Leadership Foundations

00:00 - Intro

Just like building a house, it all start with the foundation. And if you have or do listen to the launch episode on The State of Leadership, I think you will see why having a solid leadership foundation is so critical.

There are some aspects of leadership that can just be part of who a person is. I know people that naturally had some of the core aspects of leadership. Some of them had a desire to develop those natural talents. Others wanted to exploit them. I have also seen others that were willing to pay the price to become outstanding leaders.

I bring this up to illustrate that skill or talent are not the first thing you need to become a leader. I'd like to spend the next while discussing some of the things I think you need, even before you work on the skills.

01:42 - Key Foundational Elements

Life Lessons

Have learned some key lessons in life such as:

Learned to work hard

Learned what it means to do the right thing

Learn how to stand alone if necessary

Learned to deal with entitlement

Yours

Others

Learned how to set and achieve goals

Learned to agree to disagree

Learned how to work with others

Must Know Yourself

Do you really like to lead

What parts of leadership do you like

What parts of leadership do you not like

What are your strengths

What are your weaknesses

Personality Style

Communication Style

What do you really want to accomplish in life

Understand or learn what it means to lead

That is one of the goals of this podcast

Understand the right motives to lead and know that they need to be prioritized over any personal reasons for wanting to lead

Be part of a team

Make a difference

Be a multiplier

Help others meet their potential and achieve their goals

Lift

Serve

These are just a few

Willingness to Continually Learn

Curiosity

Reader

Take risks and make things your own (vs. just trying to replicate what someone else does)

Be willing to adapt

Have the right attitude

ations for Existing Leaders -: 14:10

Honestly assess yourselves

Life Leadership

What lessons have you learned

How can you leverage those lessons

What lessons do you have yet to learn

How do you mitigate your weaknesses.

How well do you know yourself

What is your real motivation for wanting to led

Are you willing to learn

How much learning do you do and how often

Are you willing to change

Ask for honest feedback from those that will provide it

Make an action plan and start following through on it

Include plans to mitigate your weaknesses or blindspots:

Learning

Through those on your team

If you want some outside assistance with this, reach out through our website and let's see how we can work together.

To Improve, Consider the Following Key Principles

Willingness to change

Ability to listen to feedback and not dismiss it

Honesty about yourself

ations for Aspiring Leaders -: 20:42

What are your motives for wanting to lead?

Higher motives

Practical motives

Personal motives

Write them down and prioritize them

Talk to leaders about what it means to lead

Identify things that sound good

Identify things that don't sound good

Does leadership align with your personal/life priorities and goals?

Leading is a sacrifice

Time

Mental energy

Other priorities

Where are you at today?

Personality assessment

Strengths and Weaknesses Assessment

Communication style

If you want to work on any of these and don't know where to start, stay tuned for future episodes or reach out via my website www.mtneboconsulting.com and we can work together on some of these things.

Actions for Aspiring Leaders

Build a Plan

Deliberate pathway

Mitigate weaknesses

Develop strengths

Identify first leadership step

Lead as an IC

Manage a team or group

Ongoing Learning

Develop management toolkit

Key Principles to Remember as You Get Started on This Journey

Patience - don't try and take on too much too fast

Have to work at it. Good things will rarely just happen.

You will make mistakes so be ready to apologize when you do

There is no room for pride when it comes to leadership

Wrap Up

Thanks for tuning in today. I hope that the content we covered prompted you to think about where you are at in your leadership journey. If you are already in a leadership position, think about what areas you want to focus on to ensure you have a stable leadership foundation. If you are just beginning or hoping to start on your leadership journey, these are some of the key foundational pieces you can focus on now.

And as always, if you are looking for someone to partner with you, regardless of where you are on your leadership journey, I would love to help you move down the road.