Archive for September, 2007
Leadership and Fun
Leadership Questions?
When was the last time you had fun?
The New Leader first and foremost is a person - a real person with real emotions. Like every human being, their ultimate goal in life is to be happy. Seizing the moment and injecting fun and creativity in the workplace are core strategies of the New Leader.
When was the last time you laughed at yourself? Do you take yourself too seriously?
The New Leader shows a humility and honesty that removes the obstacles between himself and the team. The ability to highlight and acknowledge your errors is also a great way to build rapport with both internal and external customers.
Real people are energetically attracted to real people - so get real this weekend and have fun!
BTW feeling stressed …….try out this exercise over the weekend. Take out your watch and laugh stupidly at it for thirty seconds or more if you so desire. As the mind doesn’t know the difference between real and imagined laughter, it processes it as the former, and releases the pleasure chemical endorphins into your system - yes the feel good drug. Your stress levels drop. A fantastic exercise if you are struck in traffic….if you are worried about the people in the other cars watching you, maybe, just maybe you are taking yourself too seriously!!
New Leadership Language:
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
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New Leadership role beckons
At 2.22 am September 19, Deirdre and I welcomed our first child Conor into the world.
What an incredible experience that words wouldn’t do justice to.
As a parent no doubt I will learn even more about successful leadership skills.
I look forward to the journey.
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Leadership profile from Iacocca
The Nine C’s of Leadership by Lee Iacocca, as highlighted in his new book “Where have all the Leaders gone?” complete with KK comment on each.
1. A leader has to show curiosity. “Willingness to learn is the quality of a champion.”
2. A leader has to be creative- be willing to try something different, think outside the box. “To stay ahead, Leaders need to be creative to operate successfully in the everchanging business environment. Additionally, Leaders need to be creative when they find that the existing mindset isn’t solving the daily challenges.
3. Communicate – with everybody even when it may be painful.“Transparency and Trust are the building blocks of any great organization.”
4. Character - knowing the difference between right and wrong and having the guts to do the right thing.
“Always remember, the world works perfectly. I believe what you give out you get back. The right way is doing the right thing.”
5. Courage. Courage is a commitment to sit down at a negotiating table and talk. “To truly tap into your personal and organizational potential you need the courage to face your “illusionary” fears, floor them and move to the next level.”
6. To be leader you’ve got to have conviction - a fire in your belly. You’ve got to have passion.
“Passion, enthusiasm injects your audience; both internal and external customers with excitement and positivity about your project.
7. Charisma. Charisma is the quality that makes people want to follow you. It’s the ability to inspire.
“An ability to influence even beyond words. An energy that moves people.”
8. A leader has to be Competent. You’ve got to know what you’re doing. More importantly, you’ve got to surround yourself with people who know what they’re doing.
“Competent as a leader and competent as developing leaders at all levels of the
organization – that is the challenge of the modern leader.”
9. Common-sense.
“Common sense is not so common in life today so beware!”
“And finally one I believe that sets the bar for all Leaders in the twenty first century - Congruence.”
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The Giving Leader/ Entrepreneur
According to Arthur Brooks, researcher and associate professor at
In the Wall Street Journal in 2005, Brooks claimed that people who donate to charities are 40 percent more likely to say they are “very happy” than are non-donors.
In my own life my biggest contract was secured after committing to building a secondary school in Nairobi. I for one believe unconditionally that when you give out, you get back in some aspect of your life. It could be happiness, meaning, money….whatever.
Imagine adopting a “giving mentality” within the workplace towards your employees or your customers?
Would you be rewarded with increases in productivity?
Would your sales increase?
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Leadership Insanity
I had the honour of attending an Eckhart Tolle seminar at the weekend.
At it, Eckhart spoke of the the importance of not underestimating the insanity of this world, but added that levels of sanity are on the up!
Of course, Leader insanity can manifest in many ways:
Delegation Challenge?
Failing to delegate a task to someone who would be better equipped to execute the task.
Recruitment Policy?
Recruiting someone that isn’t as talented as one of the other interviewees but more importantly isn’t as challenging either.
Customer Service Excellence?
Paying lip service to the concept of empowerment - for example how many customer service people still haven’t got the authority to solve complaints on the spot?
Leadership Amnesia?
Forgot to include the employees dreams and goals into the company strategy at some level.
The list is endless - how insane are you?
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