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Leading With Character Gives The Wise Leader Clear-cut Advantages. They Are Easier To Trust And Follow; They Honor Commitments And Promises; Their Words And Behavior Match; They Are Always Engaged In And By The World; They Are Open To "reflective Backtalk": They Can Speak With Conviction Because They Believe In What They Are Saying...and Everyone Else Knows That. They Are Comfortable In Their Own Skin. They Feel At Ease In The Spotlight And They Enjoy It There. They Tend To Be More Receptive To Opportunity And Risk.

-Warren G. Bennis

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Leading With Character Gives

Warren G. Bennis

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Leading With Character Gives The Wise Leader Clear-cut Advantages. They Are Easier To Trust And Follow; They Honor Commitments And Promises; Their Words And Behavior Match; They Are Always Engaged In And By The World; They Are Open To "reflective Backtalk": They Can Speak With Conviction Because They Believe In What They Are Saying...and Everyone Else Knows That. They Are Comfortable In Their Own Skin. They Feel At Ease In The Spotlight And They Enjoy It There. They Tend To Be More Receptive To Opportunity And Risk.

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Excellence Is A Better Teacher Than Mediocrity. The Lessons Of The Ordinary Are Everywhere. Truly Profound And Original Insights Are To Be Found Only In Studying The Exemplary.

Good Leaders Make People Feel That They're At The Very Heart Of Things, Not At The Periphery. Everyone Feels That He Or She Makes A Difference To The Success Of The Organization. When That Happens People Feel Centered And That Gives Their Work Meaning.

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It Is The Capacity To Develop And Improve Their Skills That Distinguishes Leaders From Followers.

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Creative Collaboration

Encourage Dissent: Leaders Should Have Associates Who Have Contrary Views, Who Are Devil's Advocates, "variance Sensors" Who Can Tell Them The Difference Between What Is Expected And What Is Really Happening, Between What They Want To Hear And What They Need To Hear. There Are Too Many Naked Emperors Running Around Today.

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If Knowing Yourself And Being Yourself Were As Easy To Do As To Talk About, There Wouldn't Be Nearly So Many People Walking Around In Borrowed Postures, Spouting Secondhand Ideas, Trying Desperately To Fit In Rather Than To Stand Out.

No Leader Can Create Sustainable, Significant Change Without A Reservoir Of Good Will. Without That, You Always Tend To Compromise With Failure.

Significant Change

Recognize The Skills And Traits You Don't Possess, And Hire The People Who Have Them.

Understand The "pygmalion Effect": Leaders Should Always Expect The Very Best Of Those Around Them. They Know That People Can Change And Grow.

Excellence Is A Better Teacher Than Mediocrity.

If I Had To Reduce The Responsibilities Of A Good Follower To A Single Rule, It Would Be To Speak Truth To Power.

The Factory Of The Future Will Have Only Two Employees, A Man And A Dog. The Man Will Be There To Feed The Dog. The Dog Will Be There To Keep The Man From Touching The Equipment.

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Servant Leadership Teaches Us That You Have To Lay Your Cards On The Table.

Cards On The Table

Servant Leadership

All Of Great Leaders Evidence Four Basic Qualities That Are Central To Their Ability To Lead: Adaptive Capacity, The Ability To Engage Others Through Shared Meaning, A Distinctive Voice, And Unshakeable Integrity. These Four Qualities Mark All Exemplary Leaders, Whatever Their Age, Gender, Ethnicity, Or Race.

The Future Has No Shelf Life

Good Leaders Make People Feel That They're At The Very Heart Of Things, Not At The Periphery.

Too Many Companies Believe People Are Interchangeable. Truly Gifted People Never Are. They Have Unique Talents. Such People Cannot Be Forced Into Roles They Are Not Suited For, Nor Should They Be. Effective Leaders Allow Great People To Do The Work They Were Born To Do.

See The Long View: By All Means "plant The Corn, Milk The Cows, And Feed The Horses" But Always Keep The Eventual "harvest" In Mind.

The American Heritage Dictionary Defines Crucible As "a Place, Time, Or Situation Characterized By The Confluence Of Powerful Intellectual, Social, Economic, Or Political Forces; A Severe Test Of Patience Or Belief; A Vessel For Melting Material At High Temperatures." A Crucible Was The Vessel In Which Medieval Alchemists Attempted To Turn Base Metals Into Gold. That The Alchemists Inevitably Failed In Their Audacious Attempts Doesn't Denigrate The Power Of The Crucible As A Metaphor For The Circumstances That Cause An Individual To Be Utterly Transformed.

Leadership Has Become A Heavy Industry. Concern And Interest About Leadership Development Is No Longer An American Phenomenon. It Is Truly Global. Though I Will Probably Be In Less Demand, I Wanted To Move On.

Successful Leaders Are Great Askers

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I'd Always Rather Err On The Side Of Openness. But There's A Difference Between Optimum And Maximum Openness, And Fixing That Boundary Is A Judgment Call. The Art Of Leadership Is Knowing How Much Information You're Going To Pass On - To Keep People Motivated And To Be As Honest, As Upfront, As You Can. But, Boy, There Really Are Limits To That.

The Manager Asks How And When; The Leader Asks What And Why.

The Leaders I Met, Whatever Walk Of Life They Were From, Whatever Institutions They Were Presiding Over, Always Referred Back To The Same Failure Something That Happened To Them That Was Personally Difficult, Even Traumatic, Something That Made Them Feel That Desperate Sense Of Hitting Bottom-as Something They Thought Was Almost A Necessity. It's As If At That Moment The Iron Entered Their Soul; That Moment Created The Resilience That Leaders Need.

Without Character, There Is No Credibility; And Without Credibility, There Is No Trust.

This Duality, Making Yourself Better While Teaching And Developing Others' Judgment Capabilities, Is The Key To Leadership That Is Both Productive And Principled.

Great Groups Deliver Great Results. And For Everyone Involved In A Great Group, Great Work Is Its Own Reward.

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Leading With Character Gives The Wise Leader Clear-cut Advantages. They Are Easier To Trust And Follow; They Honor Commitments And Promises; Their Words And Behavior Match; They Are Always Engaged In And By The World; They Are Open To "reflective Backtalk": They Can Speak With Conviction Because They Believe In What They Are Saying...and Everyone Else Knows That. They Are Comfortable In Their Own Skin. They Feel At Ease In The Spotlight And They Enjoy It There. They Tend To Be More Receptive To Opportunity And Risk.

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Don't Over-react To The Trouble Makers.

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New Experiences

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Leaders Are People Who Do The Right Thing; Managers Are People Who Do Things Right.

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Successful Leadership Is Not About Being Tough Or Soft, Sensitive Or Assertive, But About A Set Of Attributes. First And Foremost Is Character

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Effective Leaders Make A Full Commitment To Be A Learner, To Keep Increasing And Nourishing Their Knowledge And Wisdom.

Knowledge And Wisdom

Leaders Do Not Avoid, Repress, Or Deny Conflict, But Rather See It As An Opportunity

The Capacity For "uncontaminated Wonder," Ultimately, Is What Distinguishes The Successful From The Ordinary, The Happily Engaged Players Of Whatever Era From The Chronically Disappointed And Malcontent. Therein Lies A Lesson For Geeks, Geezers, And The Sea Of People Who Fall In Between.

Leaders Must Encourage Their Organizations To Dance To Forms Of Music Yet To Be Heard.

The Basis Of Leadership Is The Capacity Of The Leader To Change The Mindset, The Framework Of The Other Person.

The Learning Person Looks Forward To Failure Or Mistakes. The Worst Problem In Leadership Is Basically Early Success.

A Passion For Continual Learning, A Refined, Discerning Ear For The Moral And Ethical Consequences Of Their Actions, And An Understanding Of The Purposes Of Work And Human Organisations

Companies Which Get Misled By Their Own Success Are Sure To Be Blind Sided.

Leadership Is Like Beauty - It's Hard To Define But You Know It When You See It.

Trust Is The Emotional Glue That Binds Followers And Leaders Together.

Trust Resides Squarely Between Faith And Doubt.

Faith And Doubt

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Create A Compelling Vision, One That Takes People To A New Place, And Then Translate That Vision Into A Reality.

People Who Cannot Invent And Reinvent Themselves Must Be Content With Borrowed Postures, Secondhand Ideas, Fitting In Instead Of Standing Out.

The Crucible Is A Dividing Line, A Turning Point, And Those Who Have Gone Through It Feel They Are Very Different From The Way They Were Before. Believing That They Have Been Transformed Or Have Transformed Themselves, Those Who Survive The Crucible (and Many Don't) Are More Confident, More Willing To Take Future Risks. That New Self-confidence Is Grounded In The Belief That He Or She Has Done Something Hard And Done It Well.

Self Confidence

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The Manager Administers; The Leader Innovates. The Manager Has A Short-range View; The Leader Has A Long-range Perspective. The Manager Asks How And When; The Leader Asks What And Why. The Manager Has His Eye On The Bottom Line; The Leader Has His Eye On The Horizon. The Manager Accepts The Status Quo; The Leader Challenges It.

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Trust Is The Lubrication That Makes It Possible For Organizations To Work.

Service Culture

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Growing Other Leaders From The Ranks Isn't Just The Duty Of The Leader, It's An Obligation.

Emotional Intelligence, More Than Any Other Factor, More Than I.q. Or Expertise, Accounts For 85% To 90% Of Success At Work... I.q. Is A Threshold Competence. You Need It, But It Doesn't Make You A Star. Emotional Intelligence Can.

The Manager Accepts The Status Quo; The Leader Challenges It.

The Manager Has His Eye On The Bottom Line; The Leader Has His Eye On The Horizon.

Leaders Keep Their Eyes On The Horizon, Not Just On The Bottom Line.

Learning To Be An Effective Leader Is No Different Than Learning To Be An Effective Person. And That's The Hard Part

Leaders Are People Who Do The Right Thing: Managers Are People Who Do Things Right. Both Roles Are Crucial, But They Differ Profoundly. I Often Observe People In Top Positions Doing Wrong Things Well.

Who Succeeds In Forming And Leading A Great Group? He Or She Is Almost Always A Pragmatic Dreamer. They Are People Who Get Things Done, But They Are People With Immortal Longings. Often, They Are Scientifically Minded People With Poetry In Their Souls.

In Life, Change Is Inevitable. In Business, Change Is Vital.

Change Is Inevitable

Frank Gehry Designs Buildings That Make Other Architects Half His Age (he's 78) Gasp With Envy. Neotony Is What Makes Him Lace Up His Skates And Whirl Around The Ice Rink, While Visionary Buildings Come To Life And Dance In His Head.

That's Nonsense; In Fact, The Opposite Is True. Leaders Are Made Rather Than Born.

The Most Dangerous Leadership Myth Is That Leaders Are Born.

In Great Groups, The Right People Always Have The Right Job.

One Of The Worst Mistakes Is To Do Nothing.

All Claims Deserve Consideration But Some Claims Are More Important Than Others.

Encourage Reflective Backtalk: Leaders Know The Importance Of Having Someone In Their Lives Who Will Unfailingly And Fearlessly Tell Them The Truth.

This Is More Than Just Having A Vision. You Can See The Difference In The Often-cited Way In Which Steve Jobs Brought In John Sculley To Take Over Apple. At The Time, Sculley Was Destined To Be The Head Of Pepsico. The Clincher Came When Jobs Asked Him, "how Many More Years Of Your Life Do You Want To Spend Making Colored Water When You Can Have An Opportunity To Come Here And Change The World?"

Leaders Learn By Leading, And They Learn Bestby Leading In The Face Of Obstacles. As Weather Shapes Mountains, Problems Shape Leaders.

People In Great Groups Have Blinders On. Their Work Is All They See. They Value Failures As Learning Opportunities. They Are Optimistic, Not Realistic, As They Proceed From One Challenge And Crisis To The Next.

Perhaps The Central Task Of The Leader Of Leaders Thus Becomes The Development Of Other Leaders.

Ineffective Leaders Often Act On The Advice And Counsel Of The Last Person They Talked To.

Government Is Like An Onion. To Understand It, You Have To Peel Through Many Different Layers. Most Outsiders Never Get Beyond The First Or Second Layer.

I Used To Think That Running An Organization Was Equivalent To Conducting A Symphony Orchestra. But I Don't Think That's Quite It; It's More Like Jazz. There Is More Improvisation.

Think Of A Crucible As An Occasion For Real Magic, The Creation Of Something More Valuable Than An Alchemist Could Possibly Imagine. In It, The Individual Is Transformed, Changed, Created Anew. He Or She Grows In Ways That Change His Or Her Definition Of Self.

Leadership Is The Capacity To Translate Vision Into Reality.

People Vary Enormously In How They Learn. Some Learn Through Their Eyes - By Reading But Also By Responding To All Kinds Of Visual Information. Others Learn Mostly Through Their Ears Or Touch Or Other Senses.

In The Face Of Ambiguity, Uncertainty, And Conflicting Demands, Often Under Great Time Pressure, Leaders Must Make Decisions And Take Effective Actions To Assure The Survival And Success Of Their Organizations. This Is How Leaders Add Value To Their Organizations. They Lead Them To Success By Exercising Good Judgment, By Making Smart Calls When Especially Difficult And Complicated Decisions Simply Must Be Made, And Then Ensuring That They Are Well Executed.

There Are Two Ways Of Being Creative. One Can Sing And Dance. Or One Can Create An Environment In Which Singers And Dancers Flourish.

Vision Animates, Inspires, Transforms Purpose Into Action.

Walt Disney, Of All People, Did A Good Job Of Describing His Own Netony. "people Who Have Worked With Me Say I Am 'innocence In Action,'" He Wrote. "they Say I Have The Innocence And Unselfconsciousness Of A Child. Maybe I Have. I Still Look At The World With Uncontaminated Wonder."

Every One Of The Geezers Who Continues To Play A Leadership Role Has One Quality Of Overriding Importance: Neotony. The Dictionary Definition Is That Neotony, A Zoological Term, Involves "the Retention Of Youthful Qualities Throughout Old Age." It Is More Than Merely Retaining A Youthful Appearance, Although That Is Often Part Of It. Neotony Is The Retention Of All Those Wonderful Qualities That We Associate With Youth: Curiosity, Playfulness, Eagerness, Fearlessness, Warmth, Energy.

To Be Authentic Is Literally To Be Your Own Author... To Discover Your Own Native Energies And Desires, And Then To Find Your Own Way Of Acting On Them.

Possess The "nobel Factor": Possess And Constantly Demonstrate Optimism, Faith, And Hope. They Create Choices. I Am Reminded Of An Ancient Chinese Proverb: "that The Birds Of Worry And Care Fly Above Your Head, This You Cannot Change; But That They Build Nests In Your Hair, This You Can Prevent."

If Great Teams Don't Have An "enemy," They Create One For Themselves Because, As Former Coca-cola Ceo Roberto Goizueta Pointed Out, "you Can't Have A War Without One."

Without A Terrific Leader, You're Not Going To Have A Great Group. But It Is Also True That You're Not Going To Have A Great Leader Without A Great Group.

Embrace Error: Create An Atmosphere In Which Prudent Risk Taking Is Strongly Encouraged.

Innovation- Any New Idea-by Definition Will Not Be Accepted At First. It Takes Repeated Attempts, Endless Demonstrations, Monotonous Rehearsals Before Innovation Can Be Accepted And Internalized By An Organization. This Requires Courageous Patience.

Expect The Best From Your People And They Will Usually Deliver But Your Expectations Must Be Realistic.

Failing Organizations Are Usually Over-managed And Under-led.

Some Of The Strongest Resistance To Necessary Change Is The Result Of What Jim O'toole Has So Aptly Characterized As "the Ideology Of Comfort And The Tyranny Of Custom."

Necessary Change

The Manager Has A Short-range View; The Leader Has A Long-range Perspective.

In Order To Serve Its Purpose, A Vision Has To Be A Shared Vision.

Taking Charge Of Your Own Learning Is A Part Of Taking Charge Of Your Life, Which Is The Sine Qua Non In Becoming An Integrated Person.

Trust Is Difficult To Define, But We Know When It's Present And When It's Not.

I Am Reminded How Hollow The Label Of Leadership Sometimes Is And How Heroic Followership Can Be.

Great Things Are Achieved By Talented People Who Are Absolutely Convinced That They Not Only Can But Will Achieve Them.

All Great Leaders Constantly Seek New Information And New Ways Of Thinking.

The Manager Does Things Right; The Leader Does The Right Thing.

Unlike Top Management At Enron, Exemplary Leaders Reward Dissent. They Encourage It. They Understand That, Whatever Momentary Discomfort They Experience As A Result Of Being Told They Might Be Wrong, It Is More Than Offset By The Fact That The Information Will Help Them Make Better Decisions.

Great Leaders Love Talent And Know Where To Find It. They Surround Themselves With Talented People Who Can Work Effectively Together.

While Great Leaders May Be As Rare As Great Runners, Great Actors, Or Great Painters, Everyone Has Leadership Potential, Just As Everyone Has Some Ability At Running, Acting, And Painting.

Just As No Great Painting Has Ever Been Created By A Committee, No Great Vision Has Ever Emerged From The Herd.

Coaching Will Become The Model For Leaders In The Future... I Am Certain That Leadership Can Be Learned And That Terrific Coaches... Facilitate Learning.

Leadership (according To John Sculley) Revolves Around Vision, Ideas, Direction, And Has More To Do With Inspiring People As To Direction And Goals Than With Day-to-day Implementation. A Leader Must Be Able To Leverage More Than His Own Capabilities. He Must Be Capable Of Inspiring Other People To Do Things Without Actually Sitting On Top Of Them With A Checklist.

Organizations Should Try To Find Out If Their Learning Programs Actually Work.

The Ability To Plan For What Has Not Yet Happened, For A Future That Has Only Been Imagined, Is One Of The Hallmarks Of Leadership.

First And Foremost, Effective Leaders Must Continuously Strive To Make Themselves Smarter And Better At Making Judgments.

Power Is The Basic Energy Needed To Initiate And Sustain Action Or, To Put It Another Way, The Capacity To Translate Intention Into Reality And Sustain It. Leadership Is The Wise Use Of This Power: Transformative Leadership.

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