Servant leadership

The Group Dynamic Primer. Chapter Zero: Rock-Bottom

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1996 I was despondent. Poor me. “My people” weren’t engaged.  They didn’t get me; they weren’t loyal, they weren’t receptive, they were leaving me, and it wasn’t my fault.  They just needed to give me more time, to get to know me… Except… My boss, Fred, said “They are fighting you.” My colleague, Jo, said … Read more

Effective Leaders Take 3 Seconds to Say…

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If the two-word definition of leadership is “Meet needs,” then you have frequent opportunities to be very explicit about that mission by taking three seconds to ask some variation of: “Is there anything I can do to help you with that?” This was referred to in a previous post as the “cherry on top” of … Read more

The Olympics of Dedication

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The Olympics have a way of shining a new light on the meaning of dedication.

The opening ceremonies were comprised of one spectacular vignette after another, with thousands of performers, musicians and athletes knowing exactly where to go and what to do during every minute of their moment in the spotlight. That’s dedication.

Every commercial that runs during the Olympic Games tells the athlete’s tale of foregoing dessert, not watching TV, not skipping a single day’s workout in order to be the best. That’s dedication.

Then there was the Chinese farmer who spent the last two years traveling to London via rickshaw just to see the Olympic games. A little extreme, but yes – that’s dedication.

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Effective leaders value clarity

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Few things are more energizing than leaving a productive meeting with your team, set ablaze with fresh ideas that will set the wheels in motion. You’re ready to go. Your team is ready to go. You’ve established MT goals and are ready to tackle the world. It’s a great feeling. Until something, somewhere, gets a … Read more

Organizing your attentiveness

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Last fall, I spent two blog posts discussing how effective leaders stay organized. At that time, I was referring to your actual to-do list, which typically won’t have the actual words “pay attention to John on Monday.” But maybe you should consider it. A colleague of mine was telling me about a car salesman who … Read more

The leadership opportunity of Caller ID…

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Sometimes, servant leadership calls for relinquishing power. Insecure leaders look for opportunities to take power, and we know this on some level. Here’s an opportunity to let others steer things. Ignore caller ID. Pretend it doesn’t exist. This means two things: 1) If you’re free to answer the phone when it rings, answer it. No … Read more

The Leadership Challenge – Happy Birthday!

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Happy Anniversary to the most important book on leadership on my shelf.  Not only is it compelling, research-based, comprehensive, elegant, immediately applicable, and timeless; it changed my life. Research ought to be relevant, right? So, when it was time  to pick a topic for my master’s thesis, it was easy.  I was a band teacher … Read more

“Where do you get that energy?!”

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Frequently, people ask me that question.  Those who ask are usually witnessing me in a professional situation; if they saw me after the alarm goes off, there’s no way they’d ask that! But it’s true- if we lead, we have an obligation to give those we serve our best, and that means maintaining optimal mental … Read more

Things successful leaders avoid saying (part 4)

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The phrase “I don’t care” is often used to give permission. It may be splitting hairs to talk about this phrase, but this blog has often been picky about the words that we use. Words are important. Three points, in order from least subtle to most subtle: Use great caution when frustrated.  I once witnessed … Read more