 |
|
The source of the best business, financial and legal news |
|
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
 | |
| |
 |
Business Informations |
|
|
|
Elements of Timeless Leadership
Great leadership is timeless, always in vogue. The world has been hungry for great leaders from time immemorial. In times of chaos and war, environmental and social upheaval, great leaders often emerge pointing the way toward peace. In times of tranquility, calm and prosperity, great leaders have emerged to maintain the systems of order and to challenge apathy. Great leadership is always popular, but in times of enormous need, how do we differentiate the great from the greedy, the strong leader from the despot? The principles are ancient and have stood the test of time. Great leaders always move out in front, establishing direction, insuring order, and providing correction and regulation as needed. Always passionate about their followers, great leaders are eager to live their lives in service to their needs. When considering highly regarded leaders throughout both world and personal history, we seem to perennially return to the analogy of the shepherd. We deem it the supreme accolade to characterize a leader as shepherd. There is much to learn about great leadership from this analogy. Through an examination of the traits and attributes, perspectives on the shepherd's approach will move us to next level leadership. 1. The shepherd recognizes the sheep are not his to do with as he pleases. He understands the sheep are not a tool, a means to an end, but a resource charged to his care. He is empowered, entrusted by another; responsible, and answerable to one who has greater authority. As an effective leader, he understands not only what it means to be a leader, but what it means to follow as well. Understanding and acceptance of the cycle cultivates and reinforces character. 2. The sheep hear, recognize and follow the voice of their shepherd. People naturally navigate to the familiar. Trust develops with experience gained in relationships. We have often heard that familiarity breeds contempt, but it also breeds trust and, with time and consistency, strengthens expectations. 3. The shepherd knows the sheep intimately and is able to call each by name. Shepherds use a system of sounds, clicks and hisses to call the sheep, slightly different for each of the sheep in the flock and every sheep knows and responds to the specific sound which is his. Consistent caring proximity is always recognized and always produces results. Relationship is the key - there is no such thing as an absentee shepherd. 4. The shepherd always leads the sheep into the safest, most beneficial conditions available and always away from harm. Strategically, he goes out before them, out of harm, into safety - but always maintaining the lead. He never expects the sheep to move into circumstances he is not willing to withstand among them, rather always expecting more of himself than he would of those in his charge. 5. The shepherd is willing to put the immediate needs and well-being of the sheep before his own, often at great personal risk. The well-being of those entrusted to him is paramount to the shepherd. This singularity of purpose encourages his decisions to be always grounded in integrity. The shepherd is prepared to lay down his life both literally and figuratively. 6. There is a difference between a hired hand and a shepherd. A hired hand is motivated by compensation. A shepherd has a deep and committed interest in the sheep. He is one who is responsible for what is not his - - by his own choice. And his relationship is characterized by longevity and consistent presence, with or without significant compensation. The shepherd is at all times ready to lay down his life for the sheep. How much more the leader for the people entrusted to him. People are a sacred trust and serving them is an awesome commission. The true shepherd understands the critical difference between power, often stolen and generally imposed oppressively upon the unsuspecting, and authority, which speaks of responsibility and answerability to a higher power. The picture is a simple one, possibly too unsophisticated for the best business schools. But as we turn to the simple, we find that common sense, in its crystal clarity, is at its base, and as Victor Hugo observed, "common sense is in spite of, not as a result of education." Hopefully that is changing, so we will turn out a generation of leaders who are both educated and wise, simple and passionately dedicated. Copyright 2005 So-lu'shunz Management Services Karin Syren is a certified coach specializing in EffectivenessCoaching, with a concentration on issues facing women in leadership. Karin has helped leaders at all levels to clearly identify issues facing them, coaching them through the steps to gaining, regaining & maintaining control of the intense demands and transitions facing them. She offers guidance in discovering mission, creating vision and designing goals, increasing effectiveness through increased awareness. Visit her website to take a sample of her unique Personal Awareness Questionnaire at http://www.solushunz.com
MORE RESOURCES:
leadership - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Ask Yourself Whats In It For WE? "Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Building Self Confidence As a hypnotherapist I specialise in helping people to develop confidence and self esteem.Perhaps surprisingly, the people who ask for my help are not shrinking violets and their reasons for wanting to develop enhanced self confidence are not wholly selfish. Effective Leaders are (#3) Communicative LISTEN, WRITE, AND ARTICULATE EFFECTIVELY: Leadership positions require effective communication skills. Basic confidence in the art of information sharing is absolutely necessary for effective leadership. Unleash It! On airplanes, in restaurants, in the newspaper and on television, I often hear people saying their businesses are not growing to their satisfaction or that they are not reaching their objectives. The explanations that follow consist of reasons like: ? It's the economy? Our customers don't get it? I don't have the right people on the team I could go on, and so could you. Quality Leadership The Lakota tribe of Native Americans has no word in the language for "I" or "me," only "we" or "us." Mahatma Gandhi insisted on traveling in third class carriages (on the train)because, as he explained, 'there is no fourth class. 7 AAA Ways To Succeed! [Abounding Abundant Ample Ways To Boost Your Growth!] This may come as a surprise but there are reliable,effective and powerful ways to improve your ability to learnnew things. If you will allow me to use leadership skills training asour example, you will see how poor learning forces us tosuffer through any one or more of the following problems: - leadership training programs usually cost serious money -in fact, some programs are outrageously expensive - leadership training programs last for a very short time -quite a few of them run for only one or two days - many leadership training programs fail to give studentsways to confidently resolve problem situations or meet andovercome their daily challenges - less than 1% of all leadership training programs combinecoaching and mentoring follow-ups with classroom lessons - most leadership training programs like to do 'raw datadumps'- the vast majority of them do NOT give you chances to'blend' your learning experiences with supervised support orpractical feedback In this article you will discover how to find, use and takeadvantage of every kind of performance improvement learningopportunity you encounter. Birth Order - Understand How It Affects Your Personality "Know thyself" is a powerful principle that leaders, managers and effective people intuitively know.When you understand your own strengths and preferences you are in a position to maximise those strengths and compensate for any weaknesses either by working differently or surrounding yourself with people with different strengths. It Begins Like This Jonathan was drunk multiple times before ever completing elementary school; his father fed him bourbon so Jonathan would resist less while being sexually molested. On the night his mother was released from jail, Jonathan rode eagerly by his father's side to pick her up. Would Socrates Be A Celebrity Today? Last week, as I was standing in the checkout line of my local grocery store, I found myself staring at the dozen or so magazines on display. As I gazed upon the various photos and headlines praising or trashing the celebrity du jour, I got to thinking. C4 Leadership: Taking Your Leadership (and your Life) from Good...To Explosive! Chances are if you're interested in this post, you're looking for a few tips to take your leadership and/or your life, up a notch or two. Read on for a few things that have really helped me make my leadership more explosive after first defining what C4 is. Why Not Lead With Emotions? Studies have shown that companies that have acquired competencies to lead with emotional excellence are far more productive and efficient because of the impact emotional excellence has on employee morale, loyalty, retention and overall performance of the organization to name a few.Since the early 1990's and especially after the internationally renowned author Daniel Goleman's book "Working with Emotional Intelligence" hit the bestseller's list, the business world began to pay close attention to this competency and began to incorporate it in their employee training programs. What Does Exceptional Business Success Require of Us? To excel in business we need conscious command of all our faculties, mind, body and heart to ensure our work/life balance. Then we can seize the moment of opportunity and create exceptional results. The Three Factors of Leadership Motivation Leaders do nothing more important than get results. But you can't get results by yourself. Rationalize Success Away I was invited to do a Leadership workshop at a well known Fortune 100 company out in New Jersey. The all day event was geared toward their new crop of interns. You Make The Difference What do you think makes your company successful? Your newest hardware or software? The newest system you've put into place? The best location in town? Although these are important, they are not the key to success.Today it's not enough to produce a product and get the work done. Leadership: 9 Universal Laws 1. The Law of Authoritarian StyleAuthoritarian leaders lead by control and fear. Who Needs Heroes? When we were talking the other day we started to think about our heroes when we were young. After we had discussed the usual film star and sports stars that we idolised I remembered Derek. 3 Es For Leaders - Engage, Empower, Encourage! "Enflamed with the study of learning and the admiration of virtue; stirred up with high hopes of living to be brave.. Building Future Leaders As a whole we spend a lot of time filling our minds with various forms of self-improvement.Believe me this is good for us!However, I think what's equally important is the amount of positives that we send to our younger generation. Extraordinary People in Mediocre Times My grandfather used to speak of the days when people drove the world. It was a time when people were proud to contribute and move society and industry forward at full steam.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
||||
|
