Skip to main content

My Definition of Leadership

By
I have written much about leadership, and what some of the things are that need to happen for retailers to push through this sluggish economy. I have received and email asking me to provide my definition of a good leader or leadership. I thought it was relevant enough to share in this forum.

My personal definition of a strong Leader is: An individual that by a combination of their words and actions inspires people to act towards a vision that they have clearly provided.

I firmly believe that leadership is a perfect marriage between communication and vision. If you do not know where you have been, or where you are going, it is impossible to get people to follow. Without vision, there is no leadership. Even if you have a strong vision, then comes the tough part - communicating it in such a way that others don't just agree with you, the believe in you!

Unfortunately, I don't know anyone that can train on how to truly be a leader (although several leadership classes exist). But I can tell you that "practicing what you preach" is definitely a good place to start!!


Labels:

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 18, 2009 at 8:28 PM

    I believe that noone can become a efficient leader or take the initiative in any great undertaking without belief in himself.

    And what is initiative? It is doing the right thing without being told and this my friend, to me, makes for a great leader!

    Great insite my friend!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Always "Sweat" the Small Stuff

By
As we are all searching for the next best way to cut costs, I ran across an old article about an approach Delta Airlines took in the mid-90's. They asked their employees! On an employee suggestion, they removed the lettuce leaf that was served in their food trays as garnish to an astounding $1.4 million in annual savings! http://gtalumni.org/Publications/magazine/win93/delta.html I recently worked for a company that was so incredibly operationally inefficient that I was amazed they were still in business. Three months later, they weren't! From having way too much lighting in the stock areas, to a time-wasting price change procedure, to unnecessary shipping costs($4ship fee for a $.99 item), to incredible wastes of paper (I actually counted a minimum of 45 sheets per day wasted...in one store). This store had so many little things that could have completely changed the cost of business, it is a shame they didn't listen to their employees. Employees may not have t
4 comments
Read more

The Power Of Social Networks-Myspace vs. Facebook

By
AOL started it. With very popular chat rooms and a skeletal, but functional, social network. Myspace , Facebook , Twitter , Bebo , Friendster , LinkedIN and several others have since emerged. All offering something unique to make their platform the biggest and most successful. As I learn more about blog writing/internet marketing (yes, they go hand-in-hand), it is clear that these sites drive the "personality" that the online society has taken. To be successful online, it is clear that a strong and steady participation and presence on these sites is critical. This blog generates reports that allow me to view the sources of my daily traffic. So far, Facebook, Myspace, and LinkedIn, are responsible for a LARGE portion of my visitors. I am pretty much a "nobody" writing on a topic that interests me. I realize how amazing it is that because of the internet, people from around the world are reading what I am writing!! I wonder how powerful these sites would be
3 comments
Read more

"Humility Time"

By
Yesterday I took part in a TweetChat presented by the #bealeader community.  The topic for the chat was the importance of self-awareness for a successful leader.  One of the questions posed was "How does one keep self awareness from becoming the less desirable self involved?".   I responded with a concept that I had been taught very early in my career that I have since dubbed "humility time".  I had a few responses that unfortunately, the 140 limit of Twitter made very difficult to properly respond to. Very early in my career, I worked off the premise that knowledge was power.  At the time, I had all the knowledge, and assumed that granted me all the power.  My team very quickly delivered me a very harsh reality check in letting me know that was not going to be the case.  My manager at the time explained the importance of self-awareness.  She recommended I mentally schedule time for myself to intentionally be the guy "that does not have all the answers&qu
5 comments
Read more