The Heart of a Leader: Insights on the Art of Influence
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About this ebook
Ken Blanchard, a highly respected figure in the fields of leadership and business, invites you into the world of influence through his extensive career insights in this inspirational leadership book.
In The Heart of a Leader, you’ll learn about:
- Uncover the significance of making value-based decisions;
- Learn how to pursue excellence in every aspect of your life;
- Explore the vital role of integrity in leadership and personal growth;
- Embrace change as a source of growth and development;
- Empower those around you to achieve their full potential.
Get ready to go on a journey toward effective leadership and personal growth. Bound to become a timeless classic on Christian inspirational leadership, this book offers teachings on values, excellence, integrity, change, and empowerment that will equip you with the essential tools to not only lead effectively but also inspire those around you.
Ken Blanchard
Ken Blanchard, PhD, is one of the most influential leadership experts in the world. He has co-authored 60 books, including Raving Fans and Gung Ho! (with Sheldon Bowles). His groundbreaking works have been translated into over 40 languages and their combined sales total more than 21 million copies. In 2005 he was inducted into Amazon's Hall of Fame as one of the top 25 bestselling authors of all time. The recipient of numerous leadership awards and honors, he is cofounder with his wife, Margie, of The Ken Blanchard Companies®, a leading international training and consulting firm.
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The Heart of a Leader - Ken Blanchard
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INTRODUCTION
When I was in high school, I had a football coach who loved motivational sayings; he covered the walls of our locker room with them. Sayings like, When the going gets tough, the tough get going
and Quitters never win, and winners never quit
were imprinted in my mind. When I started teaching and writing in the field of leadership and management, it was second nature for me to use sayings to help people remember key points. That’s why I was thrilled when David C. Cook asked me to update The Heart of a Leader, a book that includes my favorite sayings.
Leadership isn’t just about having a powerful position. Anytime you use your influence to affect the thoughts and actions of others, you are engaging in leadership. So you can be a leader as a parent, spouse, friend, or citizen. I hope these sayings will give you the wisdom and inspiration you need to lead at a higher level. Remember, the best leaders are those who understand that their power flows through them, not from them.
God bless!
—Ken Blanchard
The key to developing people is to catch them doing something right.
—Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson
The One Minute Manager®
Catching people doing things right is a powerful management concept. Unfortunately, most leaders have a genius for catching people doing things wrong. I always recommend that leaders spend at least an hour a week wandering around their operation catching people doing things right. But I remind them that effective praising must be specific. Just walking around saying, Thanks for everything,
is meaningless. If you say, Great job!
to a poor performer and, Great job!
to a good performer, you sound ridiculous to the poor performer and you demotivate
the good performer.
Catching people doing things right provides satisfaction and motivates good performance. But remember, give praise immediately, make it specific, and finally, encourage people to keep up the good work. This principle can also help you shine at home. It’s a marvelous way to interact with and affirm the people in your life.
Don’t wait until people do things exactly right before you praise them.
—Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson
The One Minute Manager
Many well-intentioned leaders wait to praise their people until they do things exactly right, complete the project, or accomplish the goal. The problem here is that they could wait forever. You see, exactly right
behavior is made up of a whole series of approximately right behaviors. It makes more sense to praise progress—it’s a moving target.
Can you imagine standing a child up and commanding him to walk, and then, when he falls down, yelling, I told you to walk!
and spanking him? Of course not. You stand the child up, and he wobbles a bit. You shout, You stood up!
and then shower him with hugs and kisses. The next day, he wobbles a step, and you are all over him with praise. Gradually, the child gains confidence until he finally walks. It’s the same with adults. Catch them doing things right—and remember, in the beginning, approximately right is just fine.
What we give our attention to, grows.
—Ken Blanchard, Thad Lacinak,
Chuck Tompkins, and Jim Ballard
Whale Done!™
The more attention you pay to a behavior, the more it will be repeated. Accentuating the positive and redirecting the negative are the best tools for increasing productivity.
Killer-whale trainers know that when you don’t pay a lot of attention to what the animals do wrong but instead give a lot of attention to what they do right, they do the right thing more often. When trainers start working with a new whale, the whale knows nothing about jumping over ropes. The trainers begin with the rope underneath the water, high enough from the bottom for the whale to swim under. If the whale swims under the rope, the trainers don’t pay attention, but every time he swims over the rope, they feed him.
Focusing on the negative often creates situations that demoralize people. When good performance is followed by a positive response, people naturally want to continue that behavior.
You get from people what you expect.
Whenever I talk about the power of catching people doing things right, I hear, Yeah right. You don’t know Harry!
Do you have a Harry
in your life? If so, perhaps you should take a look at your expectations for that person and see if he or she isn’t currently living down to them. It’s all in what you notice. When you judge someone, it impairs your ability to see him or her clearly, as if a filter is screening out everything about that person except what fits your assessment.
Fight through your filter and catch your Harry
doing something right. It will not be easy, but if you persevere, you will notice that your behavior, even your attitude or degree of acceptance toward Harry
will change. Try it and see what happens. Then try it again. You might even like it. Guaranteed—Harry