Great Leaders And You-what Drives Them? What Drives You?
Not long ago I was working with one of my clients and was asked does leadership come first or personal development? Have you ever thought about people that are in leadership positions and have unscrupulous behavioral characteristics; consisting of feeding into the grapevine or strategically planning a coup to get rid of people through scheme tactics. I have observed counterproductive behavior in numerous situations throughout my career and can honestly tell you; those are the types of principals that turn me right off. And, are the types of principals that quite frankly get me sick.
You see I have an abiding love for management and also have an abiding love for education. Often, I am motivated to be the complete opposite of those whom I have observed to be unprincipled and immoral. As one embarks on a leadership role or in the process of venturing onto a career of entrepreneurial ship; the day will come when you will run onto shysters and schemers. Be on the alert and work hard from falling onto the trap of thinking that you can take a short cut to accomplish a particular task or that you won’t get caught. Immorality in a moral society will ultimately pay the prize for corrupted thinking. I am a true believer that in the world of management the majority of us are influenced by the principals of great thinkers in the field of management and by staying steadfast with the fundamentals of English common law. The moment one deviates from the law; one will succumb to a life of dishonesty and a road to nowhere.
One of my career mentors was a Chief of Staff to a County Board of Supervisors in Southern California; this man stood for the true qualities, of what a manager should be like. He was an intellectual; every time I met with him he taught me something in the field of management. He is the one who introduced me to the likes of Peter Drucker and a ton of administrative workbook manuals that took one through step by step process of management systems analysis. He slowly started to coach me and explained to me about the importance of office attire in the professional environment; this was a time; when I was still quite naïve politically and still had some of the residual effects of the 1960’s and early 70’s; another words – put on a tie and get a haircut. Next he started to take me to important meetings with the likes of Boeing aerospace Corporation and McDonald Douglas and others, just to shadow him. After the meetings we would debrief and he would give me feedback about how as a young man handled myself with a group of seasoned aerospace executives and his feedback of me, quite honestly was brutal but much needed as he was not easy on me and insisted I work hard at become a leader and competent administrator on my own merit. This is the man who was instrumental in my acceptance to one of the country’s best University’s in the School of Public Policy and Planning, The University of Southern California. This man was a teacher, coach, top public official, scholar, and most of all he was a great husband and father not to mention a great friend.
The reason I just revealed the above mentioned life based story is because throughout my career I have tried to emulate my mentor in my professional world. I’ve always tried to perform in a way I think he would be proud of me as I performed my duties throughout my career. And, those have been: honesty, hard work, discipline, the search for knowledge, love people and give back to the less fortunate. These are principals I have worked hard to live by and also as my teacher did to me; teach others.
Do you want to discover the secret to explosive Personal and Leadership Development? Download my free guide here: : Leadership Development. Dr. Richard C. Baiz is a College and Corporate Personal/Leadership Development Instructor and Coach who gets his clients top notch successful results fast.
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