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Mary Jo Asmus: Leadership

January 5, 2013 15:23

The State of Influencer Theory (Photo credit: Geoff Livingston)

[A]s a leader, it is your responsibility to find passion in the work you do.”
–Mary Jo Asmus, executive coach, writing at SmartBlog on Leadership

5 Reasons Leadership Falls Flat

December 15, 2012 11:48 / 1 Comment

Buying credibility: A look at the FTC’s transparency-in-blogging regulations (Photo credit: opensourceway)

You can read a dozen books on leadership and attend just as many leadership seminars, but your employees won’t follow your lead if you make any of these five common errors:

1. Trying to lead before establishing credibility.

People will only follow you if they believe that you know what you’re doing. Credibility doesn’t come from a job title or your position on the latest organization chart. Neither can it be “willed” into existence simply because you wish it were there.

Fix: Credibility, like trust, can only be earned over time. If you’ve got a track record of success, you’ll need to communicate clearly why that success is still relevant. If you’re new to the job, you’ll have to grow that credibility from scratch. Good luck!

2. Trying to lead before there’s a relationship.

Even if you’ve got a truckload of credibility, people won’t follow your lead if they don’t feel a personal connection. If you’re the manager, they may obey direct orders so as to keep their jobs, but they won’t go the proverbial “extra mile” that true leadership inspires.

Fix: The only way to build relationships is to truly care about them as individuals and frequently showing honest curiosity about them, their ideas and the work that they’re doing. This takes time, effort, and one-on-one attention.

Continue reading on Inc.com…

5 Reasons Leadership Falls Flat(inc.com)
Kathy Kurnyta: On Leadership Presence(vantageleadership.wordpress.com)
The Conviction to Lead.(myfullcup.wordpress.com)

Vulnerability and Inspired Leadership

November 30, 2012 00:39

After spending the past decade studying vulnerability, courage, shame, and worthiness, I’ve come to believe that leadership has nothing to do with position, salary, or number of direct reports. I believe a leader is anyone who holds her- or himself accountable for finding potential in people and processes.

Contrary to how we traditionally think about organizations, leaders are developing strategies and shaping culture across all levels. And, contrary to the myth of the “all-knowing-all-powerful” leader, inspired leadership requires vulnerability: Do we have the courage to show up, be seen, take risks, ask for help, own our mistakes, learn from failure, lean into joy, and can we support the people around us in doing the same?

In our culture, vulnerability has become synonymous with weakness. We associate vulnerability with emotions like fear, shame, and scarcity; emotions that we don’t want to discuss, even when they profoundly affect the way we live, love, parent, and lead.

Across the private and public sector, in schools and in our communities, we are hungry for authentic leadership – we want to show up, we want to learn, and we want to inspire and be inspired. We are hardwired for connection, curiosity, and engagement.

Continue reading on Impatient Optimists…

Symbol for copy & paste problem on the English Wikipedia. Made from 2 images from the OpenClipart Library & own work from English Wikipedia Graphics Lab (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Leading(adamsylvester.wordpress.com)
The Power of Being Vulnerable(patricemj.wordpress.com)

The 5 Perils of Leadership

November 18, 2012 00:28

If we go into management to earn more, have more power/prestige, and work less, we are either naïve or ignorant. (And let’s admit right now that those are precisely the reasons most of us go into management.)

1. Prepare to be Hated

Wise leaders accept that some decisions will be unpopular. If you can’t handle others’ disapproval, then leadership probably isn’t for you. Trying to be everyone’s friend is a futile and selfish effort. Most of us want to be liked; as we progress through school, we do things to get others to accept us (with varying levels of success). We try to wear the cool clothes, have a cool car, or take the cool classes. We then carry those bad habits into the workplace; we do things to attain the approval of others, allowing true accountability to wither. Some of us want so desperately to be accepted that we will sacrifice the good of the rest of the organization for our own selfish emotional gain. While it might help in the short-term, the pursuit of approval is a guarantee of long-term failure. Those who don’t throw their leadership opportunities away in pursuit of approval will be teased at best; at worst, they will be ridiculed, mocked, and defamed. So prepare to be hated, but remember that the haters are the ones who don’t matter. The ones who do matter will sincerely appreciate your leadership and implicitly trust your guidance, since you have proven your constancy and trustworthiness.

2. Conquer Your Fears

In life, but especially in leadership positions, we all face fears. We fear not being accepted, feelings of inadequacy, shame, rejection, discomfort, and the list goes on. My response (and I am speaking to myself more loudly than others) is, “We’re all afraid . . . so what!” We must choose to get over our fears and not allow them to hinder our growth and development as leaders. So what if we don’t have it all together. So what if we didn’t go to the right school; so what if we didn’t have a good mentor. We all have something to offer, and we must choose to focus on what we do have to offer, not what we don’t. And remember the dirty little secret is that those who are acting like they have it all together really don’t.

Continue reading on Great Leadership…

One Fear illustration from Book of Fears (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Courage, Failure, & Leadership(intagreat.wordpress.com)
10 Barriers to Great Leadership(linusfernandes.com)
Walk the Talk: Four Tips to be an Extraordinary Leader(linusfernandes.com)
Leadership and Management(ivythesis.typepad.com)
Leadership Starts Without Followers(tbd-consulting.typepad.com)
Hot Mess Leadership: When Image Becomes Dangerous(letsgrowleaders.com)

Simplifying Leadership with the 3C Disciplines

November 11, 2012 00:53

I, and others, have been guilty in the past of making leadership so complicated. Both new and current leaders can become overwhelmed with the long lists of leadership “how tos” and “need tos”. How can any leader master all of these? But does great leadership really have to be so complicated?

As I have worked with successful leaders over the years, they all have demonstrated three disciplines that I believe are critical to success: Care, Curiosity, and Courage. And when leaders embrace and master these three disciplines much of what a leader has to accomplish is a result of these core disciplines.

So what is so special about Care, Curiosity, and Courage?

Continue reading on Great Leadership by Dan…

English: Headstrong executive leadership and management at MGDC presscon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

10 Barriers to Great Leadership(linusfernandes.com)
Great Leadership: Building Your Leadership Brand(amvaishnav.wordpress.com)
10 Leadership Practices to Stop Today(linusfernandes.com)
20 Great Leadership Quotes(jamalwhyte.wordpress.com)

10 Leadership Practices to Stop Today

November 8, 2012 00:39

If you want to be the best in your industry, you have to get rid of your outdated management style.

You might not feel it day-to-day, but business management is in a major transition. The old days of command-and-control leadership are fading in favor of what might be better termed a trust-and-track method, in which people are not just told what to do, but why they are doing it. More formally, we’re moving from what was called “transactional” leadership to “transformative” leadership. And there’s no turning back.

Business owners certainly have a long way to go, especially in more established companies where old practices die hard. But you can see increasing evidence that by creating a company with a clear purpose and values, you’ll find your employees connect themselves to something bigger, and that increases productivity. In other words, a culture of engagement leads to greater customer loyalty, and better financial success.

Continue reading on Inc.com…