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I am guilty of at least 5 things.

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I am guilty of 5 things - 1Confession is good for the soul, right? If that is true, then here is a confessional moment. I have made many mistakes in the many leadership roles that I have had over the years. Fortunately, I didn’t make all of these at the same time!  And some of them, I still make from time to time.  However, leadership is as much of a journey as it is a destination.  So, I continue on.

Nevertheless, here are a few mistakes that I have learned from. Maybe you will learn from them also.

  1. I have often allowed poor performance from staff when I know they are capable of better performance or more output. So, I ask myself now – Am I  convinced that they are lead-able?

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They Need You

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FF - 20130705 - 1Every man that I know who is a father wants to be a great father. He wants to be a terrific role model whom his children respect and admire.He wants to succeed at what his gut and instinct tells him that it is a tough job.

And the research in this area is very clear: Your children are calling out to you, begging for your attention. The problem is that the call is often disguised as misbehavior or the inability to listen to you or obey you when you speak to them.  The statistics depict the following narrative: When children do not have involved fathers, they do not do as well in school, they are more likely to turn to drugs or alcohol, and be involved with premarital pregnancy. They are more likely to grow to be adults who live in poverty, and they are more likely to turn to crime. And they are almost certain to repeat the cycle with their own children some day.

On the other hand,

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The Founding “Leaders”

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Today we celebrate the 237th anniversary of our declaration of independence.  Today we honor the founding “fathers” of our nation.  I feel like calling them the founding “leaders” today.  I think that sounds appropriate, don’t you?

Declaration of Independence - 1

So, join with me and say “Thank you!” to men like John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington.

These are the kinds of leaders that we are looking for today.  Do you think there are any more Adams, or Franklins, or Hamiltons, or Jays, or Jeffersons, or Madisons, or Washingtons to be found today?

These men were men just like you and me.  They were business men, soldiers, farmers, and artisans before they were founding fathers.  But something deep inside them longed for freedom and liberty and they decided that it was worth giving up everything that they possessed in order to obtain freedom and liberty for them and their posterity.  For most of them it cost them everything to lead this nation in its infancy.

Something to think about today.

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and the rest of your friends at LeadershipVoices.

 

John Trumbull [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

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Leading a Team of Leaders

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Leading a Team of Leaders - 1Is one of our jobs as leaders to develop other leaders? I think it may be our most important job. As I strive to be a leader, I often try to use qualities I see in people I consider leaders to complete my objective. As parents are we grooming our children to be good parents? Are we properly grooming our team mates to be leaders someday? I once asked a friend of mine, who is a teacher, how he managed to deal with 20 to 24 high school age kids every day. His response is something that has stuck with me for years, he said “He understands he is nurturing a flower he may never see bloom.” As leaders should that be our mantra? Are we preparing our teams for future leadership?

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Elected Leaders vs. Influential Leaders – Part 2

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Elected vs Influential - Part 2 - 1I promised a follow-up to my article last week. I was hoping for a little more input from you as fellow leaders before I provided this follow-up piece. But, this issue is once again very relevant to me and some folks that I know.

Many years ago (late 80s and early 90s) I experienced the phenomena of having to deal with “leaders” who were not the elected leaders of an organization. I call them “de facto” leaders. Although they were not elected or officially recognized, they were in fact significant leaders in their own right. And they actually wielded significant power.

The problem was that I didn’t know how to handle or really even recognize this kind of leadership. It was leadership based solely on the individual’s strong personality and influence on the rest of the organization. (Do you recall how John Maxwell defines “Leadership”?) And although he didn’t represent a majority, he represented enough and they were “verbal” enough such that they had to be reckoned with.

So, what did I do with a guy who was content to be the voice of the contrary instead of the voice of the constructive?

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Dan Zevin and Fatherhood Friday

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FF - 20130628 -1

Lately all my friends are worried that are turning into their fathers. I’m worried I’m not.

Dan Zevin

For those of you unfamiliar with Dan Zevin, he is a comedian, commentator and author.  His latest project is Star Vehicle, a YouTube talk show he hosts inside his minivan.  I don’t even know what to say about that last little factoid.

But this I do know.  Who we are has a great deal to do with who we have seen and who has influenced our lives.  Scientists and doctors keep lowering the age at which they can determine real and measurable impact on a child based upon its environment.  This is a sobering thought.  As fathers we sometimes think that our children are unaware of what we, the grownups, say and do.  We sometimes treat our children as though they are deaf and blind until they start school. But we have already imprinted a great deal upon their hearts and minds about what it is to be a man and a father.

So, let’s go back to Zevin’s quote.  And here is the point for Fatherhood Friday.  He clearly had a different imprint on his heart and mind about what being a father is really about.  His friends apparently didn’t like what they saw in their father.  Zevin obviously did.

What about you?  What did you see growing up?  And now, what are your children seeing?

 

Photo credit: Sunfrog1 / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

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Leadership and Values

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Great Man LeaderThere is a theory of leadership known as the “great man” theory. It states that great leaders are simply more “heroic” than others. And further, their innate qualities, skills or abilities enable them to shape their world. But this theory is too simplistic and it ignored the evidence that sometimes leaders are developed in the crucible of crisis. This second situation has its own set of statements supporting that theory of leadership.

But, for purposes of today’s thoughts, I want to focus on the “heroic” nature of leadership. I choose to use a word like “heroic” because it connotes a certain values based approach to leadership. Far too often folks discuss leadership in a “value vacuum”. In my view this is not only incorrect, it is ultimately very harmful to the organization that has leaders who act outside of values and ethics.

Values are an integral part of good leadership. To be a true leader, you must

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Being a Leader and Keeping Your Team Focused

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Distraction Girl 1With how the world is today, there are a lot of distractions that can prevent people from performing at their best on a Team. Whether it’s stress on the task itself, or worries about home life, or simply being distracted by other things that you do on your own time, any lack of focus can be detrimental. As a leader, you need to rely on your leadership skills to bring everyone’s focus back on the task at hand and ensure that everyone is doing their best.

One of the great traits of a leader is the ability to keep their team focused on the mission, while still allowing everyone to excel and be successful at the same time. The ability to ask for input along the way, without anyone getting side tracked. Encouraging teammates to come up with new ideas, as long as they do not deviate from doing anything else that they become disruptive or counter-productive to the task is one of the most important leadership skills you can have.

It’s very easy to find your team in a scattered state of affairs, either physically or mentally. And it’s equally as easy to

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Shake it. Don’t Break it.

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You wouldn’t think this sort of article would be necessary, would you?  Unfortunately, it is.  It seems that men shaking hands is a bit of a lost art.

Consider the handshake.  Historical customs indicate that the handshake is commonly done upon meeting, greeting, parting, offering congratulations, expressing gratitude, or completing an agreement. In sports or other competitive activities, it is also done as a sign of good sportsmanship. Its purpose is to convey trust, balance, and equality.

So, let’s start with the basics.

Handshake 1This is a handshake.

Handshake 2This is not.

Handshake 3Neither is this.

Handshake 5I don’t even know what this is!

The importance of a good, strong, firm handshake cannot be overstated. When you shake hands with a man you figure out pretty quickly what kind of man you’re dealing with. If you are dealing with a confident man, a serious man, and a man not to be “trifled” with you will receive a solid, firm and strong handshake and you will receive direct eye-contact. If you experience something other than that, you may have doubts about the person you are greeting.

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