Leadership

10 Lessons Learned From Leadership Examples

By Brandon W. Jones on March 4, 2013 6

Several great leaders in the form of teachers, athletic coaches, mentors, peers, youth group leaders, friends, and others have touched my life through their leadership examples. They’ve shaped me into the person I am today. They’ve told me when I was doing something wrong and encouraged me when I was going through a challenge. In addition, they’ve taught me correct principles to help me avoid mistakes. Of all the great leaders I’ve had, there have been two that have taught me more than anyone else.

My Leadership Examples

Those two great leadership examples are my parents. My dad and mom have been great leadership examples throughout my life. They’ve taught me many important leadership principles throughout my life. They both understand that they are leadership examples to me so they teach leadership principles whenever possible. Their leadership examples are very powerful. They’ve taught me the following ten lessons.

1. Lead By Example

My dad and mom taught me the importance of leading by example. As the leader, you can set the example for those you lead. When you lead a diverse group, you may not fully understand everything your employees work on, but you can still set an example when it comes to values.

2. Have Faith

As I mentioned in my previous post, my mom and dad have always taught me to have faith in God, other people, and myself. They taught me through words and by their leadership examples. As a leader, faith allows you to get things done that you never thought possible. [Read more…] about 10 Lessons Learned From Leadership Examples

Avoid Derailing The Meeting

By Brandon W. Jones on March 1, 2013 0

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.

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

Should Leaders Be Transparent?

By Brandon W. Jones on February 11, 2013 4

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.

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.)

The Five B’s Of Leadership Organization

By Brandon W. Jones on February 7, 2013 4

In order to be a good leader it is very important to be organized. As a leader, this can also be quite a challenge because in most cases leaders have many responsibilities that they must constantly balance to be effective in what they do. It can be very easy to become very organized in your approach to one responsibility, while letting others gradually get less organized.

The Five B’s of Leadership Organization

The five B’s of organization will help you as a leader to focus your energy so that you can stay organized and maintain balance in your life.

1. Be organized In your communication.

As a leader, you must communicate with others regularly. That communication is done in many forms, e.g. public speaking, email, letters, meetings, etc. To be organized in your communication means that you have a consistent message that goes out to everyone. To be organized, you are also direct in the message that you convey.

Have you ever worked for someone that would tell you one thing in front of your coworkers and then something different in front of your boss or other departments? Isn’t that frustrating? A leader that is organized in their communication, maintains their integrity by keeping the same message on all fronts. When you, as a leader, are organized in your communication, you gain the trust and respect of those you lead and they are more willing to follow you. [Read more…] about The Five B’s Of Leadership Organization

The Collapse Of Nations – Leadership Fiduciary Responsibility

By Brandon W. Jones on November 15, 2012 1

Yesterday, I wrote a post about the fundamentals of leadership fiduciary responsibility. I addressed that post mostly towards business and corporate leaders and what fiduciary responsibility they have. As a leader, it is very important to take your fiduciary responsibility seriously because your organization will flourish or perish based on how you handle the money. As a fiduciary leader in a corporate environment, you make major choices on how to spend money and where to make strategic investments. In many cases, however, the money you spend is money from investors.

Additional Reasons To Have Fiduciary Responsibility

In addition to the business and corporate environment, there are many leaders in government (many times politicians or political leaders) that have a great fiduciary responsibility. They regularly make major financial decisions that shape where their nations go in the future. Sometimes one decision or a series of decisions over a short time frame can change the course of a nation for many years. [Read more…] about The Collapse Of Nations – Leadership Fiduciary Responsibility

This Week’s Top 5 Leadership Blog Posts – 6/22/2012

By Brandon W. Jones on June 22, 2012 0

As a leader, you probably have many leadership responsibilities. This week has been one of those weeks for me and it has been a challenging week to keep up on blogging. Because my time was so limited, I just decided to highlight some of the posts that I really enjoyed without taking the time to post my thoughts on each post.

Some of the posts that I am highlighting in this weeks top 5 leadership blog posts were about leadership relationships. As a leader, it is very important to work to maintain good relationships with those you lead. The relationships you make as a leader are very important because leaderships are, in many cases, far more important than the actual work you do.

I hope you enjoy my favorite posts from this week!

4 Essentials For Cultural Leadership By William Powell

It’s been said so many times, but it’s worth repeating, “Good leadership is more than getting tasks accomplished.” Quality leadership develops people. It builds people up, inspires confidence and makes a genuine, positive difference in everything it touches. One thing that leadership MUST do is influence, maintain and perpetuate culture.

Often times leaders get so focused on WHAT to do that HOW to do things becomes open for interpretation. Don’t misunderstand what I mean by this. It isn’t a license or call to micro-manage people or bureaucratically babysit them. It is a delicate balance – a dance if you will. People need their autonomy and enough freedom for the individuality to shine through. The line needs to be drawn where the desired expression of individuality begins to erode the desired culture and THAT is where cultural leadership must be effective. [Read more…] about This Week’s Top 5 Leadership Blog Posts – 6/22/2012