Transformational Leadership: The Blueprint for Real Organizational Change
Transformational Leadership:
By:
Mahendra Singh Rathore, MBA MA, BA(Honors)
Today, as businesses of all sizes struggle in a challenging economy, adopting transformational Leadership offers a blueprint for lasting financial success. Of course, every ambitious man or woman wants to be a leader, and every leader wants to succeed. Unfortunately, some aspirants learn the hard way through years of trial and error. But, with the advent of a transformational leadership paradigm blueprint for lasting business success, leaders can harness leadership traits and skills. And, by following the proven "secret sauce," they can transform any organization and achieve winning triple-bottom-line results: top-line revenues improved productivity, and enhanced shareholders equity.
Successful leaders depend on
breakthroughs to stay competitive. Inventing the future is as much about
emotions as ideas, about maintaining high levels of energy and unleashing
breakthrough strategies. How we present ourselves as leaders, the attitude and
outlook we exude set a tone for our colleagues about what’s required to make
the deep-seated change in turbulent times. Your leadership success increasingly
depends on your ability to adapt to changing times, your ability to evolve and
embrace new dynamics, as well as your own ongoing personal transformation as a
leader.
Leveraging Branding for
Long-Term Growth:
The branding bible for today's globalized world is
synonymous with Apple, Google, and Wright brothers. The secret is Why, How, and
What. Today, brands have become even more important than the products they
stand for; their stories travel with lightning speed through social media and
the Internet and across countries and diverse cultures. A brand must be elastic
enough to allow for an appropriate category and product-line extensions,
flexible enough to change with dynamic market conditions, consistent enough so
that consumers who travel physically or virtually won't be confused and focused
enough to provide clear differentiation from the competition. Strong brands are
more than globally recognizable; they are critical assets that can make a
significant contribution to your company's bottom line.
In Global Brand Power, Barbara Kahn
brings brand management into the 21st century, addressing how branding
contributes to the purchase process and how to position a solid global brand,
from identifying the proper competitive set, offering a sustainable
differential advantage, and targeting the right strategic segment. She further
provides elucidation as to how customer ownership of your brand affects
marketing strategy, methods for assessing brand value, how to manage a brand
for long-term profitability, effective brand communications and repositioning
strategies, and how to manage a brand in a world of total transparency-where
one slip-up can go around the world via social media instantaneously.
Supporting the author’s notions are stories about how Coca-Cola, The Estée
Lauder Companies Inc., Marriott, Apple, Starbucks, Toyota, Southwest Airlines,
and celebrities like Lady Gaga leverage their brands to be the leaders in their
respective fields.
Strengths-Based
Leadership:
The Gallup-designed survey identifies a person's unique
leadership strengths. Many leaders try to improve their skills by emulating
other leaders but, the most capable leaders are the ones who use their existing
talents to provide what teams need. The best way to discover the ideal traits
of good leaders is to ask followers what qualities have characterized their
most positive leaders. Most followers mentioned the same factors as necessary
for them to want to follow a leader. The key elements are trust, compassion,
stability, and hope. However, different types of leaders have different ways of
filling those needs. The 34 themes that the StrengthsFinder online test
identifies range alphabetically from Achiever to Woo and can be grouped into
four categories. Executing themes include Focus and Responsibility and revolve
around a leader's ability.
Tough-Minded Optimists:
Inventing the future is as much about emotions as ideas,
about maintaining high levels of energy and unleashing breakthrough strategies.
How we present ourselves as leaders, the attitude and outlook we exude set a
tone for our colleagues about what’s required to make the deep-seated change in
turbulent times. Leadership is emotional as well as intellectual. As John
Gardner notes, “The future is not shaped by people who don’t believe in the
future. It is created by highly motivated people, by enthusiasts, by men and
women who want something very much or believe very much.” That’s why the future
belongs to Tough-Minded Optimists. Leaders can’t create an exciting future for
their organizations unless they are excited about what the future holds.
Does any executive personify the
spirit of experimentation better than Jeff Bezos? The Amazon CEO is the
wealthiest person globally based on his willingness to embrace ideas that don’t
work out. “If you’re going to take bold bets, they’re going to be experiments,”
Bezos explained. “And if they’re experiments, you don’t know ahead of time if
they’re going to work.” Leaders who are fit for the future understand that
there is no success without setbacks, no progress without pitfalls.
For most of us, fully embracing any of
these traits would help us tremendously with the hard work of transformation or
dealing with significant change. Of course, there is no guarantee that one
attitude will help you invent a more prosperous future for your organization or
yourself. But if each of us can figure out which of these habits of mind best
suits who we are, we may become more fit for the future.
In any field, leaders who move their
organizations forward are the ones who can reimagine what they’ve always done,
refresh and reinterpret the products and services they offer and unleash bold
experiments about what comes next.
DiSC Don't Be a
One-Dimensional Leader!
To be an effective leader, you need to know your
strengths-but that's only part of the story. It would help if you also had a
broad perspective of all behaviors necessary to be an effective leader. First,
you must identify your primary leadership dimension. Whether you are a
Pioneering, Energizing, Affirming, Inclusive, Humble, Deliberate, Resolute, or
Commanding leader, one must understand their psychological drivers,
motivations, and "blind spots" characteristic their styles. But no
single style will take you all the way. A Humble leader may have a hard time
making tough decisions. A Commanding leader may run roughshod over potential
allies. You can learn from each style to craft a multidimensional approach to
becoming the leader you aspire to be.
Many organizations believe that
high-functioning teams hold the key to breakthrough thinking, superior customer
service, and high-quality products. But all too often, leaders and managers do
not support groups so that they can deliver on their promises. For
instance, many leaders ask for teamwork but only reward and evaluate individual
performance; focus on the group at the expense of individual members, or leave
team members to sort out their differences, leading to the formation of
unhealthy cliques.
To create a complete portrait of team
behavior, you must adopt a multidimensional that considers all three factors.
How to properly diagnose the state of their teams, home in on the element that
needs attention, and seamlessly shift focus among the three components of
teamwork as time goes on. Team Leadership is a thoughtful and straightforward
approach to the complex challenge of teaming today.
How to Go to the Next
Level—The Key is Collaboration:
Why do some leaders accomplish what they want as a matter
of routine, while others seem to regularly experience setbacks? Why do some
leaders achieve their goals and reach new heights while others barely
"hang in there" and survive? Based on recent groundbreaking
psychological studies on the ways that successful individuals think and behave.
We observe that leaders have positive mindsets, think and act
differently than ordinary people, and that is why they can articulate mission,
vision, and values and win the support of cross-functional teams to achieve the
organizational mission. In this regard, the ways that successful individuals
think and behave, a simple yet profound roadmap that leaders - and those who
want to become leaders to achieve their personal growth and corporate influence
than they previously thought were impossible. The good news for all of
us is that leadership success is not limited to vague notions of
"charisma" nor traditional advantages like graduate degrees and
connections, but much more to a pattern of thinking and moving forward that
learns from mistakes and stays focused on goals despite all impediments and
resistance to change.
Problem
Solving Expertise: Practical skills to handle challenges in
today's world of work:
Managing other people is a challenge for every manager.
You're not alone! Are you a practical person but need step-by-step tools to
govern others? Want to handle other people's expectations more effectively?
Succeed with tricky conversations Facing resistance to new solutions, new
processes, or even simple ideas? Want to improve the performance of others? If
you are an experienced manager, there are new processes to learn and fresh
strategies to explore. Either way, the techniques will help you be more agile
and deal more effectively with others, such as your employees, your boss, your
clients, JV partners, or colleagues.
Developing Circle of
Influence:
The timeless leadership principles turn them into skills that can be learned, applied, and taught to others also for Leadership and personal development. Lead and manage in a way that will inspire your employees to be eager to follow you, willingly donate their discretionary effort, and support your vision and strategies. These Leadership skills will not only help poor-performing managers become top performers; they will also alleviate any executive or manager to become a better leader. With the prudent guidance you obtain in your leadership circle and mentors; you will help others become better leaders than they would become otherwise. These skills and concepts will be time-rested and help you achieve surprising results.
Breakthrough Leadership:
Embrace and act upon their distinctive qualities in both
breakthroughs and Leadership and their unique point of view and experiences.
Great leaders know they need to transform themselves first before they can lead
others. To successfully manage others, one must marshal one’s internal
resources and manage his self.
Breakthroughs can only happen when you
are trying hard to achieve them and when you aren't trying at
all. Breakthroughs are journeys, every accomplishment no matter how tiny,
and they can prove to be monumental ones that are hard-won and sometimes life
changing.
Heart-Centered Leadership:
Unleash your Authentic Self.
Heart-Centered Leadership is a transformational
leadership quality, one that is keenly aligned to the growing awareness of the
need for more mindful leaders who realize that self-care and authenticity have
a profoundly significant impact on the satisfaction and well-being of their
workforce and, by extension,, add to the triple-bottom-line results.
Looking at the modern-day ethical
bankruptcy of contemporary business, Heart-centered Leadership champions the
message that sound ethical practices must begin from within. To change any
organization, institution, or community, a change must begin with oneself.
Mahatma Gandhi, who led India to freedom using non-violence as a weapon, once
said that “To change the world, one must become a change agent.” By
carefully applying age-old principles and virtues, one can lay a clear path
that sets a course for successful Leadership that rises above the confusions
and contradictions of other potent strategies and self-actualizes one’s true
potential by imbibing those principles and values. Heart-Centered Leadership
goes beyond theory, empowering you to integrate this knowledge into your life.
By adopting the principles of heart-centered Leadership, you'll boost overall
profitability by:
·
Creating
emotionally engaged, tuned-in employees who are highly motivated to do their
very best work for you.
·
Creating
a workplace that attracts and keeps the best and the brightest.
·
Keeping
customers and clients satisfied and using your products and services
consistently.
Positive leaders can dramatically expand their followers’
and their potential for excellence. They accomplish this without enormous
expenditures or huge heroic gestures. We can learn from the leading
corporations’ leaders and what they have done at Apple, Microsoft, Southwest
Airlines, Boeing, and Marriott. And surprisingly, how these leaders continue to
pursue excellence relentlessly are life examples. Just like the butterfly in
Brazil whose flapping wings create a typhoon in Texas, great leaders can create
profound positive change in your organization through simple actions and
demonstrated positive attitude shifts.
Nobody comes into the world a natural
leader. But what transforms some people into the kind of magnetic individuals
who inspire others to follow? These Leaders Inspire trust, confidence, and
loyalty.
They Instill a sense of meaning and
purpose in your organization. These leaders have an uncanny ability to tap into
the motivation and enthusiasm that compels others to commit to your vision.
Transformational Leaders think strategically keeping the big picture in mind,
and focus their minds and energies are continually focused on the future. They
view problems through different lenses and turn adversity into opportunity.
They have the agility to thrive under pressure and demonstrate business acumen
while taking prudent risks.
Above all, they demonstrate a willing
attitude, articulate their vision, communicate goals and strategies, and gain
buy-in from different stakeholders. Furthermore, inspirational leaders have the
enviable persuasive power to build winning teams and sustain the culture of
creating future leaders. Lastly, they command respect and elicit extraordinary
performance from ordinary people. In the process, they never forget the power
of people and continuously pursue the path of cultivating, nurturing, and
cementing relationships and thereby leverage The Law of Reciprocity.
Outstanding Leadership
isn't a mystery. Leadership
is a skill that can be learned. Merely following the few laws of nature blended
with practical, tried, and tested leadership methods will help you unlock your
leadership potential. Making them a part of your personality and mindset will
enable you to “Deliver on Your Promise” and “Live Your Values” in a constantly
changing business environment.
Everyone has a reputation. Whether good or bad, your reputation precedes you and can inhibit or enhance your professional goals. However, how do you actively nurture, develop, and manage how others see you? By crafting a brand can give you control of how you're being perceived at work. Leadership Brand: Deliver on Your Promise can further help you figure out the leader you want to be and build the brand that can get you there.
Relentless Pursuit of
Greater Good: A Benevolent Leader.
Leaders are always trying to get better, so there is an
enormous and growing interest in the leadership paradigm or processes. But
sometimes, the best way to move forward is to look in the rear mirror. So, we
learn from the life of the great leader Julius Caesar, one of the most admired
leaders of the past. They were learning from the leadership principles of a man
whose approach was surprisingly modern and extraordinarily effective. History
is replete with leaders hopelessly out of touch with their people and
ruthlessly pursuing their ambitions or hedonistic whims. But Julius Caesar, who
rose from impoverished beginnings, proved by his words and deeds that he never
saw himself as above the average Roman citizen. And he had a fantastic ability
to generate loyalty, to turn enemies into allies and allies into devoted
followers. Caesar's career-being held hostage by pirates, charging headlong
alone into enemy lines, pardoning people he knew wanted him dead-to illustrate
what Caesar can teach leaders today.
Central to his leadership paradigm is the distinction between mute force and power. Caesar avoided using brutal force on his followers, understanding that fear never generates genuine loyalty. Instead, he exercised a power deeply rooted in his demonstrated personal integrity and intuitive understanding of people's deepest needs, aspirations, and motivations. His supporters followed him because they wanted to support from their hearts, not because they were compelled to cooperate. Over 2,000 years after Caesar's death, this is still the kind of loyalty every leader wants to inspire.
The Servant Leadership: Moving
Beyond Title, Position, and Authority.
The success of any organization can be traced directly to
its leaders. And Leadership can be learned, practiced, and made part of one’s
life. Unfortunately, modern-day world leadership development programs and books
focus exclusively on a set of skills. However, performance and ultimate
authenticity are based on a combination of character and competence. The
character is the core, and competencies are the crust. We have seen from the
lives of great leaders that greatness appears from a powerful combination of
the two, although the character is more important in the end.
A leader with character but no
competence will be ineffective, while a leader with competence but no character
is dangerous. Leadership as influence-leaders influence people "to climb,
stretch, and become." You need a character to influence positively and
competence to influence effectively. "Leadership is the most engaging,
inspiring, and deeply satisfying activity known to humankind. Through Leadership,
we can progress, overcome adversity, change communities, change people’s lives,
and usher the way for humanity, thereby, bless the progress & prosperity of
progeny on this planet.
Being the Leader Others Want
to Emulate:
The leadership exodus of the Baby Boomers is creating
dramatically accelerated promotions in organizations and leaving behind a
significant leadership skills gap. Do you aspire to build a genuinely
high-performance team? Is your career not moving forward quickly enough? Are
you a little over your head as a leader? All aspirations, intentions, actions,
and results should be viewed through the “The Lens of Leadership" to focus
on the leader's ultimate accountability for holistic results. Doing so will
magnify your performance, improve your organization's results, and accelerate
your career progression. Conversely, failing to accept total responsibility
sets low-performance expectations, perpetuates a culture of mediocrity, and
cripples the career opportunities of those you lead.
Whether you are an experienced
maverick leader or an aspiring future leader who wants to enhance the
leadership skills and influence, envisioning your role through The Lens of
Leadership will enable you to achieve triple-bottom-line results, ascend the
corporate ladder faster, and inspire, motivate & uplift those around you.
Selfless Leadership helps to set yourself apart from your peers by developing
an accountability mindset that consistently examines results through The Lens
of Leadership. In addition, one earns a reputation for solid Leadership at
every level through your "followership.” Embracing and using these age-old
mantras will help you increase your impact, develop more bench strength, and
build a high-performance team dedicated to serving, building, and inspiring
others.
Spiritual Servant
Leadership:
How can the triumphant flourish when they're caught in a
never-ending battle of seemingly conflicting interests: ambitions to pursue
demanding careers, dedication to home and family, desire for intellectual
self-improvement, and yearning for the fulfillment of emotional and spiritual
needs? Your mental energies will weaken because of a fragmented approach to
life. In this context, we must learn to be like a turtle by adopting the
holistic and integrated approach to bring our disparate aspects of their lives
into a harmonious whole. The spiritual approaches to Leadership provide several
essential tools and critical character traits to cultivate for personal success
and holistic well-being.
Leaders can benefit from engaging both
immediate and long-term fixes to deal with day-to-day stresses and imbalances
in lifestyles. In this approach, practicing Yoga and Meditation techniques can
help you develop focus, acquire positive habits, and peace of mind to become a
well-rounded person who is loving, peaceful, purposeful, and with indomitable
willpower. Meditation and Yoga help you develop a sharp mind, strong will, and
equanimity to deal with the daily stresses of life.
Different Yoga postures are excellent
exercises for developing mental, physical, spiritual, and material life overall
well-being. Yoga and spirituality can help you discover your true hidden
talents, passions and empowers you with an innovative mindset and boundless
energy for self-transformation. It enables you with a still mind creating the
unique roadmap to equilibrium and well-balanced personality development. And
Yogic practices will help you to achieve internal fulfillment and pave your way
to material life success.
Leadership Wisdom from
Proven Leaders:
Such insightful leadership
lessons and examples from some of the best leaders of our era, their thought,
actions, and Leadership Wisdom are still relevant and serve as the guidepost to
leaders at all stages of development. In addition, learning from past global
leaders offer valuable tips immediately applicable to your everyday
Leadership.
Based on proven leaders’ wisdom,
you can develop yourself and learn from your experiences. Inspire others and
create loyalty among those you lead. You can flawlessly execute your ideas and
ensure that innovation and creativity can be sustained for creating excellence.
These lessons can lead you to get inspired, build character, exhibit
authenticity, create an all-inclusive supporting organizational culture that
others appreciate and admire and thereby, unlock talent, skills and bring out
the best in others. Learning from leaders' personal experiences and practical
business tools and their journey through the transformational process, leaders
can build a great culture and winning organizations. Leaders will find these
visionary leaders' ideas transformative personally and professionally and help
them positively impact their organizations.
The Prosperous Leader: How
Smart People Achieve Success?
Combined with the six Cs (Character, Communication, Calm,
Charm , Creativity, Confidence) of organizational growth and development that
demonstrate a clear correlation between the entrepreneur and Winning mindset
style. These attributes will ensure that prosperity is attainable by sustained
practice. You will be able to chart your path as you learn the skills you need
to improve your own Leadership and management capabilities. In doing so, you
will examine your own unique individual strengths and weaknesses so that you
can maximize the former while mitigating the latter, giving you the power to
take control of your own success.
Five Powerful Actions to Transform Your Team, Business, and Community
It's people who make organizations great, so how can
leaders best help their people achieve that greatness? The most effective
leaders don't just stand in front of their people; they stand behind them, too.
'You qualify to be first by putting other people first.' This concept sounds
paradoxical, but it leads to extraordinary outcomes-and The Serving Leader
shows precisely how and why. The basics of Serving Leadership, all the
characters in it are based on real people, the organizations depicted are based
on real organizations-and the results they achieved are what happened.
Your Leadership Legacy: The
Difference You Make in People's Lives
Whatever your position, if you influence change in the
lives of those around you and engage in the act of Leadership, or are a leader
in any sense, you are creating a legacy as you live your daily life. Your
leadership legacy is the sum of the effect you have on people's lives, directly
and indirectly, formally, and informally. But will you consciously craft your
legacy or simply leave it up to chance? What can you do to create a positive,
empowering legacy that will endure and inspire? Through an insightful parable,
how to create a positive, empowering legacy that will last and inspire. But the
leader must first embark on a journey to learn the three leadership imperatives
that will prepare them to shape their leadership legacy. Your Leadership Legacy
shows that leaving a legacy is about more than just professing values -- you
must demonstrate them by the way you live.
The Learning Zealot
One of the great satisfactions of being a leader is that
you get to be a teacher, sharing the wisdom you’ve acquired over your career
with young colleagues hungry for time-tested advice. But when it comes to
inventing the future, the most influential leaders are the most insatiable
learners. Creative leaders are constantly asking themselves: “Am I learning as
fast as the world is changing?”
The Personal Disruptor:
The longer you’ve worked in an industry or a career, the
more success you’ve achieved, the harder it can be to see new patterns and
possibilities, new paths to what’s next. Unfortunately, all too often, senior
leaders allow what they know to limit what they can imagine. That’s a big
problem. You can’t invent the future if you cling to out-of-date ideas, even if
they’ve worked in the past.
Rosanne Haggerty, one of the country’s
great social activists, has made an enormous impact in the fight against
homelessness. But her most prominent and most revolutionary achievement was the
100,000 Homes Campaign, which required her to challenge everything she knew
about her cause. “I concluded, to my horror, that we had developed a
way of attacking the problem that was inherently limited,” she says. “We had to
blow ourselves up.” That act of personal reinvention was brutally
difficult; however, it was necessary.
Are you that kind of leader?
The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” But
what does it take to create the future in a turbulent and uncertain world? Here
is where we should pay special attention to leaders who seem energized rather
than paralyzed by the prospect of change and transformation. As I reflect on
these leaders, on the attitudes and mindset that drive them, I’ve identified
four traits that make them fit for the future.
“One of my greatest
responsibilities is keeping up with the technologies, cultural shifts, and
demographic trends that are reshaping the world. If I’m not learning, I’m not doing my
job. I feel most energized when I’m intellectually uncomfortable—meeting people
who are different from me, experimenting with emerging technologies, wrestling
with unfamiliar ideas.”
“When it comes to innovation, I
believe it’s just as important to look for breakthrough ideas in fields
unrelated to mine as to build on ideas from my field. So, I am always searching
for new ideas about where to find new ideas.”
“If I’m not learning,
I’m not doing my job.
I feel most energized
when I’m intellectually uncomfortable—meeting people who are different from me,
experimenting with emerging technologies, wrestling with unfamiliar ideas. When it comes to innovation, I
believe it’s just as important to look for breakthrough ideas in fields
unrelated to mine to build on ideas from my domain. I am always searching for
new ideas about where to find new ideas. -Jeff Bezos.
When was the last time you tried
something new (a new route to work, a new type of music, a new app, or a piece
of software)? “I value the skills and experience I bring to my role as a
leader, but I worry that my achievements might limit my creativity going
forward.” “I work hard to surround myself
with colleagues, mentors, and business partners with different backgrounds than
mine who are willing to challenge my ideas and strategic point of view.”
“These days, people who are new to an
industry or seeing a problem for the first time are just as likely to come up
with a great idea as people with lots of history and experience.” However, an
idea or strategy for too long, even if it’s working, then about devising my
next idea or strategy, even if it’s at odds with what’s worked in the past.”
John Maxwell on Leaders
Said, “I place my bets more often on high motivation than on any other
quality. There is no perfection of techniques that will substitute for the lift
of spirit and high performance that comes from strong motivation.” The CEO of Coca-Cola recently
instructed his colleagues, “If we’re not making mistakes, we’re not
trying hard enough.” As a philosophy of innovation and change, do you.
“I’d rather be part of an organization or team that aims high and misses the
mark than an organization that plays it safe and achieves its goals.”
Tomorrow's leader is
spiritually intelligent and maintains
a balanced focus on heartfulness and mindfulness, driving the meaning of life,
values, and purpose. In changing times, leaders should seek unconventional and
innovative strategies. A Leader should be adaptable, agile, collaborative, and
influential with an all-embracing and holistic perspective about the common
good and embrace a spirit of trusteeship, giving, sharing, and caring for
others.
A great leader should continuously
embrace change and save the world from mounting perils in the modern world. A
great leader is a beacon of hope to his followers who constantly nurture and
blossom his team and followers' heart, mind, and souls.
Ken Blanchard - Servant
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctZHSa4Qhd4
Mahendra S. Rathore
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