Leadership in the News

4 Leadership Lessons From The Olympics

By Brandon W. Jones on July 30, 2012 0

If you are in leadership, you probably face many challenges on a regular basis. As a leader, you must determine how to overcome those challenges. Just as leaders face challenges, Olympians also face challenges in reaching their goals and winning their competitions.

With the Olympics just underway, there are many people everywhere that are glued to their television. All the Olympians are leaders in their event because they have obtained a level of excellence. They have learned how to face challenges and overcome them. The challenges that athletes face are, in many ways, different than those faced by business leaders or leaders in other aspects of life, but there are leadership lessons to be learned and applied to all aspects of leadership.

Hard Work

Every Olympian has worked hard to master their event. They have gone through many hours of practice and have put in a lot of extra time to succeed. They understand that nothing worth obtaining comes easy or without a price. That price is hard work.

Great leaders also understand the importance of hard work. They understand that their success will come as they put forth a great amount of effort. Leaders know that if they don’t work hard they won’t get the desired results for which they hope. Hard work is a key to success.

Wake Up And Be A Leader!

By Brandon W. Jones on July 12, 2012 2

If you follow this blog, you have probably noticed that I regularly write posts about leaders in the news and the impact they have on the world. Leadership is an important responsibility because leaders determine where people end up and how their lives change.

Today, I was going to post an article about leaders in the news. As I looked through articles to find one to write about, I was sorely disappointed in the number of articles I came across where the leader overspent, was dishonest, took the organization in the wrong direction, took too many risks, or did something else to ruin the organization.

In many ways I feel like I am probably preaching to the choir when I say this, but leaders everywhere need to wake up and BE leaders. Leaders need to stop being deceitful and do all they can to stop others from being deceitful.

Be Honest

As a leader, you must be honest. I wrote another post that focused solely on the importance of being honest, but I feel like I can’t say enough about the importance of being honest. Leaders have been in the news so much lately because they have been dishonest. It completely disgusts me that leaders are more concerned with making a few bucks than maintaining their honesty and integrity. Your honesty and integrity should be worth more to you than anything else. Once you give up your integrity, you lose your good name. Is money worth the loss of integrity? If you think it is, you are a fool. [Read more…] about Wake Up And Be A Leader!

Five Of My Favorite Leadership Bloggers

By Brandon W. Jones on June 26, 2012 4

I follow many other leadership blogs on a regular basis and have my favorite leadership bloggers. As I read the posts, I learn a lot about how to be a better leader. The posts help me learn leadership techniques I can use to improve my skills and abilities. They also show me techniques that have worked, as well as, those that haven’t.

So you are probably asking yourself, “What bloggers do you follow regularly?” Because I follow too many bloggers to share on one post, I will just start with five in this post. I am not going to name them in any particular order.

Bret L. Simmons (PhD) – Positive Organizational Behavior

Bret’s About me page says, “I am passionate about leadership and management. My purpose is “to change your mind about the value of partnering with others to build healthy, responsible organizations where everyone can thrive.” I try to keep everything I do — training, speaking, teaching, research — consistent with my purpose.”

Bret does a great job showing how leadership principles taught in the classroom apply to real life. He regularly explains how leaders can and should do a better job to make their organizations more effective. He also spends a lot of time focusing on everyday interactions that have a significant impact on the level of customer satisfaction. As he addresses them, he points out the good things that have happened as well as the bad things. From there, he analyzes what they did right and what they did wrong. [Read more…] about Five Of My Favorite Leadership Bloggers

Benefits And Challenges Of A Flat Hierarchy

By Brandon W. Jones on June 21, 2012 0

In leadership, a common hierarchy has one person at the top that oversees everyone else. That one person is responsible for making all the decisions and telling everyone else what to do. They are the leader and will be held responsible for the success and failure of their company or organization. This hierarchy has existed for so long that many people don’t think you can be a leader unless you are responsible for leading your group or organization.

Flat Hierarchy

Today, however, many people are starting to have leaders in a flat hierarchy organization. There are leaders in organizations where everyone is on the same plane. These organizations have no bosses and not one person has all the control. Many people would say that this type of a setup can’t exist and be successful because there is no leader. Some people would even say that leadership, success, and a flat hierarchy don’t belong in the same sentence. [Read more…] about Benefits And Challenges Of A Flat Hierarchy

Are Your Leadership Choices Building Or Tearing Down Walls?

By Brandon W. Jones on June 14, 2012 0

Today, I read a very interesting article about GM, GM’s Chief Labors to Get Rebuilt Car Maker Into Gear, by Sharon Terlep. She talked about the new challenges CEO Dan Ackerson has been facing as the new CEO of General Motors Corporation. After taking over as CEO, he traveled to the various locations within the company to get to know the operations of the company. He worked very hard to know how and why things operated the way they did.

Know Your People and Organization

As he went to the different areas of the company, he found that each area had their own competitive advantages and disadvantages compared to the other areas. Each area had their own trade secrets they were not willing to share. There was a high level of competition between areas.

The Silo Approach

Many of these areas had to work together in some form or another, but they acted like their own separate company. Rather than work together for the good of the company, they worked for the benefit of their specific department, group, or area.

That type of an environment led each group to outspend other areas of the company. Each group desired to have the best of everything to the point that they spent money on frivolous things. They all wanted “the best of everything” for their department. This high level of competition created walls within the company. Functional groups were not willing to work with other departments or compromise in any fashion. [Read more…] about Are Your Leadership Choices Building Or Tearing Down Walls?

Is Innovation Really Happening?

By Brandon W. Jones on May 25, 2012 2

Innovation – def. Something new or different introduced. The act of innovating; introduction of new things or methods. ~www.dictionary.com

Innovation

In business, innovation is really important. Because it is so important, the word innovation is used all the time. Electronic companies are innovating new ways to create the electronic devices. Automobile companies are innovating new ways to make a comfortable yet fuel efficient vehicle. Companies in all sorts of industries are being innovative in their specific processes. With all that innovation, it is easy to hear people say, “Innovate this… Innovate that…”

There was an article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday called You Call That Innovation? by Leslie Kwoh. She talked about how all companies are in the habit of saying “innovation” to the point where innovation is beginning to have no meaning. In the article, she stated that the word innovation was used “33,528 times in quarterly and annual reports last year.” She also said that, “255 books [were] published in the last 90 days with ‘innovation’ in the title.” So is the word innovation being overused? [Read more…] about Is Innovation Really Happening?