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Active Listening - Do You Hear What I Hear?

Stephen Covey’s 5 th habit in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People   is “Seek to Understand, Then to be Understood”   Active listening is the means to that end.   It’s a way of listening and responding to another person that improves mutual understanding , builds trust and credibility, and interdependency between parties. Yet its one of those skills that is so frequently ignored and infrequently practiced.   We think we are listening by being quiet. But true listening is much deeper and more active.  Active listening focuses entirely on the person speaking. Active listening is especially helpful in times of conflict.   Typically in those times both parties are seeking to win the argument and are often paying even less attention to understanding what the other is saying. With the increased emotional context at hand, conflicts can quickly spiral out of control and relationships and resolution suffer. Three Steps to Active Listening: 1. Listen for Accurac...
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Servant Leadership

I was recently introduced to the concept of Servant Leadership. As someone who is motivated by serving and caring for others, you can imagine my excitement when I learned about this organizational philosophy. The phrase “Servant Leadership” was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in The Servant as Leader , an essay that he first published in 1970s. In that essay, he said: "The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature." The 1984 Nobel Peace Laureate Desmond Tutu shares his thoughts on the quality of the greatest world leaders - servant leaders who...
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Moses Leading Business Today

Note: This post was originally written as a leadership analysis for my blog "The Art of Social Media". While the post refers to a social business project, the lesson can be applied to any project . I was recently reading the story of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt into the wilderness and had a profound “Ah Ha - that’s like leading social business transformation.” Now that may be a stretch and I certainly don’t profess that those of us doing this are godly, will be able to turn our Sharpies into serpents, or part and cross large bodies of water. But the part of leading change, confronting opposition, and staying committed for 40 years–that was the part that resonated with me. To refresh your memory, Moses was the guy who was born in Israel, sent down river as a baby, was found and raised by the Egyptians. He lived with the aristocrats for years while the Israelites were slaves in the same country. One day Moses gets enraged with the way an Egyptian guard tr...
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Open Leadership

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I just finished reading my advance copy of Open Leadership by Charlene Li (co author of Groundswell and Principal of Altimeter) - two thumbs up! It’s a must read for leaders navigating emerging technologies across organizational waters. The book is packed solid of one case study after another of insightful examples of social business innovation focused on fostering an open culture. It’s rich with checklists, thoughtful questionnaires and action plans to help leaders evaluate their readiness and develop plans to embrace a culture of openness. In her book, scheduled to come out next week, Charlene defines open leadership as “having the confidence and humility to give up the need to be in control while inspiring commitment from people to accomplish goals.” I’ve been fascinated with the cultural shift required by organizations to fully embrace social business and how leading companies are transforming on the inside to embrace the outside. I’ve been equally fascinated with how...
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