Leadership is MOST Important

Truthful leadership...

Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with the important matters. - Albert Einstein

Doing what you think you cannot...

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do." --Eleanor Roosevelt

Trust...a little story.

The Thief

Once a man found that his axe was missing, and suspected his neighbour's son of having taken it. Observing the youth walking around, the man was convinced that his was the walk of a thief. The youth looked like a thief and talked like a thief; everything he did pointed to his having stolen the axe.

Then one day the man happened to find his missing axe. After that, he noticed his neighbour's son wasn't behaving like a thief anymore.

--Lieh-tzu

Leaders must watch what they become...

Watch your thoughts,
they become words.
Watch your words,
they become actions.
Watch your actions,
they become habits.
Watch your habits,
they become character,
Watch your character,
it becomes your destiny.

--Frank Outlaw

"One chance is all you need."

--Jesse Owens

"If you can't accept losing, you can't win,"

--Vince Lombardi

" A leader is the wave pushed ahead by the ship."

--Tolstoy

Lead today...

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."
--Theodore Roosevelt

Leaders are like eagles ... You find them one at a time.

Man’s desire to emulate the eagle was so great that when he created his flying machines they inherited many of the creature’s sensibilities. Dispassionate mastery over life and death, their incredible speed and strength, their keen eyesight and terrible efficiency suggests nobility, power, and freedom. This sense of their grace and authority is reflected in the heraldry of nations from the eagle of the Roman legion to the seal of the American Republic.

Servant Leadership...

Servant leadership is an approach to leadership development, advanced by such authors as Robert Greenleaf and Peter Block, that emphasizes the leader's role as steward of the resources (human, financial and otherwise) provided by the organization.

I reading Greenleaf's new biography, which is terrific.

Situational Leadership...

Situational leadership theories presume that different leadership styles are better in different situations, and that leaders must be flexible enough to adapt their style to the situation they are in.

Perhaps the most important example is Paul Hersey and Kenneth H. Blanchard's "life-cycle" theory, which posits that leadership style should depend on the "maturity" (i.e., self motivation and initiative) of subordinates.

Relatively "immature" subordinates require autocratic leadership; subordinates intermediate in maturity do best with a more democratic approach, and very "mature" subordinates do not need any explicit leadership at all.