10 TIPS ON LEARNING TO LEAD

Leadership is an apprentice trade. In most apprentice trades, you learn about 20 percent in the classroom and from books. The rest, 80 percent, you learn on the job. Here are ten tips on how to do master your own apprenticeship.

Pick good role models. Pick out some great leaders to emulate. Then, when you're faced with a leadership problem, ask yourself how your role models would handle the situation.

Find a mentor or two or three. Mentors are people who provide wisdom and guidance. Mentors are the masters in your personal leadership apprentice program. A good mentor will enjoy helping you sort out your career and leadership challenges. You may have many mentors during your career.

Ask how you're doing. Good feedback is essential to efficient and effective growth. Ask your boss, your peers and the people who work for you how you're doing. Ask how you might do better.

Critique your own performance. Every time you take a significant leadership action, make sure you also do an after-action critique. Ask yourself what you wanted to accomplish, what you did, and how things came out. Decide what you'll do the same and differently next time.

Talk to other leaders. People who have been bosses for a while have had to deal with many leadership situations. Talk over your problems with them. Adapt their advice to your situation and your personal style.

Seek development opportunities. Development opportunities are assignments where you get to stretch yourself, learn new skills, gain new perspective and increase your visibility.

Take classes. Classes can give you new ideas or help you develop specific skills. Pick classes that give you solid take-away value. Sometimes you'll find that the take-away value lies in the relationships you establish or build with other class participants.

Read books. There are a lot of good ones out there, but there are a lot more that don't have much to say. Consider reading history and the biographies of leaders to see how they did things. Read business books for content or because "everybody" is reading it. If you're not getting value from a book, stop reading.

Have a plan. You don't need a super-detailed, step-by-step, three-binder-filling plan. But you do need an idea of the direction you want to go and what your development priorities are.

Review regularly. That means review your plan and review your development. I suggest taking a little time every week to review how you're doing and growing. Take a little time at least every month to check your plan make sure it's still want you need.

You are the person who will determine what kind of leader you become. You are the person who will set direction, gather feedback and make course corrections. You are the person who will choose books and courses that will help you grow, and try to line up assignments that will help improve your skills, perspective, relationships, and visibility. And, you are the person who will reap the rewards.

Source: Wally Bock | Three Star Leadership

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PRINCIPLES FOR GOOD LEADERSHIP

Be A Good Example

You must be a good example yourself first. You must be willing to do what you ask your people to do. Walk your talk. The greatest leader is also the greatest servant. A leader also needs to be passionate about something.

Create A Joint Vision

You give the vision birth and then let your team grow it. You must know your followers. The better you know your followers the more successful you will be as a leader. You need to know what drives them, what their dreams, hopes, aspirations, etc are.

Push Beyond Your Boundaries

If you are a leader you accept challenge. You break new ground. You are willing to take risks and fail, but you are smart about it. You need to know the strengths of your followers so you know how much risk they can handle. As a leader you know that obstacles will help you grow not hurt you. You learn from mistakes and successes and try to turn weaknesses into strengths.

You are not prideful because you will certainly fail if you are. A prideful leader is weak because he thinks he knows it all. You will never or rarely have breakthroughs if you think you know it all.

Enable And Build Other Leaders

One of the worst things you can do as a leader is to keep all the power to yourself. People want to feel they are making a difference in the organization and the world. You need to empower them by giving them responsibilities. You need to give your followers the tools to help them do the impossible.

Also don't let anarchy take over. You must have control; ideally you set up a system so your operation will go on without your constant direct involvement.

Inspire And Uplift

This is done through giving out praises. A common piece of advice is to praise in public and criticize in private. Your praise must be sincere.

Source: Know, Do, Be

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GREAT LEADERSHIP IS ABOUT BEING THE GREATEST SERVANT

You are a leader if you have followers. The difference between a leader and a manager is based on the reason people follow you. You are not a true leader if people follow you mainly because of your title or position. Managers get things done by telling people what to do and by giving orders. People follow good leaders because they want to not because they have to.

To Be A Leader You Must Influence Others

Selfless and charitable service is the best way to influence someone else. Honesty and integrity are two character traits that will increase your influence over others. You will have an almost impossible time gaining the loyalty of anyone if they think you will deceive them.

The author of the millionaire mind and millionaire next door reported that the millionaires he interviewed said honesty and integrity was central to business success. They said you can't be successful and don't deserve success if you are not honest.

Source: Know, Do, Be

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COLIN POWELL LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES

Summary: Colin Powell leadership is a very no nonsense approach to leadership, but at the same time very personable. He was a four star general and he did everything possible to break down his rank barriers to deal with the individual.

You Can't Make Everyone Happy

Colin Powell was not afraid to make people mad. Strong leaders intentionally do what they can to cause change. If you are worried about making everyone happy then action becomes difficult. Change is required to stay competitive.

Fearful people don't take initiative or responsibility. You have to shock them out of their complacency. Colin Powell believes in rewarding the best people and not coddling to the mediocre. People make the difference, not systems or plans or any other tool or strategy. Good people have the best ideas and are able to execute their plans.

Ideas Make A Big Difference

Ideas or lack of ideas can be the difference between success and failure. Any good military leader understands the importance taking serious the commander on the ground. The commander on the ground knows most about the current situation.

Communication is required for the effective sharing of ideas. Powell focused on equal communication with his subordinates. The goal is to build an open culture where people feel equal, where they are not intimidated by rank or title.

Manage Your Ego Properly

Leaders need a healthy ego or confidence. This idea is about change and innovation. It is always about learning new and better ways of doing things. If leaders are so cemented in their ways of doing things, they will not endure long-term.

Intentionally Push The Limit

High performers and great leaders have the attitude that if you have not been unequivocally told you can't do something and you think it will works then do it. Great leaders are not passive. Good leaders create an environment where people feel a duty and obligation to push the envelope.

Complacency Kills

Great leaders are militant about killing complacency. It is true that past successes build confidence. Past successes can also be your weakness. Success can cause delusion and arrogance. You can begin to think that your current success will never end or that it is impossible to fall. Always ask why you do the things you do, what you are doing right, wrong and what can be improved.

Challenge The Authorities

The authorities can be wrong and make ill-advised decisions and give bad advice. Every follower has a duty to challenge the leader when he believes the leader is wrong.

People Are The Key

Colin Powell places a high priority on people and gives them a lot of responsibility to solve their own problems. He believes everyone has an important job, and he also has high expectations of his people. He realizes that jobs sometimes become obsolete and will try and cross train people when that happens. He doesn't tolerate loafing. Some feel they can get into a position and coast until retirement. Colin expects everyone especially in high positions to be active. He will push the high position loafers out of their position to give way for younger and more eager individuals.

Colin understands there is a difference when picking people based on their resume and their character. Resume's are only a small part of it. He knows you can train most people to do any job skill. Training someone to have high levels of character is not so easy. Skill sets become obsolete.

Pay Attention To Details

Details help you determine the best course of action and implement it in the best possible way. Paying attention to details does not give you the permission to fall into the analysis paralysis syndrome.

Conclusion: The principles of Colin Powell leadership are people directed and results driven. He cares about people and he also expects performance.

Reference: The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell, by Oren Harari.

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