Jobs & Careers, MyOrbit Blogs, Start-ups, Training

Review Your Goals Every 6 Months?

There was a time when five-year plans were all the rage. But that was when workers can still count on signing up with a company for life. In the warp-speed world of technology, five years is an eternity. So how is one supposed to map out one`s career when the business landscape is always changing?

Firstly, a plan is useless but planning is still essential. Instead of a five-year plan, try formulating a five-year vision. In that way, workers can chart a course they would like to follow. For example, today I am on the team; in two years, I would like to be managing it; in three years, I would like to be relocated to build a new team in a new market; and in five years, I would like to be coordinating a group of international teams. Just keep in mind that the course will almost certainly change.

Secondly, workers should not confine their career projections within the framework of their current companies as they did previously. Instead, they should understand that while it is beneficial to set a goal of being a supervisor in five years, you might need to move to another company in another country to achieve it. Construct a portfolio of your achievements and market yourself by including your personal goals along with your career goals. It is important to include financial planning, as one cannot rely on employers` plans to manage one`s money. Continue reading →

Jobs & Careers, MyOrbit Blogs

Setting Goals for Business and Life

What do you want to achieve? Before you actually set up, decide what you want to achieve with your business. If you are already in business, review where you are going, are you clear about this? Why not take some time out to think about and write down your goals for your business?

Write it down! Research shows that only 3% of people write down their goals, and on average these people earn 10 times those who don’t have goals. Plus research shows that people with up to date written goals are as much as 3100% more successful than people who do not have up to date written goals.

And make sure your business goals don’t conflict with personal goals or values. When you are thinking about your goals, think about and write down your personal goals too. And if you are a business owner with other shareholders, you will obviously need to discuss your responses with your colleagues, and agree on a shared set of goals for the business. Continue reading →

Leadership

Leadership is Challenging

The leadership journey is a long and trying one. There are ups and downs, successes and failures. One reason leadership is so valuable is because it’s so rare. While there are those of us who know its importance and try to live by it, there are those that are either unaware of the concept or just plain old don’t care. This is where a part of the challenge lies: trying to lead people that don’t realize they need to be led, and trying to lead people that refuse to be led altogether.

Understanding the Need for Leadership

Theoretically, there are leaders, leadees, and followers. The very definition of a leader is to draw leadees and followers to work together toward a vision. But, this is the real world…

Not everyone realizes the importance of leadership
Not everyone realizes the role leadership plays in every day life
Not everyone understands the relationships between leaders, leadees, and followers
Not everyone wants to lead
Not everyone wants to be led
Not everyone believes that leadership is worth the effort

This is a part of the leadership challenge, and as frustrating as it may be, leaders need to experience it and push through it. Take what you can from each experience and move on.
Past and Present/Future

I’ve worked with many people that aren’t familiar with the concept of leadership. I’ve noticed that older generations either aren’t familiar with or care about the concept of leadership. While the word “leadership” is thrown around nowadays by every organization and professional, it’s still a cutting-edge concept because of its complexity and the difficulty in implementing it. It takes talent, creativity, and an open-mind to make leadership work. Leadership still hasn’t taken hold of the world; I’ve been a part of several organizations that have no intention of finding and raising leaders. I have a business degree, so I understand the focus on profits, but, if a company wants long-term growth, investing in people and leadership is the way to go. In my experiences, it’s small businesses that are lagging in leadership.

Old-school management was all about the employer-employee relationship. Managers were making sure employees were doing their job and enforcing rules and procedures. There was a boss and the employees. Old-school management was strict, while leadership is more relaxed. Leadership is more of laissez-faire style, giving people an objective and letting them work their way through it on their own. That’s how people grow and improve. Leadership has a team attitude.

If there is one way to show the difference in generations, I would say it’s through the ideas of management and leadership. Management is outdated, with leadership being the new-and-improved idea. It’s understandable that previous generations are unwilling to accept the new thought, the basis of management was “there’s only one way to do this – do it or you’re fired”. The thought of leadership saying “here is what we’re trying to do – let’s do it” goes against everything they know. This disparity certainly makes for a challenge in leading in today’s world.

Don’t Refuse Leadership

People refuse to be led for all sorts of reasons. Recently, I was involved with a manager whose ego would not allow him to be led. While it was clear to myself and others that he was not a strong leader, he was convinced he was the company’s superstar. His attitude was that he was above everyone else. If someone were to question a decision , he routinely embarrassed them by screaming profanities and belittling them. Not only is this irrational behavior and management at it’s worst, it’s terrible leadership. He demanded respect, but he didn’t command respect. Many of the employees that worked under him did not respect him or believe in him as a leader. Many of the employees under this manager had great leadership potential, but when they tried to lead him, he became threatened by this, ultimately halting any growth in his department.

It’s extremely difficult dealing with these types of people. You have to make a judgment call on who you want to invest time and energy into. Some people will see the importance and value of leadership, and some won’t. The question is, how much time and energy do you invest in someone before it’s evident they won’t get it? Sometimes the answer is to just cut ties and move in different directions. Leadership is full of challenges, how you respond to them will determine your growth and development as a leader.

Leader-Leadee is a blog dedicated to leadership development. Share and learn from Jonathan Alan’s experiences through his free articles!

Leader-Leadee

Developing Leaders and Leadees

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Leadership

Leadership Attributes, Leadership Traits, and Transformational Leadership Research

My doctoral dissertation leadership research primarily focused on the impact and relationship between leadership and adversity. However, a material additional component of my leadership was to evoke from the sixteen prominent leader’s descriptions their concepts of leadership, as well as their styles of leadership, including transformational leadership.

The sixteen prominent leader / research participants each had their own unique life journey in dealing with adversity and then working to become a successful and accomplished leader. One common theme is that obstacles or adversity in the early lives of the participants, such as the loss of a parent, poverty, discrimination, or even being a Holocaust victim, was not the seminal or most important event in their lives. They each grew through the experiences that came with increasing responsibilities in their careers, or through significant career changes. Successfully overcoming the obstacles in their adult lives helped them to grow. The encouragement, guidance, and examples from mentors played a significant part in their lives.

My in depth Doctoral dissertation research into leadership and adversity has shown me that a mentor, especially a servant-leader mentor, can teach a person how to overcome the obstacles and adversities of life. Enlightened mentors or servant-leader mentors are a classic example of someone who uses transformation leadership techniques and skills in the life.

The leader I interviewed commented on the importance of being the enlightened and caring mentor can guide from their own personal experiences with adversity. They are some who has been there and has successfully overcome the difficult problem or major adversity. In some cases, mentors may teach mentees which way to go based on their experience of taking a wrong path and having learned a better way. The mentor may have experienced and overcome some other, even more horrendous, difficulty in his or her life’s journey that could inspire the mentee to higher heights.

The sixteen prominent leaders that I personally interviewed identified nine important qualities of a leader. Many of these leadership traits, including though usually associated with transformational leadership, are found in the lst from my leadership research:

1. Honesty or integrity
2. A high level of people skills
3. Initiative, assertiveness, drive, or determination
4. Excellent communication skills or willingness to speak up, take a position, or take charge
5. Vision (being forward-looking)
6. Desire or passion to lead and inspire
7. Positive attitude and self-confidence; charisma
8. Knowledge of the business and/or group task at hand; competence
9. The ability to overcome adversity or obstacles

The sixteen prominent leaders that I interviewed for my Doctoral dissertation research into leadership and adversity specifically identified an additional four important qualities that are not commonly found in the academic leadership literature.
10. Being a Servant-Leader, serving people, and especially being humble
11. Having both religious faith and strong family ties
12. Framing or recognizing the worst adversity as an opportunity
13. Having a mentor or mentors in their development as leaders (Haller, 2008, pp. 116-117)

Several of my leadership research participants acknowledged the refining nature of adversity, but it was not really a “transformational leadership traits,” but rather a comment on their experience with overcoming adversity, obstacles, abuse, discrimination, death of a parent, or in one case the Nazi Holocaust.

Leadership Attributes or Traits, and Transformational Leadership
I have found from my personal leadership experience and my doctoral research in the area of leadership foundations, that transformational leadership especially important in the “real application” of leadership. Starting back in the 1980s there was a resurgence of researchers updating the academic literature with their findings, repackaging, and comments leadership trait theory. Many of the leadership scholars focused there framing on leadership traits in the context of discussing transformational leadership.

Continue reading →

Leadership

Leadership and Adversity – Are Leaders Made Or Are Leaders Born? A Definitive Answer to the Question

The great debate for the last century has been over whether “leaders are born, or leaders are made.” There have been are biographies, books and articles, and more recently movies and television coverage about good and bad leadership. The media has provided insights into the lives of leaders, how they led, what their successes and failure were, and how some overcame obstacles or dealt with adversity. These early influences laid the foundation for the admiration of those who succeeded despite having to overcome obstacles, tragedy, or adversity. A combination of externice senior leadership experience and strong business background all led me to write this article on the topic, are Leaders Made or Born?

The leadership research specifically focused defining leadership and on the way certain events, obstacles, or adversity affected and shaped prominent leaders. This is a hermeneutic phenomenological investigation that concentrated on the lived experiences of sixteen prominent leaders, all of whom overcame adversity and grew as leaders in the process. I sought from the these sixteen leaders their deepest thoughts, true stories, and their real-life examples.

The research interview questions were designed to draw out the participants’ experiences on a range of interests. I encouraged the sixteen prominent leaders that I personally interviewed to identify the most important events in their lives. I asked them specifically to share the effects of the events, obstacle, or adversity in their youth and adult lives that shaped them. They were called upon reveal the resources within themselves that they drew upon to overcome obstacles. Finally, I questioned them as to whether their experiences with overcoming adversity in any way impacted their development, specifically their development as a leader.

This leadership research probed just how events, obstacles, or adversity shaped the sixteen prominent leaders. Ascertaining the respective participants’ mental model was an important step, but it does not alone answer the question of “what makes a leader.”

The concept of shaping leaders may be described as analogous to the refining of metals to remove impurities, a process requiring great heat and great stress on the raw material. The literature is replete with stories of individuals who have been shaped into great leaders after having been subjected to the refining fires of what I call the “crucible of adversity.”

The follow information from major leadership scholars and best selling author for the interested reader that seems to back my position and conclusion: Leaderare made, not born.

The Leaders Are Born versus Leaders Are Made Controversy Literature review summary:

Professor John W. Gardner, agreed emphatically with me that leaders are not born. In his well received book entitled “On Leadership” he totally agreed with my conclusion that Leaders are Made.

Gardner’s response to the question of whether Leaders are Born was clear, direct and totally unequivocal: “Nonsense!”

John Gardner, addressed the underlying issus of Nature versus Nurture is foundational to the question are Leaders made, or are leaders born. He was candid, direct and well documented in his arguments and eveident that Leaders are not born, but made.

The conclusion that Leaders are Made and that Leaders are Not Born is also support by two well respected academic leadership scholars, and best selling authors: University of Southern California, Marshall Graduate School of Business, Professor Dr. Warren Bennis, and Harvard University Graduate School of Business Professor (Emeritus) Dr. John Kotter. Bennis and Kotter have both agreed with me and they have both made similar comments that they believed that leaders are made not born.

Professor James Kouzes, in his peer debriefing of this leadership and adversity research findings and conclusions that when he indicted to me agreement with my finding that leaders view challenges as opportunities. Jim Kouzes offered this specific comment on my findings from my leadership research, which was part of my Doctoral dissertation on leadership.

Professor Kouzes comment below is part of his academic scholarly peer debriefing of my leadership dissertation research. He made the following comment on one of my leadership research finding on the importance of overcoming adversity, or major challenges, in the shaping and development of prominent leaders: “Challenge/adversity was and is part of every case we have gathered on personal best leadership experiences.”

In addition to Professor Kouzes review of this leadership and adversity research, this research got an academic peer debriefing from noted leadership scholar and multiple time best selling author, Harvard University, Graduate School of Business Professor Emeritus Dr. John Kotter. Professor Kotter specifically mentioned during our interview the quote by Nietzsche, that which does not kill you makes you stronger. He have found that idea has a lot of merit and that theme resounded throughout all sixteen interviews with the prominent leaders on how they overcame adversity, it’s impact on their becoming a successful leader, and what events specifically helped to made them a Leader.

Dr. Kotter commented on the findings from the leadrship research that overcoming adversity had impact of the shaping and development of prominent leaders, to which he said: “It’s a classic insight that seems to have much validity.”

He mentioned that he had written a biography on Konosuke Matsushita, the very successful Japanese Entrepreneur. While Matsushita’s name my not be well-known in the United States, everyone is certainly familiar with the product lines he has created, such as: Panasonic, JVC, Quaser, National, Technics.

Konosuke Matsushita is a real national hero in Japan. Matsushita has a heart warming life story, which is truly incredible. His story of success is really all about his dealing with major hardships and overcoming adversity. Dr. Kotter summed up his story about Konosuke Matsushita, with the comment: “His many problems didn’t drive him down. They lifted him up.” Kotter then summed up his thoughts on this aspect with the comment that he thought the importance of overcoming adversity or hardships “is very important.”

My selected comments from two of the five academic peer debriefings, by two major leadership scholars, Dr. John Kotter and Professor James Kouzes, have provided solid their party support for my information and arguments in this article.

Leaders are Made, not born!

Howard Edward Haller, Ph.D.

Chief Enlightenment Officer

The Leadership Success Institute

http://www.TheLeadershipSuccessInstitute.com

HowardEdwardHallerPhD@gmail.com

Howard Edward Haller, Ph.D., is an accomplished serial entrepreneur, successful serial intrapreneur, seasoned senior corporate executive, university professor, university board trustee, former university board president, academic scholar, an award winning published author, screenwriter (Member, WGAw), and Professional Speaker (Member of NSA) delivering Keynote Speeches and Seminars on Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Intrapreneurship, Servant-Leadership, Leadership and Adversity, and Innovation.

The sixteen prominent leaders who overcame adversity interviewed included: Dr. Tony Bonanzino, Jack Canfield, William Draper III, Mark Victor Hansen, U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch, Monzer Hourani, U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye, J. Terrence Lanni, Dr. John Malone, Angelo Mozilo, Larry Pino, Dr. Nido Qubein, U.S. Army Major General Sid Shachnow (Ret.), Dr. John Sperling, Dr. Blenda Wilson, and Zig Ziglar.

Five well respected leadership scholars reviewed Dr. Hallers research findings: Dr. Ken Blanchard, Professor James Kouzes, Dr. John Kotter, Dr. Paul Stoltz, and Dr. Meg Wheatley.

Dr. Haller is the Chief Enlightenment Officer of The Leadership Success Institute and Founder/CEO of the Entrepreneurial Success Boot Camp.

Dr. Haller is the author of two books: “Leadership and Adversity” 2008 & Intrapreneurship Secrets” 2009, both published by VDM Verlag Dr Muller AG & CoKG.

[http://www.leadershipandadversity.com]

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Dr_Howard_Edward_Haller/25413