Management Blog

15 Inspiring Biographies for Aspiring Leaders

I have come across this good article entitled 15 Inspiring Biographies for Aspiring Leaders. So if you have cleaned out your reading material over the Christmas holidays here are some excellent ideas for you. Thanks to Rose King for the information.

"Leadership isn't a quality only reserved for CEOs and presidents, once they're voted into office. Individuals who have found success in business, politics, entertainment and other industries have cultivated their leadership skills and natural talent for positively influencing others, even when lucrative job opportunities were scarce. You'll learn from these biographies that men and women like Steve Jobs, Estee Lauder and Andrew Carnegie weren't perfect. But what stood them apart from mid-level managers and ordinary dropouts was their ability to accept their weaknesses, obstacles and challenges, and move on, helping them to become some of the most revolutionary and inspirational leaders of all time.

   1. The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder: Even though Schroeder was selected by Buffett to be his biographer, this book reveals an honest and candid look at Buffett's indulgences, as well as his accomplishments. It's an inspiring read for anyone who's frustrated by his or her own weaknesses, proving that everyone's got their own issues to get over.

Read on to read the full article.

Interesting Sayings

Came across these today in an article by Marcus Bailie in Horizons magazine.

"Flying isn't dangerous crashing is"

"What you know is not what is important as what you do with it"

"Learn from the mistakes of others - you won't live long enough to make them yourself"

"Experience is the knowledge that enables you to recognise a mistake when you make it again!"

Team Building Motivation

I've just been reading for the second time  in many years Bill Bryson's "Notes From a Small Island". A very funny insight into British culture and attitudes. His writing style is excellent so  insightful and witty.

One paragraph which drew my attention, and when you think about it he's right, relates to Bryson's visit to Stonehenge. He writes "It took 500 men just to pull each sarsen, plus 100 more to dash around positioning the rollers. Just think about it for a minute. Can you imagine trying to talk 600 people into helping you drag a 50-ton stone 18 miles across countryside, musle it into an upright position and then saying "Right lads! Another twenty like that, plus some lintels and maybe a couple of dozen nice bluestones from Wales, and we party!!" Whoever was the person behind Stonehenge was one dickens of a motivator, I'll tell you that."

He's right, who was that chap? He'd have to be a key player for a Company with a large workforce in the present day. His services would be invaluable.

For ideas on team building motivation  and team building training visit the Call of the Wild website

Book Review - "Leaders" by Warren Bennis

Author: Warren Bennis
Publisher: Harper & Row
Publish Date: 1997
ISBN: 0887308392

Warren Bennis decided that the leaders he interviewed had four abilities in common. He refers to these as management of attention, management of meaning, management of trust and management of self.

• Management of attention is a matter of vision, not only the possession of one but the ability to turn it into action. It is a matter of a vision so compelling that other people adopt it as their own.
• Management of meaning is a matter of communication which for Bennis is not formal but a matter of metaphor that captures the imagination.
• Management of trust is that consistency of behaviour, of what other people have called 'walking the talk' that enables others to put their faith in a leader.
• Management of self is a matter being constantly ready to learn and of making the commitment to self-knowledge.

Bennis, like Reddin and others, firmly believed that leadership can be learned. In his view:

• Leadership is not rare.
• Leaders are made and not born.
• Leaders are very often ordinary people.
• Leadership is required not just at the top but throughout the organisation.
• Leadership is not about the tasks of management (perhaps as Henri Fayol listed them) but about inspiring others towards a common goal

For more information on leadership programmes  and leadership training course visit Call of the Wild's website

 

Recommended Reading - Leaders

Author: Warren Bennis
Publisher: Harper & Row
Publish Date: 1997
ISBN: 0887308392

Warren Bennis decided that the leaders he interviewed had four abilities in common. He refers to these as management of attention, management of meaning, management of trust and management of self.

• Management of attention is a matter of vision, not only the possession of one but the ability to turn it into action. It is a matter of a vision so compelling that other people adopt it as their own.
• Management of meaning is a matter of communication which for Bennis is not formal but a matter of metaphor that captures the imagination.
• Management of trust is that consistency of behaviour, of what other people have called 'walking the talk' that enables others to put their faith in a leader.
• Management of self is a matter being constantly ready to learn and of making the commitment to self-knowledge.

Bennis, like Reddin and others, firmly believed that leadership can be learned. In his view:

• Leadership is not rare.
• Leaders are made and not born.
• Leaders are very often ordinary people.
• Leadership is required not just at the top but throughout the organisation.
• Leadership is not about the tasks of management (perhaps as Henri Fayol listed them) but about inspiring others towards a common goal

Management & Motivation - A Book Review

Our on-line development academy contains regular book reviews. Click here for more info.

View Book Information: Management and Motivation Too many of the great writers on management are known only through what others have said about them. This collection of articles and abstracts shows what they actually said. We make no apologies for reviewing a book first published in 1970. Edited by Victor H Vroom and Edward L Deci, this a marvellous book and one that has justifiably been in print for over 30 years. It contains 26 extracts from the writings of great management thinkers - their original words. Much of this is unobtainable with any ease anywhere else and this book surely must be on your bookshelf as a result. It also contains summaries by Vroom and Deci which set the writings in context and explain their development.

The book starts with the formal writing of Herbert A Simon:

"We find then that those participants in organisations who are called its employees are offered a variety of material and non-material incentives, generally not related to the attainment of the organisation, in return for their willingness to accept organisational decisions as a basis for their behaviour during the time of their employment."

It continues with Maslow writing in 1943 at the start of the development of hierarchy of needs in which he refers to the need following physiological and safety needs as a need for love' - whereas today we use the weaker words 'social need' or 'need for affiliation'. Maslow is followed by Nancy Morse and Robert Weiss with one of the very few quantitative studies of motivation and work. They conclude:

"... for most men working does not simply function as a means or earning a livelihood. Even if there were no economic necessity for them to work, most men would work. It is through this producing role that most men tie into society and, for this reason and others, most men find the producing role important for maintaining their sense of well-being."

Listening Skills

1. Don't Multi-Task - -Focus on the person you're talking to and put everything else to one side until later. If you can't concentrate pay attention to the quality of the voice, their eye colour and what they are wearing.

2. Suspend Judgement - Focus on what they're saying rather than your analysis of it. Listen know form an opinion later.

3. Make Gestures - Use your body language to make it clear that you are involved and listening. Keep eye contact and nod your head in recognition.

4. Ask Open Questions - A good listener will ask questions

5. Refer Back - Mention in your conversation something the person suggested on a previous occsaion. Listening need not be confined to the current discussion.

6. Hear Them Out - Reacting too quickly will set them on the defensive and guarantee an argument.

7.Explore Thier Words - Listen to the vocab the person chooses to use and be aware of its shadow meaning.

8. Be Aware of Emotions - Does their tone of voice alter while they are talking - it may reveal a change beneath the surface.

Taken from "The Mind GYm:Wake |Your Mind Up." Published by Time Warner.