Everything Rises and Falls on Leadership

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At a glance, "Leadership" seems to be a vast and complex topic.  Its been the foundation of thousands of studies, hundreds of thousands of articles and more than a few hours in classrooms from MBA's to Seminaries.  Opinions on what leadership is, how to exercise it and how to "fix" it abound.

Leadership is Influence. Period.

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In 1989, I attended a Pastor's conference at Muskoka Baptist Conference, two hours north of Toronto, ON.  At the time, I was an Associate Pastor in a church in Toronto.

The speaker was the pastor of a growing church in  La Mesa, CA.  I'd never heard of him but I remember one of the first things he said.

Are You A Nice Person?

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Years ago I purchased a tiny book called "Swanson's Written Rules of Management".  I came across it this week while I was re-arranging some bookshelves.  Bill Swanson was the CEO of Raytheon when he compliled the book.  Rule #32 is one of my favorites.

Company Culture - Easy to Talk About - Hard to Do

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When you read about new companies, especially in the startup space, one of the topics you’ll see over and over again is this idea of “culture”.  To be sure, it’s an important topic and can be a true distinction (think Uber vs. Lyft).

Two Inc. magazine articles came through my feed this morning and a mashup of the two topics they addressed seems appropriate.

Leaders Take Us Where We'd Otherwise Not Go

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Leaders influence people at every level. Some lead thousands or even millions, others lead one or two. The success of their leadership isn't found in the number of people in their "chain of command", but how they influence those for whom they are responsible.

Leaders Are Servants

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I had the privilege of delivering the morning keynote at JoomlaDay Chicago this past weekend. I presented the State of the Joomla! Union talk, similar to the one in Sydney last November.