Extraordinary Leadership

Years ago, I wrote a message to my team that discussed how developing outstanding, ethical leaders was fundamental to the company I worked for. We were in the middle of a sales practice scandal where a few of our area managers did not follow the vision and values of our company. But the message on extraordinary leadership wasn’t just to address the need for ethical leadership. It was because strong leaders have a positive, profound, and measurable influence on making the company a great place to work, but more importantly strong leaders inspire commitment through demonstration of leadership in action. Outstanding leaders live their lives demonstrating exemplary leadership including living a life displaying integrity and honesty. Integrity and honesty are two of the main components of leadership. Afterall, we do not want our leaders to lie to us or deceive us. We want leaders who tell us the truth, even when the truth is hard to tell. Honesty is tightly bound to integrity. We want leaders who know right from wrong. We want to be led, not misled. We want victory, through hard work not through deceit. In the end, we want to work hard for someone who displays integrity and honesty, and we know that through their role modeling, we are motivated to practice integrity and honesty. In the book, Leadership Challenge, authors Kouzes and Posner surface five practices of for living an authentic life with integrity and honesty.They are: 1. Modeling the Way— Setting an example through your day-to-day actions. 2. Inspiring a Shared Vision—Passionately believing you can make a difference. 3. Challenging the Process—Searching for opportunities to change the status quo 4. Enabling Others to Act—Creating an environment of mutual respect where trust, authenticity and dignity are the most important tenets. 5. Encouraging the Heart—Keeping determination alive by rewarding peers for their efforts and celebrating accomplishments even the small ones. Following these five practices, my own leadership journey has included looking at the motivation of my heart and aligning it with my head and hands. I often think of Psalm 19:14, “May the words of my mouth and the mediations of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Assessing my leadership journey also means challenging myself and honest self-assessment of how I am doing remaining focused servant leadership (not self-serving leadership). With my desire for servant leadership, I can focus on what matters, the people I work with and those within my direct span of control. There is something wonderful in helping those who choose to work with you take root, find their path, discover their own unique gift and then celebrating it. When I was little my mom recounted a conversation between a mighty oak tree and an acorn. The acorn was feeling undervalued and insignificant. The mighty oak urged the acorn to be patient, because with the right conditions the acorn would evolve into a mighty oak and be part of the larger ecosystem contributing shade, and housing and even food for forest inhabitants. And, when at last the oak was fully mature it would produce acorns. Acorns that would possess a spark of life to be passed on from one tree generation to the next. Even at a young age, my mom was promoting a life focused on living, not just leaving, an authentic leadership legacy. Thanks for letting me share, -srt References Kouzes, Jim and Posner, Barry. Leadership Challenge. http://www.leadershipchallenge.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-131053.html