The Story Behind Storytelling

I was intrigued by storytelling this past week.  The idea started when I had conversations with two people who could captivate you with their storytelling.   
The first was a colleague who seemed to be able to talk about family and background as a story with rich context but soft words.  Those soft words weaved stories about parents, horses, childhood experiences, and even children's teachers.  I was intrigued by the impact of those soft words.
The second was a semi-retired (her words) professor who talked about life experiences in a manner that seemed so distant from the Tweet/text message driven social communication that occurs today.  I could have listened for hours to stories about education and family.   She used very rich words and assembled those words into very captivating stories.
Both instances represented styles that seemed so different from the sound bite bursts that deluge us every day. 
As a follow-up to those conversations, I started to stumble upon blog posts and manifestos on the power of storytelling.  Here are to highlights:
I came upon a ChangeThis manifesto by author Jonah Sachs who started that manifesto by proposing, “…if you want to be heard, you’d better learn to tell better stories.”  In his manifesto, he provides ten storytelling strategies:

1. Know What a Story is
2. Figure Out What You Stand For
3. Declare Your moral
4. Now prove it
5. Stop trying to Be the Hero
6. Show the Broken World
7. Make Sure there’s action
8. Reveal the moral
9. Break the mold
10. Stay On ground level

You will want to spend a few minutes reviewing this manifesto to add this valuable insight to story telling.

Link to Leadership

So an obvious question on the Lead Quietly blog is  “What does story telling have to do with leadership?”  For this question the Forbes.com blog of Dan Schawbel provides insight.  How to Use Storytelling as a Leadership Tool also directed me to the work of Paul Smith who wrote the book, Lead with a Story: A Guide to Crafting Business Narratives That Captivate, Convince, and Inspire.  Schawbel’s inteview with Paul Smith provided the following storytelling insights:

1. Start with the context. 
2. Use metaphors and analogies. 
3. Appeal to emotion. 
4. Keep it tangible and concrete. 
5. Include a surprise. 
6. Use a narrative style appropriate for business. 
7. Move beyond telling your audience a story to creating a scene or event for them to participate in. 

I would recommend going to Schawbel's blog to gain additional insight to the list.

At the end of the week, the conversations and the reading had me thinking about my storytelling capabilities.  I hope you are inspired similarly.
Thanks for reading.  Please lead quietly.
Don

Leadership Styles are Like Golf Clubs

I  recognize that different leadership styles are required for different situations. No one style is adequate for different people, groups or situations.  On the golf course, you pull a different club from your golf bag depending on your lie and distance needed, an effective leader should have a set of leadership styles in his leadership bag to most effectively lead in different situations.  A recent review of some work by author Daniel Goleman validated my thinking.  
Daniel Goleman is best known for his books on Emotional Intelligence.  His best selling work defined a set of skills and competencies that defines how people manage feelings, interact, and communicate on their way to success.
In his book Leadership: The Power of Emotional Intelligence, Goleman cites the leadership research of the consulting firm Hay/McBer that identified six distinct styles employed by leaders.  The best leaders do no rely on a single leadership style but use multiple styles and are able to move between them seamlessly and in different measure depending on the situation and people. 
He conveniently summarizes the six leadership styles and their application in a chart that I have reconstructed below.

Leadership Style	The leader’s approach	In a phrase	Best used when…	Impact on Climate
Coercive	Demands immediate compliance	"Do what I tell you."	In a crisis to kick start a turnaround	Negative
Authoritative	Mobilizes people toward a vision	"Come with me."	When changes require a new vision, or when a clear direction is needed	Most strongly positive
Affiliative	Creates harmony and builds emotional bonds	"People come first."	To heal rifts in a team or to motivate people during stressful circumstances	Positive
Democratic	Forges consensus through participation	“What do you think?”	To build buy in or consensus or to get input from valuable employees	Positive
Pacesetting	Sets high standards for performance	“Do as I do, now.”	To get quick results from a highly motivated and competent team	Negative
Coaching	Develops people for the future	“Try this.”	To help an employee improve performance or develop long-term strengths	Positive

You can access Goleman’s full description of the styles in the book, on in the original Harvard Business Review article Leadership that Get Results.  Please remember that you can access HBR articles from your local library’s online database. 

The Lead Quietly Takeaway

My takeaway from the article is that just like I have clubs in my golf bag that I avoid because I need more practice, there are leadership styles that require honing on my part to become the Phil Mickelson of the Leadership Tour.  Are you able to move and adjust your style as needed?
Thanks for reading.  Please lead quietly.
don 

My Tribute to Trey Pennington - Be-Attitudes for a New Millennium

Today, I was saddened by the news of the passing of Trey Pennington.   I am reaching back into my archives in tribute to his life and great contribution. Please read below.

Today, his suicide death reminds us that depression can take on many forms and impacts, even in someone with a great public persona.  An estimated 19 million Americans suffer from major depression.  It is an illness that must be treated and treated seriously.

Today, I was touched by a number of tributes to Trey.  The bravest was perhaps the words of Bridget Pilloud  who wrote today, The Difference between Trey Pennington and Me.  Please read it for insight into depression.




My Tribute to Trey Pennington.  RIP......

Originally Posted April 11, 2010:
I love a concise list that can provide insight, a call to action, or a quick reminder. I have noted this before in For the love of learning, you gotta love a good list. My Quiet Leader Commandments is one of my contributions.
In a similar vein, fellow AOC3 collaborator, Trey Pennington provides a great list of guiding principles for leaders. He titled his list, Be-Attitudes for a New Millenium. I discovered this great list as part of my AOC3 Learn Quest , my personal mission to learn from each of the contributors to the book Age of Conversation 3 that will be available soon.
Here are Trey's Be-Attitudes:

The Be-Attitudes for a New Millenium

Be alert: You may either be self-centered or alert.
Be quiet: When you’re quiet, you can listen.
Be available: yep, this is a 24/7 world and banker’s hours went away as an acceptable measure of availability a long time ago.
Be visible: it means having a sufficient presence wherever “your people” might be hanging out they know you’re there when they need you.
Be responsive: If your people” ask you a question, give them an answer.
Be generous: the days of protecting your turf are long gone.
Be helpful: Help people solve their problems; good things will happen.
Be quiet: quietness is linked to humility is linked to greatness.

Please read the full descriptons at treypennington.com. The post's comments are also enlightening.

In summary, I appreciate the entire list but especially like the extra attention given to the call to "Be Quiet."
Trey links quietness to humility and reminds us of the great and sustainable accomplishment of those who changed the word quietly in contrast to the loud ones who have left us with messes. (think about our current economic state)
Additionally Trey posits, "When you’re quiet, you can listen." Listening is a key element of building community, learning, balance and building vision.
I'm honored for the opportunity to collaborate with Trey Pennington and others. My AOC3 Learn Quest challenge is my mission to explore the work of every co-collaborator of the Age of Conversation 3. I am humbled to be a part of this great group of writers and thinkers. They offer so much to learn and explore. You can follow my progress on my AOC3 Dashboard. The book will be available soon. Proceeds to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation
Enjoy, keep meshing up and lead quietly.
Don
#AOC3

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Top 150 Management & Leadership Blogs and so much more

I'm a fan of lists. I'm a huge fan of the list of the best management and leadership blogs that Jurgen Appelo compiled at the Noop.NL blog. It is much more than a blog roll of great blogs. Here is what you get:

It's a list of the top 150 leadership and management blogs that includes the best in the business. I could spend hours navigating from blog to blog to receive the best insight on leadership that the blogosphere has to offer. I'm also pleased because my humble and amateur efforts at LeadQuietly made the list (#123). I appreciate being on the edges of this community.

Because we can't afford to spend hours and hours navigating from blog to blog, Jurgen has also provided a link to the efforts of Jay Goldman at the Make Work Meaningful blog who supplies the list in an OPML file that can be imported into Google Reader. I was already following many of these blogs in my Google Reader but really appreciate the full list. For me, my Google Reader allows me to follow hundreds of blogs across a half dozen interests areas. It is essential for my daily reading.

You are already getting your money's worth but wait, there is more. Follow these top bloggers on Twitter by following the Twitter list that Jurgen compiled. Get the list from the post. Click the list URL and you are ready to follow the group. It's a big job to compile a list like this. Thank you, Jurgen.

And yet there is more to learn from Jurgen. In another post entitled How to Make a Top Blog List, he provides a detailed description on how this list was compiled. Reading this description of his algorithms is a great lesson in page rank, traffic rankings, Technorati Authority, and more.

Thank you, Jurgen. This effort demonstrates the best of the blogosphere. Its a real meshing effort.

Thanks for reading. Please Lead Quietly and Mesh.

Don

Posted via web from Meshing Up

Ten Unwritten Rules of Communication - a good reminder

We all know that communication is a key element of collaboration and leadership. Communication and leadership are inextricably linked.  We don't need a reminder for this. 

At the same time, we also understand that communicaiton is an art with gads of variables and nuance.  It's the type of challenge that can benefit from a list of rules, guidelines, or reminders.

I found such a list from author and consultant Mike Myatt on his N2Growth Post Unwritten Rules of Communication.  Here are the rules and a summary of Mike's elaboration:

1. Speak not with a forked tongue: Trust is key and  is best created by earning it with right acting, thinking, and decisioning.
2. Get personal: There is great truth in the axiom that states: “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
3. Get specific: Specificity is better than Ambiguity 11 times out of 10: Learn to communicate with clarity.. weed out the superfluous and to make your words count.
4. Focus on the leave-behinds not the take-aways: The best communicators develop the ability to get the information they need while leaving the other party feeling as if they got more out of the conversation than you did.
5. Have an open mind: I’ve often said that the rigidity of a closed mind is the single greatest limiting factor of new opportunities. In my opinion a leader takes their game to a whole new level the minute they willingly seek out those who hold dissenting opinions and opposing positions with the goal not of convincing them to change their minds, but with the goal of understanding what’s on their mind. I’m always amazed at how many people are truly fearful of opposing views as opposed to being genuinely curious and interested. Open dialogs with those that confront you, challenge you, stretch you, and develop you. Remember that it’s not the opinion that matters, but rather the willingness to discuss it with an open mind.
6. Shut-up and listen: No elaboration required. 
7. Replace ego with empathy: When cador is communicated with empathy & caring and not the prideful arrogance of an over inflated ego good things begin to happen.
8. Read between the lines:  Being a leader should not be viewed as a license to increase the volume of rhetoric. Rather astute leaders know that there is far more to be gained by surrendering the floor than by filibustering. In this age of instant communication, everyone seems to be in such a rush to communicate what’s on their mind that they fail to realize everything to be gained from the minds of others. Keep your eyes & ears open and your mouth shut and you’ll be amazed at how your level or organizational awareness is raised.
9. When you speak, know what you’re talking about: Develop a technical command over your subject matter. If you don’t possess subject matter expertise, few people will give you the time of day.
10. Speak to groups as individuals:  Knowing how to work a room and establish credibility, trust and rapport are keys to successful interactions.

via n2growth.com

I'd recommend a full read of the post not only as a checklist for your own actions but to also help understand the approaches of the people that you work with daily.

Thanks for reading.  Please lead quietly.

Don

Posted via web from Meshing Up

Four Simple "Shared" Ideas for Building Community

I'm into simple and concise ideas about leadership.

This even applies to more complex leadership challenges like community building where I have written previously on simple concepts for community building. For example:

Building Community - Trust Begets Trust
Cites the work of Kouzes and Posner in The Leadership Challenge where the authors identify trust as a foundation for community and teamwork.

Building Community: Thank you as a way of leading
Proposes gratitude as an easy and remarkably powerful step in building the type of community that is essential for successful teams.

Building Community with Giving
Suggests that giving and service are key ingredients to building community across teams.

Becky Robinson at the Mountain State University LeaderTalk recently posted four simple ideas for community building. Her ideas were both "simple" and accessible.

Here are her four points along with my comments and links to my previous posts:

Shared relationships. People feel part of a community when they are well connected in relationships... leaders facilitate this interconnectedness. The more people are interconnected, the more likely they are to have a sense of community.

Get to know the people around you. To me, it starts with knowing about their families and names of spouses and children; it allows you to connect quickly.

Sustain the interconnectedness with smiles and gratitude.

Shared experiences. When people participate in activities together, collaborating as a whole or working in small groups, relationships have a chance to grow. Even after the activity is over, shared memories with others can contribute to a sense of community.

Draw people into your plans and tasks. Collaboration doesn't have to be hard. But is starts best with questions and listening; not telling. Also, let's dispel the myths that collaboration takes longer or suggests that a leader is soft or weak.

Shared goals and purpose. As people rally around a shared cause or goal, a sense of community builds. People feel emboldened by others who are working toward the same purpose.

I have previously cited the work of Kouzes and Posner who describe the importance of a shared vision across a team or organization. They suggest in their work, "Remember that leadership is a dialogue, not a monologue.... it's about developing a shared sense of destiny. "

Shared achievement. People enjoy being a part of something bigger than themselves, knowing that their contribution makes a difference. Leaders who recognize a groups' effort build community.

I feel that celebration should be an important element of the gratitude shown by an organization. As I have written before Gratitude is Transformational.

Becky's community building list is a perfect way to remind leaders that building community doesn't have to be hard.

Thanks for David Zinger for his Tweet that shared this nice list.

Thanks for reading. Please lead quietly. Don

Posted via web from Intersectable

Quiet Strength, Quiet Leader, Quiet Winner

Tony Dungy, quiet leader, coach of the Indianapolis Colts and the winning coach of Super Bowl XLI, is the fifth leader to take a place in my personal Quiet Leader Hall of Fame.

With this profile, Coach Dungy joins a distinguished group of leaders that includes:

• U.S. Grant
• Abraham Lincoln
• Robert Greenleaf
• Dwight D Eisenhower

Granted, it feels like an unusual choice to me to propose a sports hero as a Quiet Leader of note. Nevertheless, I was moved by his leadership and approach when I read his autobiography, Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, & Priorities of a Winning Life. He may be the ideal Quiet Leader role model, a contemporary figure who is very public about his quiet approach, his faith, and his success. I'm not alone in my admiration. Time Magazine in 2007 named Dungy to their list of "The 100 Most Influential People in the World."

In 1972, I was a student at the University of Minnesota when Tony arrived on campus to play football and basketball. As a member of the U of M Football Marching band, I watched from the sidelines as Dungy grew as the quarterback/leader of the Golden Gophers. I was a Dungy fan in those early days when I knew nothing of his leadership approach. I only knew that he was a winner.

Dungy reconnected with Minnesota in 1992 when he returned to become the defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings. I remember thinking at the time as I enjoyed listening to Dungy on sports talk radio thinking how I would prefer Dungy to be the Vikings head coach. It wouldn't happen at Minnesota.

Dungy left Minnesota to become the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and it was in this this role where his style, unique in the football world, become public and prominent. Let's explore his leadership from using snippets of his book.

On Vision
"The first step toward creating an improved future is developing the ability to envision it. Only vision allows us to transform dreams of greatness into the reality of achievement through human action."

On his quiet approach
I don't yell a lot. In fact yelling will be rare," ... if my voice at this level won't get your attention, and you believe you need someone to yell at you to correct you or motivate you, then we'll probably need to find you another team to play for so that you can play your best."

Accountability
"Take Ownership No excuses, no explanations."

Family Balance
In his book, Tony stresses the importance of family and life balance. He cites that football is only a game. But tells the team directly at the beginning of every season, " I want each guy to understand this his family is his first priority."

Albert Eienstein provides a quote that nicely underscores the Dungy approach,

Try not to become a man of success but rather a man of value.

A great summary of the quiet leadership style of Tony Dungy.

Thanks for reading. Please lead quietly.
Don

All is Calm - an Important Element of Quiet Leadership

Today is Christmas Day and amongst the festivities, song, eating, and conversation, the phrase "All is Calm" as heard in the Christmas classic "Silent Night" came to mind and took special meaning as I awoke this morning.

Calmness is an essential element of quiet leadership. No words validate the importance of calm better or more beautifully than the words of James Allen in his 1902 classic As a Man Thinketh. Please enjoy.

CALMNESS of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom. It is the result of long and patient effort in self-control. Its presence is an indication of ripened experience, and of a more than ordinary knowledge of the laws and operations of thought.

A man becomes calm in the measure that he understands himself as a thought evolved being, for such knowledge necessitates the understanding of others as the result of thought, and as he develops a right understanding, and sees more and more clearly the internal relations of things by the action of cause and effect he ceases to fuss and fume and worry and grieve, and remains poised, steadfast, serene.

The calm man, having learned how to govern himself, knows how to adapt himself to others; and they, in turn, reverence his spiritual strength, and feel that they can learn of him and rely upon him. The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Even the ordinary trader will find his business prosperity increase as he develops a greater self-control and equanimity, for people will always prefer to deal with a man whose demeanour is strongly equable.

The strong, calm man is always loved and revered. He is like a shade-giving tree in a thirsty land, or a sheltering rock in a storm. "Who does not love a tranquil heart, a sweet-tempered, balanced life? It does not matter whether it rains or shines, or what changes come to those possessing these blessings, for they are always sweet, serene, and calm. That exquisite poise of character, which we call serenity is the last lesson of culture, the fruitage of the soul. It is precious as wisdom, more to be desired than gold--yea, than even fine gold. How insignificant mere money seeking looks in comparison with a serene life--a life that dwells in the ocean of Truth, beneath the waves, beyond the reach of tempests, in the Eternal Calm!

The full text of As a Man Thinketh can be read or downloaded from the Gutenberg Project. It's classic text is timeless. My only recommendation is to look beyond the male gender specificity of the words or optionally consider As A Woman Thinketh

Thanks for reading. Please lead quietly.

Merry Christmas,
Don

Quick Leadership Test - Are you a we or me leader?

A book that I have wanted to read since last spring was The Leadership Challenge by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner. More recently, I was reminded by the "Top Five Leadership Book" recommendations by fellow leadership blogger Ron Hurst at the MaterialLeadership blog. This was a book I had to read.

I connected with the book almost immediately in chapter one while reading about the "we" test for leadership.

Readers of this blog might sense that I like simple concepts. Simple concepts are ideas that resonate with a straightforward definition, a life hack, a list, or a quick test. I love to carry a few of these simple concepts in my pocket as a quick reference guide to good leadership. A simple concept inspires me and serves as a reminder that won't get lost in the complexity of everyday living.

Kouzes and Posner's "we" test for leadership is a perfect example of a simple concept.

In chapter one, Kouses and Posner introduce the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership. The fourth practice cited by Kouzes and Posner is "Enable Other to Act." As they write,

Exemplary leaders enable others to act. They foster collaboration and build trust.

This is an idea that is perfectly consistent with the "Build Community" principle of Quiet Leadership. It was the "we test" that resonated with me. Here is their test:

Leadership is a team effort. After reviewing thousands of personal-best cases, we developed a simple test to detect whether someone is on the road to becoming a leader. That test is the frequency of the use of the word "we." In our interview with Alan Keith, for instance, he used the word "we" nearly three times more often then the word "I" in explaining his personal-best leadership experience.

It's a simple concept. "We" is the leadership pronoun.

The test is simple. When you review your work or provide a status report to your manager, are you using the leadership pronoun.

I had previously recognized the "we" concept in my June post that recognized former President Eisenhower as a quiet leader. Historian and author Stephen Ambrose stated,

Eisenhower never used the word "I". It was always "we," except one time when he wrote out the message that would be handed to the press in the event the landings failed. And there he used the personal vertical pronoun, it's my fault, I did it. Otherwise it was always "we".

Its a proven idea and a simple concept that resonates. Are you a "we or me" leader? We is the leadership pronoun.

Thanks for reading. Please lead quietly.
Don

What leaders really do.

I was inspired this past week with a new body of work when I discovered an insightful Harvard Business Review article and an extended body of work by former Harvard professor John Kotter.

Thanks to Jim Estill, CEO of SYNNEX Canada in his CEO Blog - Time Leadership blog for facilitating this discovery with his summary of the Harvard Business Review article, What Leaders Really Do.

In the HBR article, Kotter reflects on the difference between management and leadership. Although this topic is frequently explored as verified by a quick Google search, I appreciated a number of Kotter's insights on the role of leadership in a "managed" organization.

So what do leaders do:

They don't make plans; they don't even organize people. What leaders really do is prepare organizations for change and help them cope as they struggle through it.

Leadership isn't mystical and mysterious. It has nothing to do with having "charisma"or other exotic personality traits. It is not the province of a chosen few.

Leadership ... is about coping with change. More change always demands more leadership.

Since the function of leadership is to produce change, setting the direction of that change is fundamental to leadership. Setting direction is never the same as planning or even long-term planning.

The more that change characterizes the business environment, the more that leaders must motivate people to provide leadership as well. When this works, it tends to reproduce leadership across the entire organization, with people occupying multiple leadership roles throughout the hierarchy. This is highly valuable, because coping with change in any complex business demands initiatives from a multitude of people. Nothing less will work.

But perhaps the most aha moment for me started with this Kotter quote, "Most U.S. corporations today are overmanaged and underled." The organization that over focuses on budgets, plans, forecast and organization may miss the mark. I found his military analogy, written in 1991 before the Iraq war, very insightful,

Consider a simple military analogy:
A peacetime army can usually survive with good administration and management up and down the hierarchy, coupled with good leadership concentrated at the very top. A wartime army, however, needs competent leadership at all levels. No one yet has figured out how to manage people effectively into battle; they must be led.

The Kotter article is highly recommended for quiet leaders.

Thank for reading. Please lead quietly.
Don

What do you mean Lead Quietly? Introducing the Lead Quietly Manifesto

A colleague of mine asked a very good question recently. He subscribes to Lead Quietly and asked what I meant when I close my blog with "Please Lead Quietly." I can't really mean you need to be quiet. Do I mean please lead effectively?

Certainly, but let me explain.

First, when I end the blog by saying, "Please lead quietly", I consier the phrase a tagline. As much as anything, it is a branding ploy. Kind of like:

• Walter Cronkite - "That's the way it is."


• Edward R. Murrow - "Good night and good luck."


• Star Trek - "To boldly go where no man has gone before"

Of course, I recognize that "Please lead quietly." doesn't compare to these legendary taglines. However there is deeper meaning.

Over the months of learning and blogging I have tried to distill my notion of quiet leadership into a framework, a set of principles, a manifesto. It's a work in progress. Nevertheless let me share my early thoughts.


What is quiet leadership?



It is leadership where the leader focuses on four principles:

• Building community.


• Acting with vision.


• Learning and adapting.


• Keeping things balanced.

Future posts will explore these four concepts. My ultimate goal is to publish a "Lead Quietly" manifesto.


So what does any of this have to do with being quiet. Very little. But these principles are accessible to any leader. You don't have to be charismatic or a super hero. Anyone can lead quietly. And I firmly believe that many loud, macho leaders would be better leaders with some quiet insight.


Your comments are always welcome.


Thanks for reading. Please lead quietly.

Don

Apples are Square - Changing the Way We Lead

My study of leadership recently brought into sight a 2007 book by Thomas and Susan Kuczmarski entitled, Apples Are Square: Thinking Differently About Leadership. The key highlight of the book is its exploration of the human side of leadership.

With a subtitle of "The 6 Critical Values That Are Changing the Way We Lead and Succeed, the Kuczmarski's identify six leadership qualities, that is, the six sides of a squared apple. These six qualities are:

• Humility - Leaders should view themselves as insignificant
• Compassion - Leaders understand others and are concerned with other's well being.
• Transparency - A leader must be emotionally and mentally accessible to other. No hidden agendas.
• Inclusiveness - A leader must accept and value people's differences.
• Collaboration - A leader must leverage people's strength to form strong partnerships in pursuit of common goals.
• Values-based Decisiveness - A leader must allow values to serve as the compass for decision-making.

The six qualities align nicely with the human side of quiet leadership.

The authors follow this list with a seven step approach for implementing change. The first step is to "Reach out to serve others" essentially, living as a servant. Call it servant leadership if you prefer.

The book provides nice insight on leadership and a framework for evaluating the human side of your organization. How does your organization fit?

Thanks for reading. Please lead quietly.
Don

The Myths of Leadership - It doesn't have to be loud

Consultant and speaker Greg Smith wrote an online article for Lab Manager Magazine that identifies five leadership myths, that is, five leadership characteristics that are "false, but believed to be true."

The article is another great example of the "growing body of work" that is compatible with quiet leadership as described on this blog.

Greg's list also reminds me of my learning and new insights gained over the past two months. Please allow my to reminisce. Here is the list of myths with my links to previous posts.


Myth 1 - Leadership is a rare ability only given to a few.
Agree. Anyone can be a leader. It's a choice.

Myth 2 - Leaders are charismatic.
Agree. There is no inherent relationship between charisma and leadership. Unless you call it care-isma.


Myth 3 - The person with the title, most rank or the highest position is the leader.
Agree. No Title Required. Big L leadership isn't required.

Myth 4 - Effective leadership is based on control, coercion, and manipulation
Agree. Macho Management, No Thanks.


Myth 5 - Good leaders have more education than other people.
Agree. Education is great but not necessarily related to leadership. To me, its really all about learning.

Thanks for reading and reminiscing. Please lead quietly.

Don

What do you mean by charisma?

I struggle with the relationship between leadership and charisma. It is a complex relationship and a range of definitions for charisma adds to the confusion. What do you mean by charisma?

Writer, speaker and leadership coach Rhett Laubach provides a much appreciated insight by referring to charisma as care-isma. The label is brilliant.


I have written previously that there is no inherent link between leadership and charisma. My notion of quiet leadership is that charisma in the form of big theatrics and super powers is not required. Leadership does not require the characteristics defined in the classic and oft-cited definition of charisma by sociologist Max Weber. Weber's definition includes words like, "set apart from ordinary people and endowed with supernatural, superhuman powers, and heroic qualities."

I find Laubach's insight on care-isma just perfect. He writes,

People naturally like to be around people who are pleasant,
joyful and smiling. It is a natural response to a natural trait of influential people who are great at attracting others. Call it charisma if you want. I prefer to call it care-isma. It demonstrates you care about your attitude, you care about the influence you have on others, and you care about others.

This type of charisma, i.e. care-isma resolves the complexity for me. My less than super powers are quite adequate and I am happy to leave charisma to the actors, athletes, evangelists, and politicians. And the best news to me is that I can be myself. No other personas are required.

Thanks for reading. Please lead quietly.

Don

Hiding your leadership

Brent Filson has a great post on Jonathan Farrington's Leadership Turn blog titled "Hiding Your Leadership: The Jersey Joe Walcott Way of Leading". I found it coincidental that I read this link between boxing and leadership only minutes after talking to a colleague about the quiet, "after boxing" leadership exhibited by Muhammad Ali in his book, The Soul of a Butterfly: Reflections on Life's Journey. Let's save any discussion on Ali and boxing for another time and focus on hidden leadership.

Filson describes the power and purpose of leadership that is hidden. The post is very insightful and I personally had two ahaa moments.

One highlight of the post was a great quote from Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu,

As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honor and praise. The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate … When the best leader’s work is done the people say, ‘We did it ourselves!

The second great insight was Filson's leadership Imperative where he underscores the learning and teamwork value of quiet, hidden leadership.

I will lead people in such a way that we not only accomplish the needed results but that we together help one another grow personally and professionally.

I also agreed with two cautionary notes by Filson. First he warns that the term hidden has a pejorative side. The word hidden might have a fearful or sneaky meaning. Perhaps using the label "quiet" versus "hidden" helps with this connotation. Quiet seems more discretionary, more of a choice, and not sneaky. I agree with the caution; sneaky manipulative leaders need not apply.

Secondly, we totally agree that this leadership style, whatever we call it, is never passive. It is hard work. In the end, when your team proclaims, "We did it ourselves", it is worth it.

Quiet leaders should definitely read the Leadership Turn post. It is highly recommended.


Thanks for reading. Please lead quietly.

Don

Bring Paper - another Tom Peter's tip

As I have written before, there are many points made by Tom Peters that I don't agree with. For example, he starts the Re-imagine book with a "Made as Hell" prologue where he says,
"I happen to believe that all innovation comes, not from market research or carefully crafted focus groups, but from pissed-off people."

This quiet leader has a hard time believing that you have to be steamed in order to innovate. In fact I feel quite the contrary. I simply can't be creating or innovating when steamed.

However, a Tom Peters tip that I appreciate is also found in his success tips, #24.

Tom writes, "He/She who writes the Agenda and Summary Doc wields ... Incredible Power!" If you are attending a meeting you quietly benefit by bringing paper. The paper of course has an agenda, a proposal, an approach, anything that might allow you to control the agenda. Even if your thoughts are not fully formed, try passing out a discussion document that contains your "brainstorming." You will benefit with some control over the agenda.

When the meeting is over, volunteer to create summary notes. As Tom says, "
Only the meek & quiet Notetaker knows the story; and long after the participants have washed the memory of the meeting clean from their crowded lives, the Notetaker’s Summary comes along explaining what transpired ... Carefully Edited."

The moral of the story, "Bring paper."

Thanks for reading and please, lead quietly.

Don

It begets it - Tom Peters

My daily reading/learning will occasionally take me to the Tom Peters web site. Wow, what a resource for leaders, managers, and entrepreneurs.

If you have ever seen Tom Peters you probably would not categorize him as a quiet leader. In fact, he is a self-described "professional loudmouth". He even flatly disagrees with some of the tenants of quiet leadership. See this You Tube video to see his critique of Jim Collin's Level 5 quietness.

Nevertheless, there are nuggets of quiet leadership theory throughout his work. One of my favorites, "it begets it."

You have to dig into the Tom Peters success tips archive to find "It begets it" in tip #5, "Target #1: Me!"

It begets it. It is a simple way of saying that if you do it, others will follow.

• Smiles begets smiles. If you smile, others will smile back. Try it it works.
• Thanks begets thanks. We can never say thank you too much. Wouldn't it be nice if everyone said thanks. It starts with you. Others will follow.
• Names begets names. Greet people by name and the use of names will grow.

A quiet leader can influence his or her environment by starting with the little things. Smile, thank, use names, stay positive.

Thanks for reading. Please lead quietly.

Don

12 Rules for Self Leadership

My leadership reading this week courtesy of del.icio.us allowed me to discover an insightful list on the Lifehack.org site. Written by author and consultant Rosa Say the list presents 12 Rules for Self-Leadership. The entire list was insightful but items #2, 4, 11, and 12 resonated with me and my notion of Quiet Leadership. Please enjoy.