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Snippets on Leadership

1. A Totally New Way of Looking at Leadership - Leadership is confusing because so much has been written about it and as a result, most managers focus on the wrong things and get what they don't want.

2. Do You Know About The Three Words Of Leadership? - Successful leaders are familiar with three worlds: 1. The world inside, 2. The world outside and 3. The world between.

3. Inspirational Leaders Are Soul Proprietors - Inspirational leaders nourish the whole person: body (more income), head (more learning), heart (more belonging) and soul (more meaning). Each level is deeper and more powerful. Of the four levels soul is the most powerful. This is why inspirational leaders are 'soul proprietors.

4. From A Job To A Calling - Four ways to create callings even inside large organisations.

5. The Paradox Of Leadership - The true leader does not seek a lot of praise or reward but gets plenty. The greatest generals do not rush into every battle. They offer the enemy many opportunities to make self-defeating errors. Good leadership consists of motivating people to their highest level by offering them opportunities not obligations. To become powerful you must give away power. The leader?s new work is as a designer, as a steward, as a teacher, as a creator of creative tension.

6. The Three Critical Roles Of Leadership - These are to provide meaning, build the organisational energy and free people.

7. The Manager is Dead! - Systems thinking requires a totally different way of thinking about leadership. There's no doubt that the old way is dead.

8. The 10 Commandments Of Leadership - Leadership is quite different from management. Read about the 10 key differences and how to develop them.

9. Are you a Clever Manager or a Wise Manager? - There are many clever managers around but few wise managers. Clever managers are good at left-brain activities (analysis and planning). Wise managers are good at left and right-brained activities (meaning and relationships as well as analysis and planning). This extra dimension is one of the fundamental differences between managers and leaders.

10. How to get people to follow you to the death - "It's important to talk to people in their own language. If you do it well, they'll say: 'God, he said exactly what I was thinking.' And when they begin to respect you, they'll follow you to the death." Lee lacocca. Learn how to do this.

11. People are Crying Out for Leadership - Where is the leadership? Real leaders know that within crisis there are opportunities. It's conditions like today, that provide the opportunity to make changes that managers can usually only dream about.

12. Why Good Managers Behave Badly - Ordinary managers in a great system can produce outstanding results. Great managers in a poor system act badly, quickly become angry and frustrated.

13. Beware Of One-Size-Fits-All Leadership Development - Most leadership development programs are based on 'best practice' and assume 'one-size-fits-all.' In other words participants are taught to do the things that made other people stronger; but often, when they try to do these things, they just look silly. What they need to do are the things that will make them be stronger.

14. Leadership DevelopmentIs On The Wrong Track - Leadership development is far more than just gaining skills. It's on the wrong track. It's run by trainers not business people. It assumes you need to change people when all the evidence is that people can't be changed all that much but you can draw them out. And it is boring and lacks relevance.

15. Leadership without all the answers - Best leaders don't pretend to know everything, so, they see their main job as creating the conditions where answers are likely to emerge. This gives guidance to creating these conditions.

16. What Do You Think Makes A Great Manager? - The conclusion my clients and I have come to is that great managers are givers (not takers), radiators, not refrigerators. Great managers do not place themselves at the centre, they place others there. They do not focus on satisfying their own needs and desires, they look for ways to satisfy the needs and desires of others. Find out how.

17. Irresistible Leaders Never Die - Irresistible leaders are those rare people that others are drawn to and want to follow without knowing why and they never die. Become one of them.

18. Great Managers Play A Bigger Game - All managers make use of individuals' talents, but great managers play a bigger game; they understand the potential of entire teams. Performance reviews typically look at individuals, but managers are responsible for the output of a team, not just the team's components. Find out how they do it.

19. Buddha Hunters Unlock The Frontline - Buddha Hunters know that every person was born with a golden Buddha inside them (a core of greatness). Buddha Hunters know how to unlock this gold, especially in he frontline where it's often most obscured.

20. Irresistible Leaders Are Buddha Hunters - Irresistible Leaders are Buddha Hunters. They know that everyone has a Golden Buddha somewhere inside, however, it's mostly covered with mud that people have flicked at them over the years; and it becomes part of the picture they have accepted of themselves. Buddha Hunters help them find their greatness again.

21. Look in the mirror to see your opportunity - Look in the mirror, because, when you do, your biggest opportunities will look back at you! I think our greatest opportunity lies in discovering inner space (not outer space).

22. The Business Of Love - Over the years I have come to realise that love may be the most under recognised asset and under-utilised competitive advantage available to an organisation.

23. Leaders Are BIG People Who Know Themselves - Do you? - Many managers define themselves by the outside. Ask them who they are and they talk about their occupation (I'm an accountant), where they've come from (I'm from Timaru) or their experiences (I've consulted for some of the largest organisations in New Zealand), but none of this really talks about who they are, what they stand for or believe in.

24. LeadersKnowHumanNature.DoYou - Are humans are basically "bad" or basically "good"? Your answer shows what sort of leader you are.

25. Do People Follow You Because They Have To Or Because They Want To? - Control Leaders force their way toward their goals but often at the expense of other people. Authentic Leaders know who they are and what's important. They make their followers feel strong, capable and hopeful. They liberate people, expand them and search out their strengths. People follow them because they want to.

26. Are You A Perfect Leader? - The best leaders know they, like everyone else, have strengths and weaknesses. In areas where they can't provide their people with leadership they build it through their leadership team.

27. Are You A Radiator Or A Refrigerator? - There are two types of leaders. Research shows one is far more successful than the other. Find out what you are. And what your boss is!

28. What Really Motivates Workers - This is one of the Breakthrough Ideas for 2010 (reported in the Harvard Business Review, January-February 2010) is research about what really motivates workers.

29. Irresistible leaders are Go-givers - This is the story of Joe, a young go getter who starts off believing his success is all about getting and taking, and ends up realising it's about giving and serving. Along the way Jo discovers the five laws of stratospheric success. You'd be hard pressed to find five better laws to lead by.

30. HowTo Structure Your Organisation To Maximise Genius - a case study - This is a case study of an organisation that restructured itself to release the genius within its people.

31. Big people make others big - Managers who come from a place of strength and self-worth increase their ability to pass these feelings onto their staff a hundred-fold. And this translates directly to the success of the organisation.

32. Six Secrets Of Leadership - Research shows that 5% of people in any organisation are natural leaders, 5% are 'no hopers'; and 90% can be influenced to swing one way or the other depending on how they are led. This is why the 6 secrets are so important.

Audio material

1. Irresistible Leaders Find Genius In Their People - As an irresistible leader, probably the most important thing you can do is to identify and use your Genius factor more often. The next most important thing is to help others see theirs. Listen to the Genius secret. 4m47s.

2. The Sixth Secret Of Irresistible Leadership - Irresistible leaders never forget they have a choice. They can choose to include rather than exclude. They can choose to join rather than separate. They can choose to find the good in people, not the bad. They can choose to trust rather than distrust. Listen to the sixth secret. 4m47s.

3. The Second Secret Of Irresistible Leadership - Irresistible leaders know people are essentially the same as each other." We all want to be loved, appreciated and included. Listen to the second secret. 2m20s.

4. The first secret of Irresistible leadership - Irresistible leaders know people are fundamentally different from each other. Treat them the way they want to be treated and they will give magic. Listen to the first secret. 5m27s.