack of discipline–the sort of people who were quite content to have their lives saved by you marching in formation and fighting when it was called for, but who left the ranks themselves and ran ahead and wanted to get more than their fair share of booty.”

 

Leaders are honest and trustworthy

 

For Xenophon, trust between men and leader was an imperative. A significant motivation for warfare during Xenophon’s time was the accumulation of the “spoils of war.” However, Xenophon felt that there are no nobler and brilliant possessions than honor and fair dealing and generosity.

 

“I have never had anything from you for the soldiers and kept it. I have never for my own personal profit asked you for what was theirs. I have never even demanded from you what you promised me. And I swear that I would never have taken it, even if you had offered it to me, unless the soldiers were going to get what was due to them at the same time. It would have been a dishonorable action to get my own affairs straight and allow theirs to remain in a bad way, especially when I was held in honor by them.”

Leaders reward good performance

 

Xenophon instructed those in his control “… when you have come and taken over the command, you will give to Dexippus and to the rest of them a chance of showing what each is good for, and you will reward each according to his merits.”

 

In describing Cyrus, he said. “Indeed, whenever anyone carried out effectively a job which he had assigned, he never allowed his good work to go unrewarded. Consequently, it was said that Cyrus got the best officers for any kind of job.”

 

And, Xenophon added, “When he saw that a man was a capable administrator, acting on just principles, improving the land under his control and making it bring in profit, he never took his post away from him, but always gave him additional responsibility. The result was that his administrators did their work cheerfully and made money confidently.”

 

Leaders have loyal followers

 

One of the strongest beliefs held by Xenophon was that a commander must inculcate loyalty in his men. His attitude toward the treatment of all men, including slaves, is plain.

 

Willingness rather than coercion is the better way, “I think that anyone who makes trouble for his commander when there is a war on is making trouble for himself.”

 

In describing Clearchus’ leadership, Xenophon noted. “In difficult positions, the soldiers would give him complete confidence and wished for no one better.”

 

Leaders uphold the highest standards of ethical behavior

 

In defending himself, Xenophon called an assembly, speaking as follows: “Soldiers, I hear that someone is accusing me of wanting to deceive you. I must beg you therefore to give me a hearing. If it is proved that I am doing you wrong, then I ought not to leave this place without suffering for it. If, on the other hand, it is proved that it is my accusers who are doing the wrong, then you must treat them just as they deserve.”

 

Leaders take care of their followers

 

For Xenophon, the link between leader and soldier was an unspoken contract. The care of those under his command was paramount and went hand in hand with sustaining morale. This was not merely adopting successful tactics to ensure their safety, but meant looking after their day-to-day welfare.

 

Xenophon graphically describes the problems encountered when the march had to be made through deep snow and Xenophon listed the means by which such sufferings could be avoided. As a concerned leader, he ensured that his men followed instructions. According to Xenophon, the most important thing for a commander to do was to sacrifice on behalf of his men.

I have been doing research on the difference between self-responsibility and self-centeredness.  On one hand, a person must absolutely accept responsibility for the results produced in their life and be accountable for the outcomes—both good and bad.  On the other hand, a person cannot be focused entirely on self and forget to serve others or they will fall into self centeredness and lose influence.  One of the biggest turnoffs for people is to follow people or companies who are selfish.  If I were to pinpoint the lid on most people’s leadership, it would boil down to one word—Self.  Until a person can reign in their selfish desires and motives, they will never lead to their full potential.  No matter how hard a person works, people will not follow them fully until they are convinced the person desires what is best for them.  The question boils down to: How do I focus on self-discipline while being other-people centered?  This is not something that can be answered in one article—but let’s start with this excellent article from Scott Campbell.  There are some thought provoking points on accountability and self-responsibility in this article.  I remember reading a story about Robert E. Lee: he was asked late in life by a young mother, what advice he could give to her to pass on to her baby boy?  His answer still resonates with me today, “Teach him to deny himself.”  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

 

My original copy of Stephen Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People still bears the scars from the time I hurled it in anger against the wall of what was then my office. The broken spine and loose pages bear witness to my lapse in self-control!

 

I had come across Covey’s book in the early 1990’s, a time when my life seemed to be unraveling. I was angry much of the time, unhappy with my career, my marriage, and much of life in general. I had recently begun counseling to try to untangle this web of misery and was beginning to touch on some very painful events from my childhood. For the very first time in my life, I was beginning to acknowledge the impact of what had happened to me as a child.

 

And then I read Habit # 1 of Covey’s book: Be Proactive.

 

Essentially, Covey seemed to be saying, “You are as happy as you are choosing to be. You are responsible for the current state of your life.” When I read that I reacted in anger. And Covey went hurtling.

 

I was furious at him. I remember thinking, “What does this highly successful, affluent consultant who jet-sets around the world, whose clients are Fortune 500 companies, know about suffering? He’s had an easy ride and knows nothing of what prolonged childhood trauma can do to you. How dare he tell me that I am responsible for my current level of misery!”

 

But I couldn’t stop reading his book. He had struck a nerve, gotten under my skin.

When I returned to Habit # 1, I went on to read (for the first time) the story of the Jewish psychiatrist, Victor Frankl. Frankl, as some of you likely know, is the father of ‘Logotherapy,’ an approach to therapy that emerged out of his own experience as a survivor of the Nazi death camps of World War II.

 

While I might dismiss Covey’s experience as lacking credibility for his claims, I could not dismiss Frankl’s experience. Here was a man who had suffered in ways I could not imagine. Thus, when I read the words of Frankl as quoted by Covey, they struck the core of my soul:

 

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

 

These words came from a survivor of the most horrific atrocity of the 20th century, a man who had lost his own family and friends to the horrors of Nazi brutality.

 

These words I could not dismiss.

 

I began to realize that what Covey was saying was not a denial of my pain and trauma but rather, a way out of it!

 

The “pill” of assuming personal responsibility for my life was a hard one for me to swallow, but I realized that unless I accepted at a deep level that I was responsible for how I had responded to what had happened to me, I would forever be a captive of my past. But if I could accept that I had chosen my response, I was now free to choose a different one.

 

Hope began to dawn inside me. I started to believe that if I was responsible and able to choose my attitude, to choose my own way, I could choose a new and better path for my life. One that would result in greater happiness, greater inner freedom, and better decisions for my future.

 

This was my awakening to the importance—and the freedom—of self-leadership.

 

Since then my conviction has only grown that self-leadership is the foundation of a deeply satisfying, truly successful life.

 

I define “self-leadership” as the capacity and commitment both to take full responsibility for one’s own responses to life and to create a life that is personally meaningful and fruitful. It is the antithesis of shifting responsibility for one’s degree of happiness and satisfaction to others or circumstances.*

 

It is by no means easy to exercise self-leadership. From personal experience, I know how easy it is to become stuck in blame. I know the seductiveness of victimhood. For many of us, self-leadership runs against the natural tendency of our thoughts and feelings. Furthermore, self-leadership is, to some degree, counter-cultural. Our culture tends to be blame-oriented. I spill coffee on myself so I sue the company that brewed it. Practicing self-leadership can seem like swimming upstream. What’s more, life’s circumstances frequently are difficult to change—whether it’s a career that doesn’t fit, a marriage that isn’t working, financial difficulties, cynical colleagues, a tyrannical boss, a downturn in the economy, or a myriad other tough times.

 

It’s important to acknowledge and anticipate that self-leadership isn’t easy.

But it is vital to inner freedom and outer success.

 

When we fail to exercise self-leadership, we give our power away to others and/or circumstances. The failure to exercise self-leadership tends to enshrine the status-quo. It leaves success and positive change to chance and the desires, dictates, and decisions of others. It can foment feelings of bitterness, anger and disappointment (trust me, I know!). The price we pay when we fail to exercise self-leadership is huge.

 

So, how can we increase our practice of self-leadership? How can we cultivate it as a habit of mind? Here are five suggestions.

 

First, accept at a deep level that you are responsible for your past and present responses to what life has brought your way. Don’t deny the past or present and their impact on you. But accept that you had a role in adopting whatever negative beliefs, attitudes, and self-concepts that may have become imbedded in your life as a result of your past and present responses to life’s hardships. Give up the very understandable and natural desire to blame others for your difficulties or negative emotions. Choose to accept that your outlook and emotional responses to life’s challenges were/are your own choice.

 

This first step tends to be much more a process than an event. Especially if, like me, you have had years and years of practice in blaming others and circumstances for your pain and disappointments. So, commit to the process of learning to accept responsibility for your responses to life and the consequences those choices have created.

 

Second, start monitoring your self-talk and assumptions in specific situations. Watch to see when you are saying things to yourself (or others) like, “Well, if only they would…” or, “There’s nothing you can do when…” or, “You make me so…” These types of statements, verbalized or thought, lead away from the vista of self-leadership toward the murky bog of blame and reactivity.

 

Third, when faced with a difficult situation, consciously ask yourself, “What would it mean to exercise self-leadership right now?” If, for example, your boss has been berating you in front of others on a regular basis, ask yourself, “What would it mean for me to exercise self-leadership in this situation?” There are numerous possible answers that could be right for you: choosing to confront your boss at a separate time when you are calm, transferring to a different department, reminding yourself of the pressure that your boss is under and deciding not to take it personally. By asking the question you create the space to be proactive rather than reactive. If you have the time, journal your answers or, if you prefer, talk it through with someone to gain clarity about the best response for you.

 

Until self-leadership becomes a habit of mind, we will often need to pause and consciously shift to a self-leadership stance. Posing and answering this question forces us to look at circumstances and decisions from a self-leadership perspective.

 

Fourth, deepen your own self-awareness. The more you know about your deepest needs and values, your talents and strengths, as well as your stressors and blind spots, the more you can make choices that result in greater satisfaction and effectiveness. Self-awareness allows you to play to your strengths in exercising self-leadership. It allows you to better get your needs met, manage your stress, and compensate for your weaknesses. It helps you create circumstances that work for you, not against you.**

 

Fifth, dream of the future you want to have. While taking action is the ultimate expression of self-leadership, visualizing the future we want to have (whether that is a matter of responding differently in your current circumstances or changing the circumstances themselves) is a key for increasing our motivation for action. Furthermore, it actually increases the likelihood that we will do what we are visualizing. Athletes have used the power of positive visualization for years to increase their levels of performance by visualizing themselves excelling. Recent studies have demonstrated that visualization actually creates the patterns in our brains in advance that we will use during the actual performance.

 

Most of us already visualize regularly. It’s just that usually we envision things going poorly. Why not use the power of this mental process in a positive way? Exercise self-leadership over your imagination by using positive visualization to increase your likelihood of success.

These five suggestions should get you started on the road to self-leadership.

 

As I have moved more and more (though not perfectly) towards the regular practice of self-leadership, I have seen several positive results in my life. I am much happier about my present and immensely hopeful about my future. I have actually achieved more in the last decade than I ever would have imagined possible. And, most importantly, I am creating the life I want, rather than merely enduring what life had given.

 

Self-leadership isn’t easy. But it is vital. It is the foundation of personal and professional success. It is the portal to inner freedom. My bruised copy of Covey’s Seven Habits stands as a reminder to me of these truths.

 

* I want to emphasize that this is hugely different from denying the impact of our past or the real challenges and difficulties of current circumstances. Self-leadership is a perspective that allows you to acknowledge but not be trapped by the past or the present. It is the portal to inner freedom and the foundation for outer effectiveness.

 

** Models of personality type (Temperament, Interaction Styles, Psychological Type) are useful as tools to deepen our self-awareness. They give us insights into key dimensions of our psychological make-up, talents, unique stressors, and characteristic behaviors.