Category Archives: Leadership Traits

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Am I getting old?

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John StromanI remember when my father-in-law was alive.  His name was John.  But he was known to us as “Grandaddy”.  He was a great man.  He was a smart man.  Better yet, he was a wise man.

I have only recently lived anywhere close to where my own father lives.  And we have lived close to my father-in-law for many years, so I have often gone to my father-in-law with questions that a young husband or father would normally take to his own father.  John was older.  John was wiser.  — I think those two things just might go hand-in-hand.

I noticed several years ago that some younger men were starting to come to me for advice from time to time.  Some of them just wanted to bounce their ideas off of someone.  It sort of just began happening over time.  I didn’t seek it out.  It just started occurring.   This is a troubling realization!

Then it hit me.  They were

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Accessible or Aloof

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AloofReading Michael Hyatt’s blog early this morning I saw his recounting of a podcast by Andy Stanley, a well-known pastor in the Atlanta, GA metropolitan area. Andy Stanley is of the opinion that the greater or higher the level of leadership that a person reaches, the less accessible they must make themselves.

Andy Stanley is quoted as saying:

“The harsh reality of leadership is that the more successful we are, the less accessible we become. As things grow and as more people become involved, a leader can’t be equally accessible to all people. So then we are faced with the dilemma of who gets my time and who doesn’t, when do they get it, and how much of it do they get.”

l sort of equate that to the movie star who becomes famous by making movies.  And then they go on countless TV interviews to become even more famous.  And then they complain because they never have any privacy.  Does that sound familiar?

l would submit to you that the things that made a great leader great are the same things that will keep them great. And one of those things is accessibility and approach-ability.  Every person needs a certain amount of privacy and down time. And as followers we need to recognize and respect that.  But I don’t see a significant reason for someone to become markedly less accessible in order to become more effective.

Absence, or aloofness, doesn’t make the heart grow fonder. It makes the heart wander. And the opposite of accessible could be defined as aloof. And who thinks that is a leadership trait?

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Sometimes it just doesn’t make sense

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Diseased HandThe story of Naaman has an interesting leadership lesson for us today. Naaman was the commander-in-chief of the ancient Syrian army. He was a man with both position and power. By all earthly standards, Naaman was a recognized leader: he had worldly abilities, fame, respect and authority.

However, Naaman had a really big problem. He had leprosy. In that day and time, leprosy was an awful incurable disease. It required total isolation from everyone for fear of spreading the dreaded disease. And it is really hard to be a leader when you have to be isolated from everyone that you are leading.

Can you just imagine for a few minutes

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Take a Walk to the Gemba

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So that is what the process looks like?

So that is the process?

My company is making a management system change to “Value Stream Management”. VSM’s goal is to align all resources including management into a stream of production. It is not a change that will occur over night and will require patience, open communication and an attitude of staying the course with an open mind.

I was sent to a training session on Value Stream Management and one of the opening directions to those who represent leadership positions in the organization struck a chord with me. The term used was called “Gemba”, which is a Japanese term meaning “the real place” or “the place where truth can be found”. The meaning is interchanged with other terms within the lean manufacturing world, as in “go see” as catch phrases. However the direction given was this when explaining the Gemba to us in training: If someone comes up to you with a problem and you are in your office, get up out of your chair and go see the problem.

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Leadership and Ambition

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julius-casar_l“When the gods wish to take vengeance on a man for his crimes they usually grant him considerable success and a period of impunity, so that when his fortune is reversed he will feel it all the more bitterly.”

Julius Caesar

Ambition is among the strongest and most creative forces in the arsenal of human psychology and frequently the reason that things get done. It also is one of the most dangerous – that drive to grab the biggest slice of the pie before anyone else and sometimes even the entire pie. Julius Caesar (101-44 BC) had plenty of ambition. Early in his career he happened upon a bust of Alexander the Great. Comparing himself to the great king, Caesar lamented that he was the same age as Alexander had been when he died but that by age thirty-two Alexander had conquered a world and so far he had done practically nothing. Vowing that would change, Caesar entered the Roman political arena and the rest is history.

Is ambition required for leadership?

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Is Leadership Static or Dynamic?

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Static vs DynamicI have been asked recently if my approach to selling or leading a sales team has changed due to my recent change in jobs and the new “products” that I am representing. As I thought about the question, I tried to apply it to LeadershipVoices and the following paragraphs are what my feeble mind has produced.

Based on what my collegiate creative writing professor claimed, a static person or character in a story or piece of literature is someone who never changes.  They stay the same. As I consider and compare that to leadership, I wonder if that is a good trait for a leader to have.

When I think of static, I think of

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Listening – A Secret to Leadership Growth

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Talking into a Large EarOne of the top ways that a leader can grow is by listening.

Think of this as a follow up to my article that looked at whether leadership is a quiet or loud activity.

It is somewhat counter-intuitive. Leadership feels like it should be a speaking activity. But it advances well when it exercises a listening posture. That reality can be hard to accept. It feels like it ought to be the other way around. But then again, leading by “feelings” is rarely a good idea. A leadership position often makes us think that we should be doing most of the talking. Not true. Leadership positions make us think

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Passenger Van

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Passenger Van SeatsConsider for a moment that we are all on a journey and we are travelling in a van.  There is seat for everyone.  With this in mind, think about what seat you would choose to sit in if you could choose any seat that you wanted?  Would it be the driver’s seat,  the passenger’s seat, the middle seats, or the back seats?

The passenger’s seat would allow you to co-pilot the van, hold the map, and give guidance in reaching predetermined destinations.

The middle seats allow you to be surrounded by people so you can be the life of the party.  You have many opportunities to socialize with everyone.

The back seat allows you to be secluded to an extent.  No one is behind you and you can take it easy.  There is more time for observing and thinking while seated in the back.

The driver’s seat is

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Are you a Visionary?

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Eyeglasses Proverbs 29_18Looking to the start of 2013 I find myself reflecting on a passage that you hear occasionally at this time of year.  Here is that often misquoted or misused scripture – “Where there is no vision, the people perish”.  It is found in the Old Testament in Proverbs 29:18.  It is used many times from the pulpit to exhort us to catch the vision that the pastor has seen and to press us onward to the destination seen in the vision.

But I submit to you that there is a BIG difference between being a visionary and being a leader.

A visionary is

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Why would someone want to be a leader?

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Why be a leaderIt’s a question I find myself asking every now and then. Being a leader always comes with it added responsibility in some form or another. It brings added responsibility because everyone already has things they are responsible for in their life. Whether it is their rent or mortgage, grocery bills, school homework, parenthood responsibilities, job responsibilities, you name it. We all have them in some mix. But when a person is a leader, added responsibilities come along with it. With that comes added pressures, added stress, more hours most likely needed in order to get things done. So why would someone want to be a leader?

Is it a need to be important? Is it a need to be needed? Is it a need to be loved or desired? Is it a need to make a difference?  Is it a need to have a reason for one’s own existence in the world?

Looking back in my life, I’ve seen myself placed in various roles of leadership. Most of those times I didn’t want to be in the leadership role but I knew that if I didn’t do something then something I believed needed to be done would not be done. I think that’s probably one of the strongest reasons a person takes on a leadership role. A person’s own beliefs and convictions cause them to see the importance of acting on them when they believe the time to do so is at hand.

I don’t need to tell anyone who has held a leadership position of any kind about those added pressures.  And that those pressures can get to those who find themselves with the leadership role from time to time. After all, we are all only human. We all have our weaknesses. But not all of us allow those weaknesses to be an excuse for not leading. When the pressure of leadership causes a person to lose control of their emotions, and get angry or upset, it can derail whatever the person is attempting to do. When this topic came to me, I checked out Kevin’s favorite book, Donald Phillip’s “Lincoln on Leadership”, in it I found this:

“The plain fact of the matter is that, for any person to successfully lead others, he or she must deal with the reality and be ready to accept the fact that leadership at times can bring out the worst in us. And understanding, as well as coming to grips with the darker side of your personality, is key to dealing with real-life situations.”

I think as human beings that are meant to interact with others, leaders must accomplish the puzzling task of managing their darker side. The book said whenever Lincoln found himself getting angry or upset at someone, he would write that person a very scolding letter outlining the nerve the other person had in doing whatever it was that upset him. He would lay out everything that was on his mind about that person at the moment within the letter. When he finished the letter, he proceeded to place it in an envelope for mailing. After he sealed the letter, he wrote on the back “Not sent”. He felt better for having released his negative feelings, but probably realized that chewing a person out would not serve any real purpose.

While doing some surfing on the internet, looking for content about this subject, I stumbled on this and it felt like it was pertinent, “Paradoxical Commandments of Leadership” written by Kent M. Keith back in 1968 (The Silent Revolution: Dynamic Leadership in the Student Council) for high school student leaders.

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.

Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.

Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.

Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.

Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.

Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.

Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.

Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.

Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.

Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.

Give the world the best you have anyway.

The world is full of violence, injustice, starvation, disease, and environmental destruction.

Have faith anyway.

 

Do you know of anyone who you would consider to be a good or even great leader? Why do you believe they are?

If you see yourself wanting to be a leader, what has been your desire for leadership?