This week we are exploring the power to initiate deep change as outlined by Robert E. Quinn in his terrific book The Deep Change Field Guide.
Deep change begins with a positive mindset. When we focus on the negative, we see flaws and problems – both inside ourselves and all around us.
Positivity, on the other hand, helps us make deep personal change and transform ourselves and our organisations. … continue reading
It was 1999. I was flipping through Fortune magazine’s annual 100 Best Places to Work edition.
Amongst the top 10 were many companies I was familiar with like Southwest Airlines, Goldman Sachs, and Hewlett-Packard.
At #2 on the list was TD Industries. Hmmm, I thought. That name sounds familiar. Sure enough, they were based in Dallas where I live. I recalled seeing TD trucks around the streets of Dallas. … continue reading
We are looking this week at the key lessons and learnings from The Servant as Leader, Robert Greenleaf‘s brilliant book on leadership. The last several days we’ve been looking at the importance of foresight as a leadership trait.
But Robert tells us it is more than that.
Failure to practice foresight is not just a failure to demonstrate leadership.
It is an ethical failure.
How so?
“The failure … continue reading
Foresight, or prescience, is a better than average guess about what is going to happen in the future.
Developing this ability is key to becoming a successful servant leader, Robert Greenleaf writes in The Servant as Leader, his brilliant short book about leadership.
It begins by adopting a specific mindset regarding what is happening now. We must constantly compare “what is happening in the current moment with a … continue reading
How do we become better leaders?
How do we become better servant leaders?
Specifically.
What skills do we need to develop? What do we need to focus on?
Those are the questions we are exploring this week as we look at the key lessons from The Servant as Leader by Robert Greenleaf.
One key element of leadership is foresight. “A mark of a leader, an attribute that puts them … continue reading
“Most of us move about with very narrow perception, sight, sound, smell, tactile and we miss most of the grandeur that is in the minutest thing, the smallest experience,” writes Robert Greenleaf in The Servant as Leader.
We also miss leadership opportunities.
“A qualification for leadership,” Robert writes, “is that one can tolerate a sustained wide span of awareness so that [we] better see it as it is.'”
So … continue reading
As servant leaders, what is the relationship between taking action and building trust?
This week we are looking at key learnings from Robert Greenleaf‘s seminal work on leadership The Servant as Leader. Yesterday we looked at the primacy of initiative: everything begins with the initiative of the individual. Leadership is about going out ahead and showing the way. He or she says, “I will go, follow me!” when … continue reading
“Who is responsible for the mediocre performance of so many of our institutions?” Robert Greenleaf asks in The Servant as Leader.
His answer is surprising.
“Not evil people. Not stupid people. Not apathetic people. Not the “system,’” Robert writes. “The better society will come, if it comes, with plenty of evil, stupid, apathetic people around and with an imperfect, ponderous, inertia-charged “system” as the vehicle for change.”
The real … continue reading
It was the middle of the night. Outside, the rain pelted against the windows. An elderly man and his wife entered a hotel in Philadelphia.
“Do you please have a place for us to stay?” the man asked.
There were conventions in town. They had been to several other hotels and all the rooms were full.
The clerk looked at the couple. “Every room in the hotel is filled,” he … continue reading
This week we’ve been exploring how to architect what philosopher Brian Johnson calls “masterpiece days.”
We think of our day like a canvas. We focus first on the parts of the day where we have maximum control: the PM bookend and the AM bookend. Next, we take action to optimize our energy, our work, and our love.
We then bridge the gap between our current level and our ideal. … continue reading
