Leaders are Learners

Yesterday, I talked about how leaders are listeners. So what do you do with all the stuff that you glean from all of that listening. Hopefully you learn something from it. I have always heard it said that teachers make the best students. In fact, if you have ever taught anything, you know that you learn more than those you are teaching. We can never reach the point as leaders that we stop learning. The information base is doubling at an alarming rate these days. It's not lack of information that we suffer from, that's for sure. I think that as leaders we need to invest our time in the right information. There are things that we need to learn to make us stronger in our strength areas. Any athlete or body builder will tell you that you lose muscle tone and mass quicker than you build it. Many time we neglect our strengths for the simple reason that they are our strengths. It is important to take time to further develop you strengths. It is also important to take time to develop your growth areas. Some people will call these weaknesses, but calling them growth areas makes them into positive potentials as opposed to negatives. Where we err on the side of under developing our strengths, we tend to over correct to the side of our growth areas. Face it! You are not going to be strong in every area. As much as you'd like to, it is just not going to happen. That is not to say that you neglect your growth areas all together, but you must realize that growth areas will never become strengths. You are just not wired that way. And while you can grow and develop your growth areas, they will not become your dominant characteristics. All of the development is done through learning. So how do I learn? That's a great question. You need to find the way that you learn best. It may be through formal training, reading, seminars/webinars, or any other way of gaining information. An area of learning that has become popular recently is coaching. For the sake of this entry we will say that coaching and mentoring are the same thing even though there are some subtle differences. Coaching takes the teaching/instruction aspect of learning and marries is with modeling and performance in an instructive environment. It is usually one-on-one relationship with someone who has experience and wisdom in the area you are trying to learn. I think this is one of, if not the most effective way that we learn. Find the expert and learn from them. It takes time. It takes effort. It takes sacrifice. It takes investment, but the dividend is well worth it. Lead on!

Leaders are Listeners

Most of the time when you think of a leader, you probably think of a great speaker. And while this may be the case, I would be willing to bet that those same leaders, if they are truly leaders at all, spend more time listening than they do speaking. Those who excel in the area of leadership did not get there by chance. They showed a unique skill set that thrust them into the leadership limelight. Those who fail usually do so because they have a superiority complex, that is to say that they think they are better or smarter than those they are over. Any leader who is worth his or her salt will tell you that the greatest skill they have is listening. How will you ever be able to lead people or know how to lead people if you don't listen to the people you are trying to lead. That is not to say that you have to do everything they say, but you might get some great ideas by listening to those you are leading. It is important to define what listening really is. Most of us are good hearers but horrible listeners. You hear noise, you listen to people. Listening is active. You must engage your mind and process what is being said or communicated. Listening is more than just gathering information. When we listen we are able to discern information and emotion or passion. If a group of people are passionate about something that will lead to the greater good, it would behoove the leader to listen to those he is leading and capitalize on that passion. As leaders, we must see that the greatest asset we have is people. When we combine a listening ear with a passionate people we have a recipe for success regardless of the context.

Master Leaders

I just finished reading George Barna's new book Master Leaders. In my opinion this is the best and most comprehensive book on leadership I have ever read. I am not a critic, nor am I on Barna's payroll. I have a desire to become a better leader and found this book earlier in the week. What I soon discovered is that Barna hit on every major area for leadership development. The best thing about this book is that it is not your "typical" leadership book. You don't get 25 chapters on how to be a better leader or 55 things that you need to do to be a better leader. Very simply, this is a "behind the scenes" conversation with some of the greatest leaders of our time. If you are a leader, administrator, pastor, teacher, coach or some one who has influence over people, this book is a must read for you.