 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
Our
passion is helping executives increase their leadership effectiveness
to achieve their goals in less time, with greater satisfaction and
a positive impact on the bottom line.
|
||
|
|
|
|
December,
2004 Welcome
to Leadership Hand™, a monthly e-newsletter To ensure receipt, please add our e-mail address "Info@" plus our domain name to your e-mail address book. 1. Power or Force: Leadership Lessons from a 12-Year-Old Have you ever caught a reflection of yourself--one that gave you a different view from the one you see looking in a mirror? Our performance evaluations or the feedback we get from others can show us that kind of reflection. Sometimes though, the most revealing picture is reflected in how we play games particularly those that are new or less familiar. A few seasons ago, for example, my family and I were spending the holidays on a gorgeous Bahamian outer island. The pace there was delightful: simple, leisurely. "Want to play pool?" my nephew Will asked. We were in the game room of a beautiful house that sat on a ridge overlooking the ocean, a white sand dune dotted with sea grass sloping from the hardwood deck down to the beach. I eyed the fooz ball table. I preferred this two-person game with each person's soccer players fixed on poles. I'm not bad at fooz ball--courtesy of three years at boarding school. I knew Will would be a good pool player. He's multi-talented and competent in a number of sports and games. It didn't bode well for me if my goal was to win. But I agreed to play. (I'm his aunt. Isn't that what we do for our beloved nephews?) My shots involved jamming the cue stick to make up for my lack of skill. Not too bad but not pretty. Will's shots had no wasted effort--just fluid, deft strokes seamlessly transferring energy from cue stick to obedient balls. His shot? Power. Mine? Force. There in a tropical
haven I saw the bigger parallel of the leadership behavior I have
sometimes chosen when not playing my preferred game--the games where
I have the most skill. I see that same trait in some of the leaders
and rising leaders whom I've coached or who participate in our development
programs. We use force to make up for our lack of ease or skill.
We command: ourselves, our team, our employees. We direct. Depending
on our position, our team and employees may bow (at least in our
presence.) We are playing this crude game either because we haven't
relaxed into a place of learning that allows our power to emerge,
In what leadership contexts do you default to force? Power or force.
What if you knew you had a choice? Here's to exercising choice! Beth Hand © Copyright 2007, Beth Hand. Beth Hand, MBA helps leaders increase their effectiveness and satisfaction, now and for the future. She can be reached at (+1) 703.820.8074 or via her website www.leadershiphand.com. 2. Executives in Career Transition Mark Spring on your calendar when we restart our monthly meetings to help you speed the career transition process. Hand Associates is the host for Execunet executive networking meetings in alliance with DBM (formerly Drake Beam Morin), a global provider of strategic HR solutions. If you are living in or traveling to Richmond, Virginia, check our web site for details www.leadershiphand.com/resources. 3. Reprint Permission This is a copyrighted publication. You are welcome to reprint an issue on a non-exclusive basis provided you:
4. Subscribe • Privacy Click here to subscribe. To unsubscribe click on the link below. We value your privacy. We never redistribute, rent or sell your information to anyone or any entity. We
invite you to forward this issue to your colleagues! |
or
we are in a deeply rutted habit. Force clearly has its place but
not when it is an automatic default or unconscious habit. |
© Copyright 2004, Hand Associates and Beth Hand • All Rights Reserved Hand
Associates, LLC Leadership
Coaching & Development |
|