Management Craft - One of the Best Leadership Blogs?

I am pleased as a chocoholic at the Willy Wonka factory to announce that my little blog, Management Craft, has been named a finalist for the 2008 Best of Leadership Blog competition hosted by Kevin Eikenberry at the Remarkable Learning blog.

He and his readers have narrowed the field of blogs down to 10. Here is the list:

Management Craft: Lisa Haneberg
Leading Blog: Michael McKinney
All Things Workplace: Steve Roesler
Leadership Made Simple: Ed Oakley
Lead Quietly: Don Frederiksen
Extreme Leadership: Steve Farber
Slow Leadership: Carmine Coyote, Peter Vajda, John Fletcher
Tom Peters: Tom Peters
Leadership Challenge: Various Authors
Personal Leadership Insight: Rhett Laubach

I am not a competitive person.... Heck, I am pretty competitive and I would love your vote. This is a great list of bloggers, but I have noticed that I am the only biker chick among the group (that ought to count for something, right?).

Cast your vote for Management Craft here.

Thanks to Kevin and his team for doing the work to bring together leadership bloggers and sponsor this effort.

Below is a reprint of the most popular post about leadership I have done on this blog. It is called Leadership is Just One Thing and it continues to get hits every day after three years (I posted this on 2/12/05).

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Leadership is Just One Thing

 

About a week ago, I offered my perspective on the differences between Leadership and Management. You can read this post here. I don’t often write about leadership, but I have been thinking about how I would articulate leadership.

When we say someone is a great leader, we often are saying he or she is a great leader, manager, and coach. When I peel away the management and coaching elements, I see what is pure leadership.

Leadership is just one thing.

Leadership is like the horseradish in the sauce I make for raw oysters.
It’s like the wasabi in my sushi.
It’s the lime leaves in my Panang curry.
It’s the Bombay in my martini.

It’s something special that makes a big difference. So what’s the one thing?

When we demonstrate leadership, we exude a proactive thrust. It’s about taking the initiative to makes things better.

The one thing is proactivity.

That’s not precisely it. There’s also a tinge of charisma (even introverted charisma) to the proactivity of great leadership.

So the one thing is proactivity with a tinge of charisma.

That’s still not quite right. Great leadership feels compelling - we are moved in some away.

So the one thing is proactivity with a tinge of charisma that feels compelling.

It’s getting there, but something is still missing. When we lead we are serving others. There’s an altruistic and service oriented purpose behind leadership.

So the one thing is proactivity with a tinge of charisma that feels compelling and is at the service of others.

This is starting to feel right but there’s a bit more in there. A demonstration of leadership is also an acknowledgment of ownership and accountability. When we are leaders, we are owners of outcomes.

So the one thing is proactivity with a tinge of charisma that feels compelling, is at the service of others, and that demonstrates ownership of results.

Real close now, but still missing something. Leadership answers just the right call. When we lead, we understand what’s needed and what will make the greatest difference.

So the one thing is proactivity with a tinge of charisma that feels compelling, is at the service of others, demonstrates ownership of results, and is targeted to provide the greatest benefit.

I think that’s it, but there is just one more thing missing. Those who follow us willingly determine when we are demonstrating leadership. Our best efforts will be in vain if we have not established trusting and positive relationships. We can be leaders when we have earned people’s trust.

So the one thing is proactivity with a tinge of charisma that feels compelling, is at the service of others, demonstrates ownership of results, targeted to provide the greatest benefit, and that is delivered by someone we trust.

This really is just one thing. Like a nine-layer dip - it’s complex, but just one flavor. Like a fine wine, there’s a lot going on, but one overwhelming impression.

Leadership is the special energy we put to our work that makes a powerful difference. Leadership can be applied to every aspect of work. Many people who fail to demonstrate leadership don’t have their hearts in it. Leadership requires much more than being smart and in charge.

Anyone can lead if they do just this one thing.

Comments

[Matthew Laos]

Leadership is an ongoing process where Wisdom meets Reality meets Judgement meets Action meets Results meets Accountability. The essense of leadership is when leaders execute vision, responsibility, trust and communication. Vision is where simply knowing where you want to go and figuring out how you are going to get there. Responsibility is taking ownership of Reality ie) taking out the trash when you see it requires doing. Trust is hard to earn and easy to lose involving everything family, coworkers, friends. Communication is listening to learn and really just learning to listen. Ultimately, leadership is that "know it when I see it" quality. I wish we could bottle it but we cannot and we don't need too because it is within everyone of us already like a muscle waiting to be used. Every moment of everyday offers an opportunity to exercise it. Just trying to be a better person everyday is leadership in action.