Reflections about Leadership

Nicholas Bate has some important reflections about Leadership. An excerpt:

1. Leadership is not about job title, job grade, position in the structure chart nor special parking place. Leadership is about mindset. Leadership is about does your manner, your voice, your tone and what you say encourage people to do their best work? And does your track-record suggest you have a right to say such things?
2. Leadership is a tough and lonely job in which many will not like you all of the time. That’s why you’re a leader: to steer a path which many are not sure they can maintain because of lack of strength or too many distractions or too many seductions.

Make sure to read all the list!

Who Really Need to Know?

Good question from four-star General Stanley McChrystal, the former commander of U.S. and international forces in Afganistan:

…we had a sense that…it was important to keep information in the silos within the organization, particularly only give information to people who had a demonstrated need to know. But the question often came, who needed to know? Who needed, who had to have the information so that they could do the important parts of the job that you needed?”

You can find more at Diane Berry´s interesting article Want More Power at Work? Share Intelligence Like the (New) Military

 

How to be a Strategic Leader and Why it is so Important to You Career

My new article at GeneralManagers.org:

There is a cliché in the business culture that tend to recognizes the strategic leader as one who has great ideas, talk a lot, is charismatic But in the end reaches very few practical results. To gather respect as a true strategic leader you need to work in conducts that accomplish the tension between achieve the routine daily tasks and the success in the long term. You must facilitate other’s strategic activities, too, by providing an equilibrium of management and independence, of learning from actions and rewarding appropriate risk-taking.

Read more here!

Lessons on How to Avoid a Corporate Zombie Apocalypse

From my article, on LinkedIn:

Instead of meat, corporate zombies have an insatiable appetite for power and influence. They usually gravitate their leaders and managers with an almost canine loyalty. In general, they accomplish their daily tasks with great speed and efficiency, essential requirement in order to remain active. Do not be fooled thinking that corporate zombies are only young professionals. You can find them at all levels and divisions. They are project manager, seniors VPs, CEOs, HR department people, team managers and are often aims to hire other corporate zombies to increase their army. This description did you remember some people, isn´t it?

Read more here!

When the Alarms Ring

A great advice from Michael Wade, on Execupundit.com. An excerpt:

Aside from the questions of competence and openness which these raise, there is also an ethical issue. A leader who will squelch dissent will also cover up. One who will bridle at criticism will also twist facts and deceive.

More than one alarm bell should be ringing.

 

Congratulations, You are a New Leader! Now What? – The Complete Series

I know from my own experience how to be at a leadership position for the first time can be a terrifying situation. To help you in this moment, I wrote a series of three articles on LinkedIn that can give you some ideas and guidance. Here they are:

• Congratulations, you are a new leader! Now what? (Part 1)
• Congratulations, you are a new leader! Now what? (Part 2)
• Congratulations, you are a new leader! Now what? (Final)

I hope that my little collection of tips and advices will be useful for the development of your career, which is just beginning for sure. If you want to deepen the discussion or raise any aspects or skills not addressed in these three articles, please leave your comments below. I will always be happy to talk – and learn – with you.

Tanmay Vora: 6 Pointers on Having Face Time with People

Tanmay Vora wrote a great article about leadership and having face time with people. An excerpt:

n case of my 7 year old daughter, all significant behavioral and habit changes have been a result of “face time” – time spent one to one to inspire, inform and involve her.Face time is an oasis of meaningful conversation amidst the hustle and bustle of life – a place where positive difference and lasting change happens.

This sounds simple, but in an organizational context, the hustle and bustle can be far more toxic, keeping leaders away from having face time with their people. Add to this, the complexity of distributed teams and the problem grows worse.

A great reading choice for this morning.

Three Essential Leadership Behaviors for Project Managers

In my series mastering the basics of project management I used to focus on technical aspects of the work (e.g., tool, templates, or technique to help manage scope, schedules, and people), but it’s also important to bring out on the social and cultural aspects of project management as leadership, teamwork, negotiation, problem solving, and politics also have a significant impact on a project’s success.

It’s no longer enough, nowadays, study deeply the leadership frameworks at business schools and MBAs, but leadership behaviors need to be learned and demonstrated, in other words, they need to be truly incorporated into the behavior of the Project Manager and thus are likely to generate positive outcomes for the project team and the company as a whole.

I used to think that a sucessful project manager must have, at least, this three essential leadership behaviors: (1) Demonstrate passion for results; (2) Demand the truth and (3) Demonstrate courage. Let’s talk a little bit about them after the jump.