Leadership stories that define leaders and leadership...Below I have shared some of my life's leadership stories that will make you laugh - motivate - and hopefully give you an understanding that leadership is not just found in a board room full of black suites and ties. Over the years that I have spent in the Marine Corps - upper management of international companies - small businesses that my wife and I have owned - and most of all life - I continue to hear that you can be taught leadership. I disagree - I believe that leadership is something that you are born with - and that is defined by the choices and actions you take in your life. Don’t wait for your worst nightmare to come true before you act! Do you ever wonder exactly what your child is doing online? Do you ever wonder who they may be talking too? Don’t wonder anymore – take action – and know for sure that they are safe! Do you love your child enough to do something about it? Of course you do! We all do! Our children are definitely worth it – Every single penny! Protect them RIGHT NOW before it’s too late! You see real leaders - make the right decisions without any regard for self - only that of others. Choices as simple as - identifying that the cashier gave you too much change back - and you drive back across town to return it to them. Or Choices as difficult and dramatic as - stopping at a tragic accident and getting the victims out of the smashed up car before another car comes over the hill in the middle of the night on a busy freeway and smashes into them again. There are many more details to this story. Leadership Stories - We all know who real leader are... Leadership skills can be taught and are also very important to your success - leadership skills such as - fact finding - understanding disciplinary action and how to apply it - delegation - managing change - conducting a fact finding investigation - and running a successful small business. But leadership - like I said before - is something that you are born with. It can be refined - but you can't make a leader out of just anyone - just like you can't make a professional major league baseball pitcher out of just anyone - you must have the basics to start with. A real leader will take responsibility for mistakes - will not run from a challenge - will make sacrifices for the benefit of others. We know who we're all talking about - people like school teachers that will make sure the poor kid in their class has food to eat - or school supplies - and they will take it out of their own back pocket. These are the real leaders. Here are some leadership stories that I will start with and I will be continually adding to these all the time... Story #1 Story #2
One of the five men told me if I didn't sell them the beer he was going to kick my...
Story #3 When I walked into the copy room the young Marine that reported to me had copies everywhere...
Story #5
It is easy to quit but it is a habit that is hard to break...
Story #6 I became Assistant Manager at the age of 16...
Story #7
Story #8
The General made everyone remove their boots and socks prior to the 10 mile forced march home...
My son is being born now... That's way too early...
Risk Based Decision Making - What's in it for ME!
Using Ethics in Decision Making
Control the Outcome! - An Experience I had in Okinawa.
Whay Running?
Are you ready for the Rapture? Do you feel like something is happening in the world but not quite sure what it is? Do you wonder why Iran and Russia are now friends for the first time in history? Are you hearing more and more about a One World Government? Are you hearing more about using only one form of money? What about all these earth quakes – Is that normal? Find out about End Times Prophecy and how it lines up with what is going on in the world today! Story #15
My Marine Corps Experience.
Marine Corps Guard Duty.
The Unreasonable Request
The Perfect Employee or Wife
The Employee Sunk Her Own Ship
Integrity Under the True Test – Daniel in the Lions Den
Could you have crossed the line in the dirt at The Alamo?
Tornado! The day I had to help look for a missing young boy named Tommy!
I lived for Meal Time in Marine Corps Boot Camp
Effects of Schizophrenia in Our Home
Becoming a Better Parent - Over 30 stories of my personal struggles as a parent and how I solved them! Executive Leadership Training - Do you need it? Coaching and Mentoring - Can it really help? Negotiation Training - Why do I need that? Again - I will be adding additional short leadership stories from time to time - that I hope you enjoy. Thank you! Leadership Development, Developing Building Learning Leadership SkillsBy: leadership Leadership is vital for any organization's sustained success. A great leader at top makes a big difference to his or her organization. Everyone will concur with these statements. Experts in human resources field mention the importance of leaders at all levels, and not just that of the leadership at the top. It is not without reason that companies like 3M, Proctor & Gamble, GE, Coca Cola; HSBC etc. have known to put in place processes for developing leaders continuously. Mention this subject, however, to a line manager, or to a sales manager, or any executive in most organizations and you will probably deal with diffident responses. Leadership development -a strategic need? The subject of leadership is dealt with in a general way by many organizations. Leadership is usually understood in terms of personal attributes such as charisma, communication, inspiration, dynamism, toughness, instinct, etc., and not in terms what good leaders can do for their organizations. Developing leaders falls in HR domain. Budgets are framed and outlays are used with indicators like training hours per employee per year. Whether the good intentions behind the training budgets get translated into actions or not, is not monitored. Such leadership development outlays that are based on only good intentions and general ideas about leadership get axed in bad times and get extravagant during good times. If having great or good leaders at all levels is a strategic need, as the above top companies demonstrate and as many leading management experts assert, why do we see such a stop and go approach? Why is there skepticism about leadership development programs? The first reason is that expectations from good (or great) leaders are not defined in operative terms and in ways in which the outcomes can be verified. Leaders are expected to achieve' many things. They are expected to turn laggards into high performers, turn around companies, charm customers, and dazzle media. They are expected to perform miracles. These expectations remain just wishful thinking. These desired outcomes can not be used to provide any clues about gaps in leadership skills and development needs. Absence of a comprehensive and generic (valid in diverse industries and conditions) framework for defining leadership means that leadership development effort are scattered and inconsistent in nature. Inconsistency gives bad name to leadership development programs. This breeds cynicism (these fads come and go....) and resistance to every new initiative. This is the second reason why the objectives of leadership development are often not met. The third reason is in the methods used for leadership development. Leadership development programs rely upon a combination of lectures (e.g. on subjects like team building, communications), case studies, and group exercises (problem solving), and some inspirational talks by top business leaders or management gurus. Sometimes the programs consist of outdoor or adventure activities for helping people bond better with each other and build better teams. These programs generate 'feel good' effect and in some cases participants 'return' with their personal action plans. But in majority of cases they fail to capitalize on the efforts that have gone in. I must mention leadership coaching in the passing. In the hands of an expert coach a willing executive can improve his leadership skills dramatically. But leadership coaching is too expensive and inaccessible for most executives and their organizations. Leadership -a competitive advantage During my work as a business leader and later as a leadership coach, I found that it is useful to define leadership in operative terms. When leadership is defined in terms of what it does and in terms of capabilities of a person, it is easier to assess and develop it. When leadership skills defined in the above manner are present at all levels, they impart a distinct capability to an organization. This capability gives a competitive advantage to the organization. Organizations with a pipeline of good leaders have competitive advantages over other organizations, even those with great leaders only at the top. The competitive advantages are: 1. They (the organizations) are able to solve problems quickly and can recover from mistakes fast. 2. They have excellent horizontal communications. Things (processes) move faster. 3. They tend to be less busy with themselves. Therefore they have 'time' for outside people. (Over 70% of internal communications are about reminders, error corrections etc . They are wasteful) 4. Their staff (indirect) productivity is high. This is one of the toughest management challenges. 5. They are good at heeding to signals related to quality, customer complaints, shifts in market conditions and customer preferences. This leads to good and useful bottom-up communication. Top leaders tend to have less number of blind spots in such organizations. 6. It is easier to roll out programs for strategic shift and also for improving business processes (using Six Sigma, TQM, etc.). Good bottom-up communications improve top-down communications too. 7. They require less 'supervision', since they are strongly rooted in values. 8. They are better at preventing catastrophic failures. Expectations from good and effective leaders should be set out clearly. The leadership development programs should be selected to develop leadership skills that can be verified in operative terms. Since leadership development is a strategic need, there is a need for clarity about the above aspects. Hemant Karandikar advises companies on business & brand strategy, on business transformation, and for achieving breakthroughs in business processes. He leverages this expertise in product creation projects for companies along with his design associates. He coaches business leaders and executives for developing leadership skills. Hemant founded Exponient Consulting and Learning Leadership. Previously, Hemant was Managing Director, GWT Global Weighing (now Sartorius Mechatronics) and held position of General Manager at Philips India. He is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India. For Onsite and online coaching for leadership development, please visit http://www.learning-leadership.com/ About the Author (ArticlesBase SC #889777) Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ - Leadership Development, Developing Building Learning Leadership Skills
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