Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D. author of The Courageous Life, is an organizational consultant with a special interest in coaching courageous and effective leaders.
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Posted on December 18, 2009 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.
This Video is worth watching - about 4 minutes. INSPIRING!
(wait for the 20 second commercial to pass…)
Posted on December 16, 2009 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.
In his article, “Level Five Leadership” (Harvard Business Review, Dec 2000), Jim Collins details the kind of leadership that transforms mediocre companies into great companies. His 5 year study of over 1,500 companies found that companies that make the jump from average to extraordinary
ALL
had leaders with
two common traits
: A “Self-Effacing Humility” and a “Dogged Persistence.” What Jim Collins also calls, “Humility + Will.”
He writes Level One Leadership is being a highly capable individual, with good skills and traits. Level Two Leadership is being able to contribute as a team member. Level Three Leadership is being a competent manager of people, Level Four Leadership is being an effective leader (or influencer) of others, and Level Five Leadership is the executive who builds enduring greatness through a
paradoxical
combination of personal humility and professional (fierce) will.
Level 5 leadership challenges the assumption that transforming companies from “good to great” requires larger-than-life-leaders. In fact, the leaders that came out on top in Collins’ five-year study were relatively unknown outside their industries. The findings appear to signal a shift away from the a leader who is “the hero” - to a leader who is “the anti-hero.”
“Level 5 leaders are a study in
duality
“, notes Collins, “modest and wilful, shy yet fearless.”
** Which is harder in your leadership - showing consistent humility or fierce will?
Posted on December 12, 2009 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.
“Followers and Leaders both orbit around the purpose; followers do not orbit around the leader.” - Ira Chaleff
Successful companies keep this idea front and center: People seek purpose - not only employees, but customers seek a purpose. And those leaders and companies that clearly define and articulate a compelling purpose will have a huge competitive advantage.
Employees and customers are hungry for purpose. Yes, employees want jobs and customers want deals. But even in a recession, they want more than that. They want to feel that their lives have a deeper meaning that goes beyond paychecks and discount shopping. Abraham Maslow had it right. Once a person’s physical needs are met, they long for love, belonging, esteem and finally what Maslow called “self-actualization” - where they know their lives contribute to a purpose bigger than themselves.
Leadership is all about vision, for without vision there is no leadership. Yet many of today’s leaders are so bogged down in the minutiae of “running the business” that they have lost focus on the vision. They no longer embody the unique purpose which they are responsible to champion and align to.
** Leadership without a purpose is a languid, drifting thing; therefore every day a leader ought to review the purpose behind their leadership. They need to say to themselves,
“Today, in every interaction and decision, I am going to keep my eyes on the purpose for which I serve. I will keep my eyes, and the eyes of my followers, on the vision which makes us not only unique, but truly special in a world filled with so many counterfeit distractions.”
Posted on December 06, 2009 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.
By nature, our brain waits. Our brain waits for the perfect moment, day, gift, for the traffic to clear, for the shopping lines to disappear. It waits for the perfect mate, investment, client or customer. Our brain waits for the perfect day, perfect life… for the perfect wave.
But no matter how skillfully or determined we get at seeking the “perfect,” no matter how resilient we are at waiting for the perfect to arrive - perfect never happens.
Exceptional leaders and teams know that life, and breakthrough success, is all about embracing and leveraging the imperfect. They understand that they must choose to grow and go forward in a world that is uncertain and complex. They also develop the necessary skills to accelerate their growth in whatever fast changing environment they find themselves in.
Though our minds will temp us to wait and seek the perfect. Seeking the “perfect” not only never happens, it can drive us nuts - for the mirage of the “perfect” will block us from moving toward a rich are rewarding life now.
The fact is: “Imperfect is… Perfect isn’t.” You would think that most of us have learned that by now - have learned to overcome perfectionism. But we haven’t.
So instead of waiting for the perfect… learn to trust your instincts. As the winds of life change, trust your experience and instincts and continue to step up the mountain of your potential and success. Dial into your senses, adapt, get ingenious, and imperfectly rise up. When you do, you’ll begin to appreciate, in a deeper way, the ever-changing nature of life.
Whatever it takes, learn to imperfectly and relentlessly rise. Increase your skills of adaptability. Get ingenious. Reach deeper now, sense more creativity now, find the better/different now… stop wasting time. Keep moving from your “real” here, to your best “there” - building a bridge into the future as you walk across it. As the Marines like to say “Improvise - Adapt - Overcome!”
* What are your best instincts telling you today?
Posted on December 03, 2009 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.
“There are two parties, the establishment and the movement.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Leadership without strategy is nothing, for without strategic thinking, leaders have no where to go, no where to point others, and only boring stories to tell. To be an effective leader, we need to be a strategic thinker - for Great leaders have clearly defined dreams and visions of what could be, and what should be.
The father of Servant Leadership theory, Robert Greenleaf, writes, “Not much happens without a dream. And for something great to happen, there must be a great dream – for behind every great achievement is a dreamer of great dreams. Much more than a dreamer is required to bring it into reality; but the dream must be there first.”
Although you may not have thought of yourself as a “dreamer” (or a strategist), unless you are able to develop powerful dreams, your ability to effectively lead others will be greatly undermined – For leadership always starts with a strategic vision that defines (and describes) what could be – or rather, what should be.
So what does strategic thinking look like
? This can be a little confusing, for many executives interchange the words: strategy, values, mission, purpose, vision, and goals as if they were all the same. But Strategic Thinking is the way in which a leader thinks about, assess, views, and creates the future for themselves, their organization, church, or family. It is not reactive, but proactive. One more thing… Strategic thinking always involves change, and often, profound personal change. It is about achieving positive results, adding incredible value… and so forth and so on. You get the idea.
Challenge
: What are you doing to improve your strategic thinking skills? What dream do you need to create a specific plan around to achieve?
Posted on November 28, 2009 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.
A Leader Derailed.
It can happen to anyone - to any leader.
Tim Irwin writes, “No matter how brilliant, charming, strategic, or commanding a leader is, a breach in one’s character can become extraordinarily disabling and bring down even the strongest among us. If a leader’s character is not strong, they will pass by the warning signs - and eventually derail their progress.”
Despite our character breeches (for non of us are perfect), derailment can be avoided - but without careful attention, it is probable. Irwin writes, “Derailment is especially rooted in the failure to prepare, to grow personally and professionally, and to develop the qualities needed to stay on track…. where we constantly stay alert, develop deeper self-awareness, and have a lifelong commitment to learn, to grow, and to prepare.”
To combat derailment, develop the following five habits
:
First
, develop a habit of openness and humility. “Openness to feedback reflects our interest in being a learning, growing person.”
Second
, continually increase your self-awareness. “It is critical that we regularly tune into how others see us.”
The
third
habit is to cultivate personal early warning systems that can tell us when we are at risk of derailment. “The key is to monitor ourselves and pay special attention to signals which may indicate our lives are getting off track.”
The
fourth
habit is one of accountability. “The leaders most susceptible to derailment refuse to have their opinions, decision, and actions questioned…. Accountability means that, even when we are not required to answer to others because of our position, corporate policy, or law - we intentionally place ourselves in a relationship with someone who regularly tests our motives and our actions.”
Finally
, develop the habit of resiliency. “Resiliency is the ability not only to bounce back from adversity, but to learn from it.”
* Which of these issues do you need to incorporate into your own life and leadership?
Posted on November 15, 2009 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.
The phrase “Strong Opinions, Weakly Held” describes an important philosophy for effective leadership. Bob Sutton describes the importance of this idea as:
“A virtue of wise people – those who have the courage to act on their knowledge, but the humility to doubt what they know…to deal with an uncertain future, and still move forward – have ’strong opinions, which are weakly held.’... Weak opinions are problematic because people aren’t inspired to develop the best arguments to support them, or to put forth the energy required to thoroughly test them. It is just as important, however, to not be too attached to what you believe because, otherwise, it undermines your ability to ’see’ and ‘hear’ evidence that clashes with your current perspective and opinion. This is what psychologists call the problem of ‘confirmation bias.’”
When navigating your organization into a complex and uncertain future, formulating strong opinions - that are weakly held, is a wise posture when developing and implementing an effective strategy.
Posted on November 11, 2009 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.
I can across an interesting post on failure by Tony Morgan, “10 Reasons Why You’re Probably Going to Fail.”
Here is his list
:
1.
It is not your passion
. If it doesn’t make your heart beat fast, or cause your mind to race when you’re trying to sleep, you’re probably doing the wrong thing.
2.
You don’t have a plan
. You need a vision - and you need to identify specific steps to make your vision become reality.
3.
You’re waiting for it to be perfect
. Be willing to test-drive a new idea. You’ll fall into the trap of inaction if you think it has to be absolutely right from day one.
4.
You’re not willing to work hard
. Everything worth pursuing in life will demand discipline and perseverance.
5.
It outgrew you
. Keep learning. Keep growing. But more importantly, build a team of people around you that are growing too.
6.
You’ve had success in the past
. I’ve watched organizations hang on to a good idea for too long. Time passes. Momentum fades. It’s risky to let go of the past and jump onto a new idea. Take that risk!
7.
You’re unwilling to stop doing something else
. Complexity is easy. Simplicity takes discipline. For example, you can’t build a healthy marriage if you’re unwilling to give up dating other women. Who/what do you need to stop dating (doing)?
8.
You don’t take the time to build a team of friends
. You need to find people you want to share life with. In the long run, great relationships will get you out of bed in the morning.
9.
You walk away from tough conversations
. When breakdown happens (and it always does), you need to initiate the difficult conversation that leads to relational healing.
10.
You are afraid of failure
. When fear consumes you, it will cause you to do stupid things. It will cause you to embrace the known, and grow comfortable with mediocrity. The more often you fail, though, the more often you’ll find success.
** This is a great list to work through when embarking on a new and challenging initiative.
Posted on November 06, 2009 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.
“Leaders live in a fish bowl and are always being watched. They should always be conscious of this fact, and take wise advantage of it.” – Gene Klann
Leaders are being watched all the time. Their every gesture, action and word are being closely (and continuously) observed and scrutinized. Richard Anderson, Chief Executive of Delta Air Lines, makes the following point:
“As a leader, I’ve had to learn to be more patient and to closely watch my tone. The reason for this is because everything I do is an example. People are looking at everything I do - and take signals from everything I say. And when I lose my temper, it quickly squelches debate and sends the wrong signal about myself, and how I want want this organization to run.”
So… whether you like it or not, everything you do as a leader impacts your organization - for good or for bad. Each and every day, you are always being watched, and your actions are being carefully assessed, scrutinized and used to draw conclusions. Conclusions about..
* What is the right way to behave around here?
* What are acceptable ways of getting things done?
* What topics and issues are “OK” to openly share and talk about? Which ones are not safe to openly address?
* What is important?
* How do decisions really get made?
Bottom line… leaders need to be people of integrity - all the time. To consistently set clear and healthy examples of how people should be treated, and how things ought to get done.
* So… how does your leadership “example” stack up lately? What do you need to do more of - or to change?
Posted on October 31, 2009 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.
The “Law of Love” is the greatest of all the Laws which govern our lives.
There is a compelling set of verses in Scripture which reflect the underlying importance of expressing love in everything we do:
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Rick Warren, author of “The Purpose Driven Life”, writes that these verses teach
five
fundamental truths about living a successful and significant life. Rick writes that if we fail to actively love others: Nothing we say will matter – Nothing we know will ultimately matter – Nothing we believe will ultimately matter – Nothing we give will matter – And nothing we accomplish in life will ultimately matter. For without love, our words are just noise, our knowledge is flawed, our beliefs are superficial, our gifts are selfishly motivated, and our accomplishments are (at best) only of temporary value.
Do not fool yourself, the only way you can live a life of lasting significance and meaning is when your work, relationships, and even your dreams are all founded on a sincere love for yourself and for those around you.
Mother Teresa said, “The greatest science in the world; in heaven and on earth; is love.” And through her many years of serving the poor and needy, she noted “There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.”
Brian Tracy writes, “Always, love is the answer. The only thing that you can never have enough of is love. You can never have too much love for yourself, and you can never give too much love to others. Lack of love, or love withheld, lies at the root of most personal and behavioral problems. Love is not only the answer, but it is the cure for most of life’s problems.”
The supreme law that should govern your leadership is the “Law of Love”; for life is ultimately about love, and true
success
is ultimately based on love. Make no mistake about it, you will find that the accomplishment of a dream will leave you deeply unsatisfied if it was not founded upon, and reached in a manner which reflected a sincere love and concern for others along the way. If you truly want to be successful in everything you do, if you want the accomplishment of your dreams to leave a positive and lasting legacy of who you were, then study, practice, and become an expert in the art of loving God, yourself, and those around you.
Therefore, since life is ultimately about love, the ultimate work in life is to learn how to love others more deeply and consistently. I have found that the best way to grow in my ability to love others is to first realize that love is a choice, not a feeling. Love is something we do, not something we always feel. Second, I have found that my ability to love others will start to grow as I simply start to share it with others. Remember, love is an act of the will, and as you continue to express love to those around you, you will begin to see your capacity to love grow stronger until it starts to impact ever larger circles of people around you.
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