• Recent Comments

  • Dan McCarthy on The importance of philosophy to great leadership
  • Jyvgkzyx on The importance of questioning your work
  • balabo_ck on Change fails when employees don’t grasp the rationale for the change
  • balabo_ei on Change fails when employees don’t grasp the rationale for the change
  • What Leadership Demands - Philosophy & Legacy on The importance of philosophy to great leadership
  • suria on Leaders vs. Managers….. Are they really different?
  • Boom Daniel on Leaders vs. Managers….. Are they really different?

• Blogs I Read

  • All Things Workplace
  • Be Excellent
  • Employee Engagement: Results That Matter
  • Extreme Leadership
  • Leadership Now
  • Leading Questions
  • Life 2.0
  • Phil Gerbyshak Challenges You to Make It Great!
  • Servant Leadership Blog
  • Slacker Manager
  • The Changing NHS
  • The Question of Leadership

• Spam Blocked

  183,924 spam comments

  blocked by
  Akismet

There’s an interview in Knowledge@Wharton with Mark Thompson and Stewart Emery, co-authors of a new book to be titled “Success Built to Last“, which they wrote with Jerry Porras. You’ll known Jerry Porras from his popular 1994 book, Built to Last : Successful Habits of Visionary Companies (Harper Business Essentials) which he wrote with Jim Collins. The primary difference between “Built to Last” and “Success Built to Last” is that the first book focused on companies, the new one is about individuals, seeking to answer, “What make a life built to last?” Some highlights from the interview:

The Need for a Long-Term View…

Life expectancies have gone up, and it turns out that people are likely on average to far outlive the average life of corporations. So how do you create a life built to last…? And then, if you consider the fact that people might have multiple careers, what are the attributes that are essential to the individual to allow that kind of reinvention? While careers may come and go, the success of the individual is sustained across multiple careers. That became a driving force as we got into our research.

Three Fundamental Principles that Drive Lasting Success

We found that three fundamental principles drive lasting success; these need to interact with one another and also to be integrated and aligned. We describe them in our first chapter in a diagram with three intersecting circles — meaning, thought and action — and the bull’s eye is where they all come together. We found that individuals across the spectrum of professions were striving to find something that mattered to them in a very fundamental way. This prompted them to drive their thoughts to frame a way of producing those results — and then acting on those results….. That fundamental step of finding meaning, finding the passion that matters to you and that drives your behavior, is often skipped. ….whether you are Jack Welch or the Dalai Lama, it is dangerous not to do what you love. If you don’t have a level of passion that drives your thinking about what you’re doing day in and day out, there will be others out there who are passionate who will overtake and outrun you. People who care will take the initiative away from those who are half-hearted. So loving what you do is a competitive imperative, not simply a nice thing to have.

Focus on your Passion and Success will Follow

People don’t start out to be successful — they start out to be very good at what matters to them. And when timing and circumstances come together, then they end up with success.

Successful People Harvest their Failures

Some people have enormous setbacks in their lives, or they make mistakes, but you have to learn from your mistakes. As Quincy Jones, the musician, asked us, when was the last time you actually did that? When did you take the lessons from a setback and put them to use? These people were very consistent about looking to success and failure as feedback. In other words, it’s all input. Sometimes, success can make you sloppy, just as a setback can make you [understand] more clearly what works and what doesn’t. They’re disciplined about looking at how things had good or bad results and seeing them as opportunities for improvement.

The book is expected to be published later this year by Wharton School Publishing. In the interim the authors are conducting a World Success Survey, participants in the survey will receive a free chapter of their book and also a significant discount on the book when it is published later this year. You can take part in the survey here. You can also visit the Success Built to Last website for more information, it sound like this is going to be an interesting book when it’s released.

Technorati Tags: Book, Success, business, Leadership, Personal Development, Personal Leadership

Nouveau Riche University - Learn real estate investing strategies from successful investors from around the country!

Our leadership conversations need to build bridges, not walls! Too often I see daily interactions that result in unnecessary conflict because of how we conduct ourselves in conversations. The best attitude to adopt in conversation is one of learning with the objective of building bridges. You can significantly improve your conversation by practicing the following three communication principles:

Replace “Yes But….” with “Yes and…”

Renata Guizzardi (Via Mathemagenic) posted describes this principle:

There are two distinct ways to collaborate with someone on their research work: the ‘and’ way and the ‘but’ way. In the ‘and’ way, one focuses on the positive aspects of the ideas being presented, adding new insights on top of them. Conversely, in the ‘but’ way, one identifies the limitations of the proposed ideas, focusing solely on negative aspects. Although both ways are valid, there is a risk in taking the ‘but’ strategy, since looking at the obstacles before an idea is sufficiently mature may lead to a creativity block.

A “yes, but…” response says you disagree with the speaker, “yes, but…” response makes them wrong. A “yes, and…” response shows you have a different point of view, this helps to prevent the conversation from becoming a battle over who’s right.

Seek to Understand

As often quoted by Stephen Covey “Seek first to understand, then to be understood”, a well known principle that’s not widely practiced. Give your full attention and listen to what’s being said and what’s not being said. Then, check your understanding by repeating a summary, of your understanding, in your own words, of what you heard was said. Only move to another topic once you have confirmed you both agree on what was said. GottaGettaBlog wrote and interesting post on listening, in it he quoted from a Harvard Business Review article, written in 1957 by Ralph G. Nichols and Leonard A. Stevens, called “Listening to People,” that described listening process as follows:

“The newspapers reported not too long ago, that a church was torn down in Europe and shipped stone by stone to America, where it was assembled in its original form. The moving of the church is analogous to what happens when a person speaks and is understood by a listener. The talker has a thought. To transmit his thought, he takes it apart by putting it into words. The words, sent through the air to the listener, must then be mentally reassembled into the original thought if they are to be thoroughly understood. But most people do not know what to listen for, and so cannot reconstruct the thought.”

Lead with Open Questions

The best way to lead a discussion on a topic is to lead the conversation with open questions. An open questions is one that allows for a range of responses, for example, “What do you think our options are?”. Closed questions allow only for one word responses like “yes” or “no”, for example “Do you think option A will work?”. Open questions allow for exploration and encourages a sharing of various opinions and experiences.

These three changes in your daily conversation, if practiced, will make a big difference in your conversations, help to building bridges and not walls. A learning attitude toward our conversation and the practice of these three principle I’ve found makes a significant difference.

Technorati Tags: Communication, Listening, Conversation, Attention, Management, Leadership, Business

“All the effective leaders I have encountered–both those I worked with and those I merely watched–knew four simple things: a leader is someone who has followers; popularity is not leadership, results are; leaders are highly visitble, they set examples; leadership is not rank, privilege, titles or money, it is responsibility.” - Peter Drucker

Via: John Stanko

Technorati Tags: Drucker, Leadership, Quote, Management

A collection of interesting leadership articles I collected from my travels around the web….

Personal Leadership

• What Should I Do With My Life? - The real meaning of success — and how to find it.
• So what do you have to do to find happiness? - Are we wired up to be cheerful, or are some of us destined to languish in abject misery? Dorothy Wade reports on the new science of feeling good.
• A Leader’s Journey - Paul Wieand went on a quest for power and became one of the banking industry’s youngest-ever CEOs. Then his world collapsed, and he went on a painful search for the real meaning of leadership. Now he helps other leaders on their journeys.
• The Art of Work - What would happen if the best moments of your life happened at the office? That would be “flow,” and thanks to a guy with an unpronounceable name, more and more businesses want to know about it.
• The 6 Myths Of Creativity - A new study will change how you generate ideas and decide who’s really creative in your company.
• The Leader of the Future - Harvard’s Ronald Heifetz offers a short course on the future of leadership.

Change Management

• Change or Die - All leadership comes down to this: changing people’s behavior. Why is that so damn hard? Science offers some surprising new answers — and ways to do better.
• Positive Deviant - Jerry Sternin’s job was to help save starving children in Vietnam. Faced with an impossible time frame, he adopted a radical approach to making change. His idea: Real change begins from the inside.

Management

• Why We Hate HR - In a knowledge economy, companies with the best talent win. And finding, nurturing, and developing that talent should be one of the most important tasks in a corporation. So why does human resources do such a bad job — and how can we fix it?
• The Seven Sins of Deadly Meetings - And seven steps to salvation. Tools, techniques, and technologies to make your meetings less painful, more productive — even heavenly.

Technorati Tags: Personal Leadership, Change, Leadership, Management, Business

This is an inscription on the tomb of an Anglican Bishop in Westminster Abbey:

“When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits,
I dreamed of changing the world.
As I grew older and wiser I discovered the world would not change ¯
So I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country,
But it too seemed immovable.
As I grew into my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt,
I settled for changing only my family, those closest to me,
But alas, they would have none of it.
And now I realize as I lie on my deathbed, if I had only changed myself first,
Then by example I might have changed my family,
From their inspiration and encouragement I would
then have been able to better my country,
And who knows,
I might have even changed the world.”

Have you started your change?

Technorati Tags: Personal Leadership, Change, Leadership, Management, Quote

I found the following list of basic teachings on leadership from the book “Geeks And Geezers: How Era, Values, And Defining Moments Shape Leaders” By Warren G. Bennis and Robert J. Thomas from the consulting group “Growth Strategies“:

• Adaptive capacity is one of the most essential qualities of a leader. Adaptive capacity means to be able to create “context.” That is, when an event occurs (like 9/11) or some knowledge is revealed (like the deforestation of the earth may make the planet unlivable for human beings in the future), a leader can successfully find a meaning in this event or knowledge and create seize opportunities for themselves and others that would not have existed but for this event or new knowledge. Leaders find meaning and strength in adversity and create plans to deal with the adversity.
• Leaders must have strong adaptive capacities. Life does not work out as planned and leaders must be able to deal with the new and unexpected realities with skill, nerve, unfailing commitment and strength. Leaders must have “hardiness,” and a component of hardiness is optimism.
• Both experience and having the “innocence of a child” (an open mind, an “uncontaminated wonder” per Walt Disney) are both important for leaders to possess.
• Knowing how to learn (being able to learn to learn) and being willing to take on new challenges are essential for leaders to grow and improve as leaders. Similarly, leaders constantly develop new competencies and improve old ones.
• Staying youthful throughout life is critical for one to continue to be a leader as one becomes older. The authors call this attribute “neoteny” (a real word that the authors “redefine” and mold in good fashion to fit their idea- the retention of youthful characteristics in adulthood. This includes the ability to recruit which youth have plus resilience, tirelessness, candor and curiosity – a hunger for experience and unwillingness to experience boredom.
• Leaders must be excellent “noticers.” Through noticing they can hold others accountable, evaluate talent, judge the commitment of others and see patterns before they become obvious to others.
• Leaders take informed, intelligent risks.
• Leaders engage others through rapport and the creation of shared meaning
• Leaders are excellent communicators for themselves and those they lead and have a distinctive, compelling voice.
• Leaders have integrity and can be counted on when they give their word or make a commitment that they will do everything possible to do as they say they would do. They have a moral compass to guide their ambition.
• Leaders set high expectations of themselves and others.
• Leaders look forward with eagerness, and do not dwell on the past.
• Leaders consciously seek out tests and challenges.
• Failure is a friend, not an enemy of a leader.
• Leaders dream and see themselves playing a crucial role in making the dream become a reality.
• Leaders have a sense of humor.
• Leaders read and write voraciously.
• Leaders are catalysts who foster others to be creative and use their imagination to address challenges.
• Great leaders emerge only when they can find the proper stage, a forum that allows them to exercise their gifts and skills.
• Leadership is one of the performing arts and the leader must always sell him or herself to the audience.
• Leaders see things through their own eyes and through the eyes of their followers.
• Leaders respond quickly and generously to problems and challenges.
• Leaders have genuine respect for others.
• Leaders put the pieces in place before they make a move to change an organization.
• Leaders know they can not accomplish anything worthy alone. Leaders recruit others to help achieve a common goal.
• Leaders strive for greatness and settle for nothing less.
• Leaders work for their followers, not the other way around.
• Leaders are the authors and critics of their own lives. Leaders have the capacity for self-reflection.
• Leadership can not be an “add on.” It must be embedded in very fiber of an organization.
• Leaders build and maintain networks of people across generations, across diverse disciplines, and constantly learn from other people.
• Leaders believe they are lucky.
• Leaders practice and learn while they perform.
• Leaders are unafraid of change.

Technorati Tags: Book, Leadership, Business, Management

Talentism has a great post, “10 Rules for Innovators“, I found them to be useful, the 10 rules are:

1. Innovation Starts with “And”: All innovation starts with the word “And.” If you really want to innovate, take two statements that can’t possibly go together and join them with “and.” Like “Jump off a high cliff” and “Land light as a feather on the bottom.” It doesn’t matter how ridiculous the two statements are - just pick two and mash them together.
2. Not Just Smart, But Always Focused: Now get a couple of really smart AND creative people in a room and start asking questions about how to make it happen.
3. Make Sure You Have the “No But” Critic in the Room: You need one critic (and preferably only one) in the room. This is a way to keep from flying off into the ether.
4. Build Crappy Prototypes Fast: Innovation is like hoping you’ll find a gold coin at the bottom of a pile of manure - you don’t know whether it’s worth the dig until you are covered in the stuff. You quite literally want to guard against getting the prototype right.
5. Don’t Listen To Customers, Watch Them: Now get your idea in front of a potential customer. Always get in front of the customer as fast as possible. …. watch them. How much time do they spend with your prototype? Do their eyes light up?
6. If It’s Right, Change It Challenge it by changing it.
7. Sell it Like you Play It: ….don’t sell it like work. Sell it like play.
8. Iterate ‘Till You Drop: Just keep on going. Iterate the hell out of thing.
9. Appoint One Person Bad Cop and Follow Their Command: …you have to ship something to really have been “innovative.” (Real innovators ship.) So have one person responsible for calling it quits.
10. Innovation Is About Learning, not Genius: …the most important thing to remember is that most of innovation is learning, not inspiration.

Technorati Tags: Innovation, Creative, Creativity, Business, Leadership, Management, Facilitation, Brainstorming

Next Page →

• Welcome to The Practice of Leadership!

  Get updates by RSS

  Get updates by e-mail:

  
  

• Link to Our Supporters

  • Performance Management
  • Staffing & Employment Leaders
  • purell hand sanitizer
  • Paul Asplin - CEO of DAS
  • Succession Planning
• 
  

• Explore More Leadership Topics

  Attitude Book Reviews Career Change Character Clarity Collaboration Commitment Communication Conflict Context Conversation Creativity Culture Decision-Making Definitions Dissent Energy Engagement Execution Experience Failure Feedback Focus Framework General Getting Things Done Goal-Setting Growth Innovation Inquiry Inspire Lance Armstrong Leadership Development Leadership Practices Leadership Succession Learning Lessons Management Meaning Meetings Mental Model Observe Paradox Passion Personal Leadership Philosophy Planning Practice Purpose Questions Quotes Reality Reflection Relating Research Resources Results Risk Role Models Self-Awareness Self-Knowledge Sensemaking Strategy Strengths Style Success Systemic Talent Teamwork Thinking Thought Leadership Time Management Transition Trends Trust Values Vision

• Quote of the Day

  “Leadership is about creating a domain in which human beings continually deepen their understanding of reality and become more capable of participating in the unfolding world. Ultimately, leadership is about creating new realities.”
  -- Peter Senge

• What I support...