As we approach the launch of The Heart of Leadership, I’m reminded of how grateful I am that several of the leadership character traits I outline in the book were instilled in me early in life. I’ve not mastered all of them, but thanks to my parents, I wasn’t starting from scratch as an adult.
Category: Character
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7 Ways to Build Trust
One of my favorite people on the planet is Jack Lannom. His organization helps companies put “People First.” Jack has had a tremendous impact on my life and my family. I first met Jack through an audio program entitled Memory Genius. If you get nothing else from this post, check out that program. It can change your life.
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Guard Your Heart!
My upcoming book, The Heart of Leadership is built upon a simple premise. Unless your heart is right, no one cares about your skills. This may sound harsh, but it’s true. If people don’t trust our heart, they don’t trust us. If they don’t trust us – they won’t follow our leadership.
I’m really excited about the upcoming release of my new book, The Heart of Leadership. However, when I met with my publisher about 6 months ago, the future of the project was uncertain. My publisher is a truth teller. I love that – and at times, I don’t. Here’s the story…
Years ago, when I began the process of writing The Heart of Leadership, I identified dozens of leadership character traits. In my attempt to create a short list of the most essential, I decided Respond with Courage had to be included. Courage is the catalyst for great leadership.
In my upcoming book, The Heart of Leadership, one of the big ideas is that lack of skills rarely derails a leader – skills are too easy to learn. Most often, the issues that create challenges for us are those of leadership character.
The subtitle of my upcoming book really captures the reason I’m so excited about its release… Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow. If you and I as leaders cannot create followship, we’re not leading at all. John Maxwell says, “If you look around and no one is following you, you’re just taking a walk.”
As I referenced in my post last week on The Heart of Leadership, I believe there are five core leadership character traits that set leaders apart from those they lead. Unlike more common character traits like integrity, honesty and loyalty, the traits I’m referring to are what enable a leader to lead. They shape who the leader is as a person and also drive their day-to-day actions. Today, let’s go a little deeper on one of those traits – Hunger for Wisdom.
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The Heart of Leadership
For many years, I’ve been using the metaphor of the iceberg to talk about leadership. My first post on this website almost two years ago was entitled What’s Your Picture of Leadership? My answer was, and still is, embodied in the iceberg. The problem: for almost a decade, I’ve been talking about only a small part of the story. The Heart of Leadership tells the rest of the story.
I’ve shared this story before, but it is so perfect, I want to use it again… Many years ago, Peter Drucker was asked about which of his many books was his favorite. His response, “The next one.” On the eve of the release of my new book, The Heart of Leadership, I understand his comment completely.