~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LEADERSHIP WIRED John C. Maxwell's FREE Semimonthly Newsletter Designed To Maximize Your Leadership Potential. April 2005 - Volume 8, Issue 8 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In This Issue: * Maxwell Moment – Growing Strong * Leadership@Large – Surveying the Leadership Landscape * Book Review – Learning from the Best * Quick Quotes – What's Your Opinion? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Maxwell Moment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GROWING STRONG By Dr. John C. Maxwell I have a simple notebook that I carry with me all the time. My "Traveling Companion," as I call it, is divided into several sections—a compartment for things I'm thinking about right now, a place for items I'm trying to apply to my life right now, and a spot for insights I keep going back to because they are so life- changing for me. I take my Traveling Companion everywhere because I never know when I am going to come across a bit of information that I might want to contemplate, analyze or memorize. It might be a newspaper clipping, a magazine article or notes I've taken during a meeting. Once, I even filed a particularly meaningful poem from a funeral bulletin in my notebook because I wanted to read it every day for a month and memorize it. My Traveling Companion helps me stay organized, but it also serves another important purpose: It keeps me growing. By filing material in my notebook, I continue to stretch. I continue to learn. I continue to apply. It never stops. Why is this so important? Because leadership is about growing. In fact, as authors Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus once wrote, "It is the capacity to develop and improve their skills that distinguishes leaders from followers." I'm passionate about my own growth, but I'm also committed to helping other leaders grow. I'd even go so far as to say that your personal growth is my personal mission. That's why I write this column. I want to see you grow. I want to see you develop. I want to see you reach your potential. Much of my speaking and writing is devoted to the subject of personal development, and along the way, I've accumulated quite a collection of what I call "growth statements." Here are a few of my favorites. • "In order to do more, I've got to be more." People frequently ask me, "How can I do more?" The answer isn't complicated: You have to develop personal capacity before you can have personal accomplishments. So many times we want to do more before we become more, but that's backwards. • "If you don't grow, you go!" Yes, that's a little hardnosed. But in our highly competitive, ever-changing world, it's reality. • "It's one of the paradoxes of success that the things and the ways which got you there are seldom those things that keep you there." Charles Handy was right on the money with that comment. It dovetails nicely with Rick Warren's statement that the "greatest detriment to today's success" is "yesterday's success." • "Whatever you do today, do it better tomorrow." Need a vision statement for your personal growth plan? This quote by Robert Schuller is a great place to start. • "For everything you gain, you lose something." This applies to many areas of life, and personal development is no exception. What you leave behind when you grow is just as integral to the process as what you gain. • "You will never change your life until you change something you do daily." Contrary to popular belief, there's nothing mystical about changing your life. The best way to grow is to make changes in your daily behavior. With these growth statements fresh in your mind, let me leave you with four questions to help you evaluate how you're doing when it comes to personal development. 1. When's the last time you did something for the first time? If you can't remember, make a concerted effort to try something new this week. 2. What have you learned and applied this month? In other words, how are you growing? It might be something as simple as memorizing a poem that inspires you or as complicated as learning a new computer program that increases your efficiency at work. 3. What do you do daily to facilitate your growth? I use my Traveling Companion to help me with this. You might want to try something similar, or you may have another system that works just as well. Whatever the case, the goal is continual improvement. 4. Are you teaching others what you are learning? Leaders often mistakenly think that they have to learn something perfectly before they can pass it on to others. The fact of the matter is that, whether they realize it or not, all leaders transfer what they're learning to other people. My final challenge to you is this: Grow with your people. Don't present yourself as Mr. Know-it-all or Ms. Answer Woman. Go to your team and say, "Here's a great book I'm reading; let's read it together" or, "Here's a concept I'm trying to grab hold of, let's reach for it together." As rewarding as it is to grow personally, it's even better when you take the journey with others. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Leadership@Large ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ QUESTIONABLE INTEGRITY By the time this issue of "Leadership Wired" is published, Harry Stonecipher's forced resignation from Boeing will be old news. But it bears mentioning here because it illustrates an important leadership principle: if you want to be a credible, effective leader, you cannot compartmentalize your integrity. Stonecipher, a 68-year-old husband, father and grandfather, came out of retirement in December 2003 to help revitalize Boeing after Pentagon contract scandals that sent two of the company's executives to prison. According to an article in "USA Today", one of Stonecipher's top priorities as president and CEO of the aerospace giant was the "restoration of corporate ethics." His efforts apparently were paying off: the company's market valuation had climbed 50 percent during his 15 months in the top job. Then, in early March, he was fired because he was having an extramarital affair with a female Boeing executive. In the aftermath of Stonecipher's ouster, some analysts questioned whether his punishment was too harsh, while others lauded the swift action of Boeing's board of directors. "There is a lot of talk about tone at the top," Nell Minow of The Corporate Library told "USA Today". "This is exactly what it means. The CEO's personal integrity has to be unquestionable or he cannot have the leadership ability to do his job." Experts say Boeing's recent history of corporate scandal likely influenced the board's decision to respond so definitively to Stonecipher's indiscretions. Whatever their reasoning, however, the fact remains that, if personal integrity had been as important to Stonecipher as corporate ethics, he would still be leading Boeing today. As "USA Today" so aptly stated, "In the end, Harry Stonecipher failed to practice what he preached." _________________________________________________________________ LEADING WITHOUT A TITLE If you're hankering for a more influential position but don't want to look for a new employer, you might want to follow the advice of career coach Penelope Trunk and look for opportunities to "lead without a title." Such a move can be risky—you might fail at something you had no authority to do, and you might "backslide in your current position," Trunk writes in a column on the Wall Street Journal's executive career website, CareerJournal.com. But, as she explains, "leading without a title is the best way to expand your domain, so it's worth trying." Here's how to start: • Find a problem that no one else seems to want to solve and solve it yourself. To determine whether you should take on such a project, talk to the person who should be solving it, Trunk says. "If that person says, ‘Oh yeah. I know about that. I'm on it,' then back off," she explains. "If the person says, ‘Oh no, I was worrying that might come up. What a mess,' then come back the next day with a proposal for you to assume responsibility for solving it." • Lead subtly. Don't draw attention to the fact that someone else has passed the problem on to you, and never cast that person in a bad light. "You also need to downplay the fact that you're asking others to follow you when they don't report to you," Trunk says. "Make your requests in a casual way so you appear as though you're just helping out and not doing anything unusual—not saving the day." For more information, see: http://www.careerjournal.com/columnists/perspective/20041213-fmp.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Book Review ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LEARNING FROM THE BEST "Lasting Leadership: What You Can Learn from the Top 25 Business People of Our Times" By Mukul Pandya and Robbie Shell (Wharton School Publishing, 2005) At first glance, it may seem a bit odd to find Mary Kay Ash, Peter Drucker, Herb Kelleher, Jeff Bezos and Alan Greenspan on the same top 25 list. But when the list recognizes the most influential business leaders of the past 25 years—people who transformed a company, an industry or perhaps even some part of the world by creating new ideas and opportunities—their inclusion makes perfect sense. Insights from the careers of these four and 21 other equally exceptional—though not all as well known—leaders form the basis of "Lasting Leadership: What You Can Learn from the Top 25 Business People of Our Times." The book is a joint effort between PBS's "Nightly Business Report" (NBR)—"the most-watched daily business program on U.S. television"—and "Knowledge@Wharton", the online research and business analysis journal of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. After starting with a pool of more than 700 business people nominated by NBR viewers, the top 25 leaders were selected by a panel of six Wharton judges. Naturally, the results are subjective—some readers may disagree with certain choices and wonder why other notable leaders were left off the list. In the end, however, the judges' picks clearly illustrate the book's intent—to showcase aspects of enduring leadership that can help readers increase their impact in their own spheres of influence. As the book's authors, "Knowledge@Wharton" Editor Mukul Pandya and Managing Editor Robbie Shell, write in their introduction, "The purpose of studying other business leaders is not so much to imitate their qualities as to discover which attributes resonate with one's own and, thus, can be cultivated to further enhance one's leadership skills and capabilities." "Lasting Leadership" identifies eight attributes that have enabled the top 25 leaders to overcome significant difficulties and nurture their own individual styles of leading. These attributes include building a strong corporate culture, truth telling, finding and catering to underserved markets, spotting potential winners or "faint trends" before rivals do, building competitive advantage using price, managing and building a brand, being fast learners and managing risk. The authors devote an entire chapter to the leadership of Intel Chairman Andy Grove, whom the judges named "the best of the best." They then zero in on the eight attributes, using shorter profiles of the other 24 leaders to illustrate each one. For example, Jack Welch, the former chairman and CEO of General Electric, is featured in the section on truth telling, Oprah Winfrey is highlighted in the chapter on building a brand, and Fidelity Magellan Fund manager Peter Lynch is among the leaders discussed in the section on risk management. "Lasting Leadership" is well-researched, well-organized and well- written. If anything, it suffers occasionally from too much detail. But the beauty of this kind of book is that readers can pick and choose from among the leaders who interest them. For instance, if reading about retired Vanguard Group CEO John Bogle's work with mutual funds makes your eyes glaze over, perhaps former Medtronic Chairman William George's thoughts on authentic leadership will prove more inspirational. When it comes to personal application, Pandya and Shell largely leave it up to each individual to take from the book what he or she needs the most. While this might frustrate people who like bulleted lists and action points, the authors' approach works well in the format they've chosen. And as they explain, a reader who acts on what he or she learns from "Lasting Leadership" "might not become another Jack Welch or Mary Kay Ash, but he or she might become a better leader than would otherwise be possible in the absence of this knowledge." -- Review by Lois Flowers, INJOY consulting editor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Quick Quotes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WHAT'S YOUR OPINION? "Every man should periodically be compelled to listen to opinions which are infuriating to him. To hear nothing but what is pleasing to one is to make a pillow of the mind." — St. John Ervine "Honest differences of views and honest debate are not disunity. They are the vital process of policy-making among free men." — Herbert Hoover "It is the man who does not want to express an opinion whose opinion I want." — Abraham Lincoln _________________________________________________________________ Leadership Wired is written by Dr. John C. Maxwell and is available via e-mail on a free subscription basis. You can subscribe at: http://www.INJOY.com/Newsletters. Questions about document transmission or editorial comments? Contact mailto:feedback@INJOY.com. Visitors may use the information contained in this e-newsletter by placing the following credit line: "This article is used by permission from Dr. John C. Maxwell's free monthly e-newsletter 'Leadership Wired' available at www.INJOY.com." This information cannot be used for resale in any manner. Copyright (c) 2005, INJOY, Inc.