Sarah Palin on Fox News Sunday

On Fox News Sunday, Sarah Palin noted President Obama doesn’t have “the cojones” to effectively address the issue of illegal immigration.

Here’s the story: Palin Says Brewer Has Something Obama Lacks: ‘Cojones’. History will define whether or not she is on target.

The word “cogones”  is a borrowed work from Hispanic roots. It basically means courage to step up and do the right thing. Leader are always being criticized by followers for something. So, why not be criticized for doing what you feel is important and necessary as the effective leader you are?

The issues about Obama is simply a political football – or is it? Anyway, it does set the stage for looking at leadership courage.

Here are some ways that the Transformational Leader can step to action:

1. Address the Issue – Leaders continually ignore inappropriate or unproductive behavior and do not address it head on. Not dealing with an issue can cause your organization to suffer larger consequences: time, money, relationships, public image, market share, etc. Not dealing with the issues when first discovered will only allow it to grow larger and create more damage. Pay the upfront cost and deal with the issue immediately. A musical rehearsal is to correct mistakes before they become learned behavior and before they impact the entire orchestra or choir. Business and church leaders have the same responsibility – fix the problem now before it multiplies
2. Do not Place Importance on Popularity – The musical conductor is expected to correct mistakes before they become learned behavior. These actions are not considered to be personal in nature – it’s simply part of the leaders’s responsibility. Business and church leaders are too worried about upsetting the balance, or about hurting someone’s feelings, or seeming to be confrontational to be effective in preventing or correcting problems. In fact, the leader is respected more after taking action and addressing the difficult issues. Teams do not respect a leader who does not or cannot deal with these situations. Pay the upfront cost – act on issues appropriately, let popularity find its place.
3. Be Aware that Others Follow Your Behavior – If you have children you will understand this dynamic easily. Those we lead will pick up and emulate our habits – especially our habits that we do not like. The lesson is authentic, ethical, firm, focused leadership inspires the same. Model the results and behavior that you want to see in your organization.
4. Do Not Guard the Information – Effective Transformational Leaders share information needed to accomplish tasks and meet deadlines for goals. Have the courage to share all the information you have in order to enable your team members to share in the success of meeting organizational goals. It’s not only you. It’s not about you. It’s not only up to you. It’s a shared effort. Share the information and share the celebration. Be courageous and know that you will make it happen, but you do not need all the attention or all the credit. You are, in fact, the leader. If there is success, then you have lead the team and the organization to that success. It becomes self-evident.
5. Be Transparent – Do not pretend to know everything – those whom you lead know the facts, so why pretend? In fact, if you try to pretend that you have no weaknesses, then those who work for and with you will prove you to be wrong. It might be intentional. It might not be intentional. It just happens. Transparency is a trait of strong leaders. Being vulnerable and letting your team know that they have a place for acting that complements your skills a leader will empower them to do their best. It’s now their skill and not yours. They have a chance to step up as well.

This is a short list of courageous behaviors for the Transformational Leader.

Tip: Would you rather be criticized for being and action leader behaving boldly for the good of an organization or would rather be criticized for “play it safe”?

Once upon hearing a person tell me that he had worked continuously for four years with no vacation, I stopped to think about how unsuccessful that person appeared to be to me. Now, I fully realize that to some people who enjoy their work, this might be a desired result – work all the time because that’s what makes you feel good.

I prefer to think of life like a musical composition. It’s full of variety – tempo changes, dynamic variations, rests, fermatas, and more.

With a variety in like the Transformational Leader is equipped to think clearly and respond to the challenges of leadership with a fresh perspective.

TIP: If you plan to create variety in your life, the change of pace with empower you for challenges ahead for your leadership. Do not lag behind the curve, be prepared to lead the charge by being rested and focused.

I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”

Perfection paralysis is a condition that keeps many leaders from obtaining their best results. You may know someone or it may be you that is guilty of making sure everything is perfectly in place before taking the first step to implement a goal.

When Napoleon Hill interviewed Andrew Carnegie he captured the quote from Carnegie, “Any idea that is held in the mind and is emphasized, that is either feared or revered, will begin at once to clothe itself in the most appropriate physical form available.” Hill discovered that the most successful Americans that Carnegie introduced him to had many things in common – one key factor stands out – they all set specific goals and began to move toward the goal without having to figure out all the details.

Foundations is about clarity in your vision and specificity on your goals. It does not, however, mean that you must plan until you run out of energy and time to implement your goal. Define the goal and then begin at once to move toward completion of that goal.

TIP: Consider perfection to be the enemy of good. Perfection might just keep you from ever achieving your goal. It’s is worth it?

Are you the 3%? Only three percent of the population will actually follow through with an idea and implement it. Yes, that’s the sad truth. Many, many people have great ideas, if fact there is an abundance of great ideas. There are, however, very few people to see those ideas through to success.

This is the law of averages. Only 3% of the readers of this newsletter will actually implement the ideas. Why? It’s the law of averages. Throughout history this formula repeats itself.

So, the choice is yours. Do you want to be known as the person who actually succeeded? Maybe the winning idea is an idea that was given to you. The great idea does not have to be original.

Today you have many options. You have many opportunities to succeed. Have you decided to succeed? That’s the first step – deciding to succeed. The next step is deciding to be committed to the idea. Believe in the idea and have a passion for the idea. You will not succeed if you have no passion for the idea.

The first step in establishing a successful system is deciding to succeed. Next, figure out how.

TIP: First develop clarity for what you want. Next devise a pathway to success.

Thomas Edison was the most prolific inventor in history. His style of leadership was to work all the time. Edison was known for not sleeping. Yes, that’s true. He basically never slept. He would only take short naps and get right back to work.

There is a difference in being driven and being called as a leader. Edison was productive because he never gave up, in fact, he continued to work to invent the incandescent light bulb through multiple failures. On his 10,000 try he succeeded! Are you willing to work this hard to prove your idea? Edison did not recognize failure. He stated that he found 9,999 ways that did not work.

The Transformational Leader creates balance in life in order to have personal and work lives and not just a work life. It was important to Edison to realize his many brilliant ideas into working, living projects – the light bulb, the dry cell battery, electricity that could be transported over distance, and the telephone (he invented the phone, but got the the patent office after Bell – he was however the person that made the phone work in a practical manner).

Edison made a choice – be the best inventor. He was famous for that. Do you think he was happy? I wonder….

TIP: Plan to be successful in life, not just your work life.

The Transformational Leader leads from a personal influence and not power of position. It’s more difficult and somewhat threatening for a leader to be vulnerable by being authentic, however, this style of leadership inspires others to model authenticity as well. Creating strong leaders makes the Transformational Leader more effective. The power is shared, even though the leader is utlimately the guide for the vision, it is with nurture and not force.

If you look at yourself in the mirror, do you see a person that you would allow to lead you?

As I interviewed Jim Hart for the May 10, 2010 edition of Monday Morning Email (http://dld.bz/cNKu) I really resonated with his perspective on leadership in the church. This newsletter is for those who plan and lead worship ministries. Jim served the church for many years and now is President of the Webber Institute for Worship Studies in Florida. One comment jumped out at me that supports a major principle of Transformational Leadership – Authenticity.

Here’s his quote:

Well, you know, I think leadership is an area that is, has not been given the proper kind of regard, particularly among music ministers and worship leaders. We say we are worship leaders and we talk mostly about worship and not so much about leading and all of us in some way are called to be leaders in the way that, again, the way that Jesus modeled for us being servant leaders. And serving those with whom you spend your life and your ministry. And so, I think reflections on leadership are, are vitally important for all of us who are involved with worship leading ministry or actually just any kind of kingdom advancing ministry. We need to be reflecting on how leadership plays into everything we’re doing.

The principle that resonated with me was that of look to the leadership of Jesus who demonstrated Servant Leadership. Jesus was the Servant Leader, indeed! He represented serving humanity in all that he did. His leadership was authentic. Authenticity inspires authenticity. We are professionals in many types of work. We are first and foremost the person that God created us to me. Trying to be something else is not authentic. It’s good to study leaders, however, learn from successful leaders and make the principles you like your own principles. Learn the principle behind what you see and do not just copy the action.

The successful leader internalizes the lessons learned. These new skills mature as the leader grows and matures in their own leadership style.

Be authentic. Be the leader you were created to be. Be the best you can be – all the time. You will inspire others to do the same.

Look in the mirror. Would you be inspired by you? It has been said that we are the result of the 5 people we hang around the most. Who do you want to influence you? How do you want to influence others?

When I have encouraged you to get the best players for your orchestra, I want you to achieve excellent results. Good players can make good music. In fact, excellent players can make excellent music. Don’t limit the effectiveness of your team by your attitude. Be affirming. Be encouraging. Be authentic. Be focused.

The worst thing you can do it to pretend that you do not have weaknesses yourself or to act like you never make any mistakes. Acknowledge your areas that need improvement and your intentions to create a pathway to achieve those improvements. Inversely, know that your team members will make mistakes and will need encouragement. Your attitude to keep from getting discouraged yourself will inspire your team you learn from their mistakes and move forward with more wisdom.

Surround your self with capable people. They will inspire you. Let go of your pride and realize that it is alright to be inspired by those whom you lead as well a those you follow.

TIP: Nobody want to ignore problems. Learn from them and do not let problems govern your life or limit your potential for success. Those who follow you will model what you do and how you act more than what you say.

One of the most common problems I encounter when working with leaders to build results and create effective teams, is described in the statement, “My people just don’t do what I need them to do.” I suggest that this problem comes from the leader and not from the team.

When a leader defines the vision and then sets specific goals to achieve that vision, it’s important to leave a place for team members to create their strategies for their work. It is limiting for team members when a leader not only defines the outcomes, but also defines all the steps to get there.

You have a worthy vision and have created powerful goals that will drive processes toward achieving that vision. Create systems where team members can fill in the blanks. Once each team member can contribute a process step, they move to being interested in the vision to owning the vision.

If you create a sloppy process for this process, then you are creating a less than excellent organization. Inspire excellence. Define the goal, move forward by creating a process to define all the steps to achieve that goal, put the steps into a sequence and then let the team members divide up the responsibility for managing those process steps. Be focused in your process. Allow each member to contribute. Assign responsibilities and deadlines. Shift the accountability from you, the leader, to the team.

TIP: Plan the outcomes of the planning meeting. Plan the process to get to the outcomes. Define the process and outcomes at the beginning of the meeting. Keep the group on task. Excellence in planning leads to excellent results.

Here’s the part of the interview that deals with clarity:

Willimon: One of my Cabinet members, a District Superintendent who is retired military, brings a perspective from the military. If while we do our work, I can like you, great. If while we are doing our work, I can respect you, great. But, we’re all clear, none of that is as important as getting them mission accomplished.

Ballou: Absolutely! It supports the first piece we were talking about, clarity in the vision.

Willimon: I was just thinking about that. I love your stress on clarity. This week, this is my thing – clarity. I’ve just read a good book by Bill Brosen, The Preaching of Jesus: Gospel Proclamation, Then and Now. And Bill says there, that when he listens to sermons, the biggest problem is clarity, just simple clarity. You can’t figure our what the preacher is talking about. Bill says that it’s a kind of theological problem and a sense of decision not being able to say, “I’m going to go with this, I’m not going to go with that.” Expanding that to leadership in the church, I’d say that one of the problems we have in the church is that we have these ridiculous broad, multi-faceted expectations – ‘increase of love of God and neighbor, we want to have a loving, caring congregation, you can just feel the love, we want to welcome newcomers who may threaten that, but we also want to change the world and transform America into a Christian society, we also want to challenge sin when we see it…” It’s a receipt for never accomplishing anything and never feeling that God has done something good through us. So, therefore, clarity becomes a huge thing – what is it that you most want to do.

To read the entire interview or to download the audio file, go to the interview at Monday Morning Email April 12.

In my work with entrepreneurs, church leaders, leaders of non[profits, and leaders in the corporate world, I find similar issues holding leaders back from achieving their dreams – lack of clarity. Clarity comes in many forms. All these forms of clarity are written. Yes, it must be written down to be clear. Otherwise, your thoughts will continue expanding, changing, or moving forward in an uncontrolled and unclear manner. In fact, if your goals are not written down, then they are still in the dream phase. Dreams are essential to building a vision, however, at some point the dream must be written down in order to facilitate effective implementation. An unwritten goal is simply – a dream.

Clarity brings you to a state of knowing. You begin with believing that your vision will be reality. In creating documents, you move from simply believing to knowing – an essential step! If leaders work with teams (committees, boards, staff, etc.) the importance of written documents goes to a higher level of importance. Strategic plans fail about 95% of the time in the implementation stage – the plan is completed, but nothing, or little happens.

As documents are created, clarity comes to the leader. Clarity in the final result – clarity in the steps to get to the result – clarity in the sequence of the steps to get to the result – clarity in the actions needed from team members. All these are essential to effective results. The documents to be created include: Statement of Core Values, Definition of Long-Term Objectives, Development of Short-Term Goals, Creation and Implementation of Action Plans for the Goals.

For more information on creating clarity with effective documents, see Hugh’s Book Building High Performance Teams: Systems and Structures for Leading Teams and Empowering Transformation HERE

Create your own clarity today by defining the end results you want achieve and defining a way to get there.