Big Idea Daily | The Leadership Challenge
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How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizationsby James Kouzes & Barry Posner |
“In the end, we realize that leadership development is self-development. Meeting the leadership challenge is a personal—and daily— challenge for everyone. We know that if you have the will and the way to lead, you can. You have to supply the will. We’ll do our best to keep supplying the way."JAMES M. KOUZES & BARRY Z. POSNER |
BIG IDEA #1
The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership
FROM THE BOOK“We first asked people in the early 1980s to tell us what they did when they were at their ‘personal best’ in leading others, and we continue to ask this question of people around the world.
After analyzing thousands of these leadership experiences, we discovered, and continue to find, that regardless of the times or setting, people who guide others along pioneering journeys follow surprisingly similar paths. Although each experience is unique in its individual expression, there were clearly identifiable behaviors and actions that made a difference. When making extraordinary things happen in organizations, leaders engage in what we call The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership. They
These leadership practices are not the private property of the people we studied. Nor do they belong to a few select shining stars. Leadership is not about who you are; it’s about what you do.”
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Brian's Notes
After studying thousands of individuals describing their “personal-best leadership experiences,” Kouzes and Posner distilled the essence of leadership down to The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership.
Let’s take a quick look at each:
- Practice #1: Model the Way. The first step of exemplary leadership is inward. We need to know who we are, what we’re here to do and why we’re doing it. We need a clear sense of our values. Then, we need to practice what we preach, remembering that what we DO speaks so loudly that people can’t hear what we say. We need to model the way.
- Practice #2: Inspire a Shared Vision. Exemplary leaders look forward and create a vision of a better possible future. And, of course, they must share that vision with others. Did you know the word inspire literally means “to breathe life into”? Yep. An exemplary leader BREATHES LIFE INTO a vision that fires other people up—helping them connect *their* values to a shared goal.
- Practice #3: Challenge the Process. Doing something that’s never been done before is, by definition, hard. (If it was easy, it would already be done, eh?) Exemplary leaders embrace the challenges inherent to bringing their vision to life. They break the big dream down into doable baby steps and celebrate small wins. They’re resilient/hardy/gritty—eating stress like energy bars as they keep everyone energized for the long haul.
- Practice #4: Enable Others to Act. Leadership, by definition, isn’t about trying to do something great as a Lone Ranger. It’s about inspiring others to share the dream and then creating the circumstances so they can do their absolute best work. Exemplary leaders believe in the potential of people on their team, they trust them to do great work and give them the autonomy to go out and crush it. (People like that. A lot.)
- Practice #5: Encourage the Heart. The secret weapon of the exemplary leader? LOVE. We need to love what we do, the people with whom we do it and the people we’re blessed to serve. It takes courage to do extraordinary work. Remember that the word courage literally means “heart” in Latin. It’s the virtue that vitalizes all the other virtues the same way the heart vitalizes our arms and legs and organs. To encourage is to build up courage in others. That takes a lot a love.
Quick inventory: When you take a look at those five practices, where are you strong? What can use some work? Tiny things you can do to +1% incrementally optimize today?
Remember: Leadership is a learnable skill.
It’s “not about who you are; it’s about what you do.”
Big Ideas
01: THE FIVE PRACTICES
02: FOUNDATION OF LEADERSHIP?
03: DWYSYWD
04: HOPES + DREAMS + VISIONS
05: CHALLENGES
“Even though leaders have grand visions about the future, they get there one step at a time, building momentum as well as the strength and resolve to continue forward along the journey."JAMES M. KOUZES & BARRY Z. POSNER |
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