Michael Nichols | Leadership Made Simple
Leadership Made Simple
We have just experienced the greatest season of charitable giving in the history of the organization where I serve.
There was no capital campaign. No fundraising drive and no direct mail appeal. No challenge, yet people gave…and gave – more than half a million dollars over the past few weeks!
Here’s why…
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…
Having been involved in organizational leadership for more than 20 years, I am always intrigued by those things that either hinder growth or support it. It’s true – every organization is moving ahead or its falling behind.
The primary focus of my work has been organizational development. In fact, the companies and institutions where I served each experienced significant growth while I was there. Several experienced record growth. And more importantly, some have continued to grow since I transitioned to a new place of work.
There are two things that have the most profound influence on whether an organization grows or declines…
Most of us agree – leadership is influence. And there are times when influence morphs into down-right-out manipulation.
At it’s core leadership involves change. After all, what are we leading people to do? To be? Yet there’s a fine line between leadership and manipulation.
Both involve influencing others. Both attempt to persuade people to do what you want them to do. And both leverage vision, passion, and emotion to elicit a desired result.
So how do you know if you are leading or manipulating?
There are times when it would be perfectly appropriate for a colleague to square up, grab both shoulders, and ask – What are you looking at?!
What do you REALLY value in your work? What elusive dream or fulfillment are you seeking?
According to the Smith-Kettlewell Institute, the vision of a newborn is substantially developed over the first 8-10 months of life. It is believed that most infants have 20/30 (or nearly perfect) vision by 8 months.
I know this because this week I Googled “when can my baby see”. I wanted to know…
