Transformation4Change

The Significance of Creative Leadership – Focus on Relating, Caring and a Team Player

An Excerpt from Mastering Leadership: An Integrated Framework for Breakthrough Performance and Extraordinary Business Results, by Robert J. Anderson and William A. Adams (Wiley, 2015)

What does it mean to Care?

Being a caring leader means prioritizing the well-being and development of the people you lead, demonstrating empathy, support, and understanding in your leadership style. A caring leader fosters a positive and inclusive environment where individuals feel valued, respected, and supported both personally and professionally.

Caring is your ability to form warm, caring long-lasting relationships. It also means that you genuinely care about others. People feel supported in your presence because you are open to high quality, trusting, caring relationships. You accept people for who they are and communicate unconditionally positive regard. You are willing to vulnerably share strengths and weaknesses, hopes and fears. People tend to trust you because of your genuine caring nature.

What does it mean to be a team player?

When we say a leader is a team player, it means they actively contribute to the team's success, collaborate effectively, and place the team's goals above their personal ambitions. A leader who is a team player understands that their role is not just about giving orders but about working alongside others, fostering a cooperative and inclusive environment.

To be a team player is about fostering high-performance teamwork among team members that report to you, across the organization, and within teams in which you participate. You also participate within groups in a way that promotes high levels of teamwork, cooperation, team spirit, and synergy.

Have a great week and be a leader who cares and is a great team player.

An Excerpt from Mastering Leadership: An Integrated Framework for Breakthrough Performance and Extraordinary Business Results, by Robert J. Anderson and William A. Adams (Wiley, 2015)

I continue the series on creative leadership and today my focus is on composure and personal learner.

When you are described as a leader who is composed, it means you are a leader who stays calm, collected, and focused under pressure, especially during crises or high-stress situations. You effectively manage your emotions well, making sound decisions even when circumstances are challenging, and you inspire confidence in others through your steady demeanor. Composure is a key leadership trait that enhances decision-making, fosters trust, and promotes a positive and productive environment. It is fundamental to leading effectively, especially in challenging or high-stress situations. A composed leader projects calm and stability. This reassures your team members, partners, stakeholders, and followers, who look to you for guidance during uncertain times. Being a composed leader helps your team members and direct reports remain focused and confident in your decisions. Are you a composed leader?

A great leader is a life-long learner. As a personal learner, you are committed to continuous growth, self-improvement, and acquiring new knowledge. You also embrace a mindset of lifelong learning, recognizing that leadership requires adaptability, curiosity, and a willingness to evolve. You lead by example, showing that learning is essential for your personal growth, development and effective leadership. As a personal learner you bring invaluable qualities to your role. Lifelong learning is essential for leadership, as it not only fosters personal growth but also enhances your ability to guide and inspire others effectively. Are you a personal learner?

For the next 30-60-90 days, I suggest you embark on a leadership development journey where you focus on learning how to be composed under pressure, chaos and disruption and embracing personal learning as a philosophy and a way of life. Have a fantastic week and see you at the summit of great leaders.

An Excerpt from Mastering Leadership: An Integrated Framework for Breakthrough Performance and Extraordinary Business Results, by Robert J. Anderson and William A. Adams (Wiley, 2015)

Self-awareness is your ability to recognize and understand your own thoughts, emotions, motivations, and behaviors. It involves being conscious of your strengths, weaknesses, values, and how your actions affect both yourself and others. Self-awareness allows you to reflect on your inner state, monitor their thoughts, and adjust their behavior based on their understanding of the external world. Self-Awareness is your orientation to ongoing professional and personal development, as well as the degree to which inner self-awareness is expressed through balanced perspective and high integrity leadership.

In this episode of creative leadership, a focus on self-awareness, I will be unpacking what it means to be a selfless leader, have balance as a leader, being composed and being a personal learner.

As a selfless leader you prioritize the needs and well-being of others over your own personal interests or ambitions. You lead with humility, empathy, and a deep commitment to serving your team, organization, or community. Rather than seeking power or recognition, you focus on empowering others, creating opportunities for growth, and fostering a collaborative and supportive environment. Are you a selfless leader?

As a leader who is balanced you effectively manage competing priorities, blending decisiveness with empathy, vision with practicality, and the interests of others with your own well-being. Balanced leaders navigate complex situations by considering multiple perspectives and finding equilibrium between driving results and maintaining positive relationships. Your leadership style integrates both emotional intelligence and rational decision-making, allowing you to lead effectively in diverse situations. Are you a balanced leader?

When you are described as a leader who is composed, it means you are a leader who stays calm, collected, and focused under pressure, especially during crises or high-stress situations. You effectively manage your emotions well, making sound decisions even when circumstances are challenging, and you inspire confidence in others through your steady demeanor. Are you a composed leader?

A great leader is a life-long learner. As a personal learner, you are committed to continuous growth, self-improvement, and acquiring new knowledge. You also embrace a mindset of lifelong learning, recognizing that leadership requires adaptability, curiosity, and a willingness to evolve. You lead by example, showing that learning is essential for your personal growth, development and effective leadership. Are you a personal learner?

For the next 30-60-90 days, I suggest you embark on a leadership development journey where you focus on being a selfless leader, bringing balance to your leadership behavior, learning how to be composed under pressure, chaos and disruption and embracing personal learning as a philosophy and a way of life.

Have a fantastic week and see you at the summit of great leaders.

An Excerpt from Mastering Leadership: An Integrated Framework for Breakthrough Performance and Extraordinary Business Results, by Robert J. Anderson and William A. Adams (Wiley, 2015)

The word creative can be described as original, imaginative, inspired, inventive, artistic, ingenious, innovative, and productive. The creative type of leadership is needed to handle the complexities, uncertainties, volatility, ambiguity, and the global challenges. Creative leadership is a leadership practice that involves using creativity to solve complex problems to achieve organizational result.

Creative leadership is the ability to create and realize innovative solutions in the face of structurally complex or changing situations.

Creative leadership is a philosophy and an act that develops and realizes innovative ideas through the shared ambition of improving the world through the lens of enterprise formation.

Creative leadership creates an environment that promotes creativity, innovation, and mission-driven entrepreneurship. It also embraces change as the only constant while exploring opportunities.

Creative leadership rides on the courage, collaboration, and creativity of contributors. It gives rise to a superior consciousness that goes beyond individual gratification.

Creative leadership is about developing innovative strategies, creativity, critical analysis, experimentation, vision, collaboration, bold action, calculated risk-taking, agility, hard and smart work to achieve participative collective value.

It’s time you start relating as a creative leader. There is a lot to be gained from relating authentically. When we relate with our team members, celebrate our successes as a collective and work through our failures, the team experiences psychological safety. When there is psychological safety in a team, the “magic” begins to happen.

Find and make the time to relate with your direct reports and team. Results happen when teams relate authentically. Have a great week and begin the relating journey.

An Excerpt from Mastering Leadership: An Integrated Framework for Breakthrough Performance and Extraordinary Business Results, by Robert J. Anderson and William A. Adams (Wiley, 2015)

The word creative can be described as original, imaginative, inspired, inventive, artistic, ingenious, innovative, and productive. The creative type of leadership is needed to handle the complexities, uncertainties, volatility, ambiguity, and the global challenges. Creative leadership is a leadership practice that involves using creativity to solve complex problems to achieve organizational result.

Creative leadership is the ability to create and realize innovative solutions in the face of structurally complex or changing situations. Creative leadership is a philosophy and an act that develops and realizes innovative ideas through the shared ambition of improving the world through the lens of enterprise formation.

Creative leadership creates an environment that promotes creativity, innovation, and mission-driven entrepreneurship. It also embraces change as the only constant while exploring opportunities. Creative leadership rides on the courage, collaboration, and creativity of contributors. It gives rise to a superior consciousness that goes beyond individual gratification.

Creative leadership is about developing innovative strategies, creativity, critical analysis, experimentation, vision, collaboration, bold action, calculated risk-taking, agility, hard and smart work to achieve participative collective value.

Join me as we explore this phenomenal program through this podcast series. Have a fantastic week and see you at the summit of creative leaders.

A winner is a person who has determination, who is disciplined, who is motivated, has the desire in improving his/her life, willing to acquire new skills, willing to overcome obstacles and challenges, and wants to rise to the top in their field of expertise.

Your mindset is everything when it comes to achieving your goals and mission. When you view life as happening for you instead of to you and can believe that you have the potential and drive to succeed, you can truly accomplish whatever you set your mind to. Winning is therefore a state of Mind, and we all can be winners if we start thinking and making decisions like a winner.

Your journey to be a winner begins with winning thoughts. The term ‘Winning’ may sound insincere to you. Too materialistic perhaps. According to Merriam-Webster, to win means: “to get possession of by effort or fortune; to obtain by work: earn” It also means, “to gain in or as if in battle or contest.”

True winning, however, is no more than your own personal pursuit of excellence. You don’t have to trample or step on other people toes to win. You don’t have to gain at the expense of others. ‘Winning’ is taking the talent and potential you were born with, and have developed, and use it fully toward a goal or a purpose that makes you happy and fulfilled.

There are common set of beliefs and mindsets shared by all winners and achievers. These beliefs and mindsets set them apart from the others. These beliefs and mindsets allow them to look at obstacles as opportunities and steppingstones to unlock the potential within. Winners focus on winning, losers focus on winners. Winners focus on what they are going to while losers focus on what they are going through. Winning isn’t an action, it’s a lifestyle. Losers let things happen, winners make things happen. Winners win in every aspect of life and not only in one aspect. Winning ripples through a winner’s entire life.

Have a Fantastic Week and see you at the summit of winners.

The word to focus is to give emphasis, attention, effort to something single-mindedly. It is also to spotlight, give your heart wholeheartedly, center your mind on what you really want to achieve. Focusing on the right project, thing, or whatever you give your attention to with time brings results. The reason why so many people are not achieving the results they want is because of broken focus. These people don’t stay with whatever they are working on long enough to realize its benefits.

The microwave mentality, overnight success, or instant gratification has produced people who no longer believe that to achieve anything requires focus, time, consistent action, patience, and determination.

The Cost of Broken Focus

• Broken focus taints your purpose and causes you to do things not in alignment with your life’s purpose

• You lose time, energy, financials resources, relationships with loss of focus

• You will be filled with anxiety because there is not congruence between what you believe you should be doing and what you are currently focused on

• You begin to relinquish your dreams to the vicissitudes of life and the dictates of the environment

• Your growth is stunted, and you do not realize your full potential

• Your quest for success appears unachievable because of broken focus

• Your physical health may be impacted because of vacillating emotions

• You do not fully enjoy your life because of emotional conflicts

When you refocus, you will thrive especially when you take consistent action on your goals. Have a fantastic week and see you at the summit of champions.

What do you remember about your journey through life? your formative years, high school, when you graduated, when you got your first job, started your first business, your first major vacation and so on. A lot of times we focus on what we are going through rather than on what we are going to. We tend to focus on the negative rather than the positive or the possibilities. There is a lot of great things happening within us, around us, in our relationships, in our workplace and in our world that needs celebrating. Detox yourself from social media and focus on your journey.

I was reflecting on how far I have come the other day and went through memory lane where I recollected the good, the bad and the ugly experiences of life. Life is a fascinating journey filled with different seasons. Some seasons are great while other season are not so great. What I know is that every season has a purpose in our lives when we look at things within the context of the bigger picture or the grand scheme of things. I don’t know what season you are in right now, but what I can say is to remember not to waste the season you are in. During seasons of disruption, we forget to focus on where we are going and rather focus on what we are going through. Too much focus on what we are going through distorts our vision, taints our focus, and sucks our energy.

I suggest you spend this week remembering how far you have come, the amazing journey ahead, the sights and sounds as you continue the journey called life. Have an amazing week and don’t forget to encourage the people you meet to keep on moving forward. See you on my next podcast.

There’s no greater gift than to honor your life’s calling. It’s why you were born. And how you become most truly alive. - – Oprah Winfrey

Defining your purpose gives you clarity about what’s important. When you then use it to guide your choices and decisions, it gives your life greater meaning and a deep sense of fulfilment. Your purpose is a pathway, not the destination. When external influences or your own internal voices try to take you off course, your purpose gives you a clear sense of direction and guides you back on track.

British author and motivational speaker, Simon Sinek, explained “why statement” as “The compelling higher purpose that inspires us and acts as the source of all we do.”

Our individual Why’s defines what drives us, fulfills us, and gives us purpose for doing what we wake up each morning to do. Life is full of twists and turns, and we must be hungry and well prepared for the trip called life.

To clarify your why, here are a few questions for reflection:

• When are you at your best?

• When are you at your worst?

• What are you passionate about?

• When do you feel most energized?

• What is the core purpose of your role?

• Why does it matter?

Your personal why is your calling, conviction, mission statement, a vision of your life and work, the thread of your career story, your core source of inspiration and motivation, the reference point for all your decisions and actions, it defines who you are and what makes you highly productive and the reason for your life’s work.

WHAT IS YOUR WHY? Have a great week.

Open your mind to the possibilities lurking around you, the possibilities ahead of you, and what you can become if…

Come on an amazing journey with me and explore the possibilities in answering the question WHAT COULD YOU BE IF…

Have a great week and see you at the summit of achievers!