Weekly Leadership Reading

Our weekly leadership favorites are an eclectic collection of articles, blog posts, quotes, pod casts, books and whatever else engages our interest. Some items are recent, others aren’t. Some are mainstream, others are off the beaten path. Enjoy! Be inspired! Lead BIG!

leadbig10 New Leadership Skills. Plus, What Stays the Same? (Center for Creative Leadership)

To survive, lead and create the future, futurist Bob Johansen argues that leaders must build and apply 10 new skills in the just-released updated edition of Leaders Make the Future: Ten New Leadership Skills for an Uncertain World.

10 principles to guide 21st-century communications (Miri McDonald, SmartBlog on Leadership)

David Grossman shares his top 10 principles for communicators so they can develop authentic communications that engage employees and build reputation.

The Leader’s Five-Question Heart Check (John Bernard, Now Management System)

The BIG team believes every spreadsheet needs to have a heartbeat, and John offers up five insightful questions for self-reflection…so you can determine how much heart you’re bringing to your leadership.

Leading Yourself Out of the Victim Role (Mary Jo Asmus, Aspire CS)

If you’re caught, trapped or even wallowing in self-pity and feeling like you’ve fallen prey to everyone’s plots and schemes, you’ll benefit from the advice Mary Jo offers.

Why CEOs Are Abandoning ‘Command-and-Control’ (Alexandra Levit, Open Forum)

Some interesting research cited here reveals that “CEOs are changing the nature of work by adding a powerful dose of openness, transparency and employee empowerment to the command-and-control ethos that has characterized the modern corporation for more than a century.” Progress!

A pathway to something better. “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” ~Richard Buckminster Fuller

 

Share

This Week’s Leadership Favs

The BIG Friday leadership favorites are an eclectic collection of articles, blog posts, quotes, pod casts and whatever else engaged our interest as we did our work over the past week. Lead BIG and enjoy!

How to Map the Politics around Your Work (Colin Gautrey, The Gautrey Group)

Ewwww, say many people when the topic “office politics” is broached. Yet smart leaders understand that office politics can’t be ignored, and in fact, need to be understood. Colin offers up a fascinating exercise in this post, designed to help leaders develop a “firm grasp of what is “really” going on, can you start to navigate safely through the corridors of power.”

The 70-20-10 Rule  (Center for Creative Leadership e-Newsletter, requires free sign-up)

Based on their own research, CCL proposes a formula for developing managers that incorporates three categories of experience: “challenging assignments (70 percent), developmental relationships (20 percent) and coursework and training (10 percent). Says CCL’s Meena Surie Wilson, ‘We believe that today, even more than before, a manager’s ability and willingness to learn from experience is the foundation for leading with impact.’”

Bad is Stronger Than Good (Roy F. Baumeister, et al, research paper)

If your orientation to the world is a glass half empty, you’ll have a field day with the scientific data here, “having a good day did not have any noticeable effect on a person’s well-being the following day, whereas having a bad day did carry over and influence the next day.”  For us glass-half-full folks, all the more reason to keep working on making a positive difference and paying it forward.

Bad Boss or a Bad Job Fit? (Chris Young, Rainmaker Group)

Chris poses an interesting question here: are you certain your workplace problems are caused by having a crummy boss, or is the root cause that the wrong person was hired for the job? He proposed a three-step process to find the answer.

4 Big Reasons to Kill Your Weekly Status Meeting (Art Petty, Management Excellence)

Time is money. Relationships are the new currency of workplace. If you’re a boss and value both time and relationships, read Art’s post before you schedule your next staff meeting.

Quote of the week:  “There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permit. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.” ~Art Turock

 

Share