Have you ever had a coach, teacher, or mentor in your formative years who pushed you to be more than you thought you could become on your own? If so, you’ll strongly appreciate this month’s leadership profile featuring my high school football coach, Dick Burton – even if you’ve never been an athlete.
Powerful Question #5
The late Charlie “Tremendous” Jones used to say, “You’ll be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.”
Who is one person you’ve met and one book you’ve read in the past year that has had a positive influence on you?
Real Leadership Sketches
By now there’s a good chance you’ve seen Dove’s latest ad campaign Real Beauty Sketches. Many of my female friends posted the link to the video below on Facebook, so I finally checked it out. I even shared it myself. Not wanting to get into a discussion on body image, I applauded the merits of a counter-cultural marketing strategy – one that emphasized that the consumer is already good enough just the way they are instead of fatally flawed unless they buy (and then continue to buy) the product.
It wasn’t until a recent comment by Michael Hyatt that I realized the significance this message has for leadership.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=litXW91UauE
Building a Strengths-Based Leadership Development Program
This is the third post of a three-part series on the leadership merits of Gallup’s StrengthsFinder 2.0 strengths assessment. In the first post, I shared the practical benefits of the assessment itself. Then last week, I explained how the each person tends toward one of four leadership styles and how each style significantly impacts team performance.
This week, I’d like to share some ideas on how to build a strengths-based leadership development program for your organization. I realize that not everyone is in a position responsible for serving an entire organization in this way. However, at the very least, these ideas can shape how we think about the implications of organizational leadership. Here they are:
Use Strengths to Understand Your Leadership Style
Recently I wrote about the benefits of taking Gallup’s StrengthsFinder 2.0 strengths assessment. Nearly 9 million individuals have used the assessment to identify their Top 5 signature strength themes. That means there are many leaders out there who have yet to discover the incredible benefit of clarifying and leveraging their strengths.
What I’d like to do in this post is show how the 34 StrengthsFinder themes neatly divide into four specific leadership styles – and I’ll explain what difference this makes for you and your team. In the next post, I’ll share some ideas for building a strengths-based leadership development program for your organization.
Who Cares About Your Strengths?
“Well it’s good to talk with you today, Nathan. Why don’t you tell me a little bit about your strengths.”
Now replace my name with yours. How would you respond?
When was the last time someone asked you to identify your strengths? Was it in an interview or an application? Were you joining a new organization, team, project, school or program? Maybe you were about to accept a new promotion or a new role with a new set of people. What did you say? Do you answer the same way each time? Do your answers change based on your present circumstances?
If I could share a proven method to discover your strengths accurately, easily and in a quick and inexpensive manner, would that be good news?
Powerful Question #4
We’ve all received lots of advice over the years, especially when we were young or starting out on a new project or a new season of life. Some of us may still get loads of advice, whether we ask for it or not.
What’s one piece of advice that’s stuck with you through the years? What’s the key to giving great advice?
Leadership Profile: Truett Cathy
I grew up in the midwest and didn’t get to experience a Chick-fil-A sandwich until I enrolled in college in Tennessee. Boy was I in for a surprise. Not only was the sandwich (and fresh squeezed lemonade!) amazing, but people were thoughtful and caring. My senior year, I was assigned to research how Chick-fil-A influenced people in positives ways. I decided it wouldn’t hurt to see if my team could interview the founder of the company, so I made a quick phone call. Believe it or not, Truett Cathy agreed.
What we learned on our trip still influences how I think about leadership. But for now, I’d like to share a few notes about the man who invented the original chicken sandwich.
5 Reasons You Should Join Me at Chick-fil-A Leadercast
What are your favorite conferences, seminars or training events? Do you have any that you attend every year? Do you take your team with you? One of my annual staples is the Chick-fil-A Leadercast seminar. This year it takes place on May 10. Let me tell why Chick-fil-A Leadercast is so special.
The Main Reasons Strategic Planning Fails
When I was a college student, my New Venture Studies class had the opportunity to advise a local resident starting his own coffee shop. As an aspiring entrepreneur, I was excited to be involved – that is, until I realized the capital came from an inheritance. I was further perturbed when one of his first initiatives was to purchase a brand new Honda Element to cover with advertising before his shop was even finished. Our client didn’t need a new vehicle. He needed a strategic plan.
You’ve probably heard the adage, “if you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail.” Strategic planning initiatives give organizational and departmental leaders the chance to define strategy, set direction and make key decisions. It breathes life into the vision and gives the existing motivation a track to run on. But a plan doesn’t inherently ensure success.
I recently spoke with my friend John Maloney of ASJ Consulting about why strategic planning fails. Whether you’re a one-man shop or a large organization, here are some of the main reasons we identified.
Everyday Sales Leadership: Stop, Collaborate and Listen
Today’s post was written by a former colleague of mine, Jess Titchener – an adrenalin-driven management consultant living, working and serving in London. You can follow Jess on Twitter as well as on her new faith-based blog at thistrainisboundforglory.com. To be featured on this site, click here.
As I reflect on the three years that I have worked in corporate sales and negotiations in the communications and media industry, I have been thinking about what we can all apply from some fundamental “sales” principles into our daily working routines – whatever area we may work in.
I think my lessons can be distilled into these three priorities.
Leading Others the Dale Carnegie Way
There are two times most people start thinking about leadership. The first is when they experience poor leadership for the first time. Usually one of their first bosses rubs them the wrong way or they have a poor customer experience from a trusted organization. The second time is when they are put in a position of leadership and experience their first leadership challenge. What once appeared to be so easy, so intuitive, so common sense is now complicated and stressful!
Last month I had the privilege to write a guest post on Eric Jacobson’s leadership blog. I shared the 9 principles Dale Carnegie taught on how to be a leader. (Dale Carnegie is author of the classic book How to Win Friends and Influence People). This was one of the most enjoyable posts I’ve ever written.