Leadership, Integrity, Ethics and Morals.

This is an interesting post by Mike Henry,founder and Chief Instigator of the Lead Change Group.

There is much to discuss in the relationship between leadership, integrity, ethics and morals. Many people have opinions on the meaning of the words and they way they’re applied. Jim Furr, of Tulsa Executive Events has written a series of articles titled Pointers in Proverbs making drawing relevant wisdom for living from the biblical text. He connects leadership, integrity and ethics in an interesting way that I thought would start some discussion. See what you think.
Pointers in Proverbs by Jim Furr

“Good leaders abhor wrongdoing of all kinds; sound leadership has a moral foundation.” –Pr 16:12

After surveying over 75,000 people around the world and performing more than four hundred written case studies, James Kouzes and Barry Posner (The Leadership Challenge) identified the characteristics most desired in a leader. In virtually every survey, integrity was identified more often than any other trait.

No surprise here. Peter Drucker writes in The Effective Leader: “By themselves, integrity and character do not accomplish anything. But their absence faults everything else.”

According to Steven Hayward in Churchill on Leadership, a Wharton School of Finance study of large corporations over a four-year period concluded that “between 15 percent and 25 percent[!!] of the variation in profitability was determined by the character of their chief executives.” “… sound leadership has a moral foundation.”

Integrity

So what’s integrity? One study framed it in terms of ethics and morality. Ethics, they said, refers to our standard of right and wrong; it’s what we say we believe is right. Morality, on the other hand, is our lived standard of right and wrong; it’s what we actually do. “Integrity” means “complete,” “integrated.” To the degree, then, that our ethic and morality are integrated, we have integrity. To the degree that our ethic and morality are not integrated, we lack integrity.

Looking at this another way, if John tells you that he will lie, cheat and steal from you, he has a low ethic. If he does business that way, he also has a low morality. John is unethical and immoral, but he has integrity – twisted as it may be – because his morality is consistent with his ethic. Of course, when you and I think of integrity, we’re assuming a high ethic matched by an equally high morality.
Right Things

Most of us would probably agree that always acting with integrity can be a challenge. Norman Schwarzkopf made this observation: “The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.”

Several years ago, a friend who owned a certain professional sports franchise, although his team had just won the national championship, due to a failed TV contract found himself $10 million upside down. Many advised him to file for bankruptcy, but my friend’s ethic required that he pay his debts. It took him 11 years!

How does one develop this level of integrity? I’m sure it comes as no surprise to you that it takes practice and hanging around the right kind of people. Stephen Graves and Thomas Addington put it this way in The Fourth Frontier: “Integrity is a character muscle we either develop or ignore. And it’s rarely a last minute decision. It requires discipline. It comes from years of practice or, at the other extreme, years of neglect…Our integrity is shaped not only by our personal decisions, but also by the company we keep…Good character keeps good company.”
Personal Observation

One other tip, if I may, that I’ve found helpful in developing integrity. The Bible says that God searches the earth in order to strengthen those who are totally committed to him (2 Chronicles 16:9). I’ve discovered that when my driving and guiding ambition is not simply to build a reputation, but to serve God and his people, then God lends his power to my efforts to have integrity, and that seems to make a significant difference.

An African Example of What it takes to be a Good Leader.

This is an interesting post by Omobola Borisade of African Leadership Review. Omobola is a Public Administrator & Consultant from Ibadan, Nigeria.

Since the 1960s, when most African countries attained independence, the story has always been the same. A lying, crafty politician first appearing as a nationalist, then push through some populist programmes and then unveil what he really is – a real buffoon masquerading as a reformer, an intellectual terrorist in the mould of a Messiah. All but few African political leaders had turned out to be political misfits whose preoccupation is primitive accumulation. Most had bled their countries to almost breaking points. Africa is one continent where some of the leaders are richer than the countries they govern. It is a continent of sit-tight rulers. Muammar Ghadaffi has been in power for 42 years, Cote d'voir's Felix Houphouet – Boigny and Togo's Gnassingbe Eyaedema ruled for over three decades each. Here rulers generally refuse to leave when they no longer make sense. They constitute unnecessary burden to their states, yet they hold on to power. But in this general gloomy sea of despair was one leader who chose to be different. That leader was Joaquim Chissano, President of the Republic of Mozambique, November 4, 1986 to February 2, 2005. An articulate and brilliant leader piloted Mozambique through the transition from a communist to a capitalist ideology, won his country's first and second multiparty elections and made history by deciding not to run for his final term in office. “Let another leader continue from here, I have had enough.”

African Servant Leadership awarded to Vice President.

Ghana News Agency reports:

The Graduate School of Governance and Leadership in Accra on Tuesday 9th August, 2011 conferred on Vice President John Dramani Mahama "The African Servant Leadership" award for his social and political contribution to governance in Ghana.

The award formed part of the School's honorary programme conferred on people for their contribution to nation-building.

Rev. Gideon Titi-Ofei, Governor General of the School, led a delegation from the School to present the award to the Vice President at the Castle, Osu.

He said the Vice President Mahama showed social and political leadership when he worked with Plan Ghana, an International Non-Governmental organization, Japan International Cooperation Agency and as a Member of Parliament for Bole-Bamboi from 1996 to 2008. Rev. Titi-Ofei described Vice President Mahama as a beacon of hope and unity for the African continent" and appealed to other Africans entrusted with leadership positions to exhibit high levels of discretion and performance to enhance democracy.

The Vice President received the “African Servant Leadership” award because of his exemplary leadership role he displayed, dating back from his days as a social worker, a Member of Parliament and today, the second gentleman of the land.

He pledged the School's desire to team up with African leaders to promote quality leadership and responsibility in the coming years. Vice President Mahama dedicated the award to President John Evans Mills, the people of Ghana and God for reposing confidence in him to serve the country and Africa in general.

He said the award was a challenge for him to work harder to achieve other goals that would subsequently benefit the entire country. "I am grateful for this award which I deem as an honour and will therefore work harder to achieve others that will be beneficial to the entire nation."

The School last month awarded institutions and individuals in the areas of Social Service, Entrepreneurial Development, Civil Society leadership, Medical Leadership, Security leadership, Women Empowerment and political leadership.

Sustainable vs Effective Leadership

It's been a little while since I posted anything from the Lead Change Group blog on here, so I'm making up for that with this and the next post. They're both by Mike Henry, the founder of the Lead Change Group. This post is about Sustainable vs Effective Leadership; the previous was on Good vs Effective Leadership. I hope you find them useful!

A while back, I wrote a post titled Good Leadership vs. Effective Leadership about the difference between a good leader and an effective leader. The premise of that post was that an effective leader was one who got others to do what that leader wanted. A good leader was one who got others to achieve a positive goal. Good leadership goes beyond effective leadership by achieving a result where the benefit exceeds the cost.

In our modern culture, the Internet provides more options and more ability to influence. Therefore, it’s difficult to have a commonly shared definition of words like “good” and “positive.” Each person has always been free to define those words for themselves, but recently it seems opinions and definitions vary more and more. As someone who’s mission is to apply character-based leadership to make a positive difference, I often get asked to define “positive.”

Good vs Effective Leadership

It's been a little while since I posted anything from the Lead Change Group blog on here, so I'm going to make up for that by sharing two posts today. They're both by Mike Henry, the founder of the Lead Change Group. This post is about Good vs Effective Leadership; the next will be on Sustainable vs Effective Leadership. I hope you find them useful!

Let’s agree today that good leadership is not the same as effective leadership. Let’s agree that the word good is an evaluation of the end result rather than the leader’s actions. Did it achieve good purposes? Did it create value? (By value I mean benefit in excess of cost.) Did the benefit to all parties exceed the cost to all parties? Let’s agree that good leadership is that authority or influence that creates a good outcome. If the outcome is not generally good, it would be bad leadership. Using this model, “bad” becomes a big word. Any leadership that doesn’t create positive outcomes for the contributors and stakeholders can’t be good. As Jen stated in her comments, what Hitler did can’t be good. It can however be effective.

Effective Leadership
An Effective leader is someone who manages to get people to do what they want. It could be defined as one who exerts influence to get others to achieve the leader’s objectives regardless of the quality of the outcome. It will be effective if people allow themselves to be influenced. The outcomes can be good or bad.

Just Plain Ugly
In keeping with the movie, ineffective leadership is just plain Ugly. We won’t even try to clean it up. If you have to stoop to manipulating or threatening or bullying, that’s ugly leadership.

It seems from my connecting with people all over the world through Twitter and the Lead Change Group on LinkedIn, as well as the interest that has been shown in starting local leadership groups like Authentic Leadership Cincinnati or Lead Change Tulsa, that a growing number of people agree that our world needs an infusion of good leadership: effective leadership that brings about net-positive outcomes. The only way to do that is to contribute more than you consume. Let the revolution continue in your life and sphere of influence today!

Michelle Obama's Southern Africa Trip to Focus on Youth Leadership

According to the White House, Michelle Obama will set off on a week long trip to South Africa and Botswana tomorrow. Amongst other things, she will be focusing on youth leadership. If you're on Twitter, I encourage you to use the hashtag #YoungAfrica to join the conversation, get the latest updates of her trip and more. You can also get more information via Facebook on the US Bureau of African Affairs page.

Here's what Michelle had to say about the trip:

You can read more from James Butty of Voice of America after the jump (click here to read original article).

Aliko Dangote pledges $2 million to raise young leaders

A blog post by Mfonobong Nsehe, Forbes

Africa’s richest man and Nigeria’s first billionaire, Aliko Dangote, has pledged $2 million to establish a fellowship program aimed at grooming young leaders from Africa.

He made the pledge during a press conference at the just concluded World Economic Forum on Africa which was held in Cape Town from the 2nd-5th of May.

Details of the fellowship as well as the selection criteria are yet to emerge, but Dangote promised that his Dangote Foundation will award the fellowship to 35 young Africans. According to Dangote, the objective of the program is to increase the participation of young Africans, particularly those in the non-business sector in the Young Global Leaders (YGL) community program being run by the World Economic Forum. During the press conference Dangote said the fellowship will initially run for five years, and will play a key role in integrating African young global leaders into the global arena. Beneficiaries of the fellowship would go through intense leadership training at highly ranked international institutions.

The Forum of Young Global Leaders is an initiative by the World Economic Forum that brings together more than 700 exceptional young leaders in business and politics who share a commitment to shaping the global future. The young leaders are all under age 40 and are chosen through a rigorous selection process. Only individuals who have accomplished noteworthy achievements and have demonstrated a commitment to improving the societies in which they live are accepted.

Quality followship as a factor in effective leadership

This is an interesting blog post from Bestride Consulting Limited we were emailed at work today. It was written by Olusegun Olaiya, a Nigerian HR Management and Leadership Consultant. If you have any enquiries about the article, you can contact him at olusegunolaiya@bestrideconsulting.com.
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“Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.”
Gen. George Patton, U.S. Army (1885-1945)

In most, if not in all cases we talk, write, read about our leaders on what they are and are not; what they have done and what they have not done. Even in the context of what they have done we often turn our searchlight on what they did right and what they did not do right. We praise, but in most cases we condemn them and their actions. We are quick at highlighting the qualities of effective leaders at the exclusion of effective and formidable followers. In all these, we have conveniently forgotten that a society deserves the kind of leaders it gets. In other words, there is a direct correlation between the qualities of the followers and the qualities of the leaders in society.

Taking Nigeria for instance, we cry of corruption on the parts of our leaders at various levels in the private and public sectors. How many of us crying foul can confidently come out to say he has challenged any of the leaders being accused, either directly or indirectly. Such courageous people are few. I mean every word of that sentence. Let us test the validity or otherwise of this assertion now by attempting to answer the under listed questions:

1. How many of us today actually got our driver’s license by going through the normal official procedures?
2. How many of us have been able to challenge the extortions of the Police and other law enforcement agents at the road blocks?
3. How many Nigerian parents can today allow their children to go through the rigours of sitting, writing and passing WAEC and NECO without hiring ‘mercenaries’ to take the burden off their children?
4. How many salary earners (private and public) who are living in their own houses can confidently say that they built those mansions from their meager salaries and not from bribes and kickbacks taken from innocent people (if at all they are innocent)?
5. How many Nigerian families will support any of their members who are in government but has chosen not to take bribes/kickbacks from government contractors?
6. How many Nigerian would see a fellow Nigerian knocked down by a hit and run driver and pick him/her to the hospital for treatment?
7. How many Nigerians are honest and sincere in very little things at individual and family levels?

Get a year's free membership at G5 Leadership

Who says leaders can't be bargain hunters?! Leadership Now (the company behind Leading Blog) is working in collaboration with G5 Leadership to bring you a year's membership (normally worth $129) totally free! As a member, you'll have access to exclusive leadership training workshops, team surveys, leadership profiles, etc. More from Leading Blog:

G5 Leadership is a new leadership training company that offers 90-minute workshops and keynotes delivered via WebEx. G5 Leadership sessions are interactive: ask the experts, talk live, take polls, send chats, post comments, and download workbooks. You’ll hear from people like Steve Farber, Marshall Goldsmith, Bill Taylor, Bob Sutton, Tim Sanders, Scott Page, Steven Smith and more.

All you have to do is go to G5 Leadership and use this access code: 'g5leadershipnow'. Once you've done that, you fill out a registration form and you'll have full access to all the training G5 offers.

Unfortunately this is not available to students; you must register with a corporate email address (Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo etc are not accepted).

Transactional Leadership - Value vs Respect

This is the second installment of a five-part series on Transactional vs Relational Leadership we're following on the Lead Change Group blog. To read part one, click here.

The role of ‘value’ in transactional leadership is based on the idea that people follow the leader because the leader somehow adds value to their lives. The benefits could be social, political, economic or even spiritual. Followers follow because of the value the leader adds to them. The leader benefits from the value brought by those who follow him. It’s reciprocal and the leadership equation continues successfully unhindered as long as everyone can clearly see the benefit of the relationship. The problem with value based leadership is that it’s focused on one single idea, “What’s in it for me?” Don’t get me wrong. That’s not an inherently bad question to ask. People are in business to make a profit. The reason we want to improve our leadership skill is because we have this vision of a future that’s better for us and the people we lead. But, ‘What’s in it for me?’ can’t be the foundation of our leadership relationships. What’s in it for me is transient. What makes me happy from one moment to the next is dynamic. Therefore the value I’m looking for out of any given relationship is constantly changing. It’s why married couples can fall in and out of love. It’s why coaches can be heroes one day and villains the next. You didn’t win the game. The value of this relationship has just been diminished. You don’t make me feel like you once did. It must be time to find a new partner in marriage.

‘Respect’ approaches relationships differently than ‘value’. Instead of leaders looking for what they can gain from others they recognize that every individual has intrinsic value apart from what they give to an organization. Out of respect for the individual the leader looks for ways to unleash the unrealized and untapped potential of those they lead. Instead of using people as a resource they challenge and inspire people to become more than they ever imagined possible on their own. Respect becomes the foundation on which a new kind of leadership is built. When respect drives the leader’s responsibility to lead and the follower’s willingness to follow the paradigm changes for how we relate to one another. Because of my respect for you I won’t treat you as a commodity or as a means to an end. Out of respect for you I have a responsibility as a leader to attempt to understand your hopes and dreams, to use my resources and experience to equip, encourage and empower you to fulfill your maximum potential. The follower has a responsibility here as well. Out of respect for those who lead the follower commits to serve the organization well. This service isn’t simply about a paycheck or promotion but about giving my best, being fully engaged with the responsibilities entrusted to me, and doing what’s right for the organization as a whole. Respect defines the way we relate in times of success, failure, conflict and cooperation.

Put simply, value looks for what’s in this relationship for me. Respect dreams of what’s possible for you as we serve together.

Next time we’ll look at two more words to disrupt our leadership foundation. In the meantime consider the following:

• Are your leadership relationships based on value or respect?
• What are the inherent challenges or apparent weaknesses in leading from respect rather than value?

God bless,
Chad

10 ways to make your mentees great

I'd like to share part of a post from a blog called 'Leadership Freak'. It was originally posted under 'Great leaders make others great'. Besides the leadership aspect, it provides some pretty sound advice for mentors. Have a read and make your mentees great!

Your greatest challenge isn’t leading, it’s making others great. Settle for nothing less than growing leaders that become greater than you.

10 ways to make others great

1. Think less about what you want and more about what they want. Tap into who they want to be. Ask - how can I help you get where you want to go?
2. Provide opportunities for failure. Nothing succeeds like a good failure. Our failures, more than successes, make us. Organizations that learn from failure go farther than ones that punish them.
3. Accept average performance as long as there’s passion to learn and grow.
4. Throw wood on their fire. Anyone can quench someone. Try igniting them. Passion, passion, passion …
5. Learn from them by honoring what they know. They learn by teaching you. Additionally, Honor opens the door to influence.
6. Listen to your selfishness. Give to others what you want from them. Not so you’ll get it back but so they’ll be built up.
7. Step back so they can step forward. Prepare them. Provide resources. Set deadlines. Remember, leaders learn by leading.
8. Be a safety net. Young leaders need a place of refuge where they can recover, renew, and refocus.
9. Be direct with correction. Don’t play around. Describe wrong behaviors and explain the path to success.
10. Leverage ownership over accountability. The power of accountability fades in light of ownership. Say, “This is your project.”

Execution of some of these points may be a little different in your role as a mentor because we aren't (directly) trying to create leaders for the workplace (i.e. we encourage you to be good leaders for your mentees rather than good managers). I hope it can still be a useful resource for you.

To see the original post, click here.

Leadership blog goldmine

Keeping up with blogs is an easy way to get up to date information on the topics that matter most to you. It's easy to find a blog on just about anything these days. The question becomes not how to find information, but where to find it.

Netherlands based blog Noop have put together a list of the top 150 Leadership and Management blogs. The list is not exhaustive, not by any means, and what they define to be 'good' by their standards may not be the same as everyone else. However, it's a great resource to have on hand; a starting point for research if you like.

They've complied a list of blogs and their corresponding Twitter pages (if they exist) which adds another helpful dimension (excuse the shameless self-promotion, but you can follow us on Twitter here if you aren't already). I've listed their top 10 blogs below; you can have a look at the full list here.

TT	Site	Author	Twitter
1	The Blog of Tim Ferriss	Tim Ferris	tferriss
2	Leading With Purpose	Michael Hyatt	michaelhyatt
3	Anthony Robbins Training Blog	Anthony Robbins	tonyrobbins
4	How to Change the World	Guy Kawasaki	guykawasaki
5	Daniel Pink	Daniel H. Pink	DanielPink
6	Management IQ - Business Week	(various)
7	GTD Times	(various)	gtdguy
8	Life Beyond Code Blog	Rajesh Setty	UpbeatNow
9	Dispatches from the New World of Work	Tom Peters	tom_peters
10	Three Star Leadership Blog	Wally Bock	wallybock

Happy blogging!

Transactional vs. Relational Leadership

Over the next few weeks, the folks over at Lead Change Group are going to be running a series on the differences between Transactional and Relational Leadership. What are those, you might ask. To find out, simply read the first installment:

Have you ever thought about the words we use to describe relationships? Our entire paradigm for how we relate to one another is economic. We ‘spend’ time with family. We ‘invest’ training and resources in employees. When we feel neglected by our spouse we tell them they don’t ‘value’ us nearly enough. I’ll get that promotion when my boss recognizes how much I ‘contribute’ to the team.

Seth Godin has said that leadership, at it’s core, is marketing and marketing is leadership. As leaders we’re selling a vision, an idea, a method, a system. We market our influence and hope someone will ‘buy in’. This economic model for relationships affects our approach to leadership at every level. It’s transactional in nature. Quid pro quo. I’ll follow you if I get something in return. You’ll follow me when you realize my idea has more than merit, it has value that will benefit you personally. They say all politics is local. Well, all leadership is transactional and everyone’s looking for an ROI (return on investment) that far exceeds the risk they take when they believe in you.

What would happen if we changed the language of leadership? What if we stopped using the words of Wall Street to describe how a leader relates to others? Transactional Leadership relies heavily on 4 words that have more to do with economics than leadership. What if we replaced these 4 words with new words, better words? Words designed to inspire, empower and engage people.

• Value vs. Respect
• Invest vs. Serve
• Buy-in vs. Trust
• Contribute vs. Collaborate

These aren’t simply 4 contrasting ideas. They are a progressive pattern for how ‘Relational Leadership’ works. They are guiding principles that build one on top of the other.

Over the next several weeks we’re going to explore the differences between Transactional Leadership and Relational Leadership. We’ll discover how these four guiding principles leverage the power of influence, magnify the effectiveness of a team and create a vibrant culture where individual and corporate potential explodes with exponential growth.

It’s going to be a great series. As we get ready to dive in I have some questions for you.

• What’s been your experience with ‘Transactional Leadership’? Was it positive or negative?
• Do you think it’s possible to describe our relationships without using words that are economic in nature?

God Bless,
Chad

I'll be re-posting each installment as it becomes available, so make sure you keep an eye out for them!

And the winner is...

On Monday, history was made. At the International Association of Political Consultants' (IAPC) conference in Paris, Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai became the first person ever to receive the IAPC Democracy Medal twice. According to the IAPC, "No other world leader, past or present, can lay claim to receiving the IAPC's Democracy Award on two separate occasions".

It is a remarkable achievement for a person who, despite numerous arrests, accusations of treason and even being beaten, continued his pursuit of democracy and political justice for his country. He is a true example that hard work and persistence really do pay off. More from africagoodnews.com:

"[He] joins an impressive group of world leaders including Nelson Mandela, Boris Yeltsin, Margaret Thatcher and, more recently, Dr Mir Hossein Mousavi of Iran who was awarded the medal in 2009."

Tsvangirai was first awarded the medal in 2002, but was unable to accept it in person at the time because he was not permitted to leave Zimbabwe.

The IAPC started presenting its Democracy Award in 1982 to individuals or organisations who had worked "courageously to foster, promote and sustain the democratic process throughout the world".

In his address to the conference Tsvangirai was quoted saying: "In my darkest moments I am inspired by the hope and courage of the people. At times when I am tempted to feel proud, I am humbled by the commitment of millions of ordinary Zimbabweans to stand up for their rights and in times of anger and frustration I am consoled by the absolute dedication to peaceful, democratic change demonstrated by the great people of Zimbabwe.

"We are all committed to fostering democracy and democratic processes. While I am focused on fulfilling this mission in Zimbabwe, I know that there is much to be learnt from the knowledge and lessons that you bring to this conference."

Our heartfelt congratulations go out to Mr. Tsvangirai. This an important step in the transformation of the image of African leadership; we hope there will be many similar announcements to follow.

The Cross Drums

The book for this year's YLMP is Ghanaian author Meshack Asare's The Cross Drums. It tells the simple story of how two young boys united their villages after years of conflict and hatred. During our leadership conference last weekend, we briefly went over some of the leadership lessons we can take from the book. Now I want to go into them in a bit more detail. These were compiled by Christiana Okyere (for the most part) and myself. If you have any more to add, just let me know!

A leader is determined to achieve success: Meliga and Billa, as young shepherds learnt to protect their flock from danger. Despite threats from his wicked uncle, Billa refused to pour the poison into the source of water Meliga’s village drank from. Meliga and Billa were determined to keep the friendship they had found regardless of the punishment they knew awaited them if caught. This helped them achieve success in the long run; their friendship finally led to the peace between their villages. As young leaders, our determination and hard work will enable us achieve whatever we have purposed in our hearts to achieve.

A leader influences positively: In the last chapter, Meliga and Billa led all the children in their respective villages in merrymaking accompanied by the playing of drums. As young leaders, they influenced their fathers who did not exhibit good leadership qualities in solving their conflict and therefore influenced their society positively. Here, we learn that we do not need to be adults to influence our communities in a positive way. Young as we are, we can contribute our quota in influencing our societies positively just like Meliga and Billa (our young leaders) in the story did.

A leader is selfless, caring and compassionate: In the story, Billa lost two of his goats to snake bites and cried because of the possibility of being punished by his parents. Meliga; however, out of care and selflessness replaced Billa’s flock out of his own. As a selfless leader and friend, he was careful to make other people around him happy. He can be likened to a good leader as a result of this excellent trait exhibited by him. A leader should show some level of selflessness and care in solving problems around them and this will always amount to effective results.

A leader takes complete charge and responsibility for items placed in their care: Meliga was put in charge of his flock and so he did everything in his power to protect them from danger. In his bid to rescue his flock from the enemy village and from danger; he fell into a pit which happened to be in the territory of the enemy village. He needed to protect his flock because he was accountable for their upkeep. As young mentees and leaders, we need to work hard and protect whatever is left in our care, so as to be able to give account for them.

Leadership on a shoestring

No matter what happens, like water, we will always need leaders. Funny thing to consider though; when situations arise where leadership is critical - take the issues that have led the the MDGs for instance - resources don't tend to be in the habit of lining themselves up waiting for people, leaders, to make use of them. Indeed, the need for leadership can arise because of an absence of resources (which in itself could be a consequence of poor leadership). My point here is that when leadership is needed most, the resources needed (be it time, materials, personnel, honesty...) might not always be handy. This is what brings about the term 'leadership on a shoestring'. A quick Google search (0.33 seconds in fact) revealed that most uses of the term of the web refer to leadership training: how to pull off an effective leadership development course for employees on a tight budget for example. On some level, it communicates the same basic sort of message: all leadership involves some aspect of effective resource management.

Not quite leadership on a shoestring though, so I'll just get straight to the point. When it comes to making the most of what you (may or may not) have, there are a few things I think you should keep in mind. These are by no means exclusive to this scenario. Rather, they are especially important.

1. Keep the target/aim/goal in mind. It's always good to prioritise. When you don't have a lot to work with, it becomes imperative to focus on the task at hand. Once you're sure you've done everything you can and you've done it well, other things can be attended to.
2. Make it a team effort. Don't become bogged down when you can delegate. Aside from stressing yourself out, it will get you nowhere. The beauty of having a team is that everyone will have different strengths and weaknesses. As a leader you should be able to play on this to get the best out of each person. Not only will people then work more effectively, chances are they will feel more fulfilled as well.
3. Think outside the box. They say necessity is the mother of invention, and it's true. You may be tight but ultimately, you determine how 'tight' your thinking is. Be creative and innovative and for all you know, that thing you thought was a problem might just turn into the single greatest thing that happened.
4. Expect the unexpected. Like the organisers of the Delhi Commonwealth Games are finding out, no matter how hard you prepare, no matter what the circumstances are, you can never be sure of what's around the corner. Although it could be said that they wasted a lot of time, progress has been significantly hampered by an unexpected amount of rain. This is peculiar given that they are in the middle of the monsoon season. Had they factored the possibility of freak rains, perhaps they could have avoided a lot of the trouble they find themselves in now. Always think ahead. You save a lot more time thinking about these things in advance than having to think of solutions on the spot.

I'm sure there are many other things that could be included here, but this is where I will stop. Any thoughts?

MDG Summit: 20th-22nd Sep

In the year 2000, over 180 states agreed on a series of goals that, once achieved, would take a significant dent out of poverty and its effects worldwide. These goals have the potential to save millions of lives, reduce gender inequality, protect the environment and significantly improve the quality of life for all.

With the target date for these goals fast approaching, there is a need for world leaders to come together once again to discuss progress, share lessons and to go over the necessary action to be taken over the next five years. The MDG Report for 2010 shows mixed progress (read it here), so careful, deliberate leadership will be required to stay on track for 2015. From the 20th until the 22nd of September, the UN will be holding an MDG Summit in New York. You can follow the action with ONE*, the UN, or right here on the YLMP blog.

"The summit will be a crucially important opportunity to redouble our efforts to meet the Goals", says Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General of the UN. "Our world possesses the knowledge and the resources to achieve the MDGs. Our challenge today is to agree on an action agenda to achieve the MDGs." The Millennium Development Goals represent an unprecedented global effort and commitment; if successful, our leaders have the chance to re-write history and prove that they can indeed work together to facilitate positive change on a large scale.


*ONE has put together a playlist of MDG videos on YouTube. Check them out here.

Leadership & Communication Pt. 2

Last week, I shared an eBook called The Difficult Conversation by Aled Davies. As I mentioned earlier, effective communication is important for everyone. There are several different aspects to communicating effectively. Interestingly, up to 90% of communication can be non-verbal, and this is what Aled Davies tackles in his next eBook: Why First Impressions Matter. This book has some useful tips on how to make a good first impression using an interview setting as a reference point. They can be applied to any number of situations however. To view or download the eBook, click here. Some comments from Mr Davies:

"I've tried to include some of my own personal experiences in the eBook and some of the tools, tips, strategies and techniques inside are ones that have helped my clients achieve way more than their outcomes, as you'll read inside.

I haven't written about this stuff before so you'll be one of the first to read it and I'd really appreciate your feedback. So please just send me an email (aled.davies@resolvegb.com) with your feedback, comments and requests."

Ghana lowest ranking African country on 2010 FSI

The recently published Failed States Index* for 2010 reveals that Ghana (ranked 122nd from the top) has the most stable government in Africa. Unfortunately on the other end of the scale, seven out of the top 10 states are African. It seems bad governance and corruption (amongst other things) are leaving the governments of our brothers an sisters in a chronically sorry state of affairs; a mere 15 states - 10 of which are African - have shared the top 10 slots since records first began in 2004. More from Foreign Policy:

"This year's index draws on 90,000 publicly available sources to analyze 177 countries and rate them on 12 metrics of state decay - from refugee flows to economic implosion, human rights violations to security threats. Taken together, a country's performance on this battery of indicators tells us how stable - or unstable - it is.

At the top of the list, Somalia saw yet another year plagued by lawlessness and chaos, with pirates plying the coast while radical Islamist militias tightened their grip on the streets of Mogadishu. Across the Gulf of Aden, long-ignored Yemen leapt into the news when a would-be suicide bomber who had trained there tried to blow up a commercial flight bound for Detroit. Afghanistan and Iraq traded places on the index as both states contemplated the exit of U.S. combat troops, while already isolated Sudan saw its dictator, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, defy an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court and the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of the Congo once again proved itself a country in little more than name."

It is heartbreaking to see our leaders continue hold on to power with such gusto that they forget what true leadership is all about. I decided to focus on Ghana's position on the list early in the article so as not to characterize the whole post on the unfortunate crisis of leadership Africa seems to be battling with. I hope that we're successful in training and encouraging our next generation of leaders to be more responsible.


*This Foreign Policy site is very Flash-heavy and can take a long time to load. For a simpler version of the Index, click here.

Leadership & Communication

As a leader, one of the single most important skills you can have is the ability to communicate effectively. As you all know, communication goes beyond simply passing on information or getting a message/idea across. Effective communication involves being able to do that and much more. It combines internal and external factors such as body language, when and how you say what you say, and your general demeanor. It is important for all of us, whether we are leaders or not, to be able to communicate well. Not only will it help develop relationships with friends and acquaintances, but it also serves as a platform for you to sell yourself (in a good way, of course!) When it comes to moving jobs, getting promoted or even general credibility, individuals who can communicate well are usually the ones who tend to get ahead.

Aled Davies is an executive coach who works with senior managers, directors and partners in a variety of companies in order to maximise their individual effect. This, of course, includes developing their communication skills. He has written an eBook called 'The Difficult Conversation' which may be an interesting read. It should certainly be helpful in helping you deal with the kind of conversations that can be tricky to maneuver (for example, dealing with conflict, breaking bad news, asking for a pay raise etc). To view/download the eBook, click here. It is possible he has another one in the works, so check back if you're interested.

--Update-->
Click here for information on Aled Davies' latest eBook, Why First Impressions Count.