BREATHING AND LIVING LEADERSHIP EVERYDAY

Someone once said, "Management is doing things right, Leadership is doing the right things!
Here is a very good article from the Baltimore Sun regarding how the military is redefining leadership. The US military has seen the battles it is fighting change from the types of battles it has fought in the past. As a result, the Leadership responsibility has been pushed down to very small units.

I believe that business leadership needs to be redefined also. Business leadership must be pushed down to the individual level going forward in order for businesses to have a chance at optimizing their results. All individuals should be required to think, act and speak as leaders. And they should be educated on how to do so.

This will require real leaders at the top of organizations. Too many organizations have faux leaders. You know this type of leader. It is usually someone who was proficient at some area in the company, such as sales or finance. The person then became the head of their department and then the head of a division or subsidiary or the whole company. They are now supposed to be leaders but all they ever were, was a great sales person, engineer, accountant, etc.

They have had little or no leadership training and worse, they are really not good with the employees who work for them. They are more concerned with how they look to others than actually leading. We all have worked for someone like this. Not only are they not leaders, but they are a formidable barrier to others demonstrating leadership.

Real leaders really care about the people that work for them. They are driven to serve and lead others for the benefit of all the stakeholders. They are a dream for employees to follow. Real leaders must realize they are also in the business of training other leaders. Gail and I believe that everyone should be trained and counseled to be the best leader they can be, even if no one may ever follow them. Just imagine if everyone that worked with you was focused on thinking, acting and speaking as a leader all the time. As a group, you would produce amazing results and have more fun than you could imagine!

As it says in the article, it is about Breathing and Living Leadership Everyday!

Cheers, Mike