Thoughts on Exceptional Leaders
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My post, "The 97 Percent Solution" drew lots of readers and a flurry of retweets and email. Mary Jo Asmus mentioned it in her excellent post, "Is There a Shortage of Good Leaders?" which also referenced Susan Mazza's post, "Filling the Void of Real Leadership."
All these conversations I've witnessed and participated in have me thinking about exceptional leaders. Here are ten things I've thought.
There are a lot of exceptional leaders but there are never enough.
Exceptional leaders are the unleashers of human potential.
No exceptional leader was an exceptional leader at birth.
Every exceptional leader has made mistakes and will make more.
Exceptional leaders have a few, simple rules that they enforce rigorously. See my "Elevator Speech for Bosses."
Exceptional leaders show up a lot.
Exceptional leaders have conversations, meaning that they listen as well as talk.
Exceptional leaders say "Thank you" and "Good job."
Exceptional leaders accomplish the mission and care for the people.
Exceptional leaders make it look easy.
Boss's Bottom Line
Exceptional leaders constantly work at getting better.
Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.
Wally, the word "exceptional" literally means uncommon. How can there be a lot of exceptional leaders? I think you mean excellent leaders. And in my experience, truly excellent leaders are indeed also very uncommon.
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the tips given in this article are highly useful. They really helped to cope with the daily challenges which have been coming across my routine work life. A similar article which I found to contain the next step techniques and written in a very interesting manner was from Hammad Siddiqui. This one: "Unleashing the Power of Effective Communication."
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A key attribute for exceptional leadership in my opinion is courage - moving forward even when sweat beefs are forming on your forehead.
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Good addition, Mike, thanks.
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Great post Wally! I think you are dead on especially with the idea that exceptional leaders always seek to get better. Complacency is the enemy of great companies, great people, and especially great leaders.
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Love those comments about complacency. Thanks, Jacob.
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