(This series of “notes” first appeared in the YahooGroup “VenturingList” and are written by Michael Brown. I thought that they were worth sharing with the Commissioner Corps.)
Habitudes are an interesting series of books (and resources) aimed to help students learn leadership. There are 4 books in the series, which have the full title of “Habitudes: Images that form leadership habits and attitudes”. An additional one came out on communications. These books were developed by Tim Elmore thru his company Growing Leaders (www.growingleaders.com), which aims to help students (high school and college age) develop as leaders. Each Habitudes book has 13 images (the communications one has 16 images). With each image is a short article on the leadership concept tied to that image. This is then followed by a short Reflect and Respond section, then a self assessment, then an Exercise. The communication volume uses different terms, but it’s the same purpose.
Additional resources available are teaching materials and a DVD for several of the books.
Be advised that there are 2 version of the books and accompanying resources. One is values-based and the other is faith-based. The faith-based materials are for Christian youth groups and the like, while the values-based is for all others. Keep this in mind when ordering the materials.
The 5 books published are:
#1 The Art of Self-Leadership
#2 The Art of Connecting with Others
#3 The Art of Leading Others
#4 The Art of Changing Culture
#5 The Art of Engaging Communication (For Communicators)
As noted, these works are aimed at the same age group as our Venturers. So these would be a great resource for our Venturers, and a creative advisor could use these materials for several leadership reflections programs in meetings and events.
Volume one focuses on the concept of “self leadership”, which we have touched on in other Notes. Self-leadership is about how an individual “leads” themselves. The focus is to improve oneself so that one can be a better leader of others.
The next two volumes are kind of flip sides of each other. One is about connecting with others, and the other is about leading others. Are they the same? No, but they are related, as you can’t lead others if you cannot connect with them.
The fourth volume is on changing cultures. This is a concept we have not really touched on (yet) in this series. Many times as leaders we may need to change the culture of the organizations we lead. Some groups may have cultures or practices that hold them back, and so changes much be done if the group is to move forward and be successful.
A recent video was also released in conjunction with the Communication volume that is making the rounds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIABo0d9MVE
Ron Blaisdell 