Intro to the 5 Voices of Leadership

1. The Nurturer Voice

A Nurturer voice is usually the quietest voice on a team. They are the champions of relationships and doggedly fight to maintain relational harmony if at all possible.

2. The Creative Voice

As a future-oriented voice, you’ll often find the Creative dreaming about far-off visions and driving towards innovative possibilities.

3. The Guardian Voice

As many will soon realize, you’ll never have trouble hearing the Guardian voice on a team. Guardians are the custodians of traditions, systems, and processes, and as such, they seldom shy away from speaking their mind.

4. The Connector Voice

Connectors are the ultimate champions of strategic networking partnerships and people connections.

5. The Pioneer Voice

Lastly, the Pioneer. We’ve deliberately chosen this order, with Pioneers last, because the voices get louder in volume as we move down the spectrum of voices towards them.

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Consider these steps to reclaiming the lost practice of weekly respite in your life:

“He that can take rest is greater than he that can take cities.” – Benjamin Franklin

Crisis is a household name to all who lead. Nobody is immune from the trials of the unexpected. Starting the discipline of intentional rest today will give access to needed reserves for staying physically propped up during the expected and unforeseen realities ahead.

1. Center Your Contentment

2. Ink It - Rest will come only from intentional planning and only if it is truly pursued and placed in your calendar.

3. Own It - Time demands are real, however you are not held completely hostage to them.

4. Keep to Simple- Embrace a lifestyle that focuses on your values, not your possessions.

5. Family Practice- It is much easier to practice the discipline of intentional rest if your family is practicing it too.

6. Stay Afloat

7. Beware of Results Without Relationship

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How to banish regret? Don't wait!

Regret are Illumination come too late and as leaders we learn from it.

Don’t wait to apologize for that which you know in your heart you need to make amends.

Don’t wait to tell your kids why you love your spouse.

Don’t wait to tell someone that you love them when they need to hear it from you.

Wait a little longer to vent your thoughts and feelings if your emotions are getting the better of you.

Don’t wait to give something away to someone who needs it.

Don’t wait to quit something that you very well know you need to quit.

Don’t wait to start learning a language or reading a book that has been on your list for years.

Wait to get hooked on things that simply kill time. Just wait and invite better things to fill your day.

Don’t wait to spend time with your kids or go on a date night with your spouse.

Don’t wait to give more of yourself to family, friends, and colleagues. When you give it away you get far more in return.

Please don’t wait to give someone a word of encouragement today.

Most of all, don’t wait to love, and love well.

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The Key to Success: Relationship Before Opportunity

How do you build deeper relationships and grow the bottom line? All it takes is a little reprogramming.

The answer is simple, the execution is hard, but the results are worth it.

Reprogramming Your Mindset

Ultimately, the answer is that you have to die to yourself.

You have to give up the narrowing of focus that centers on your needs, agendas, pressures, and quotas at the cost of making relationship with others nothing more than a transaction on the way to your own wants and desires.

The fact is, when you die to yourself and begin to see things from another’s perspective, you gain a fuller view of life, greater opportunity, and a lasting peace about who you are and how you live with the world.

So, for those wishing to experience greater quality of life, deeper relationships, and a bigger bottom line, put relationship before opportunity and spend time getting to know others and how you can serve their agenda before your own.

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Thinkers versus Feelers: handling Critique

How Thinkers Handle Critique

• When it comes to critique, most Thinkers tend to critique an idea as soon as they hear it.

• For most Thinkers, their favorite sport in the whole wide world is logical, rational, analytical critique of other people’s ideas and plans.

• There is nothing more fun for the Thinker than when someone asks them to pick apart their strategy and business plan to help make it better.

How Feelers Handle Critique

• Feelers, on the other hand, cringe at such a response.

• If relationships are going poorly, or if things are not going well at work, then, to the Feeler, that usually means they as a person are failing. That’s why critique (“constructive criticism”) and challenge always feels more personal to the Feeler than the Thinker. So, if they’re going to get feedback or critique, Feelers are best positioned to receive it when they hear it from somebody they trust.

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10 Traits of Humble Leaders

Leaders, therefore, have a responsibility to place their p”Leaders, therefore, have a responsibility to place their people, their customers/constituents, and their causes above themselves. Not out of self-deprecation or martyrism, but out of a confident conviction in their cause. Good leaders are lifelong learners who value the perspectives and experiences of those different from themselves, and always strive to help their team and organization become the best versions of their individual and organizational selves.

1. Humble Leaders Lead by Listening.

2. Humble Leaders Never Stop Learning.

3. Humble Leaders Don’t Seek Power; It Seeks Them.

4. Humble Leaders Unite—They Don’t Divide.

5. Humble Leaders Delegate.

6. Humble Leaders Forgive.

7. Humble Leaders Admit Mistakes.

8. Humble Leaders Separate Themselves From the Office/Position They Occupy

9. Humble Leaders Pull—Not Push—Their Team Members.

10. Humble Leaders Pursue Causes Greater Than Themselves.

How have you seen these traits play out in those who lead you? How many of these traits do you possess?

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Getting to the end of yourself: How to make your leadership come Alive?

Get to the end of yourself.

That is it. Die to your self-seeking, self-promoting, self-defending way of life.

When your day starts with you, ends with you, and is filled with you, you have set yourself up for ultimate leadership failure because your thoughts lead to actions.

Make Your Leadership Come Alive

The only way to get your influence moving in a positive direction and let your leadership come alive is to begin to get past your voracious need for self-preservation.

Rooting out self-preservation is never easy, but the benefits for yourself and those around you are invaluable.

Reap the Reward

When you get to the end you will find a new beginning. That new life will be full of the things you have always wanted deep down. So put the old self away. Get ready for real, joyful living. Get ready to make your leadership come alive!

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8 EQ Questions Effective Leaders Cannot Ignore

Be honest about your reality.

1. Do you know what it’s like to be on the other side of you?

2. Do you know how to connect with people in every social context?

3. Are you easy to connect with in your work setting?

4. Do people like being around you?

5. Are you able to be physically and emotionally present with people even when you have tight deadlines?

6. Do you always have to win?

7. Have you truly ever experienced being present with someone else?

8. Do you know how to slow down enough to hear what someone else is saying?

These are the EQ questions that will differentiate the leaders of the future. IQ and hard skills are essential but they are no longer enough. When you learn to grow your relational competency—the ability to connect with others and be present—then you will be able to build long-term relation- ships and obtain a world of opportunity that most will miss.

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How clear is your strategy, not to you, but to your people?

If strategy is really about how you win as a team and organization, there are some long-range fixed elements, as well as some more flexible strategic priorities that must be adjusted regularly.

5 C’s that will help you evaluate how you can get to stunning strategic clarity:

Catapult: Are your most important strategic initiatives at the forefront? Catapult these things to the front and stay focused there.

Combine: Where do you have diffused efforts that can be combined together? Sometimes you’ll find opportunities to bring groups together for greater impact.

Cascade: There are some strategic offerings that are not catapulted to the front. They belong more behind the scenes and only get brought out at the right time.

Cut: For some of you to get to strategic clarity, you simply need to stop doing some things. Enough said. Cut it out! You are causing strategy ADD and it’s time to do the hard thing.

Create: Perhaps you have had clarity and success for a long enough season that it is time to start something new.

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Humility vs. Pride: The Truth

Humility vs. Pride: Why the Difference Will Make or Break Your Leadership

Humility is a virtue. Pride is not.

Humility comes when people are secure.

Pride comes when they are insecure.

A humble leader is a confident leader, knowing who they are and what they do. A prideful leader is an overconfident leader trying to convince other people that they are good enough to be doing what they are doing.

Humility is strength. Pride is weakness.

The most humble people never have to prove themselves or hide something. The most prideful people you’ll meet are always proving themselves and hiding something.

Humility is attractive. It makes people want to follow you. Pride is obnoxious. It causes people to flee from you.

A humble person understands himself or herself, realistically knowing what they can do well vs. what they cannot do well. Humble people are not afraid to take constructive criticism or counsel, nor do they feel the need to take credit when it is due elsewhere.

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