Simple Truths of Leadership: 52 Ways to Be a Servant Leader and Build Trust

By Ken Blanchard and Randy Conley

Leadership legend and bestselling author Ken Blanchard and trust expert and thought leader Randy Conley present this carefully curated collection of fifty-two essential leadership principles that are easy to implement and practice.

Effective leadership is an influence process where leaders implement everyday, commonsense approaches that help people and organizations thrive. Yet somehow, many of these fundamental principles are still missing from most workplaces. In Simple Truths of Leadership, legendary servant leadership expert Ken Blanchard, whose books have sold millions of copies worldwide, and his colleague Randy Conley, known and recognized for his many years of thought leadership and expertise in the field of trust, share fifty-two Simple Truths about leadership that will help leaders everywhere make commonsense leadership common practice.

Readers will discover profound, memorable, and in some cases counterintuitive leadership wisdom such as

• Who should make the first move to extend trust
• What role a successful apology plays in building trust
• When to use different strokes (leadership styles) for different folks—and for the same folks
• Where the most important part of leadership happens
• How to create autonomy through boundaries
• Why the key to developing people is catching them doing something right

A fun, easy read that will make a positive difference in leadership and organizational success, Simple Truths of Leadership will show readers how to incorporate simple but essential practices into their leadership style, build trust through servant leadership, and enhance their own lives and the lives of everyone around them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 31, 2022
• ISBN: 9781523000647

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.

Book preview

PART ONE

SERVANT LEADERSHIP

In this part, Ken Blanchard takes the lead with a focus on his lifelong passion of servant leadership as an influence process in which leaders help their people accomplish goals.

Much of my work in the past was focused on leadership behavior and how to improve leadership style and methods. My colleagues and I attempted to change leaders from the outside. But in recent years, we have found that effective leadership is an inside job. It is a question of the heart. It’s all about a leader’s character and intention.

Why are you leading? Is it to serve or to be served? Answering this question truthfully is so important that I co-edited a book with Renee Broadwell entitled Servant Leadership in Action: How You Can Achieve Great Relationships and Results. In it, forty-five key leaders in our field, including Simon Sinek, Brené Brown, and Marshall Goldsmith, share their points of view about servant leadership. The essence of that book is you can’t fake being a servant leader.

The most persistent barrier to being a servant leader is a heart motivated by self-interest that looks at the world as a give a little, take a lot proposition. Self-serving leaders put their own agenda, safety, status, and gratification ahead of others who are impacted by the leaders’ thoughts and actions.

The shift from self-serving leadership to leadership that serves others is motivated by a change of heart. If leaders don’t get their heart right, they will never become servant leaders. A misguided heart will color their thinking, impact their behavior, and cause them to begin every day by asking What’s in it for me today? That’s certainly not servant leadership.

In this part, you will learn more about servant leadership and the power it has to make the world a better place by focusing on the greater good.

—Ken

The Essence of Servant Leadership

SIMPLE TRUTH #1

Servant leadership is the best way to achieve both great results and great relationships.

Organizational leaders often have an either/or attitude toward results and people. For example, leaders who focus only on results may have trouble creating great relationships with their people and leaders who focus mainly on relationships may have trouble getting desired results.

Yet you can get both great results and great relationships if you understand the two parts of servant leadership:

• The leadership aspect focuses on vision, direction, and results—where you as a leader hope to take your people. Leaders should involve others in setting direction and determining desired results, but if people don’t know where they’re headed or what they’re meant to accomplish, the fault lies with the

Reviews for Simple Truths of Leadership

[Dominic Omare · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The 52 practices have been described in brief, clear ways to allow the consumer to read, reflect and act to better serve and lead. This book should be reading requirement to any leader, coach, or consultant in any organization who wants to add value to those they serve and enhance their leadership practice.