As we begins our journey together, I give you my word that I will:
- Respect both your time and you leadership intelligence with wisdom and insights rather than mere rantings.
- Honor your responses, posting those that are beyond pithy that share an interesting or divergent view on current leadership best practices or theories.
- Share my latest leadership insights gleaned from working with many of America's best companies and individual champions of excellence.
So to officially begin, here is my operational definition for leadership.
Leadership is being a positive influence toward the common good. Four key thoughts here. First, positive. Think about all the lousy examples of bad leadership you have witnessed or experienced. Real leadership is all about moving in a positive direction, both in the direct management of the company but in all aspects of interactions with clients, suppliers, community partners, and more important, your employees.
Second, influence. Real leadership is not about position or prestige or preferred parking spaces but rather how powerful you are at influencing (positively) those around you. Many of the best leaders I have ever known or worked with were front-line employees with no direct reports.
Third, toward. The word toward implies movement...forward movement. Leaders do not retreat but advance toward their destination into the future.
Finally, common good. Best practice leaders do not merely set goals but rather create teams that focus on the common good - beyond departments, even geographic locations and national boundaries. It's the focus on the common good (employees, community, suppliers, customers, and beyond) upon which they set their outcomes.
So before next time, in the now famous words of Bill O'Reilly, "What say you?"
Dr Jim
