Remarkable Leadership E-Book

Kevin Eikenberry

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Serie: J-B US non-Franchise Leadership
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Seitenzahl: 459

Beschreibung

Remarkable Leadership is a practical handbook written for anyone who wants to hone the skills they need to become an outstanding leader. In this groundbreaking book, Kevin Eikenberry outlines a framework and a mechanism for both learning new things and applying current knowledge in a thoughtful and practical way. Eikenberry provides a guide through the most important leadership competencies, offers a proven method for learning leadership skills, and shows approaches for applying these skills in today's multitasking and overloaded world of work. The book explores real-world concerns such as focus, limited time, incremental improvement, and how we learn.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Praise

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Foreword

Chapter 1 - THE LEADER IN YOU

My Goal

My Philosophy

What Are the Skills?

What Makes a Leader Remarkable?

Strengthening Strengths Versus Working on Weaknesses

Before You Go

Chapter 2 - LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT IN THE REAL WORLD

Tara’s Experience

Jill’s Experience

Their Weekend

Developing a New Model

A New Leadership Development Model

The Bottom Line

Final Thoughts

Chapter 3 - HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF THIS BOOK

The Book Structure

How to Read This Book

How to Apply This Book

Chapter 4 - REMARKABLE LEADERS LEARN CONTINUALLY

Why Learning Is So Important to Us as Leaders

The Cycle of Learning

The Learning Mind-Set

Curiosity

Observation

Reflection

Fun

Some Final Thoughts

Chapter 5 - REMARKABLE LEADERS CHAMPION CHANGE

Why Our Feelings Matter

The Change Levers

Planning Change Efforts

Being a Change Champion

Moving Past Change Resistance

Chapter 6 - REMARKABLE LEADERS COMMUNICATE POWERFULLY

Communication Styles

Stories

Presentations

Chapter 7 - REMARKABLE LEADERS BUILD RELATIONSHIPS

Likeability

Listening

Building Trust

Networking

Final Thoughts

Chapter 8 - REMARKABLE LEADERS DEVELOP OTHERS

Supportive Behaviors

Feedback

Mentoring

Coaching

Chapter 9 - REMARKABLE LEADERS FOCUS ON CUSTOMERS

Different Types of Customers

Instilling the Customer Mind-Set

Service Recovery

Building Partnerships with Customers

Chapter 10 - REMARKABLE LEADERS INFLUENCE WITH IMPACT

Your Values

Building Credibility

The Importance of Your Attitude

Being Other Focused

Chapter 11 - REMARKABLE LEADERS THINK AND ACT INNOVATIVELY

Supporting Creativity

Better Brainstorming

Techniques of Creative Geniuses

Innovation

Chapter 12 - REMARKABLE LEADERS VALUE COLLABORATION AND TEAMWORK

A New Model for Team Success

Types of Teams

Leading Teams

The Leader as a Facilitator

Chapter 13 - REMARKABLE LEADERS SOLVE PROBLEMS AND MAKE DECISIONS

Asking Questions

Problem-Solving Basics

Decision-Making Approaches and Strategies

Being Decisive

Chapter 14 - REMARKABLE LEADERS TAKE RESPONSIBILITY AND ARE ACCOUNTABLE

Being Personally Accountable

Sharing Responsibility (Delegating)

Empowering Others

Creating Cultural Accountability

Some Final Thoughts

Chapter 15 - REMARKABLE LEADERS MANAGE PROJECTS AND PROCESSES SUCCESSFULLY

Using Basic Project Management Skills

Providing Project Leadership

Viewing Work as a Process

Enabling Process Improvement

Some Final Thoughts

Chapter 16 - REMARKABLE LEADERS SET GOALS AND SUPPORT GOAL ACHIEVEMENT

The Importance of Goal Setting

Personal Goal Setting

Goal-Setting Basics

The Goal-Setting Leader

The Power of Alignment

Creating a Process

Some Final Thoughts

EPILOGUE

REFERENCES

Acknowledgments

THE AUTHOR

ABOUT THE KEVIN EIKENBERRY GROUP

Remarkable Leadership

More Praise forRemarkable Leadership

“Buy this book if you want to read about leadership. Use this book if you want to be challenged to move out of your leadership comfort zone and develop skills that will release your untapped potential. Kevin has included every competency it takes to be a remarkable leader. He not only identifies and explains them, but goes on to challenge you to assess and further develop each competency in your life. From a human developmental standpoint, this book should be required reading, and learning, for anyone assigned the responsibility of being in leadership.”

—Greg Shaffer, training supervisor, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company

“An important book that combines profound simplicity with practical instructions for leadership greatness. Buy two copies—one for your desk and one for your bedside. Its poignant lessons will bear fruit at work and at home.”

—Chip R. Bell, author of Customer Loyalty Guaranteed

“The best measurement of success is the number of choices available to you. In this book, Kevin Eikenberry infinitely increases those choices for you. Choose to devour this book. It’s brilliant!”

—Jim Canterucci, author of Personal Brilliance

“In my assessment, Kevin Eikenberry is leading one of the most powerful and inspiring conversations about leadership now occurring on our planet. Remarkable Leadership brings the reader a concise distillation of all the most useful insights and actions regarding what actually works in leadership into one enjoyable volume. If you ever thought to yourself, ‘I could never be a great leader,’ reading this book will not only change your mind, it will launch you on a journey of fulfillment you hadn’t thought possible. At a time when many are cynical and resigned, Kevin’s book injects fresh new DNA into the intellectual gene pool of possibility. I urge you to read this book. Then go out and make a difference.”

—David Chard, regional director, Edelman Asia Pacific Academy

“This book will equip you with all the skills you need to become a remarkable leader. Remarkable leaders can be made, if we choose to live and improve in our strength zones. Regardless of title, position, or station in life, each of us can become a remarkable leader. This book gives you all the tools you’ll need; the only question is, will you choose to use them or will you settle for being mediocre?”

—Phil Gerbyshak, author of 10 Ways to Make It Great!

“Kevin Eikenberry knows what it takes to be a remarkable leader and shares his secrets, tips, and examples in this compelling and enjoyable book. Remarkable Leadership is elegant, powerful, and actionable. The book is full of excellent self-assessments and stories that illustrate what you can do to improve your impact as a leader. I love that Kevin zooms in on the leadership practices that can supercharge any company environment. Anyone can be a great leader by reading and following his guidance.”

—Lisa Haneberg, author of Two Weeks to a Breakthrough and Focus Like a Laser Beam

“I can’t think of a better book than Remarkable Leadership to put into the hands of aspiring leaders—or people who want to become more effective leaders. It’s well-written, filled with practical suggestions, and, for my money, hits the truly important aspects of leading inside an organization.”

—Rick Maurer, author of Beyond the Wall of Resistance and “Change Management News” blog

“What is so remarkable about Remarkable Leadership is that Kevin has found that the key to being a great leader doesn’t have to come with being a remarkable person. His book can take the ordinary and human in all of us and help us meld ourselves into remarkable leaders. His book invites all of us to find what kind of leader we can truly be.”

—Rusty Rueff, CEO, SNOCAP, Inc.

“One of the most thought-provoking and creative activities I invest in as a leader is to have breakfast with Kevin Eikenberry. Innovative, cost-effective, and practical ideas jump out of his head. Now, he has graciously written an entire book of these ideas around leadership, creating a practical asset for all leaders. Kevin does a great job balancing a leader’s need for a checklist with the need for practical tips and tools. He combines ideas from many leaders, melding them into cohesive lessons. For example, he helps you learn the difference between being a good leader who delegates and a great leader who empowers. This is a book that will help you get from where you currently are as a leader to where you strive to be.”

—Lou Russell, bestselling author and president of Russell Martin & Associates

“Kevin’s ability to focus, empower, and push leaders to a higher standard is what makes his insights illuminating. He has proven to be one of our association’s greatest friends and trusted advisors. I wouldn’t just recommend his book. I recommend you dog-ear it, highlight it, scratch random thoughts in it, and then buy a copy for your second-in-command as required reading.”

—Tony Scelzo, founder of Rainmakers

“When you’re ready to unleash the remarkable leader within you, you must read this book and apply its simple yet profound principles. Kevin Eikenberry has broken down leadership in a bottom-line, user-friendly way. By the time you are done with this book, you will realize that personal leadership is both your birthright and natural legacy.”

—Tami Walsh, president of Teen Wisdom.com

“Reading this book inspires you to want to be a better leader in all aspects of your life. What’s great about the book is that it gives you a hands-on, practical approach that you can use right from Chapter 1 to jump-start your journey to becoming a truly remarkable leader. Learning is a choice and if you make the choice to read this book, you are investing in yourself, in making yourself a better leader, learner, and active participant in the world around you. Remarkable Leadership is like your own leadership playbook for the twenty-first century. This book is a must-have for all managers and leaders!”

—Michelle Zant, Ph.D., education marketing manager, Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions

Copyright © 2007 by Kevin Eikenberry. All rights reserved.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Eikenberry, Kevin, 1962-

Remarkable leadership : unleashing your leadership potential one skill at a time / Kevin Eikenberry.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-7879-9619-2 (cloth)

1. Leadership. I. Title.

BF637.L4E37 2007

158′.4—dc22

2007008061

HB Printing

For Lori, who shows me a picture of remarkable every day, and for my Dad, the first leader I observed and followed

FOREWORD

WHEN YOU THINK of the greatest leaders you’ve ever experienced, either firsthand or from a distance, I’m guessing you don’t think of their technical prowess. To be effective in an organizational context, leaders must know their business and the unique aspects of that organization. They must be able to think strategically, budget, implement, and do a variety of these sorts of things well.

But when you think of the greatest, most remarkable leaders, you most likely don’t think of these skills—or at least these aren’t the things you think of first. If you are like me, what you think of first are leaders who are remarkable people: leaders who engender trust, create great teams, are innovative, have a vision, and are great communicators. You think about the skills that are explored in the following pages of this book.

I congratulate you for choosing this book. The fact that you are reading it says that you have a picture in your mind of becoming a more successful, confident, and valuable leader. This picture of your own potential is an important first step in your ultimate success.

Kevin Eikenberry accurately reminds us that whatever our job title or position, we are all leaders, and we all have the potential to become truly remarkable. His belief in us and our ultimate success is real and stands out on every page. This belief is inspiring and empowering. As you read these pages, his belief in you will build your own belief in yourself, an important ingredient in any successful learning journey.

In my book The Success Principles, I outline a series of principles that lead to greater success in any aspect of your life. Similarly in this book, Kevin Eikenberry identifies and illustrates principles that will help you become a remarkable leader. Through these principles, you will find a map that can lead you to great success, satisfaction, and fulfillment as a truly remarkable leader.

In my talks, I often quote my friend Tony Robbins, who says that “success leaves clues.” In this book, Kevin has provided the clues, and he has provided something even more important: he has given you specific action steps to apply those clues to your own great benefit and those you lead. Although you can’t do everything at once, with this book you have a clear set of actions that, when applied, will lead consistently and predictably to your success.

Santa Barbara, California

March 2007

JACK CANFIELD

1

THE LEADER IN YOU

ARE LEADERS MADE OR BORN? The question seems to be eternal, yet the answer seems clear. I’ve never received a birth announcement in the mail, or read one in the newspaper, that announced the birth of a leader. Yet on any given day, we can read the obituaries in any newspaper and see that leaders have died. This simple analysis shows that leaders must be made. People can do and learn the skills of leadership. People can become leaders.

In fact, I know that at some level, you already believe this or you wouldn’t be holding this book. After all, if you didn’t think it was possible to develop your leadership skills—if you thought they were skills people were born with—what would be the point of spending time reading this or any other book on leadership?

We all are born with a unique set of skills and innate abilities. Some of us are born with talents that make us more easily successful as musicians, mathematicians, or mechanics. Others are blessed with talents that make empathy, persuasion, vision, or communication come more easily. We all are given a unique bundle of talents at birth, and it is our job/opportunity to use that personal set of skills and abilities to maximize our potential throughout our life. Some of our unique talents will help us in our journey to becoming a remarkable leader, and other skills may not come as naturally to us, and so we may need to be more diligent or conscious in developing them.

So while leaders are most definitely made, I hope you will agree that within our personal package of potential, we each are given tools that will aid us in our leadership development. There is a leader in you. Part of that leader you may already see; other parts may not yet be revealed.

My Goal

This book is designed to help you identify the parts of your personal leadership package working in your favor and help you develop those parts, and any others you wish to work on, to become the leader you are capable of becoming. In other words, my goal is to help you become a remarkable leader by unleashing the leadership potential that is already within you.

A secondary goal of this book, which may not be quite as obvious, is to help you develop leaders around you. Remarkable leaders are those who lead and develop others, and this book will help you do that as well.

My Philosophy

When I read a book, I always appreciate knowing the author’s perspective and philosophy. Once I learn an author’s underlying beliefs, I am in a better position to learn from him or her. I’ve actually already shared part of that philosophy, but here is some more context.

Our Potential Is Vast

Think about the last time you were in a room of people where a baby was present. Where was most of the focus in the room? On the baby, of course! We all are drawn to babies, like metal to a magnet. We all sense that there is something magical about their presence. However, on a purely logical level, this doesn’t make much sense.

Babies cry. Babies smell (really bad) sometimes. Babies are high maintenance. And they aren’t attractive by the standards we use to determine physical attractiveness in adults. Yet we are still drawn to them. We want to look at them (or their pictures in their absence). We want to hold them, smile at them, and talk to them in strange voices. Why is this true? Because deep down we know that every baby we hold, every baby we look at, every baby we hear has the chance to be anyone and anything. That baby could be a president of the United States, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist, a best-selling author, a preacher, a teacher, a star athlete—anyone. We know that a baby’s potential is limitless.

Because you were once a baby too, that same limitless potential that we know resides in babies still resides in us. Our potential is vast: we are capable of far more than we can ever imagine. This potential exists in all parts of our life, including our potential to be a truly remarkable leader.

We Can Choose

One of the most valuable abilities we all have—something that distinguishes humans from other animals—is the ability to choose. We make choices all day, every day. Many are subconscious and taken for granted, but we can choose how to respond to a situation, what to say, and how to view something. We also have the power to make a choice to learn and grow, or to stay and stagnate.

This book is about helping you use your power of choice wisely to help you become a remarkable leader.

Opportunities Abound

Chances are you are reading this book because you want to become a more effective leader in one part of your life: at work, in your church, in a volunteer organization, or in some other role. Having a focus is a perfect way to approach this book, but you shouldn’t limit your view.

The skills of a leader are transferable across all the roles you play in all parts of your life. So while you may read this book through the lenses of your leadership role at work, recognize that you can practice and use those skills in your community, in your church, with your neighbors, and even at home.

We Shouldn’t Settle

If you believe, even if only intellectually at this point, that your potential is huge, then it should be easy to see why you shouldn’t settle for less than your best. You didn’t decide to read this book because you thought you could be a slightly-better-than-mediocre leader. You didn’t decide to learn more about leadership skills so you could get by. Deep down you know you can be remarkable. You shouldn’t settle for anything less than your best self, reaching ever closer to your potential—whether as a leader or in any other part of your life.

This isn’t the time or the place for compromise. Now is the time to take action to become what you are capable of being. This book is about helping you move up your ladder of success, increasing your confidence and competence as a leader—to become remarkable.

What Are the Skills?

Before you read any further, get a mental picture of a person you consider a remarkable leader: a person who personifies leadership to you. This person can be living or dead, someone you know well or have worked with or someone you have only read about or observed from afar. Once you have that person in your mind, write his or her name below.

My remarkable role model leader:

Now write down five skills, attributes, behaviors, or habits that make this person a model of leadership for you:

1. __________________

2. __________________

3. __________________

4. __________________

5. __________________

We all have a picture in our mind’s eye of what a great leader looks like or of how a great leader behaves. You’ve just now identified part of your personal picture.

Organizations build these pictures too. They are reinforced through culture and often codified by a list of leadership competencies or leadership behaviors used to describe the traits they value and use to evaluate potential leaders within the organization. Each organization has a different list of competencies. The lists I’ve seen range from five to twenty-three competencies. In the end, although those skills may be stated somewhat differently, there are some core skills or competencies that usually are included. This book focuses on thirteen of those core competencies:

• Remarkable leaders learn continually.

• Remarkable leaders champion change.

• Remarkable leaders communicate powerfully.

• Remarkable leaders build relationships.

• Remarkable leaders develop others.

• Remarkable leaders focus on customers.

• Remarkable leaders influence with impact.

• Remarkable leaders think and act innovatively.

• Remarkable leaders value collaboration and teamwork.

• Remarkable leaders solve problems and make decisions.

• Remarkable leaders take responsibility and have accountability.

• Remarkable leaders manage projects and processes successfully.

• Remarkable leaders set goals and support goal achievement.

These are the competencies I have identified through experience, consultation, observation, and study as those broad, core competencies that lead to remarkable leaders.

What Makes a Leader Remarkable?

I recently spent time with a Canadian client group that included many hockey fans. I asked them who the greatest hockey player of all time was. After some good-natured teasing and verbal jousting, they agreed that if it wasn’t Wayne Gretzky, he was clearly one of the greatest.

I then asked them if he was the greatest skater, the fastest skater, the best defenseman, the best goal tender, or the most physical player ever. On each of these questions, the whole group answered no: they agreed that he was none of these things.

Then I asked if he was the best passer, the best scorer, the best at anticipating where play was going, and the most competitive ever to play the game. These answers were much different from the ones to my first set of questions. Although there wasn’t complete consensus on each of these, there was general agreement that Gretzky was the best, or among the very best, in hockey history at these skills.

This led to an interesting discussion about strengths, weaknesses, and greatness. The group determined that it wasn’t necessary that the greatest player be the greatest at every individual skill. In fact they generally agreed that there were some skills where Gretzky was far from the best.

If I had asked people to write down what they thought of when asked to think about Gretzky, they would have written down all of his great strengths and not mentioned any of his weaknesses at all.

Think about the outstanding leader you identified a minute ago. When you thought of your role model leader, did you focus on what he isn’t good at, or did you remember and marvel at all that she is best at?

I’ll bet your results aren’t very different from my hockey loving participants.

What makes us remarkable are those skills at which we truly excel. What makes you remarkable are those things at which you truly excel.

If you have two or more skills at which you truly excel, you will likely be seen by others as highly effective. This is true for a sport, a hobby, or any other endeavor, including leadership.

Of course, if Wayne Gretzky couldn’t skate, his other great skills would be all for naught as a hockey player. The same is true for us. There are some underlying skills for any pursuit that are absolutely critical: we must have some skill in these competencies even to be in the game.

If you took a person unwilling or unable to learn, with extremely low interpersonal or communication skills, it would be hard to see a remarkable leader because such a flaw (like Gretzky not being able to skate) would overshadow or negate other great skills they possess.

It is a freeing thought to consider, especially after looking at a list of thirteen competencies such as those explored in this book, that anyone can become remarkable by becoming truly outstanding at a few of these rather than needing to become very good or excellent at all thirteen of them.

Remember that what makes you remarkable are those skills at which you truly excel.

Strengthening Strengths Versus Working on Weaknesses

Does all of this excuse us from improving our skills even in areas that aren’t already strengths? Of course not! Remember that people at the top of their professions, whether in hockey, horseshoes, or leadership, continue to work on all of their skills, but recognize the importance of their natural gifts.

Before we go any further, get a piece of paper and a pen. Once you have that in front of you, draw a tree. (If you don’t have a pen and paper handy, stop and draw the tree in your mind.) Once you have drawn your tree, continue reading.

I don’t know whether you drew a palm tree, a tree with leaves, an evergreen tree, or something else, but I do know that about 90 percent of people following that direction will draw only half of a tree: they don’t draw any roots (or draw only some just below ground level). In fact, about half of the total plant mass of trees is below the ground’s surface. That is, the mass of the root system is as large as the mass of the tree’s branches and leaves.

What does this have to do with our strengths and weaknesses? Everything. Just like a tree, most people who want to improve at something focus on only what they can see. And what they can see are their weaknesses. If you want to excel at something, including leadership, you typically are looking for areas where you can improve—that is, the things you see as weaknesses. You may want to be as good at a particular skill as someone you admire. In this analysis, you forget about the root half of your skills tree—the part that nurtures you and gives you strength and balance and stability.

Have you ever had someone compliment you for something that you thought was easy or that you otherwise took for granted? Did you ever stop to think that the compliment was valid and heartfelt, and that the reason you didn’t give that behavior much thought was that it was something that came extremely easy to you?

Those things that we are best at are often the things we take for granted. Just like the roots of a tree, your strongest skills are what allow your tree to grow. The stronger and deeper the roots are, the taller the tree can and will grow.

When given feedback on your performance from a reliable (a person we trust), powerful (our boss), or diverse (through a 360-degree assessment perhaps) source, you will have a list of strengths and weaknesses to consider.

Most people look immediately to the weaknesses to determine what to work on and improve. If you consider our analysis of stars in any field, you quickly realize that it is precisely the strengths that made them stars that make people effective. If this is equally true for all of us (and not just the easily recognizable stars), and I believe that it is, then it makes sense for you to spend at least as much time strengthening your strengths as working on your weaknesses.

There is a growing number of books that explore this concept in far greater detail—Now, Discover Your Strengths (2001) by Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton is one I recommend—but the concept is important for you to consider as you read this book.

You will read chapters or portions of chapters that you consider or know to be your strengths. It will be to your greatest advantage to consider these chapters at least as strongly as those areas where you know you need to improve.

Before You Go

I close this chapter the way I started it.

You were born with a unique set of skills and innate gifts. In many ways, you have been a leader throughout your life. Regardless of your past experience or success, you have the capacity and the potential to be a remarkable leader.

You are already a leader. Read and use this book, and you can become remarkable.

2

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT IN THE REAL WORLD

TARA AND JILL MET IN COLLEGE and became close friends and sorority sisters. Active in most of the same activities on campus, they often thought they would take jobs in the same organization after graduation. But when their offer letters arrived, the women chose different companies, though within the same industry. Not surprisingly, both had success in the first few years of their careers. As it turned out, they both were promoted to their first leadership roles within a few weeks of each other, just before homecoming at their alma mater.