The Art of Leadership Starts With You
On June 7th, The Art of Leadership was held in Toronto bringing together best selling authors to sharing their wisdom on becoming a successful leader.
Leading a team has its challenges. There is a spectrum of components that build a successful team. Patrick Lencioni, author of 5 Dysfunctions of a Team shed light on five of the most common challenges a team faces. These dysfunctions are:
- Absence of Trust
- Fear of Conflict
- Lack of Commitment
- Avoidance of Accountability
- Inattention to Results
Personally, this was a wake up call for me when I read the book earlier this year. The scenarios outlined in the book are situations I have witnessed or been guilty of committing. Lencioni’s pyramid on page 188 and supplementary assessment is a great tool to pin point challenges in your organization.
Tim Sanders later discussed concepts from his book, Today We Are Rich: Harnessing the Power of Total Confidence and his experiences at Yahoo!. With the stress of hitting deadlines, attempting to outwork your competition and struggling to stay on top of the latest technology and information in your industry, it is relatively easy to get overwhelmed.
Sanders laid out 7 Principles of Total Confidence to enhance your mental state:
- Feed Your Mind Good Stuff: how to identify and filter out the negativity that surrounds us
- Move The Conversation Forward: breaking free from the negative thought cycle and communicate positivity and confidence
- Exercise Your Gratitude Muscle: practice thankfulness to build a positive outlook
- Give To Be Rich: generosity of self can combat feelings of inadequacy
- Prepare Your Self: fully commit yourself to your goals and be ready for anything
- Balance Your Confidence: temper your self-confidence by trusting in others and believing in something greater than yourself
- Promise Made, Promise Kept: value of integrity by being accountable for your promises
Attending conferences like The Art of Leadership helps leaders get back into the zone, reassess themselves as leaders and make the necessary changes to produce results in their organization.
