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Selfish Apologies Aren’t Apologies at All
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Miles Anthony Smith (Why Leadership Sucks™ Volume 1: Fundamentals of Level 5 Leadership and Servant Leadership)
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Show Us, Don’t Tell Us
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Miles Anthony Smith (Why Leadership Sucks™ Volume 1: Fundamentals of Level 5 Leadership and Servant Leadership)
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If you can’t handle others’ disapproval, then leadership isn’t for you.
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Miles Anthony Smith (Why Leadership Sucks™ Volume 1: Fundamentals of Level 5 Leadership and Servant Leadership)
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President Abraham Lincoln said, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.
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John C. Maxwell (The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential)
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Be a Strong Leader, Even If You Follow a Weak Leader
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Miles Anthony Smith (Why Leadership Sucks™ Volume 1: Fundamentals of Level 5 Leadership and Servant Leadership)
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You Either Trust Someone or You Don’t
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Miles Anthony Smith (Why Leadership Sucks™ Volume 1: Fundamentals of Level 5 Leadership and Servant Leadership)
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The challenge of leadership is to create change and facilitate growth.
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John C. Maxwell (The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential)
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Position is a poor substitute for influence.
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John C. Maxwell (The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential)
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Nobody achieves anything great by giving the minimum. No teams win championships without making sacrifices and giving their best.
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John C. Maxwell (The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential)
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Build Icebergs, Not Skyscrapers
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Miles Anthony Smith (Why Leadership Sucks™ Volume 1: Fundamentals of Level 5 Leadership and Servant Leadership)
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Abdication Isn’t Empowerment
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Miles Anthony Smith (Why Leadership Sucks™ Volume 1: Fundamentals of Level 5 Leadership and Servant Leadership)
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Finish Well; Anyone Can Start Well
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Miles Anthony Smith (Why Leadership Sucks™ Volume 1: Fundamentals of Level 5 Leadership and Servant Leadership)
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When people follow a leader because they have to, they will do only what they have to. People don’t give their best to leaders they like least. They give reluctant compliance, not commitment. They may give their hands but certainly not their heads or hearts.
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John C. Maxwell (The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential)
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Being others-focused instead of self-focused changes your worldview. Living in a selfless manner and seeking to help others enriches our very existence on a daily basis. Get your hands dirty once in a while by serving in a capacity that is lower than your position or station in life. This keeps you tethered to the real world and grounded to reality, which should make it harder to be prideful and forget where you came from.
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Miles Anthony Smith (Why Leadership Sucks™ Volume 1: Fundamentals of Level 5 Leadership and Servant Leadership)
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Your values are the soul of your leadership, and they drive your behavior.
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John C. Maxwell (The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential)
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Seek the Blame; Give Away the Fame
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Miles Anthony Smith (Why Leadership Sucks™ Volume 1: Fundamentals of Level 5 Leadership and Servant Leadership)
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Don’t worry about making friends; don’t worry about making enemies. Worry about winning, because if you win, your enemies can’t hurt you, and if you lose, your friends can’t stand you.
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John C. Maxwell (The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential)
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There are two types of people in the business community: those who produce results and those who give you reasons why they didn’t.
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John C. Maxwell (The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential)
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When you like people and treat them like individuals who have value, you begin to develop influence with them. You develop trust.
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John C. Maxwell (The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential)
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Good leadership isn’t about advancing yourself. It’s about advancing your team. The
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John C. Maxwell (The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential)
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Macromanage, Not Micromanage
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Miles Anthony Smith (Why Leadership Sucks™ Volume 1: Fundamentals of Level 5 Leadership and Servant Leadership)
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If Everything’s a Rush, Nothing Is
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Miles Anthony Smith (Why Leadership Sucks™ Volume 1: Fundamentals of Level 5 Leadership and Servant Leadership)
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Overoptimism Is More Dangerous Than Overpessimism
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Miles Anthony Smith (Why Leadership Sucks™ Volume 1: Fundamentals of Level 5 Leadership and Servant Leadership)
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We all have something to offer, and we must choose to focus on what we do have to offer, not what we don’t. And remember the dirty little secret is that those who are acting like they have it all together really don’t.
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Miles Anthony Smith (Why Leadership Sucks™ Volume 1: Fundamentals of Level 5 Leadership and Servant Leadership)
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Be Chris LeDoux, Not Garth Brooks
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Miles Anthony Smith (Why Leadership Sucks™ Volume 1: Fundamentals of Level 5 Leadership and Servant Leadership)
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Don’t Give Someone Responsibility without Requisite Authority
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Miles Anthony Smith (Why Leadership Sucks™ Volume 1: Fundamentals of Level 5 Leadership and Servant Leadership)
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Adversity Isn’t to Be Avoided
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Miles Anthony Smith (Why Leadership Sucks™ Volume 1: Fundamentals of Level 5 Leadership and Servant Leadership)
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Every good-to-great company had Level 5 leadership during the pivotal transition years. • “Level 5” refers to a five-level hierarchy of executive capabilities, with Level 5 at the top. Level 5 leaders embody a paradoxical mix of personal humility and professional will. They are ambitious, to be sure, but ambitious first and foremost for the company, not themselves. • Level 5 leaders set up their successors for even greater success in the next generation, whereas egocentric Level 4 leaders often set up their successors for failure. • Level 5 leaders display a compelling modesty, are self-effacing and understated. In contrast, two thirds of the comparison companies had leaders with gargantuan personal egos that contributed to the demise or continued mediocrity of the company. • Level 5 leaders are fanatically driven, infected with an incurable need to produce sustained results. They are resolved to do whatever it takes to make the company great, no matter how big or hard the decisions. • Level 5 leaders display a workmanlike diligence—more plow horse than show horse. • Level 5 leaders look out the window to attribute success to factors other than themselves. When things go poorly, however, they look in the mirror and blame themselves, taking full responsibility. The comparison CEOs often did just the opposite—they looked in the mirror to take credit for success, but out the window to assign blame for disappointing results.
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Jim Collins (Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't)
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Clearly, if leaders have a strong set of ethical values and live them out, then people will respect them, not just their position. Immature leaders try to use their position to drive high performance.
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John C. Maxwell (The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential)
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True leadership cannot be awarded, appointed, or assigned. It comes only from developing influence, and that cannot be mandated. It must be earned. The 5 Levels of Leadership is a road map for that process. The only
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John C. Maxwell (The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You)
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WHAT MAKES A GOOD LISTENER? 1. Not interrupting. 2. Showing that you empathize: not criticizing, arguing, or patronizing. 3. Establishing a physical sense of closeness without invading personal space. 4. Observing body language and letting yours show you are not distracted but attentive. 5. Offering your own self-disclosures, but not too many, or too soon. 6. Understanding the context of the other person’s life. 7. Listening from all four levels: body, mind, heart, and soul.
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Deepak Chopra (The Soul of Leadership: Unlocking Your Potential for Greatness)
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The leader is the servant who removes the obstacles that prevent people from doing their jobs.
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John C. Maxwell (The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential)
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Stop Destroying Shareholder Value
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Miles Anthony Smith (Why Leadership Sucks™ Volume 1: Fundamentals of Level 5 Leadership and Servant Leadership)
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Smaller Is Smarter: Hint, Bigger Is Not
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Miles Anthony Smith (Why Leadership Sucks™ Volume 1: Fundamentals of Level 5 Leadership and Servant Leadership)
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Decide that People Are Worth the Effort:
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John C. Maxwell (The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential)
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Work Through Your Insecurities:
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John C. Maxwell (The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential)
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Recruit the Best People You Can to Develop:
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John C. Maxwell (The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential)
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Commit to Spend the Time Needed to Develop Leaders:
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John C. Maxwell (The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential)
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Create a Personal Development Process:
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John C. Maxwell (The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential)
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Remain Approachable As a Leader, Role Model, and Coach:
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John C. Maxwell (The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential)
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I state in my book Put Your Dream to the Test that the more valid reasons a person has to achieve their dream, the higher the odds are that they will. Valid reasons also increase the odds that a person will follow through with personal growth.
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John C. Maxwell (The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential)
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It is very important to grasp that Level 5 leadership is not just about humility and modesty. It is equally about ferocious resolve, an almost stoic determination to do whatever needs to be done to make the company great. Indeed, we debated for a long time on the
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Jim Collins (Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't)
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... according to a famous study by the influential management theorist Jim Collins, many of the best performing companies of the late twentieth century were run by what he calls "Level 5 Leaders." These exceptional CEOs were known not for their flash or charisma but for extreme humility coupled with intense professional will.
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Susan Cain (Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking)
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If you think about it all the successful people you know have 5 things in common:
1) They are focused
2) They are relentless
3) They are resourceful
4) They are flexible
5) They are constantly reinventing themselves - evolving, learning and growing
If you think about it all of the unsuccessful people you know have 5 things in common:
1) They are lazy
2) They complain, A LOT
3) They tend to blame everyone else for their situation
4) They are set in their ways
5) They know it all
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Germany Kent
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ahead with others unless they are willing to get behind others. How can we do that? How can we become more likable? By doing the following: Make a choice to care about others. Liking people and caring about people is a choice within your control. If you haven’t already, make that choice. Look for something that is likable about every person you meet. It’s there. Make it your job to find it. Discover what is likable about yourself and do whatever you can to share that with every person you meet. Make the effort every day to express what you like about every person in your life.
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John C. Maxwell (The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential)
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Cultivate Level 5 Leadership Our research showed that having charismatic leadership doesn’t explain why some companies become great and others don’t. In fact, some of the most disastrous comparison cases had very strong, charismatic leadership in the very era that the companies fell or failed. Rather, our research found that the critical ingredient is Level 5 leadership. The essence of Level 5 leadership is a paradoxical combination of personal humility and indomitable will. The humility expressed at Level 5 isn’t a false humbleness; it’s a subjugation of personal ego in service to a cause beyond oneself. This humility is combined with the fierce resolve to do whatever it takes (no matter how difficult) to best serve that cause. Level 5 leaders are incredibly ambitious, but they channel their ambition into building a great team or organization and accomplishing a shared mission that’s ultimately not about them.
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Jim Collins (BE 2.0 (Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0): Turning Your Business into an Enduring Great Company)
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Courageous Leadership Simply Means I’ve Developed: 1. Convictions that are stronger than my fears. 2. Vision that is clearer than my doubts. 3. Spiritual sensitivity that is louder than popular opinion. 4. Self-esteem that is deeper than self-protection. 5. Appreciation for discipline that is greater than my desire for leisure. 6. Dissatisfaction that is more forceful than the status quo. 7. Poise that is more unshakeable than panic. 8. Risk taking that is stronger than safety seeking. 9. Right actions that are more robust than rationalization. 10. A desire to see potential reached more than to see people appeased. You don’t have to be great to become a person of courage. You just need to want to reach your potential and to be willing to trade what seems good in the moment for what’s best for your potential. That’s something you can do regardless of your level of natural talent. —Talent Is Never Enough MAKE A SMALL DECISION TODAY THAT WILL INCREASE
YOUR CONFIDENCE AND LEADERSHIP COURAGE.
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John C. Maxwell (The Maxwell Daily Reader: 365 Days of Insight to Develop the Leader Within You and Influence Those Around You)
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These include: 1.Do the Right Thing—the principle of integrity. We see in George Marshall the endless determination to tell the truth and never to curry favor by thought, word, or deed. Every one of General Marshall’s actions was grounded in the highest sense of integrity, honesty, and fair play. 2.Master the Situation—the principle of action. Here we see the classic “know your stuff and take appropriate action” principle of leadership coupled with a determination to drive events and not be driven by them. Marshall knew that given the enormous challenges of World War II followed by the turbulent postwar era, action would be the heart of his remit. And he was right. 3.Serve the Greater Good—the principle of selflessness. In George Marshall we see a leader who always asked himself, “What is the morally correct course of action that does the greatest good for the greatest number?” as opposed to the careerist leader who asks “What’s in it for me?” and shades recommendations in a way that creates self-benefit. 4.Speak Your Mind—the principle of candor. Always happiest when speaking simple truth to power, General and Secretary Marshall never sugarcoated the message to the global leaders he served so well. 5.Lay the Groundwork—the principle of preparation. As is often said at the nation’s service academies, know the six Ps: Prior Preparation Prevents Particularly Poor Performance. 6.Share Knowledge—the principle of learning and teaching. Like Larry Bird on a basketball court, George Marshall made everyone on his team look better by collaborating and sharing information. 7.Choose and Reward the Right People—the principle of fairness. Unbiased, color- and religion-blind, George Marshall simply picked the very best people. 8.Focus on the Big Picture—the principle of vision. Marshall always kept himself at the strategic level, content to delegate to subordinates when necessary. 9.Support the Troops—the principle of caring. Deeply involved in ensuring that the men and women under his command prospered, General and Secretary Marshall taught that if we are loyal down the chain of command, that loyalty will be repaid not only in kind but in operational outcomes as well.
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James G. Stavridis (The Leader's Bookshelf)
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Jim Collins describes his own version of Virtuoso leadership in what he calls the Level 5 leader, someone who “builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.”2 Collins tells us that, while he believes many individuals with the potential to be Level 5 leaders exist in our world, they’re difficult to spot because their humility prevents them from taking credit for the positive results of their superb leadership. He says, “Our research exposed Level 5 as a key component inside the black box of what it takes to shift a company from good to great.
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Fred Kiel (Return on Character: The Real Reason Leaders and Their Companies Win)
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The primary human endowments are 1) self-awareness or self-knowledge; 2) imagination and conscience; and 3) volition or willpower. The secondary endowments are 4) an abundance mentality; 5) courage and consideration; and 6) creativity. The seventh endowment is self-renewal. All are unique human endowments; animals don’t possess any of them. But they are all on a continuum of low to high levels. • Associated with Habit 1: Be Proactive is the endowment of self-knowledge or self-awareness—an ability to choose your response (response-ability). At the low end of the continuum are the ineffective people who transfer responsibility by blaming other people, events, or the environment—anything or anybody “out there” so that they are not responsible for results. If I blame you, in effect I have empowered you. I have given my power to your weakness. Then I can create evidence that supports my perception that you are the problem. At the upper end of the continuum toward increasing effectiveness is self-awareness: “I know my tendencies, I know the scripts or programs that are in me, but I am not those scripts. I can rewrite my scripts.” You are aware that you are the creative force of your life. You are not the victim of conditions or conditioning. You can choose your response to any situation, to any person. Between what happens to you and your response is a degree of freedom. And the more you exercise that freedom, the larger it will become. As you work in your circle of influence and exercise that freedom, gradually you will stop being a “hot reactor” (meaning there’s little separation between stimulus and response) and start being a cool, responsible chooser—no matter what your genetic makeup, no matter how you were raised, no matter what your childhood experiences were or what the environment is. In your freedom to choose your response lies the power to achieve growth and happiness.
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Stephen R. Covey (Principle-Centered Leadership)
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In all of the elite companies studied, Level 5 Leaders were in charge when they made the leap from good to great. Level 5 Leadership refers to a type of leader who is not only a highly capable individual, team player, and manager, but also embodies two essential traits: personal humility and the will to do whatever it takes to get results. Level 5 Leaders are quiet, modest, self-effacing, even reserved. They lack over-sized egos or inflated sense of self-importance. Level 5 Leaders are driven to create great results. They are not afraid to make difficult or unpopular decisions if it will better their company. While Level 5 Leaders demonstrate tenacious ambition and will to succeed, they do not devote this energy for their own benefit but instead drive it towards the company’s success. In contrast, the outsized egos and self-serving nature of the “control set” executives contributed to the deaths of their own companies. When good results happen, Level 5 Leaders credit good luck. When results are disappointing, Level 5 Leaders blame only themselves and take responsibility. Other leaders credit themselves when good results come and blame luck or other people for failures. Level 5 Leaders make sure their companies maintain excellence by setting up competent successors who will push their companies to even greater heights. In contrast, other types of managers often leave gaping holes in leadership once they retire. An unexpected finding showed that a majority of the great CEOs were home-grown. In contrast, “celebrity” executives brought into a company have shown to cause more harm than good. It is incredibly detrimental for a company to elect an ego-driven and self-serving CEO instead of a Level 5 Leader. Potential Level 5 Leaders are all around us, and it is possible for one to become a Level 5 leader by embodying their basic traits.
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Eighty Twenty Publishing (Summary of Good To Great by Jim Collins)
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John Maxwell, in his book, 5 Levels of Leadership, outlines the five levels as: Position, Permission, Production, People Development, and Pinnacle. I wanted to help him progress from Level 1 (based on his position) to Level 5, pinnacle, which is based on earning the respect of your peers for who you are as a person.
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Brett Bartholomew (Conscious Coaching: The Art and Science of Building Buy-In)
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Identify Your Strengths With Strengths Finder 2.0
One tool that can help you remember your achievements is the ‘Strengths Finder’ "assessment. The father of Strengths Psychology, Donald O. Clifton, Ph.D, along with Tom Rath and a team of scientists at The Gallup Organization, created StrengthsFinder.
You can take this assessment by purchasing the Strengths Finder 2.0 book.
The value of SF 2.0 is that it helps you understand your unique strengths. Once you have this knowledge, you can review past activities and understand what these strengths enabled you to do.
Here’s what I mean, in the paragraphs below, I’ve listed some of the strengths identified by my Strengths Finder assessment and accomplishments where these strengths were used.
“You can see repercussions more clearly than others can.”
In a prior role, I witnessed products being implemented in the sales system at breakneck speed. While quick implementation seemed good, I knew speed increased the likelihood of revenue impacting errors.
I conducted an audit and uncovered a misconfigured product. While the customer had paid for the product, the revenue had never been recognized. As a result of my work, we were able to add another $7.2 million that went straight to the bottom line.
“You automatically pinpoint trends, notice problems, or identify opportunities many people overlook.”
At my former employer, leadership did not audit certain product manager decisions. On my own initiative, I instituted an auditing process. This led to the discovery that one product manager’s decisions cost the company more than $5M.
“Because of your strengths, you can reconfigure factual information or data in ways that reveal trends, raise issues, identify opportunities, or offer solutions.”
In a former position, product managers were responsible for driving revenue, yet there was no revenue reporting at the product level. After researching the issue, I found a report used to process monthly journal entries which when reconfigured, provided product managers with monthly product revenue.
“You entertain ideas about the best ways to…increase productivity.”
A few years back, I was trained by the former Operations Manager when I took on that role. After examining the tasks, I found I could reduce the time to perform the role by 66%. As a result, I was able to tell my Director I could take on some of the responsibilities of the two managers she had to let go.
“You entertain ideas about the best ways to…solve a problem.”
About twenty years ago I worked for a division where legacy systems were being replaced by a new company-wide ERP system. When I discovered no one had budgeted for training in my department, I took it upon myself to identify how to extract the data my department needed to perform its role, documented those learnings and that became the basis for a two day training class.
“Sorting through lots of information rarely intimidates you. You welcome the abundance of information. Like a detective, you sort through it and identify key pieces of evidence. Following these leads, you bring the big picture into view.”
I am listing these strengths to help you see the value of taking the Strengths Finder Assessment.
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Clark Finnical
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Every good-to-great transition in our research began with a Level 5 leader who motivated people more with inspired standards than inspiring personality. Every 10x entrepreneurial success in our research had founders and leaders who, while sometimes colorful characters, never confused leadership with personality; they were utterly obsessed with making the company truly great and ensuring it endured beyond themselves.
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Jim Collins (BE 2.0 (Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0): Turning Your Business into an Enduring Great Company)
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Today we are privileged to have at our continual disposal not only the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, but also the Word of God — an invincible combination in the arsenal that the Bible calls “the weapons of our warfare” (see 2 Corinthians 10:4,5). Why, then, don’t we see the same level of God’s resurrection power and glory consistently manifested in our midst today that the Early Church experienced? Although there may be many answers to this question, one answer is certain: Far too many Christians today have come to lean on their own understanding and intellectual abilities at the expense of consulting the Holy Spirit for His guidance in their lives. They assume they already know what He wants them to do. And because they don’t depend on and yield to the leadership of the Holy Spirit the way the Early Church did, they miss opportunity after opportunity to see His power released in their lives.
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Rick Renner (The Holy Spirit and You: Working Together as Heaven's 'Dynamic Duo')
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It is the principle of Level 5. Level 5 is the highest level in a hierarchy of capability ranging from Level 1 (individual skills) to Level 2 (teamwork skills) to Level 3 (management skills) to Level 4 (leadership skills). At Level 5, a leader applies all the skills from Levels 1 through 4 in service to a cause larger than self, and does so with a paradoxical blend of personal humility and indomitable will. Level 5 leaders are incredibly ambitious. They are fanatic, obsessed, monomaniacal, relentless, exhausting. But their ambition is first and foremost for the cause, for the company, for the purpose, for the work, not themselves.
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Jim Collins (BE 2.0 (Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0): Turning Your Business into an Enduring Great Company)
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I’ve been asked many times whether people can become Level 5, and if so, how? Yes, and the best spark to ignite such leadership in yourself is to wrestle with a hard, simple question: What cause do you serve? What cause are you willing to sacrifice and suffer for, when you must make decisions that cause pain for yourself and others to advance that cause? What cause will infuse your life with meaning? It might be a grand, highly visible cause or a more private, less-visible cause; what matters is that you lead in service to that cause, rather than in service to yourself.
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Jim Collins (BE 2.0 (Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0): Turning Your Business into an Enduring Great Company)
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Life's too short to play small with your talents. “You were born into the opportunity as well as
the responsibility to become legendary. You’ve been built to achieve
masterwork-level projects, designed to realize unusually important pursuits
and constructed to be a force for good on this tiny planet. You have it in you
to reclaim sovereignty over your primal greatness in a civilization that has
become fairly uncivilized. To restore your nobility in a global community
where the majority shops for nice shoes and acquires expensive things yet
rarely invests in a better self. Your personal leadership requires—no,
demands—that you stop being a cyber-zombie relentlessly attracted to
digital devices and restructure your life to model mastery, exemplify
decency and relinquish the self-centeredness that keeps good people
limited. The great women and men of the world were all givers, not takers.
Renounce the common delusion that those who accumulate the most win.
Instead, do work that is heroic—that staggers your marketplace by the
quality of its originality as well as from the helpfulness it provides. While
you do so, my recommendation is that you also create a private life strong
in ethics, rich with marvelous beauty and unyielding when it comes to the
protection of your inner peace. This, my friends, is how you soar with the
angels. And walk alongside the gods.
”
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Robin S. Sharma (The 5 AM Club: Own Your Morning. Elevate Your Life)
“
Life's too short to play small with your talents. “You were born into the opportunity as well as the responsibility to become legendary. You’ve been built to achieve
masterwork-level projects, designed to realize unusually important pursuits
and constructed to be a force for good on this tiny planet. You have it in you
to reclaim sovereignty over your primal greatness in a civilization that has
become fairly uncivilized. To restore your nobility in a global community
where the majority shops for nice shoes and acquires expensive things yet
rarely invests in a better self. Your personal leadership requires—no,
demands—that you stop being a cyber-zombie relentlessly attracted to
digital devices and restructure your life to model mastery, exemplify
decency and relinquish the self-centeredness that keeps good people
limited. The great women and men of the world were all givers, not takers.
Renounce the common delusion that those who accumulate the most win.
Instead, do work that is heroic—that staggers your marketplace by the
quality of its originality as well as from the helpfulness it provides. While
you do so, my recommendation is that you also create a private life strong
in ethics, rich with marvelous beauty and unyielding when it comes to the
protection of your inner peace. This, my friends, is how you soar with the
angels. And walk alongside the gods.
”
”
Robin S. Sharma (The 5 AM Club: Own Your Morning. Elevate Your Life)
“
Life’s too short to play small with your talents,” The Spellbinder spoke to the room of thousands. “You were born into the opportunity as well as the responsibility to become legendary. You’ve been built to achieve masterwork-level projects, designed to realize unusually important pursuits and constructed to be a force for good on this tiny planet. You have it in you to reclaim sovereignty over your primal greatness in a civilization that has become fairly uncivilized. To restore your nobility in a global community where the majority shops for nice shoes and acquires expensive things yet rarely invests in a better self. Your personal leadership requires—no, demands—that you stop being a cyber-zombie relentlessly attracted to digital devices and restructure your life to model mastery, exemplify decency and relinquish the self-centeredness that keeps good people limited. The great women and men of the world were all givers, not takers. Renounce the common delusion that those who accumulate the most win. Instead, do work that is heroic—that staggers your marketplace by the quality of its originality as well as from the helpfulness it provides. While you do so, my recommendation is that you also create a private life strong in ethics, rich with marvelous beauty and unyielding when it comes to the protection of your inner peace. This, my friends, is how you soar with the angels. And walk alongside the gods.
”
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Robin S. Sharma (The 5AM Club: Own Your Morning. Elevate Your Life.)
“
There are a lot of things you can change about yourself. Work hard at those. But there are also many you can’t. Accept them. Take the advice of Thomas Jefferson: in matters of conscience, stand like a rock; in matters of fashion, go with the flow.
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John C. Maxwell (The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential)
“
Align your voice value with the tone, pace, and pitch of your listeners will help you connect on all levels.
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Susan C. Young (The Art of Communication: 8 Ways to Confirm Clarity & Understanding for Positive Impact(The Art of First Impressions for Positive Impact, #5))
“
The concept is made even more fascinating when you consider it as a psychological spectrum. Imagine a sliding scale of personalities that range from being an “introvert” to an “extrovert” and placing “ambivert” smack dab in the middle.
This linear scale illustrates a continuum of experiences, because these descriptions do not apply to every person at all times. We all have tendencies, preferences, and comfort zones that change according to the people we are surrounded by, the environment we find ourselves in, and our levels of confidence in the moment. Using the scale above, where do you typically fall in the spectrum?
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Susan C. Young (The Art of Communication: 8 Ways to Confirm Clarity & Understanding for Positive Impact(The Art of First Impressions for Positive Impact, #5))
“
Susan RoAne is the bestselling author of How to Work a Room: The Ultimate Guide to Making Lasting Connections in Person and Online. She is known worldwide as the Mingling Maven and is a respected expert, author, and keynote speaker on networking, connecting, and conversations. In her book, she shares the roadblocks and remedies to help people become savvy socializers and succeed at networking.
She recently shared with me that putting labels on personality styles can sometimes create bias and limitations. She said, “We've spent so much time crystallizing our differences that it can be to our detriment. It is more important to simply engage with people on a respectful and authentic level.
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Susan C. Young (The Art of Communication: 8 Ways to Confirm Clarity & Understanding for Positive Impact(The Art of First Impressions for Positive Impact, #5))
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Extroverts typically . . .
• Process information externally by verbalizing, collaborating, brainstorming, discussing, sharing their ideas, and communicating until they achieve desired results.
• Are rejuvenated and re-charged by being around people, interacting with friends and family, and having dynamic conversations.
• Enjoy the excitement and adventure of a new situation or setting.
• Tend to be more colorful, unpredictable, daring, stylish, and cluttered in their clothing, home furnishings, offices, and surroundings.
• Love meeting new people and making new friends. They enjoy variety and engaging on all levels.
• Are very spontaneous, resilient, and adapt well to change.
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Susan C. Young (The Art of Communication: 8 Ways to Confirm Clarity & Understanding for Positive Impact(The Art of First Impressions for Positive Impact, #5))
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Understanding Personality Styles Helps You:
• Communicate more easily with others by understanding their perspectives.
• Adapt your behavior to resonate with others.
• Develop deeper levels of compassion, patience, and communication.
• Deliver personalized customer service.
• Build trust and rapport faster.
• Nurture existing relationships.
• Make more sales.
• Feel more confident networking.
• Realize that people behave the way they do for their reasons, not yours.
• Appreciate the diversity of teammates, family members, friends, and work groups.
• Unify your teams and get the best out of your people by focusing on their strengths, aligning their styles with their assigned positions, and knowing how to motivate and reward them.
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Susan C. Young (The Art of Communication: 8 Ways to Confirm Clarity & Understanding for Positive Impact(The Art of First Impressions for Positive Impact, #5))
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Effective communication requires an elevated level of self-awareness, and desire to understand and appreciate one another.
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Susan C. Young (The Art of Communication: 8 Ways to Confirm Clarity & Understanding for Positive Impact(The Art of First Impressions for Positive Impact, #5))
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It is very important to grasp that Level 5 leadership is not just about humility and modesty. It is equally about ferocious resolve, an almost stoic determination to do whatever needs to be done to make the company great.
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Jim Collins (Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't)
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Propose A simple proposal is presented as an informal draft to the group for deliberation. Probe The group gathers feedback using 4 of the 5 Cs (Clarifications, Compliments, Concerns, and Changes) to improve upon the proposal. Re-Propose After taking a break to integrate the feedback collected so far into a second version of the proposal, the second version is presented to the group. The group is then tested for the 5th C—Commitment—using polling. Suggestions for changes are made until the desired level of agreement is achieved. Close The leader finalizes the agreement verbally or in writing and sends documentation to all key stakeholders.
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Patty Beach (The Art of Alignment: A Practical Guide to Inclusive Leadership)
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To aid in targeting the right level of information, we aim for 5 to 15 serial process blocks
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Karen Martin (Value Stream Mapping: How to Visualize Work and Align Leadership for Organizational Transformation)
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I will establish the seven fundamental sets of actions needed for preventing epidemics: (1) ensuring bold leadership at all levels; (2) building resilient health systems; (3) fortifying three lines of defense against disease (prevention, detection, and response); (4) ensuring timely and accurate communication; (5) investing in smart, new innovation; (6) spending wisely to prevent disease before an epidemic strikes; and (7) mobilizing citizen activism. I’m convinced that a combination of these actions could be achieved within a decade. Working together, The Power of Seven would put us well on the path to an epidemic-free world.
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Jonathan D. Quick (The End of Epidemics: how to stop viruses and save humanity now)
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The primary human endowments are 1) self-awareness or self-knowledge; 2) imagination and conscience; and 3) volition or willpower. The secondary endowments are 4) an abundance mentality; 5) courage and consideration; and 6) creativity. The seventh endowment is self-renewal. All are unique human endowments; animals don’t possess any of them. But they are all on a continuum of low to high levels.
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Stephen R. Covey (Principle-Centered Leadership)
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Positional Leaders Feed on Politics When leaders value position over the ability to influence others, the environment of the organization usually becomes very political. There is a lot of maneuvering. Positional leaders focus on control instead of contribution. They work to gain titles. They do what they can to get the largest staff and the biggest budget they can—not for the sake of the organization’s mission, but for the sake of expanding and defending their turf. And when a positional leader is able to do this, it often incites others to do the same because they worry that others’ gains will be their loss. Not only does it create a vicious cycle of gamesmanship, posturing, and maneuvering, but it also creates departmental rivalries and silos.
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John C. Maxwell (The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential)
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The behaviors must connect at an emotional level for people. They must be personally rewarding, not just for the organization.
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Julie M. Smith (Vital Behavior Blueprint: 5 Steps to Embed Mission-Critical Habits into Your Organization's DNA)
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discovered the X factor of good-to-great leadership. It is the principle of Level 5. Level 5 is the highest level in a hierarchy of capability ranging from Level 1 (individual skills) to Level 2 (teamwork skills) to Level 3 (management skills) to Level 4 (leadership skills). At Level 5, a leader applies all the skills from Levels 1 through 4 in service to a cause larger than self, and does so with a paradoxical blend of personal humility and indomitable will.
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Jim Collins (BE 2.0 (Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0): Turning Your Business into an Enduring Great Company)
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The behaviors must connect at an emotional level for people. They must be personally rewarding, not just for the organization.
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Lori Ludwig (Vital Behavior Blueprint: 5 Steps to Embed Mission-Critical Habits into Your Organization's DNA)
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Vital Behaviors can be relatively straightforward (like safety procedures) or extremely complex (like decision-making). They can be identified at any level of an organization.
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Lori Ludwig (Vital Behavior Blueprint: 5 Steps to Embed Mission-Critical Habits into Your Organization's DNA)