You run a department or an entire association. Everything is going smoothly, everyone respects your abilities, and no one complains about you. But are you exceptional? Jack Zenger, Joseph Folkman, Robert Sherwin and Barbra Steel, authors of How to Be Exceptional (©2012, McGraw Hill), say the way to leadership development is to focus on strengths and magnify them rather than concentrating on weaknesses and how to overcome them, this new book focuses on strengths and how to magnify them. The book explains how to:
- Pinpoint your best leadership traits and choose the right development target for yourself;
- Use feedback and action-learning on the job to elevate your strengths;
- Apply the authors’ cross-training method to escalate leadership competencies; and
- Ensure your fully development strengths are sustainable by building follow-through into your development plan.
John Jantsch, author of The Commitment Engine; Making Work Worth It (©2012, Portfolio/Penguin) how to establish lasting commitment in their employees, customers, and businesses. His approach is built on three foundational planks, which he calls the clarity path, the culture patron, and the customer promise. His strategies include:
- Build your organization around a purpose. People commit to organizations/companies and stories that have a simple, straightforward purpose.
- Understand that culture equals brand. Build your association as a brand that staff, members, and donors will support.
- Lead by telling great stories. You can’t attract the right people or get them to commit without telling a story about why you do what you do.
- Treat your staff as your customer. A healthy customer community is the natural result of a healthy internal culture.
- Serve customers you respect. It’s hard to have an authentic relationship with people you don’t know, like, or trust.
From Twitter to iPhones, from Facebook to tablets, we have an endless supply of media and gadgets to hook our interest, snag our wallets, and occupy our time. Think back over the last five years. How much of your time was devoted to online activities? How much of your real life has been gobbled up or googled up in your net life? In #Hooked: The Pitfalls of Media, Technology, and Social Networking (©2012, Siloam), author Gregory Jantz, a counselor and addiction specialist, speaks frankly about the gizmos and gadgets, social media magnets, and Internet sidetracks we have at our fingertips. He presents a celebration of the positives technology offers and a cautionary tale about the negatives it unleashes, including:
The power and dangers of the web;
The myth of multitasking;
Overcoming disconnection anxiety;
The psychology behind Internet addiction; and
Employing the ultimate filter and taking back control of your life.
Rooted in the study of chaos and complexity, Adaptive Action (©2013, Stanford Business Books), by Glenda H. Eoyang and Royce J. Holladay, presents a common sense process that to guide your association into reflective action. The book suggests three questions to get you unstuck from old habits and old ways of thinking: What? So what? Now what? As the authors describe in an article in this issue of InView, the first leads to careful observation; the second invites you to thoughtfully consider options and implications; and the third ignites effective action.