Leadership Renewal: From Good to Great

Nelson Mandela remains to be seen as one of the most motivational leaders of all time and he still remains an inspiration to many.  Mr. Mandela fought for a cause that he so strongly believed in and that risk was worth 18 years of his life.  A leader stands his ground and doesn’t change the person he or she is in any tough obstacle in life.  Patience, Perseverance, and Courage really defines Mandela as such a strong leader.  Patience – living in a cell for 18 years, but still believing in himself and knowing that he will make a difference once he got out of prison shows unprecedented amount of patience.  Perseverance – As a leader you must be able to persevere anything and Mandela persevered a situation that very few could be able to do.  Instead of just settling when he got out of prison.  Mandela could have just focused on enjoying his freedom.  Instead, he went back to work and became President of South Africa.  He knew that he could make his country even better and improve everything that needed to be improved.  The courage to stand up for what he believed in shows that he is a leader that would have followers that truly respect him. 

 

Tony Dungy – Be the One

Tony Dungy is one of the most inspirational leaders in sports and everyone should have a little “Tony Dungy” in them. I had the pleasure of meeting Tony Dungy on numerous occasions and had the opportunity to attend his leadership conference at Traders Point Christian Church in 2007. This video starring Dungy, Be the one, really testifies on what kind of person and inspiration Mr. Dungy is. In the end Dungy wants to be remembered as a husband, a father, and a servant. He wants to leave a legacy that he helped people become better. As a leader, Dungy had substance and he was a very unique leader. In the leadership conference in 2007 Mr. Dungy stressed about being all you can be and be the one who makes a difference in people’s lives. I had the pleasure of meeting Dungy’s son Eric in 2006 and we are still friends to this day. You can really understand why Eric is such a good kid. His father taught him to be a leader and to treat people the way you want to be treated. Tony Dungy is uncommon and he talked about how being a successful leader is uncommon today. Tony Dungy is a soft spoken leader and he always tries to put wisdom upon his friends, strangers, players, colleagues, and to any other person he comes across. I respect Mr. Dungy because he is a very fair and honest man that has become one the most renown leaders in NFL history. Be the one! Choose the be uncommon and make yourself into a leader by developing yourself in every way possible.

 

Are You a Leader? -Motivating

This video really displays all that we have learned in this class thus far this semester. I believe you should use this video in future CSR 309 classes. It is a powerful video that gives all credible information it takes to be a successful leader. The most inspiring part was the showing of how three great leaders were criticized and the public didn’t think they had any chance to succeed. Those people were Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Edison. All of theses people were great innovators and also had significant events that were hard for them, but they persevered and became some of the most successful leaders our world has ever seen. Sometimes leaders might fall, but the gain knowledge from the experience and end up doing even bigger and better things. My favorite quote of the video is that a leader’s performance is measured by the people who follow them and how they engage and inspire them. Leadership is about doing the right things and gaining the respect of everyone else to follow and start doing the right things.

 

Inspirational Video #1 True Leaders Don’t Quit

True leaders get the very best out of people. This is a clip from a very inspirational movie, Defeating the Giants, and I strongly recommend watching it. The coach is a true leader because he gets the very best out of his player. He makes an excellent point by showing to his team that anything is possible if you put forth your very best effort. He wanted to show to his team that Brock is the a true leader and the heart and soul of the team. The player is a true inspiring leader because he didn’t quit until he couldn’t go anymore. The coach is the ultimate leader of the team and he made sure that he got the point across that anything is possible when you put your mind to it. Go the distance. A successful leader will get every last bit of energy and dedication out of his team members. The coach disciplined the player but he ultimately had an inspiring message behind it. Also, when a team member accomplishes something great, a true leader will be the first one to let you know what you accomplished and give most positive feedback as possible.

 

“Leadership: Th…

“Leadership: The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.”
– Dwight David Eisenhower

I believe this is the easiest and most simple way to be a successful leader.  Although, unfortunately, not many people do things because they actually want to do it.  Mr. Eisenhower is saying here that you must give respect to gain respect.  A leader must connect with their people and be willing to really encourage their people in everything they do.  Once you develop a leadership and show to people that you really care about them then they will sincerely care about you.  And in the end will do things for you because they want to do it.  They respect you as a leader enough to do things for you because they believe it is their duty to do so.  

 

The Seven Secrets of Inspiring Leaders

From Bloomberg BusinessWeek, I came across 7 key attributes that makes a successful and inspiring leader in the business world.  I was shocked to see that only 10% of employees enjoy going to work and most of that is due to their manager or someone who they work for in the corporation.  Demonstrate enthusiasm.  Just like Mr. Abrashoff talked about in It’s Your Ship, leaders must be enthusiastic at all times.  If the leader isn’t enthusiastic that day then the rest of the team will also be unmotivated and not into it.  A leader should not show themselves be unenthusiastic.  If they are unenthusiastic on a certain day then stay away from your employees!  Articulate a compelling course of action.  A leader must have a vision and be able to tell his or her employees what their vision is, just like how Mr. Abrashoff released his vision to the entire crew.  Sell the benefit.  A leader must make sure that his followers feel wanted and that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  Tell more stories.  A leader is willing to get away and show examples from the past that can inspire the entire company.  Invite participation.  A leader wants his or her employees’ input and there thinking on how to improve certain things in the corporation.  Reinforce an optimistic outlook.  A leader must never get down and he or she must be willing to stay positive at all times and truly believe that things will improve.  Encourage potential.  A leader must be willing to connect with people and get to know them on a personal basis.  

 

Starbucker’s 10 Best Leadership Lessons

Again, from my experience at Starbucks, I believe they have the best customer service and training program out of any retail corporation in the United States. This is due to the fact that they have outstanding leaders representing their company and this photo displays a manager’s core values when leading a retail store. When I worked at Starbucks my boss definitely made it his obligation to teach us and not to just tell us what to do. He was very patience with his employees and you could tell that we were picking up on things quicker, because he explained himself in a way that everyone could understand. Our manager did everything he could to help the company and sometimes he even washed dishes if it was really easy. I saw this as an awesome characteristic, because that alone made me want to work hard for this guy. I believe Cory, the manager at the Salisbury Starbucks, regularly showed his leadership on a daily basis based off these 10 characteristics.

 

“When you have …

“When you have chosen your part, abide by it and do not weakly try to reconcile yourself to the world. The heroic cannot be the common, nor the common heroic. Congratulate yourself if you have done something strange and extravagant, and broken the monotony of a decorous age.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

I believe Mr. Emerson is saying that being a leader is not an easy thing to do, but once you make up your mind to be a leader, never sell yourself short.  Hold yourself to a higher standard.  When you put your mind to something and say that you are going to lead then you better have some integrity and be the best possible leader you can be.  To be a leader and to make a difference in the world isn’t common.  I think Ralph is saying to strive for greatness and do something that not very many people are willing to do, which is to be an outstanding and dedicated leader.  

 

10 Examples of Tremendous Business Leadership

This article was written in 2010 and it reveals ten influential experiences where companies displayed unbelievable leadership abilities.  Instead of discussing all ten, I picked out my top three to talk about.  I am going to talk about tremendous leadership that was revealed by top management from the companies of Southwest Airlines, Costco, and Starbucks.  Southwest CEO, James Parker, displayed his leadership abilities when he kept Southwest moving forward even just day after September 11th.  What amazed me about Mr. Parker was that, instead of having his customers wait in misery at the airport days after September 11th, he made sure that his employees were taking the passengers bowling and to the movies.  I read this and thought,”how can you not respect a guy like that”.  Leaders don’t expect anything in return, but he showed he would go out his way to improve the well being of his employees and his passengers.  Next, Costco’s CEO, Jim Sinegal, has a system that I have never heard of before.  From reading the article about Costco, all that Jim wants is for his company to keep improving every day.  Shockingly, Mr. Sinegal gives himself a $350,000.00 per year.  From my perception, Mr. Sinegal, wants to lead by example.  On his name tag it read “Jim”.  He wants to be just another employee and the people that work for Mr. Sinegal really admire him for that.  Lastly, I picked the summary about Starbucks and CEO Howard Schultz because I used to work there and I believe it is an excellent company based off outstanding morals.  When tragedy strikes, it is a leader’s obligation to be there for his company and the people affected.  In 1997, he visited the families of the employees that were shot and killed at a store in Washington, D.C.  

 

Becoming a Motivational Leader

In this article, it describes the eight most important characteristics that a leader should obey by.  A leader must create a big vision, set high standards, face fears, be realistic about the situation, accept responsibility, take vigorous actions, strive for excellence, and put ideas into action.  I came across this article and I truly believe that it discusses every important aspect of what it means to be a leader.  A leader must be unique and not be average.  There were a couple of things that stuck out to me when I was reading through the article.  First, like what you said in class one day, a leader must be able to face his or her fears.  This relates to how you, as a professor, wasn’t comfortable in public speaking, but you faced your fears and became an above average public speaker.  Secondly, a leader must take vigorous action.  This relates to CSR 309 by having people step and come before the class.  You showed us that the mark of a true leader is that he or she leads the action and he or she is willing to go first, just like how some people took vigorous action to walk down to the front of the class.  Lastly, most importantly to me, a leader must have high integrity and be a person that other people admire and respect.  A leader must be true to themselves, as well as others, and if they don’t show that then the leader will lose respect from his or followers.