Category Archives: Leadership

Leadership

Leadership, Tribal Spiritual Wisdom, And The Leadership Talk

You can boost your leadership skills and hence your career by understanding this one thing that most leaders miss: great leadership incorporates a spiritual dimension.

This spiritual dimension has been a part of leadership since time in memorial; but in today’s global economy, it is undergoing an historic, universal transformation. It’s a transformation that speaks directly to your individual leadership and career challenges.

However, when we talk about the spiritual in leadership, we must, first and foremost, talk about results — the results leaders achieve. Concrete results. Hard, measured results. Plus, we must talk about getting more of them, getting them faster, and getting “more, faster” continually. Otherwise, there is no sense in delving into the spiritual aspect of leadership.

Results are the stuff that leaders are made of. If they’re not getting results, they won’t be leaders for long. Results come in countless forms and functions. But one thing they all share: they are material consequences of actions.

You can’t see spirit, you can’t hear it, you can’t smell it, you can’t taste it, you can’t feel it; however, if you ignore the non-material that the spiritual encompasses, you’ll give short shrift to your leadership.

Just as the root word for spirit comes from Latin “to breathe” so spiritual dimensions of leadership are its very life-breath; for through it, the greatest results are achieved.

Spirit has been applied to many different things in different fields: to stealth bombers, corporations, rock bands, comic book characters, etc. In religion, spirit is the concept of an innate essence of a being. All religions embrace spirit in many ways. But when applied to leadership, spirit is differently manifested than with organized religions. The spiritual aspect of leadership I’m talking about must be exerted universally in the global market place, across cultures, nations, ethnic groups, etc. No religion has a corner on the spirit of leadership.

Fortunately, there is a universal ground for the kind of spirit needed in today’s leadership: the spiritual wisdom of tribal cultures. Anthropologists have come to identify common features in the diversity of tribal cultures around the world. First, they are earth-based. The relationship between the earth and the people is one of mystical interdependence. Second, the powers of nature, the acts of daily life, birth death, nature and the cosmos are all invested with deep meaning through ritual and dance. Third, most tribal cultures view all individual things that make up our universe — rocks, stars, mountains, rivers, people, animals, fish, etc. — as interdependent.

This interdependence is not just a physical dynamic. Yes, we live on the same earth, breath the same air, and are all mortal. But tribal cultures understand it as a spiritual dynamic as well. Unlike the concept of human souls, which are believed to be eternal and preexisting, one’s spirit according to tribal wisdom develops and grows as an integral aspect of a person living interdependently with the community and its environment.

Today, these interdependent features of tribal spiritual wisdom can be applied with dramatic consequences to global leadership. Just as tribe members saw themselves as interdependent with their tribe and their spiritual deities and dictums, so today’s leaders in order to be truly successful on a global stage must see themselves in similar interdependent terms. However, the difference today is that interdependence is not with a tribe but with people the world over and with the world environment. That’s a profound, spiritual leadership lesson, hard but necessary to actualize, from which great leadership results flow.

How do we actualize this spiritual imperative? Enter the Leadership Talk. I have been teaching the Leadership Talk to leaders of all ranks and functions worldwide for nearly a quarter of a century. It works on the premise that great results happen primarily when leaders establish a deep, human, emotional connection with people. When I first began developing and teaching it, I saw it as a powerful results generator. It is that. In fact, the Leadership Talk is the most powerful leadership results generator of all. But I had not really understood why until recently. Now, I see each one of those descriptors, “deep, human, emotional”, which grew organically out of my having to work with leaders challenged to get great results, are fundamentally spiritual in nature. That’s because they are predicated on the spiritual wisdom of interdependence. (You can find out more about the Leadership Talk on my website.) A key reason the Leadership Talk has helped leaders get great, material results for nearly 25 years is its driving methodologies are fundamentally spiritual.

Globalization is forcing broad and deep changes in human relationships as organizations are being challenged to achieve greater results than ever before. When you understand that the best results come from practical processes bolstered with spiritual dynamics connected to tribal wisdom, you’ll have an opportunity to achieve an unmatched competitive advantage in the world marketplace.

2006 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

The author of 23 books, Brent Filson’s recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is founder and president of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. – and for more than 21 years has been helping leaders of top companies worldwide get audacious results. Sign up for his free leadership e-zine and get a free white paper: “49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results,” at http://www.actionleadership.com For more about the Leadership Talk: [http://www.theleadershiptalk.com]

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Brent_Filson/1911

 

Leadership

Curiosit-Creativity-Commitment-The Three C’s of Leadership

People who get results are high impact leaders. They are consistent, explicit and concise and they command a presence when they walk into a room. They have enough charisma to turn the dullest moment into a high-energy event. When they move on, others want to go with them. Their openness and honesty creates a legacy which people admire and look up to. They gain commitment and foster trust.

Most of us are not born leaders. However, a good percentage of us long to become leaders of men and make deep connections in our careers seeking that ultimate leadership position. It may be Sales Manager, Warehouse Supervisor, Vice President, CFO or even CEO.

To achieve our leadership objective understanding the Three C’s of Leadership is essential:

o Curiosity

o Creativity

o Commitment

Curiosity

Every successful leader demonstrates a curiosity that would not be satisfied without personal examination of what exactly were the causes of failure to meet expectations. This was validated through NAW’s (National Association of Wholesaler Distributors) research “Profiles in Wholesale Distribution Leadership. http://www.nawpubs.org/orderform.html In this project, individual leadership models differed in their specific approaches. The common thread that linked every model together was their respect for the individual and the willingness and ability to listen with an understanding that embellished their own leadership contribution to the organization. The most obvious similarity between these the seven exceptional leaders interviewed was the fact that they were all curious, creative and committed.

Leadership is about curiosity, scenario planning, strategic planning and calculated risk taking. Effective leaders are excellent listeners that have tremendous questioning skills. The power of influence is often in the question and not in the answers. Effective leaders understand this concept. A common trait found in every successful leader I have ever been associated with is unhesitant curiosity. Curiosity about their markets, their business, their industry, their employees and what it takes to grow, prosper and create competitive advantage.

These leaders have accepted the fact that they may not have all the answers. More importantly, they recognize that they don’t have to have all the answers. Changing a leadership style is not the easiest thing in the world to do. Development of their leadership skills is a continuous process. This process includes:

o Enhancement of their instinctive curiosity and a strengthening of their focus on being a customer driven organization. Service and quality become a way of life within the organization and it is used to support their competitive advantage.

o Taking their vision and redefining it as an end game which challenges their executive team to create a strategic plan to meet this end game.

o The recognition that employees are the most precious asset and backing up that recognition by the willingness to invest profits in the development of these employees.

o Empowerment that is accompanied by the resources necessary to succeed and accountability for results.

o Utilizing a board of directors as a resource while sharing management challenges seeking policy and guidance, incorporating contingency planning and scenario planning as a regular exercise.
Wholesale distribution organizations increasingly are characterized by a large and incredibly complex set of independent relationships between highly diverse groups of people. To be successful, today’s leader must determine how to get active involvement built on a platform of creativity, commitment and curiosity out of their employees.
Creativity

Successful leaders take the time to listen, imagine and investigate numerous alternatives. With the involvement of people they forge creative solutions to difficult problems. They challenge their people to stretch, go beyond their previous boundaries and think outside the box. Successful leaders feed off their people and allow their people to feed off of them. They give credit where credit is due. They give recognition as a means of gaining respect. They believe individuals can make a difference. Through these methods they learn to create new insights and possibilities.

Successful leadership means creating a sense of urgency, getting mutual commitment to action. Action steps are always clearly defined and precise. Often, due to the personification of the leader’s own personality and charisma, employees are eager to leap into action – without forethought. A successful leader recognizes this possibility and takes the necessary steps to avoid this pitfall by teaching precision in planning. They are clear and explicit. They communicate with encouraging clarity that commands ownership by everyone involved in the commitments made.

The successful leader is constantly building advantages into the organizations. The belief is that you don’t always have to be better than your competition but you must be different. This concept demands creativity and innovations.

Commitment

Commitment is critical element to success whether the company is in a growth mode, a stabilizing mode or an acquisition mode or any other type of circumstance. Failure to demonstrate commitment by the leader can have negative consequences that inhibit success. Commitment is essential to developing trust. Trust is necessary to get people to reach down deep inside and give everything they have under the most difficult circumstances.

The reason people follow any leader, especially in the business world, is due to trust. The only way to develop trust is by demonstrating personal commitment to success. Talking to people with respect to gain their respect and demonstrating your personal work ethic is part of your commitment. Their respect is a key ingredient to developing trust. Trust is gained when people think the company cares about their welfare and recognizes the role they play in creating a profit.. People have to think that the company not only cares about their problems but that the leader and the company is committed toward making every effort to solve them.

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Leadership

Conflict, Leadership And The Leadership Talk

Conflict comes with leadership as the sparks fly upward. If you don’t want to deal with conflict, leadership is not your thing.

Being a leader is not about IF you will tackle conflict but HOW. In fact, no other ability (other than being able to get results) so shapes people’s careers as the ability to deal with conflict.

Conflict and leadership go hand-in-hand because leadership involves challenging people often to do what they don’t want to do. If people did what they wanted, leaders wouldn’t be necessary. Great results don’t drop like manna from heaven. Achieving them involves people having to get out of their comfort zones, make troublesome decisions, and engage in disconcerting new actions. Leadership helps guide and motivate people to do those things.

There are countless books, articles, etc. devoted to conflict resolution. But let me give you one tool that I’ve been teaching leaders of all ranks and functions worldwide for more than 22 years. It’s the Leadership Talk.

Because the Leadership Talk is results-oriented and deals with fundamental human dynamics, it can be an unmatched way to help you deal with the inevitable conflicts you’ll face.

(The many books and many other articles I’ve written on the Leadership Talk can be seen on my website.)

Here are the three essentials you must adhere to in dealing with conflicts and how the Leadership Talk can help you manifest those essentials.

1. Establish a deep, human, emotional connection with the people you’re dealing with. When in conflict, keep in mind that the message is not just the message, the message is the messenger. HOW you deal with conflict and WHO you are in dealing with the conflict are as important, if not more, than WHAT the conflict is. Abraham Lincoln explained the importance of HOW and WHO: “If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend … Assume to dictate to his judgment, or to command his action, or to mark him as one to be shunned and despised, and he will retreat within himself, close all the avenues to his head and his heart; and tho’ your cause be naked truth itself … you shall no more be able to reach him than to penetrate the hard shell of the tortoise with a rye straw.”

The Leadership Talk helps you deal with not only the WHAT of the conflict but also the HOW. It is a clear, practical pathway to winning the hearts of the people you are in conflict with simply because its driving principle is Lincoln’s imperative of convincing the other side of your good will and sincerity.

2. Be guided by and empowered through process. It’s important for your career to have a simple, clear conflict-resolution process to guide your thoughts, speech, and actions. You may not follow it exactly in every case, but it can help you better deal with the countless varieties of conflicts that you’ll come to face.

The Leadership Talk is a powerful conflict resolution process because it engages the human aspects in practical, structured ways. For instance, one of its processes it called the Three-trigger Motivational Process. When you face conflict, you should ask three questions. If you say “no” to your answer to any one of those questions, you can’t give a Leadership Talk. The questions are: 1. Do you know what the audience needs? 2. Can you bring deep belief to what you’re saying? 3. Can you have the audience take action?

3. Stay focused on results. Since leaders do nothing more important than get results, the fruits of how we deal with conflict should be evaluated by whether we are obstructing or promoting results.

In leadership, it’s not enough to resolve conflicts, we must also in the process achieve increases in results. Forget about trying to achieve “win/win.” That can be a tender trap. In fact, in many cases, a win/win objective might impede results by keeping people from going to the next step, the results-generating step.

The Leadership Talk sees conflicts you are engaged in terms not simply of conflict resolution but results generation. Furthermore, its focus is not just about achieving ordinary results but more results, faster results on a continual basis.

Since conflict will always be with you as a leader, you should welcome it as an opportunity to get increases in results. When you’re using Leadership Talks, you’ll find yourself getting those results consistently.

2006 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.com

The author of 23 books, Brent Filson’s recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is founder and president of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. – and for more than 21 years has been helping leaders of top companies worldwide get audacious results. Sign up for his free leadership e-zine and get a free white paper: “49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results,” at http://www.actionleadership.com For more about the Leadership Talk: [http://www.theleadershiptalk.com]

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Brent_Filson/1911

 

Leadership

Developing A Leadership Culture

Once you move beyond the hype, why is leadership so important? Effective leadership is the differentiating factor between average and great companies. Why? Because most companies are so focused externally on products and customers, they simply do not focus on developing leadership qualities within their own staff. Great companies that develop a strong leadership culture from the board room to the boiler room realize a sustainable competitive advantage.

The phrase “be a leader’ has become cliché and truly mythical in nature. There are countless books to tell you how famous people successfully led and give you tips to lead in the same way. Authors and publishers sell millions of books, tapes, and CDs every year but do little to help anyone actually lead. The inability to successfully convey conceptual leadership ideas and put them into practice is the crux of the problem with today’s how-to leadership books.

In a society where image is everything, we tend to apply the leadership tag only to those individuals who are dynamic communicators, great motivators, and have the gift of persuasion. We automatically assume that individuals with a skill that we admire are great leaders.

How many times do we assume that just because a 19 year-old-college athlete has a deadly three-point shot that he is by default a great leader? We often assume a player lacks leadership ability when he does not have an outspoken personality. When players of this type are interviewed about their leadership for the team they always reply, “I lead by example.” The reality is that every team needs at least one outspoken leader to motivate and rally the team. However, every player on the team should lead by example within their role. A team with average talent will often beat a team with superior talent when everyone utilizes their innate leadership ability in combination with their skills. Teams with strong top to bottom leadership are unselfish, communicate better, and will always put team goals ahead of their own agenda. The key is both basketball and leadership skills must be developed.

The same holds true in business organizations. We find a super worker that does his job exceedingly well and then assume he can become the outspoken super-visor or super-manager. The super worker is promoted and is placed in a sink or swim leadership position without anyone really knowing if he can even float. Some people are gifted to lead by leading others while others are gifted to only lead themselves. Both types of leaders influence and impact those around them but in different ways. Every organization should develop a strong blend of both.

The capacity for leadership exists in everyone, but most people never take the time to develop it. Leadership is determination, courage, confidence, and the ability to get results.

Positive leadership assumes that goals can be accomplished, the job can be done, the problem can be solved, and the obstacles will be overcome. A leader creates his future and drives the future success of the organization. The return on investment in productivity and profitability by developing your staff’s potential could be incredible. When employees consider themselves leaders, they exhibit a positive attitude, take ownership, and accept accountability for their decisions and actions.

Developing a leadership culture where everyone is expected to be a leader in whatever position they hold will improve decision making and communication, increase profitability, lower absenteeism, and enhance customer service.

Decision making and communication are improved when everyone works together with the common goal of helping the organization reach its strategic goals. Absenteeism and turnover are minimized when employees feel a sense of ownership and self-fulfillment.

Profitability is maximized when management and staff work together with the single objective of making the organization a success. Customers hear, see, and feel the commitment and enthusiasm whenever they come in contact with your staff.

Leadership is interwoven into the fabric of an organization and affects everything a company does and the decisions it makes. Just as effective leadership will lift an organization to the next level, ineffective or poor leadership will cause an organization to under-perform and be ineffective. That is why leadership within an organization is truly cultural and not a fad or program of the month.

Imagine a dynamic, energetic, flexible organization that strives for continuous improvement. Imagine a staff where everyone cares and takes as much ownership in the success of the company as the executive leadership team.

A leadership culture does not happen by accident, and it certainly is not developed overnight. Otherwise, someone would have written a book to tell you how to create a leadership culture in three easy steps. A leadership culture is built over time with a strong senior management commitment to developing the potential of its management and staff.

A leadership culture where everyone from the board room to the boiler room leads will differentiate and set your company apart from the competition providing competitive advantages that lead to long-term profitability.

Mike founded TouchPoint Advantage [http://www.touchpointadvantage.com] in late 2005. TouchPoint Advantages works with businesses to help them think and plan strategically and individuals to help them achieve their dreams by maximizing their potential.

Organizations find their unique competitive advantage and individuals take their career and their life to the next level. We help both make their vision and dreams a reality.

Mike is an active public speaker and writer on leadership and related topics.

[http://www.touchpointadvantage.com]

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/R._Mike_Booth/28004

 

Leadership

The Quakers, A Sword, And The Leadership Talk

William Penn (1644-1718),founder of what would become the state of Pennsylvania, was on the receiving end of a succinct Leadership Talk that still reverberates down the centuries and into your everyday leadership challenges.

In his youth, Penn became an ardent Quaker. When he asked George Fox (1624-1691), the founder of the non-violent religious sect, if he should continue to wear a sword, a standard part of the dress of Penn’s aristocratic class, Fox replied, “Wear it as long as thou canst.”

Fox’s reply not only illustrates a principle of Quakerism but also a principle underpinning a leadership process I have been teaching to thousands of leaders worldwide during the past 21 years: the Leadership Talk.

Get the Leadership Talk right, and it can boost your job performance and career in many ways. But you can’t get the Leadership Talk right unless you understand this principle.

What is a Leadership Talk? You can understand it by first understanding “the hierarchy of verbal persuasion.” The lowest levels of the hierarchy are speeches and presentations. They are methods for communicating information. The highest level, the most effective way for a leader to communicate, is through the Leadership Talk. The Leadership Talk not only communicates information; it does something much more: it helps the leader establish deep, human, emotional connections with the people they’re talking to, enabling them to be much more effective.

As to the principle: it goes right to the heart of Fox’s reply to Penn. Fox ardently believed that every human has an “inner light and spirit.” The Quakers were guided by that light which they believed came directly from God. They refused to bow to authority and endorsed pacifism. Implicit in Fox’s reply was that it was Penn’s choice, not any mandate from Fox or anyone else, that governed the situation.

The Leadership Talk recognizes that leaders do nothing more important than get results; and the best results happen not when leaders are ordering people to go from point A to point B, say, but when they are having them want to go from A to B. Instill “want to” in others is what the Leadership Talk does. That “want to” cannot be mandated; it is the free choice of the people. In other words, great results happen in the realm of free choice of the people you lead.

The Leadership Talk creates an environment conducive to people exercising free choice. In order to create this environment, you must first ask three questions about the people you’ll speak to.

(1) Do you know the needs of the people? (2) Can you bring deep belief to what you’re saying to them? (3) Can you have the people take action?

If you say “no” to any one of these questions, you can’t give a Leadership Talk.

Asking and answering these questions many times daily throughout your career with people of all ranks and functions will help you create a fortunate environment of free choice leading to great results.

Let’s see how these questions played out with Fox and Penn.

DO YOU KNOW THE NEEDS OF YOUR AUDIENCE? Fox’s reply went to the heart of Penn’s needs. Penn was the scion of an aristocratic family who in his youth had powerful religious experiences. Penn’s needs were clear: He wanted to live by the imperatives of those experiences, which were deeply and personally felt. Fox’s spiritual revelations, to use a Quaker saying, “spoke to his condition.”

CAN YOU BRING DEEP CONVICTION TO WHAT YOU’RE SAYING? George Fox certainly spoke with conviction. Penn described Fox in his journal as “…. plain and powerful in preaching, fervent in prayer … a discerner of other men’s spirits, and very much master of his own.” He added that Fox was able to “speak a word in due season to the conditions and capacities of most, especially to them that were weary, and wanted soul’s rest …. valiant in asserting the truth, bold in defending it ….” The two met when Fox was being jailed frequently for his beliefs. Coming from a man holding such deep convictions and being repeatedly jailed defending them, the words “Wear it while thou canst” deeply impressed William Penn.

CAN YOU HAVE THE AUDIENCE TAKE ACTION? The next time Penn saw Fox, he was not wearing his sword. He said, “I wore it as long as I could.” He would never wear a sword again. After he joined the outlawed and persecuted Quakers, he was exiled from English society, thrown out of Oxford University, and arrested several times. Yet he never wavered from promoting and living by the Quaker ideals. That action, NOT putting on his sword (sometimes the best action is no action) when all of social convention cried out that he should, was made all the more notable and instructive because it came from his own deeply-felt urging.

Mind you, don’t mistake the Leadership Talk principle of free choice as some psychological delicacy. I’m talking results here. Leadership is all about getting results. The principle does and should have practical functions. The point is those functions are best manifested in environments of deep, human, emotional relationships. Such relationships can most effectively be established by your being open to and trusting in the choices people make. Guided by the principle of “Wear it as long as thou canst”, you can markedly improve your leadership effectiveness.

2006 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

The author of 23 books, Brent Filson’s recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is founder and president of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. – and for more than 21 years has been helping leaders of top companies worldwide get audacious results. Sign up for his free leadership e-zine and get a free white paper: “49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results,” at http://www.actionleadership.com. More about the Leadership Talk: [http://www.theleadershiptalk.com]

PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: [brent@actionleadership.com]/>

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Brent_Filson/1911