Sunday, December 4, 2016

If I were you, I'd make it better (Al Green)

Painful leadership vs inspirational leadership.

The Leadership Freak blog by the wonderful Dan Rockwell recently highlighted this distinction.

His painful list included:  

  • Nit-pickers  
  • Ball-droppers  
  • Drama-makers  
  • Down-in-the-mouthers  
  • Hand-wringers

These unattractive characteristics don't require any further explanation. 

According to Dan, on the other side of the leadership coin (yes, I know, it's not a binary situation but this is still cool and relevant) are leaders who:

  • Care deeply about relationships - (it’s not just results) 
  • Invite and act on feedback 
  • Advance the agenda of others, without sacrificing your own 
  • Understand the difference between advising and advocating 
  • Say what others fear saying

I'll be aiming to keep these two models in mind as I move back into a senior leadership role for 2017.

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