Learning is Not Just One Way

Liz over at Successful Blog wrote a great article about her learning plan, and while reading it two things stuck to me that I thought seperate a leader from everyone else. Everyone learns but as Liz points out,

most of that learning is passive, a form of response. It comes to us. We don’t seek it out. We might miss it completely as it sits waiting, if we don’t STOP to take notice. When we do, we often need to give it some thought to make what we’ve learned useful, to translate it into a thought that makes sense.

Leaders do not learn passively, but seek it out as Liz writes. Once they have discovered something new they take the time and reflect on it in order to soak it in and apply it to their life context. Most people discover things on accident and then store it in the back of their head before they can fully digest what they have found.

Take advantages of what you learn by fully developing your discoveries.Make learning a two way street where you engaged what you learn, not just a one way process. By doing this, it will lead to new thoughts and finds based off the original learning.

Mirrors are only as good as…

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your eyes are open. We live in a fast paced life and we forget to set time aside to reflect in what we have done and learned. One of my first posts I wrote, Fun House Mirrors, about the how leaders distort their view of their leader ability and character.

Though feedback and reflection a leader should be able to get a clear, authentic view of his leadership abilities. A lot of times we know we are not performing at our best, so we then try to ignore it when we reflect or seek feedback. A lot of times we will know what we need to work on, but ignore because we do not want to show our weaknesses to others. This is the same as going up to a mirror with your eyes closed because you know what you will see won’t please and thinking that if you do not see anything, then there is nothing to change. Looking at a mirror with our eyes closed is as good as looking at a brickwall.

Self reflection and feedback from peers are only as good as you are willing to listen. Reflection can be powerful because it can allow you to analyze what you did right and wrong and then how you can change. Feedback can show you what you can change when you can’t see the problems.

The truth can hurt at first, but after seeing the truth and making changes, the truth can be real rewarding. Look in the mirror with your eyes wide open and listen to what you hear through feedback, and reflection. There is no leader on this Earth that could not benifit from change, but it takes eyes, ears, and guts to see what you need to change.

Edition #2 Carnival of Leadership Growth

Welcome to the March 2, 2007 edition of leadership growth.

Charles H. Green presents Seductive Statistics posted at Trust Matters, saying, “Effective leaders understand the difference between earning trust and measuring it.”

David Maister presents A Case Study in Professional Ethics posted at Passion, People and Principles, saying, “Deciding to “own the problem” and accept responsibility for a screw up requires guts, courage and ethics.”

Caroline Latham presents I don’t want to ever retire. What can I do to remain sharp? posted at SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution.

Walt presents No Plan B! posted at Walt Nation!.

Joseph presents How to attain success posted at Self Help and Personal Development.

Debra Moorhead presents The Meaning of TEAM posted at Debra Moorhead.com.

Niels Hoven presents Ask Niels: How do I build an emotional connection? posted at Niels Hoven.

Laura Ricci presents Supporting Community Growth and Continuance posted at Laura’s Winning Ideas, saying, “team building, using the metaphor of a dance community”

almomento presents Open Call For Project MastermindX posted at BurstCreativity.

Anna Farmery presents Dear Boss posted at The Engaging Brand.

The Positivity Blog presents Take the Positivity Challenge! posted at Henrik Edberg.

Scott Schwertly presents The Power of “I” posted at Presentation Revolution.

Praveen presents Review of “The Rich Jerk” – Get It Free, Plus $1 posted at My Simple Trading System.

Charles H. Green presents Waddya, Nuts? posted at Trust Matters, saying, “It’s hard to be trustworthy if you yourself can’t trust. And part of trusting is not thinking that everything—good or bad—is about oneself.”

David Maister presents Lions, Wolves, Beavers and Humans posted at Passion, People and Principles, saying, “Most leaders are incapable of team strategy because the key players have not agreed either to (a) collaborate or (b) invest in their mutual future.”

Kapil Handa presents Develop Leadership Skills posted at The Sum.

Jack Yoest presents Manager as Sociopath: An Interview With An Honest Boss posted at Reasoned Audacity, saying, “Your Business Blogger teaches management training. But there is no need to sit in my class, just visit An Interview with an Honest Manager.”

Debra Moorhead presents “The Science of Getting Rich” Evaluated, Part One posted at Debra Moorhead.com.

Vahid Chaychi presents Viral Marketing Strategies – Learn How to Spread the Words for Free! posted at Internet and Search Engine Marketing, saying, “Do you know how websites like Hotmail and Google became popular and well-known? They didn’t spend a single cent for advertising. They used the power of viral marketing.”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of
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Driven v. Called

I am currently reading, “Lead Like Jesus”, by Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges and I found this great section about the difference between being called and driven.

Driven people think they own everything. The own their relationship, they own their possessions, and they own their position. In fact, they perceive their identity as the sum of their relationship, possesions, and position.

Called people, on the other hand, believe everything is on loan. They believe their relationships are on loan; they know that we have no gaurantee we will those we love tommrow. Called people also believe their possessions are on loan are to be held lightly, to be enjoyed and shared with an open hand.

This section of the book really made me sit back and reflect how I treat my life and the others around me.

An Extra Children on Leadership

This morning I went to go watch a friend of mine play in a 11 year old church basketball league. The neat thing about watching the game was seeing how excited they got each time they scored. It reminded me how sometimes I forget to celebrate the small successes in life. I do not neccesarily mean with something big like a party but just maybe a ”congratulations” or a pat on the back. Each small success leads to a big one.

Post of the Day 1/2/07

Kevin Eikenberry’s post on improving your results through the use of journaling caught my eye this afternoon. He has good advise that can save some headaches when you forget an idea that you wanted to implement. Also, it can be a great tool for reflection and for goal setting.

Fun House Mirrors

I am currently sitting with my wife watching Supernanny and it is at the point where the parents come to reality that they had been distorting the truth in how they have been treating one of their children.

The situation reminded me of an illustration that Dr. Tim Elmore used in his book “Habitudes” , about fun house mirrors. In a fun house the mirrors are made to distort how we look, and as a leader Elmore talks about how poor leaders have a distorted view on their leadership ability and character .

One of the hardest exercises to do is to ask a co-worker, friend, or spouse how they see you. Sometimes asking them might correct out the image you were seeing and help create a better leader.