Whilst browsing a Slideshare presentation Inspiring Communication by werner.iucksch the following slide hit me between the eyes.
Great leadership is inspired by great ideas and great beliefs. Every leader needs a solid leadership philosophy, supported by strong beliefs, that guides a leaders behaviour and action. Some of my personal beliefs concerning leadership are:
- Leaders are made, NOT born!
- Leaders are originals and not copies
- Passion Rules! We are made to do what we love.
- Trust is the foundation of leadership! Character creates trust, and trust makes leadership possible.
- Empowerment cannot be given, its an internal attitude and mindset that need to be cultivated and nurtured.
- Touch the heart before engaging the mind.
- Connecting with constituents is the leaders responsibility, the leader must move to connect with others.
- Seek involve the whole person in the work, spirit, soul and body.
- You lead people and manage things.
- Through our word and deeds we teach people how to treat us!
- Leaders are effective only when they play to their strengths.
- Leadership is a choice!
- Leadership is influence and not position.
- You need to win the private victory before you can win the public victory.
How about you? Do you know what beliefs support your leadership philosophy?
Technorati Tags: Leadership, Philosophy, Management, Business, Belief, Principles
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One thing that struck me in this blog was your reference to working with strengths. I once held a position where I was told to develop my weaknesses. I was not effective at my job, and my manager and I had constant conflict. I believe this is an extremly important value. Find your strength as well as in others, and while you work from there, encourage others to do the same, while at the same time acknowledging and working with or around weaknesses. It changes the work environment hugely.
Thank You for an awesome blog!
Vision Organization Integrity Communication and Execution…the framework of leadership.
Leadership (or its lack) affects TEAMWORK, IMPROVEMENT, COMMUNICATION, PERFORMANCE…and guess what? they all affect leadership, as well.
It is a joyeous concoction…those leaders who can pay attention to all of the ingredients are the most successful.
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Awesome post! I definitely agree that beliefs can lead so much of a person’s life, especially in the leadership arena. A couple of mine are:
Someone else’s idea is always more important to them than mine.
Knowing what other’s want is only a matter of asking and you can ALWAYS help them achieve it.
You don’t need to be an expert or have experience to well in a new area.
Learning and changing is a person’s ability to adapt to excel at everything they do.
This is a great post! I agree with it especially about the importance of leaders building trust with their employees. Too often employees are mislead or flat out lied to by bosses about not only the state of the company but also their future with the company. I have been working on a project that highlights companies that treat employees kindly and was especially impressed with Pitney Bowes who credits part of their success to the trust and openness between executives and the employees. The sad part is there are many Americans who do not trust their boss or company, which makes quality leadership at these companies almost impossible.
My leadership philosophy is tied in with my own personal values, because I don’t believe one can be sincere if they don’t tie both of them together. So, I start with my top 3 values, those being loyalty, trustworthiness, and honesty. And the final piece I’ll add to that is caring, because if you don’t really care for people then you can’t be a good leader. And yes, I know the Hitler, Napoleon, etc, leader speak, but I like to differentiate between good leaders and tyrants.
It takes a very strong person to lead. It is so easy to lapse, or take a break, or just sit on your laurels. If you stand behind your beliefs and ideas keeping your passion to lead is that much easier. Great post!
Being faithful to one’s belief is important for a leader. Personally, I believe that good decisions give some inner satisfaction and the strength to forge ahead, inspite of obstacles. A leader needs such inner fundament. I think the right word is serenity: the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference.