A Tribute to Everyday Leadership

This feature was produced for the Major League Baseball All-Star game, and was shown along with a ceremony honoring "everyday heroes." Stories of these kinds never get old. The piece is also compelling because it features 5 living presidents. As an advocate for the nonprofit sector, I also admire how the heroes all seem to be connected to a nonprofit organization. Enjoy...

What About Work Ethic?

If feadership and social change are hard work, we might be in trouble. Here is a very intriguing article from the City Journal. It's one of the best I've read recently (although it's way too long). Do you agree with the author? Have we lost the work ethic this nation was built upon? Or, does work ethic just show up differently? At first read, I agree with the author.

Here's a good quote: "In the wake of the market crash, our national discussion about how to fix capitalism seems limited to those who believe that more government will fix the problem and those who think that free markets will fix themselves. Few have asked whether we can recapture the civic virtues that nourished our commerce for 300 years."

The loss of those virtues have an impact on leadership, as I believe we are less willing to stick with difficult endeavors.

Another quote: "What would Tocqueville or Weber think of America today? In place of thrift, they would find a nation of debtors, staggering beneath loans obtained under false pretenses. In place of a steady, patient accumulation of wealth, they would find bankers and financiers with such a short-term perspective that they never pause to consider the consequences or risks of selling securities they don’t understand. In place of a country where all a man asks of government is “not to be disturbed in his toil,” as Tocqueville put it, they would find a nation of rent-seekers demanding government subsidies to purchase homes, start new ventures, or bail out old ones. They would find what Tocqueville described as the “fatal circle” of materialism—the cycle of acquisition and gratification that drives people back to ever more frenetic acquisition and that ultimately undermines prosperous democracies."

Running on Smile Power

I found this interesting news piece about a man running for public leadership office in Japan. In the old style vs. substance debate, this guy's going purely for style! In a distraction-filled world, it seems that finding a way to stand out is the best strategy.

Uniform Policies

I saw a news report from Richmond, Indiana, which I found compelling. The school system there has started requiring uniforms for their students. I'm sure this is happening all over the country. Administrators are trying to curb inappropriate clothing in their schools, and uniforms are their answer. I was struck by how angry the parents in this news piece were. Since I view everything through the prism of leadership, here are some observations:

• Might school uniforms inhibit creative expression and encourage conformity? I couldn't locate any research on this question (please post if you know of anything). Conformity to shared values can be a good thing - but so are self-expression and wild creativity.
  
• Without uniforms, some students will wear inappropriate clothing - that's a fact. However, wouldn't those be opportunities to teach valuable lessons, including accountability?
• Is a lack of parental leadership the root cause?

Here is the video:

Lessons from a Broken Escalator

I love this clip (thanks to Jack Needham for sharing it with me). It brings about some interesting thoughts, including:

• On a very basic surface-level, it portrays our over-reliance on technology.
  
• How much control over decision-making have we relinquished to technology?
  
• How often do paradigms of thinking get so deeply ingrained, that we'll do almost anything to cling on to them?
• In our efforts to be wise, unique, and/or trendsetting, do we sometimes forget that many of the best solutions are the mundane and obvious ones? Just walk up the stairs!
• Are our followers waiting for us to save them? Have we created this dependency by building escalators for them instead of stairs?

Supporting Nonprofit Leadership Development

Here is an interesting take on how foundations can better support leadership development in the nonprofit sector. The management/leadership distinctions are not new, but entirely relevant in this case.

PND - The Sustainable Nonprofit: Fire, Aim, Ready: Why Most Foundation-Funded Capacity Building Efforts Miss the Mark

Intentional Influence

BusinessWeek featured a nic article about the idea of "influence" as it relates to leadership. My favorite part:

"Many leaders think influence consists of little more than talking people into doing things. It's no wonder most influence efforts start with PowerPoint presentations. But profound, persistent, and overwhelming problems demand more than verbal persuasion. Anyone who's ever tried to talk a smoker into quitting knows there's a lot more to behavior change than words.

Leaders make the same mistake when they publish platitudes in the form of Mission and Values statements, give a few speeches on why these values are crucial, and then assume their job is done."

Here is a link to the article.

60 Minutes Founder on Storytelling

Here is an article from Businessweek discussing the late Don Hewitt's (founder of 60 minutes) views on storytelling and it's connections with leadership:

The article is here.

Google on Leadership

Below is a Washington Post interview I stumbled upon with Evan Wittenberg, who is the head of leadership development at Google. His philosophy and approach seems to confirm a shift to postindustrial models of leadership in the business world. Good stuff.

Loyalty, Leadership, and Lou

Here is an interesting piece from sportswriter Rick Morrissey about Cubs Manager Lou Piniella. Morrissey's take is that Lou is too loyal to certain players and questions loyalty as a trait for good sports coaches. Here are some quotes:

"Piniella makes decisions the way glaciers make trips to the 7-Eleven. Either he doesn't like change or he has a fatal habit of being loyal to players who don't deserve his loyalty."

"The best managers aren't afraid to make decisions. It's true that a baseball season is long and that most players have ups and downs. But a perceptive manager sees when something isn't working."

"The only thing Piniella has adjusted for this season is injuries. In other words, necessity made him change, not creativity or acumen or even an old-fashioned hunch."

The whole article is here.

1 Man, 2 Organizations, 1 Cause, 2 Approaches

It will be interesting to watch how issues of animal rights are impacted by the return of Michael Vick. The confessed dogfighter, who claims to be rehabilitated, is being handled in two very different ways by two like-minded organizations: PETA and the Humane Society. PETA's strategy seems to be to vilify Vick and use protests to raise awareness of animal cruelty. The Humane Society's approach seems to be to embrace Vick and use him as a spokesperson against dogfighting. So, whose strategy is the most ethically sound, and will be the most effective? When raising awareness, and making a case, is it better to find an enemy to work against, or try to make an enemy into a friend? I have my opinion, but what's yours?

Starting a Movement

Check out this video from the Sasquatch Music Festival (thanks to the team at Phired Up Productions for introducing this to me). Notice how the man's enthusiasm is contagious. How does this relate to our efforts to start movements in our organizations? Does it start with unabashed enthusiasm?

Most change movements start with an outlier - someone willing to do something extraordinary. He/she may be criticized, laughed at, mocked, or ignored. However, if he/she can convince a few others to join in (whether directly or by inspiration), it reduces the hesitancy that others may have to get involved. Thus, like this video, once the ball gets rolling, the momentum can build quickly. Who are the few people you can convince, that will push your movement forward?

Time Magazine: Charisma and Leadership

Time magazine recently included an article about the role of charisma in leadership. Michael Elliot is the author. What do you think? Is charisma necessary, helpful, not necessary, or possibly problematic? Here is the article.