15 Minutes a Day

Leadership is an exercise in humility and responsibility. As the recent leadership issues in the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico has shown us, the ability to admit when a leader is wrong and the acceptance of responsibility for an error or problem can go a long way to preserving or destroying the image of an organization or (in this case) several organizations. BP is not the only organization to have taken a serious public relations hit because of the lack of active leadership and disaster planning. The Minerals Management Service, the Interior Department, along with the Executive and Legislative Branches of the U.S. Government have also taken quite a hit because of lax regulations, cronyism, and too much stock in the Great Man Theory. I think we need a shift in leadership culture in this country.

For millenia almost every culture on the planet has been led by “Great Men” who have been rich or influential enough to garner enough power and strength around them to run things by force or strength of will. Perhaps we need to get away from following such people and look for more of what Robert K. Greenleaf calls Servant Leaders. These types of leaders are not interested in amassing power for the sake of building up themselves and their interests. They are interested in serving others through leadership so that everyone benefits, not just their friends and followers. Becoming a Servant Leader takes a change in mind-set from most of the examples given in the past. Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. were Servant Leaders. Their protégés haven’t had the same successes that they did because they don’t seem to understand how to be Servant Leaders.

Is it possible to get away from the tyranny of the Great Man Theory of leadership in the United States? I don’t know. Servant Leaders are a rare breed, but perhaps if more leaders were to espouse this newer theory and begin working for the betterment of everyone rather than for just themselves and their followers, we would begin to see real change in the world. Perhaps corporations would learn to make money for their shareholders while also being good to their workers and the environment. Perhaps politicians would work for the benefit of their constituents rather than their donors. We need to start expecting this from our leaders if we ever hope to get it.

What are your thoughts on this? How can we switch to Servant Leaders? Are Servant Leaders and Great Men (or Women) mutually exclusive or can they blend techniques? Please share…

One of the biggest challenges I have found in both my current and past jobs and in other organizations I have been involved in has been what’s called “leading up.” This means leading your supervisors or other superiors. When one is not in a position of authority, leadership becomes a challenge because some of those you are trying to lead or influence are not obligated to follow you. This can be a frustrating experience and may lead some to think that they need to get a promotion before they can become a leader. This is not true.

I just finished listening to the Audible.com version of The 360-Degree Leader: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization as read by the author, John C. Maxwell. I enjoyed listening to it and Mr. Maxwell reads it very well. Mr. Maxwell gave advice on how to lead your supervisors, peers, and subordinates in a manner that is inoffensive to all three groups and yet still gets things done. It seems that what some forget is that leadership is a matter of influence, not force or position.

Learning how to build influence has been a tough lesson for me to learn, but I think I might finally be getting the hang of it. I’m not talking about learning to manipulate people or win at office politics. I am talking about building a reputation for yourself as a subject matter expert (SME) and proving that expertise over and over again. In part, leadership is an exercise in constantly improving yourself so that you can work on helping others improve themselves, their situations, and the organizations you work in.

While leading from the middle can be tricky, Mr. Maxwell’s book is full of examples of middle leaders who have had an effect on all levels of their organization. While I don’t agree that some of Mr. Maxwell’s examples are positive examples of leadership, I do agree that they are correct. He uses former Vice President Dick Cheney as an example of a 360-degree leader. I agree that Cheney is a leader, but not one that leads for the betterment of everyone. His influence and decisions have led us down a path that has caused environmental, social, and economic disasters that now must be corrected while Mr. Cheney sits back and shrugs his shoulders. I would encourage Mr. Maxwell to pick more positive examples in the future.

Are you a middle or 360-degree leader in your organization or community? Please share your story and challenges here. I’d love to know how you are handling the issues mentioned here.

On Thursday I gave a presentation to my work organization’s recruiters on Social Networking. I have gotten good feedback from the group and I felt like it went really well. Several people said they were no longer afraid of social networking and could see how useful it could be in their jobs.

Below is the presentation I gave. Please feel free to review it and let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

I’ve been back from Year 3 Residency for a bit over a week now and I’m pretty nearly feeling human again. I got sick with a cold or allergies while I was in Phoenix and that is finally clearning up. I spent several days sleeping quite a bit and recharging before heading back to work.

My husband and I also celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary!!! We went to a Sacramento RiverCats Baseball game (which we both love to do!) and Mark had them put a message on the board for me (see the photo). RHMILY means “Remember How Much I Love You!” He got a great big “Awwww” and a kiss from me as I scrambled to pull out my camera. It was a wonderful day!

I started a new class last night. It’s called “Organizational Diagnosis and Intervention.” Do you have any idea what this is about? I’m not sure yet, but I’m sure it’s important. I just haven’t taken the time to read the syllibus or do the reading yet. That starts tonight! I’m sure this has to do with dealing with troubled organizations. I can think of a few organizations I’ve worked for where a class like this would have been helpful.

I think I’ve reached an alternatively weary/exciting part of my doctoral program. There are some days (hours/minutes/seconds) when I am tremendously excited about the fact that I only have four content classes and my dissertation project left to do and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. There are other days (hours/minutes/seconds) where I’m extremely tired and keep wondering “What was I thinking when I signed up for this journey?” I look at the “light at the end of the tunnel” and am sure it’s an oncoming train.

I am hoping that the excitement will go back to being the predominant feeling so I can push through to the end of this process and graduate. In the meantime I keep putting one foot in front of the other and doing one task or assignment at a time. My dissertation mentor, Dr. Holley, has assured me that my dissertation project is now doable and my timeline is reasonable. Now I just need to pitch it to the folks that I want to study…

Anyway, life proceeds apace. I’m back at work and am still training a new coworker who is coming along nicely. He starts teaching training classes tomorrow (under my watchful eye). Hopefully by July he’ll be able to take half of the training chores off of my plate and let me concentrate on other tasks.

My husband and dogs are great! I think Shasta wishes I’d walk her more often. Come to think of it, I wish I could walk her more often. Now that the weather is starting to improve I hope to fulfill her wish. I think I’ll start by taking both Roobee and Shasta to a nearby dog park.

Mark is as loving and supportive as ever! I really couldn’t do any of this without him. He keeps me going and helps to recharge my batteries on a daily basis.

Day Five was the start of a second class. This one is concentrating on our dissertations and how to refine and ready our proposals. At this point it’s a bit difficult for me to think in terms of my dissertation because I’m just so tired.

This week has been full of very long days and late nights. During the first class we had to work on presentations with our teams every night and then get up and present on a topic we know nothing about in scholarly terms. Thanks to the Internet there is TONS of information out there on the topics that we were given. Making everything you’re saying about the topics sound scholarly is the challenging part!

Our topics for the first class were:

• Financial Collapse
• Climate Change
• Stem Cell Research
• Nuclear Weapons
• World Peace
• Leadership Theory

I’m sure I’ve missed some. I’ll add to the list as they come back to me.

One  of the things that I found very interesting about the topics above was that every presentation on each topic was so completely different. Nobody repeated references or perspectives. We all came at each topic from a different angle. Even though the topics were heavy, it really was a learning experience on scholarly presentation and scholarly thinking!