Leadership Done Right

Brandon W. Jones

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Leadership in the News

Four Lessons From A CEO

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I love learning lessons from a CEO.  I am a younger leader, but have been a leader in different capacities for many years.  Through my time in leadership, I have always been fascinated by CEOs because they have reached the top leadership position in their organization.  There are many lessons from a CEO that you can learn as you review their behavior and responses to different actions.

A few years ago I read a case study about Gary Loveman and his transition as the CEO of Harrah’s.  The case study explained that he went from being a college professor to the CEO of a large organization without a long history of leadership.  When he joined Harrah’s, he started out as the COO and then became the CEO after five years.  This case study helped me learn lessons from a CEO.

Lessons From A CEO

Four Lessons From A CEO

Gary Loveman changed the system at Harrah’s.  He changed the system because of the person he was and the approach he took to leadership. There were four lessons from a CEO that we can learn from his success.
1. He gained credibility with the employees/management team.
2. He worked to understand the existing system
3. He had high expectations.
4. He led by example.

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The Lighter Side Of Leadership Innovation

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What Have You Heard About Leadership Innovation?

Have you heard about the new leadership innovation?  Are you aware of the leadership innovation happening all around you?  I hear people saying leadership innovation all the time.  There are new techniques to being a great leader, just read the top best selling books on the shelf.  They will teach you the latest and greatest of leadership innovation.

The Amazing Leadership Innovation

In the world we live in, there’s a significant amount of leadership innovation occurring.  Leaders all over the world are inspiring people to be more innovative than ever before.  The leadership innovation is changing the world we live in.

Technological Innovation

In addition to the leadership innovation, there are many types of innovation in technology.  Many things we now enjoy were completely unheard of ten to fifteen years ago.  We now enjoy airplanes, cell phones, handheld computers, etc.  Actually as I write this post, I am sitting on my nice comfy couch typing on my laptop computer watching something on my flatscreen T.V.  That would have been unheard of 20 years ago.  A laptop computer?! Who has one of those?!  Now it seems like everyone has a laptop or better yet a tablet of some sort. [Read more…] about The Lighter Side Of Leadership Innovation

Avoid Derailing The Meeting

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Classic signs of someone derailing the meeting

A little while back, I received an email for an upcoming meeting.  The email had an attached agenda that detailed the topics to be discussed, the attendees, and the desired outcome of the meeting.  Sounds like the start to a great meeting, right?  When I showed up to the meeting, the facilitator gave a brief review of the agenda to get everyone thinking about what we would talk about.  Still on the right track!  What a prepared facilitator!  She did a great job getting everyone prepared for the meeting so it could be a success!  Beware of the person derailing the meeting…

So the meeting should’ve gone perfect from there with every topic discussed and all points addressed within the time frame specified right?  Well, not quite.  We started into the first agenda item and one person asked a few questions about a point that wasn’t really related to the meeting.  The classic start to someone derailing the meeting.  From there, everyone in the meeting began talking about that topic and going into related details.  It wasn’t long before the originally scheduled meeting wasn’t happening, probably no more than 10 minutes into the meeting.  We were having a completely different meeting with the original agenda out the window.

Have you ever sat through a meeting like that?  The meeting facilitator was well prepared with the agenda items.  She also had everything lined out, so that everyone would stay on track.  The problem, however, came down to the execution of the meeting.

Identify classic signs of someone derailing the meeting.

There was an article in the Wall Street Journal titled, Meet The Meeting Killers, by Sue Shellenbarger that discussed five types of people that are always guilty of derailing the meeting. [Read more…] about Avoid Derailing The Meeting

Create Value Through Leadership

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Why is it that in today’s economy people are more afraid than ever of losing their jobs?  People have a big fear that if they lose their job, they will be out of work and won’t be able to find a new job.  If that happens, they fear they won’t be able to support their family.  They fear they won’t have enough money to take care of their family.  From there, the fear is that the whole world will come down.  This is a very real fear because the current economy is still recovering from the worst recession since the Great Depression.

Create value now!!

Do you create value for society?

So how do you overcome this fear?  What is your answer to the following question, “Do you create value for society?”  Overcoming your fear starts with knowing your own value.  You must know that you create value for your employer, your family, and society as a whole.  If you find yourself in the situation mentioned above, you must think of it as the company’s loss and not yours if you know that you create value.  Just because the company doesn’t value you enough to keep you employed doesn’t mean you are not a valuable employee.  As a leader, you possess unique talents.  You probably have the ability to take a struggling team and make them productive.  Or, you have the ability to get the most out of each individual on your team.  Think of how you create value by what you bring to the table as you move on.  Focus on that value and leverage it for your benefit and the benefit of others. [Read more…] about Create Value Through Leadership

Continue Learning And Be A Teachable Leader

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A Study On Learning

Recently, I read an article from the 1990’s era Harvard Business review titled Teaching Smart People How to Learn by Chris Argyris that focused on learning in a corporate environment. In the article, Chris explained that the smartest or most educated people within an organization are the hardest ones to teach within the corporate environment. He also explained that those same people, when put in the academic environment, are very teachable and are very good at learning.

Chris identified that, within the organizations, the leaders generally have the highest level of education. He found that many leaders, when asked to look within themselves for areas of improvement, were very reluctant. They, in turn, found faults and reasons for failure in others. Often, they stopped learning and began playing the blame game.

Understand the importance of continual learning

What Does The Study Mean Today?

Even though Chris Argyris wrote this article several years ago, there is still a lot that we can learn from it today. There are two reasons why educated leaders become less teachable in the corporate environment compared to the academic environment. [Read more…] about Continue Learning And Be A Teachable Leader

Should Leaders Be Transparent?

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This week the President of the United States, President Barack Obama, will give the State of the Union address.  His goal is to outline his plans, expectations, and personal agenda for 2013.  In an attempt to be transparent, he is expected to let the country know what he plans to do to address each of the major domestic issues facing the country.  Some of those issues include immigration, gun control, and education.  In addition, he is expected to address some of the international issues the U.S. faces like the war in Afghanistan and global climate change.

Transparent Leadership

Many people throughout the country are anxiously waiting to see what he has to say because it will likely coincide with the federal budget for this year.  After his speech, however, there will be a lag time before people will really know the specifics of the federal budget because President Obama has not finished his 2013 budget.  He is not expected to send it to Congress until mid-March.  (In years past, the President gave his State of the Union address at the same time as the budget was released.)

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