Economics in One Lesson

While not really classified as a leadership book, Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics elaborates on one lesson which is of great importance to leaders.

Henry Hazlitt explains his one lesson as this: "The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effect of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups."

I would contend this lesson is as applicable to leadership as it is to economics. Hazlitt believes his lesson requires a long, complicated, and dull chain of reasoning. He thinks such a chain of reasoning is difficult for many people to follow and so they give up. They are looking for the short, immediate, and visible result.

Such a view will lead to bad economic decisions. I believe it will lead to poor leadership decisions, as well.

Throughout Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics, Hazlitt illustrates time and again how economic policies that consider only the immediate effect on one group of people have detrimental effects for the long term on most other groups of people.

His examples are stunningly simple, yet, evident in every day life all around us. Hazlitt's insights clarify many of the apparent inconsistencies I see in organizational and government policies. Rather than inconsistencies, these are merely the natural outcomes of short-sighted thinking intended to positively impact one interest group.

Hazlitt explores the apparently unintended consequences of taxes, tariffs, price-fixing, rent control, minimum wage control, unions and inflation. None of them appear appealing under his instructive review. Even the groups who benefit in the short-term from such policies are seen to suffer in the long-term.

The lesson for leaders is: Consider the likely long-term impact of your decisions on all groups.

Leading on the Creative Edge

By page 26 of Leading on the Creative Edge: Gaining Competitive Advantage Through the Power of Creative Problem Solving by Roger Firestien, I was confronted with 12 ways to nurture my creativity. I like lists like this. They give me an opportunity to evaluate myself.

"How many of these things am I already doing?"

"Which ones have I thought about trying in the past, but decided to wait on?"

"What new ideas have I never considered before and maybe need to ponder adopting?"

"How close does my list match the list of this 'expert'?"

So try it out for yourself. Here is Firestien's list:

1. Develop creative habits.
2. Ask questions.
3. Use passive ways to generate ideas.
4. Vary your routine.
5. Read and listen to a variety of material.
6. Network.
7. Develop personal support systems.
8. Stop the action.
9. Create an environment that encourages creativity.
10. Create a healthy lifestyle.
11. Reawaken your sense of humor.
12. Be passionate about your positive compelling future vision.

Chapters 3 through 7 review commonly presented creative problem solving principles, such as:

Phrase problems in a way they can be solved.
Don't solve the wrong problem.
Defer judgment while generating many ideas.
Evaluate ideas in a positive manner.

While the principles may be familiar, any new twist provided by a fresh way of looking at something is worth investigating. I find it improves my own application of the principle to solving problems or taking advantage of opportunities.

Chapter eight of Leading on the Creative Edge: Gaining Competitive Advantage Through the Power of Creative Problem Solving explains the PPC technique. The Pluses, Potential, and Concerns (PPC) technique helps groups make affirmative judgments of possible solutions, rather than negative judgments.

This technique could be worth many times the price of the book if it leads you to a better organizational culture in positive problem solving experiences.

Firestien concludes with an invitation to become creative. He has a free newsletter you can subscribe to with the latest ideas and research in the field of creativity and innovation.

My favorite quote:
"The way to succeed is to double your failure rate."
Thomas Watson, Jr., former President of IBM

Leadership and Futuring

As a follow up to our previous post on Visionary Leadership, here is a short little book by John R. Hoyle: Leadership and Futuring: Making Visions Happen

Hoyle helps us understand ways we can bring our vision into being. One of the principles of futuring is the notion that vision is one possible scenario for the future and there is no reason your vision should not be the eventual reality. Hoyle wants to help you make your vision the next reality.

He sets about his task in four ways. He discusses leaders who have influenced him. He discusses leaders he wishes he would have known. He discusses strategic planning for your vision. And he provides some practical exercises you can do to improve your vision and it's implementation.

The three leaders he knew were his 7th grade teacher, his major professor in the Ph.D. program and Dr. Paul B. Salmon, Executive Director of the American Association of School Administrators.

The three leaders he would like to have met were Jesus Christ, Joan of Arc and Winston Churchill.

Leadership and Futuring: Making Visions Happen was written by John R. Hoyle. Hoyle is a member of the World Future Society. He promotes this organization in his book. The Society teaches and promotes futuring. Futuring is "the act of seeing and feeling alternative futures that are either in the near (5-10 year), middle (11-20 year), or far (21-50) year future." (p. 20) The terms futuring and visioning can be used interchangeably.

As a futurist, he suggests some assumptions which can be used to guide our thinking as we develop a vision for the future of the organization:

Assumption #1 is we must begin now. Now is the time when we can work to change the course of action.

Assumption #2 is we must remain flexible. Unforeseen events transpire, false assumptions are made, alternative futures are available.

Assumption #3 is before agreeing on a preferred future course of action, talk to the people who must make it happen. Convince your stakeholders the future you suggest is the correct one to pursue.

Visionary Leadership

Visionary Leadership by Burt Nanus intends to help us in "creating a compelling sense of direction for your organization," according to the sub-title. The nine chapters of this book are divided into three parts:
Part One: What Vision is and Why it Matters
Part Two: Developing the Vision
Part Three: Implementing the Vision

Many leadership gurus believe that casting a vision for an organization is the most important thing a leader can do. Nanus apparently agrees by titling his first chapter, "Vision: The Key to Leadership."

Chapter three, "Taking Stock: The Vision Audit," is particularly helpful. Nanus suggests four questions that need to be answered to determine where the organization currently stands regarding vision. Those questions are:

1. Does the organization have a clearly stated vision? If so, what is it?

2. If the organization continues on its current path, where will it be heading over the next decade? How good would such a direction be?

3. Do the key people in the organization know where the organization is headed and agree on the direction?

4. Do the structures, processes, personnel, incentives, and information systems support the current direction of the organization?

Nanus provides examples and additional questions to consider when auditing the organizational vision.

The remainder of Visionary Leadership focuses on developing and improving the organization's vision and implementing any changes needed.

I particularly like the emphasis of chapter eight, "Running the Race with No End: The Re-Visioning Process." The world changes, the organization changes, the players change. And in the midst of it all, the organization vision must be re-examined and revised as needed to express the intentions of the organization.

My favorite quote is at the beginning of chapter seven:

"When it comes to the future,
there are three kinds of people:
those who let it happen,
those who make it happen,
and those who wonder what happened."
--John M. Richardson, Jr.

Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills

Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills by Andrew J. DuBrin is another academic text you might find helpful in your pursuit of leadership. His textbook has 15 chapters which corresponds nicely to a college semester course.

The first nine chapters provide a description of leadership, discuss insight development and give prescriptions for leadership success. The last five chapters deal with specific leadership skills. DuBrin suggests the following skills as necessary for leadership:

1. motivating and coaching,
2. creative problem solving,
3. communication (including non-verbal and cross-cultural),
4. conflict resolution,
5. attitudes required for international and culturally diverse settings,
6. enhancing quality, and
7. capitalizing on technology.

As a textbook, Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills
also includes a chapter summary, key terms, a section called "Guidelines for Action and Skill Development," discussion questions and activities, a case study problem and a leadership exercise.

One highlight for me was the inclusion of Self-Assessment exercises in each chapter. These exercises help you assess yourself as a leader. They include:

1. Readiness for the Leadership Role
2. The Assertiveness Scale
3. What Type of Leader Are You?
4. The Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) Scale for Measuring Leadership Style
5. Rating a Manager's Power
6. Survey of Influence Tactics
7. Characteristics of an Effective Coach
8. The Creative Personality Test Intellectual Abilities
9. A Test of Communication Effectiveness
10. The Leadership Criterion of The Baldrige Award
11. Attitudes Toward Technology

Not content with just helping you figure out how effective you are as a leader right now, this book also provides a number of skill building exercises to help you improve for the future. These include:

1. Becoming a Charismatic and Transformational Leader
2. Management by Anecdote
3. Feedback Skills
4. Becoming an Empowering Manager
5. Identifying Influence Tactics
6. Shelters for the Homeless
7. The Teamwork Checklist
8. Estimating Valances for Applying Expectancy Theory
9. Thinking Outside the Box
10. Brainstorming
11. Word Hints to Creativity
12. Identifying Emotion Provoking Words and Phrases
13. Charting Your Cultural Value Profile
14. How Much Do I Value Diversity?
15. Do You Have the Right Corporate Culture for TQM?
16. The Interpersonal Skills Checklist

Lots of good stuff in this book. It will keep you thinking for hours. Very revealing about the kind of leader you are! With lots of help for becoming the leader you want to be.

The Dilbert Principle

Now for something on the lighter side. Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, has been making fun of organizational policies and politics for over 15 years. His cartoon strip regularly makes fun of the organizational fads we are familiar with. In this book, The Dilbert Principle: A Cubicle's-Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads & Other Workplace Afflictions Adams expounds on his "Dilbert Principle." The Dilbert Principle is a theory Adams suggests as a replacement for the famous Peter Principle.

The Peter Principle states, "in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence." (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Principle)

The Dilbert Principle states, "that the most ineffective workers are systematically moved to the place where they can do the least damage: management." Thereby skipping the need to ever have worked a job they were competent at.

Whether you agree with Adam's satirical view of the corporate world or not, you will find the objects of his ridicule are based on the reality he has seen and hears about in the corporate world.

Besides being entertaining, The Dilbert Principle: A Cubicle's-Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads & Other Workplace Afflictions provides some instructional value for leaders. It helps us see the world through the eyes of those we work with. If we take the time to examine the exaggerated spin Adams puts on corporate life, we realize the absurdity of the situations he describes in this book.

However, if we back up a few steps to the less exaggerated, less obvious real life situations these scenarios are based on, we might find that we engage in the same or very similar behavior in our own organizational life. Adams claims we regularly receives e-mail from people all over the world who swear he must have intimate knowledge of their organization because of his accurate descriptions of what's going on there.

Read it.

Enjoy it.

But reflect on how this book might be describing the very situations existing in your own organization.


And as you would hope, this book is full of cartoons to compliment and illustrate the principles being discussed.

The Fifth Discipline

The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization by Peter Senge is built on systems thinking, the application of formal systems theory. Formal systems theory became popular in the biological sciences in the 1950s. The basic premise is that all things operate in a system and are never stand alone objects. In addition, all systems are composed of sub-system and are part of super-systems which operate by the rules of systems theory. Applying the assumptions and rules of formal systems theory involves systems thinking.

Along with systems thinking, Senge suggests the following disciplines or areas of the learning organization: personal mastery, mental models, building shared values, and team learning. Systems thinking is the "fifth discipline" and, thus, the name of the book.

Some gems from The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization include:

"When placed in the same system, people, however different, tend to produce similar results."

"Today's problems come from yesterday's 'solutions.'"

"Virtually all natural systems, from ecosystems to animals to organizations, have intrinsically optimal rates of growth."

"Systems thinking is a discipline for seeing wholes."

"Reality is made up of circles but we see straight lines."

"I would suggest that the fundamental 'information problem' faced by managers is not too little information but too much information. What we most need are ways to know what it important and what is not important."

"Only mediocre people are always at their best."

"The greatest unexplored territory in the world is the space between our ears. Seriously, I am certain that learning organizations will find ways to nurture and focus the capabilities within us all that today we call 'extraordinary'."

"Leader's worth is measured by their contribution to other's mental models."

"People do not focus on the long term because they have to, but because they want to."

"The committed person doesn't play by the 'rules of the game.' He is responsible for the game. If the rules of the game stand in the way of achieving the vision, he will find ways to change the rules. A group of people truly committed to a common vision is an awesome force. They can accomplish the seemingly impossible."

This book includes excellent examples of models of systems. The ideas you can get from reviewing the different representations of problems model with systems thinking is worth the price of the book.

Top Dog

Top Dog: A Different Kind of Book About Becoming an Excellent Leader by J. David Pincus and J. Nicholas DeBonis is about communication. They propose that CEO should be changed to CCO which stands for Chief Communication Officer so important is the role of communication by the head of the company.

Their book is a mixture of nonfiction and fiction. They share facts and findings from studies and interviews, offer recommendations and insights all with a matter of fact style. To illustrate many of their points, the fictional tale of CEO Arlen Burch Royster is woven throughout the book. Arlen encounters many of the common communication dilemmas experienced by CEOs today.

The book opens with Arlen Royster gathering his troops to face a financial situation uncovered by forensic auditors. Millions of dollars have been mismanaged, perhaps illegally and the situation must be handled before answers ae required by the company board, stockholders, and society in general.

Situations of this magnitude have materialized dozens of times. Think of Tylenol in the 1980s, Exxon in the 1990s, or British Petroleum in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. All major catastrophes requiring management and communication. Some handled well, some not so well.

Top Dog: A Different Kind of Book About Becoming an Excellent Leader really is two books in one. I find myself reading the novel part separately, skipping from section to section in the book. Then I find myself reviewing the factual parts looking for the leadership gems.

Such as:

"Employees want managers who share information with them openly during good and bad times."

"Leadership = Relationship-Building = Communication"

A formula for CEO Communication: The C-C-O-S Model

Consistency -- meaning what you say and saying what you mean all the time. This is the principal determinate of your credibility.

Compassion -- showing concern for and understanding others' emotional, as well as pragmatic needs. And you have to do it in a way that's believably demonstrated.

Organization -- creating an appropriate message, merging the message into the organization's overall communication plan, and correlating that plan with other manager's communication activities.

Selectivity -- deploying communication to maximize its impact on the organization and its people, while guarding against usurping or interfering with other managers' communication roles and relationships with employees, customers, and others.

Nuts!

Nuts! Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success tells the story of the creation and development of Southwest Airlines and CEO Herb Kelleher. The remarkable story of Southwest starts with a diagram on a cocktail napkin. The triangle has as it's points Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. And thus began a company trying to break into the big leagues as the lowest price, by far, competitor. But their greatest contribution for the greater good may be to open up air travel to the masses.

"What Southwest has done is create democracy in the airline business." Roy Spence, President of advertising agency GSD&M.

The airline began on June 18, 1971 with 6 roundtrips between Dallas and San Antonio and 12 between Dallas and Houston International.

Some Leadership principles and quotes gleaned from Nuts! Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success:

"The warrior mentality, the very fight to survive is truly what created our culture."

"We treated our job like it was our own business."

"Owners think differently from nonowners because ownership is a state of mind."

"A vision must be so strong that it can outweigh the egos of managers that might want to take off in a different direction."

"Fun is about attitude, so Southwest hires for attitude and trains for skill."

"We'll train you on whatever it is you have to do, but the one thing Southwest cannot change in people is inherent attitudes."

"Southwest's people go out of their way to make sure employees have access to the information they need."

"Adaptiveness is an individual's or a company's capacity to change when forces in the environment threaten the accomplishment of it's goals."

"People will automatically assume ownership for protecting the right to be engaged in work that gives them a sense of meaning and significance. Why? Because there's a tremendous amount of spiritual, emotional and psychic gratification that comes from meaningful work."

"People who are curious listen more attentively, ask more questions, and display a genuine interest in what others know."

"People learn more easily and retain information longer when the lesson is housed in a story, illustration, or metaphor."

"Kelleher and Barrett believe that culture is one of the most precious things a company has, so you must work harder at it than anything else."

"Celebrate everything."

"When you're having fun at work, it doesn't feel like work at all; it's better than tolerable, it's enjoyable."

"Leadership is getting people to want to do what you want them to do because they share your purpose, vision, and values."

By the way, the book is called "Nuts!" because Southwest was the first airline to serve only peanuts instead of full course meals in an effort to keep costs low.

Bass & Stogdill's Handbook of Leadership

This book is not for the timid. Bass & Stogdill's Handbook of Leadership is an academic review of the theory, research, and managerial applications from more than 7,500 references in academic research literature. It's written in an easy to understand style. However, there are 37 chapters and 1182 pages of this easy to read style. Your best bet is to select a particular topic of leadership that appeals to you and read about it first.

This book is organized into eight sections. The leadership literature is covered as follows:
1. Introduction to Concepts and Theories of Leadership
2. Personal Attributes of Leaders
3. Power and Legitimacy
4. The Transactional Exchange
5. Leadership and Management
6. Situational Moderators
7. Diverse Groups
8. Improving Leadership and Leadership Research

As Bass and Stogdill organize and discuss research findings, they include a plethora of in text citations, figures and tables. These references can assist the reader who wants to investigate the original sources for themselves.

Investigating some of the older theories of leadership can be fascinating. For instance, in the first half of the 1900s (1904-1947) one of the primary theories of leadership was trait theory. It was believed that leaders possessed certain characteristics. Numerous studies were conducted during this time period to analyze the correlations between leadership and the traits of the leaders such as:

age,
height,
weight,
physique,
health,
energy,
athletic prowess,
fluency of speech,
talkativeness,
tone of voice,
intelligence,
scholarship,
knowledge,
judgment and decision,
originality,
adaptability,
introversion-extroversion,
humor,
excitability,
popularity,
prestige,
social skills,
and many, many more.

Each chapter of Bass & Stogdill's Handbook of Leadership includes a chapter summary and conclusion. The reader will find it beneficial to read all the chapter summaries and conclusions first. Chapters of further interest can be identified in this manner while allowing for exposure to all the major findings of leadership research over the last century.

Even reading just the first 58 pages would be worth the time of going to the library to check out a copy. This introduction to the concepts and theories of leadership would provide a skeleton upon which to hang the muscle of what you are currently reading about leadership. The better you understand the history of thinking about leadership, the better you can interpret the present and speculate about the future.

The Seven Laws of Teaching

Today let's see what we can learning from the education field. John Milton Gregory worked for 13 years to establish the foundation of the University of Illinois upon its conception in 1868. He was by all rights, an educational leader during his time. In 1884, he published The Seven Laws of Teaching.

Recognized as a timeless masterpiece, Gregory's book has been used as a staple to train 1000s of educators. In some way, all great leaders engage in the work of teaching. So the principles in this book have value for the leader.

The seven laws are to seven factors in teaching:
1. Two personal factors -- a teacher and a learner,
2. Two mental factors -- a common language of communication and a lesson to be communicated, and
3. Three functional processes -- acts of the teacher, acts of the learner, and a final act to test the result of the educational process.

The seven laws then as they are stated in The Seven Laws of Teaching. are:

1. A teacher must be the one who knows the lesson to be taught.

2. A learner is one who pays attention to the lesson.

3. The language used must be familiar to both the teacher and the learner.

4. The lesson must be explainable in terms of what the learner already knows.

5. A teacher must excite the learner and engage the learner's mind to grasp the desired truth.

6. A learner must think into one's own understanding the new truth.

7. The test of the teaching is the application of the new truth.

Gregory identifies some practices necessary to the teaching process.

1. The teacher must know the subject being taught. (p. 28)
2. The learner must be able to link the new truth to the greater body of truth and establish necessary relationships in order to understand it. (p. 30)
3. The learner must pay attention to the material to be learned. (p. 37)
4. The two chief hindrances to attention are apathy and distraction. (and he wrote this over 125 years ago! Some things never change, they only escalate. Some would say today we have more distractions and more apathy!) (p. 48)
5. Children are often compelled by their limited vocabulary to make incorrect word choices. (p. 57)
6. No teaching was ever more instructive than the parables of Jesus. (p. 61)

These are just a few of the gems found in this book. There are a total of 177 rules, principles and concepts included in this book. One hundred and twenty eight pages of educational leadership at your finger tips.

Enjoy it! I did.

Principle-Centered Leadership

Steven R. Covey wrote the New York Times #1 Bestseller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Later he wrote Principle Centered Leadership. This book builds on the principles outlined in his 7 Habits book. He starts out right away in Chapter 1 outlining the characteristics of principle-centered leaders. They:

1. are continually learning
2. are service-oriented
3. radiate positive energy
4. believe in other people
5. lead balanced lives
6. see life as an adventure
7. are synergistic
8. exercise for self-renewal.

This book is really two books in one. The first half is created to help us at the personal and interpersonal level. The second half is created to help us at the organizational level.

I learned a great deal that has helped me with both my personal and my professional life.

This book is still right on the money, even after 17 years. Principle Centered Leadership
by Steven Covey.

Authority & Submission

Leaders and followers. Sometimes we are one. Sometimes we are the other. A Tale of three Kings: A Study in Brokenness by Gene Edwards provides a unique view of authority and submission between leaders and followers.

Edwards has created a dramatic play based on the relationship between Saul, David and Absalom. First, he presents David as a follower of Saul and discusses the issues related to submitting to authority. Then he presents David as a leader of Absalom and discusses the issues related leading the non-submissive.

In all of it, Edwards reminds us to look to the plan of God. He points out that authority comes from God. And that submission is ultimately to God. Other recurring themes are humility and the sovereignty of God.

My favorite quotes:

"Legalism is nothing but a leader's way of avoiding suffering. Rules were invented by elders, so they could get to bed early!"

"One, never learn anything about the fashion-able, easily-mastered art of spear throwing. Two, stay out of the company of all spear throwers. And three, keep your mouth tightly closed."

"God has a university. It's a small school. Few enroll, even fewer graduate. Very, very few indeed. God has this school because He does not have broken men."

"There are always problems in kingdoms, replied Zadok, Always. The ability to see faults is a common and a cheap gift."

A Tale of three Kings: A Study in Brokenness is a short profound read.

Spiritual Leadership: D.E Hoste

If I am to LEAD . . . is a 20 page booklet based on the life and writings of D.E. Hoste. D.E. Hoste was one of the Cambridge Seven. He was also was the successor to J. Hudson Taylor as the General Director of Overseas Missionary Fellowship previously known as the China Inland Mission.

He once said "If I have any gift at all, I feel it is along the lines of applying Christian principles to life."

The main topics of the booklet are:

1. Spiritual Leadership


2. Qualifications for Leadership


3. Preparation for Leadership


4. Relationshi[ to Fellow-workers


5. Ability to Make Use of Men


6. Speaking as the Oracles of God


7. The Practice of Prayer (including fasting)


8. True Humility


9. The Secret of Submission


10. Self-discipline

Noteable quotes:

"The practical point is that they are really men and women of prayer, deeply distrustful of their own judgment and impulses, only forming opinions and expressing them as taught and guided by the Holy Spirit."

"It is a fact that our minds cannot receive correct impressions of God's plan and methods for the carrying on of the work unless much time is given to waiting upon Him."

"To take the lowly place in a misunderstanding; when slighted or hurt to go under the slight or hurt, humbling oneself under the mighty hand of God, relying on Him in due season to exalt one, is faith in operation."

If I am to LEAD . . . by Dixon Edward Hoste is a short, quick shot in the arm.

If I Am to Lead

Spiritual Leadership: Nehemiah

Charles Swindoll takes you through the life and example of Nehemiah in his book, Hand Me Another Brick. Swindoll explains the principles of Biblical leadership as he walks you through the book of Nehemiah in the Old Testament.

We find that after praying about it, Nehemiah had the marks of a competent leader:

1. He had a clear recognition of the needs.
2. He was personally concerned with the need.
3. He went to God first with his problem.
4. He was available to mee the need himself.

Swindoll's style is easy to read. His major points stand out on the page. He then backs them with references from the book of Nehemiah. He also includes simple explanations which illustrate the points he makes.

He sums up his book with Key Principles to Remember from Nehemiah 10:

1. Serious thought precedes any significant change.
2. Written plans confirm right priorities.
3. A loss of distinction and conformity to the world go hand in hand.

I enjoyed this book a great deal. I have applied many of these principles over the years. I will be applying some new ones in the days ahead.

Hand Me Another Brick by Charles R. Swindoll, building character in yourself and others.

Spiritual Leadership

There are a lot of books written regarding leadership in a spiritual context. I have read many of them. Often they take business leadership principles or military leadership principles and discuss how they apply in a spiritual setting.

This book is different. Spiritual Leadership: Principles of Excellence for Every Believer by J. Oswald Sanders discusses practical leadership from a Biblical perspective.

Sanders acknowledges that leading in a environment of spiritual growth and interaction requires a spiritual perspective. Sanders explains that perspective from the Bible and from his years of leadership experience with Overseas Missionary Fellowship.

Spiritual leadership includes servant leadership and much more. Sanders identifies the essential qualities of leadership as:

1. Discipline
2. Vision
3. Wisdom
4. Decision
5. Courage
6. Humility
7. Integrity and sincerity

He also does an excellent job contrasting the differences between natural and spiritual leadership.

Natural Leadership
1. Self-confident
2. Knows people
3. Makes own decisions
4. Ambitious
5. Creates methods
6. Enjoys commands
7. Seeks personal reward
8. Independent

Spiritual Leadership
1. Confident in God
2. Also knows God
3. Seeks God’s will
4. Humble
5. Follows God’s example
6. Delights in obedience to God
7. Loves God and others
8. Depends on God

If you want to learn more about leadership from a Biblical perspective, read Spiritual Leadership: Principles of Excellence for Every Believer

Servant Leadership Illustrated

If you are looking for an example of how servant leadership can work, read The Journey to the East by Herman Hesse.

This is a short novel built around a fictional expedition. The guide and servant for the expedition a man named Leo. Leo is the servant leader. When he disappears, the expedition falls apart. This story can help you understand what servant leadership can look like.

The Journey to the East is relatively short and easy to read. Well worth it if you are at all interested in figuring out how servant leadership my work in your own style of leadership.

I enjoyed reading this book!

The Leader As Servant

Robert K. Greenleaf suggested a concept called servant leadership. He developed this concept in his book, Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness 25th Anniversary Edition.

Servant leadership was first suggested by Jesus Christ when he said, "whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister and whosever will be chief among you, let him be your servant." I sometimes think of this as climbing down the corporate ladder instead of up. Because the higher you go in the organization, the more people there are for you to serve.

Since Greenleaf's death in 1990, an center has been developed to carry on his work, The Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership in Indianapolis, IN.

He talks about leadership in business, education, churches, and other not-for-profit organizations. He discusses how the servant leader can thrive in each situation. He gives examples of contemporary servant leaders.

He even talks about how America can serve as a servant leader around the World.

If you are looking for some new thoughts and views for your own leadership style, consider Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness 25th Anniversary Edition.

The Magic of Thinking Big

I read The Magic of Thinking Big when I was a sophomore in college.

As leaders, we need to create, develop and share a vision for the direction we want to go. Personally, I think the hardest part is sharing the vision, or "vision casting." But you can't cast the vision until you know what it is.

The author, David J. Schwartz, believes that the bigger you think, the bigger you live. As leaders, I think we need big visions. The bigger the vision, the more attractive it is to others and they will want to come and join with us. As a sophomore in college, the concept, was way outside my scope of reason. But now, many years later, I have seen this principle in action and I believe in it's true.

The Magic of Thinking Big has 13 great chapters. But by far, my favorite was the first chapter. Schwartz presents Three Guides to Help You Develop the Power of Belief:

1. Think success, don't think failure.
2. Remind yourself regularly that you are better than you think you are.
3. Believe big.

Chapter 2 is pretty good, too, the four most common excuses for not being successful are dealt with:

1. "But my health isn't good."
2. "But you've got to have brains to succeed."
3. "It's no use. I'm too old (or too young)."
4. "But my case is different; I attract bad luck."

Actually, all the chapters are excellent. I recommend you buy the book and find out for yourself!
The Magic of Thinking Big
by David J. Schwartz.

Biography: Sam Walton

One of the best ways to learn about leadership is to read stories about great leaders. My first choice is a good autobiography written by a leader I respect. My second choice is a well-written biography. I think autobiographies are more realistic and include the human frailties and inadequacies better than a biography does.
Anyway, I read the autobiography of the founder of Wal*Mart Sam Walton: Made In America. Near the end of the book he lists Sam's Rules for Building a Business:

1. Commit to your business


2. Share your profits with all your associates


3. Motivate your partners


4. Communicate everything you possibly can to your partners


5. Appreciate everything your associates do for the business


6. Celebrate your successes


7. Listen to everyone in your company


8. Exceed your customers' expectations


9. Control your expenses better than your competition


10. Swim upstream

So here is a guy who drives an old pickup truck to get around, learned to fly an airplane so he could better determine the location of his new stores, loved to hunt and play tennis, and often traveled with his hunting dogs. He changed the face of American business. Wal*Mart doesn't produce anything, but they are the masters of the supply chain. Walton redefined American business by getting the goods from the producer to the consumer. And along the way, he became the richest man in America. He claimed to be a man consumed with a passion for merchandising. I pray that I could be as consumed with a passion, but not for merchandising. Definitely one of my favorite autobiographies, Sam Walton: Made In America.