A Definition of Leadership:
Four Skills That Make or
Break All Leaders
What's the definition of leadership - great leadership?Great leaders have the ability to inspire people to positive action. John Quincy Adams says, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
Over the past 7 years I've asked thousands of employees about their definition of leadership. I've asked them to share insights into the actions of their best and worst leaders. Their answers are amazingly similar across all industries (from aviation to the steel industry to medical sales to home builders to technical firms and across all levels of employees (from the line worker to the CEO). When talking about their leaders all say things like this when describing their best leader: - a good listener
- fair
- gave me confidence, believed in me
- inspired me to my best
- knowledgeable
- was straight with me - told me when things were wrong AND when things were good
- looked out for my development
- asked for my opinion and input
- I wanted to go to work and would work longer and harder...when I worked for this person.
Great leaders have different styles and personalities, but the definition of leadership around what people want, remains consistent. It is also evident that when people work for best bosses, they are more productive.
The powerful survey team at the Gallup Organization interviewed millions of employees - meeting with 7,935 twenty-five person teams in 36 countries. Their results prove the power of inspiration. They determined that if a twenty-five member team was inspired (they use the term: engaged) the team produced: - $80,000+ higher monthly revenue
- 1-4% higher monthly profit
- 103% higher success rate
- Higher customer loyalty
- Lower unwanted turnover
Wow! What if your teams could improve their monthly numbers like this? They can. You can. It does not need to be complicated. But it does require practice, desire and focus. Click here to for my article
View Gallup's definition of leadership with these 12 questions all leaders should be asking...
So, if you want to be the boss who get results and has the most productive team there are four skills you can focus on developing and using. I call these skills the Competitive Advantage Leadership Life skills because they'll: - give you a competitive advantage,
- impact every aspect of your life in a positive way
- will make the biggest, quickest difference on your team's willingness to work for and with you
Here they are:
Don't Let Basic Management Skills
Bite You in the Butt! Over the next few weeks I'll be adding links to more information on each of these skills. Click on my RSS Feed on the Navigation Bar, to the left, to be notified of updates. To review all of our Leadership Articles,
click here.
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