There are many attributes that define who and what quintessential leaders are – and what sets them apart from everyone else – but these seven are always present, no matter what. (more…)
Archive for the ‘Quintessential Leadership is an Art’ Category
Seven Attributes That Define Who and What Quintessential Leaders Are
Posted: September 3, 2013 in General Things about Quintessential Leadership, Qualities of a Quintessential Leader, Quintessential Leadership, Quintessential Leadership is an Art, Team Building & DevelopmentTags: admit failures, apologize, attributes of leadership, Building Trust and Being Trustworthy, make amends, quintessential leader, quintessential leadership in action, right wrongs
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The Problem of Potential Problems
Posted: August 20, 2013 in Myths and Misconceptions About Management, Qualities of a Quintessential Leader, Quintessential Leadership, Quintessential Leadership is an Art, Team Building & DevelopmentTags: alarmists, collaboration, communication, dealing with potential problems, dealing with real problems, Leadership, problem-solving, quintessential leader, team building, team work
This is an excellent quintessential leadership post by Dan Rockwell. Alarmists tell everybody all the time all the things that could, that might, that possibly go wrong and they expect everybody, including those of us in leadership positions, to address and focus on these potential problems (which, by the way, seldom materialize at all, or in the rare cases, they do, not at all the way the alarmists envisioned them) instead of the real problems, issues, and projects at hand.
My way of addressing this alarmist syndrome on my teams is to tell them at the outset not to bring a problem – real or potential – to me without bringing me a solution as well. And “Do you have a solution?” was always the question I asked as soon as I heard either “We have a problem…” or “We might have a problem…” If the answer I got was “No,” then I reminded the person that they had a part in the process of solving real or potential problems and they hadn’t done their part, so we wouldn’t discuss until they had.
Potential problems, interestingly, almost never came back to me. Real problems did, but so did some really innovative solutions, which was win-win for everyone.
Alarmists are irritating. They push the panic button at the first hint of smoke. They see what might go wrong and yell fire. While you’re dealing with “real” issues, they’re dealing with things that might happen.
Reject the temptation to ignore “alarmists.” All problems were potential once. The land of leadership is the land of not yet and could be. That includes potential problems. Leaders consumed with current issues aren’t leading.
Four inadequate responses to “alarmists:”
- Agree. Issues are often over or misstated.
- Answer. Don’t give answers. Your answer suggests more potential problems to an alarmist.
- Minimize. Alarmists become more alarmed if you don’t make them feel heard.
- Ignore. Bury your head in the sand and you’ll get kicked in the butt.
One crucial concern:
Consider the source. Don’t waste your time with disengaged spectators. Ignore them politely. The future is never built by fixing issues from complainers on the…
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Value-priced Quintessential Leadership eBooks Available
Posted: August 19, 2013 in Examples and Analyses of Quintessential Leadership, General Things about Quintessential Leadership, Myths and Misconceptions About Management, Performance Evaluations That Work, Qualities of a Quintessential Leader, Quintessential Leadership, Quintessential Leadership is an Art, Team Building & DevelopmentTags: building teams for performance, building trust and being trustworth, bullying, communicating vision, Dr. Martin Luther King, macromanagement, micromanagement, President Abraham Lincoln, President Barack Obama, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, quintessential leadership, unquintessential leadership
These value-priced quintessential leadership eBooks are available for download on The Quintessential Leader blog’s business website:
- Building Teams For Performance
- Communicating Vision
- Unquintessential Leadership
- Building Trust and Being Trustworthy
Building Trust and Being Trustworthy is also available from Amazon in print and Kindle versions.
If you don’t read another book this year, I highly recommend that you read Building Trust and Being Trustworthy. These are not just leadership or quintessential leadership principles. These are essential life principles that each of us should be incorporating into who we are and who we are becoming. Each of us. You. Me. Our children. Our grandchildren. Because we are all current quintessential leaders and we are responsible for cultivating, mentoring, and growing future quintessential leaders.
A mother shared these words with me after reading Building Trust and Being Trustworthy: “Just finished reading this book….EXCELLENT! In fact I’m going to make it a required read for my girls this year! Mine’s all marked in and highlighted…so I may have to get a new copy for them! Thank you, Sandra, for all the time and effort you put into this book or manual for life!”
Building Trust and Being Trustworthy is written for all of us in quintessential leadership positions: leaders of organizations, leaders of business units, leaders of teams, leaders of education, leaders of congregations, leaders of social organizations, leaders of civic organizations, leaders of families, leaders of ourselves, and those we lead.
Are We Green Apple Leaders (Unquintessential Leaders) or Ripe Apple Leaders (Quintessential Leaders)?
Posted: August 15, 2013 in Examples and Analyses of Lack of Leadership and Unquintessential Leadership, Examples and Analyses of Quintessential Leadership, General Things about Quintessential Leadership, Qualities of a Quintessential Leader, Quintessential Leadership, Quintessential Leadership is an ArtTags: anger, Dan Rockwell, diligence, green apple leadership trait, overcoming, quintessential leader, rage, ripe apple leadership trait, unquintessential leader
In Dan Rockwell’s latest blog post, he describes the characteristics and the effects of “green apple” (unquintessential) leaders on organizations. He contrasts that with the attributes and effects of “ripe apple” (quintessential) leaders.
Please take a few minutes to read Rockwell’s post.
Then, as always, because this is what quintessential leaders do, let’s each assess ourselves to see whether we are green apples or ripe apples. As individuals. As team members. As leaders.
As Rockwell states, we all can exhibit green apple traits at times. That’s part of being human, unfortunately. But my request of each of us today is not to evaluate someone else – as Rockwell proposes at the end of his post – but to evaluate ourselves.
Then via comments here on the blog, share with us a green apple trait that you have successfully turned into a ripe apple trait and tell us how you accomplished that. There is much we have to share with each other in our collective journeys to become quintessential leaders.
I’ll put the first one out there. I’ve struggled with anger – sometimes rage – all my life and still do at times. I’ve always worked hard, thanks to a late-night heartfelt talk with my mom when I was around eight years old about it, to contain, control, and eliminate my anger in every part of my life. Sometimes I’m successful. Sometimes I’m not.
But in the course of doing some really stupid and potentially dangerous things during my life when anger and rage got the best of me, I realized along the way that not only was I hurting myself by getting so worked up, but I had the potential to hurt others because of my lack of self-control.
So, I learned and am still learning that anger is my dangerous emotion. I always need to be conscious of that and be aware when it makes its sudden and flashpoint appearance. I immediately extricate myself from the situation that causes it. I walk away. I breathe deeply. I walk and talk myself through it until I get calmed down. Most of the time, this takes less than half an hour today (it used to take a whole lot longer, so I know I’m making progress here overall).
But, within the last year, I got a needed reality check that this is something that still is a pretty deep-rooted green apple trait that I have not completely succeeded in turning into a ripe apple trait.
I had a deeply personal situation where it took months to get over my anger and rage about the events surrounding it. 
Every time I thought I was over it, it came back in full force – and, at times, even more strongly than when the situation and events happened – and consumed me all over again.
But the upside of this is that I was aware of it and my wholehearted desire was to eventually overcome it. So instead of giving up, quitting, and accepting it, I really worked very very hard and diligently on changing it, and with time and diligence, I made progress in ripening this trait.
But I know it’s still there and I know it’s a green-red apple trait, so my work is not done.
What is the green apple trait you are actively working on to turn into a ripe apple trait?
How You Can Help The Quintessential Leader
Posted: August 14, 2013 in About The Quintessential Leader Blog, Examples and Analyses of Quintessential Leadership, General Things about Quintessential Leadership, Quintessential Leadership, Quintessential Leadership is an Art, Team Building & DevelopmentTags: Amazon, blogs, Building Trust and Being Trustworthy, eBooks, Facebook, Kindle, paperback, share, The Quintessential Leader
Many readers of this blog have asked how they can help get this blog publicized. Here’s how.
Subscribe to this blog to get email updates so you don’t miss any posts. There is an email subscription option at the top of right-hand column. That will ensure that you get every new post and it will give you an opportunity to read all of them at your pace. I know the posts are lengthy and we live in a “quick-hit” world, but I strongly encourage you to take the time to read them, think about them, respond to them, and share them.
Once you read them, please share all the blog posts you read and like here with your social media networks (Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, WordPress, Tumblr, Reddit, etc.).
Think about this each time you read a post. Then do it right then.
If you press “Like” on a post from this blog on The Quintessential Leader Facebook page, then share the post, with your thoughts or with a quote from the post that resonated with you, on your own Facebook page.
Think about this each time you like a post and do it then. Liking a post is not enough. Sharing a post means more people get to see what you think about, like, and that reflects values and principles you share. If you don’t share the values and principles of this blog or of a particular post, then let me know why you aren’t sharing it.
This blog is interactive. I need your input – comments or messages – to know why you agree or disagree. Please comment on each post. Nothing, short of profane or inflammatory, will not be approved. And I promise to answer each comment with respect and thoughtfulness.
This blog also has links to The Quintessential Leadership eBooks. If you have not read them yourselves, then I ask you to purchase them (they will not break the bank for most of this blog’s readers). I’ve had a lot of endorsements for these books from people who have not purchased nor read them.
If you have purchased and read them, then please leave feedback (at Amazon, on the blog, or here).
If you have purchased them or do purchase them, and they have provided valuable information for you, then please include links to The Quintessential Leader’s store to share them with others and when you share posts.
One book, Building Trust and Being Trustworthy is also available on Amazon in paperback version and Kindle version.
For those of you who have already purchased copies of The Quintessential Leadership eBooks or the Amazon versions, thank you!
I encourage you, if you have found them helpful and instructive, to post on your social media sites a direct link to to the eBooks and share why they helped you, or to go to Amazon, if you purchased the book there, and leave a review that explains how the book was helpful to you.
All of this will help us get the word out about quintessential leadership and let people know there are real-world, practical application, and what-it-does-and-doesn’t-look-like examples of quintessential leadership.
Each one of you who reads this blog is part of my team. I cannot do this alone. I need each and every one of you to help me. Know that I appreciate, value, and count on you, just as I know you appreciate, value, and count on me. We’re in this together. It’s a team effort.
As a final note to this blog post, I’ve added a PayPal link to this blog for donations if you, the people who stop by here regularly, find the information presented here informative, helpful and useful. Please carefully consider a small donation to this blog.
There are many costs with running a blog. The information The Quintessential Leader provides is free to you, but not free to provide. To help offset the costs and keep the blog up and running, The Quintessential Leader needs your help.
The Quintessential Leader has only the shares and the donations with which to assess its value. Each of you who read this, in the end, determine what the information here is worth. So the value and the worth comes from the actions of The Quintessential Leader’s readers. You – each of you – must determine what that is to you, personally, and as a quintessential leader.
I thank everyone who stops by and hope and pray that when you leave you always have something of value to take with you. Even if it is a single sentence or a single thought that you take, I am thankful for the opportunity to share that with you. Please be sure to comment to let me know. Again, I will answer each and every comment and hope that we, together, can continue this dialogue for a long time.
I think long, carefully, and prayerfully about what I post here, because I am personally responsible for everything I say, do, and am. I thank you for supporting my efforts and humbly ask that you will continue, as you see fit, to do so.
Thank you all again.
Assess All the Teams You’re A Part Of in Life: Quintessential Leadership or Unquintessential Leadership?
Posted: August 9, 2013 in Examples and Analyses of Lack of Leadership and Unquintessential Leadership, Examples and Analyses of Quintessential Leadership, General Things about Quintessential Leadership, Myths and Misconceptions About Management, Qualities of a Quintessential Leader, Quintessential Leadership, Quintessential Leadership is an Art, Team Building & DevelopmentTags: Hacking Leadership, Mike Myatt, mirror, organizational leadership, paradigm leadership, quintessential leadership, team leadership, unquintessential leadership, window
All of us are part of many teams during our lifetimes: family, schools, social organizations, religious organizations, and business organizations are the major teams we are a part of throughout our lives. And, while we as individuals, are striving to become quintessential leaders, we often find that we are the only or one of a handful of team members on the various teams we are a part of that are.
So today’s post asks each of us to assess the teams we are a part of and determine whether the teams practice quintessential leadership or unquintessential leadership.
If they practice quintessential leadership, then we should encourage and grow that by becoming more quintessential in our personal leadership (modeling and mentoring quintessential leadership).
However, if one or many or all the teams we’re a part of practice unquintessential leadership, then today’s question for each of you to answer – please share your comments here because we who a part of this blog are a team and we can learn from each other – is what do you and I do personally to work to change that?
In Mike Myatt’s article, “30 Outdated Leadership Practices Holding Your Company Back,” he has a chart that, in general, shows unquintessential leadership practices (left column) and quintessential leadership practices (right column):
Which column, in general, describes each team you’re a part of? And to answer this honestly and accurately, each of us must first ask which column, in general, describes us individually as people and as leaders?
In this earlier post, I discussed how quintessential leaders look into mirrors while unquintessential leaders look through windows. Take a moment and go back to review that post. Because today’s post gives us another opportunity, as quintessential leaders, to look into a mirror.
The question, then, is will I? Will you?
The Quintessential Leader 