The Intangibles of Leadership
We are all at different places in our leadership journey. Leadership is about moving people from Here to There.
Some of us are at the beginning of our leadership journey.
Your question is: Can I do it?
Some are halfway through.
Your question is: Can I sustain it?
Some of us are near the finish line.
Your question is: Can I take this across the finish line?
The stakes are high at each of these junctures.
Just a couple of notes from Bill Hybels for you:
8 CRITICAL FUNCTIONS OF LEADERSHIP
- Casting Vision
- Building Teams
- Motivating & Inspiring
- Solving Problems
- Change management
- Establishing Core Values
- Allocating Resources
- Developing Emerging Leaders
We have seen some leaders get better and better. But not others. Why? You may have also wondered, is there another list?
Subtle qualities, intangibles that set great leaders apart
INTANGIBLE #1: GRIT
Research by Angela Duckworth: The secret to top performance is unremitting, long-term tenacity.
The Little Engine That Could. “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.” That’s grit.
Grit matters in life. And it matters in leadership. Those with more of it will succeed more than those with less of it.
Leaders with grit: Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King
Question: Do you have it?
Grit can be developed—but the arch enemy of grit is ease. Grit development demands difficulty.
Many top leaders push themselves physically. Examples: Jim Collins, Craig Groeschel, Larry Page (Google), Richard Branson, Condoleezza Rice
Most elite leaders volunteer for extra work assignments and show steely determination to carry it out.
Jack Welch says, “Don’t just deliver. Over-deliver every time.” Show grit.
How can you get grit:
Read biographies of people who had it
When senior leaders push themselves hard, teammates notice and develop an appetite for it themselves
INTANGIBLE #2: SELF-AWARENESS
Self awareness is knowing your strengths and weaknesses and seeking to see your blind spots so they’re no longer blind spots. If a person finds him or herself in the same difficult situations, the same dysfunctional relationships, etc., then that person likely has a blind spot in his or her life. If we’re brave, we can seek help from others in our lives. We can also prayerfully seek God’s help in these areas. People can also think about what they do well–are they good at technology, managing money, cooking, whatever.
Blind Spots
Definition: something someone believes they do well but everyone on the team knows it is not true.
According to Lominger: All of us have 3.4 blinds pots in our lives.
Question: Do you have any blind spots?
How would you go about identifying them?
Ask a direct supervisor
Ask peers, friends and colleagues
INTANGIBLE #3: RESOURCEFULNESS
Korn-Ferry group: Resourceful leaders outpace non-resourceful by 25%. When senior leaders are thrust into situations where they honestly don’t know what do to do, they start figuring out what to do
Remember the Story of the Wright Brothers? They experimented and failed, and experimented and failed. They stayed at it until they figured it out.
Can resourcefulness be developed? Yes – by putting yourself in situations that are confusing and dysfunctional.
Leaders need to identify real problems and create a short-term task forces for junior leaders to figure it out. You will identify those with high learning agility.
INTANGIBLE #4: SELF-SACRIFICING LOVE
Are you familiar with the Story of David's Army and how they were enlisted?
He had been given an army of “leftovers.” And through his love for them, the army developed a deep loyalty to him and to each other. One night, three senior leaders broke through enemy lines to get water from the Bethlehem Well.
It was David’s greatest leadership moment. He had a flashback to his early days – and realized his investment had paid off. He remembered hearing the whispers of God who said, “I want you to love these guys.” Self-sacrificing love has always been at the absolute core of leadership.
I Cor. 13:8, Love never fails.
We live in a day of narcissistic leaders. Trust in organizations is low.
Gallup says that when workers feel love coming from their managers, their organizations perform better.
Don’t hesitate a single moment in showing love and concern to your team mates. Get personal. Say affirming or encouraging words. It will set the tone for the entire organization.
KNOWING YOUR “WHITE-HOT” WHY
He says most leaders don’t know the “Why” of your what they do.
Real Life MBA by Jack and Suzy Welch. Every leader should be a Chief Meaning Officer.
Bob Buford once hired a strategic planner who asked, what’s most important to you, “Money or God?” What goes in the top box?
Get clarity. What is your white-hot why?
Examples of the White-Hot Whys
Steve Jobs - “Do you want to sell sugar water or do you want to help me to change the world?”
Howard Schultz. “We don’t sell coffee. We create a third place.”
Rich Stearns, President of World Vision. “What if you shifted your why from plates for rich people to food for poor people.”
Find out what is in your top box and pursue it with all your heart. Life is too short to live with someone else’s why.
THE STAKES OF LEADERSHIP
Leadership matters. It matters in churches, businesses and not-for-profits.
Leaders – Step It Up!
Learn how to lead with grit
Become self-aware
Increase your resourcefulness
Demonstrate self-sacrificing love
Find your white-hot why!
SOURCE: BILL HYBEL
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