Mountain State University LeaderTalk

Guest Post | The Care and Keeping of Visionaries

If you are reading, writing, and studying about leadership, you probably consider yourself to be a leader.

If you consider yourself to be a leader, you probably have relationships with visionaries around you upon which your success leans pretty heavily.

And if you give one of those visionaries a cookie-- oh wait, nevermind.

In my new job, I will work for several state legislators at once. The interview process took place as session was going into overtime, and at one point I asked my future supervisor whether my joining the team would require a reshuffling of staff, or if I would just be taking over someone else's caseload. He was quick to inform me that oh, no, it would be chaos to reassign staff before session was over. "I'm sure you know all about the care and keeping of legislators," he winked.

Legislators, entrepreneurs, and other lions require special TLC. Maybe you know one, or maybe you are one.  I've learned a few things about working with them and for them:

1. Be patient.

After polling friends working across the country in government and law, this was the number one response I got. Impossible expectations and inability to follow through were some of the first reasons cited for frustration and burnout. Robert R. McCormick, Chicago alderman and editor/publisher of the Chicago Tribune during the 1930's and 1940's, once ordered his servants to whitewash his west suburban estate to look like the White House. Then he stepped back, decided he didn't like the finished product, and those same servants got to scrape the paint off each red brick with wire brushes.

2. Hold your ground.

A friend of mine who works currently in a Governor's office put it this way: "The Big Picture frequently involves a lot of little things. You can't overlook the little stuff, because that's how the Big Picture gets painted."  Granted, if you're working for a visionary you are probably already a detail person. Just remember that it's your job to bring your visionary back down to earth- grounded in reality. Call them out, and don't let their charisma pin you against the wall. This is especially important; leaders who get away with whatever they want to tend to end up in trouble.

3. Speak the language.

My old boss usually preferred not to be given too many numbers on a daily basis. That might sound weird, but the reality is CEOs and politicians and nonprofit heads get numbers thrown at them all day. Your visionary does not have the luxury of doing in-depth research on just a few subjects. Keep things concise and visual.  Send a daily "top five" email rather than forwarding five important emails one by one. Learn how to make great graphs.

Visionaries are often consumed with one goal or idea- in fact, they often miss the trees for the forest.  They want the big stuff, but may not be willing to see all the baby steps that get them what they want. Put everything in terms of the endgame. Bone up on your history- U.S. history, world history, or just the history of your organization- and help the visionary see what has failed or succeeded in the past.

4. Be understanding of extreme idealism.

You might think they waited until the last minute to give you that huge project because they are a demanding and an oppressive slave driver. This may be true. But it also could be a byproduct of visionary, idealistic thinking about time.

Extreme optimism is, after all, what makes people late. A realist (pessimist?) looks at a map and imagines all of the horrible things that could happen: an accident, bumper-to-bumper traffic, black ice.  Then they add 15-30 minutes to the estimated travel time, no matter how sunny and perfect the roads are. An idealist, on the other hand, looks at a map and pictures an easy drive, and how once last summer they made that trip in only 13 minutes, so with all green lights, it really should take only 8 minutes today... 

*Side note: Your visionary will be stubborn about their grandiose ideas.  Be careful to steer, rather than crush, these- especially if the visionary is a lower employee, or your child. As their supervisor, it's always okay to put ideas on the back burner.

5. Accept your job as a nag.

Do it graciously, but do it. It's your job.

Today's post is from Laura Finch, a 2007 graduate of Taylor University in Upland, Indiana. She likes to think and write about how governments, churches and individuals can be more fiscally, socially and environmentally responsible.  Follow her on Twitter but don't check out her blog, because she doesn't have one.  Laura's political career began with babysitting her State Senator's kids, and she is currently trying to coax her cat into its carrier so that she and her husband can move to Indianapolis for their next great adventure!

Ask Good Questions

Saturday night, I returned to the site of my 9th grade prom, Black Knight Country Club in Beckley, WV, for another memorable event: my 20th high school reunion. While the music blared in the background and the sky outside flashed with lightning, I reconnected with friends I hadn't seen in, well, 20 years, unless you count Facebook.

You may be wondering what kind of leadership lesson I can draw from a high school reunion. Here it is: effective leaders know how to ask good questions.

Leadership is influence, and influence happens in relationships. Relationships are built with others through all sorts of interaction. Last weekend's reunion reminded me that one key to strong relationship in any setting is asking good questions.

When you ask good questions:

• People share stories. I heard a memorable story Saturday night about how a friend met her future husband backstage while volunteering to help with costumes at a local theater. Within days, he took her shopping for an engagement ring. Twelve years later, they seem to be thriving in their marriage. In the workplace, you can build relationships with others by taking the time to ask the kinds of questions that encourage people to share their stories. When your employees or team members tell their stories, both personal and work related ones, you will be creating positive experiences and shared memories to build relationships necessary for working together successfully.

• You learn new things. You can learn personal information about others, things you would not know if you did not ask. You can also learn helpful facts or a new way of looking at things. You may learn both the answer to the question you are asking and answers to questions you might not have thought to ask. 

• People feel valued. I know this because I feel valued when people ask me questions that show genuine interest in who I am and What I think. If you ask thoughtfully considered questions — and then listen carefully as people answer — you let people know that they are important to you. This works in face to face interactions, over the phone, and in social media networks such as Twitter.

• You gain respect. Think about this: how do you feel about the person who only talks about himself and doesn't seem interested in what anyone else is saying? (For the record, I didn't spend time with anyone like that at my reunion.) You want to get away as soon as possible, right? But sitting at a table with someone who is sincerely interested in drawing others out and creating interesting conversation is a completely enjoyable experience.In the workplace, people who ask questions and listen to others exude likeability; everyone is glad to be around them.

Photo by Chris Hancock

Remember the lesson of the high school reunion whenever you are looking for ways to build stronger relationships. Ask good questions. When you do, everyone has a good time.

For more leadership lessons gleaned from a high school reunion, check out Brett Simmons' post with his reflections from his reunion.

I am excited to share some of my writing regarding home education with you. I have a story published in Chicago Parent's new issue. You can read the online vesion here.

One more thing: there are only a few days left to vote in Kevin Eikenberry's Best Leadership Blogs 2009 contest. If you haven't already, please vote.

Leadership at All Levels: Chicago Park District

 You may remember my post, Leadership at All Levels: Continental Airlines. Leadership at All Levels is going to be a regular feature at LeaderTalk, a place where I can celebrate people I meet who are great leaders in their organizations.

My two older daughters just finished up another week of gymnastics camp at Broadway Armory, a park of the Chicago Park District.

The Chicago Park District, in my opinion, is one of the best features of life in Chicago. Chicago has the largest municipally-managed park district in the nation with over 7,600 acres of green space. They offer a dizzying array of programs at 570 parks. Chicago residents — and tourists — can enjoy playgrounds, beaches, pools, museums, harbors, skating rinks, golf courses, gardens, conservatories, lagoons, and more.

Throughout the year, the Park District presents countless special programs and events including festivals (ever heard of Lollapalooza?), concerts, theater in the park, and craft mobiles — all at low or no cost to Chicago's families. The scope of offerings is immense.

General Superintendent and CEO Timothy J. Mitchell oversees a budget that tops $390 million and a work force of over 1500 employees. In 2008, he was elected World Commissioner of the International Federation of Parks and Recreation. If Chicago wins the bid to host the 2016 Olympics, his impact and influence will be expanded even further.

However, any great organization needs effective leaders at all levels. From the executive office to the lakefront beach, each employee at the Chicago Park Districts contributes to the organization's success.

In my experience, Jessica Patrick is one of Chicago Park District's finest employees. She is the lead coach for the gymnastics program at Broadway Armory. "Miss Jessica," who has worked for the Chicago Park District for 8 years, is well loved by both parents and kids. All three of my daughters have been involved in camps or classes led by Jessica. 

Here's what they have to say about her:

"I want to go to my mom and tot!" M., age 2.

"Nice!" N., age 5.

"I like her, she's my favorite teacher." C., age 8.

My daughters are always enthusiastic about heading to the gym because Jessica knows how to teach fitness and skills in a fun way. She also knows how to encourage each child, whatever their ability level. She celebrates their success while pushing them to achieve more.

One day during camp I stayed longer than usual, chatting with another parent. This is what I saw: Jessica approached each child individually. She reminded each one of a skill they would attempt that day. To my eldest, she said "You're going to get your flip-flop today, with a spot." With a high-five and a smile, she gave Cami the encouragement she needed to do her best.

Jessica also excels at her job of mentoring younger employees. Each summer, she has interns working with her in the programs she teaches. Along the way, she entrusts them with various components of the class, from warmups to bars.She respects and supports them, allowing them to develop leadership skills of their own.

Because of Jessica's guidance and encouragement, my girls are already looking forward to their gymnastics classes in the fall. Until then, you can find us at the beach.

Good Ideas Gone Bad

For me, a lot of the fun of a vacation is the planning. I enjoy mapping out fun activities for the family, finding places to go that everyone will enjoy. Of course, the actual experience is rarely exactly what I imagine. Sometimes it's better, sometimes much worse.

Wednesday found our family on the road. We left Chicago in early morning, avoiding traffic, but also allowing enough time get to our stop for tubing on the Mohican River in Ohio. Tubing is an activity our family has enjoyed before. Picture it: a sunny day, a meandering river, splashing, lounging, stopping to swim in calm spots. We're always sad when we get to the end of the trip.

Wednesday was different, though. The temperature hovered just below 70. Drizzly, grey. But we planned our itinerary around this stop. We had reserved a cabin on the river; pushing on toward our ultimate destination would mean forfeiting the price of our night's lodging. Despite my husband's suggestion that it might not be the best day for tubing, we pulled on our bathing suits, grabbed our tubes, and stepped onto the van that dropped us off upriver, about a two hours tube ride away from our cabin.

It was a bad idea.

The drizzle turned to a downpour. On a hot day, the cold water would have been welcome refreshment. On a cooler day, it felt frigid, and no one wanted to stop to swim. By the time we finished our two hour trip, my daughters' lips matched their purple life vests. In an attempt to get down the river faster, my husband and I walked through the shallows, and I slipped on the rocks, cutting and bruising my leg. There was whining, and not just from the kids. It was a miserable trip.

As we went down the river, I was thinking about good ideas gone bad. On vacation, in every day life at home, or in business, it is important to know when an idea should be abandoned. Otherwise, we create miserable conditions for ourselves, our families, or our organizations.

Lots of ideas start out sounding good. Remember New Coke? Tweaking a good product to make it even better sounds like a good idea, doesn't it? But more than 20 years later, we are still drinking the classic formula. Coke avoided disaster by knowing that it was okay to abandon a good idea turned bad.

Polaroid started out manufacturing polarized sun glasses in 1937. Eleven  years later, they sucessfully shifted the entire focus of the organization to a new great idea: instant photographs. In 2001, after Polaroid declared bankruptcy, Forbes predicted: "Unless Polaroid is bold enough to follow through big changes, its brand name will become a faded picture." Sounds accurate, doesn't it?

In order to stay relevant, we need to know how to abandon an idea. As leaders, we are probably not accustomed to giving up on plans, but sometimes reason needs to overcome persistence. We need inuition about timing for change. When presented with real evidence that our plans are not likely to succeed, we need to be flexible enough to try something else.

For our organizations, sticking with a bad idea will likely have consequences worse than a banged up knee and purple lips.

There's only one week left in The Best Leadership Blogs 2009 Contest, hosted by Kevin Eikenberry. Here is an update on the contest. If you haven't voted yet, please take a moment to do so today. You can vote here.

Twitter for Beginners | What to tweet

You've taken care of the basics, right?

You've:

• signed up for a Twitter account.
• dowloaded TweetDeck or another application.
• started to follow people in your field or area of interest.

What next?

In short, start tweeting.

In my last post, I recommended that you set aside a limited amount of time each day to spend on Twitter. At first that might be 5 minutes, once or several times a day.

But what do you say? I have read several posts that outline percentages of the types of tweets you should post. It doesn't make sense to me, though, to overanalyze the content of my tweets. In general, if you post frequently enough, you will probably tweet a variety of things. If you are tweeting for business, being mindful of what you tweet is important.

What to Tweet

Start with links to articles you are reading that would interest your audience. I am often intrigued when someone tweets that they are reading and commenting on something. If I have time, I will often click the link to read and comment, too. TweetDeck has a shrink link feature that will automatically shrink the URL to your link.

Be sure to link to your own blog posts, also. Typepad has a feature that automatically tweets new posts. I prefer to tweet my new post a few times throughout the day, using different hooks each time. For example, I might ask a question as an interest builder.

Many people include quotes on topics that interest them... or original ideas on a topic. Joan Koerber-Walker has started a whole movement on Twitter for people to "Be Original." She uses the hashtag #beoriginal and encourages people to tweet their own thoughts and ideas instead of quoting others. Search #beoriginal for some inspiration, then tweet your own.

Join a conversation. If someone asks a question or raises an issue that interests you, reply. You can reply by typing "@" followed by the persons name, or by clicking the reply feature on TweetDeck. Earlier this week, I had an interesting conversation with a few others about a blog post we all read and commented about. And last night, I discovered that I attend the same college as another Twitter friend — at the exact same time. As you join the conversation, you will make some amazing connections. It seems impossible, and strange, but it's true.

 Start your own conversation. Several people I follow will ask a question and use the responses they receive as ideas in blog posts.

Repeat what others are tweeting: "Retweet." If you're using TweetDeck, if you run your mouse over the person's picture, there is a curved arrow. If you press it, it will automatically retweet (RT) for you. This saves a lot of time. I am embarassed to admit that it took me weeks to discover that... weeks of cuttig and pasting.

When you retweet what someone says, it shows that you find them interesting, that you support them in their efforts, that what they've said is resonating with you. I also like to add comments to my retweet. For example, if I am retweeting someone's blog post, I might add something I liked about the post, or simply say "great post."

Tweet information that connects you to others. This means tweeting things about yourself that will help people know who you are, especially in the context of what you do. Tweet about what you are working on, or what you are planning to do. Even if you are using Twitter in the context of your business, people still want to know who you are. I often start to pay more attention to a person's tweets when I have an idea of who they are overall.

Read posts on Twitter with a mindset of connecting with others, For example, @angiechaplin is someone I follow for her leadership tweets. Recently she tweeted about getting a gift certificate from her leadership students to her favorite running store. Since I like to run, this gave me a stronger connection to Angie, and I replied to her and started a conversation about running. Discover what you have in common with people and tweet about it.

Today's assignment: try to start a conversation on Twitter. See where it tweets you. And post a link to an interesting article. Why not start with this one?

Twitter for Beginners | Getting Started

Now that you have a Twitter account, what should you do next?

Who to Follow

Chances are, you have some friends or colleagues on Twitter already. Ask around the office or your neighborhood, or post on Facebook to let your friends know that you are tweeting. You can also search for people you know by name. If you like to read blogs, check to see if your favorite bloggers are on Twitter. Start by following me: @LeaderTalk.

Next, you can use We Follow to find interesting people to follow. If you're interested in following celebrity tweets you'll find them here, along with news sites and a list of the top Twitter users. You can also search this directory by keyword, in my opinion the most useful feature. I searched "leadership" and found lots of fascinating folks to follow.

Pay attention to #FollowFriday. Chances are, you will find other compelling characters to follow this way. Apart from following people because they followed me first, this is my biggest source of for new contacts on Twitter. The idea behind #FollowFriday is that people tweet lists of people they follow; sometimes they even tell why they follow the person. I love these personal recommendations.

TweetDeck

The next thing to do is download TweetDeck or another free application for use with Twitter. If you want to explore other options, read this article fromTechCrunch about the Top 21 Twitter Applications.

One of the reasons that TweetDeck is a necessity is that it allows you to keep track of what people are saying about you (mentions) and use groups or searches to hone in on the information that is most relevant to you. You can view several columns at once: all friends, mentions, direct messages, and any searches.

Using columns saves time and helps you tweet more efficiently. You can create a group of friends that you want to pay special attention to: for me it's my top leadership blogging friends. Because I have a special group on TweetDeck just for them, I see their new tweets quickly and can retweet their new posts or see what they're reading about and talking about.

Another benefit of TweetDeck is that you can synchronize your tweets and your Facebook status updates or view several Twitter accounts at once. Whether or not you use this feature really depends upon your purpose in tweeting. Since I use Twitter for business and Facebook for personal contacts, I haven't connected my two accounts.

To keep this from being too theoretical, I am going to give you a challenge. Before my next post, I want you to find at least twenty people (or twenty more people) to follow. Then set up TweetDeck with columns of topics that you're interested in following. Once you've done that, set aside at least 5 minutes a day for the next week to log onto Twitter and find your way around. If you let me know who you are, I'll be sure to follow you, too.

In the next post of this series I'll give you some tips about what to tweet. Don't forget to leave a comment here with your twitter name so I can follow you.

To read more about getting started with Twitter, read Jennifer V. Miller's account of her first 30 days on Twitter. I recently met Jennifer on Twitter (where else?) and love her blog so much that I added it to the related links. Be sure to take a few minutes to check out her blog. You'll be glad you did! 

Guest Post | Is Quitting Leading, Too?

I am honored today to post this guest post from the President of Mountain State University, Dr. Charles Polk. Dr. Polk has led Mountain State from its days as a small college on the brink of bankruptcy in 1990 to our current success. Under his direction, MSU has expanded offerings to include graduate level courses all the way to the doctoral level. Our campuses in four states, the District of Columbia, and online influence students around the world. Dr. Polk is the author of Apex Thinking. He and Dr. William White, the Dean of Mountain State's School of Leadership and Professional Development, are also preparing to release a second book, What Leaders Believe.

Since the beginning of July, there has been an enormous amount of celebrity news. Governor Sanford’s extramarital affair with a woman from Argentina, the death of Farrah Fawcett, and the enormous scale of Michael Jackson’s departing all made other national and worldwide news seem unimportant, at least as measured by the media’s coverage of these events. Not to be outdone in the hunt for notoriety and celebrity status, Sarah Palin resigned the governorship of Alaska and proclaimed that she was taking another path to influencing others.

Governor Palin’s resignation was analyzed by most who took the time to throw their thoughts into the debate as to why she was choosing to end of her career as a politician. From discussing her now-limited resume, her unconventional background, her personal tenacity, her limited ability to handle criticism, her earthy nature, and that instinctively conservative political DNA, to speculating what it all meant, pundits seemed to give their best in criticism, and likely they are still hoping for another shot.

By any definition, Sarah Palin is a leader and if she follows through with her promises to continue to be influential in American politics, she will continue to be among the country’s most recognized political figures. Observers have made every effort to play off of one word that they believe describes her resignation – quitting. For Palin, by her own declaration, she was not quitting but repositioning to gain more influence. To make the point more poignant, she decided to say goodbye to Alaska on Independence Day weekend — a symbol, she said, of her new and exhilarating freedom.

Taken at face value, all of the criticism aimed at her just might be true, or come to be true, which is certainly the wish of many aspiring Republicans and, of course, of the Obama White House. Leaders influence others in a variety of ways and we all know about the taxonomy of styles and strategies, but one of the most revered from our political success stories led his nation to abandon apartheid as a formalized social/political structure. One recent description of that leader, Nelson Mandela, maintains that part of his strength lies in knowing that “quitting is leading too.”

Mandela was a formidable leader by any measure, but he knew that abandoning a failed idea, facing the reality that there is always another day to win, and showing humility in a loss are lessons in leadership. Against formidable odds, he knew that his role in South Africa was to set the course and for others who were better positioned to man the ship. Mandela was well aware that in leading others, it is as important not to do some things as it is to do others.

I would not suggest that Sarah Palin can fill the shadow of the man called Madiba (his clan name), but she can read, study, gain advice, and emulate whomever she wishes — and little might the rest of us know who she looks to for guidance. It could even be Mandela, who knows the importance of understanding that quitting can be leading too.

Read more from Dr. Polk at his blog, Apex Thinking.

Twitter for Beginners | Why Twitter?

Not long ago I helped lead a webinar about Twitter for Mountain State University's recruiters. As Twitter gains popularity — some estimates from last year say 10,000 new users per day — we as a university community are exploring how we can use this new tool to reach potential students. As many as 41% of college admissions departments are using social media to connect with students. College career centers are using Twitter as a means to support their students as well.

Many business leaders use Twitter; Big Winner compiled an impressive list. Remarkably, though, according to UberCEO, only two CEOs from Fortune 100 companies have Twitter accounts.

Of course, I can certainly understand why CEOs wouldn't join Twitter: the constant stream of information can be overwhelming. Learning something new, especially social media, can be intimidating. And, Twitter's usefulness can be hard to determine at first. Michael Hyatt is one CEO who thinks using Twitter is an important leadership tool.

I am a fairly new Twitter user. I, too, was skeptical at first. Yet as time has gone on, I have seen the ways that Twitter is adding value to my blogging for Mountain State.

By getting involved with a community on Twitter, you can:

• build relationships
• build excitement
• make yourself (and your company) memorable.

Building Relationships

For me, the most evident benefit has been relationship building. As I have followed others interested in leadership, I have gotten to know several of them beyond just sharing tweets. Direct messages, exchanged through Twitter, are a quick way to go a little deeper in connecting with people on Twitter. Sometimes these messages lead to email exchanges or even phone calls. The important thing is that Twitter gives me a chance to get involved in a non-stop conversation and exchange of ideas. I get to see what people are reading, and what they are thinking about and talking about. I get to share my thoughts, ask questions, encourage others.

Building Excitement

As I have been using Twitter more, I have seen how excitement builds around certain people's ideas or blog posts. An example: Mary Jo Asmus is a friend of mine who is a fairly new Twitter user as well. She had a post recently: "Is Kindness a Leadership Compentency?" For days, people were "tweeting" and "retweeting" about it. It is fun to get involved in spreading excitement about someones's ideas and writing.

Making Your Company Memorable

By creating an Twitter presence and developing a group of folllowers, you create an opportunity to influence a large group of people. Although I have about 350 followers on Twitter, those followers have many more. If I tweet something inspiring or compelling, people will re-tweet my words, so that I reach a much larger audience. Over time, the things I tweet and re-tweet paint a picture of who I am and what is important to me — and by extension, to the organization I represent. When they see my Twitter photo and read what I am tweeting about, they are gaining an indelible impression of both me and Mountain State University.

With that in mind, I tweet carefully, and thoughtfully.

In my next posts, I will give you more direction about integrating Twitter into your business life. Until then, you can sign up for an account, if you don't have one already. That way, when I share more about how to use Twitter in my next post, you will be ready.

Please take a moment today to vote for LeaderTalk in Kevin Eikenberry's Best Leadership Blogs of 2009 contest. Thanks!

Back to School

A row of freshly sharpened pencils. Stacks of notebooks with crisp clean paper. The waxy scent of a new box of crayons.

I am thinking about getting back to school.

As July turns to August, it is time for me to get serious about planning the school year for my daughters. This year our homeschool will have one preschooler, on kindergardener, and a 3rd grader. I still have to order curriculum, sketch out a schedule, and organize supplies.

Yesterday, while at the beach with some other homeschooling families, our conversation jumped from our school plans for our children to our school plans for ourselves.

My friends and I have a short list of dream degrees — what we'd study if we could go back to school. We all have at least one degree already. My friend Lisa even has her PhD. Yet none of us have lost that yearning for school.

During my undergrad studies, I changed majors at least four times, graduating with a degree in creative writing. For years after that, I was convinced that you can't really know yourself well enough at age 18 to choose a course of study that will interest you for life. Now that writing is my career, I am questioning that conclusion.

Still, despite being happy with my work, I love school, which is why I keep a mental list of degrees I would like to pursue.

The latest on my list: the new Doctor of Executive Leadership (DEL) at Mountain State University. It's a brand new program. Since I work closely with the fine folks at MSU, I have been hearing a lot and writing a lot about the program.

The first cohort of fifteen students will begin their studies this October in seat at MSU's main campus in Beckley, WV. In February 2010, the fun for those of us who don't live close to the main campus starts. a cohort of students from around the world will beginning their degrees in a hybrid format consisting of a four day residencies each year and online courses. It is exciting to witness the development of this new program.

The new DEL is action oriented. Leadership books and academic study have their place, but a person learns to lead by leading.

The goal of MSU's new doctoral program is to create scholar-practitioners. To become a scholar and a practitioner, a person needs to put into practice all the theories and best practices she is learning. The course of study of the DEL culminates in an action oriented research project. Learners will create research projects and use their current work environments as a labs to experiment with new ideas and solutions.

The DEL is on my short list of dream degrees for this reason: it seems like the perfect marriage between academic study and real life leadership.

Do you keep a list of dream degrees? What's on your list?

Tony Morgan's Leadership Continuum

Tony Morgan, the author of Killing Cockroaches and Other Scatter Musings On Leadership, has a useful paradigm for understanding the necessary shift in leadership styles as organizations change and grow.  His ideas are outlined here.

Although Morgan focuses largely on church growth, I've adapted his ideas for any setting. By considering where you fall on this leadership continuum, you may be able to identify next steps for yourself and your organization.

The four styles on the continuum are: leading by example, leading others, leading leaders, and leading by vision.

At an organization's inception, leaders often begin with leading by example. In a new company, the leader is able to influence others directly, modeling valued behaviors and best practices for others in the organization. This type of leader does everything. If something is happening in the company, the founder or CEO is directly involved.

As a mom, I most often employ this leadership style in my home. As I interact with my daughters, my life and actions are the example they are learning to follow. But in the business world, this style has limited value, as leaders can only effectively teach and mentor a few individuals. If leaders stay in this stage of leadership, their company's growth will be circumscribed. 

Next on the continuum is leading others. In this style, leaders delegate tasks to others. Using this style, a leaders can accomplish more. However, this style is still limiting because even though tasks are distributed, ownership and leadership in the organization is still centralized. Others are only involved in carrying out the details of the leader's plans, often not understanding their importance or significance.

The third style on the continuum is leading leaders. A leader working at this level is purposefully empowering other leaders, allowing them to own and direct certain aspects of the organization. By focusing energy on developing and launching other leaders, the leaders multiply the ability to get the work of the organization done.

The final stage of the leadership continuum is leading by vision. Leading by vision involves presenting a clear and compelling vision for an organization and becoming less consumed with details and more concerned with its overall health and function.

The third and fourth stages allow for the most growth but also present the biggest challenges. As I wrote in my last post, empowering other leaders is difficult. Developing and communicating a clear vision for our organizations is a formidable and ongoing task. Yet without a concise purpose, it is difficult to lead anyone  — we have to know where we're going before we can invite others along for the journey.

It is important that both vision and the steps needed to get there can be easily communicated to and understood by others. This happens from the start.  Leaders construct a strong foundation through the first stages of a company's development, when CEOs or entrepeneurs are involved in the day to day operation of the company. The next generation of leaders will be the ones adept at articulating the company's vision and values. 

When we are less involved in tasks and details, we are free to reinforce the vision and values of our company.

Which style are you using? How does it suit the life-stage of your company or organization? What is necessary for you to move to the next stage?