Facing the Truth about Leadership

Dispute with Forbes Article: Are Leaders Born Or Made? (And How To Be One)

"Work hard!   Sounds simplistic, but being a great leader is a skill that can be learned—provided you’re willing to work at it hard enough. Analyze the actions and approaches of leaders you admire, read books on the subject, and experiment in your style. See what works for you and do more of the same.

We once thought that tomorrow’s leaders were gems waiting to be discovered. Now we know they can be manufactured—as long as the ‘raw material’ is a willing participant." 

Sorry to say, the above quote from the Forbes article by David Amerland is wrong.  Once people mature to working adult age, their hard wiring, personality characteristics are pretty well set and cannot be changed in a whole scale way (short of a mind altering accident or injury.)

For example, if a "willing participant" scores 6% out of 100% in Leadership Energy (on our CDR Leadership Character Assessment), despite their intelligence and education, they will not be well suited for a leadership role.  Now, on the other hand, if someone has a mid-range score or a pulse on Leadership Energy, then yes, training and development may make all the difference. 

We've coached Ph.D.'s who were in leadership roles because they were effective communicators or the best in their fields, yet they scored under 10% in Leadership Energy.  In every case, they were miserable (as were the people around them) and the leadership aspects of their jobs were draining and detracting from what they were really good at -- research, product development (for patents), etc.

To this matter, check out the Wall Street Journal article by Jared Sandberg titled "How I Survived Tests That Introduced Me To My Inner Executive" (3/10/04)   

Top 3 Skills for Effective Leader: LinkedIn Post & Ed White's Response

Leadership Development

a subgroup of Training&Development  

(an excerpt from LinkedIn Group)

TOP 3 skills for an effective Leader

Dr. Mahmood Khan CEO & President at ICT Global Services 

Would you agree that the TOP 3 skills for an effective Leader are to excel and perform best in:

1. STRATEGIC THINKING and PLANNING whereby you look beyond the visible and predict the eventualities proactively. You think ahead and manage the course effectively while staying ready to face the challenges if beyond your control.

2. TEAM BUILDING whereby you not only challenge your team consistently with next levels of hardwork/hardship but remain available and supportive to hold them if they fail back. You also develop your team to learn how to remain focused and be able to take existing and future challenges courageously and successfully.

3. COMMUNICATION SKILLS whereby you express yourself in a manner that your world knows to what you are expecting and how you would want to go by.

·  

Ed White, Ed.D 

VP, Global Talent Development at CDR Assessment Group posted:

I agree that Team Building and Communications skills are required of all effective leaders. Strategic Thinking and Planning skills are critical for some leaders but not all leaders. That is, if you define strategic as only future oriented. We need some leaders to be visionary. We need other leaders who are masters at execution to get us to the future. While both traits are required for an effective organization, an effective leader does not have to possess both traits.

Wishing You Joy & Happiness!

Special: Distance Learning CDR Coaches' Certification Program Begins 12/19 & 12/20/13....

Based on client request, we have added a distance learning CDR Executive Coaches' Certification program beginning on 12/19 and 12/20/13.  Consider enhancing your coaching toolbox and joining our elite network of executive coaches. 

The CDR 3-Dimensional Assessment Suite provides unique insight into a leader's key strengths and development needs in the areas of character assessment, risk factors for derailment, drivers and rewards assessment.  Learn how these tools can accelerate coaching results and add value to your coaching practice and client results. Email cdrinfo@cdrassessmentgroup.com for more information. 

http://www.cdrassessmentgroup.com/3dsuite.php 

Study Finds 66% of CEOs Don't Get Coaching - Yet 100% Say They Are Receptive to Feedback?

More than 200 CEOs, board directors, and senior executives of North American public and private companies were polled in the 2013 Executive Coaching Survey that Stanford University and The Miles Group conducted this spring. The research studied what kind of leadership advice CEOs and their top executives are – and aren’t – receiving, and the skills that are being targeted for improvement.

 Key findings from the survey include:

 Shortage of advice at the top – Nearly 66% of CEOs do not receive coaching or leadership advice from outside consultants or coaches, while 100% of them stated that they are receptive to making changes based on feedback. Nearly 80% of directors said that their CEO is receptive to coaching....  see full article at:

2013 Executive Coaching Survey conducted by Stanford University and The Miles Group

Leadership Derailment Article Recommended at Chief Learning Officer...

Three Lessons to Beat Leadership Derailment

Rick Conlow and Doug Watsabaugh -  11/6/13

High levels of leadership failure cause heightened levels of employee dissatisfaction. Proactive leaders must learn three key lessons to win in today's competitive marketplace.

Leadership failures of all kinds happen on a weekly basis, with management derailment studies showing that business leaders fail at an alarming rate. Research published in July 2013 in the International Journal of Business and Management found that 30 to 67 percent of leaders fail.

What’s more, the Gallup Business Journal in June 2013 reported that 70 percent of employees are not fully engaged in their jobs. A 2012 Dale Carnegie report also showed that effective leadership creates a culture that powers employee engagement. Carnegie’s study showed that just 29 percent of employees are fully engaged. According to Gallup, this leadership failure costs companies in the United States an estimated $450 billion to $550 billion a year.

For full article:  http://clomedia.com/articles/view/three-lessons-to-beat-leadership-derailment/?interstitial=ch110613 

Clearly, leadership derailment is severe and costly.  There is GOOD news.  Leadership Risks for Derailment can be managed, neutralized and kept in check to avoid these costly damages to the bottom line.  The first step is -- identifying and recognizing each leader's inherent risks.  We have an assessment tool designed to do just that:  CDR Leadership Risk Assessment for Derailment.  To learn more, contact me at nparsons@cdrassessmentgroup.com or call 918.488.0722 and go to http://www.cdrassessmentgroup.com/RiskAssessment.php    Our break-through assessments can stop the negative toll on your bottom line.  Also, we add value by accelerating results as well.    Nancy Parsons, President, CDR Assessment Group, Inc.,