Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it built the extraordinary leader. The quality of our questions determines the quality of our leadership – and most other positive things, too!
Curiosity may be the most fun and contagious ingredient of all. Asking questions and questioning answers is energizing. Exhilarating even!
Avoid jumping into TELL mode and get in question mode. Remain there long enough to help the entire team (or group) fully engage. As the leader, work hard to make the entire room smarter by leveraging the power of the collective.
Humility is the first and most essential leadership ingredient. Without it, everything else fails.
Bosses and leaders may be one and the same, but they may not be. Every boss is a leader (they’ve got influence; it may not always be positive though), but not every leader is a boss (somebody with a title, authority or power).
Pretense. Pride. Ego. They’re killers to our leadership because they corrupt the humility that could best serve us.
Today Lisa and I introduce to you the five (5) leadership recipe ingredients. Admittedly, these five things started out as what I called “the progression of leadership,” back in the 1980s. When I taught them to Lisa she improved on the language because she considered them ingredients. They belong in a specific order to begin with – but after that, you may find yourself needing to add a bit more of one than another. They’re all vital, but we can still make each ingredient serve us best by personally applying each one as needed. We have to be aware of ourselves, our situation, and our team so we can best leverage these ingredients and cook up the very best leadership possible!
We also have to be aware of the pitfalls and challenges to effective leadership. Some things can derail our leadership. Our improved awareness of these challenges can help us shore up our weaknesses and strengthen ourselves for the task of growing great! And helping others grow great, too.
There’s a specific place where each of us can find our greatest growth. It’s the corner.
The corner is a metaphor for a place we all must go in order to move forward. It represents a place where we’re no longer relying on excuses. Once we paint ourselves into the corner we suck all the oxygen of our excuse-making out of the room. We stop being victims. We’re uninterested in blaming others for our circumstances. Instead, we make up our minds we’ll accept full responsibility for everything.
Lisa is producing a “Walk The Talk” series for Grand Prairie, Texas (her employer). Here are the links to the current episodes (she continues to produce new episodes for city leadership and emerging leaders):
Clarity is important. Sometimes we need to be caringly challenged to see things more clearly. We each figure things out when we figure them out. Sometimes it’s difficult to see things…but once we do, it’s impossible to not see it. In the picture below, do you see the young lady or the old woman? Now, find the other one – the one you didn’t see at first.
You don’t see it…until you do see it
That doesn’t mean everything is our fault. It just means we no longer care that much about blaming ourselves or anybody else. Rather, we decide that we’re going to work hard to see things as clearly as possible so we can figure out what our next move should be.
“If it is to be, it’s up to me.” That’s the mantra of today’s show. It’s one of the times when we’ll encourage you to be self-focused. Daily we’re urging our team members to improve. It only makes sense that we expect the same of ourselves.
Leadership is a focus on others. It’s about influence and doing for others what they can’t do for themselves.
Managing is about getting the to-do list accomplished. It’s about output.
Leadership doesn’t depend on a title, position or authority – but it helps. Leadership with authority speeds up progress and growth because bosses have the ability to remove obstacles.
Be who you are, just be better. Become the best you possible. It’s an ongoing effort. The good news is you can start right now, right where you are. The bad news is you can never stop. Just keep pushing to grow.
Teach a girl how to fish is Lisa’s philosophy. That’s leadership. Give a girl a fish can provide short-term value, but cripple people of longer-term opportunities for growth.
Teach a girl to fish (while working)
Don’t confuse leadership’s direction as just being down – aimed at your team. You must learn to serve peers and your bosses, too.
