Today is part two of my notes from the book The Leadership Challenge. As you can see, my notes are syncing up with the book. Meaning, this is the second post and we are on part two in the book.
Part Two – Model the Way
Chapter
Three – Find You Voice
To
become a credible leader, first you have to comprehend fully the
values, beliefs, and assumptions that drive you.
We
admire most those who believe strongly in something, and who are
willing to stand up your their beliefs.
To
earn and sustain personal credibility, you must be able to clearly
articulate your deeply held beliefs.
Credibility
building is a process that takes time, hard work, devotion, and
patience.
When
sailing through the turbulent seas of change and uncertainty the crew
needs a vision of what lies beyond the horizon, and they also must
understand the standards by which performance will be judged.
Values
are empowering. We are much more in control of our own lives when
we're clear about our personal values.
Personal
values are the route to loyalty and commitment.
People
want to be part of something larger than themselves.
Leaders
must pay as much attention to personal values as they do to
organizational values if they want dedicated constituents.
Deep
within us all there is something we hold dear, and if it's ever
violated we'll weep and wail.
To
find your voice, you have to explore your inner territory.
If
you don't care, how can you expect others to do so?
Make
a statement with your life that's consistent with your heart, that
gives voice to what you really feel is important.
People
try to model their behavior after those they admire and respect.
People
burn out less from a lack of energy than from a lack of purpose.
Leadership
is a means of personal expression.
Words
matter. They are as much a form of expression for leaders as they are
for poets, singers, and writers.
You
have a responsibility to your constituents to express yourself in a
singular manner.
Every
artist knows that finding a voice is most definitely not a matter of
technique. It's a matter of time and a matter of searching.
Read
biographies and autobiographies about famous leaders … We do all
this to learn the fundamentals … It's useful to read, observe, and
imitate the practices of leaders you admire.
For
aspiring leaders, this awakening initiates a period of intense
exploration, a period testing, a period of invention.
You
have to continuously ask yourself, How valuable am I?
You
become the author of your own experience.
He
had the courage of his convictions … this is how he wants to be
remembered.
The
ability to consistently deliver the message and act on it requires a
high level of skill.
Acquiring
competence is all about being genuine.
The
ABCs of human action (are) Assumptions/values cause us to select
certain Behaviors, and those behaviors have Consequences.
Ask
your peers, managers, direct reports, spouse, friends, customers, and
other constituents to give you feedback.
You
must get (and accept) honest, straightforward feedback, or you have
no objective measure of yourself.
Some
people do yoga and meditate, other people go run out in the woods or
dance or pray or keep a journal.
There's
absolutely no way we can get to know ourselves if we don't take some
quiet time.
The
greater the clarity of, belief in, and passion for our personal
standards of excellence, the greater the probability we'll act in
concert with them.
Write
your credo … A one page Credo Memo
Ask
(people) to give you feedback.
All
great leaders were students as well as teachers.
They
all share in common the love of stories that teach moral lessons
(like Aesop's Fable)
To
strengthen credibility you must continuously assess your existing
abilities and learn new ones.
Identify
the specific job-related competencies you need to master to lead your
constituents.
Who
is the very best in the world in your field, and how do you compare
to that person?
Chapter
Four – Set the Example
(You
can do) something that had never been done before.
Leading
by example is how leaders make visions and values tangible.
While
credible leaders honor the diversity of their many constituencies,
they also stress their common values.
Recognition
of shared values provides people with a common language.
Shared
values are the internal compasses.
People
tend to drift when they're unsure or confused about how they should
be operating.
Leaders
must engage their constituents in a dialogue about values.
Leaders
can't impose their values on organizational members.
Values
should never be used as an excuse for the suppression of dissent.
(Being
an effective leader is hard work)
We
can't stress enough the power of the leader's example.
Leadership
is a performing art.
It's
all in the attention, the doing. It's application that challenges
aspiring leaders.
How
you spend your time is the single clearest indicator, especially to
other people, about what's important to you.
Setting
an example means arriving early, staying late.
Retired
US Army General Norman Schwarzkopf was a master of creating moments
of learning during critical incidents (Of course, it requires you to
be comfortable confronting someone about their behavior.)
Rhetorical
devices like stories, analogies, and metaphors are a persuasive and
effective means of communicating ideas.
Questions
frame the issue and set the agenda.
Measurement
and feedback are essential to increase efforts to improve
performance.
The
most important role of rewards in modeling is to reinforce the key
values.
Setting
an example is essentially doing what you say you will do.
Leaders
are constantly on the lookout for ways to establish themselves as
leaders.
There
are three central themes in the values of highly successful,
strong-culture organizations:
High
performance standards, a caring attitude towards people, and a sense
of uniqueness and pride.
Don't
stop at creating alignment; acknowledge that even good ideas grow
stale over time. Be sure to set a “sunset statute” for any formal
(organizational) values statement.
Constituents
are attracted to leaders who are dynamic and energetic.
As
leaders we must speak out strongly on behalf of our values and get
others on the line to do the same.
Speaking
with confidence yourself builds the confidence of your constituents.
You
need some drama to get a point across.
Leaders
are attentive to the use of ceremonies … In the performing art of
leadership, symbols and artifacts are a leader's props.
Storytelling
is such an effective leadership practice.
To
be vivid, a story should be a bout a real person, have a strong sense
of time and place, and be told in colorful and animated language. It
helps immensely if you can talk from a first-person perspective.
Think
of yourself as the chief historian for your team.
Shorter
stories are generally more useful (during meetings.)
The
key to good questions is to think about the “quest” in your
question.
Maintaining
credibility requires you to seek 360-feedback.
Let
values be your guide, not old habits or the in-basket.
