Troubled by charisma, angst about heroics.

I am troubled by charisma. I have angst about leadership heroics.

I am talking about the expectation that there is a link between leadership and charisma and that heroics are a leadership requirement.

The trouble for me reemerged a few weeks ago when Jim Stroup at Managing Leadership described a television interview where a mandatory link between charisma and leadership was proposed by a university professor of psychology. Jim questioned the link in his post as did I in my comment to the post.

I do not believe that charisma is inextricably linked to leadership. To establish my position, I will cite the research and work of author Jim Collins in his bestseller,Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't. I'd like to believe the the type of Level 5 leadership Collins proposes in Good to Great can and should be the leadership style to which we aspire. He describes the humility of Level 5 leaders who,

Acts with quiet, calm determination;
relies principally on inspired standards,
not inspiring charisma, to motivate.

Certainly, there is another camp to this debate. There are some who believe that charisma and even narcissism are important elements of the leadership mix. Tom Peters has publicly refuted the Jim Collins position (Here is the PowerPoint titled, Tom Peters Squares Off with Jim Collins. Or: The Case for ... Technicolor!). I respect of the work of Tom Peters tremendously and as another Best of 2008 Leadership Blog nominee, you will find nuggets of Tom Peters insight scattered throughout this blog. You can see why I am challenged by charisma.

In the midst of my recent debate, I was reminded of another post in the Lead Quietly archive which is inspired by another Best of 2008 Leadership Blog nominee, Rhett Laubach. In What do you mean by charisma? I also challenged the relationship of leadership and charisma. I wrote,

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.

I recently revisited the Laubach's Personal Leadership Insight blog and picked up another simple nugget that resonates with me, "If you want more influence, have care-isma." Rhett, it's brilliant.

Thanks for reading. 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

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

Humbly standing among the leadership giants

I'm excited to announce Lead Quietly has been named a finalist for the 2008 Best of Leadership Blog competition hosted by Kevin Eikenberry at the Remarkable Learning blog.


The contest runs through the month of July, and I hope you’ll take a look at the nominees and cast your vote.

I am humbled by the attention for Lead Quietly. When I started blogging just over one year ago, I set out to explore two new areas for me. First, I was new to blogging and I wanted to get a feel for the tools, approaches, the social learning and explore the revenue stream of blogging. Secondly, I wanted to study leadership and learn about this "new" style of leadership that seemed to be getting more attention and was certainly more compatible with my own personality and style. From these two notions, Lead Quietly was launched.

It has been a fun journey and today, 74 posts later, I stand in front of you (OK, I'm actually sitting at my keyboard) and proudly and humbly accept the nomination. I'm actually asking for your vote.

So, you're asking, we would I vote for Lead Quietly? I submit this top-ten list.

Reasons to Vote for Lead Quietly in the Best of 2008 Leadership Blogs

1. In the spirit of the blogosphere, a vote for Lead Quietly is like a vote for all of the other blogs that I have cited in the past year. This is probably about fifty in total including over half of this year's "best" nominees. I could not have succeeded with the knowledge and insight of the army of leadership experts who blog and write.
2. Lead Quietly is a basement blog. I literally write my posts from the basement of my home. There's no corporate suite, no ivory tower here. It's me, my laptop, and my little basement window. And, of course, quite a bit of help from the blogosphere. From this basement position, a vote for Lead Quietly can take you nowhere but up.
3. Lead Quietly should be competing in the amateur division. It is purely an amateur effort. I may be the only nominated blogger who is not a published author, consultant, speaker, or trainer. I am a practicing leader with strong emphasis on the word practicing. I humbly stand alongside the pros. I'm asking for a few votes to avoid embarrassment.
4. Voting for Lead Quietly is like cheering for your favorite small market baseball team without money to pay for free agents. You gotta love a low budget effort and Lead Quietly is truly low-budget using a free host (Blogger), free Blogger template, and open source editor. (ScribeFire). I have to confess to the authors among us that most of the books I cite were checked out from our local public library. My only expense is my domain registration.
5. Regardless of how you vote, it's a Cinderella Story for me. To be placed in the company of Tom Peters, Jim Kouzes, Barry Posner and the entire nominated list is like qualifying for the US Open as a amateur, playing one good round of golf and finding yourself in a twosome with Tiger Woods. It doesn't get any better then this.
6. Vote for Change. A vote for any of the nominated blogs is a clear vote with a mandate for leadership change or leadership period. My name is Don Frederiksen and I approve this ad.
7. No commercial interruptions. Lead Quietly is presented in full without commercial interruption. You will not find advertising or other promotion on the sight. I have to make one disclaimer. My book references are done with text hyperlinks to my Amazon Associate account. Total earnings to date: $1.44. Thank you to the two people who clicked through my book links and bought a book. Five more books and I've paid this year's domain registration.
8. Support education. I'm a student of leadership. It only took me a few weeks to realize that I was not going to replace my day job with blogging. Since that time, my only real motivation for the blog is learning and growing. I love to learn and a vote for Lead Quietly is a vote for education. OK, I still read and dream by reading Darren Rowse at ProBlogger.
9. Voting for Lead Quietly is a quiet vote in support of the kind of leader and manager that we all want to work with. This leader is humble, a "we", other-oriented person who loves to learn, has great vision, builds community, and keeps it all in balance. Don't we all desire to work with great leaders?
10. A vote for Lead Quietly or any of the nominated blogs is a vote for the community of bloggers, whether nominated or not, who keep the space moving and churning (Nobody churns better than Tom Peters). Any vote advances leadership as a course of study within the blogosphere. Thanks Kevin Eichenberry for your sponsorship of this campaign and your Remarkable Leadership.

Please visit all of the blogs to learn and advance leadership.

Thanks for reading. Please lead quietly and vote for your favorite leadership blog.
Humbly,
Don

Tom Peter's Leaderly List

I am a fan of Tom Peters.  Last week, Tom tweeted that he had posted a leadership self-assessment on his web site.  I took a look and given my fondness for leaderly lists, I retweeted the following:

A mini-MBA in leadership: @tom_peters: Tom's posted a leadership self-assessment at http://t.co/E85iX6cp46.
— Don Frederiksen (@donfred) May 31, 2013

If you are looking for a  quick checklist for leaderly actions, the summary at the bottom of the post provides that mini-MBA in leadership.

In your self assessment, ask yourself, am I a(n)   fill in the blank from the Peter's list.__

• "Aggressive listener."
• Expert at questioning.
• Meetings as leadership opportunity #1.
• Creating a "civil society."
• Expert at "helping."
• Expert at holding productive conversations.
• Fanatic about clear communications.
• Fanatic about training.
• Master of appreciation/acknowledgement.
• Effective at apology.
• Creating a culture of automatic helpfulness by all to all.
• Presentation excellence.
• Conscious master of body language.
• Master of hiring.
• Master of evaluating people.
• Time manager par excellence.
• Avid practitioner of MBWA/Managing By Wandering Around.
• Avid student of the process of influencing others per se.
• Student of decision making and devastating impact of irrational aspects thereof.
• Brilliantly schooled student of negotiation.
• Creating a no-nonsense execution culture.
• Meticulous about employee development/100% of staff.
• Student of the power of "d"iversity (all flavors of difference).
• Aggressive in pursuing gender balance.
• Making team-building excellence everyone's daily priority.
• Understanding value of matchless 1st-line management.
• Instilling "business sense" in one and all.

The list is a wealth of great reminders.   The entire post is indeed a mini-MBA in leadership.

Thanks for reading.  Please lead quietly

Don

Team Building and Collaboration - Let's Compare the Lists

I like lists. To me, a good list, for example, a David Letterman-like top ten list of the key elements or points of a topic are all that I need to get started. I often pick out a key point or two and then drill into the details. Kind of like, reading a Wikipedia entry where you might pick up a point or two in the narrative but what you really want is to get an overview of the topic and then drill into the "Further Reading" or "External Links" at the bottom of the entry.

I stated my affinity for lists in an earlier post, For the Love of Learning, you gotta love a good list. I like a good list. Two of my favorites that I refer to for affirmation include:

Rosa Say: Twelve Rules of Self-Leadership

Tom Peters - Change this Manifesto: This I Believe

The power of lists also hit my Google Reader this past week in a post by Tom Davenport on the The Next Big Thing blog on Harvard Business Publishing. Professor Tom Davenport is a coauthor of Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning. A good book on the power of analytics and business intelligence as used in winning companies.

Last week he posted Top Ten Reasons for Top Ten Lists where, with a touch of sarcasm and humor, he lists the top ten reasons why we like lists.

My list of reasons might be different (maybe a later post) but I like a concise list that you can interpret as marching orders or a call to action.

Coincidently, my current review of books and literature on collaboration and team-building happens to be list centered.

So over the next few weeks, I plan on sharing these lists as I aim to expand our knowledge of a quiet leader's role in team-building and collaboration. After we have reviewed and commented on the lists, I'd like to aggregate the lists into a single uber list of key leadership elements for collaboration. I haven't compared the lists yet. However, I suspect that we will find some intersecting points as we compare the lists.

Here is my list of list-centered books that I plan to review:

6 Habits of Highly Effective Teams
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork

For good measure, I plan to also review a couple of additional lists that I have referenced in the past.

Also, please contribute any other team-centered lists that you have found interesting. As the information consolidates, I use this information to compile a Lead Quietly list high performance characteristics. Your contributions are priceles.

Thanks for reading. Please lead quietly.
Don

Godin's "Tribes" - I defaced it.

I defaced my copy of Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us. It's not what you think. I liked Seth Godin's latest book and its ideas.

You see, I have this habit of writing reference notes in the back pages of the books that I read. If there is an idea or insight that I feel that I want to revisit, I will write a one or two word note and a page reference. The note allows me to go back and revisit an idea. Most of the books that I read have only a handful of notes. By the time I had finished Tribes, I had nearly two pages and 16 high-level ideas that I wanted to revisit. Combined with some dog ears, my copy of Tribes is a bit of a mess. It's defaced.

Before I started reading Tribes, Godin was already a hero of mine. As an author, blogger, and marketer, his work had already impacted my thinking about marketing, the web, and entrepreneurship. I was anxious to connect with his latest book, Tribes, because of it's focus on leadership.

My admiration for the book is not unqualified. If you are looking for a leadership book with substantive leadership theory, I recommend that you consider Warren Bennis, Peter Drucker, James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner, Jim Collins, Tom Peters, Robert Greenleaf and others.

On the other hand, if you are looking for contemporary insight at the intersection of leadership, marketing, and social networking, Godin provides plenty of thought provoking insights and ideas. These are the thoughts that led me to deface my copy.

Here are a handful of Godin's ideas.

Leadership is a choice that you make. I have written previously about leadership choice. Godin agrees and writes, "everyone in an organization-not just the boss-is expected to lead...individuals have more leverage than every before."

Fear of failure is overrated. Fear is a significant inhibitor of innovation and progress. He says, "We choose not to be remarkable because we're worried about criticism."

Curiosity - Godin puts curiosity on a pedestal. He says, "Curious people count....curiosity... will lead us to distinguish our own greatness."

Leadership requires bravery. "Managing doesn't, and following the rules to make a living doesn't.... Pushing the envelope.... requires bravery."

Wrong isn't fatal. Godin reminds us that Steve Jobs at Apple has been plenty wrong. Although most recent thinking about Jobs concerns his health, the reputation of Jobs isn't based on his failures like the Apple III, NeXT, or Newton. "The secret of being wrong isn't to avoid being wrong. The secret is being willing to be wrong. The secret is realizing that wrong isn't fatal."

These are just a handful of insights that I noted in defacing my copy of Tribes. There is much more inside. I recommend that you get your own copy to deface.

Thanks for reading. Be brave and curious. Please lead quietly.
Don

Building Community - Trust Begets Trust

I am very fond of any catch phrase that allows me to easily remember or convey a principle. I apply catch phrases in technology, leadership, or even home life. Here are some of my favorites in my technology space, i.e., business intelligence and data warehousing:

• Touch a table, take a table.
• Nulls are evil.
• Let the ETL do the heavy lifting.

At home, there is a separate set of catch phrases that I use with my teenagers. For example:

• Make good decisions
• Learn a lot
• No Bs, No Keys

These catch phrases are great because once they are explained and used, they serve as easy reminders and statements of guiding principles for a team or a family. You gotta love a great catch phrase.

In my leadership vernacular, one of my favorite catch phrases comes from Tom Peters, "It begets it". I've referenced it before and I have usually applied this phrase to smiles and thanks, as in, Smiles begets smiles. This refers to the notion that as a leader, if you smile, your team members will smile back.

I was studying the The Leadership Challenge by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner looking for new insight on building community and fostering collaboration across teams and was ecstatic when I found the perfect catch phrase focusing on trust, "Trust begets trust."

The research of Kouzes and Posner exalts the role of trust as a foundation for leadership and collaboration. In speaking of trust they convey,

It's the central issue in human relationship within and outside organizations. Without trust you cannot lead. Without trust you cannot get extraordinary thinks done. Individuals who are unable to trust others fail to become leaders.

The work of Kouzes and Posner clearly suggests that trust is a two way street, you need other to trust in you just as much as you need to trust others. So how do you develop trust within your team.

You can start easily with "Trust begets trust." You need to demonstrate that you are open to influence and value other peoples alternative viewpoints. Trust is built when you make yourself vulnerable. You simply need to demonstrate trust in others before asking for trust from others. And finally, listen, listen, listen in order to demonstrate your respect for others and their ideas.

Thanks to Kouzes and Posner, I have taken these simple trust concepts and have now associated them with the phrase, "Trust begets trust."

I'd love to hear other catch phrases from you that effectively allow you to package a leadership principle or concepts. Please comment.

Thanks for reading. Please lead quietly.
Don

Influence, An Introvert's Perspective

I am an introvert and unfortunately, live in a world that tends to like heroes. But I treat it as a challenge. I feel that I can lead and influence without the power, charisma, or advantage that extroverts commonly seem to possess.

In the book Age of Conversation 3: It’s Time to Get Busy, book contributor Don Frederiksen, (I heard of that guy) provides six recommendations for introverts who want to quietly influence without leaving their introvert zone. The essential message; leverage your introversion. Use your natural tools to talk less but communicate and influence more.

1. Be friendly. Say hi and bye. Don’t forget to smile. People will say yes to people they like.
2. You are an expert in silence. Use it. A pause in your words adds powerful punctuation.
3. Look people deeply in the eye. People will nod in agreement.
4. Communicate on paper. Think of the times you go to meetings lacking an agenda? Influence the discussion by outlining your thoughts and distribute the paper as a discussion aid. And because you bring paper, volunteer to record and summarize. As Tom Peters says, whoever “writes the summary…wields great power.
5. Follow-up fastidiously. Simply put, do what you say.
6. Show gratitude, say thank you. Go a little out of your way with this simple message.

Influence doesn’t have to be loud. Influence can emerge from someone who is not the life of the party. Introverts can leverage their introversion to wield more influence. As Jonathon Rauch wrote in Caring for your Introvert, “If we introverts ran the world, it would no doubt be a calmer, saner, more peaceful sort of place.”

Age of Conversation 3: It’s Time to Get Busy is a crowdsourced, collaborative effort of 171 contributing authors on topics such as influence, social medea, innovation and more. Proceeds of the book benefit the mission of charity:water, a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations.

charity:water is also a participating partner in Blog Action Day. Blog Action Day is an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking a global discussion and driving collective action.

I encourage you to purchase Age of Conversation 3: It’s Time to Get Busy. Your purchase today will bring improvement to you and the greater good.

Change.org|Start Petition

Thanks for reading. Please lead quietly,

don

The Magic of Showing Up

A Woody Allen quotation says,

Eighty percent of success is showing up.

Like many, I generally chuckle when I see this quote. Maybe it's because the bar seems to low. Nevertheless, it's a quote that you see applied to many contexts including success, motivation, dedication, friendship, even love. Woody Allen in an MTV interview in 2008 seemed almost embarrassed about the quote when he said, "That thing has been quoted 20 million times. It's one of the least-witty things I've ever said."

A recent experience caused me to consider the magic of showing up. My team was approaching a deadline and I frankly had little to add to the project. Nevertheless, I showed up, to support, to eliminate distractions, to encourage focus. It was all that I could do. Did it have an impact? You can't really tell. Any impact was immeasurable. But the team was successful.

But I was curious so I sought out experts who had written on showing up and found several.

For example, leadership consultant and coach Tim Porterhouse concisely summarized the magic of showing up when he wrote in Leadership is Showing Up:

By Showing Up you send a message that says:

• This is vital to me and the company
• I care about your work - and I want to be part of it
• I won't ask you to do something that I would not do myself
• I want to lend a hand - no matter how small my contribution.

Even management guru Tom Peters added a twist to the notion when he wrote about the impact of showing up. He cited a modification that he sourced from the PersistenceUnlimited blog.

So increase you chances by 80%. Show Up!

The twist in the Allen quotation makes a compelling case for the magic of showing up.

Thanks for reading. Please show up and lead quietly.
don

Building Community with Giving

One of the principles of quiet leadership focuses on the need for leaders to build community. I've suggested in an earlier post that community building can start simply, with thanks, and smiles. One of my favorite Tom Peters pleadings, "It begets it." Smiles begets smiles, thanks begets thanks.

What follows after the simple start? I'd propose giving and service.

Consultant Michelle Kunz writes extensively about giving in her Power Energy Leadership blog. In Excellence is Giving she talks about the benefits of giving and quotes the creed of BNI, the global business networking group that "Givers Gain."

Consider these returns cited by Kunz in her post:

• Trust -- people trust those who have their interests truly at the center of all they do
• Admiration -- people admire those who commit their energies to advancing the common good
• Respect -- people respect those who dedicate their time to helping others win
• Wisdom -- when we listen deeply to what others need we learn more about ourselves and the world around us
• Humility -- giving to others shines a mirror back on all that we have and helps us feel grateful
• Authenticity -- giving deeply of ourselves removes the filters we keep in place when we withhold, requiring our true selves to come into focus
• Integrity -- aligning our values with principles which do not change greatly simplifies the challenge of walking our talk

This represents huge returns for the simple act of giving and serving. Maybe building community doesn't have to be hard. Start with smiles, thanks, and add a little giving.

Thanks for reading. Please lead quietly.
Don

My #ThemeWord for 2010: Mesh

I want to Mesh up in a big way!

I learned and was inspired by the work of fellow blogger Jim Harris when he posted My #ThemeWord for 2010: KARMA on New Year's day. He introduced me to the concept of a #Themeword as an alternative to a New Year's resolution.

The challenge is simple and yet challenging. Think of a single word that reflects your hopes and dreams for the year.

I agonized about this for days. My whiteboard is fully covered with #themeword nominations.

For awhile, I gave up on a single word thinking that I would need six words. I would cite the work of Rajesh Setty in his Life Beyond Code blog where he proposed a six word elevator pitch. I could make it work with six words.

A couple days later, my reading exposed me to Seth Godin's What Matters Now (download the ebook). I'm a fan of Godin. He has this ability to start a conversation that is insightful, relevant, and contemporary. In his ebook, he compiled the word ideas of seventy big thinkers including the likes of Tom Peters, Chris Anderson, Guy Kawasaki, Dan Pink, and more. I was mesmerized by the book.

On page 71 I found my #Themeword, Mesh.

Written by Lisa Gansky, the word immediately found meaning with me. Here are some highlights from her short work.

• Some things are best shared.
• Quality of life is moving distinctly away from what we own.
• Access trumps ownership.
• Mesh will reshape how we go to market, who we partner with and how we find customers.

As I connected with the idea, I found that expanding on Lisa's thoughts was easy.

• Mesh suggests new levels of collaboration where every voice is welcome.
  
• Mesh promotes learning and sharing.
  
• Mesh suggest a balance of opinion and thought. Don't you wish the partisanship of Congress could be replaced with Mesh.
• Mesh proposes great community, perhaps Seth Godin-like Tribes who share a passion.
• Mesh seems consistent with our Mashup capabilities that combines technology, data, functions or ideas. Let's bring it all together.
• Mesh brings an element of transparency. You can see through mesh. It is not about hidden process or decision.
• Mesh might actually suggest a network that exists at the intersection of learning, sharing, collaboration, and problem solving. There could be millions of intersections in a mesh.
• Mesh is a "we" not "me" approach to problem solving.
• Mesh proposes action for the greater good.

My #themeword for 2010 is Mesh. I aspire to mesh and be meshed. I will try to be meshable. At the end of the year, I hope I can say, "I meshed up."

Interested in participating in the #themeword tradition? Follow these three simple steps:

1. Think of a word that reflects your hopes and dreams for 2010
2. Share your theme word with friends on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog
3. Be sure and use the hashtag #ThemeWord

Thanks for reading. Please lead quietly.

Don

For the love of learning, you gotta love a good list.

Leadership and learning are an inseparable pair. As John F. Kennedy said, "Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other."

In today's environment, leaders require learning opportunities that are continuous, always accessible, and fast.

As Jack Stack writes in the forward of the book, 1001 Ways to Reward Employees

We like things fast, but we don't have time to study. The world is changing so rapidly that by the time we learn something, it has often changed in some way, shape, or form. We want information in small bites

Learning opportunities come in a variety of forms. Of course there is the classic class or seminar. However, I find that continuous learning is more likely to come from reading, life lessons, discovery, experience, and, a more recent revelation, a good list. For me, the discovery and review of a good list is a great learning opportunity. Let me explain more.

For example, I recently encountered "The Manager's Cheat Sheet: 101 Common-Sense Rules for Leaders" on the Inside CRM site. The Cheat Sheet is a list of tips for managers and leaders.

When you review the list, you might say, "been there, done that" for many of the items. In that case, the validation is useful and important in learning. It is good to know that a concept that you hold dear is validated and valued elsewhere. For example, take rule #8:

Always smile. Smiles are contagious and will make others feel positive when you're around.

I blogged on this idea in a post titled, It Begets It. The "Manager's Cheat Sheet" list validated an existing notion that I had. This is learning.

Other rules might put a new twist on an old concept. For example, rule #77:

Adopt a predictive managerial style. Don't wait for things to happen to make a move. Anticipate problems and provide contingency plans.

This rules reminds me of the quiet leadership definition of vision. The type of vision that gives you awareness of the events around you and serves the opportunity to be proactive. The rule put a new twist on another concept. Still, this is learning and it is fast.

A good list allows you to quickly discover and validate. For the love of learning, you gotta love a good list.

The Manager's Cheat Sheet is one of hundreds of good lists. Here are a couple more of my favorites:

Rosa Say: Twelve Rules of Self-Leadership
Slacker Manager: Guiding Principles
Nightingale-Conent: The 12 Characteristics of High Performance Teams
Tom Peters - Change this Manifesto: This I Believe

I'd love to learn about other lists readers have found useful. In the interest of learning, please comment with other lists that you appreciate. Remember it's all about learning.

Thanks for reading. Please lead quietly.
Don

Build Community - Start simply with smiles and thanks

Good leaders build community. Building community is hard. However, it is easy to start quietly and simply with thanks and smiles.

In a recent post at Slow Leadership, Carmine Coyote wrote about The Power of Gratitude. The post suggest that gratitude is a "major constituent in the glue that holds together groups of all sizes, from a few friends to society as a whole."
This definition places gratitude, which generally starts out with a simple thank you, in a very exalted role. You might debate as to whether gratitude is more or less important than honesty, trust, or service in building community. However, we can immediately agree there is nothing easier than a simple "thank you."


Nothing easier than a simple thank you, except for a simple smile.

A Smile Costs Nothing,
but gives much.
It enriches those who receive
without making poorer those who give.
It takes but a moment
but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever.
None is so rich and mighty
that he can get along without it,
and none is so poor that he cannot
be made rich by it.

A Smile creates happiness in the home,
fosters goodwill in business,
and is the countersign of friendship.
A smile brings rest to the weary,
cheer to the discouraged,
sunshine to the sad,
and it is nature's best antidote for
trouble.

Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed or stolen,
for it is something that is of no value to anyone
until it is
given away.

Some people are too tired to give you a smile,
Give them one of yours,
as none needs a smile so much
as he
who has no more to give.


Anonomous
(but believed based on the work of
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch)

The combination of thanks and smiles lays a very powerful foundation for great community. And it is so easy to start. As Tom Peters says,

It begets it.

Thanks begets thanks.

Smiles begets smiles

Thank for reading. Please lead quietly. Keep thanking, keep smiling. It's contagious.

Don

Inspired by Lists

I’m inspired by lists.

What kind of lists? 

All kinds.  My favorites include:
To-do lists, bucket lists, blog rolls, checklists, best seller lists, grocery lists,  most emailed lists, Forbes richest people lists, reference lists, Fortune 100 Lists, dream list, David Letterman Top Ten Lists and more.


I often get leadership inspiration and insight from a good list.  To me, a list from a great thinker like Tom Peters, Seth Godin, Michael Hyatt, Gretchen Rubin will teach, coach, and inspire.  And best of all, it may only require a short amount of time to find that one nugget that makes a difference.

Introducing Leaderly & Listable

For the past few weeks, I have been curating and sharing leadership lists in an effort that I have titled, Leaderly & Listable.  You can access these lists on this blog on the Leaderly & Listable page or directly on the Leaderly & Listable Scoop.It site.

Finally, if you find a good list that you think should be included in this effort, Tweet a link using the hash tag #LdrLst (think Leader List with no vowels).  I can include the list in this effort.

Thanks for reading.  Please lead quietly.

Don

Thanks, there is lots of agreement on Gratitude

I am a fan of thanks and gratitude in the work place. To me the concept is pretty simple. When someone helps you, look them in the eye and say thanks. Then make it a habit. Do it all the time.

The effort can become contagious. A favorite Tom Peters quotation of mine is:

"It" begets "it."

Fact: "Not it" begets "It-less-ness."

Smiling begets a warmer (work, home) environment.

Thanking begets an environment of mutual appreciation.

Two other Best of 2008 Leadership Blogs have also written about gratitude that both inspire and elevate the importance of gratitude.

I previously quoted fellow nominee Carmine Coyote at the Slow Leadership blog, in Build Community - Start simply with smiles and thanks. Carmine proposes that gratitude is a "major constituent in the glue that holds together groups of all sizes."

As she says,

Thanking others and recognizing how much we all depend on support and co-operation makes it far more likely that help will be there when you need it.

Another nominee Steve Farber at Extreme Leadership linked Fascination and Gratitude.

If you're fascinated with [the people around you], you'll discover how to add value to their lives; and if you're genuinely grateful for their patronage, partnership or friendship you'll show them in ways that are sincere and meaningful. Those are the essential elements of a fabulously productive business relationship--or any relationship, for that matter.

Another influence on my thinking about leadership and gratitude has been Rosa Say at Managing with Aloha. She expresses her thoughts on gratitude with Aloha style:

• Mahalo means thankful living.
  

• Say “thank you” often; speak of your appreciation and it will soften the tone of your voice, giving it richness, humility and fullness.

It's a pretty simple concept with lot's of support.

Finally, in a virtual sort of way that can only be done on the blogosphere, I'm looking YOU in the eye and saying, thank you for visiting, reading, and subscribing. I appreciate and am humbled by your participation in my public study of quiet leadership at Lead Quietly.

Thanks again. Please lead quietly.
Don

And you thought leadership was hard.

Leadership doesn't have to be difficult. I have been studying, exploring, and communicating this hypothesis during the past few months. You might recall my simple strategies for building community using smiles, gratitude, and giving.

This past week while exploring for new quiet leadership insight, I encountered Dee Hock and the 60 Second PhD in Leadership.

My first encounter was a YouTube leadership video by Tom Peters where he quotes Dee Hock. I think the video is 90 seconds well spent.

I wasn't familiar with Dee Hock so I "Googled" and found the The 60 Second PhD in Leadership. I appreciated the simplicity as conveyed by the founder and former CEO of VISA.

1. Make a list of all things done to you that you abhorred.
2. DON’T DO THEM TO OTHERS. EVER.
3. Make another list of things done to you that you loved.
4. DO THEM TO OTHERS. ALWAYS.

This sentiment is brilliant but like many explorations, one discovery leads to another.

More from Dee Hock

The Google search also led me to a nice biography of Dee Hock the founder of Visa on the FastcCompany site in an article entitled, The Trillion-Dollar Vision of Dee Hock.

An interesting, albeit more complicated, insight from this article is related to organization. The insight was particularly relevant to me.

I work in an environment where focus on structure, organization, governance, budget, resources and funding seems to dominate the attention of our team. From this perspective, a Dee Hock quote in the Fast Company article was compelling,

The better an organization is, the less obvious it is. In Visa, we tried to create an invisible organization and keep it that way. It's the results, not the structure or management that should be apparent.

Our team got 15 seconds of attention this past week on great results in saving a client relationship through some last minute development adjustments.

Certainly, there was more than 15 seconds of effort during the days before. But interestingly during this effort, not once was there a question about estimates, funding, business requirements, project management, or process on this effort. Not once did any body ask who was going to fund this effort. Despite these organizational "deficits" the mission was accomplished and well done. The team seized the opportunity to just perform.

Once the fifteen seconds of accolades were over, we resumed our normal organizational processes where questions of estimates, priorities, funding, forecasts, and governance dominated much of the project discussion and effort. Is this they way things should be?

It's a rhetorical question but this led me to another Dee Hock topic to explore, that is, the notion of chaordic systems. The Wikipedia definition is a system that blends characteristics of chaos and order.

I'll leave this exploration for another post but I'm pretty intrigued that we as a team had this remarkable ability to self-direct and excel when the conditions were right. Why couldn't this be the norm? Anyone else with chaordic experience? I'm looking for comment and insight.

Thanks for reading. Please lead quietly.
Don