5 Top Leadership Articles for the Week of April 18, 2016

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Each week I read a number of leadership articles from various online resources and share them across social media. Here are the five articles readers found most valuable last week. I have added my comment about each article and would like to hear what you think, too.

5 Quick Steps to Make Your Half-Baked Idea Sound Much Smarter by Lily Herman at TheMuse

Ever notice that when you’re in a meeting or a team brainstorm, you’re often hit with a stroke of genius, only to sound like a rambling maniac when you actually try to explain what you’re thinking to everyone in the room?

My Comment: Being able to articulately communicate your thoughts and ideas is critical to your leadership as well as being viewed as a strategic thought partner by other leaders. Herman offers practical ways to help you quickly hone in on our idea, discover its merits, and how to communicate it effectively.

The 10 Best Ways To Hire For Customer Service (And Almost Any Other Job) by Shep Hyken at Forbes

It’s not just the application, interview and hiring that brings you the best people. It’s also what happens just after they are hired. It’s the onboarding process, the training, the short-term reviews and more.

My Comment: This is a great article to help you hire the right people. As the title says, the analysis is through the lens of customer service – Hyken’s specialty – but the principles he articulates in ten thoughtfully shared points apply to successfully hiring for anything. Yet, these principles are often ignored – then leaders are upset when people won’t perform as they had hoped. Read this one, internalize its message: you’ll boost your hiring success and minimize your headaches!

Understanding the Power of Expectations by Tanveer Naseer

Who wouldn’t want to work for a boss who recognizes our innate potential and provides us with the guidance and support to help develop that potential? Unfortunately, it’s a rare occurrence to work for a boss who encourages the growth of their employees. There is a gap between what we expect from those in leadership positions and what we actually experience working under their guidance…

My Comment: Through the lens of a conversation with his daughter, Naseer provides a heartfelt look at what workplace leadership can be…and what it so often is not. He looks at how we are often complicit in perpetuating this gap, and what you can do to make it better. At this point, it shouldn’t be a surprise that people want to work for leaders who see their potential and want to help them achieve it. What is more challenging is how to make that a reality across the modern workplace.

Don’t Be a Leader of Stupid Rules by Chip Bell at Lead Change Group

When Alexander II was the Czar of what is now Russia in the mid 1800’s, he looked out of his palace window and observed a soldier guarding an area of the palace lawn that appeared to be little more than empty space. “What is that soldier guarding?” he asked then-Ambassador Otto van Bismarck. Bismarck asked the captain of the guard for a reason for the sentry’s post. He learned only that the soldier was following a long standing order at the palace. It was the 1800’s version of “We’ve always done it that way!”

Policies and practices, appropriate at the time of their creation, can assume a permanent life of their own. As circumstances change (which they always will), the “givens” that govern enterprise must be examined and questioned.

My Comment: Who can’t identify with the ‘stupid rules’? The useless policies that might have made sense (if even then) and perpetually waste time and motivation. Bell offers great suggestions to help you identify where these kind of rules might be limiting your organization and how you can overcome them. In my leadership workshops, I invite participants to identify their ‘stop doing’ list. Before you can add in productive behaviors, you’ve got to make room by eliminating what’s not working for you.

Why Leaders Fail by Mary Kelly & Peter Stark

Thousands of leadership books tell you how to be a great leader. Far fewer books delve deeper into the surprisingly common mistakes managers, CEOs, and supervisors unknowingly make that derail their success. Using real scenarios and examples collected through their combined years of leadership and management expertise, Mary Kelly and Peter Stark pinpoint the 7 most common reasons leaders fail. They also describe the 7 prescriptions for success, complete with 49 recommended actions.

Technically, this isn’t an article – it’s an announcement of a fantastic new leadership book that proved popular with my followers this week. The book is authored by the power duo of Mary Kelly and Peter Stark.

My Comment: I’ve read Why Leaders Fail and highly recommend it. It ranges across a variety of leadership pitfalls and the recommendations are very strong – and, most importantly – actions you can take regardless of your position in a company. Happy Reading!

David works with leaders to get results without losing their soul (or mind) in the process. Have David to speak at your next event or corporate training: Email today or call 303.898.7018!

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