Do You Have the Qualities of a Great Leader?

We know what bad leadership looks and feels like, now let’s define what great leadership is!  What am I missing?  In the comment section, please add your observations.

Great Leadership Is:

• Always learning
• Continuously believing
• A servant leader
• One that is faithful to your word
• Always looking for, and believing the best of your team, even when they've failed
• Eliciting the assistance of a gifted team of people who you trust.
• Delegating your weaknesses without being threatened by the gifted employees who have greater knowledge, experience, and expertise
• Celebrating your team’s wins, while monitoring their failures, without projecting that they are failures.
• When you can say, "The buck stops here!"
• Living with a high level of integrity
• Is responsible for setting a positive atmosphere while smashing negativity
• Finding subject matter experts to compensate for your gaps
• Being the same person in private as in public
• Creating a synergistic climate through your positive expectations of what CAN be done
• Able to delegate and follow-through consistently
• Asking the hard questions and uncovering what is, and what is not working Being able to honestly assess the difficult results, while taking responsibility for all outcomes, good and bad
• Being able to LISTEN to your staff to hear what’s missing, not just what you want to hear
• Valuing the process by not cutting corners to acquire what you want sooner than the process demands
• Trusting that when you delegate a project you won’t need to micromanage to acquire great results
• Admitting when you’re wrong without giving excuses or blame-shifting to take the focus off your own mistakes
• Accomplishing the same expectations you have of others
• Casting realistic visions while navigating and keeping the ship on course
• Putting a demand on yourself, as much as on others
• Realistic
• Seeing the gifting, talent, and possibility in others. Then extrapolating the outcomes for the furtherance of the vision as well as for the personal growth of the person
• Inspirational and motivational
• Able to make the least on your team feel as though they have important contributions to make.
• Taking responsibility and able to say, “I was wrong!” when appropriate
• Guides and navigates without using manipulation
• So secure you don’t need to feed on the accolades or appreciation others. You “are” confident and competent
• Always growing in your skills, knowledge, and confidence
• Giving credit where credit is due
• Being humble

MONDAY MORSALS for Leaders – 10 Ways To Kill Your Leadership Influence and Destroy Office Morale

1. Don’t take any time to get to know any of your staff, barely know their name, or call them by the wrong name.
2. Don’t listen to your employees when they bring up an issue. Ignore their concern and then let your body language show that you’re displeased. That way they’ll never bring up anything again.
3. Expect your employees to know their job requirements, even though you have never explained the parameters of the work, their realm of authority, to whom they report to, or who else they need to collaborate with. – Just expect them to be mind readers!
4. Only thank them or show appreciation when you want them to sacrifice more or, work overtime. They won’t get that this is manipulation.
5. When those who are loyal, and genuinely want to see you to succeed bring you a concern or issue, be sure to take it as criticism. Assume they want your job; or are positioning themselves to take over the organization; want control; or have other ulterior motives.
6. Walk by your employees, and when they stop to talk to you explain, “I don’t do small talk” and just keep walking. Better yet, have your office manager send out a memo explaining to your employees how important you are, and therefore they are not to expect you to stop and talk to them, that you are too busy. They’ll then get the message they aren’t important, and realize their “place” in the organization!
7. Be sure you’ve already chosen your favorite person for any new position, before you actually post the job.   This way when other employees, who have been hoping and praying for a new position to open up, come to the interview, you won’t be swayed by their enthusiasm, emotion, or recent credentials they’ve recently earned to make themselves more valuable to the company.
8. Institute rules and standards for the whole staff that are really directed toward one person. By all means save yourself from any confrontation by never dealing with the problem people.  Allow them get away with BREAKING office policy, or better yet, let some get away with it, and others not. This way you can have different standards for different people, and play favorites.
9. Place blame, then ignore them, talk poorly about them, without ever checking or corroborating the facts of the matter. Certainly never give them an opportunity to explain their side of the story.
10. Never respond to their e-mails, or when you do, be sure to do it a week late. This way they’ll learn not to bother you with this form of communication.

Unfortunately, all leaders have done one or more of these at one point or another in their career. Those that learn from these particular mistakes, and work to eliminate this kind of negative behavior, while at the same time are adding excellent people skills to their management/leadership style, are those who won’t just surviving in this difficult day and age, but will thrive. When it all gets down to it, the important thing in business is PEOPLE. Those people that are your customers or clients, as well as those who work for you. Treat them well, and your business will flourish!

The One Skill That Will Make You Seem Like a Real Life “Hero”

I DARE YOU TO TAKE THIS LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE

I never said a complete thought but that the conversation was overridden, and my train of thought either finished by him or completely aborted.  And, I can guarantee, he was clueless as to what he was doing.  I could tell he was use to being given free, complete reign of every conversation, and why not, he was THE BOSS their leader.  Highly intelligent, moving at the rate of the Daytona 500, with more vision and energy than most exude in a life time.  I’m use to this.  It’s the typical MO of my success driven entrepreneurial clients who are the leaders of their world.  Works 24/7 with endless ideas and metabolism.  But with all the fervent, feverish drive, they’re usually missing the very glue that keeps people energized and willing to continue with enthusiasm to play on their team.

I’m  guilty many times myself.  I’ve spent years learning, practicing and failing using this “ONE” grand leadership skill that can transform not only the person, but the very climate of an office overnight.   When you use it, you become the most brilliant person anyone has known.  People will not only like entrepreneurial,leaders,leadership, leadership skills, listening, leadership influence you, they’ll think you’re just fabulous, even when you’ve never mentioned a word about what you do, or who you are.  I’m sure you already know, it’s the are of LISTENING.  Now, I didn’t say hearing, I said listening.  You can hear the train, answering the phone, and hearing the headlines on TV all at the same time.  But listening, that’s an art.  Think you already do it?  We’ll see.  Take the 48 hr test.  Yes, I said test.  You think you’ve got it so together?  Take the next 48 hours and go on a fast.  No, not from food, from talking about yourself.  I dare you.  Don’t give an opinion, don’t share an accomplishment an idea or any vision.  Don’t talk about yourself.  That is, of course, unless you’re asked a question, but even then, be brief and amazing with your answer.  Keep a log.  Write a slash every time you fail, but don’t give up.  We’ll talk next time about the value and benefits you’ll receive.  Then let me know how you do.  And if you’re really hot stuff, try it for a week.  Then we’ll know just how much you want Leadership Influence!