Character sets the foundation for leadership!

1. Leadership can never be divorced from the individual. And as a leader, you cannot impart what you do not possess. This is why “the main ingredient of good leadership is character”
2. The main ingredient of good leadership is good character. This is because leadership involves conduct and conduct is determined by values.”
3. Whilst many place value in titles and positions, it’s behavior that wins people’s trust and respect. One of the foundational leadership principles is that leaders need to model the behaviors and attitudes which they expect from others.
4. The example set by leaders is most powerful when grounded in values and when leaders live their values in their own authentic manner.
5. When it comes to values they are most effectively demonstrated by your behavior, words count, but not nearly as much as your deeds.
6. Good leaders lead from the front. They take the initiative to go first. People follow a person, before they buy into a strategy and plan.
7. People need more than grand idea. They need to seen the idea lived in the flesh.

A crisis of confidence

1. Leadership is not management. Fight your way through all the nonsense and one thing comes through: power is not the issue. The issue is how those with power exercise it and what we as citizens perceive as the outcomes of the use of that power.
2. To judge those of whom we have expectations, we must understand and appreciate the difference between values and value. Values define us as individuals. They shape our actions and reactions. They drive our view of the world and the solutions we choose to deal with the problems we face.
3. Leadership is all about being granted permission by others to lead their thinking.
4. It is a bestowed moral authority that gives the right to organize and direct the efforts of others.
5. Leadership that builds confidence is built on making tough choices. It is not built on burying your head in the sand and hoping that difficult issues will just go away.

Nelson Mandela: Leadership lessons!

Courage is not the absence of fear — it’s inspiring others to move beyond it
Lead from the front — but don’t leave your base behind
Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front.
Know your enemy — and learn about his favorite sport. Mandela began studying Afrikaans, the language of the white South Africans who created apartheid. His comrades in the ANC teased him about it, but he wanted to understand the Afrikaner’s worldview; he knew that one day he would be fighting them or negotiating with them, and either way, his destiny was tied to theirs.
Keep your friends close — and your rivals even closer.
Appearances matter — and remember to smile.
Nothing is black or white. “Life is never either/or. Decisions are complex, and there are always competing factors
Quitting is leading too. “Knowing how to abandon a failed idea, task or relationship is often the most difficult kind of decision a leader has to make.

Getting Your Relationships Right!

Great leaders succeed by harnessing the power of both the external world and the internal world.

You, as a leader, are probably more trained, prepared, and experienced in the external world than you are in the inner one.

Inner world can be divided into five areas: values, thoughts, emotions, relationships and transformation.

You internalize anyone who is significant to you, past and present. As well, the people you are leading are currently internalizing you.

Develop good and healthy relational images.

An important relational ability for leaders is to see people as separate from you and from their roles with you. Your people want to work with you, or they wouldn’t be with you. But you aren’t their reason for existing. They have lives, dreams, and concerns of their own.

Relationship provides the bridge over which truth can be conveyed. In your leadership, your people will experience truth in the absence of relationship as harshness, judgment, or condemnation.

The better you can relate, the better you will be able to influence and motivate. Passion is ignited when the real self connects with the right task environment.

Create a New Life Direction

1. Make a list of all you can't stand about work/life. Make a list of all you do not want or like about your current situation and you will find on the flip side, something you DO want! Write it down.
2. Recognize that ALL change (good or bad) means loss. It is normal to be afraid to make a change because of what you stand to lose. However, the only way is forward, so you might as well accept whatever perceived loss of status, money or identity and realize that more happiness awaits.
3. Re-frame 'I can't!' to 'I can!' "I'm not good enough." "I'm too old." "I'm not qualified." NOT TRUE! Look for examples in your life, your surroundings, in the media or in books of people who have done things against the odds and use those examples as symbols of what's possible for you.
4. Understand how the past got you stuck today. Determine what your old motivation for your life was, decide if it still serves you and if not, CHANGE it. Fast!
5. Realize that discovering your 'purpose' does not have to be hard or grand. Who you are everyday and what you do naturally (whether it fits your job description or not) is your purpose. How you affect others positively is your purpose.
6. Gain a criteria for happiness. Humans feel satisfied when their needs are met and they don't have to compromise their values. Write down what you truly need (emotionally, not financially) and value. Get purposeful about getting these things in your life and new directions become clear.
7. Research ALL that interests you. List all fields, jobs, careers, or areas of interest. Choose no more than three at a time to research. Besides the internet, try to talk to people who will let you have an informational interview or give you the real scoop on the areas you are interested in
8. Tell the truth about your money life. Money is usually the first thing that stops people from pursuing what they truly want. Don't let it stop you. Get straight with your money.
9. Put Yourself in Opportunity's Way. It's time to push the envelope. Take risks, get out of your comfort zone and get out there.
10. Create a Plan and Get Support. Make a time line for how you are going to cross over into something new. It usually takes 1-3 years to fully transition into a new direction. Don't fret. Make a monthly plan and get plenty of cheerleaders around you.

Leader, are you taking enough time out to think?

A recent survey discovers that leaders do not get enough time to think.

They complain they have ‘little time to think’ and more than half struggle to find time to plan strategically…. the majority of managers claim they struggle to finish tasks, with seven out of 10 admitting they are not looking for new market opportunities or product gaps in the marketplace."

Taking time out to think is critical for effective leadership.

Free up your time, stay focused on what really matters

Every leader should routinely keep a substantial portion of his or her time—I would say as much as 50 percent—unscheduled.

Only when you have substantial ’slop’ in your schedule—unscheduled time—will you have the space to reflect on what you are doing, learn from experience, and recover from your inevitable mistakes.

The Challenge of Leadership: Challenging with Success

A list of six factors for raising the probability of success in the difficult work of Challenging the Process

1. Respect the Culture: You must be careful in how you confront and challenge accepted processes, systems, or behavioral norms. It is crucial that you understand and appreciate the environment in which you are attempting to challenge the way something is currently done. You just cannot barge in and criticize the other people for their use of a process you believe to be inefficient or archaic.
2. Understand the Process You are Challenging: Resist the urge to Challenge Processes you know nothing about. This leadership practice requires homework. You must understand a process in its current state, so you can determine the impact your changes will have. Remember that a solution to one problem often creates many new problems.
3. Build a Compelling Business Case (if you can): Part of your role as a leader is to help people go to places they have never been before. That means you will be frequently blazing new trails, with great ideas for doing things differently, which have never been fully proven.
4. Build Advocates Inside and Beyond Your Current Circle: You need to be able to build a ground swell of support for your process or procedure innovations. Having key people throughout your organization carrying your message forth is a necessity to make progress.
5. Build Credibility through Small Wins: Small wins allow you to build a track record with people, and to show that you can be counted on to deliver what you promise. Following through on promises and commitments is at the core of credibility.
6. Choose Your Battles Thoughtfully: Don't become known as a whiner or complainer. Accept the fact that you cannot Challenge every Process. You must be selective and apply your time, talent, and energy toward improvements or breakthroughs that are an investment for you.

The Challenge of Leadership

• One of the five practices of exemplary leadership described is the practice of challenge the process. The practice refers to the active search for new opportunities to grow, change and innovate and the actions of experimentation, risk taking, generating small wins and learning from mistakes.
• It is just great fun to see or read about some of the remarkable improvements and breakthroughs that people have made.
• Challenge is the practice of business growth, and growth is one of the most perplexing dilemmas facing organizations today. If they are unable to adapt, change and grow, it is impossible for organizations of any kind to produce solid results over time and literally survive.
• Challenging the way things are does not mean challenge the values or standards, just because uncompromising integrity or flawless quality is too hard to live by. Challenge the Process is about finding and implementing new and better ways of doing things in order to constantly improve and grow.
• Organizations need more leaders. They need people who will cease the ongoing complaining about how outrageous goals might be (and some indeed are beyond reason), and start rallying people to figure out what can be done to accomplish them.
• There are a couple of things you can immediately start practicing as a leader.
• First, do not allow new ideas to be immediately discounted with little or no consideration. Intervene by prompting rich and open dialogue to ensure that ideas get a fair hearing.
• Second, never allow invalid assumptions to rule the day over proven facts. Ask people to justify their beliefs about whether something new will work or why it won't. Innovation and growth require discipline and thoughtfulness.
• Finally, spend less time reviewing and reporting on results already in the bank and more time on pursuing new possibilities.

Most important Leadership Lessons!

You have to know where you are going, have the courage to take the first step to get there, and constantly hone the means by which you will reach your destination.

• Leadership is intangible. The first step is earning the trust of people you work with. Everything else follows from that.
• Taking the best of the past, and linking it to the present and desired future is the most dynamic way to build a business.
• Once you’ve identified the company’s best resources, blowing up the old and beginning anew can be the fastest way to put a troublesome past behind you.
• Closing a plant is a sad day, so treat people adversely affected as fairly as possible. Your larger obligation though, is to make the company a great place for the employees who are staying on.
  

When a message is important, never be afraid to repeat yourself. People rarely get it the first time around.

Ten Fatal Flaws That Derail Leaders

Here is a great “stop doing list” for leaders:

1. Lack energy and enthusiasm
2. Accept their own mediocre performance
3. Lack clear vision and direction
4. Have poor judgment
5. Don’t collaborate
6. Don’t walk the talk
7. Resist new ideas
8. Don’t learn from mistakes
9. Lack interpersonal skills
10. Fail to develop others

Grow With Change!

Change happens. And while we can't control much of the world changing around us, we can control how we respond. Some people call change "progress" and celebrate the improvements that it brings. Others curse those same changes and wish for the good old days. Same changes, different responses. The choice is ours: We can be leaders, or we can be followers.

To embrace change, we need to concentrate on five areas.

• Focus on vision: Our vision or imagination guides everything we do. Vision is led by a set of core values. Without a strong set of core values, passion is weak and commitment is soft. Core values provide a context for continuous growth and development that takes us toward our dreams.
• Choose your outlook: Holding on to destructive emotions is slow suicide. We must take responsibility for our actions in response to circumstances for which we are not responsible. The only thing we can control is ourselves, so when we choose our thoughts, we are choosing our future.
• Seek Authenticity: To create something we must be something. We can't help build strong teams unless we are strong team players ourselves One big difference between most people and authentic leaders, is action. Real leaders make it happen.
• Commit ourselves with discipline: A key difference between real leaders and those who struggle to get by, are self-discipline. Discipline means having the vision to see the long-term picture and keep things in balance.
• Continually grow and develop:Most people see others as they are; a leader sees them as they could be. Leaders see beyond the current problems and limitations to help others see their own possibilities. We continue to grow when we help others grow and develop.

Change is life. Successfully dealing with change means choosing to grow and develop continuously. Failing to grow is failing to live.

Workplace Leadership

To be an all round leader is very vital to make your employees listen to you. I think these few sort cuts could help you to become a workplace leader as well.

• It is s important to establish yourself as a leader, and therefore as a vital force for the company you work for.
• A leader does not dictate to his subordinates, but merely guides and assists, helping out when needed.
• Recognize the difference between a leader and a manager; a manager is in charge of tasks, not people.
• Ascertain yourself early on as a positive role model.
• You need to be able to understand everyone in your staff, offer guidance, counseling, and be able to effectively problem-solve within any situation.
• You need to be able to mold yourself into any situation.

Leadership Lessons: Amp Your Team, Rock Your Business

Businesses and rock bands share a lot of the same issues. “Both require the right mix of marquee names and supporting cast. And both can suffer more from success than they can from failure.”
You should be asking yourself these questions:

• What’s my role in this group?
• What do I bring to the group that no one else can?
• How am I contributing to (or detracting from) the success of the group?
• How much responsibility will I have in keeping the group afloat?
• Which of my teammates can I learn from, and what can I learn?
• Prepare for the downturn in the career by surrounding yourself with the smartest and most effective support team possible.
• If you’re got bigger dreams, you’ve got to understand what’s necessary to achieve them.
• The criticism isn’t the end product; improvement is. The idea with criticism is helping to improve everyone’s game so that the entire team is working at a higher level.
• Times change and tastes change with them. You’ve got to accept that fact going into any endeavor … so do everything you can to prepare for them.

Leaders, Don’t be interrupted!

Interruptions can drain productivity and you should be completely focused on what you are up to!

• Time is a leader’s most valuable resource.
• The way a leader uses their time, demonstrates to the people around them what’s really important
• Employees who are routinely interrupted and lack time to focus are more apt to feel frustrated, pressured and stressed.
• Interruptions and the requisite recovery time now consume 28 percent of a worker’s day.
• Under deadline pressure, workers produce creative work on days when they are focused, not when they are scattered and interrupted.
• As leaders it’s therefore essential for us to manage our time and our interruptions carefully.

Three MUST questions for a Leader to ask himself!

There are three questions that will bring clarity to your leadership mandate.
If we could get a quick analyzer, it’s the best thing to get a quick answer. I have a just three straight questions for you to ask yourself.

1. How Long Have I Got? This is a question not just about tenure, but the legacy you wish to leave. This will help you to determine your priorities.
2. How Grand Is My Plan? This question has to do with your ambition.
3. How Broadly Will I Lead? The question is how far into will you travel into the domains that affect your issues that stand outside your formal locus of influence

A long-term leadership strategy requires a very different approach to a short-term campaign. Leadership on a grand scale calls upon a different set of skills to a business-as-usual plan.

True Leaders: Self-created and Pragmatic!

Just thought of sharing a few significant and conspicuous traits of a TRUE LEADER!

• Good leaders are natural learners. It’s their identity that they reflect upon whatever happens in life and learn from the experiences.
• Most of the pragmatic leaders like Bill Gates, Ted Turner and Walt Disney never seem to have received any leadership education. They have been visionary leaders and it’s self-made and self created.
• It’s a great contribution to the world that they have shown us how to dream dreams and inspire and encourage others to have visions and make them come true.
• If you desire to be a leader, you require to have a basic quality that you are bold enough to have a dream and achieve it. There starts the journey!
• What makes you succeed ultimately is to have the ability to grasp from and adapt to the events and challenges in pursuit of the journey towards your dream.

Successful leaders Show courage, focus and engagement!

To be a successful leader, you must follow these basic rules. If you can do them, you are set to be 100% successful.

• Courage: Great leaders display the courage to make the decisions they feel they need to make regardless of the immediate and short-term reactions of the market, media or public. Courage is necessary to bring about the change necessary to navigate the future.
• Focus: Great leaders show an ability to narrow their concern and their attention to a nearly single-minded focus. Focus ensures that we keep our attention on what’s important for today to shape the future.
• Engagement: Great leaders are not going it alone. They put efforts to engage other leaders and employees in the future of their organization. It ensures that the change is sustainable over the long-term.

Practice these simple steps, for, they have been proved right by established leaders!

Leadership-It’s all about an affair of the Heart!

We commonly say that the management is an affair of the brain but leadership is an affair of the heart. How do the leaders digest this?

• Whenever you confront important issues, ask yourself what your gut and heart are telling you, in addition to what your head might think, before deciding on a course of action.
• Your constituents deem your leadership to be authentic when your true feelings and beliefs, spoken and written communications, and actions are in sync.
• Our important messages to our constituents about vision, strategy, or change must first invoke a positive feeling in our constituents’ guts and hearts.

Finding your unique leadership voice that consistently inspires high levels of performance by your constituents is a significant “leadership challenge. Get started by reflecting on the following thought questions.

• Do you characterize yourself as a rationale decision maker or someone who tends to go with your gut feeling?
• Am I an authentic leader? Do my constituents really know what I feel and believe from what they hear and see?
• Recall the last important message you received from your leader(s). Did you understand, agree, or even care? Did you enthusiastically take the appropriate action called for by your leader?

Successful leaders have discovered that they must first listen to their own hearts and be comfortable with who they are.

How to Lead a Team Meeting!

1. The single most important thing you can do as a leader to improve your team meetings
2. Don’t delegate the agenda planning to an admin or another team member
3. Although it’s your responsibility as a leader to plan the agenda
4. Don’t try to cram so many items into the agenda that there’s no room for discussion or spontaneity
5. Put a little variety in the format.
6. Instead of just sharing information, try actually solving a problem, making a decision, or creating something.
7. Get off your throne and lighten up.
8. Keep track of action items and make sure people do what they say they are going to do.
9. Lastly, be a role model for the kind of behavior you expect to see from others.

Ultimate Leadership: Lesson 1, Lesson 2, Lesson 3…..Lesson 5

1. Success or failure can often depend on modifying leadership styles to suit a different context.
2. You can always catch up on what you thought was essential paperwork during the evenings or on weekends, but once neglected, you will find it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to catch up on people
3. When they have to lead partners and peers who have relatively narrow specializations, leaders need a broad view.
4. Too often we view failure and adversity as the absence of success, whereas in reality they are just stations along the way that have to be passed through in order to reach your goals.
5. Motivation