Words matter. In many situations, especially when it comes to leadership, what we say, and how we say it, determines our success.
Situations arise where emotions run high and the choices we make have significant outcomes. The pressure is high, how we react makes all the difference. These situations are referred to as crucial conversations.
Guest post by Annabelle Smyth
Many companies still hold tight to the old way of doing things.
They put you in high-pressure situations and hope that you get all your work done out of fear. Fear that you will miss out on that promotion, fear that you will be subject to disciplinary action and even fear that you will lose your job.
In game theory and economic theory, zero-sum describes a situation in which one person’s gain is exactly balanced by another person’s loss. In games like chess, one person wins and the other loses. The win (+1) added to the loss (-1) equals zero.
At times our progress in business may feel like a zero-sum game. With the right leadership, however, success is a positive-sum game. Most successful people freely admit they achieved their success with the help of others.
An end goal of every leader is to leave a long-term, lasting contribution on the people we lead. Doing the right things to move us toward that goal, consistently and effectively, is not easy.
Developing the right attitude makes all the difference.
Guest post by Steven J. Stowell Ph.D.
Anyone in a leadership position knows that mistakes are inevitable.
They can hit at any time and it may not even be a direct result of your actions. But there is one mistake that is worse than the actual mishap.
If you want to dig a deeper hole for yourself then refuse to admit to your mistakes.
Gaining and keeping the trust of those you lead is one of the top factors to your company’s ongoing success.
To work successfully as a team, the leader must create a culture where people can rely on the strengths and abilities of those they work with and believe in their leader’s direction and vision.
Guest post by John Blakey
Stewards inspire trust by re-defining the purpose of business to deliver in a new way—triple bottom-line goals—and then putting themselves and the organization in service of those goals.
The triple bottom-line creates a vacancy for a different type of executive leader. Tomorrow’s executive leader will not be yesterday’s manager, driven by one dominant owner, to produce one measure of success. In contrast, tomorrow’s executive leader will balance the diverse and dynamic expectations of stakeholders. She or he will be a steward.
To reach a port we must sail, sometimes with the wind, and sometimes against it. But we must not drift or lie at anchor.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes
Are you drifting in your career or your life? Do you have unmet goals or life-long aspirations you’ve failed to achieve? If so you’re not alone. You know where you want to end up, but why is so difficult to get there?
Great leaders are confident in their ability to succeed. This seems pretty obvious. The question is how did they become confident? What do/did they do differently than most other people?
“Leadership is not a license to do less, it’s a responsibility to do more.”
What makes leaders different from everyone else? How do they build trust with the people they serve? Why do they forego their own interests on behalf of those they lead?
These questions refer to true leaders. The type of leaders whose followers will march behind them no matter where they’re headed. The type of leaders who inspire feelings of safety and commitment. Continue reading
Lead on Purpose 