Essays about leadership in exactly 99 words
Why just 99 words? As a leader you need to communicate critical information,
creative ideas, and a commanding vision. If it doesn't have punch, it won't
inspire so why waste words after you've made your point?
Use these short stories with your team to spark new thinking about the role of leaders in your organization. And, when those brilliant ideas emerge, please share them with us!
| Choose a Story | |
| Empowerment Dance | Built to Last |
| Taking a Stand on Meetings | Open for Business |
| Seeing the Big Picture | Motion Sickness |
| Choose Chaos | Great Groups |
| On the Move | Lead Me, Please! |
Empowerment Dance
Linda was a great boss. More like a coach than a supervisor, she helped me strive for my potential and offered me opportunities to learn and grow professionally and personally. Acutely aware of power differences, she didn't discriminate between me and her office assistant, Isabel.
One day, Isabel confided, "Linda's always trying to get me to go to these fancy retreats but I just want to stay here and type."
Wow! You can offer to empower but people have to be ready and want to make changes for themselves. It's a complex dance. Who leads, who follows?
In some organizations, no one is allowed to sit during meetings. The idea is that if we have to stand, we'll finish the meeting and get back to business. Problem is, this assumes a limited use for meetings: giving orders or reporting. Both could be accomplished as easily in an e-mail!
If the meeting is to analyze, create, learn, solve, celebrate, then make a place for conversation. Spread the table with linens, flowers, coffee, and snacks and have a meaningful conversation.
Shape the environment to your needs. Don't force people into your well-oiled machine.
I needed to find my way through a large, unfamiliar metro area. Fortunately I was able to borrow my sister's car equipped with a GPS navigation system. With this handy device I sliced through city traffic during rush hour with ease. I just kept one eye on the readout and listened for the prompts.
But the trip wasn't without anxiety. Several times, the gentle metallic voice gave instructions that were counter intuitive. At 65 mph it was very disconcerting!
I realized that discrete instructions don't always make sense if you don't know the whole picture.
When my daughter was a young reader she asked, "Have you noticed how the word 'chaos' looks a lot like the word 'choice'?" Though you may not agree, the two actually have a strong relationship.
Scientists describe chaos as a state in which all potentialities are present within a given boundary. Anything is possible. Randomness rules. The outcome is unpredictable and uncertain - until a choice is made and one future path becomes more certain than the others.
When we are surrounded by chaos, we are also surrounded by maximum possibility, by choices. Get unstuck. Choose and move.
At a small church in rural Vermont, everything is attached to wheels. The cabinets, bookcases, tables, chairs, and room dividers that constitute the Sunday classrooms are all on rollers. When it's time for the strawberry supper or Christmas bazaar, everything but the kitchen sink is wheeled away leaving one large space for these special events. A few years ago, the whole building was lifted off its foundation and rolled 700 feet to accommodate a road expansion project.
Whatever your belief system, make it strong but not static. Mount it on wheels ready to roll into action.
The Incan ruins of Machu Pichu are famous for their massive stone walls fitted together without mortar. Even after hundreds of years, the blocks are so tight there's not the slightest gap between them. What's more, each block has a unique, irregular shape. Some are larger than an SUV!
Why build with such irregular stones when clearly any shape could have been fashioned? Because these walls have withstood earth quakes when walls of standardized block have crumbled.
Helping people fit into the place that's best for them builds a stronger organization than forcing people to conform.
Savoring early morning coffee and the ocean view from my booth in Breakers Restaurant at the Ashworth Hotel, I was startled by a loud tapping on the front door. Someone wanted to get in for breakfast. Looking around the deserted restaurant, I called for the cook to open the door.
Here it was thirty minutes after "opening" and the front door was still locked. You'd think someone would have checked - especially since they'd had to unlock the side door from the hotel for me earlier!
Oh, the things we do that unintentionally thwart our own progress!
During my parent's first visit to Vermont, they drove along Route 100 for a scenic tour of fall foliage through the Green Mountains. When asked how they liked it, Dad waxed poetic about the bright colors and picturesque New England villages. He loved the challenge of navigating the curved, rolling highways.
But, Mom, accustomed to the flat, straight roads of South Dakota, could only remember the green tinge to her own complexion as she tried to calm her rolling stomach!
It's no fun to be along for the ride if you're just a passenger with no control.
Andy is a wonderful musician, teacher, and storyteller. He teaches in schools, calls at square dances, leads choral groups, and plays a mean accordion. What Andy doesn't realize is that he's an expert at fostering teamwork. He has the ability to lead without being in charge - even though he's the "director."
One comment while leading a choir of novice singers summarizes his philosophy. He said, "Here's how you harmonize. Listen to the person next to you and sing something a little different." One objective but each contributes uniquely.
Whether musicians, teams, families, or communities, great ones harmonize.
It's obvious the regulars of the Senior Aerobics Club come to socialize as much as to exercise. Jean was chatting with a friend as they waited for the instructor to arrive one early morning. "I don't know why we need a leader. We all know the routine," she said, "I guess it's just easier." Her friend agreed.
When the regular teacher never arrived, they suffered with a substitute, someone known as "that bossy woman from New York."
Too bad it's so easy to be a follower when there are so many opportunities to be a leader.
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