Lee Ellis's Blog, page 170

On This Day in Leadership History, August 11th

On this day in leadership history in 1984, U.S. President Ronald Reagan was preparing for his weekly radio broadcast when, during testing of the microphone, the President said of the Soviet Union, “My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you that I just signed legislation that would outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.”

What’s the leadership lesson? Honorable leaders should always check their mics before they speak.

Ronald Reagan Bombing Statement – Wikipedia

 

 

 

 

 

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Leading with Honor Wisdom for Today, August 9, 2019

“In an incredibly busy and often results-focused world of the 21st century, it’s easy to overlook the power that we have to inspire others by connecting with their hearts.” – Lee Ellis

 

 

 

 

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Free Leadership Coaching Offer Enclosed

You may be missing it! Each month, Lee provides free leadership video coaching on a variety of leadership and life topics. In the last few coaching clips, he’s also featured other thought leaders discussing topics that can motivate and inspire us all.

Sign up to begin receiving monthly coaching in your inbox – your contact information is safe with us.

 

 

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Coaching Clip – The Soft Skill of Connecting with the Heart

In this interview clip, Lee and board advisor and speaker, Tony Mitchell, discuss the tremendous payoff of connecting with the hearts of your team and colleagues. This soft skill is for everyone if you want hard, bottom line results and productivity.

Please watch this month’s Leading with Honor Coaching. Please comment throughout this video using a variety of media forms: emoticons, text, audio, video, and visual image.

Sign up to receive Leading with Honor Coaching in your inbox every month.

Read this month’s article on this topic, too – “3 Ways to Ignite Your Leadership Connection”

 

 

 

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3 Ways to Ignite Your Leadership Connection

The longer I live, the more convinced I am of the power of connection—and especially connections of the heart. Unlike computers, rocks and steel, we humans have emotions and spirits that can be lifted, energized and ignited by a relational connection. We know it but grossly underestimate the power of those connections.

Our Strongest Connections  

When conducting workshops, I often ask participates to think of a time when someone connected with them, asked about their dreams, believed in them, and spoke into their lives in a way that fueled them upward and onward in their life and career. The stories they share are sometimes emotional and always inspiring to everyone in the room.

Now, pause to reflect on the person who connected with your heart and helped fuel your dream job, or provided a booster rocket along your path. What did they do or say made a difference? Now, what about your leadership? How could you be a “launcher” who impacts and influences another person’s career? Recently I’ve learned more about how this works.

Connection is Scientific

Dr. Richard Boyatzis has studied, researched, and written about emotional intelligence and resonant relationships for decades now. The data is clear that, what he calls, resonant relationships are the most powerful method known for coaching and developing people.

In his new book coming out this month, Helping People Change: Coaching with Compassion for Lifelong Learning and Growth, Dr. Boyatzis describes a resonant relationship as one that is built on a positive emotional tone and a genuine, authentic connection with the other person.

His research shows conclusively that –

“positive relationship connections help people create change that is holistic and sustainable.” [Tweet This]

This is the principle that is borne out in the stories that people share about their positive experience with the one who launched them into the success they now enjoy, living out their dreams of many years ago.

Applying this Heart Strategy

We’re excited because now we can better understand and be even more confident in the process we call “Connecting with the Heart”.

Let’s look at some practical ways that you can be a career and life coach that launches people into being their best authentic self –

Become mindful (aware) of yourself and the other person. Lower your intensity, relax, and set all your problems and concerns aside for a moment to focus on the person in front of you. Give them your full attention. Act as though there is nothing else in the world more important than them.
Let your emotions show that you are excited to be around them and interested in what they are interested in. Ask them about their dreams and passions. Listen and resist judgement or temptations to correct, change, or fix any response they give.
Let them know that you believe in them. Stay positive and share something you have seen in or about them that supports their vision. For several years I’ve facilitated men’s small groups where we do an exercise like this to affirm each other. We refer to it as “calling out your glory.”

My Heart Connecting Leaders

As a young college student, one of the most influential and respected men in my small hometown spoke into my life. He always gave me a big smile when we met. Knowing I was very committed to Air Force ROTC, he would often greet me by saying, “Well hello general, how are things with you?” The message I received was his confidence that I had what it took and that I was going to go a long way.

Later as a young fighter pilot in the Vietnam war*, my Wing Commander, Colonel Bob Maloy, would greet me with a genuine smile and act like he was delighted to be flying with me. He let me fly most of the time and asked my opinions and respected what I said. Then he chose me to fly with him on the day we flew the 3,000 combat sortie for the Gunfighter wing at Danang. The amazing thing was that these were very busy, very successful people, old enough to be my father, yet they set everything aside, and cast their focus on me long enough to encourage my future.

[image error]

Lee squatting down by the staff car and sign was at the completion of the 10,000 sortie for the Danang 366 TFW Gunfighters. He was selected to fly with him on that special commemorative mission.

Slow Down and Connect

“In an incredibly busy and often results-focused world of the 21st century, it’s easy to overlook the power that we have to inspire others by connecting with their hearts.” [Tweet This]

We need to pause and remember how crucial it was for us—and now it’s time to pay back the bank. Will you be one who reads this blog and becomes more intentional building resonant relationships? I hope so. I wrote it and I am. Let’s see how many of us can give a positive report before the September blog comes out. LE  [Tweet this Article]

P.S. Don’t forget to look for Dr. Richard Boyatzis’ new book mentioned above releasing the first week of September. You don’t want to miss it.

NEW! A Self-Study Training Course for Your Team

[image error]We’ve just released the new Engage with Honor Group Training Guide as a self-study leadership development course for your team. Used with the award-winning book, Engage with Honor, this training guide provides everything you need to build a culture of courageous accountability.

“Connecting with the Heart” is a training session in this course.

Download a free sample in the Leading with Honor Store

Purchase your copies – bulk savings are available

 

 

* For more on the story of the wives and families, see the new book “League of Wives” and also “Tap Code” due out Nov 11, 2019.

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New Self-Study Leadership Training Course!

We’ve just released the new “Engage with Honor Group Training Guide” as a self-study leadership development course for your team. Used with the award-winning book, Engage with Honor, this training guide provides everything you need to build a culture of courageous accountability.

Download a free sample

Purchase your copies in the Leading with Honor Store. Bulk savings available when buying the training guide and book together!

 

 

 

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On This Day in Leadership History, August 4th

On this day in leadership history in 1944, Nazi police raided a house in Amsterdam and arrested eight people. Anne Frank, a teenager at the time, was one of the people arrested. Her diary would be published after her death.

What’s the leadership lesson? Honorable, courageous leaders come in all ages and levels of experience. Pay attention and recognize all honorable leaders around you today.

Anne Frank – Wikipedia

 

 

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Leading with Honor Wisdom for Today, August 2, 2019

“I’d rather have a lot of talent and a little experience than a lot of experience and a little talent.” —John Wooden, Legendary UCLA Basketball Coach

 

 

 

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A ‘Leading with Honor’ Frequently Asked Question on Character and Courage

A ‘Leading with Honor’ Frequently Asked Question –

“In your book Engage with Honor, you highlight values such as character and courage. Please expand on the importance of these principles for modern-day leaders and why having courage is so important.”

Lee Ellis’ Answer –

“In my book, Engage with Honor: Building a Culture of Courageous Accountability, I do share three key attributes that set our POW Camp leaders apart and enabled them to suffer and sacrifice while inspiring the rest of us. They are –

Character – They knew right from wrong; they embraced the military Code of Conduct for POWs as the standard. Have you clarified what you stand for? What are your non-negotiables?
Courage – They consistently suffered torture and humiliation to do their duty, live up to the Code, and set the example for the rest of us. Do you cave in to your doubts and fears, or do you “lean in” to them to keep your commitments, make tough decisions, and do what’s right?
Commitment – They did not waiver. They were beaten down, but they bounced back time and again. They believed in their mission, and they were loyal to our cause. Do you remain faithful to your values, and do you stay the course to achieve your goals?

If you’re growing in these three C’s, you’ll be leading by example—showing others what an honorable leader looks like. You don’t have to be perfect, but you can be authentically vulnerable and transparent, honestly admitting your mistakes and correcting back to course. This leadership philosophy attracts and inspires followers everywhere—not just in POW camps.”

Read more FAQs on our website

Purchase a copy of the award-winning book, Engage with Honor

 

 

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4 Quick Tips to Better Leadership Authenticity

Here are 4 quick tips for better leadership authenticity from author and leadership consultant, Phil Eastman.

First, there are three major barriers:

First, we live in an image saturated world with few opportunities to see, recognize and celebrate authentic leadership.
When character discussions arise, they are almost always directed negatively rather than focused on the positive. In other words, character is more visible when things are fractured rather than intact.
The third and possibly most challenging element in the pursuit of leadership authenticity is solid and realistic self-awareness. Introspection about your character and leadership style is very difficult and yet is the master key to your development.

 

All that said, self-awareness is the key to authentic leadership, and authentic leadership is critical to your organization’s success. To develop authentic leadership, one must –

 

Find and use a character model that appeals to you.
Determine what behaviors you will adopt and build into your leadership based on that character model.
Practice your new leadership behaviors in the work you currently do.
Share with your team what you are working toward (they will appreciate the authenticity).

 

Please post your wisdom and experience too – thank you

Also, read the entire article on this topic – “Authentic Leadership Behaviors in 4 Steps“

Do you want to acquire some better self-awareness of your leadership strengths and struggles? Start with the free Leading with Honor Discovery Report – Register Now

 

 

 

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