Simple Truths of Leadership Playbook: A 52-Week Game Plan for Becoming a Trusted Servant Leader

By Ken Blanchard, Randy Conley and Renee Broadwell

Leadership legend and bestselling author Ken Blanchard returns with trust expert and thought leader Randy Conley to present a structured playbook based on the bestselling Simple Truths of Leadership.

The companion playbook to Simple Truths of Leadership expands on the book's 52 essential principles of servant leadership and trust building. This structured playbook provides weekly prompts and exercises to help you track your progress toward your leadership goals. It focuses on one Simple Truth per week and includes:

• A summary of each Simple Truth
• A game plan for using each truth in your workplace, including thought-provoking questions and exercises to challenge your thinking and cause you to consider new ideas about leadership
• A Call to Action to Try It This Week

With so much of today's workforce feeling disengaged from the work they do, it's critical for leaders to move away from self-serving methods and embrace servant leadership to put their followers' needs before their own. And by journaling alongside servant leadership principles, you will be able to turn the common sense behind these simple truths into common practice for you and your organization.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9781523006137

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

Cover: Simple Truths of Leadership Playbook: A 52-Week Game Plan for Becoming a Trusted Servant Leader

Simple

   Truths of

Leadership

Playbook

Simple Truths of Leadership Playbook

Copyright © 2024 by Ken Blanchard and Randy Conley

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the address below.

The One Minute Manager® and SLII® are registered trademarks of Blanchard®.

Ordering information for print editions

Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the Special Sales Department at the Berrett-Koehler address above. Individual sales. Berrett-Koehler publications are available through most bookstores. They can also be ordered directly from Berrett-Koehler: Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone]; bkconnection.com Orders for college textbook/course adoption use. Please contact Berrett-Koehler: Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone].

Distributed to the US trade and internationally by Penguin Random House Publisher Services.

Berrett-Koehler and the BK logo are registered trademarks of Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

First Edition

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Blanchard, Kenneth H., author. | Conley, Randy, author. | Broadwell, Renee, author.

Title: Simple truths of leadership playbook : a 52-week game plan for becoming a trusted servant leader / Ken Blanchard, Randy Conley, with Renee Broadwell.

Description: Oakland, CA : Berrett-Koehler Publishers, [2024] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2023022885 (print) | LCCN 2023022886 (ebook) | ISBN 9781523006113 (hardcover ; alk. paper) | ISBN 9781523006120 (pdf) | ISBN 9781523006137 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Leadership. | Servant leadership. | Trust.

Classification: LCC HD57.7 .B56333 2023 (print) | LCC HD57.7 (ebook) | DDC 658.4/092—dc23/eng/20230512

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023022885

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023022886

2023–1

Book production: PeopleSpeak

Cover design: Irene Morris with Adrian Morgan

Contents

Introduction: Dear Trusted Servant Leader

PART ONE: SERVANT LEADERSHIP

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

2. Every great organization has a compelling vision.

3. Servant leaders turn the traditional pyramid upside down.

4. All good performance starts with clear goals.

5. The key to developing people is to catch them doing something right.

6. Praise progress!

7. When people are off track, don’t reprimand them—redirect them.

8. The best minute servant leaders spend is the one they invest in people.

9. Effective servant leaders realize they have to use different strokes for different folks.

10. Effective servant leaders don’t just use different strokes for different folks, they also use different strokes for the same folks.

11. Profit is the applause you get for creating a motivating environment for your people so they will take good care of your customers.

12. Create autonomy through boundaries.

13. You get from people what you expect.

14. The best use of power is in service to others.

15. Never assume you know what motivates a person.

16. People with humility don’t think less of themselves, they just think of themselves less.

17. It’s okay to toot your own horn.

18. Don’t work harder; work smarter.

19. No one of us is as smart as all of us. —Eunice Parisi-Carew and Don Carew

20. Love is the answer. What is the question?

21. Servant leaders don’t command people to obey; they invite people to follow.

22. People who plan the battle rarely battle the plan.

23. Servant leaders love feedback.

24. People who produce good results feel good about themselves.

25. It’s not about you. —Rick Warren

26. Great leaders SERVE.

PART TWO: BUILDING TRUST

27. Leadership begins with trust.

28. Building trust is a skill that can be learned and developed.

29. Self-trust is the first secret of success. —Ralph Waldo Emerson

30. Someone must make the first move to extend trust. Leaders go first.

31. People admire your strengths, but they respect your honesty regarding your vulnerability. —Colleen Barrett

32. There’s no trust without us.

33. Fear is the enemy of trust.

34. A relationship with no trust is like a cell phone with no service or internet—all you can do is play games.

35. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

36. People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. —Maya Angelou

37. Your actions speak so loudly I cannot hear what you are saying. —Anonymous

38. Tell the truth. Always. It’s that simple.

39. Don’t ever make a promise you can’t keep.

40. There’s nothing so unequal as the equal treatment of unequals. —Anonymous

41. #Trust is always trending. Doing the right thing never goes out of style.

42. True servant leaders admit their mistakes.

43. Since we were given two ears and one mouth, we should listen more than we speak.

44. The most important part of leadership is what happens when you’re not there.

45. The opposite of trust is not distrust—it’s