Category Archives: Influence

Posts about the role of inflence in the leadership process and continuum of skills and abilities.

Posted on

Elected Leaders vs. Influential Leaders

by

Elected vs Influential - 1Here is challenge that you may have to face at some point in your leadership career. You will encounter two types of leaders. Elected leaders and Influential leaders.

Have you ever considered these two types? If not, consider them now.

Elected leaders are the ones that we may be familiar with the most. It is reasonably clear how they became leaders. Someone recognized leadership ability within them. The organization then went on and nominated or appointed them to a position of responsibility and leadership. That is fairly clear cut. Ability was recognized and a position was attained. This is generally a good model and it produces good results.

Elected vs Influential - 2Now consider the second type – the Influential leader. This person generally does not have real leadership skills. Yet they have a position of leadership in spite of it. They generally attain the position through shear force of personality.  That may be just a euphemism for being a bully. But that is not always the case. Sometimes it is because they possess a specialized skill.  Sometimes they attain it through longevity within the organization. Sometime they attain the role of leader through fame, notoriety, family or financial position. These are the leaders that are difficult to work with or work for.

Click here to read the rest of the article »

Posted on

Leadership – A Virtue?

by

Leadership - a VirtueLeadership. What is it and how do we obtain it?

I have been reading with a keen interest the articles of different writers to this blog. LeadershipVoices, I believe is a powerful platform for those in search of sound Godly wisdom concerning a dying virtue — Leadership.

I have to be perfectly honest here and admit I have plenty of room for growth in this, one of the greatest virtues. I state it as “one greatest of virtues” because as leaders we not only influence those in our respectful circle of life, but we leave behind a legacy that is sure to influence generations yet to come.

Consider if you will

Click here to read the rest of the article »

Posted on

I feel the need to lead, but Im not sure I have earned it.

by

leadership-horizon-23For those of you who don’t know, I have started a new job in the last 6 months or so. It has been a great opportunity for my family and for me. Although it has been a struggle for me at times because it is a completely new industry.

I feel as though my boss has asked me to do more than just sales. I think he is looking for a fresh set of eyes and ideas from someone who is new to the company but not new to business. So as I undergo the task of not only learning our services and how we deliver them to our customers, I am also learning our internal process of work flows.

I am finding that there are a few people in key positions that struggle with maintaining the correct work flow. This doesn’t hamper our ability to deliver our services to our customers but it does make for inconsistent record keeping and accounting.

So when I discover an error, I get a lot of “it’s not my job” and “he or she did this or that”. I feel a lot like the quote in the picture above. I have been entrusted with much, so much is expected.

Why doesn’t anyone else feel the same way?

At what point is it acceptable for me to

Click here to read the rest of the article »

Posted on

Careful! You might get what you ask for.

by

Escalator Going UpIt has been quite interesting watching the employees within organizations strive for what they feel, is a well deserved advancement within the company. I can think of at least five different situations where a great salesperson was intent upon becoming management – only to later discover that the advancement was confining and not in harmony with his skill sets or need to be publicly rewarded. An advancement in the hierarchy of the corporation does not always lead to an advancement in our level of job fulfillment, quality of life or even earnings.

It seems natural and logical in many ways to assume that corporate job growth is vertical. But in real life, our relational landscape is

Click here to read the rest of the article »

Posted on

Leaders, Who needs ’em?

by

three-stooges-pointing

Why do I need a leader? They just get in the way, I don’t need anyone telling me what to do, or leading me. I am the master of my own universe; I decide what I do, when I do and how I do it. If I want someone else’s opinion I will ask for it.

I spent 18 years trying to get away from my parents leadership, now I got cops, politicians, God and a boss setting rules, who needs another one. I follow my own rules, I follow my own path, I don’t need you.

I’ve read stories about great leaders like General Custer who LEAD his troops to a slaughter, and I have read in the Bible where it says in Luke chapter 22, verse 26: “…Let the greatest among you become the youngest and the leader as the one who serves, “ and didn’t Lot let his wife get turned into a pillar of salt? As I look around the world, it is full of

Click here to read the rest of the article »

Posted on

Is leading a spiritual duty?

by

DSC_0304A definition of duty:

An act or a course of action that is required of one by position, social custom, law, or religion:
a. Moral obligation: acting out of duty.
b. The compulsion felt to meet such obligation.

I ask this because I feel as though as Christians, if we are called, we have the duty to answer that call. So I ask you this; If we have the ability to lead, are we morally bound to do so? Men, fathers, I don’t necessarily mean at home. Managers, I don’t necessarily mean at work. I am talking about spiritually and physically in our social or secular groups.

Maybe a better question is; Do leaders have to want to lead? Leadership, real true leadership, is hard. It is time consuming. Why would anyone want to do it? I firmly believe that true leaders are made not born. So why or at what point did these leaders make the decision to act like leaders? In other words, when did Gen. Patton, Abraham Lincoln or Tom Brady have some sort of an epiphany?

Once in a while I will spend time outside in my garage allowing my girls to play outside. And I have noticed that my youngest has become the leader of her peer group. She doesn’t realize it, but her friends always want to do what she is doing and they follow her around like the Pied Piper. Is this when we discover that people will follow us? Is this where the beginnings of leadership qualities take hold in our psyche?

I think that discovery of leadership talents within you may be the hardest part of leadership. Accepting your role as a leader is comparable to accepting God’s Grace. Receiving it, is the most difficult. I feel as though personally deciding you are a leader may be a little conceited. If that is the case then how do we discover any real leaders?

Finding my “calling” is a constant struggle for me. I have trouble listening for God to offer me clues or watching for his opportunities to be called. Additionally, I heard someone say once that a Christian should be prepared to “Preach, pray or die at a moment’s notice”. Should a Leader be prepared to incite, supervise or relinquish their leadership at a moment’s notice?

Lastly, I think it is our duty to develop new and additional leaders. The way my old CO told his NCOs to do this was to observe your team and discover who your new leaders will be. Then communicate with them about expectations, encourage them to lead, and empower them with responsibility. And they will become the leaders that you thought they could become.

Posted on

Leadership Ethos

by

ethosEthos is a Greek word meaning “character” that is used to describe the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, nation, or ideology.  Ethos forms the root of ethikos, meaning “moral, showing moral character”. Late Latin borrowed it as ethicus, the feminine of which is the origin of the modern English word ethics. Strong morals however, without a strong “Ethos”, will only create a pseudo leader in the eyes of subordinates, due to one’s inability to turn a decision into action, especially during a crisis situation, when there is no play book to follow, and the ability to seize the moment is a must. It is my belief that leadership strategists, to a degree, have ignored the cultivation of a leadership ethos, and have instead created moral compartmentalization, behaviors that focus on self preservation and careerism, which inevitably erodes the important foundation of trust between would-be leaders and their rank and file. In my opinion, this does nothing to encourage the “follow me” leadership attitude needed to move ahead in today’s challenging times.

Aristotle described “ethos” as a type of leadership in which a leader influences others to change their values, and thus their performance. A leadership ethos is not about what a person says or promises. It is about one’s presence, behavior, beliefs, and core leadership principles that affect how others will follow. A leadership ethos creates a personal “aura” that is attractive and one that others will turn to in time of need.

So what is a leadership ethos?

A leadership ethos is based upon principles rather than values. Principles are foundational and timeless, whereas values are usually derived from accepted norms whose underlying bases rely on contemporary wisdom of ideas of the day. Values tend to fluctuate with trends and conventional wisdom. Principles however, transcend time, feelings, and individual desires, and involve fundamental truths as the basis for reasoning or action.

In his book, “Leadership Secrets of the Rogue Warrior”, Richard Marcinko (founder of SEAL Team Six) created his own leadership ethos which contained seven basic principles that include: 

  1. I will test my theories on myself first. I will be my own guinea pig
  2. I will be totally committed to what I believe, and I will risk all that I have for these beliefs
  3. I will back my subordinates all the way when they take reasonable risks to help me achieve my goals
  4. I will not punish my people for making mistakes. I will only punish them for not learning from their mistakes.
  5. I will not be afraid to take action, because I know that almost any action is better than inaction. And I know that sometimes not acting is the boldest action of all
  6. I will always make it crystal clear where I stand and what I believe
  7. I will always be easy to find: I will be at the center of the battle

 

I leave you with one final thought on character. I once heard it defined as this:  Your character is defined as how you act, and what you do, when nobody is watching, or how you treat people when you have no reason to treat them well. 

I think to be a good leader, you have to be willing to be a good follower.  One of the men I am following is Richard Marcinko.  And that is a bit of my leadership ethos.