Category Archives: Leadership
Leadership lessons from Abraham Lincoln
Lately I’ve been thinking about leadership and it’s impact on others. I found these 8 leadership principles from Abraham Lincoln to be clear, concise and exemplary of of good leadership practice and thought I share them with you.
Lincoln on Leadership is an extraordinary treatise on leadership. Is demonstrates coherently and comprehensively how Abraham Lincoln sought to manage those who helped him preserve the United States through the perilous and agonizing years of the Civil War.
Consider the principles of Leadership that Lincoln spoke of and consistently used to govern is managerial conduct:
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Advocate a VISION and continually reaffirm it
CIRCULATE among followers consistently
Build strong ALLIANCES
Search for INTELLIGENT assistants
Encourage INNOVATION
PERSUADE rather than coerce
Influence people through STORIES
Be RESULTS oriented
10 Most common traits of bad leaders
The authors of a recent article from the Harvard Business Review analyzed a couple of study’s to find out why leaders fail.
As noted from the authors:
In one, we collected 360-degree feedback data on more than 450 Fortune 500 executives and then teased out the common characteristics of the 31 who were fired over the next three years. In the second, we analyzed 360-degree feedback data from more than 11,000 leaders and identified the 10% who were considered least effective. (more…)
If you don’t make others better, you’re not a leader
Are you making others better?
The NBA season is over and the Los Angeles Lakers are the Champions.
The big talk is all about how Kobe Bryant finally got a ring without Shaquille O’Neal. But the story that is without a doubt the most important for leaders is Phil Jackson surpassing Red Auerbach as the coach with the most championships won and undeniably being recognized as the best coach ever by his peers.
I’ve learned much about leadership from watching the Chicago Bulls teams of the 90’s with Michael Jordan.
Heck I started getting interested in this whole leadership thing when Michael Jordan came back from baseball and helped the Bulls to the best regular season ever and championship, so I’ve been curiously watching how Phil Jackson has continued to be a great coach by consistently by bringing out the best in his players.
After game 5 of the Finals, Phil Jackson was asked what he thought of Kobe Bryant’s growth as a leader. He recounted an interesting story of back when Kobe was 22 years old the Lakers lost a game, afterwards Phil sat down with Kobe to talk to him about his impact on the game and how him taking over/dominating the ball put the Lakers in a difficult position. After pointing out to Kobe how he could improve and could become co-captain, Kobe said he was ready to be captain but Phil said “Yeah, but others are not ready to follow you”.
You might have great skill and talent but if others are not willing to follow you’re not making a difference.
Early in his career Michael Jordan was criticized for being a great player but not making his teammates better, it was only when he started trusting his teammates that the Bulls started winning championships. He started noticing a difference in his career when his teammates where confident in themselves.
The word empower is commonly associated with making others better. Empowering others can be summed up this way:
Exemplary leaders make other people feel strong. They enable others to take ownership of and the responsibility for their group’s success by enhancing their competence and their confidence in their abilities, by listening to their ideas and acting upon them, by involving them in important decisions, and by acknowledging and giving credit for their contributions.
When Lakers players were asked about what they thought set Phil Jackson apart from other coaches the same idea always came up: he brings out the best in his players and empowers them to make the right decisions.
Phil Jackson brought out the best in Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant (big egos) by encouraging them to embrace team ball and in return they became leaders themselves.
So why is Phil Jackson the best coach ever then?
According to Kobe Bryant:
“It’s his ability to bring people together,” Bryant said when asked what makes Jackson such a great coach. “That’s the biggest thing that he does so well — he continues to coach the group, continues to coach unity and chemistry and togetherness. Because when you’re together, you can withstand adversity. If you’re not, you can easily break apart and become a team of individuals. That’s his biggest characteristic and what he does so well.”
Conclusion: focus on bringing out the best in others and you shall become a leader of leaders.
Does your idea stand on its own?
So you got an idea and you want to communicate it.
Part of testing ideas is finding out if your idea is replicable and whether others can teach it.
We need to find out whether acceptance of an idea is dependent on its being associated with a particular charismatic individual (YOU), or whether it can stand on its own.
How many times have your heard some consultant show up and give a humorous and brilliant hour long keynote that gets everyone stirred up, but when the dust settles, nothing has changed.
The fact that some people can charm an audience and have people hanging on their every word is not a test of value of their ideas. The real test is whether a person’s ideas can in turn be presented by others and get the same positive results.
You might be communicating a great idea, but if it can’t stand on it’s own you’re not doing much.
So what should you do?
Easy! have someone else present your ideas and see what gets transmitted.
If you’re the magic sauce of your ideas and they only flourish in your immediate presence, your idea may not be sustainable yet and might need further development.
How to be a better leader in 20 minutes
It’s not common when you come across a blog post that makes you want to take action immediately…I found one today!
Do you know what your employees values are and what motivates them?
A very important question that very often leaders have a hard time answering. Knowing what people value and what their motivations are is a lever a leader can push to bring out the best in others. (more…)
