BE – The First Word in Leadership

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The first thing I want to do today is thank the Lord for the protection of my daughters. They were driving Saturday and hit a patch of ice and began sliding with no control of the car. They stopped one foot from a traffic sign that was just a couple of feet from a steep drop-off of about 20 feet or more. So glad they are safe!

The most important aspect of leadership is not what you know, not your skill set, or who you know. The most important aspect of leadership is WHO you are. In the Army’s leadership model, it is the BE of , BE-KNOW-DO.

In the book, BE-KNOW-DO, Leadership the Army Way, the author quotes General of the Army George C. Marshall speaking to officer candidates on the eve of World War II. “When you are commanding, leading [soldiers] under conditions where physical exhaustion and privations must be ignored, where the lives of [soldiers] may be sacrificed, then the efficiency of your leadership will depend only to a minor degree on your tactical ability. It will primarily be determined by your character, your reputation, not so much for courage – which will be accepted as a matter of course – but by the previous reputation you have established for fairness, for that high-minded patriotic purpose, that  quality of unswerving determination to carry through any military task assigned to you.”

We often read books, go to seminars, and attend training classes to become better leaders, when what we really need to focus on is what it means to BE a leader. To focus on the development of our character, to grow as a person. As has been often said, leadership is not a vocation, it is a way of life.

How are you intentionally growing in the BE aspect of leadership?

Have a great week!
BG

Be-Know-Do, The Army’s Leadership Model

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The following is one of my favorite posts from 2011.  Thought it was appropriate to share with you one more time.  Hope you have a great weekend!

Being a former Army officer, the Army holds a special place in my heart.  Additionally, they have been the premier leadership training organization in our country for the last couple of centuries.

The Army has a simple, but profound model for leadership:  Be – Know – Do.

By the way, the Leader to Leader Institute (Peter Drucker) has published a great book on this called BE-KNOW-DO, Leadership The Army Way.

The model is simply this:

BE – this is all about your character as a leader and is foundational to your ability to lead.  It gives you the courage to do what is right regardless of the circumstances or the consequences.  As part of BE, you should be aware of your personal core values as well as your organization’s values.  For the Army, their values are:

  • Loyalty
  • Duty
  • Respect
  • Selfless Service
  • Honor
  • Integrity
  • Personal Courage

KNOW – This is about the knowledge and skill sets you need to be competent as a leader and cover four areas:

  1. Interpersonal skills
  2. Conceptual skills
  3. Technical skills
  4. Tactical skills

Your mastery of the knowledge and skills required for your role are essential to the success of your organization.

DO – Leaders act. They bring together everything they are, everything they believe, and everything they know how to do to provide purpose, direction, and motivation.  This involves the following three leader actions:

  1. Influencing
  2. Operating
  3. Improving

For me, it’s a great model of leadership.  You can either order an actual copy of The U.S. Army Leadership Field Manual or the book on the model, BE-KNOW-DO, Leadership The Army Way.

Hope you have a blessed day serving those the Lord has given you to shepherd at your place of work.

BG

“Is This What You’ve Been Waiting for Your Entire Life?”

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Does this describe you?  Do you resonate with some of these statements?

“A year ago I knew I wasn’t happy. I felt the discontent deep inside me. It rattled my bones.

Just one year ago, I knew I wasn’t living a healthy life, I knew I wasn’t focused on my relationships like I should be, I knew I wasn’t pursuing my passions, I knew I wasn’t growing as an individual, I knew I wasn’t contributing to people like I should, I knew I wasn’t living a meaningful life.”

Click here to read the rest of the post on the Minimalists blog.  Some great questions.  Of course as a follower of Christ, a central part of the process is getting before the Lord about His calling on your life – not just our passions.

Maybe this is worth spending a day away to reflect on?

BG

Are You Taking Care of the Linchpins?

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Linchpins hold things together. They are seemingly insignificant and when they are working properly you never even notice them.  However, whenever one of them breaks or slips out of position, things come apart in a major way!

Organizations have linchpins.  They are often the quiet people in the background that most don’t even notice who are quietly getting the work done and holding the organization together. Often as leaders we don’t even realize all that they do for the organization.  We just assume things are being taken care of and often forget the complexity of our organizations and all the things that have to be tended to to make it run.

The thing is, linchpins need care as well.  We tend to notice the high profile staff members, we are quick to ensure our speakers, messengers, executive staff are getting recognized, getting time off, taking sabbaticals, and getting enrichment opportunities.  But what about those linchpins who are serving faithfully in the background?  Often the better they do their job the less they are noticed.  However, they also get burned out, they also desire to see their work recognized and after many years of toiling in the background, they too could use a sabbatical.  Are you taking care of your linchpins?

Look around you and really see who it is that are the linchpins in your organization.  Do they need a little care?

Hope it is a great day for you!
BG

A Powerful Leadership Development Tool

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Good morning – weird weather here in SW Michigan – early in the morning and already in the 40′s and the snow is melting rapidly.

Leadership development is critical to an organization’s health and longevity.  Many of us have systems in place to help prepare the next generation of leaders to take over when it is time to transition.  We have training classes, send them to seminars, have them read books and maybe send them back to school for more education.  However, we often miss one very simple tool for developing a new leader.

Just let them do it!  Just delegate some of your responsibilities and let them lead!  In our organization we were talking  the other day about how some of the senior leadership simply had to give away some things due to the overwhelming demands of a new initiative and rapid growth in other areas of the ministry.  In the midst of this, leaders who we wondered if they were ready have stepped up and performed at a high level.

It would be nice to say that this was a planned progression, but unfortunately it was unplanned and forced.  The result has been a great appreciation for the young leaders we have on board and a relief that responsibilities can be off loaded and handled well and sometimes handled better that we were handling them!

So to develop some of your young leaders, simply take a chance and let them run with the ball for a while.  You may be surprised at how well they do.

Blessings on your week!
BG

A Smart Leader vs. A Wise Leader

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Read something this morning about the difference between a smart leader vs. a wise leader.  A smart leader is one who makes New Year’s resolutions, develops plans, sets goals, sets regular milestones and carefully charts their progress against those goals and milestones.

Wise leaders on the other hand root themselves in a noble cause, align it with a compelling vision and then take action.

Are you invested deeply in something that is noble and far beyond yourself?  Are you investing your life in something that will impact the community around you?  Are you making a difference?

Don’t just make plans and set goals – take action and make a difference.

Blessings on your day!
BG

Celebration Expresses a Grateful Heart

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Looking forward to a treat in just a little bit – I am meeting with a good friend of mine for breakfast to celebrate his birthday.  It is a privilege and joy to celebrate with him on his birthday.  This man has impacted so many people over the years and has been instrumental in the process of so many people’s lives being transformed.  His is a life to celebrate!

It struck me how important it is for us to celebrate – even the small things.  It is one way of expressing a grateful heart.  It is a means to teach people how to value others and to be grateful for other people.  So often, we see the negatives in those around us – celebrating with them helps us to see what is special about them and to be grateful for them.

This applies for your family, friends and co-laborers.  We often forget those we serve with and sometimes they are in great need of celebration.  So take time today and celebrate a victory, a milestone, a step forward with someone – you will be the richer for doing so.

BG

Is Organizing Your Email a Waste of Time?

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For the GTD (Getting Things Done) adherents, the title of this post might be akin to heresy!

But that is essentially what Michael Schrage is saying is true based upon research conducted by IBM (click here to read his post).  They found that people using the email search features usually found what they were looking for faster and with fewer errors than people using complex email file folder systems (like me).

At first, I rebelled slightly at the thought of not precisely filing my emails, but then I began to reflect on how I am using my email folders and realized that while my folders helped to a certain extent, I was actually relying more now on my search function in Outlook to find what I wanted more than the folders and that the folders were actually hindering the use of the search function.

I don’t think I am quite ready to get away from my email folders yet, but I am about to simplify them greatly – today!

One question Michael asks that bears repeating is are you spending more time thinking and reflecting on how to get better organized than you are on accomplishing desired outcomes?

Blessings on your day!
BG

Forget Passion – Find a Problem

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Good morning – a foggy and wet morning here with some snow on the way this afternoon.

In a Harvard Business Review blog post Oliver Segovia, a young twentysomething businessman, talks about how his generation was raised to “follow their passion” to do what excited them and met their needs.  He then goes on to talk about ultimately how unfulfilling that path is for them.  That is understandable as at its core that path is very self-centered.

What he advocates is finding big problems and becoming part of the solution.  In other words, become other focused instead of self focused – the rewards are much greater.  Truly making a difference in the lives of others is one of the most rewarding things you can do in your life.

I teach as an adjunct at a local college on nonprofit management.  It was interesting that last night our discussion centered on international organizations that have been and are changing the lives of thousands upon thousands of lives across the world.  They are at the center of the process of improving the lives of people across the globe in a very real way.  Think about this – life expectancy worldwide has doubled in the last 100 years – that is absolutely remarkable!  The thing is, each of these organizations that are impacting people across the globe were started by an individual who saw a problem and decided to do something about the problem. The result – changed lives.

Will you be one of those people?  Find a problem and be part of the solution and find the joy that comes from serving other people.

BG

Are you Squandering Your Most Productive Time of Day?

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Good morning from a snowy southwest Michigan!  Our family had a fun time this weekend at the Ice Festival in our little town.  Did not have many of those down South!!

An Ice Elephant

Question for you – how are you spending the first part of the day at work?  What is your focus?  For most of us, the first part of the day is typically the most important as we are freshest, we are more creative, we have more energy, more focus and so on.  So do you use that time to plan, to begin work on an important project that requires sustained thought, to create?  Or do you spend your morning checking out the news, responding to e-mail, checking your social media for posts and so on.  Essentially, you are squandering your most valuable and creative time simply responding to others and allowing the “news” to set your attitude for the day.

Try something different – protect the first part of your day.  Block off the time and don’t allow meetings during that time.  Don’t automatically go first to your email, don’t surf the news site on the web (it’s depressing anyway), don’t go to Facebook or Twitter.  Instead, create something outstanding – use your best time for your most important work!

Blessings on your week!
BG