Leadership is… Building Leaders Over the past couple of years I have been writing a series of blogs on what it means to be a leader. Last week I asked the question, do we need followers to be a leader? How do we position ourselves as a leader in any…
The Leader as Coach
This week, as was the case last week, my post is triggered by a comment from one of the students in the class I teach at UBCO. The topic was Flow (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi) and its impact on us. Which of our activities give us energy, and which drain us of…
Leadership is a Continuous Journey
Leadership is a continuous journey — we should never stop learning. One of the most effective ways of learning and growing, according to Kouzes and Posner (Learning Leadership, Willey, 2016), is to look for “stretch” assignments; areas for personal development. They suggest that you list several areas in which you…
Who Are K&P and What is TLC?
There are two very influential books in my leadership journey. One of those is Marshall Goldsmith’s What Got You Here Won’t Get You There (2007, Hyperion); the other is The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner (Jossey-Bass, 2012). I have talked about both of these works and their authors in…
Leadership is… Three Theories of Leadership
As you read the literature on leadership, you soon realize that there are many theories on leadership’s defining characteristics and its practices. The following three theories of Leadership are the most prevalent ones. The Great Man Theory Developed in the 19th century, this model was promoted by Scottish philosopher, writer and…