Being a Leader . . .and the effective exercise of leadership.

Time, Money and Efforts - Part 2

2011-02-16T13:43:00.000-05:00

Time, money and efforts - the fundamental resources of any organization. Used well - goals and objectives are satisfied, used poorly goals and objectives are not satisfied. So you see there is a direct connection between results and these resources.

First you need to know and understand how these "seemingly" free resources are currently being consumed.

For starters . . .

Do an inventory of everything being worked on in the organization, on your team, or your area of accountability - pick the highest level you influence and/or manage. "What?" you say - how do you know what that is?

Good question! Are you working with a purpose in mind? Or do you just go to work on what shows up via an outside source (complaint, emergency, something fall through the cracks, etc.) e.g. are you just reacting/responding to the circumstances and conditions of the day (or hour)? I call that working from the outside or "reaction centric" - versus working from the inside or "purpose centric".

Setup the inventory - here are the columns: what (are you at work on), why (are you doing that), and how (will you know you are on target).

Then review your inventory - how much of the "why" is connected to a business strategy? How many of the items have specific and measurable targets?

More to come on this and "Job descriptions are DEAD".

Bob Being Bob

Leaders as "creators" of resources . . . .

2011-02-15T14:09:00.000-05:00

In the context of resources, leaders ensure that time, money and efforts are available - or said another way effectively deployed.

Time. You have an opportunity to create more time by ensuring everyone in the organization is working on the "right" things for the viability of the business.

Money. You have an opportunity to create more money by ensuring everyone in the organization is working on the "right" things for the viability of the business.

Efforts. You have an opportunity to create more or better efforts by ensuring everyone in the organization is working on the "right" things for the viability of the business.

Is there a theme here or am I just repeating myself? Yes there is a theme - the "buck stops" with leaders when it comes to ensuring that EVERYONE in the organization is being effective - working on the "right" things.

Announcement: Job Descriptions are DEAD. I am declaring job descriptions "dead" e.g. that is no longer useful in the workplace.

More to come about this.

Bob Being Bob

Do You Wonder? Do You Wander?

2011-02-03T09:49:00.000-05:00

Do you ever wonder about things?

Leaders wonder about a lot of things. To wonder is to discover that which lies beyond certainty. To wonder is to have curiosity, sometimes mingled with doubt - healthy doubt - to have curiosity or doubt about what we know or think we know.

Do you ever wander?

Leaders wander all the time - they wander off the path of certainty. They allow themselves to move or go about aimlessly, without a plan or fixed destination - as in a fixed way something should be. They allow themselves to go astray in mind or purpose - to turn away from accepted beliefs or norms and are not afraid of being disjointed, disordered, incoherent, etc.

Let yourself wonder, and take time to wander.

Bob Being Bob

What are you liberating?

2011-01-29T10:20:00.000-05:00

Look around your organization, department, team or projects. What is stopped - at a standstill? What is stuck - at a roadblock? What has insufficient velocity - lacks momentum? What is heading in the wrong direction - avoiding or going around problems?

Look to see what ideas or actions need to be liberated - set free.

Your job is to set them free - and allow for an appropriate amount of chaos.

Bob Being Bob

Leadership and Liberation

2011-01-23T11:12:00.000-05:00

What do leaders do?

Leaders liberate.

What do leaders liberate?

Leaders liberate the thinking and actions of an organization.

Bob Being Bob

Upheaval and leadership.

2011-01-17T23:43:00.000-05:00

You have to have a lot of courage and "stick-to-it-ness"to be a leader. The courage to stand in the face of the upheaval and disorder that accompanies it; and the "stick-to-it-ness" to not be thrown off course by the mess you sometimes create.

Leaders create upheaval - which could look like turmoil, disturbance, cataclysm, commotion, disruption or mayhem - not a "pretty site" if you weren't the author of the upheaval..In fact, even if you were the author of it, it starts to look like a bad choice early on. You more often than not might find yourself wondering if the "business as usual" events, you could no longer allow for, could be as bad as the mayhem you are now facing.

And the only thing to do in the face of the upheaval is to stand right in the middle of it. One by one you will have deal with it - don't try to nail down anything that comes loose, broken away or dislodged. That is anything not worth hanging on to - most of it you might want to just let float away.

What's worth hanging on to?

Bob Being Bob

What's enough?

2011-01-15T21:24:00.000-05:00

When do you know what is enough?

Leaders know when they have enough information, data, experience, etc. to make the next move - and then they make a move. They know that leadership isn't about making all the "right" moves - it is about making moves. Moves that get you to the next step along the way. To lead one must be in motion - moving in the direction of a vision. Knowing if you are heading in the appropriate direction comes from movement in a direction - if it isn't going the way it needs to go you will make a correction and get it on track.

What is lying around waiting for you to make a move? Make a list of all the things that are stuck or stopped - and look to see if what is missing is movement.

Take the three most important things on your list and make a move on them - any move.

Bob Being Bob

Where does leadership come from?

2011-01-13T09:53:00.001-05:00

As far as I can tell this is one thing you cannot pickup at Walmart.

What do you think?

Respond to the survey at the bottom of this blog.

Bob Being Bob

Okay - now give it away

2011-01-11T14:27:00.001-05:00

You ask - "give what away"?

Leaders are really good at giving things away - the kind of things I am speaking of are ideas, thoughts, visions, possibilities, etc. Leaders "live" out on the edge of the horizon; and that has them see things you cannot see when you are tethered to the past or consumed by the present. If they held on tightly to everything they ran into they would be weighted down and unable to stay out on the edge.

Leaders never feel compelled to "keep" their ideas until the "right" time shows up. They spend a good part of their days talking with others about their ideas - they are looking for someone to grab on to the idea and take it to the next step - advancing it with others.

What are you doing with your ideas? Holding on to them until it is "safe" to let them out? Are you afraid someone might poke holes in it?

Keep a little 49 cent notebook with you and start writing those ideas down - and at the end of the day ask yourself "how have you forwarded or advanced the idea" - who have you given it away to?

The "Fuzzy Stage" - breakfast of leaders!

2011-01-07T11:42:00.000-05:00

Leaders act like a telescope - they allow others to see something that is so far out of their sight range it cannot be seen. Once a leader sheds light on it, brings it into focus so to speak - others can partner in advancing an idea that there is a fuzzy picture of. Leaders bring others into the conversation at the "fuzzy" stage - they don't wait till they have it all figured out or have a clear, crisp picture in front of them. Leaders love the fuzzy stage and have lots of room for the ambiguity that comes with the fuzzy stage.

What fuzzy pictures are in your head - in your view? Who can you share that with? Make a list of all your fuzzy ideas - then ask yourself who could breath life into that idea with you?

Now go do it - have those conversations - what are you waiting for?

Task number 2 in the role of a leader - giving it all away.

More on this later - - -

I HAVE TO GO GIVE AWAY SOME FUZZY IDEAS I HAVE BEEN HOLDING ON TO.

Bob Being Bob

Imagine the possibilities . . . job description for organizational leaders

2011-01-05T12:41:00.000-05:00

"And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been"
— Rainer Maria Rilke

. . . that's your job - shedding light on those things that have never been.

Take a look around your business, your life - what is it that you are not doing e.g. what are the things you want to see done and for some reason or another are not being done?

What's in the way? Is it you, is it others, or is it fear of failure?

Bob Being Bob

When leading "anywhere" will do . . .

2011-01-02T19:03:00.001-05:00

John Cage tells us that not knowing where to begin is a common form of paralysis. His advice: "begin anywhere".

Leaders don't look for the "right" place to begin - they just begin - and see what happens. If what is happening is a fit for what they are looking to generate they keep going. If what is happening is not a fit for what they are looking to generate they stop (see last Thursday's blog), and begin somewhere else.

When you "begin anywhere" it allows for growth. Growth isn't something that happens to you - you have to allow for it. You have to let your experiences shape you, impact you, and touch you.

Look around - what experiences are you letting change you, shape you, create you - and ultimately allowing for your growth as a leader? Beginning today write down what experience has "shaped or touched" you everyday - and then ask yourself how it has allowed you to see the world newly - how it has contributed to your growth.

Let go - it is good for you.

Bob Being Bob

There is no "tomorrow" there is only today . . . "tomorrow" is a narcotic for not dealing with today . . .

2011-01-01T15:01:00.001-05:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Best wishes for a prosperous 2011. I am creating 2011 as the year for a future of creativity, innovation and pleasant surprises!

Be an organizational leader in creativity, innovation and pleasant surprises!

Creativity produces something new - a new solution to a problem, a new "conversation" or a new product/service. Create an environment rich with ideas and originality of thinking. Allow and embrace the apparent disorder, contradiction, and imbalance brought on by creativity - see it as a challenge.

Innovation is the act of renewal - out with the old and in with the new! Look around and see what needs a "face-lift" - an upgrade to an existing product, process or program.For renewal to take place it is necessary for people to change the way they make decisions, they must choose to do things differently, make choices outside of their norm; therefore they need to see things newly.

Surprise yourself - allow for the unexpected, let yourself be "taken by" that which brings wonder and delight. Embrace the newness, the freshness, and the aliveness of what has yet fully matured. You don't have to have it all figured out.

Bob Being Bob

"stopping the unnecessary, the unneeded, and the unwanted"

2010-12-30T10:45:00.000-05:00

Leaders operate mostly in the domain of time we refer to as "the future". While being "guided" by the future, they look around to "the present" to see if the direction in which they are heading and the speed at which they are moving are consistent with "the future" they envision. And when the direction and speed are not consistent they make corrections to have it be consistent. This is the choice point that separates leaders from managers - the ability to say when something is not working consistent with a desired future and take the action to STOP whatever is not working.

As we wrap up 2010 look around to see what you need to STOP and then STOP it.

Really great leaders are leaders who are great at stopping the things that are no longer working.

Start 2011 heading in the appropriate direction and speed you need - to arrive at where you want to be and when you want to be there (or your organization to be) and make "stopping the unnecessary, the unneeded, and the unwanted" a habit.

Bob Being Bob

Keeping it simple . . .

2010-12-15T12:32:00.000-05:00

Chinese Proverb: Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life lies in eliminating the non essentials.

As we approach the end of the calendar year and the first 10 years of the decade, this is a good time to figure out what the non essentials are. Today's technology has made the volume, speed and complexity of information available to us overwhelming if we do not figure out what is essential and what isn't.

The very best leaders I know are really good at this - not messing with the nonessential.

Everyday look for one thing you will eliminate. I eliminated two newsletters I was receiving today.

Bob Being Bob

Leadership Strategy - Got One?

2010-12-09T07:50:00.001-05:00

What is you r leadership strategy? How will you lead your organization, your team, your project? This is different than how you will manage them. How will you effectively exercise the role of leader? Leaders provide vision, direction, purpose and meaning - what are you approaches for doing that? The work of leaders sometimes occurs as being paradoxical to the "business as usual" activities that one can mistake for direction.

If you don't have a leadership strategy - get one - invent it. Work with someone to help you distinguish leading from management, then come up with several strategies, so if one doesn't always work you have others to rely on.

Bob Being Bob

some additional thoughts at 37,000 feet . . .

2010-11-06T12:38:00.000-04:00

It is pretty simple - good leaders demonstrate the ability, attitude and appetite for the context, circumstances and conditions they are on the court with. What is at play on your court? Do you know how to "dance" with all of that? And when the context shifts are you going to be left behind?

Bob Being Bob

On the trail . . .

2010-08-14T19:08:00.000-04:00

Leadership is like hiking in the woods - it is always and only one step at a time and one foot in front of the other - while knowing where you intend to go.

bbb

Where does good wine become good wine - on the vine or in the glass?

2010-06-24T17:26:00.000-04:00

Is good wine good because the wine-maker makes it good or because the wine drinker makes it good?

Is leadership a function of what you do, don't do, say, don't say? Or is it a function of where it lands, how it lands and what it lands in?

Bob Being Bob

Leadership

2010-06-20T10:17:00.000-04:00

What if it is all made up? Really - what if leadership was a function of what you say it is? What if it isn't a "formula" or set of specific traits, characters or rules? What if anyone (that wanted to) could play the leadership game?

Bob Being Bob

leader or manager . . . . hmmmmmmmmmm

2010-06-04T02:13:00.001-04:00

You still can't tell the difference ? That is - the difference between when one is showing up like a leader and when one is showing up like a manager.

I think Warren Bennis has nailed it - he says "the difference between a leader and a manager is like the difference between someone that has mastered the context and someone that has surrendered to the context".

Where have you mastered the context and where are you surrendering to the context? That is - where have you created a framework that shapes the actions and where are you being shaped by a framework?

And while you are at it - where is a framework missing and/or obsolete and therefore producing action but not the actions that will actually make a difference for you, others or the future of the business?

Bob Being Bob

What leadership isn't . . .

2010-05-26T15:01:00.000-04:00

. . . being the best player, in an old game, that is no longer being played.

Are you still running around looking for accolades for being the best at something that no longer makes a difference? Leaders are more interested in changing the game and figuring how to win at that game.

What new game do you need to invent to solve the "new normal" of being in business?

Bob Being Bob

the way it is and the way it isn't . . . .

2010-05-19T10:14:00.001-04:00

Leaders have room for things being the way they are and the way they are not - that way there is also room for things to change, transform and develop if that is what is being called for. If things have to be one way or another there is no possibility for anything to show up differently.

Bob Being Bob

What do they mean when they say "we need more leadership around here"?

2010-05-18T18:32:00.000-04:00

Do "they" mean control, analysis, strategic thinkers, or perhaps people who know what to do?

As far as I can tell "they" don't know either! I suspect they mean better results - a more profitable financial statement.

Good managers can do that - but if "they" want a different future than the one "they" are facing then "they" need leaders. Leaders create futures.

Bob Being Bob

That's the good news . . . .

2010-05-16T12:48:00.000-04:00

The "good news" is there is no answer. We can become obessed with looking for the answer, we just want someone to give us the answer. The answer to "what does it take to be a great (or even good) leader?". The problem with someone giving us the answer is that most of the time it wouldn't be a fit for you, although it was a fit for them.

Leadership doesn't operate in the domain of "answers" - that's managment. Leadership operates in the domain of unanswerable questions - they are unanswerable becasue we haven't gotten "there" yet - "there" being a future in which they reside. So leadership is about creating futures that create the circumstances and conditions we want or need to fulfill on the concerns of a business, institution or person.

Bob Being Bob

When someone says it better - make room for them to say it . . .

2010-05-13T08:37:00.000-04:00

The True Joy of Life by George Bernard Shaw

This is the true joy of life, the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. Life is no 'brief candle' to me. It is a sort of spendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

So what purpose is using you? If you don't claim it - you could be used up by the circumstances and conditions of the day. They have a way of overtaking your day, then your life.

Bob Being Bob

What do leadership and procrastination have to do with each other?

2010-05-07T22:16:00.000-04:00

As far as I can tell - nothing.

Listening . . ."what keeps getting in the way"?

2010-05-05T21:36:00.001-04:00

What if the answer was - "you" do? Well that might be the good news! Because if it is "you" that is in the way then you have the possibility of getting "you" out of the way. So the next question might be "how do I get in the way and what would I need to do to get out of the way"? When I talk about a "you" I am refering simply to the way you wound up - personality, behaviors, values, education, experience, etc. With that comes a view you have - which filters your point of view and that point of view stands between you and being able to fully listen to what others are communcating.

More on getting "you" out of the way later . . .

Bob Being Bob

There is no future out there . . . . really!

2010-04-29T09:54:00.001-04:00

There is no future out there . . . . really. We tend to think there is a future out there just like there is a newspaper on your doorstep waiting for you to stroll out and pick it up.

Leaders create futures. Leaders make one future possible over a different future.

What future are you making possible?

Bob Being Bob

Old Maps make great pieces of art . . .

2010-04-24T13:06:00.000-04:00

"No matter what we do, stability and lasting solutions elude us. It‘s time to realize that we will never cope with this new world using our old maps. It is our fundamental way of interpreting the world – our worldview – that must change. Only such a shift can give us the capacity to understand what‘s going on, and to respond wisely."

Margaret Wheatley

Make a list of the 3 top issues you are dealing with - and see if you are struggling with those issues because you are using old maps to make sense of territory that was accounted for on the old maps.

Bob Being Bob

To Do or To Not Do . . . . .

2010-04-21T12:04:00.000-04:00

As I travel the world of business, I find that too many people are looking for the next thing "to do" with respect to getting better at what they are doing or attempting to do. If you keep looking for something new you are going to end up with a lot of things "to do" and have little to show for that. I want to suggest that leadership is also about "not doing". Look at some of the situations you are dealing with and ask yourself what is it that I should take a risk "not doing" - what results would I produce if I stopped doing "X"? For example - "what would happen if I stopped doing all the talking"?

Leadership is not relying on the "automatic" you.

Bob Being Bob

Mastering the screwdriver . . . . .

2010-04-12T10:21:00.000-04:00

Leaders who master the screwdriver and expect all problems to behave like screws are destined to experience the workplace as confusing, frustrating and stressful. As leaders we can become imprisoned in our own little world-view. World-views are useful - when we do not treat them like they are the world's "world-view".

What world-view or frame of reference is keeping you stuck in some position - and there are unwanted circumstances and conditions that are not changing?

Bob-Being-Bob

Do you know what is determining your organization's success?

2010-04-10T01:45:00.000-04:00

“The Truth is that no one factor makes a company admirable. But if you were forced to pick the one that makes the most difference, you’d pick leadership.” ~ Warren Bennis

What does leadership mean to you? Courage? Confidence? Creativity? The ability to inspire others to believe in your vision and follow you with unwavering conviction?

Leadership can be described in many different ways and take on many different forms, but it has one constant value: it is the human quality that transforms cultures, corporations, nations and civilizations. We desire it for ourselves and we desire to be in its presence.

Leadership is not only a talent; it is a precious commodity for which there is no substitute. In addition, it is the commodity most likely to determine your organization’s success in the global marketplace.

To learn more visit my webpage and hear what the leadership conversation is all about in the latest leadership development program - http://www.transpective.com/resources/masterplan_description.pdf

It's a new season . . . at the ballpark

2010-04-05T09:26:00.001-04:00

and the Red Sox came from behind to beat the Yankees 9 - 7. We can learn from that game at Fenway Park. Here it is the start of the 2010 season and everything they have done in the past means nothing - the Sox had to "stand in nothing" - that is they had to deal with the situation at hand, it didn't matter how good you were last year - there was only being good when the ball was coming at you at 90 mph - period.

What about you? Can you "stand in nothing" and deal with what is coming at you? Make choices and decisions based on the circumstances and conditions as being presented in the moment?

It is a "new season" in business - and your opportunity to hit a few out of the park over the "green monsta" . . .

And sometimes you can't . . . .

2010-03-31T16:40:00.000-04:00

there are days when you can't bring your self to being in the leadership conversation - so don't.

Leading fully - not holding back.

2010-03-25T07:55:00.000-04:00

The dangerous thing about leading is wanting to hold back - it is like keeping your foot on the brake as you seek the finish line. Leading is like a salmon swimming upstream - it is going against the flow of business as usual. The difference between a salmon and a leader is the salmon never complains or holds back.

One day you are here and the next day you are not . . .

2010-03-24T01:40:00.000-04:00

I vistited with a client today, his organization is big and has a major impact on world affairs - that kind of BIG. I learned that the leader of his business had died suddenly - very suddenly - it was literally one second you are here and the next you are not. It got me to thinking about what makes a leader a leader - is it what she or he says or does - or is it what is happening around him or her, or what she or he is leaving in their wake?

Bob Being Bob

What came first the leader or leadership . . . continued

2010-03-20T15:59:00.000-04:00

Does the leader make the situation or does the situation make the leader?

What do you think? Have you ever found yourself being the leader in some situation and in other situations not so much? Why is that?

Today is the day - the day for you and I to commit an act of leadership.

2010-03-19T08:53:00.000-04:00

What came first the leader or leadership?

Do you have to be a leader first before you can provide leadership? People are waiting around - to provide leadership - because they think someone has to give them a title or authorization.

I think acts of leadership come first - and the leader follows.

2009-07-22T08:25:00.000-04:00

Being a leader or not being a leader - pick one and live your choice.

. . . white space . . .

2005-01-08T18:24:00.000-05:00

January 8, 2005

Leadership takes place in the "unknown" white space - management takes place in the "known" space.

This is a long conversation - that will not get fully distinguished in this daily blog - I will attempt to more fully distinguish it over the next year. I believe that this is one of the keys to successfully developing leaders.

Much more to follow . . . .

Copyright 2005 Bob Elliott, Newfields, NH. All rights reserved.

. . . like a butterfly . . .

2005-01-08T18:17:00.000-05:00

January 7, 2005

Leadership is to embrace the emerging, unfolding environment.

Leaders are "evolutionists" at heart. They listen to and observe life evolving, unfolding, emerging. Embracing all of the "unfitness" as it finds its "fit". Before anything becomes safe, secure and stable it didn't "fit" a current reality.

Copyright 2005 Bob Elliott, Newfields, NH. All rights reserved.

"to think or not to think"

2005-01-08T18:11:00.000-05:00

January 6, 2005

Leadership requires an ability to listen in on your own thinking - from a distance.

Can you "tune in" on your thinking?

Do you know what sources your thinking?

Is it possible to think more than one thought about the same thing?

What makes your thinking better than your neighbor's thinking?

Copyright 2005 Bob Elliott, Newfields, NH. All rights reserved.

Sometimes leading is quietly executed . . .

2005-01-08T18:05:00.000-05:00

January 5, 2005

To be a leader is to be witness to "what's so" in your environment.

Leadership can be like a "sine wave" of consciousness and unconsciousness. It is in those periods of consciousness that leaders quietly observe "what's so" in their environment. This is a "selfless" act - it is an act of observing the "workability" of the environment.

Copyright 2005 Bob Elliott, Newfields, NH. All rights reserved.

Out in front . . .

2005-01-04T10:04:00.000-05:00

Being a leader is to be "out in front" - in front of that which appears to be safe, secure and stable. Being "out in front" is risky. Being "out in front" is taking a stand for something - ahead of it fitting with some norm, convention or approval.

Copyright 2005 Bob Elliott, Newfields, NH. All rights reserved.

Leadership sometimes has you "looking like a fool" . . .

2005-01-03T21:00:00.000-05:00

January 3, 2005

It is our fear of looking foolish that keeps us from making bold, audacious moves.

If we get wrapped up and concerned about how people will judge us and what we are doing we become more concerned about how we "look" than how effective we are being. Anyone who has ever made something important happen, was always at first thought to be somewhere out in "left field" going against the grain of conventionality - not aligned with the "probable, predictable or almost certain".

To go against the grain of "common sense" or "conventional wisdom" is to take a risk - oh yes, leadership is risky business. It really makes us discern what we truly believe in or are committed to getting realized. If the fear of looking foolish is stronger than our intentions to implement change we will be stopped in our tracks - it is always a good litmus test to help us see what we are truly committed to.

Where have you stopped short of doing something you truly believed in - out of fear of looking foolish?

Where have you gone ahead with doing something you truly believed in - when you knew that others were questioning your sanity, logic or intentions?

Copyright 2005 Bob Elliott Newfields, NH. All rights reserved.

It's like turning on a dime!

2005-01-02T10:11:00.000-05:00

January 2, 2005
Newfields, NH

Leadership requires us to be able to "turn on a dime" when it has become clear that the path we are following isn't going to get us where we need to go. Sometimes the "path" we are following is our most ingrained patterns of behavior. Developing the "muscle" to be able to "not go with" what would seem the most likely approach is essential to leadership.

Copyright 2005 Bob Elliott, Newfields, NH. All rights reserved.

Leadership is risky business . . . enter at your own risk.

2005-01-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

January 1, 2005

The beginning of the conversation called leadership.

If management is designed to provide a certain level of safety, security, and stability - maintaining equilibrium - then perhaps leadership is designed to provoke a certain level of uncertainty, unrest, chaos and lack of equilibrium. Leaders are the guides to the future, acting ahead of knowing with certainty, how it will turn out.

Leaders are always taking risks when they are upsetting the equilibrium of a system. Their chief "opponents" become those that are responsible for maintenance of those systems - the system "managers". Managers are working on optimizing and maximizing the current systems, processes and tasks.

Leaders develop a tolerance for the ambiguity, that others want to give sound definition to. For those that seek "safety, security, and stability" ambiguity is a threat and the threat must be attacked - made wrong, or criticized. To appear as an "attack" on someone's "safety, security and stability" is "risky" business - isn't it.

What's up for you?

Have you been disrupting the equilibrium of some entrenched system - feeling like you were taking on something very risky - if not threatening at times?

Have you been protecting some deeply entrenched system - feeling like you were being threatened, and that you needed to "fight" to protect that which has been functioning so well - in the past?

Copyright 2005 Bob Elliott, Newfields, NH. All rights reserved.

Being a Leader

2004-12-30T19:00:00.000-05:00

Being a Leader . . .

What is "Being a Leader"?

This blog is the beginning of a conversation about leadership. Beginning on January 1st - 2005, I will post a daily observation about leadership. My intention is to lead readers in an inquiry about leadership - their own as well as their observations about others. Along the way I intend to develop a much grander discourse on leadership, which provides distinctions in leadership from many different contexts.

I see this as an opportunity to "carve out" leadership from the current conversations - which too readily interchange leadership with management. Leadership and management are on opposite ends of a continuum. When we interchange the two, it is like trying to play basketball on a tennis court - nothing quite works.

To kick off this blog I am sharing one of my personal quotes - this is a quote that in many ways manifests the "leadership - management" continuum.

"As we chip away at life - it is the unexpected that is exciting to unfold - the predictable, probable almost certain is the opium of those that seek safety, security, and stability." Bob Elliott 2004

Bob Elliott
Transpective

Copyright 2004 Bob Elliott. All rights reserved.

p.s. thanks to Andrew Lustig for suggesting I unfold this discourse as a "blog"!