Great leaders are not just willing to speak the truth, they’re willing to accept it. Comfortable or uncomfortable. Truth can be a motherhood statement. Of course we all want it, don’t we ? After all, we’re honest, aren’t we? There’s a reason that insecure leaders avoid uncomfortable truth – if…
132. Are you an Achiever?
Great leaders build legacies, not trophy cabinets. They’re motivated by the mountain, not the flag at the top. They care about what they do, not what medals they win. Most leaders spend a lifetime achieving lots of small things. Their teams do actually. Some do great things. Working to achieve…
128. Are you a Visionary?
Visionary leadership is not confined to the adventurous, courageous, innovative & extroverted types we think of like Steve Jobs or Elon Musk. Those are just the famous ones. Every “visionary” communicates a message. So can you. The message might be world changing or small and mundane but it needs to…
124. Is Risk a Problem?
Life is full of risks. Risk is the chance that something will go wrong – from mere inconvenience to catastrophic loss of life and property. Humans have managed risk pretty well over the millennia. We know that, because we’re still here. Leaders have led teams who have worked to get…
123. How do you get Courage?
Great leaders model courage. They have that ability to overcome fear, and step into danger when needed. Real courage is it’s not an abstract thing. It shows in your actions. Or doesn’t. Courageous leaders inspire trust, with or without fanfare. People follow that. Pretending to be brave doesn’t cut it,…
122. Are you an Explorer?
All great leaders are creative. So, in turn, are their teams. Not in the narrow sense of art or music or design, but the broader sense of original thought. A problem with the perception many have of creativity, is that it’s just about arts or entertainment. Nothing can be further…
12. What are you?
Fables aren’t just for children. They reflect and shape popular cultural beliefs but they can also reveal cultural weaknesses. Their positive moral lessons are obvious, but when turned upside down they can reveal leadership lessons as well, showing what cultural norms good leaders have to fight against to be successful.…
11. The Boy who cried Wolf
An important management lesson was written over 2600 years ago. It’s a story about a shepherd boy who gives fake warnings about a wolf attacking his sheep to get attention from the villagers. Unfortunately his fake reports prove fatal later when an actual wolf attacks him and the villagers don’t…
10. What you see is what you get.
Napoleon Bonaparte, arguably one of the most successful military leaders in history, owed part of his success on the battlefield to his ability to choose a place to fight. When he could, he fought where he could see the whole battlefield, and then positioned himself so that he could see.…