HISTORY'S LESSONS IN LEADERSHIP

Learn from the best and brightest to ever walk the face of this earth.

Leadership is as complex as life, yet its principles are simple and certain.  It is the most desired set of skills.  Find the perfect leader and the world will follow.

Introduction.

Leadership Is: Success, by Creating Change

"To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often." Winston Churchill

• Socrates, The Examined Life " The key to change yourself, then others"
• Balanced Organizations - See the big picture, identify the weak link, then raise the weak link to the next level of success
• Six Items to Change - People; Plan; Products; Priorities; Partners; Power

Chapter 1. 

George Washington - Great leaders create themselves, they are not born to greatness

• A Leader Takes Responsibility 

Chapter 2. 

The Three Factors of Leadership

            Rome found there were three factors to success. 

1.      Discipline.

2.      Skills

3.      Passion.

Chapter 3.

Factor 1: DISCIPLINE  - Thomas A. Edison

"Get the right things done." Peter Drucker

• Discipline is the hard work of bringing order out of the worlds chaos
• The seven disciplines

Chapter 4.

Discipline is Executing a Plan - Boudica, Queen of Iceni

• Developing the plan
• Executing the plan

Chapter 5.

Factor 2: SKILLS Theodore Roosevelt

• Skills are Learned
• The  Twelve Skills Of Leadership - Working Smarter

Chapter 6.

Skill 1.  Leaders Develop Power Napoleon Bonaparte

Without power, no one will follow. 

• Power comes from meeting people's needs

        Six kinds of power

Chapter 7.

Skill 2.  Leaders Find and Deal with Reality Isaac Newton

Actions taken on false information are doomed to fail. 

        Balderdash (speculation in the guise of fact, partial truth) is endemic

        We shape our own reality " we believe our biased perceptions

        Steps to finding reality

        Overcoming the 'yes-man' syndrome

Chapter 8. 

Skill 3.  Leaders Create Teamwork Abraham Lincoln

The lone wolf does not survive in a world of packs

        Task leaders (get the job done)

        People leaders (feel good about the task and team)

        Put people where they can shine

o       The seven IQs

o       EQ temperament, attitude, people skills

        Common goals and common values

        Team Trust, team culture

Chapter 9.

Skill 4. Leaders Create Relationships � Julius Caesar

Relationships create power, give access to people and resources, and create teamwork

Creating relationships

        Reciprocity - the emotional bank

        Networking, meet and pay attention to a wide range of people

        Grooming we set expectations of what we want in a relationship

        Appreciation the most powerful principle

Chapter 10.

Skill 5.  Leaders Understand and Use Human Nature Mohandas Gandhi

Don't fight mother nature, use her

• The eight unchanging rules of human nature - Why we behave as we do
• Predicting and changing human behavior

Chapter 11.

Skill 6. Leaders Make Good Decisions Hannibal Barca

Destiny is a series of decisions.

• The decision process
• Good decisions take calculated risks
• Decision timing the right decision changes, opportunity is fleeting
• Implementing the decision
• Decision traps

Chapter 12.

Skill 7.  Leaders Have Character Thomas Moore

Warren Buffet:  "I want all my employees to be honest, hard working and smart.  And if they're not honest, I hope they're lazy and dumb."

• Character - the difference in being famous or infamous
• Honesty - The basis of civilization, relationships, trust
  • The three faces of honesty
• Controlling yourself (high E.Q.)

• The Seven Deadly Sins / virtues
• Fair - The process and perception
• Courage - Stand up, speak up; Take calculated risks and face possible failure

Chapter 13. 

Skill 8.  Leaders Communicate - Demosthenes

• Formal communication
• Informal communication (the grapevine)
• Two-way communication listen before you prescribe
• Nonverbal communication it's not what you said, it's how you said it
• Persuasion -  One of the three basic liberal arts taught to all educated persons for two millennia
• Nine steps to effective meetings

Chapter 14.

Skill 9.  Leaders Create a Vision T. E. Lawrence

Others see what is, a leader sees what can be.  Of the original great companies on the Dow Jones, only one, General Electric, survives.  Why?  They became powerful, arrogant, complacent, and lost their forward vision to change.  Instead, they began to defend yesterday�s products and profits. 

• Vision I  - see the big picture - Long-term vision in a short term world
• Vision II a common vision inspires, creates common goals and values, increases teamwork and motivation
• Vision III - see the future before others 

Chapter 15.

Skill 10.  Leaders are Creative � Albert Einstein

There's a better way to do it.  Find it. Edison

• Revolution and evolution are different processes
• The creative persons and processes

Chapter 16.

Skill 11.  Leaders are Wise Winston Churchill

 Winston Churchill: "True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information."

• The factors of wisdom - There is more than the numbers
• Wisdom v. common sense - "Common sense is that which tells us the world is flat." Stuart Chase

Chapter 17.

Skill 12.  Leaders Control Machiavellian Behavior Niccolo Machiavelli

 "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely." Lord Acton

• Dealing with the strong human tendency to put self-interests first
• Dealing with six undermining behaviors

Chapter 18.

The Twelve Skills are Interrelated

• Good decisions are made in self control
• Self control is necessary to listen to others and find reality
• Seeing reality contributes to good decisions . . .

Chapter 19.

Factor 3:  Passion Susan Anthony

Passion creates excellence and money cannot buy passion, you must create it

• The attributes of passion
• How to create passion
• Passion v. hunger

Chapter 20.  The Maestro - Example

"Example is the school of mankind, and they will learn at no other."; Edmund Burke      

• The manager trains. 
• The passionate leader learns, then teaches others.  This maestro teaches others by example. 
  • The maestro truly cares for others and makes them better in every aspect of their life: a better worker, a better spouse, a better friend. 
  • The maestro makes her followers equal to, then better than herself. 
  • The maestro improves the lives of others, improves the world around her.
  • Passion brings a burning desire, not to just make money, not to just compete and win, although those are interim results. 
  • The maestro improves all whose lives touch hers, and betters the world through her example.  People become excited, enthused, and change occurs rapidly.