Leadership Notes #74 – Stewardship

(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.)

Peter Block’s work, “Stewardship: Choosing Service Over Self-Interest” (1993) is his take on the servant leadership concept. He’s not unaware of the concept, contributing to the “Insights on Leadership” collection for the Greenleaf Center. “Stewardship” is usually defined as ‘keeping something in trust for another.’ We speak of stewardship when we talk about public lands like parks and forests, keeping them maintained for future generations. We speak of stewardship when we maintain stuff for future generations. We could also speak of stewardship in terms of organizations, keeping the organization running and viable for future members.

In the book, “stewardship” is defined as ‘the choice to preside overly the orderly distribution of power.’ Traditional ideas of leadership, the ‘command and control’ structure, is too much built around certain people taking power. With servant leadership, this is turned on its head, with power coming from the leader and given (back?) to the followers.

For the author, 4 elements must be present for authentic service to exist:
• Balance of power. (basically empowerment of followers)
• A primary commitment to a larger community
• Everyone joins in to define purpose and decide the culture of the group.(instead of it being only the leaders doing this)
• A balance and equitable distribution of rewards. (as compared to the leader taking all the credit/glory)

The author sees traditional leadership as composing self-interest, dependency, and control. In stewardship, this should be replaced with service, responsibility and partnership.

Most of us have probably heard of the term “command and control”. It is the traditional organizational/leadership structure of most companies and organizations. A very top-down structure where control flows from above. The author also calls this “patriarchy”. Controls is very important here. Consistency, doing the same thing the same way, is also important. The problem is that such structures are very rigid. Organizations that need to be able to adapt quickly can’t do so if they have a rigid structure. The alternate is “partnership”. Here, power, ownership, and responsibility is shared among several, and the rigid top-down structure is flattened. For partnership to work, 4 things must be present:
• Exchange of purpose
• Right to say No
• Joint Accountability
• Absolute honesty

What do these mean? In exchange of purpose, we are talking about vision and values, which we’ve touched on in prior Notes. In a top-down structure, these are defined at the higher levels, then pushed down to the lower levels. With the exchange of purpose, we are each responsible for defining vision and values. We all have a part to play in this.

Saying no is very powerful. If we can’t, saying ‘yes’ is meaningless. Here is a video of Peter on this concept: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkLdXjDkMVc

Joint Accountability means we are EACH responsible for outcomes and the current situation. We can’t push it off to others. Here are 2 videos of Peter on this concept. Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYRMhCtU54A Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWyL2irmfrY

And critically, there must be absolute honesty. In a top-down structure, there is often an avoidance of honesty. Not just from subordinates to their bosses, but from bosses to subordinates. In a partnership, this can’t work.

Empowerment is the second big part of stewardship. And the author has an interesting take on it. (I should point out that the author’s earlier work is on empowerment). He speaks of empowerment as responsibility and adventure as opposed to dependency and safety. Being empowered is about risk. You now have the power to make decisions, which entails risk. Again, too often the top-down hierarchies are very risk adverse.

Finally, service over self-interest is the third and final part of stewardship. Those of us who understand servant leadership understand this importance. Service is then realized in both the “language of service” (we use phrases like “we serve our country”, “we server our customers”, “doing service is important” and the like) and the “experience of service” (actually DOING service). The author feels the problem is that we often have the language of service (we toss out those phrases), but we lack the experience (not just that we don’t do service, but that we do service within the structure of organizations that don’t model servant leadership). This is due to the attitude of self-interest both in ourselves and our organizations.

Hence, to have real service, we must have the 4 elements I mentioned earlier. The book is divided into 3 parts. The first, fairly short, goes over the basics of stewardship. The second, more substantial, gets “practical”. It shows how stewardship will look like. Sadly, the examples are all given in terms of companies, not organizations. For us, dealing with groups like finance or HR is probably not of interest. And the third section goes into details of how to get to stewardship. Again, sadly, coached in terms of companies.

Since this work, the author has moved to other areas, in particular the area of building community, tho his works all do have a connection with underlying beliefs. Despite this work being a bit too business focused, there are some good ideas in looking at this different take on servant leadership.

Here is an interesting short video of Peter explaining what he has been doing lately: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqjy9_Y8EWA

Leadership Notes #73 – Authentic Leadership/True North

(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.)

Bill George’s “Authentic Leadership” (2003) is his own take on the servant leadership concept. He has recently added to this with the concept of “True North” (2007) with Peter Sims, which gives a model on how to become an authentic leader. He has also put out “Finding your True North” (2008) and “True North Groups” (2011) with others. (I have not checked over these last 2 books).

In the Authentic Leadership model, there are 5 dimensions that make it up:

• Purpose (understanding your purpose)
• Values (practice solid values)
• Heart (Leading with heart)
• Relationship (establishing connected relationships)
• Self-Discipline (demonstrating self-discipline)

In True North, you have 5 key areas that make up your `personal leadership development plan’:

• Self-Awareness (know your authentic self)
• Values & Principles (define your values and leadership principles)
• Motivations (understand your motivations)
• Support Team (build your support team)
• Integrated Life (staying grounded by integrating all aspects of your life)

As noted, in “Authentic Leadership”, there are 5 dimensions.

With “purpose”, it’s about why are you there as a leader. What do you hope to do or accomplish? Keep in mind that in the idea of servant leadership, the two extremes are that you are there for yourself (the leader-first leader), or you are there for those you lead (the servant leader), or somewhere in between. It’s not so much of a vision, but a more broader idea of purpose. Sometimes understanding the purpose or reason for the particular group or organization you are part of.

As leaders, one should have values. It’s funny (or sad) that too often values aren’t spoken about in regards to leadership, until there is a crisis caused by a lack of values. Some organizations make a point of having a clear set of values, a set of behaviors expected of the members (to themselves, to others in the groups, to others outside the group). Ideally, the leaders should exemplify these values. As those involved in Scouting, we should understand the concept of having a set of values we all subscribe to.

Leading with heart is about how the leader treats others on a personal level. Again, a big element of servant leadership is the relationship between the leader and the follower. This concept is also a big part of Joel Manby’s work, “Love Works” (a topic of a previous Leadership Notes), on his company’s take on servant leadership. Again, too often there is the view that leaders must be tough, that `love’ (however you call it) has no place. Certainly Manby’s work does well in showing that’s wrong.

Building those relationships between leader and follower goes hand in hand with that concept. The classic concept is that the leader must be aloof and detached from those they lead, else they will fail somehow as leaders (especially when it comes to making the hard decisions). But, again, this doesn’t work in servant leadership and I see more leadership works moving away from that classic concept.

And finally, the leader must have self-discipline. This takes form in a couple of ways. One is that the leader is consistent in how they conduct themselves. And the next is that they have control of themselves and their emotions. This is basically the idea of Emotional Intelligence which I’ve covered previously.

Now, “True North” takes this idea further. As noted, the point of this book is to give a framework in which one has a compass for becoming an “authentic leader”. That compass has 5 key areas. Further, there is a 3 step leadership journey that one takes to becoming a leader. Those 5 key areas are.

Self-Awareness is first. It’s about knowing yourself. What are your strengths and weaknesses? This is a common theme among several leadership development programs, of finding where you currently stand as a leader, then working to improve the areas one is lacking.

Next is Values & Principles. What values are most important to you? What principles guide you as a leader? The book defines values as those things most important in your life. The leadership principles are your set of standards for how you lead others. They are your values turned into action. Not to be forgotten is the idea of ethical boundaries, which are limits on your actions based on your standards. (basically right and wrong).

Then there is Motivations. What are your motivations as a leader? These can be external (reward or recognition) or internal (personal growth, satisfaction). There are also internal and external motivation (those coming from within you, and from outside of you. And sometimes you need to balance these.

For any leader, the Support Team is important. These are your mentors, those who will guide and support you. Don’t confuse these with those at a higher level (tho there can be some overlap). Again, the concept of mentors (and ideally more than one) is something that is becoming more and more important in many leadership development programs.

Finally, as a leader you need to have an Integrated Life. You need to keep everything together and in balance to have fulfillment. We often here of people who “burn out”, and it’s usually due to not having balance in their lives.

Also not to be overlooked is the development phases of the leader. A leader doesn’t happen overnight. Often people who become leaders have done so after a long period of growth and development. The author speaks of 3 phases in this process:
• Phase 1- Preparing for Leadership
• Phase 2- Leading
• Phase 3- Giving Back

Preparing for Leadership is one that hopefully most of us have been involved in. Here is where one is part of a group, learning in the process and being a contributor. You character as an individual and as a potential leader are being developed. A phrase used here is “rubbing up against the world”: finding things out. What works and what doesn’t.

Next hopefully is Leading. Ideally one has stepped up to being a leader (or maybe pushed into it). There may be ups and downs. The author calls these “crucibles”: issues that arise that a leader will need to address. These will test the leader. How they are handled will say a lot about the leader. Hopefully the leader will emerge at where they should be: their peak level.

Finally, the leader Gives Back. They use the lessons and experience they gained in helping or mentoring future leaders.

Now, like many leadership works I do have to criticize these books for being too business oriented. While the concepts are good, the books are too much oriented to the business world (and the stuff touching on political issues is also unwanted). There are no examples that are non-business, and some things brought up have little equivalence in the non-business world. So keep this in mind when reading them and trying to apply the ideas.

Here are some useful videos.

Bill George on Leadership: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_4b2lS1yuM (more on the “leadership crisis” due to picking leaders for the wrong reasons)

Bill George at Google on True North (LONG): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0mXxkLWobk

Leadership Notes #72 – Leadership 2.0

(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.)

“Leadership 2.0” (2012) is a new work on leadership by the authors of “Emotional Intelligence 2.0” (2009) (which I touched on in LN #58). Purchasing the book gives access to a limited version of 360 Refined, an on-line leadership self-test (which is why it’s important to purchase the book new, not used).

This concept of leadership is that there are 3 core leadership skill groups, which is what gets people into leadership positions, and then there are 4 groups of adaptive leadership skills, which are what set leaders apart and make you the leader you want to be. The book and the test help you understand where you stand with these skills. (note- there are others who use the term “adaptive leadership” for their own ideas on leadership. As far as I can tell, there is no connection with them and this work.)

The core leadership groups are Strategy, Action, and Results. Each of these have certain skills:

• Strategy: Vision, Acumen, Planning, Courage to Lead
• Action: Decision Making, Communication, Mobilizing Others
• Results: Risk Taking, Results Focus, Agility

The adaptive leadership groups are Emotional Intelligence, Organizational Justice, Character, and Development. Again, each of these have certain skills tied to each.

• Emotional Intelligence: Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Management
• Organizational Justice: Decision Fairness, Information Sharing, Outcome Concern
• Character: Integrity, Credibility, Values Differences
• Development: Lifelong Learning, Developing Others

Many of the skills have been touched on by past Leadership Notes.

So let’s look at the core leadership groups and their skills.

Strategy is about being able to look ahead and come up with a course of action to be successful. Hence the skills here are:

• Vision- which is about inspiring the members of your group with what you see as the future for the organization. This has been touched on in a prior Leadership Notes.
• Acumen- is about the leader having an understanding the issues affect the organization. This is concept we’ve touched on in the past, but not as a separate concept.
• Planning- is about coming up with goals and a plan to achieve those goals. We’ve touched on goals in the past, and I hope to have a Leadership Notes on planning.
• Courage to Lead- is not something that is usually touched on. It means the leader must be strong in the face of issues and taking the risks for the group to succeed.

Nothing happens until it happens. A plan is meaningless, until sometime takes action on it. And sadly, the problem with many would-be leaders is not the lack of desire, but in how to execute. Hence the skills here are:

• Decision Making- leaders must make sound decisions, which includes getting multiple options, seeking input, and then making a decision in a timely fashion. Again, a topic of a past Leadership Notes.
• Communication- leaders need to operate in an open environment in which ideas and information flow freely. This increases the effectiveness of the group. Again, a topic of a past Leadership Notes.
• Mobilizing Others- leaders need to motivate and influence others. Leadership is influence, and without this the rest doesn’t get done.

Success is never a guarantee. Issues always emerge, so you need certain skills to ensure that results occur. Hence the skills here are:

• Risk Taking- a leader often times needs to push things and take risks to ensure success.
• Result Focus- always a leader must stay focused on the ultimate goal and to keep the organization focused there as well.
• Agility- things change, and the leader needs to be flexible and make changes as needed.

Now, as noted, the above core leadership groups & skills will get you into a leadership position, but to succeed as a leader, you need the adaptive leadership skills. It’s these that the authors feel sets apart great leaders from the rest.

Emotional Intelligence is the first group. This topic is more fully covered in the authors’ prior work “Emotional Intelligence 2.0”, and it’s something I recommend getting with this work. EQ is about being aware of your own emotions and the emotions of others, and using this awareness to manager yourself and form quality relationships with others.

• Self-Awareness is about being aware of your own emotions
• Self-Management is the next part, where you then need to be able to manage your emotions.
• Social Awareness is about being aware of other’s emotions and to understand them.
• Relationship Management is about using all of this to manage how you interact with others.

Organizational justice is about making sure that people are treated fairly, with respect and value. This is something that is important, but one I rarely see brought up in the context of leadership. For this, the leader needs these skills:

• Decision Fairness- making decisions that affect people in a fair manner. This is important in keeping the members of the group satisfied and involved. If they perceive unfairness, this can destroy the cohesiveness of the organization.
• Information Sharing- when decisions are made, members of the group must know how the decision was made and how it impacts them. Too often leaders want to hide this, which destroys group cohesion.
• Outcome Concern- leaders need to be truly concerned for the people they lead and be able to express that on a personal level.

Character is also often a topic that isn’t talked of too much in leadership (other than when its missing), but it’s something that anyone should have, leader or not. As a leader, there are certain characteristics you need, such as:

• Integrity- which is about having a core set of beliefs (ethics & values), and apply those values in how they conduct themselves. We in Scouting should be able to understand the concept of having a core set of beliefs.
• Credibility- means that the leader can be counted on, and that their actions and opinions are sounds. By doing so, they will gain the support and commitment of those they lead.
• Values Differences- those who values and makes use of the differences of their people can maximize their contributions and lead to better results.

Finally, another aspect of any leader is the attitude that one is always learning and developing themselves, and to ensure that those they lead are also developing (an element of mentorship which is in servant leadership). So the important skills here are:

• Lifelong Learning- as a leader, always be learning new skills and knowledge
• Developing Others- as a leader, ensure those you lead have opportunities to learn.

As noted, a big part of what makes this book useful is access to the “self-assessment” part of the “360 Refined” test. It’s not the full test (that costs a bit of money). The idea is that once you’ve run the self-assessment, you have an idea of where you are, come up with an action plan, and work on developing your skills.

Overall I think this is an interesting work and test. I think those who get it would also benefit from getting the authors’ prior work on Emotional Intelligence as well. I think it would be interesting to hear how others have put these to use.

The authors’ website is www.talentsmart.com, which has other resources.

Leadership Notes #71 – Love Works

(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.)

The concept of servant leadership is one we have and will continue to revisit in this series. I have also found works that are servant leadership works, but which provide a different expression or interpretation of it. An example of such a work is “Love Works” by Joel Manby. I had heard of this work recently, and was thrilled when I was able to see him give the keynote address at the 2012 Toastmasters International Convention. After getting him to sign a copy, I asked him if he was aware of the concept of servant leadership, and he said he was. He clearly accepted that this work is servant leadership, but using a different way of expressing it.

The concept he puts forth in his work is not original with him, but an expression of the corporate culture of the company he leads as CEO: Herschend Family Entertainment (HFE). They are the largest family-owned theme park corporation, whose corporate culture is servant leadership-based. The name is probably unknown to most, but the amusement parks they own or operate are probably well known. They include 20 some parks in several states. These include Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO, Dollywood and several other parks owned by Dolly Parton, Stone Mountain Park in Atlanta and Wild Adventures in Valdosta, GA. Keep in mind that with their culture, the company has been VERY successful, giving a return of about 14% to the shareholders.

For many people, Joel and his company’s culture was introduced in an episode of the TV series “Undercover Boss”, where Joel went ‘undercover’ and worked entry level jobs at several of the company properties. An element of the show that some don’t accept is at the end where the CEO gives something to the people they worked with. In Joel’s case, the ‘rewards’ given were actually from the company’s Share it Forward Foundation, which was created to help employees in need. This foundation is funded by employee donations which are then matched by the company. So these were not on-off gifts.

If you would like to view the episode of “Undercover Boss”, here is the youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsH2A8ZLSyw

An important concept that Joel emphasis is that too often people seem to be given a choice of acting one way at work and another way outside of work. As if we can be nice outside of work, but that at work we can’t. I’ve seen this in action. Years back at my company, I often times had to deal with a certain high-level manager. He was, in my opinion, a difficult person to deal with. I didn’t care for him or his manner of behavior. Later I learned that, like me, he was active as a scout leader in the local council and that many other scouters thought he was great. He basically conducted himself in two very different manners at work and outside. So one of the premises of “Love Works” is that you don’t need to do this.

Another important matter is that Joel notes that people too often feel that following these concepts somehow means one is not working to achieve the organization’s goal. (this same accusation is made about servant leadership). For a company, that goal is to be profitable. For other organizations, that goal may be something else. The important thing to keep in mind is that you can do right by the employees/members of the group AND by doing so, met the organization’s goals. You don’t need to sacrifice values for profits. And has been pointed out, companies which follow a servant leadership model (including HFE) have been shown to be VERY profitable.

Now, to understand the concept being put forth in this book, it should be understood that many misunderstand the word “love”, because in English it covers a wide range of meanings. Here we are speaking of love the verb. The principle of treating someone with love regardless of how you feel about that person. In Greek, there are 4 words for love:
• Eros
• Philos
• Storge
• Agape

Eros is where we get the word `erotic’. Enough said. Philos is `brotherly love’, the love of friends. Storge is love of family and family members (parent & child). The forth word is the important one: Agape. Unconditional love. A decision, a matter of will. This is the basis of “Love Works”.

Going further, HFE uses 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 to express the concept of love:

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

This lays down the foundation of their culture, based on 7 principles:

• Patient: Have self-control in difficult situations.
• Kind: Show encouragement and enthusiasm.
• Trusting: Place confidence in those around you.
• Unselfish: Think of yourself less.
• Truthful: Define reality corporately and individually.
• Forgiving: Release the grip of the grudge.
• Dedicated: Stick to your values in all circumstances.

So let’s take a little closer look at some of these concepts.

Being patient means not losing one’s `cool’ in a bad situation. It also means praising in public, and admonishing in private, something that too often is forgotten. And that praise and admonishment needs to be specific if it’s to be effective.

Kindness is about being encouraging and showing enthusiasm. One part of this is shown by the personal notes that HFE founder Jack Herschend gives to employees. Has anyone ever given you a personal note encouraging you? How might you feel if you received something like that? How might someone else feel if you gave them one? (and I don’t mean a quick email or text message either.)

Trust can be a hard thing to give. We often times feel we can’t trust people, because they will abuse that trust. But it’s important to do so. In the book you’ll learn about a tool call RACI, which stands for Responsible, Approve, Consult, and Inform. Trust the people you lead to make decisions and act on them.

Unselfishness is a little misunderstood. It not thinking less of yourself, but think of yourself less. Which means you are thinking of those you lead and work with more. This means helping them.

Truthfulness goes back the quote by Max DePress: “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality.” Be truthful with others, especially if you expect them to be truthful with you. Another interesting tool covered in the book is “Same as, More of, Less of”. What do you appreciate in others? This is “same as”. What do you want more of from them? And what do you want to see less of from them? Can you be honest with others to cover these with them, and allow them to cover this with you?

Forgiveness is something we all have a problem with. Can you forgive someone and give them a second chance. And in the book, Joel covers two different examples. One where they gave an employee a second chance and how that person made the most of it. And another where they gave an employee several second chances, and how they weren’t able to do so. But you got to try.

And finally, you must be dedicated to your values. You have to do it all the time, in both the bad times and good. Too often in organizations, when things are rough, values are tossed out the window, as if they can’t be afforded, when in fact, this is when they are needed most.

Tied to this are the concepts of “Be Goals” (How) and “Do Goals” (What), which ties these all together in the performance goals of the organization.

As noted, a different take on servant leadership, but one that is very successful.

For those wanting to see a video explanation, youtube has a 3 part video of Joel speaking on it at the FCCI (Fellowship of Companies for Christ International) Conference. Sadly, we don’t see the slides he is referring to. This is largely the same explanation of what he gave us at the Convention.
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EgUoyFTPvI
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZEgpIJifo8
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H6epYRUHHc

Also, I would recommend people buy the book. All the proceeds from the sales of the book goes to the HFE’s Share it Forward Foundation, NOT Joel Manby. You can also check out his website at http://www.joelmanby.com which has more resources.

Leadership Notes #70 – Paradoxical Commandments for Leaders

(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.)

You may have heard of the “Paradoxical Commandments” but never realized it. They were written by Dr. Kent Keith (http://www.paradoxicalcommandments.com/) in a book he wrote back in 1968. Someone posted it on the wall of Mother Teresa’s children’s home in Calcutta, where it was picked up and passed around. Some referred to it as a poem called “Anyway”, a few times misattributed to Mother Teresa. Here they are:

The Paradoxical Commandments by Dr. Kent M. Keith

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.

As noted, they were written with leaders in mind. Student leaders to be exact. In reading over them, I have sadly seen many of them in action. In trying to get people involved, I’ve often run into people’s illogical or unreasonable reasons not to.

I have many times seen others who knock themselves out in doing good work within their organizations, only to have others question their motives. And when people are successful, it’s interesting to see the type of people who popup and trying to attach themselves (or worse, take credit for themselves). How often have we seen the good word done by others be forgotten the next day?

I have many times been in meetings and such when great ideas are put forth, only to have them be shot down by others. Now, this doesn’t include good, honest criticism, with the intention of improving the idea, but people who are trying to kill the idea, not improve it. We have also seen others who spend a lot of time “building” things. Now, in this context, I would see this as building up an organization (could be a Crew or Ship, or even a VOA), or a program or event (large district or council training program or council event or the like). But once they step away, others take it over and either totally change it or they destroy it. (I guess they forgot the concept of “stewardship”).

Often times others need help. Perhaps it’s a unit or the like. Others will try to help, only to be attacked (again, maybe their motives are questioned).

Too often I’ve seen other leaders who have had to put up with the issues expounded on in the Commandments finally give in and throw in the towel and move on to other things. The usual excuse is “burn out”, but we’ve all seen it.

Dr. Keith has written several books on the Commandments, the first two I have looked at. The first is “Anyway: The Paradoxical Commandments” (2001), which expounds on them. A chapter is devoted to each one. The second book is “Do It Anyway” (2003), which explains on how to live them. It’s a “how to” companion to the first work. It includes stories of others who have put the commandments to use, and gives info on how to apply them in your life.

The third and fourth book I have not seen. One is “Jesus did it Anyway” (2005), which ties in the Commandments to the teachings of Christ. And the other is “Have Faith Anyway” (2008), which presents an eleventh Paradoxical Commandment.

He has other books that I think are just as important. The first he wrote in 1968, which was where the Paradoxical Commandments were included. This is “The Silent Revolution: Dynamic Leadership in the Student Council” (1968, 2003). He wrote it while a student at Harvard. Before that, he had been a student council leader in Hawaii, where he had established the Hawaii Student Leadership Institute, the official student council workshop for Hawaii (pretty impressive when you stop and realize he did this while in high school). The focus on this book is how to transform the student council and make a difference. I actually think that any Venturer who wishes to be a VOA leader should read this book. Yes, there are differences between a student council and a VOA, but there are enough similarities that I think this book is valuable.

His second book is “The Silent Majority: The Problem of Apathy and the Student Council” (1969, 2004), which he also wrote while at Harvard. As the title indicates, it’s how to address the issue of apathy among the members of student councils. Its point is that a student council’s greatest purpose is about people helping people, and that everyone is interested in something. So it’s the task of the leaders to find it and use it to bring people together and achieve that greater purpose. Again, I think that any Venturer who wishes to be either a crew or VOA leader should read this book. I see too many crews suffering with apathetic youth as well as VOAs. This work can be of value.

He has recently added a work to his “Paradoxical Commandments” series (“Silent Revolution” and “Silent Majority” are part of this series): “Morality and Morale” (2012). A business fable, or fictionalized story, it shows how following a moral code is important and how it can be a source of personal energy and success. A feature of this work is the “Universal Moral Code” that he developed. More information on this Code can be found at http://www.universalmoralcode.com/.

These works and other materials can be obtained at his website. He also has a DVD introducing Servant Leadership, which is pretty good.

Since 2007, Dr. Keith has been serving as the executive director of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, taking over from Larry Spears. (www.greenleaf.org) While there (he just recently stepped down from the position) he published “The Case for Servant Leadership” and “Questions and Answers on Servant Leadership”, which have been covered in past Notes.

Leadership Notes #69 – Servant Leadership Redux II

(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.)

As always, I like to revisit some concepts. Servant leadership continues to be an important area of study. New works continue to come out, from the Greenleaf Center (www.greenleaf.org) and others. Here are some of the works that have come out recently on servant leadership, along with a few that have been around but we haven’t looked at more deeply.

“The Serving Leader” (2003) from Ken Jennings and John Stahl-Wert is different introduction to servant leadership. It’s part of the “Ken Blanchard Series”, which are short leadership works under the editorship of Ken Blanchard. As noted, it’s an introduction to servant leadership, which presents the concept thru the “business parable” style, using a fictional story. It also puts forth a framework of 5 actions, which is presented as a “Serving Leader Pyramid”, with the point at the bottom. The five actions are:

• Building on Strength
• Blaze the Trail
• Raise the Bar
• Upend the Pyramid
• Run to Great Purpose

What are these actions? “Run to Great Purpose” is having a vision for the group, one that should be inspiring and challenging. “Upend the Pyramid” is to turn things over where the leaders serve the followers (the opposite of more orgs, with the leaders at the top of the pyramid, and everyone below them). “Raise the Bar” is about setting expectations high and being selective of who are the team leaders within the organization. “Blaze the Trail” by living the principles of the “serving leader” and working to remove obstacles. And “Building on Strength” is about people being able to contribute what they are best at.

Overall, this book is a good introduction to servant leadership. There is an accompanying website for this at http://www.servingleaders.com/. One of the authors has a video at YouTube on serving leaders: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu2jA4C3T8g

Another new introductory work on servant leadership is “The Art of Servant Leadership” (2010) by Tony Baron. The focus here is a bit more on business, which may make it a little less suitable for those of us using it in member organizations or non-profits. As a way to illustrate the concepts, the real story of the transformation of Datron World Communications by their CEO. I think using a real story of a business transformation is good, as it clearly shows the value and benefit to a company in using servant leadership. What I also found useful about this work is that about half of it is on servant leadership, and half is on building a servant leadership culture. Both are needed, but most introductory works focus on just explaining the concept of servant leadership to an individual, but seldom deal with developing a culture that will grow and sustain the principles of servant leadership within an organization.

Another nice element of this work is that each chapter ends with a section of discussion points and self-assessment questions for the reader.

There is a video for this book: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qHXphtHrRg, and the book comes from the Servant Leadership Institute http://www.forthesakeofothers.com/ which has other resources.

Another introductory book that’s been around awhile, but I think has been overlooked (I wasn’t aware of it) is “Servant Leadership in the Real World” (2002) by Dr. Kurt Takamine. Again, focus here is on an introduction to servant leadership and how to implement it in a corporate environment. It’s meant to be an easy read, and I think the author did a pretty good job of this. But again the business focus may make it less useful to people in a member organization. I did like that each chapter ended with several open-ended questions on personal application of what was covered in that chapter.

The Greenleaf Center continues with its series of short essays on servant leadership. They have recently come out with 3 additional ones. “The Wisdom of Servant Leadership” is an interview with leader Isabel Lopez. She examines the central concepts of servant leadership, as well as how to put it into use, using examples from her own life as a leader in a company. “The Gift of Dialogue”, by David Young, in many ways builds on the previous essay on servant leadership listening (covered in the previous Note on servant leadership), by looking at the importance of dialoguing. Dialoguing is meant as the next step in the process after listening in developing the relationship between the leader and the follower. The third, “Servant Leadership in Hard Times” looks at how servant leadership can be used in organizations under harsh issues. Here, the example used is a manufacturing facility being shutdown, but where quality still needed to be kept up.

The Greenleaf Center’s executive director, Kent Keith, has come out with another good work on servant leadership: “Questions and Answers on Servant Leadership”, which I have been looking forward to after hearing about it. This work presents about 30 questions about servant leadership, each giving a short 1-2 page answer and usually some areas of further study. Many are ones I’ve encountered in presenting servant leadership, and so I think this is a valuable work. There are the expected questions like “what is servant leadership”, to less common ones like “is it religious” and “is it a philosophy”. I think any wanted to learn more about servant leadership would benefit from this work, reading it after “The Case for Servant Leadership” by the same author. This work also has some good resources in the back, including a nice recommended reading list on servant leadership.

I should point out that Kent Keith has recently stepped down from the Center, and a new person has stepped up as their executive director. An upcoming Notes will focus on Keith’s many other works.

Leadership Notes #68 – 10 Essential Leadership Models

(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.)

(This Leadership Note is based on a blog posting at: www.greatleadershipbydan.com/2012/06/10-essential-leadership-models.html)

Anyone wanting to study leadership will see a variety of ways to look at leadership. We can refer to these as “leadership models”. I think a mistake some think is that they need to pick one model to follow, instead to realize that many of them can be complementary. We have actually touched on several of these leadership models in past Notes, and some may be looked at in future Notes. The 10 we will look at briefly here are:

1. Situational Leadership
2. Servant Leadership
3. Blake & Mouton’s Leadership Grid
4. Emotional Leadership
5. Kouzes & Posner’s Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership
6. Jim Collin’s Level 5 Leadership
7. Diamond Model of Leadership
8. Six Leadership Passages
9. Authentic Leadership
10. GROW model

So, what are these models?

Situational Leadership should be familiar to most people. Developed by Blanchard and Hersey decades ago, I have devoted several Notes to Situational Leadership and its application to one-on-one leadership, teams, and to one self. The BSA’s “EDGE” model is actually based on this model. The underlying idea is that the leader should modify how they conduct themselves as leaders with others depending on the situation (which is based on the “maturity” level of the follower(s)).

Servant Leadership has been the subject of several Notes, and I expect to have further Notes on it as well. Its built around how the leader serves those they lead, and so the relationship between the leader and follower is different than in “traditional” leadership.

Leadership Grid (probably should be called “managerial grid”) of Blake and Moulton. This is about balancing task and people-oriented work, which is actually a concept that underlies Situational Leadership as well. A good overview is here: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_73.htm

Daniel Goleman came up with the concept of Emotional Intelligence, but others have also been promoting it as well. I devoted a Notes to this concept. A good introduction is Goleman’s article from the “Harvard Business Review”, which you can read here: http://bizedgegroup.com/Articles/040507%20What%20makes%20a%20Leader.pdf

Kouzes and Posner’s “Leadership Challenge” works puts forth their model of the 5 Practices of Exemplary Leadership: Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, Encourage the Heart. I devoted a Notes to this concept, but here is a good overview at their site: http://www.leadershipchallenge.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-131055.html .

Jim Collin’s leadership model of the Level 5 Leadership is put forth in his book “From Good to Great”. The 5 Levels are: Highly Capable Individual, Contributing Team Member, Competent Manager, Effective Leader, and Great Leader. I covered this concept in a Notes, but a good overview can be read here: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/level-5-leadership.htm

Jim Clawson puts forth the idea of a four-element “diamond of leadership” in his book “Level Three Leadership”, which focuses on self, others, task, and organization, which must work together to achieve the results. A good overview can be read here: http://www.greatleadershipbydan.com/2011/09/four-wheel-drive-diamond-in-rough.html

The book “The Leadership Pipeline” (by Charan, Drotter, and Noel) puts forth the idea of there being six key development passages (or stages) a leader must go thru. These six passages are: managing self to managing others, managing others to managing managers, managing managers to functional manager, functional manager to business manager, business manager to group manager, and group manager to enterprise manager. A brief overview of this can be found here: http://www.ram-charan.com/leadership_pipeline_excerpt.htm .

Bill George defined “Authentic Leadership” in the book of the same name, then expounded on it further in “True North” and other works. At first it seems another take on servant leadership, but it’s a little different. This will be a subject of a future Notes. A brief overview can be found here: http://www.greatleadershipbydan.com/2012/06/authentic-leadership-development-your.html

The GROW model has been used by many people, and there are different explanations for what the letters stand for. Usually it means Goal, Reality, Obstacles/Options, and Way/Will/What’s next. Here is one brief overview of it: http://learn2develop.blogspot.com/2008/12/more-line-manger-tips-grow-model-for.html

Hopefully this has served as a good introduction to a range of leadership concepts, with pointers to further study.

Leadership Notes #67 – Leadership Quotes V

(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.)

“Religions, philosophies, formulas, projects, blueprints, programs, plans are inert until action infuses them with power” — Wilfred Peterson

“When someone does something good, applaud! You will make two people happy” – Samuel Goldwyn

“Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.” — Henry van Dyke

“Mediocrity obtains more with application than superiority without it.” — Gracian

“It is easier to go down a hill then up, but the view is best from the top” — Arnold Bennett

“If you could kick the man responsible for most of your troubles, you wouldn’t sit down for a week.” — Owen Arnold

“Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows is image.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Wise men read very sharply all of your private history in your look and gait and behavior” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

“It takes stronger character to stand good fortune than bad fortune” — Benjamin Franklin

“We don’t get what we want. We get what we are.” — Anonymous

“The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear” — Socrates.

“Don’t open a shop unless you know how to smile.” — Jewish proverb

“I’d like to reverse a traditional piece of commencement time advice. You know it well, it goes: `Make no little plans.’ Instead, I’d like to say this: Make no little enemies—people with whom you differ for some petty, insignificant, personal reason. Instead, I would urge you to cultivate `mighty opposites’—people with whom you disagree on big issues, with whom you will fight to the eng over fundamental convictions. And that fight, I assure you, will be good for you and your opponent.” — Thomas J Watson, Jr.

“When you have a number of disagreeable duties to perform, always do the most disagreeable first.” — Josiah Quincy

“Don’t be misled into believing that somehow the world owes you a living. The boy who believes that his parents, or the government, or anyone else owes him a livelihood and that he can collect it without labor will wake up one day and find himself working for another boy who did not have that belief and, therefore, earned the right to have others work for him.” — David Sarnoff

“The only way to have a friend is to be one.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

“I would rather try to persuade a man to go along, because once I have persuaded him he will stick. If I scare him, he will stay just as long as he is scared, and then he is gone.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower

“The first duty of a leader is to make himself be loved without courting love. To be loved without `playing up’ to anyone—even to himself.” — Andre’ Malraux

“If you wish to know what a man is, place him in authority.” — Yugoslav proverb

“Remember that it is far better to follow well than to lead indifferently.” — John G Vance

“Toil to make yourself remarkable by some talent or other.” — Seneca

“Do you want to make friends? Be friendly. Forget yourself… You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people then you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” — Dale Carnegie

“Things do not happen in this world–they are brought about.” — Hays

“We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Every noble work is at first impossible.” — Thomas Carlyle

“The way to do things is to begin.” — Horace Greeley

“Choice, not chance, determines human destiny.” — Anonymous

“If you want to pull yourself into glorious adulthood and personal fulfillment, do not permit yourself to live an uncharted life.” — Rhoda Lachar

“Never grow a wishbone, daughter, where your backbone ought to be.” — Clementine Paddleford

“Ideals are like stars: you will never succeed in touching them with your hands, but like the seafaring man on the ocean desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them, you reach your destiny.” — Carl Schurz

“Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.” — James Bryant Conant

“No rule for success will work if you won’t.” — Unknown

“The beginning is the most important part of the work.” — Plato

“Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell `em, `Certainly I can!’ Then get busy and find out how to do it.” — Theodore Roosevelt

“When your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt.” — Henry J. Kaiser

“Just remember that what you are going to be tomorrow you are becoming today.” — Anonymous

“`We sure shook that bridge,’ the mouse said to the elephant after they crossed the bridge.” — Anonymous

“The man who says `It can’t be done,’ is liable to be interrupted by someone doing it.” — Anonymous

“Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely.” — Macaulay

“Hoping and waiting is not my way of doing things.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“It is no use to wait for your ship to come in unless you have sent one out.” — Belgian proverb

“Some men make difficulties; difficulties make some men.” — Anonymous

“Knowledge without wisdom ought to be called cunning rather than wisdom.” — Plato

“A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows the public opinion.” — Chinese proverb

“If I listen, I have the advantage; if I speak, others have it.” — from the Arabic

“We have two ears and one tongue in order that we may hear more and speak less.” — Diogenes

“Do you wish people to speak well of you? Then do not speak at all of yourself.” — Pascal

“From listening comes wisdom and from speaking, repentance.” — Italian proverb

“The person who gossips to you will gossip about you.” — Anonymous

“The Harvest–Sow a thought, reap an act; sow an act, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.” — Unknown

“A man will remain a rag-picker as long as he has only the vision of a rag-picker.” — O.S. Marden

“The surest way to know the chip off a fellow’s shoulder is by patting him on the back.” — Anonymous

“Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possess, but not how many friends.” — Cicero

“Enthusiasm is self-confidence in action.” — Franklin Field

“Enthusiasm is a vital element toward the individual success of every man and woman.” — Conrad Hilton

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not, unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence, and persistence alone, always has, and always will, solve the problems of the human race.” — Calvin Coolidge

“Show me a thoroughly satisfied man–I will show you a failure.” — Thomas A. Edison

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” — Mark Twain

“Think excitement, talk excitement, act out excitement, and you are bound to become an excited person. Life will take on a new zest, deeper interest and greater meaning. You can think, talk, and act yourself into dullness or into monotony or into unhappiness. By the same process you can build up inspiration, excitement and a surging depth of joy.” — Norman Vincent Peale

“Learn how to pay compliments. Start with the members of your family, and you will find it will become easier in life to compliment others. It’s a great asset.” — Letitia Baldrige

“When you cannot get a compliment any other way pay yourself one.” — Mark Twain

Leadership Notes #66 – Extreme Leadership

(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.)

Steve Farber (http://www.stevefarber.com/) puts forth the idea of “Extreme Leadership”. This concept of leadership is put forth in his recent book “The Radical Leap Re-Energized” (2011) which is an expansion and revitalization of his first two books “The Radical Leap” (2004) and “The Radical Edge” (2006). These works introduce the concepts in the form of the “business parable”, which presents them in a fictional story. Radical Leap focuses on introducing his concept of leadership, while the Radical Edge is about personal clarity and guidelines for changing the world. So we’ll be focusing on Radical Leap.

Extreme Leadership is made up of some simple concepts. First off is the idea of the “Oh, sh*t moment” (abbreviated OS!M). This is when the leader is doing or about to do something that has an extraordinary effect on themselves and those they lead. It may be that they are taking a chance, opening themselves up, or the like.

The core of Extreme Leadership is LEAP, which stands for:
• Cultivate Love
• Generate Energy
• Inspire Audacity
• Provide Proof

What do these mean?

“Cultivate love” is about the ultimate motivation of the Extreme Leader. They need to love someone or something: this could be a cause, a principle, the people they work with, the customers, the future they can create with others, the business or organization. If the leader doesn’t have this love, then why take a risk or do what is needed to change the world?

The Extreme Leader is a “Generator of Energy”. They are a powerful force for action, progression, of inspiring others to bring out their best. And what generates that energy are those things they love: cause, principles, the compelling vision.

The Extreme Leader should also be “inspiring audacity”, which is a bold and blatant disregard for normal constraints in order to change the world for the better. Sometimes we call this “think outside the box”, but keep in mind that not only does the EL do this, but they inspire others to do it as well.

And the Extreme Leader “provides proof” that they are an Extreme Leader. Walk the Talk. DWYSYWD: Do What You Say You Will Do.

An interesting quote the author gives about Extreme Leadership: “Do What You Love in Service of People who Love What You Do”. I thought that was an interesting quote. It almost sounds servant leadershipy. Almost like it’s a different way of looking at the concept.

Here is a LONG video by Farber on Extreme Leadership: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_Tq3PplAoc

And here Farber interviewed about this new edition: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OClewwZTKQ8

Steve Farber has another leadership work: “Greater Than Yourself” (2009). Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to read over the work. But again, I found what I read about it to be very interesting and a possible different take on servant leadership.

The aim of this work is to put forth what Farber feels is the timeless principle of true leadership: of helping others achieve their full potential. (hmmm, which is the measurement of the success of a servant leader!). For him, the goal of a genuine leader is to help others, teammates, employees, and colleagues, become more capable, confident, and accomplished than they are themselves. (again, that’s the measure of the servant leader). As before, this work is told as a parable, Farber reveals the three keys to achieving this: Expand Yourself, Give Yourself, and Replicate Yourself. The work aims to bring what those of us in the non-business world follows (or should follow) into the business world. But I think it still has application in the non-business world, with too many wanting to copy what is done in the business world.

Some videos on this work. A preview of Farber’s keynote address on this book: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2DkzOc8RwI. And an ad for the book which focuses on the “GTY Project” done with “Up with People”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUwuHwLiDaI

So check out these 2 books. His website has further resources.

Leadership Notes #65 – The Slight Edge

(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.)

One area that I have tried to avoid are works that are more “success” works, as I wanted to stay within the topic of leadership. Works that do tie in to leadership, but cross over into the “success” realm real are ok, as there is some overlap. To be a better leader, we need to work on a variety of skills that will help us in that, and many of these skills are those that success works also emphasis: goal-setting, time management, self-motivation, and the like.

An interesting work in the area is “The Slight Edge” (2005, 2011). http://www.slightedge.org/

Now, one reason that concept interests me is that I found an interesting book using the idea, but aimed at teens. This work, “Success for Teens” is FREE for non-profit youth groups from http://www.successfoundation.org, also included facilitator guide and DVD. Since the BSA is one of the resource groups they list, I would think this means that Venturing Crews could obtain these books for their youth.

“Success for Teens” is a good read for teens. Stories are given from real teens. Further, each chapter ends with a section with discussion questions.

The Slight Edge philosophy is basically that following simple disciplines, one can be successful. These simple disciplines are the “slight edge” that bumps you over into success instead of failure. In “The Slight Edge” they have 7 principles (“Success for Teens” puts them forth as 8 principles, with different wording).

These 7 principles are:
• Show Up
• Be Consistent
• Have a Good Attitude
• Be Committee for a Long Period of Time
• Have Faith and a Burning Desire
• Be Willing to Pay the Price
• Have Integrity

Again, these principles are ones that any leader should follow. Let’s take a closer look at them.

“Show Up”. It means what it says. When you a student, show up for class. All of them. Show up for work. Show up for the meetings of your organizations. If you are in an exercise program, show up. I can say that as a leader, I have noticed that often times it’s the people who SHOW UP are the ones that others start to look to for leadership. Because I have found it ties into the next principle.

“Be Consistent”. So if you show up, show up CONSITENTLY. Again, I have found that those who show up ALL the time. Not just when it was convenient, but when it wasn’t, were who others gravitated to. And I have to admit, that often times when the leadership is looking for someone to take on a task (chair something), they will often look to the people who SHOW UP and do so CONSITENTLY.

“Have a Good Attitude”. Having a good attitude is important, especially when things don’t go right. (and at times they won’t). Too often we give up, but having a good, positive attitude (and it can’t be faked) is important. Part of this is to avoid what “The Slight Edge” calls `cuckoos’: the negative nellies who bring us all down. Don’t confuse people who give honest and sometimes hard hitting criticism. There is a difference.

“Be Committed for a Long Period of Time”. Success in anything does not come overnight. If you are working to improve yourself, if you are working to make something happen, be in it for the long haul. Some tasks we take on will take weeks. Some months. Some years. Accept it.

“Have Faith and Burning Desire”. As leaders, if you see an obstacle, how do you view it? As something to prevent you from achieving your goal, or something to overcome so that you can? You need faith that you can do so, and a burning desire (your vision, your goal, your mission) to drive you to achieve.

“Be Willing to Pay the Price”. There is always a price to pay, but you need to be willing to do so to achieve your goal. This price may be in time spent, opportunities missed, or just hard work, because the goal you are trying to achieve is that important.

“Have integrity”. This can be tough for people. In this instance, `integrity’ is what you do when no one is watching. Too many people will only do what needs to be done when someone is there to make sure they do it. Do you have the integrity to do it when they aren’t around?

So those are the Slight Edge principles. As noted, the “Success for Teens” work had them worded differently:
• Little Things Matter
• Attitude is Everything
• You Must Use the Moment
• Everything Starts with Small Steps
• There’s No Such Thing as Failure
• Habits are Powerful
• You’re Always Learning
• You Can Make your Dreams Come True

As noted, non-profit groups (like scout units), can get the “Success for Teens” books for free. So check them out.