From the category archives:

Leadership

Go here to read all of William Deresiewicz’s speech to the plebes of West Point in October 2009. Relevant quote:

We have a crisis of leadership in America because our overwhelming power and wealth, earned under earlier generations of leaders, made us complacent, and for too long we have been training leaders who only know how to keep the routine going. Who can answer questions, but don’t know how to ask them. Who can fulfill goals, but don’t know how to set them. Who think about how to get things done, but not whether they’re worth doing in the first place. What we have now are the greatest technocrats the world has ever seen, people who have been trained to be incredibly good at one specific thing, but who have no interest in anything beyond their area of exper­tise. What we don’t have are leaders.

Being a leader is about asking questions, challenging assumptions and the status quo. It’s about being willing to stick your neck out to do something you believe is right before anyone else is willing to follow you. What Deresiewicz describes in the quote above is a manager, not a leader. You don’t manage any organization into a bold new direction. To set the pace, you need leaders.

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Obviously, as a self-development, personal improvement blogger, I’m a huge proponent of making choices to become a better person. One of the things I’m particularly interested in is the development of leadership skills. I’m always interested in how to become a better leader, and I feel like there are many ways for one to learn information that will help along that path.

I’ve written reviews of books that touch on this subject, both directly and tangentially. I’ve written posts on how I believe one can become a better leader, no matter whether your current position requires you to manage folks or not (and, boy, is there ever a difference between “leadership” and “management”. Don’t get me stared on that one).

What I’ve not done too often over the past few years is to attend conferences and talks by “experts” in a particular field to understand from them how they got to become experts. I read the books, but I’ve often found that presentations by authors will include anecdotes and information that aren’t included in their published works that can be just as, if not more, helpful.

That’s about to change.

Michael Hyatt, Chairman of Thomas Nelson Publishers (who’s amazing self-titled blog you need to be reading), announced a limited time offer for readers of his blog this morning that every single person who reads this should take advantage of. He’s partnered with G5 Leadership to offer a one-year subscription to their service (a $129 value).

Around once a month, G5 Leadership offers seminars online from well-known authors and speakers on various topics designed to develop facets of leadership. They can range from David Allen, best-selling author of Getting Things Done, to Stanford Professor Bob Sutton, author of Good Boss, Bad Boss. Each seminar runs about one and a half to two hours, and is archived for later reference.

This isn’t an affiliate post for G5 Leadership or for Michael Hyatt. I have no opportunity for financial gain if you sign up, and I don’t know Michael Hyatt or anyone at G5 Leadership personally. I’m merely appreciative of the offer they’ve facilitated, and wanted everyone who reads this blog to be aware of it. I’d encourage you, if this sounds at all interesting or beneficial, to head over to Michael’s blog to get the details as to how to grab your free membership today. He mentions it’s a limited time offer, so I’d suggest you pounce on it quickly.

Illustrations of logos courtesy of their respective web properties. No infringement of ownership implied or intended.

While this is not an affiliate post for either G5 Leadership or Michael Hyatt, there are affiliate links to books within this post. Please see Start Being Your Best’s Review Policy for an explanation of affiliate links here.

 

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