Practice Centered Leadership

There are different definitions of centered leadership out there, and each has merit. I highly recommend reading the book "Centered Leadership" by Joanna Barsh. She takes a different view on centered leadership and yet it's harmonious with what I call centered leadership. It's a good read, filled with instantly usable advice on becoming a better leader.

Here is a brief summary of my idea of centered leadership:

Centered leadership requires constant development in both the skills of leading and the character of leadership.

Centered leaders maintain the core of their character while selecting and using the leadership skills necessary for each specific situation.

Centered, high performance leadership achieves positive, goal oriented results while leading with clarity, courage, creativity and compassion. Centered leaders are dynamic. They find the point of focus, the center, of each moment to be able to operate with a sense of balance and well being.

They identify their core area of strength (and personality preference) while developing their opportunities for improvement. Centered leaders also draw on the strengths and talents of others, recognizing and encouraging diversity.

The strengths and values of centered leadership include:Courage: Practicing the strength and character it takes to face and act on meaningful challenges in support of people and purpose.

Compassion: Caring for other people, their feelings, needs and dreams.

Creativity: Distilling and developing ideas into innovative products and services. Keeping an open mind and exploring new territory constantly.

Clarity: Refining, improving, analyzing, and covering details clearly, openly, honestly, and with absolute integrity. Reducing ambiguity and eliminating hidden agendas.

Centering: Staying focused and grounded in the face of conflict, stress, and challenge.
This is our definition of Centered Leadership. It draws on decades of research on the topic of leadership as well as the wealth of information available using various personality sorters.

Slightly different, but I do keep Joanna Barsh's book close to my desk. As we say in improv, it doesn't have to be an either/or decision -- it can be both/and.

My main tweet of the day is this:

We feel whatever we practice, so why not practice clarity, courage, creativity, and compassion?

Some days that takes patience. Some days that takes development. In the end, we will reap the results of our character. Building strong, balanced, centered character leads to better results and happier feelings. Isn't that worth working for?

-- Douglas Brent Smith

If you're interested in learning more about how to be a more centered leader, Front Range Leadership takes a centered leadership approach in our work of training supervisors for success. Learn more about our workshops here and our teleclasses here.

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New Ideas

New ideas won't break you but they can make you bigger. -- doug smith

Your Reputation

More authority means higher levels of responsibility. More power requires more service to others, not less. What you do with your power is who you will be known as. Also, how you use the power you have creates who people will remember you as. How do you want to be remembered? -- doug smith

What You Need

Use what you've learned to become what you need. -- doug smith

Measures Matter

Some people measure quantify first and quality later. Some people measure money first and impact to the team later (not even second!). How you measure productivity might determine your character and your reputation. Put people first. -- doug smith

High Performance Leadership Combination

We can rationalize anything without making it justified. Leaders should always ask: who is this good for other than me? High performance leadership does NOT mean performance at any cost. It means performance that serves a noble cause while also benefiting people. High performance leadership is a combination. Results without relationships are shallow and temporary. Take care of both, and you'll be a high performance leader. -- doug smith

Decide

What do you want? Are you getting what you want? Intention is direction. Decide. And, then go. -- doug smith

For example

Get good at something that won't obsolete itself. For example: emotional intelligence creating great conversations encouraging people leadership What would you add to the list? Which ones are you developing? -- doug smith

Personally

Improving performance does require us to take our work seriously. But it does not require us to take ourselves too seriously. Taking things personally is a waste of self-esteem. -- doug smith

Start With Kindness

When you start with kindness you don't have to stay there, but you probably will. It works better for others. It works better for you. If you're human, you'll probably relapse. It does take practice to stay the course. The course starts by starting. When you start with kindness, it becomes more naturally the way. High performance leadership develops from the core leadership strengths of clarity, creativity, courage, and compassion. Build one of those strengths today thru some act of kindness and the others will get stronger as well. -- doug smith

Show Integrity

The goals we seek bring a lot of pull to them. We get wrapped in them. It's useful and it's powerful when we care about our goals so much that they propel us forward and keep us working even when we're tired, beyond the boundaries of our usual limitations. But they should not take us beyond the boundaries of our usual values. They should not trick us into bending the rules just because the rules are in the way. Truly high performance leaders of character who are focused, and centered, and noble maintain integrity. No cheating is ever worth the outcome. Integrity is so rare that many people don't even recognize. If you do, be thankful. We need leaders like you. To truly understand integrity you've got to keep it. Even when it's hard. Even the lines are blurred. -- doug smith

High Performance Leadership

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