Category Archives: Leadership

Leadership

About Leadership – What’s Always Good to Learn?

Some people could be tempted to take a look at leadership as a secret weapon to becoming the first, the best or the most powerful. In fact, there are actually quite a few other things about leadership which are absolutely worth to consider. Becoming familiar with the real purpose of leadership may also help improving the key leadership traits.

A number of people are seeking for answers about leadership and you will find a variety of books and articles about leadership today. The interest in of this field is growing progressively, triggering the bottom line that leadership is no longer a choice, but a necessity in the today’s society.

Whilst a lot of people consider themselves true leaders, regrettably some of them don’t understand a thing about leadership. Knowing and making use of leadership principles actually might take more than 5 minutes on the sofa reading the journal and dreaming about becoming a good leader someday.

Definitions of Leadership

Leadership can be seen as a kind of rapport, where the leader is influencing others in a certain direction. A genuine leader is a person who points the direction and next makes sure that people follow it. Leading individuals, teams, corporations or social networks are all enclosed under the same umbrella of leadership.

Leadership is also a system of knowing yourself and creating some skills on conducting, impacting on or helping other people in following your own example. You are required to go first where you want to lead the others go to.

Leadership Skills

Books on leadership and practical examples of several great leaders show that there are some specific qualities and skills required when it comes about leadership.

– The capacity to hold a great vision

– Great communication skills

– A higher amount of confidence and passion

– Radiant energy and vitality

– Good emotional management

– Result oriented state of mind

– Consistency in applying personal values such as integrity and honesty

Boss Versus Leader

Some may think about leadership in words of power of a management position. Though a boss, manager or supervisor will certainly utilize his authority to impose people get the job done, this sort of enforcement doesn’t make him/her a leader.

Leadership usually means uplifting people to willingly do their best to acquire excellent results. What’s awesome about leadership is that true leaders are the ones that make contributions to the world’s progress and make a difference in people’s lives.

Bottom Line about Leadership

We can sum up that leadership is composed of 3 crucial elements:

Who you are – the way you see yourself as an individual and as a leader, your beliefs and individuality

What you know – your talents and knowledge that your can put into actions in order to achieve specific results

What you do – your actions and the effects you get, stimulating and directing people to action as well

It can be useful to create your personal definition of leadership and a list of leadership traits, because this is an important starting point of your leadership career. Spend some time and think about leadership in your terms, then massively put your own principles into actions as a way to influence people’s life for the better.

For more information about leadership and leadership traits you can visit [http://leadershiptraitsguide.com]

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/David_Sommet/1185484

 

Leadership

Leadership Strategies – 3 Ways to Maximize Leadership Potential

CEOs and managers can maximize their leadership potential by breaking three common myths. Few leadership strategies are as important as uncovering the potential within the organization to maximize the leadership potential of the executive leadership. Break these following myths and leadership skills within any organization will increase.

Are you a real student of leadership? How effective is your leadership? The answer boils down to breaking three main myths to increase leadership ability.

Myth 1 – Many believe falsely that ability alone is enough for leadership. This myth causes some to not fully develop their potential. Practice is key in strengthening talent in arts, music and sports, so why not in leadership? Most artists develop their talent by taking art lessons in drawing, sketching or painting. The musician learns how to play beginner levels of music before he/she can play advanced. The athlete practices for hours before he/she runs in the Olympics. Therefore, a leader must practice his/her leadership to advance to the next level.

Myth 2 – Smart people are leaders. If only smart people were leaders then how come many lead without any formal education? Now, this point is controversial because of how leadership is defined if defined only by having a degree. In the political arena of leadership most leaders hold degrees. For example, Past President George W. Bush had an MBA from Harvard Business School, Cheney a M.A. in political science, Colin Powell a Bachelor’s degree in geology, etc. Therefore, this provides strong evidence that leaders are educated, so that leadership is the mastery of smart people. However, in the celebrity arena many are leaders without the same level of education. For example, Barbara Streisand only completed high school, Cher dropped out in 9th grade and Julia Roberts only completed high school. Yet, each of these celebrities led others.

The controversy comes from the idea that a degree is equivalent to being smart. Does not experience also account for an increased emotional awareness? Obviously, the answer is yes because leadership is a combination of many factors. The underlying point from the contrast of political leadership and that of celebrities is what one does with his/her smartness. Both the political and the celebrities had to break myth 3 for successful leadership.

Myth 3 – Leadership is handed out and comes naturally. Some people will point to those who inherit money, position and power and state that they were natural-born leaders. Yes, these were born into a position of leadership but that does not necessarily mean that they had the attributes to lead. Each had mentors, intelligence-gatherers and fact-finders to discern their landscape to position or leverage themselves and their followers.

A real student of leadership will accept three keys to advance their leadership potential from these broken myths.

Key 1 – Leadership qualities need to be strengthened with practice. This requires dedication. The leader must lead, must have conviction that his/her way is right. Others can question, become disillusioned, reject the leadership but the leader remains steadfast and knows the way.

Key 2 – Leadership is maximized with information gathering, fact finding and thorough understanding. Persuasive arguments are won with facts. A leader knows how to convince others without threats or violence but with the arm of truth.

Key 3 – Leadership potential can be built. To desire to lead is to desire a desirable end. Leadership is respected. Leadership is applauded. Leadership is required to help others. Leadership is required to make this a better world. Leadership is required to provide hope. Leaders must want their role. Leaders must live their role.

Corporate executives gain when they learn new strategies and techniques because new information provides additional insights which helps make stronger decisions. When leaders learn new leadership skills to strengthen their executive leadership they gain a strong competitive advantage because these new skills help them be better communicators. Leadership skills helps them build on their potential and develop techniques to add to their talent pool.

Loreen Sherman is an expert on organizational leadership development. Get your Modular Skills Package at [http://www.star-tingpublishing.com]. Invite Loreen to speak on leadership development today.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Loreen_M_Sherman/1120880

 

Leadership

What Is Leadership?

With a title like that you might think I bit off a little more than I can chew. You might be right, but because there are literally thousands of articles, blogs and websites dedicated to discussions of leadership, I wanted to offer a logical definition of it in a thousand words or less. Here goes…

Despite the multiplicity of interpretations we read every day, leadership can be defined simply as:

“Organizing a group of people to achieve a common goal”

A leader can be anyone. There is no need for any formal authority to lead. A person simply needs to have the will, the courage, the charisma and the ability to capture the imagination of one or more followers in order to be considered a leader.

Centuries ago, it was assumed that good and powerful leaders had naturally occurring leadership traits that set them apart from others…Hence, the term, “leaders are born not made”. However, more recent studies have made it clear that given the right set of circumstances and with the appropriate motivation, most people can become true and effective leaders.

Some of the naturally occurring traits that make leadership ability come more easily to some people are:

 

  • Intelligence
  • Assertiveness
  • Diligence
  • Openness
  • Courage

 

When those instinctive traits are combined with learned skills and natural talents, variable levels of leadership ability may be reached. Without all of those traits, effective leadership is possible but much more difficult to achieve.

“It is important to note that one can lead much more effectively when the leadership endeavour involves something that the leader has good expertise in so that he or she may set an example”

It must also be something in which the followers have a need for or an interest in being lead in. For example: An expert tennis player might make a great tennis coach but a lousy sales manager. In addition, there would be no point in trying to lead someone to better customer service skills when he or she works in the depths of a coal mine.

As trite as those examples might seem, it is not unusual that people are put into leadership positions that they are not capable of handling simply because they have done well in another unrelated area. Also, self-promoting or toxic people who have no business trying to lead will often attempt to influence or lead coworkers in inappropriate directions. Both situations will create poor results.

“Good and powerful leaders need to have self-awareness and a solid grip on their own emotions”

Leadership skill necessarily includes the ability to set a mood or tone for the team. Leaders unavoidably telegraph their moods and attitudes to their followers who will adopt the preeminent emotional tone of the leader and carry it throughout the organization.

“One must not assume the only way to achieve financial success or even team success is through servant leadership, participative leadership, or compassionate leadership”

Given the right impetus and favourable circumstances an autocratic, command and control leader can drive his team to success both in the business world, on a sports court or on a battlefield. In the twenty-first century, we tend to reject that style of leadership, but it can be an effective (albeit, potentially negative and harmful) form of leadership nonetheless. If the team is not engaged and motivated, a strong autocrat might be the only leader who can create the environment needed for success.

Modern leadership lecturers and writers also reject the term “management”, since it seems to imply a lack of compassion and favours transactional or task orientation as opposed to transformational or people-oriented leadership. In reality, all organizations have some form of tasks and a specific number of people so it is evident that management may still be an integral part of the leadership cycle in many cases.

“In essence, even bad leadership is a form of leadership”

The efficacy of any leadership style can only be measured in results. In other words if the team meets or exceeds all of its goals, under the direction of its leader, those who benefit from those results may assume that the leadership was good regardless of the leader’s style. However, it is important to note that bad leadership in any form is usually short-lived.

The best and generally, most effective form of leadership occurs when a leader is able to maintain a high level of concern for his or her people while simultaneously keeping high-level performance paramount in the minds of all participants. This form of leadership often goes a step beyond servant leadership because it allows the leader to accurately control production and monitor results for maximum success. A leader who can juggle tasks and people without sacrificing integrity for either is a great leader indeed. That leader will almost always turn out better performance, more production and measurable growth while presiding over happy, well-engaged employees.

“It is important to recognize that groups of working people are assembled primarily to create some sort of product or service”

Great leaders are able to create buy-in to the vision of the organization while accepting and embracing the direction of its leaders. The key to buy-in and strong followership is communication.

Great Leaders are Great Communicators!

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Leadership

Business Leadership

Over the past several years during the current economic downturn many groups of business professionals have speculated about what it takes to be a leader. Is a leader someone who grows the company and will stop at nothing to get profits? After all, without profits a business cannot operate. However, we have seen that some leaders will stop at nothing to gain the most profits and have no regard for the greater good of society. The term leader can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. This paper takes an in depth analysis on the topic of Business Leadership and what clearly defines it.

When analyzing business leadership, the first step is to define some of the traits and characteristics of successful entrepreneurs and business leaders today. With the advent of globalization, the business environment has had an increasing rate of change. With this new change to businesses everywhere, most business markets have become dynamic and volatile. Now more than ever, most companies are looking to their leaders to guide them through these rough waters. All companies are placing a lot more emphasis on business leadership on all different levels throughout their organization.

Managers of the past may have been easily promoted due to large economic growth and may have just been expected to maintain the status quo. Now many managers or successful business leaders have to think outside of the box to constantly deliver growth to their shareholders or superiors. The new business leaders we are seeing in the new economy tend to be visionaries. They look to see how business is changing and try to adapt strategies before any of their markets are impacted. The recent subprime mortgage scandals and housing bubble burst steered several large institutions into bankruptcy. Many companies are now trying to also look for business leaders that will not only keep the profits coming but also build a strong sense of ethics and integrity into their organizations.

After careful investigation and research here are some of the top traits or characteristics noted in most of the business leaders today. Good leaders must be able to keep a clear head and tolerate frustration and stress well. A business leader today must be able to stay calm under adversity and be able to process a clear vision of the actions that need to be taken to accomplish their ultimate goal. One trait of a successful business leader is emotional stability also known as locus of control.

The next trait would have to be self-esteem. When you are a business leader you are constantly being analyzed and many decisions are made quickly. A leader has to know that they will guide the business in the right direction and be confident in their choices. This in turn, can often inspire others in the organization to believe in the same goal or vision.

Drive or need to achieve is often looked at as common trait in business leaders today. If the leader is just satisfied with average results he or she will not continue to push the envelope and often productivity or profits can lack. The drive or need to achieve is rarely filled in a true business leader. They are always looking for the next challenge and create ways to get around obstacles.

Filtering information quickly is also a trait that is held by most business leaders today. Another term used to define this is business acumen. Ted Prince notes “Before the Great Recession, leadership development was essentially a boom-time phenomenon. It could afford to focus on traditional leadership competencies such as interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence and decision making. To some extent, leadership development had atrophied into the study of leadership when things are going well.

Today, we are in a very different place. Business acumen is all about showing how our behaviors directly impact and improve business outcomes, measured in financial and market value terms. Business acumen development aims to fill the chasm in traditional leadership development programs, which involves the behavioral skills that lead to increases in profitability and market value. Business acumen is defined as the capability to bring about positive business outcomes” (Prince).

Optimism is a trait that will be found in every successful business leader. The leader often views problems as a challenge and looks at setbacks as a possible new direction. They are constantly focused on the main goal at hand and will not let many things deter their mindset that the goals will be achieved. If they do not get a sale that day they will still believe they are going to get the sale in the future. Their sense of optimism can often be a motor to keep them driving to their ultimate goals.

Tolerance to ambiguity refers to a person’s tolerance to uncertainty and risk. Business Leaders will face this on a day to day basis and have to also possess this trait to be successful in business today. Art Petty writes in his blog that “top performers fight the routine. High performance individuals in all areas of life, from leaders to athletes to great individual contributors work hard everyday to fight the gravitational pull of getting stuck in the proverbial rut. High performance teams and organizations find their comfort not in sameness or routine, but in embracing the ambiguity of the world and the constancy of change and the constant need to change. Many of the best leaders go out of their way to push themselves and their teams to constantly do things different to keep their senses sharp, their individual and collective minds expanding and their ideas fresh” (Petty).

Courage is also a trait that comes up quite often when referring to business leadership. As a leader or entrepreneur you have to have a high tolerance for risk. Generally, when you start out you are all on your own and many more businesses fail than succeed. A true business leader has the gumption to take a calculated risk and keep going when times get slow.

The traits listed above seem to be the most common in the true business leaders today. Some other traits that are highly desirable but may not be found in every business leader are high energy, intuitiveness, maturity, team orientation, empathy and charisma. We can analyze these traits closer to see how a leader can benefit from possessing them.

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Leadership

Executive Leadership Strategies For The Imagination Age

Executive leadership strategies must adapt to Imagination Age challenges, complexities and conceptions.

Years ago, when famed scientist, Albert Einstein, said, “To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science”, he was teaching today’s executive leadership teams how they should behave, believe and become Imagination Age strategists.

How will executives, managers and entrepreneurs use their Imagination Age leadership skills to achieve significant, sustainable, strategic advantages through intelligent, instructive and innovative applications of their leadership power, practices and policies?

The Imagination Age demands greater and deeper levels of our cognitive, creative and collaborative competencies – therefore, we need different executive leadership strategies.

Executive leadership policies, plans and philosophies will revolve around the missions, mandates and meanings being employed, embraced or embarked upon by the fertile imaginations of their stakeholders and paid personnel.

While every group, leader and follower is an unique, self-determining entity, I can propose an executive leadership mission, mandate and meaning which has served our company and some of our clients faithfully well:

MISSION = “Enrich the productivity, profitability and prosperity of our strategic imaginations and our leadership power!”

MESSAGE = “Opportunity demands that we imaginatively, innovatively and intuitively use our discipline, direction and diagnostics to fully realize its possibilities!”

MEANING = “We are endowed with a God-given potential to contribute value through the artistic, scientific, vocational and competent exercise of our leadership power!”

4 Ranges of Executive Leadership Activities and Practice Throughout history, leaders have been influenced and guided by the discipline, direction and diagnostics of 4 distinctive domains of executive leadership practices – these domains, or field of actions or range of knowledges or responsibilities are simply known as the art, science, vocation and competency of leadership practices.

Here are a partial list of the actions involved – to be brief, I have not included the catalog of knowledges or organizational responsibilities for leaders:

 

“1) Art – performs, philosophies, paints and perfects 2) Science – uses methods, technologies, techniques, tools and processes 3) Vocation – embraces, espouses, engenders, evangelizes and encourages 4) Core Competence – demonstrates an expertise, experience, extension, evolution or expansion in effective leadership practice”

 

3 Executive Leadership Strategies For The Imagination Age As you consider the concepts being explored here, I remind you that we are discussing executive leadership strategies for practicing the art, science, vocation and competency of leading.

And these strategies represent the various approaches, directions, imperatives, indicators, intentions and responses leaders can adopt to effectively handle the environmental stimuli, conditions, forces or factors affecting, impeding and surrounding their organizational ecosystem.

The following 3 suggestions for executive leadership strategies being revealed in this article might help influence, impact and inspire you to lead more intelligently, instructively and imaginatively.

Imaginative and Creative Leadership And in this emerging Imagination Age, the world is looking for leaders who can help others quickly, reliably, wisely and elegantly organize information into practical, useful, relevant chunks of knowledge or collective inputs of wisdom.

We need those leaders to apply their own unique innovative, imaginative, insightful processes to create new advantages, value-added assets and awesome advancements.

Finally, executive leadership strategies which empower, engage, encourage or energize the development, dedication and deployment of other creative leaders throughout the organizational ecosystem and its environs will payoff handsomely in the Imagination Age.

Intelligent and Cognitive Leadership Our Imaginations are that functionality which drives those actions which we call imagining, thinking, conceiving, believing, reasoning or realizing, assuming, supposing or conjecturing.

Our imaginations give us the power and ability to form or shape images, sensations and concepts inside our minds.

It’s very important to note that our imaginations are the factory within which those pictures, perspectives, emotional impulses and ideas are formed, shaped and conceived in those moments when those items are not and can not yet be perceived by our sight, hearing or our other senses.

Can you see how cognitive leadership strategies help you deal with and unravel the complexities of our global economy?

Instructive and Collaborative or Coaching Leadership Strengthening your executive leadership skills means learning how to effectively coach, collaborate and train your people to prepare, guide and optimize their ability to handle the many challenges of constantly changing world.

Imagination is that work of our minds which we call resourcefulness, innovation and creativity.

Imagination provides meaning to our experiences and this mental faculty supplies a relevance or a context for understanding knowledge.

Our imagination is the fundamental and essential means through which we make sense of our reality and assign meaning or significance to our world, and as such, our imaginations play key roles in the processes of learning, teaching, collaborating and communicating with other people.

One Final Point If your executive leadership strategies, practices and knowledge domains need to evolve, then it’s obvious that you’ll need to discover how the philosophies, physics, processes, technologies, tools and techniques being used in today’s leadership skills training programs need to change too!

Copyright 2011, Mustard Seed Investments Inc., All rights reserved worldwide.

Bill Thomas uses his books, eGuides, videos, CD-ROMs and in-depth leadership skills training and executive development coaching programs to prepare you for success in the Imagination Age.

Bill helps professionals, managers, supervisors, executives, entrepreneurs and directors in 75 countries improve corporate results, energize their performance and create sustainable opportunities using his innovative educational methods and unique learning software tools.

Bill fully guarantees the quality and the effectiveness of ALL his tools, course materials and program services – his programs will maximize the returns on your investment!
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Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Bill_Thomas/462