” Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations ….”
” If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more … you are a leader.”
(John Adams)
(John Adams)
20 tenets of responsive leadership
Published in SmartBlog on Education, September 11th, 2013
This list is not a recipe, but more a map — a way of approaching leading as a learner, not from a pedestal or from the stands, but on the ground.
- If you are a swimmer, or not, it is about buoyancy --lightness, grace and flow -- and stamina -- determination and endurance.
- Never ask people to do something you would not do.
- Save the carrots and sticks for the research lab. Acknowledge, praise and inspire effort and initiative.
- Humility is humbling. It shows others that blood runs through your veins as well.
- Never take yourself too seriously.
- Abstain from finger pointing and seeking blame. Count your losses, learn and move on.
- Listen to others respectfully, intentionally and in earnest.
- Look problems in the eye and never delay.
- Seek multiple perspectives.
- Embrace mistakes. They are opportunities in disguise cloaked in disappointment and failure.
- Be inclusive, collaborative and open, but close, your door when required.
- Avoid back-to-back meetings, people who like to hear themselves talk, and those who are territorial.
- Keep dissent in its rightful place. Just don’t look to shout over it.
- Communicate consistently, accurately and in earnest. Mean what you say and say what you mean.
- Be strategic. Everything has a short and long term gain or not. Look ahead, behind and sideways on every decision of consequence.
- Act with integrity, mindfulness and trustworthiness. Whatever comes round will always land on your lap.
- Tap into the collective and individual experience, wisdom and intelligence of every member of your staff. It breeds a sense of belonging and fortifies unity.
- Look in the mirror. Breathe and hold yourself accountable to the very core of why you chose to lead.
- Keep your ears to the ground, and two hands on the steering wheel. Arrogance is dotting on yourself in the rear view mirror and taking your eyes off the road.
- Avoid jargon, slogans and platitudes. Language is the most powerful tool you possess
David Penberg
David Penberg is an urban and international educational leader. Most recently he headed Stevens Cooperative School as an interim, and prior to that he was head of school at the Benjamin Franklin International School in Barcelona and head of studies at the American School Foundation in Mexico City.
Great leaders
” Confident leaders empower you ….
insecure leaders replace you ”
insecure leaders replace you ”
” Brand you …”
” Talent is a universal gift, but it takes a lot of courage to use it … don’t be afraid to be the best”
( Paulo Coelho)
( Paulo Coelho)
How Can I Take Charge of My Own Leadership Development
Many people greet the new year with a renewed commitment to professional growth. But what about existing leaders? They often feel overwhelmed and put others first.
Unfortunately, demanding and stressful conditions could be holding them back from even greater success.
The truth is, we all need to devote time to our own leadership development—no matter what level we’ve reached within the organization. Waiting for the right time or for someone else to design a plan for our professional growth means ignoring our untapped career potential. If we want to become a better leader, we need to take charge!
So how can you do that?
Start by being intentional about how you’d ideally like others to describe you as a leader. Write it down! Make a list of the words and phrases you’d like people to use when talking about you and your leadership style.
As part of this goal-setting process, think next-level . How could you expand your role and accelerate your career? What perceptions would more accurately demonstrate that you are prepared to meet the challenges of 21st Century leadership? For instance, you might want to be seen as influential rather than simply informed. Not just flexible but resilient. Innovative instead of generally creative. Someone who sees the bigger scope, considering global issues and long-term impact.
With your “goal perceptions” in mind, proactively seek out feedback to assess how your colleagues and followers actually experience you.
Utilize one of the many tools for a turn-key 360 assessment: Benchmark for Leaders by the Center for Creative Leadership, The Leadership Circle, The Hogan 360 or, of course, my proprietary Brand 360 survey.
Next, use this feedback to pinpoint any gaps between your intended and actual impact. Are there areas where you might be falling short? Where could you make improvements to become a more powerful and productive leader?
Finally, design a development plan that targets those specific gaps . Instead of embarking on a broad program for professional growth, you can pinpoint the areas that will make the biggest difference in your career. You might include a mix of targeted reading, workshops, courses, and transformational experiences. Consider a rotational assignment, apply for your organization’s high-potential program, or volunteer to take on a big project at your favorite non-profit.
(Sara Canaday)
(Sara Canaday)
Seek profound personal growth
the most profound personal growth does not happen while reading a book or meditating on a mat … it happens in the throes of conflict … when you are angry, afraid, frustrated … it happens when you are doing the same old thing over and over again, and suddenly realize that you have a choice…
” We all live under the same sky … but … we don’t all have the same horizon …”
The importance of professional development
Teaching:
Professional Development is considered essential for teachers. It has been defined as a factor that contributes to the development of skills for a qualified professional and expansion in scope (Eraut, Morley, and Cole, 1998). Recent literature (Edwards and Nuttall 2009; Howe et al. 2012) has emphasized the importance of professional development that aligns with a constructivist approach to teaching and learning and assumes that teachers, as well as children, are learners. Teacher’s professional development participates in opening up the door to new experiences to be gained. It emerges (Karen, E, Johnson & Paula, R. Golombek, 2002) from a process of reshaping teachers existing knowledge, beliefs, and practices.
The importance of developing professionalism through reflective practice and ongoing professional development is stated by Dahlberg, Moss, and Pence. Reflective practice and ongoing professional development for staff are regarded as central (Dahlberg, Moss, and Pence 1999; UNESCO 2004; CECDE 2006) to ensure high standards of quality provision in early childhood care and education settings, (Josephine Bleach 2014). Developing a professional identity; states Moyles (2001), requires the ability to reflect on and evaluate practice, prescription and one’s thoughts (Moyles 2001). Josephine Bleach (2014) clarifies the importance of the professional development in her analysis of a study conducted in Ireland exploring the impact of a continuous professional development through reflective practice for early years of professionals. The data collected from the study revealed that through reflective practice and action planning, early childhood practitioners’ perception change. The findings of the study showed that the participants had gained new knowledge about themselves and their teaching through actively evaluating their practice and measuring it against the theory and official discourse of early years quality and curriculum frameworks. They also acquired the professional language required to discuss children’s learning and their practice with others.
(Amel Abada)
The importance of developing professionalism through reflective practice and ongoing professional development is stated by Dahlberg, Moss, and Pence. Reflective practice and ongoing professional development for staff are regarded as central (Dahlberg, Moss, and Pence 1999; UNESCO 2004; CECDE 2006) to ensure high standards of quality provision in early childhood care and education settings, (Josephine Bleach 2014). Developing a professional identity; states Moyles (2001), requires the ability to reflect on and evaluate practice, prescription and one’s thoughts (Moyles 2001). Josephine Bleach (2014) clarifies the importance of the professional development in her analysis of a study conducted in Ireland exploring the impact of a continuous professional development through reflective practice for early years of professionals. The data collected from the study revealed that through reflective practice and action planning, early childhood practitioners’ perception change. The findings of the study showed that the participants had gained new knowledge about themselves and their teaching through actively evaluating their practice and measuring it against the theory and official discourse of early years quality and curriculum frameworks. They also acquired the professional language required to discuss children’s learning and their practice with others.
(Amel Abada)
The work place ....
Your work place is your life place
I came once across a personal opinion stating that: ” we don’t have to love each other to work with each other … your work place is not your home, it is the place where you are required to do the job that is assigned to you and go home … and every work place should have an invisible box in the entrance where all employees can discharge their personal problems at the beginning of the day in order to allow some space to their job requirements and at the end of the day before they leave they take their problems back with them. You should not walk in with your personal problems marked on your face because no body will understand your life difficulties, your frustrations, your hard moments and your breakdowns.”
My opinion is not this at all …. your work place is not your home, but it could be your life place …. your work place is the place where you spend thousands of hours a year, it is the place where you can experience a different life with different people other than your family …. your work place is the place where you can be your self, in this place you are not a daughter or a son, your are not a mother or a father, you are not a sister or a brother …. you are only ”you”, it is the place where you transform your feelings and your emotions into ideas, think then you will invent and create,
My opinion is not this at all …. your work place is not your home, but it could be your life place …. your work place is the place where you spend thousands of hours a year, it is the place where you can experience a different life with different people other than your family …. your work place is the place where you can be your self, in this place you are not a daughter or a son, your are not a mother or a father, you are not a sister or a brother …. you are only ”you”, it is the place where you transform your feelings and your emotions into ideas, think then you will invent and create,
experiment and
try …. if you fail, try again and you will succeed. This place is the place where you can look at your problems from a different perspective, and you learn how to deal with them …. it is the place where you can celebrate the deepest significance of your existence.
( written by Amel Abada)
( written by Amel Abada)
Charisma
You can’t buy it … you can’t make it … and for sure, you can’t fake it …
It was a sunny day in New York city, 1955, the streets flowed with traffic, the sidewalks bustled with busy people, and Marilyn Monroe wanted to prove a point, with a photographer in tow, she walked down into Grand Central Station. Though it was the middle of the week, and the platform was packed with people, not a single person noticed her, while she stood waiting for the train.
” It is true that charisma can make a person stand out for a moment …. but character sets a person apart for a lifetime …”
(John Maxwell)
As the photographer’s camera clicked she boarded the train and rode along quietly in a corner of the car, nobody recognized her. What Marilyn wanted to show was that just by deciding to she could be either glamorous Ms. Monroe, or plain Norma Jeane Baker. On the subway she was Norma Jeane, but when she resurfaced onto the busy New York sidewalks she decided to turn into Marilyn. She looked around and she teasingly asked the photographer: ” So, do you want to see her? the Marilyn? and then he said there were no grand gestures, she just fluffed up her hair and struck a pose, and yet with this simple shift she suddenly became magnetic and aura of magic seemed to ripple out from her, and everything stopped, time stood still, as did the people around her, who starred in amazement as they suddenly recognized the star standing in their midst. In an instant Marilyn was engulfed by fans, and it took several scary moments to help her escape the growing crowd.
Teaching charisma ...
Charisma has always been a controversial topic. People think: charisma is something that you are either born with or not, some see it as an unfair advantage, others are eager to learn, but everyone is fascinated and they are right to be so.
Charisma gets people to like you, trust you and accept to be led by you … it can determine whether you are seen as a follower or a leader, whether or not your ideas get adopted and your projects are effectively implemented.
Charisma can make the world go round, because it makes people want to do what you want them to do.
In studying charisma it turns out that of all the myths surrounding the subject the most commonly held was of charisma as an innate magical personal quality, instead, as extensive research has shown, charisma is a result of a specific behaviors, this is one of the reasons why charisma levels fluctuate, it can be there one moment and gone the next. In fact in controlled laboratory experiments, researchers were able to raise or lower people’s level of charisma by instructing them to display specific charismatic behaviors.
Charisma can make the world go round, because it makes people want to do what you want them to do.
In studying charisma it turns out that of all the myths surrounding the subject the most commonly held was of charisma as an innate magical personal quality, instead, as extensive research has shown, charisma is a result of a specific behaviors, this is one of the reasons why charisma levels fluctuate, it can be there one moment and gone the next. In fact in controlled laboratory experiments, researchers were able to raise or lower people’s level of charisma by instructing them to display specific charismatic behaviors.
What are the behaviors that create charisma?
– Presence - power – warmth
Presence is the core component of charisma, the foundation on which all else is built. Together with presence, power and warmth combined to create charismatic magnetism.
Power: is your perception of your ability to effect the world around you. You look for clues of power the person’s appearance, in other’s reaction to that person, but most of all in the person’s demeanor, in their body language, so,
What’s a powerful body language like?
One of charisma tools is learning how to play chemist with your own brain, to get your-self into exactly the kind of mental state that you need for pick performance , this is a great transition into the mental state of power.
On the mental side, what hinders are power?
Lack of self-confidence, in one of the manifestations of self-confidence called ‘imposter syndrome’, people feel like they don’t really know what they are doing, before they find out an exposed as a fraud,
Eyes are the windows to the soul, where two human beings look deeply into one another’s eyes what happens? Love, there is a drilling line substance called feniletilamino
Power: is your perception of your ability to effect the world around you. You look for clues of power the person’s appearance, in other’s reaction to that person, but most of all in the person’s demeanor, in their body language, so,
What’s a powerful body language like?
One of charisma tools is learning how to play chemist with your own brain, to get your-self into exactly the kind of mental state that you need for pick performance , this is a great transition into the mental state of power.
On the mental side, what hinders are power?
Lack of self-confidence, in one of the manifestations of self-confidence called ‘imposter syndrome’, people feel like they don’t really know what they are doing, before they find out an exposed as a fraud,
Eyes are the windows to the soul, where two human beings look deeply into one another’s eyes what happens? Love, there is a drilling line substance called feniletilamino
” Shift to the next gear and accelerate ….”
(Amel Abada)
” Management is doing things right …. leadership is doing the right things”
shifting from manager to leader…
Just because you have a management title doesn’t mean you are great leader, but making the shift from great manager to great leader is always possible, if you know what are the characteristics of each of them.
the difference between a manager and a leader:
people in sometimes don’t see the difference between managing an organization and leading an organization.
To become a great leader is to shift :
from knowledgeable to insightful
from action-oriented to visionary
from informed to influential
from tactical to strategic
from instructional to inspirational
All these characteristics are good and positive but the influence of each of them in the employees is what makes you either a leader or a manager.
if you want to make the shift from manager to leader here are three strategies to guide you through that transition:
1- Enhance your personal growth
2- Expand your perspectives
3- Energize people and relationships
Leaders simply lift people’s vision, raise people’s performance to a higher standard, and build up a personality beyond its normal limitations.
(Sara Canaday)
Leading without ” Ego ” ….
W
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” EGO” …
Three letters that hold you back from saying things your heart is dying to say… such as… I love you, I miss you, or sorry. The ego is important, ‘’give me a person without ego and I will give you a loser” … but it is definitely not the ego that destroys everything nice in your life ….
Your ego in fact is not you, your ego is your self-image …. It is your social mask …. It is the role you are playing in your social life. That social mask continuously thrives for approval …. It wants control and it is sustained by power.
At some point in our life and usually in our midlife, we feel like it is time to let go of the over-dominant ego and to contemplate the deeper significance of human existence at the stage of the souls connected together,
A drop of a hungry ego can destroy the beauty of virtues.
If you ask your ego about yourself it will always tell you that you are not enough But if you ask your soul and your heart, they will show you that you are more than enough…
If you can let your heart and your soul overshadow your ego, you will be able to spread love in every corner of the universe and beyond ….
( written by Amel Abada)
” Leading without ego …”
Leader’s character and personality
” Leaders who don’t listen like to be surrounded with people who have nothing to say ….”
What makes the leader?
What makes you a leader? …. is it education?
” The life leading women who barely reads her name …” (true story)
She was 18 when the war started … nobody taught her what freedom is and how to fight for it …. She noticed, at a very early age; that she has to fight twice for the freedom, one is for the freedom of her country, and the second one is for her own freedom as a women … She must be seen, she must be heard and her existence must be taken in consideration …. How about her three sisters? the older one and the two younger ones?! …
Leaders eat last …(Simon Sinek)
Leaders eat last …(Simon Sinek)
” Leadership is largely a matter of paying attention …”
” Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around …. ”
Do you embrace change? …
How?
How?
”Who moved my cheese ” & ” I moved your cheese ”
Book review
Book review
Some of you may be familiar with Spencer Johnson’s ” Who Moved My Cheese?” An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life (1998), a little book that tells the fable of mice in a maze who have differing approaches to dealing with the problem of their cheese being unceremoniously moved each day. The lesson of that book is that change is inevitable in life and in work situations (your job duties may change, you may be reassigned to a different project, you may end up with a different boss with vastly different expectations, and so on), and the best way to deal with change is not to question why things change or feel bad about change but instead to adapt and, in the words of a popular meme today: ” keep calm and carry on”
While ”Who Moved My Cheese?” offers an important lesson about working productively with change and especially learning to let go of things that are outside of our control, it has also always struck me as incredibly unnerving that this particular book has been so widely championed in corporate culture. The book itself comes with discussion questions geared towards employees. Many employees were given the books by their workplaces and even had book group discussions about it. While I agree with the lesson of adapting to change and learning to let go of things beyond our control, I have never been able to agree that the title question, “Who Moved My Cheese?,” is moot. It is always the question, and I would add related questions about why the cheese was moved, what the rules governing our obsession with cheese are, when the cheese got moved, and where the cheese might be located beyond its new hiding place in the maze. In other words, I have many questions about the whole setup of the maze/workplace and am unwilling to concede that the best approach to life is simply to learn to play the game as expected of me. life and work places are more complicated than the maze, and cheese is not the only component that forms life, there are many other components and they are more important than cheese.
Malhotra’s book offers a new fable about mice in a maze that teaches us exactly the importance of asking these questions. Instead of merely searching for the moved cheese, the three protagonists Max, Zed, and Big are driven by other desires and questions. In other words, instead of merely reaching for the goals defined for them by others, they follow their own paths. Max seek to redesign the system in which he find himself and to understand who the system really benefits and why.
. He succeeds in discovering the scientists who designed the maze, for example, and figures out their experimental logs and procedures. In a literal sense, he is the one who ends up moving the cheese in the maze, and he is the figure of the visionary entrepreneur who becomes extraordinarily successful not by playing other businessmen’s games but by taking control himself. Zed is the spiritual leader who transcends the desire for cheese and the constrictions of the maze entirely. And Big is the athlete-artist figure whose pursuit of something besides cheese leads him outside the orbit of the maze’s economy.
This particular book is resonating with me for a number of different reasons, some of which are directly related to my own life and the change I have been through, that made me engaged in productive dialogue about what am I learning from the change. Sometimes, our questions are naive, but it is only in asking them that we gain greater clarity on the reasoning behind particular life circumstances that never stop creating the change. this book made it clear for me that it is not only about who moved the cheese or why the cheese is continuously moving, but raising questions about how things are done and why. whether in your life or in the field of your work things are changing so rapidly with technological advancements, we must keep abreast of new developments while also questioning whether the next new thing is necessarily a good thing .
This particular book is resonating with me for a number of different reasons, some of which are directly related to my own life and the change I have been through, that made me engaged in productive dialogue about what am I learning from the change. Sometimes, our questions are naive, but it is only in asking them that we gain greater clarity on the reasoning behind particular life circumstances that never stop creating the change. this book made it clear for me that it is not only about who moved the cheese or why the cheese is continuously moving, but raising questions about how things are done and why. whether in your life or in the field of your work things are changing so rapidly with technological advancements, we must keep abreast of new developments while also questioning whether the next new thing is necessarily a good thing .
Top 10 rules for success
Top 10 rules for success according to successful people
Morgan freeman:
Barack Obama:
Jennifer Aniston:
Nelson Mandela:
Top 10 rules for success according to successful people
Simon Cowell:
Steve Jobs:
Nick Vujicic:
Oprah winfrey :
Top 10 rules for success according to successful people
Elizabeth Gilbert:
Ellen Degeneres:
Bill Gates:
Simon Sinek:
Some people are born to be arrogant. raised to be arrogant, live to be arrogant ….. and without arrogance they lose the sense of worthiness …. (Amel Abada)
Arrogance ….
Humans are known for many bad habits that are harmful, Arrogance should be ranked among the worst. Some forms of arrogance are considered dysfunctional and close to a mental illness, while I would consider it as” an impression of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or presumptuous claims”.
Evaluate your work experience …
Ten years of experience or 1 x 10 years of experience
” Being a professional takes more than the right degree. And being a leader takes more than the right title…”