Michael Nichols | Leadership Made Simple

Leadership Made Simple

Michael Nichols

Gifts – 26 Reasons I Am Loved, What Are Yours?

Nearly two weeks ago small gifts started appearing at various places around our home – on my pillow, my bathroom vanity, my desk, in my closet, my briefcase.

It didn’t take me long to figure out that Sarah (my lovely wife) was celebrating the 12 days of Christmas by presenting me with a gift each day.

So I began looking forward to the gifts – expecting them. The only problem was – the gifts didn’t arrive at the same time each day. Some days I found a well-placed gift early in the morning – other days, just before bed.

Her gifts were not expensive – one gift included 7 apples, another a heartfelt note. Yet they were incredibly personal and creative – even the number of items increased each day to match the corresponding day!

The most treasured gift arrived on Day 12 – which is the way it should be, right?

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me a note which read…

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Three Characteristics of Leaders Who Care

I don’t have to tell you that if you are going to effectively influence people you must care for them and they must know that you care.

I generally struggle demonstrating my care for others. It’s not that I don’t care about people – in fact, I’m a deeply compassionate person. I simply don’t always communicate in a way that adequately expresses my love and care.

I recently observed three key characteristics of leaders who genuinely care for their teams. Here they are:

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6 Ways Structure Will Help Your Team Grow

For much of my life, rules annoyed me. Regulation and policies were “inconvenient” and slowed progress. My perspective was, “Rules were made to be broken”. Some may refer to my viewpoint as visionary or creative. However, many other perceived my actions as it maverick, disrespectful, even rebellious. Whatever you call it, I have since learned to appreciate and place high value on structure (some might say that I appreciate it a little too much now).

Communication and Structure

Growing leaders and organizations realize that communication and structure are both critical components of teamwork. Each of the four organizations I worked with over the past 20 years experienced significant growth by addressing one or both of these areas. Some needed to give more attention to communication while others needed to address deficiencies in structure.

Balance is a Huge Mistake!

For several years, I served in an organization that was incredibly balanced in their approach to life, work, style, ministry – you name it. You’ve heard of core values – I think this organization had one core value – balance. Life was good – most people were happy.

After some time, I began to realize that this emphasis on holistic balance was actually stunting the personal growth of the individuals within the organization (and ultimately the growth of the organization).

Consider the enormous potential of your life and the collective potential of those with whom you serve. When you consider this potential, balance is a huge mistake.

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Criticism – 6 Things I Learned from Critics

I really don’t like to be criticized. A single criticism can ruin my entire day. I often wonder how someone so thin-skinned ended up in administration.

Dan Rockwell once said: Criticism is something you can avoid – by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.

Is that what you really want?

Recently, I was thinking about criticism and about how often I am faced with it – daily!

Over the years I have benefited significantly from criticism. In fact, I am a better dad, a better husband, a better professional, a better leader… because of my interaction with critics.
Here are six things I have learned from critics:
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