Leadership and 5 Secrets of Legacy
November 5, 2009 by Scott Hammond
Filed under Relationship Development, Speaking
Leadership means many things to many people…I think it means being proactive… being the first:
- Taking the initiative
- Setting the standard
- Managing
- Planning
- Resourcing
- Identifying vision, goals and priorities
- A good leader takes responsibility and says” the buck stops here”.
- Leaders show the way and model by example what they’re trying to accomplish.
- Leaders press on and press in, and they run counter to the culture of convenience… they refuse to get stuck in the “bright and shiny objects”, diversions, and side eddies of our culture.
- Leaders strain and strive with intentionality and energy to build relationships and create a legacy and heritage and their families…. I do much of this is simply by taking the initiative, being intentional and planning by writing and accomplishing compelling goals that are relationship based…
Leaving a Legacy of Leadership
Who does not want to leave a positive legacy!
We want to leave a heritage to my family, friends, church and community at large.
Think about your personal leadership, through which you leave us a legacy to those behind you. See life as a chance to identify your purpose, position, passion, and posture.
What shapes you? Intentions? Motives? Opinions? Thoughts? Responses? What shapes your words, attitudes, deeds, reactions, and more?
So what is leadership, do you have it?
How do you get it?
What are you leaving behind now?
What do you want to leave behind?
What will change in order for you to do the above?
How do you get there from here?
To impress or to influence…
would you rather impress someone or truly have an influence in their life? Impressions are on the surface, therefore, are often superficial.
Influence on the other hand, is often real, honest, and requires far more ability.
Influence necessitates communication with people and the cessation of self absorption.
Your life’s lessons…
Many of our life’s lessons are made up from our experiences, relationships, and mistakes. Have you been honest with your fears, failures, frustrations, and feelings?
The above serve to shape your life’s message. That life’s message consists of a spiritual component, your life’s lessons, your life’s passions, and indeed, your life’s mission. Most of what we call failure can be transformed to tangible lessons we can share with those we have relationships with; pain transformed to purpose and passion.
Every leader has 5 components that define him or her.
1. Let’s talk about your POSITION…
Are you in a position to be credible, vulnerable, real, and genuine?
Are you believable, touchable, straight up, humane, and do you have integrity?
2. Every leader must have his PURPOSE.
People are the priority.
Are you able to connect with people are you a relationship builder?
Do you serve and meet needs?
Do you truly love other people?
Can you allow love to define your purpose and thereby your leadership legacy?
3. The third element of leadership is your POSTURE.
Do you live in a posture of being open, teachable, and always learning? Are you able to lose preconceived notions ideas and attitudes? You walk in the Spirit and live in the art of possibility in your day-to-day living?
4. One last element is your PASSION.
Passions define leadership.
What are you passionate about? Are you a spokesperson for your passions? What causes, groups of people, or issues do you champion?
5. Your Mission in life.
Do you want to leave a legacy of love for those around you?
Then have quality relationships with people. Be an example to follow. Serve others.
Leaving a legacy of leadership also means the facing and overcoming of adversity. How you deal with adversity defines you. Are you bitter, or better?
You will need faith to face your challenges. Then you can come through, as someone who can truly serve others and help them in their time of need.
A LEADER–
- A leader knows where she is going, why she is going, and how to get there
- A leader knows no discouragement, presents no alibi
- A leader knows how to lead without being dictatorial; true leaders are humble
- A leader leads for the good of the most concerned, and not for personal gratification of his or her own ideas
- A leader looks for the best in those he or she serves
- A leader marches with a group, and interprets correctly the signs of the pathway that leads to success
- A leader has his or her head in the clouds, but his or her feet on the ground
- A true leader considers leadership as an opportunity for service
- A leader is one who has not sought the high places, but who’s been drafted into service because of his or her ability and willingness to serve
- A leader listens, communicates, and cares
- A leader has courageous conversations
- A leader manages time, money, resources and is a good steward
- A leader washes dishes, cleans the bathrooms, and does what’s needed
- A leader does not look for, nor require, kudos
In conclusion, we all need to–
Find our voice and use it toward our life’s passions, purpose, posture, and position to leave a legacy of leadership. Find your voice and your gifts, and use your voice and your gifts. Lastly, help others find their voice and their gifts, so they too may leave a lasting legacy of leadership and a heritage of love.
10 Principles of Leadership
June 23, 2008 by Scott Hammond
Filed under Fathering, Relationship Development, Sales
|
Ten Principles of Leadership
By Tod C. Novak |
|||||||||||
|
Colin Powell on Leadership part #2.
March 5, 2008 by Scott Hammond
Filed under Relationship Development, Sales, Scott Hammond
Lesson 10…” Never let your ego get so close to your position that when your position goes, your ego goes with it.”
Too often, change is stifled by people who cling to familiar turfs and job descriptions. Effective leaders create a climate where people’s worth is determined by their willingness to learn new skills and grab new responsibilities, thus perpetually reinventing their jobs. The most important question in performance evaluation becomes not,” How well did you perform your job since the last time we met”? but,” How much did you change it?”
Lesson 11…” Fit no stereotypes. Don’t chase the latest management fads. The situation dictates which approach best accomplishes the team’s mission.”
Floating from fad to fad creates team confusion, reduces the leader’s credibility, and drains organizational coffers. Blindly following a particular fad generates rigidity in thought and action. Sometimes speed to market is more important than total quality. Colin Powell indicates that some situations require the leader to hover closely; others require long, loose leashes. Leaders honor their core values but they are flexible in how they execute them. They understand that management techniques are not magic mantras, but are simply tools to be reached for at the right times.
Lesson 12…” Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.”
The ripple effect of a leader’s enthusiasm and optimism is awesome. So is the impact of cynicism and pessimism. Leaders who whine and blame engender those same behaviors among their colleagues. Spare me the grim litany of the” realist”; give me the unrealistic aspirations of the optimist any day.
Lesson 13…” Powell’s Rules For Picking People…”-Look for intelligence and judgment and, most critically, a capacity to anticipate, to see around corners. Also look for loyalty, integrity, a high-energy drive, a balanced ego, and the drive to get things done.
How often do a recruitment and hiring processes tap into these attributes? More often than not, we ignore them in favor of length of resume, degrees, prior experience, and job titles. A string of job descriptions a potential hire held yesterday seem to be more important than what the job might require today. Good leader stack the deck in their favor right in the recruitment phase.
Lesson 14…” Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, one who can cut through an argument, debate and doubt to offer a solution everyone can understand.”
Effective leaders understand the KISS principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid). Their visions and priorities are lean and compelling, not cluttered or buzzword-laden, their decisions are crisp and clear, not tentative and ambiguous. The result is a clarity of purpose, credibility of leadership and integrity in organization.
Lesson 15… “Once the information is in this 40 to 70 range, go with your gut.”
Powell’s advice is don’t take action if you have only enough information to give you less than a 40% chance of being right, but don’t wait to have enough facts to be 100% sure, because by then it’s always too late. Today, excessive delays result in analysis paralysis. Procrastination in the name of a risk reduction actually increases risk.
Lesson 16…” the commander in the field is always right and the rear echelon is wrong, unless proved otherwise.”
Too often the reverse defines corporate culture.
Lesson 17…” Have fun in your command. Don’t always run at a breakneck pace. Take leave. When you’ve earned it, spend time with your families.”
Surround yourself with people who take their work seriously, but not themselves, those who play hard and work hard. Seek people who have some balance in their lives, who are fun to hang out with, who like to laugh and have some non-job and priorities, which they approach with the same passion that they do their work.
Lesson 18…” Command is lonely.”
Harry Truman was right. The buck stops here. You can encourage participative management, and bottom-up employee involvement, but ultimately, the essence of leadership is the willingness to make the tough, unambiguous choices that will have an impact on the fate of the organization. I’ve seen too many leaders flinch from this responsibility. Even as you create an informal, open, collaborative corporate culture, prepare to be lonely.