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Leadercast 2014: Malcolm Gladwell

In the afternoon I had the opportunity to hear from one of my personal favorite communicators Malcolm Gladwell.

Deterrence: When people decide to obey an authority or not, they make a calculation. If the cost of breaking the rule is greater than the benefit of breaking the rule, they will obey the rule.

  • Deterrence is a very low level motivator of and a frequently employed tactic by poor leaders
  • Deterrence isn’t the real reason that people obey the law or follow leaders…rather it’s legitimacy

3 Components of Legitimacy:

#1 Respectful: We consider authority to be legitimate if we are treated with respect

#2 Fairness: We will submit to authority if we believe that it’s fair. The principles are fairly and consistently applied to everyone.

#3 Trustworthy: We will follow a leader if the administration of that authority is trustworthy.

  • To be an effective leader – it maters not just what you say but how you say it – process is fundamentally important
  • As a leader it doesn’t matter if you are 100% in the right, it matters how you execute your leadership in the moment – or you lose trust – and trust it the foundation of leadership
  • When people don’t follow leaders, the first question to ask is not what’s wrong with the followers, but what’s wrong with the leader…responsibility begins at the top
  • Nothing good happens in any organization unless the leader starts with themselves
  • When people feel like they’re not heard they rebel

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Leadercast 2014: Laura Busch

The first speaker of the afternoon was First Lady Laura Bush. Theses are my notes and take-aways from her conversation.

“Nothing prepares you for leadership as much as experience”

  • The people you’re leading can teach you
  • Having a clear objective or opponent helps teams focus on the real opponent instead of making each other the opponent
  • Wise team members offer input when it is invited, they don’t feel the need to overly insert themselves
  • Normal life together in the mundane moments provides a depth and framework to lead from as a team is in the difficult moments
  • In stressful leadership times having a routine provides strength, calmness, and stability
  • Leadership is not about popularity…popularity is fleeting…the role of the leader is to lead in the correct direction regardless of popularity
  • Calm is contagious…everyone takes their cues from the leader
  • Leaders speak for those who cannot speak for themselves
  • Leaders have a bias to turn and face challenges, especially unexpected challenges
  • Treat people with respect, don’t be demeaning or sarcastic towards the people you work with
  • Leaders set the example: Children aren’t very good at listening to their elders but they’re very quick to imitate

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Leadercast 2014: Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Session 3 of Leadercast was a treat! We had the opportunity to hear from Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Beyond the wealth of personal –  literally world-changing leadership – experience he brought to the table, his laugh was incredibly infectious!

“Imagine a world where leaders didn’t make decisions based only on strategy or economics, but what was best for everyone involved.”

  • We are made for each other and to be dependent on one another. We need one another to know what it means to be human and be a person.
  • Poor leadership (brutality) hurts the leaders and those being poorly led. No one escapes unharmed.

1. Good Leaders Listen

  • They listen to everyone, even people they don’t agree with.
  • They act in the good of all.

2. Good leaders are accountable.

  • They have nothing to hide.

3. Good leaders lead.

  • They know the way and are in place to navigate, guide, and support.
  • They don’t make decisions to to be popular.

4. Good Leaders Know When to Retire

  • Then with that infectious laugh he ended his talk and walked off stage!

 


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Leadercast 2014: Dr. Henry Cloud

During the second session of Leadercast we had the opportunity to learn from well known leadership expert Dr. Henry Cloud. If you haven’t read his recent book Boundaries for Leaders pick it up today!

  • As a leader you leave a wake behind you in every interaction, in every strategy, in every instance, etc. There are two sides to the wake you leave…

#1 is the results – you got to produce results to lead
#2 is the relationships – you’ve got to have relationships to get results

  • All influence is driven by trust
  • For you to have influence that goes beyond yourself people have to trust you
  • You will build trust to the degree that the people you lead feel that you are connected to them
  • The human heart above all else wants to be known and understood…if you’re people feel known and understood you will have the opportunity to influence them
  • You understand your people when your people understand that you understand them
  • Opportunity comes when your passion and what you’re good at meet a need that people have
  • If your influence is going to go past you, there has to be something in you that goes past you
  • Leaders who have influence that goes beyond themselves are leaders that give up control & then define and connect what others are going to control based on their passions and what they’re good at
  • Connect what your team can control to the results you’re going after

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Leadercast 2014: Andy Stanley

If you missed Leadercast this past week then you missed out on some great leadership content! But no worries you and your team can catch up quickly. I’m going to post my notes and thoughts from each of the sessions over the next couple of days! First up was Andy Stanley…enjoy!

“Beyond you leaders are leaders who fearlessly and selflessly empower leaders around them and as well as those coming along behind them”

Fearlessly: This means you’re not afraid of the 25-year-old leader in your organization that knows more than you. They’re smarter, they’re cooler, they’re hipper, they have newer ideas. The beyond you leader pours into this young leader even though they may take their place in the organization someday.

Empower: This means every single leader has power. If you set somebody’s schedule or salary then you have power. Empowering others means leveraging your influence and power for the sake of the people around you.

  • The value of a life is always measured by how much of it was given away
  • At the end of a life we always celebrate generosity and selflessness
  • The value of your leadership will always be measured by not by accumulation but by how much of it was given away
  • While we may celebrate generosity we envy accumulation
  • If we are not careful and intentional about our leadership being beyond you and not about you, you’ll look back one day and think about what could have been

3 Ways to become a beyond you leader

1. Make as few decisions as possible: One of the most empowering things you can do for those around you is to allow others to make decisions that you could make. If you have the power to make a decision and you give someone else the opportunity to make the decision, you’ve just empowered someone else to lead. Practice saying “you decide”

    • One of the best ways to build consensus and ownership in your organization is to give the power to make decisions away.
    • As your organizational authority increases, your organizational I.Q. decreases – as you have more and more things under your authority and you will know less and less about more and more things.
    • If you don’t allow others to make decisions you are going to be compelled to make decisions about things you know nothing about.
    • The best way to find out who the best decisions makers are in your organization is to allow other to make decisions
    • Just because you have the authority doesn’t mean you need to exercise your authority

2. Work for your team: Ask this question to your team…what can I do to help? Leverage your talent and authority to help you teams dreams come true.

3. Empty your cup: You don’t have everything you need to fill your teams cup. Our responsibility isn’t to fill their cup but it’s our responsibility to empty our cup. Not because that’s all there is to know but it’s all you know.

  • Don’t wait until you’re the boss to do this. Start where you are at. Because if you don’t you’ll think you got there by hoarding instead of by helping.
  • If your leadership isn’t all about you it will live beyond you, but if your leadership is all about you it won’t live beyond you except for serving as someone’s bad example.

Posted in Leadership