Posted on November 29, 2008 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.
The conviction to take action in the face of challenge and opposition is what Courageous Leadership is all about. Being a courageous leader does not mean that you act foolishly, but that you balance ethics and reality - with making brave decisions to move you and your organization boldly into the future.
The following are a few characteristics of what Courageous Leaders do:
- Leaders with courage are the first to take steps in a new direction
- Leaders with courage are willing to shed old paradigms for new
- Leaders with courage are willing to take calculated risks
- Leaders with courage are true to themselves - and not to what others want them to be
- Leaders with courage listen to their gut
- Leaders with courage are willing to step into their fears
- Leaders with courage act with respectful determination
- Leaders with courage stand firm in spite of varying opposition
- Leaders with courage honestly share their convictions with others
- Leaders with courage live out their values
- Leaders with courage choose to pursue their dreams
“Where you need to go - you have probably never been before and the chances are not too many people have gone there either. The road is sometimes long, scattered with many challenges and worst of all, can seem incredibly lonely. It will call for courage on your part. Many great leaders paid the ultimate price due to the fact that they had the courage to challenge the status quo – Martin Luther King, Gandhi, John F. Kennedy, … the list is endless. Their courage carried them to their graves. Welcome to the world of courageous leadership.” (Kairos International)
Challenge: What step of courage do you need to take?
Posted on November 04, 2008 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.
The following is a collection of insightful observations from leadership and management guru, Peter Drucker.
• The critical question is not “How can I achieve more?” but “How can I contribute more?”
• There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer. He alone will give you employment.
• Focus on your leaders. It is easier to raise the performance of one leader than it is to raise the performance of a whole mass.
• Leadership is not rank. It is responsibility.
• An executive should be a realist; and no one is less realistic than the cynic.
• You cannot prevent a major catastrophe, but you can build an organization that is battle-ready, where people trust one another. In military training, the first rule is to instill soldiers with trust in their officers — because without trust, they won’t fight.
• Listening (the first competence of leadership) is not a skill, it is a discipline. All you have to do is keep your mouth shut.
• It is easy to look good in a boom.
• Luck never built a business. Prosperity and growth come only to the business that systematically finds and exploits its potential.
• The one person to distrust is the one who never makes a mistake. Either he is a phony, or he stays with the safe, the tried, and the trivial.
• There are keys to success in managing your leaders. First, put down on a piece of paper a “boss list,” a list of everyone to whom you are accountable. Next, go to each “boss” on the list and ask, “What do I do that helps you do your job?” And, “What am I doing that makes your job more difficult?”
• A decision is a commitment to action. No decision has, in fact, been made until carrying it out has become somebody’s responsibility.
• It’s much easier to sell the Brooklyn Bridge than to give it away. Nobody trusts you if you offer something for free.
• Until a business returns a profit that is greater than its cost of capital, it does not create wealth — it destroys it.
• Freedom is not fun. It is a responsible choice.
• One can’t manage change. One can only be ahead of it.
• Just go out and make yourself useful.
Posted on October 08, 2008 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.
Success is not something that happens to you. It is something you pursue - and this pursuit starts in the morning when you get out of bed and continues through every moment of the day.
Success comes from your attitude, your posture, your diet, your use of time, the way you relate to others, the way you respond to challenges, the way you talk to yourself and others, and the priorities and values you choose to live by.
What can you do to be more successful?
Everything
. Everything you do affects the level of success you achieve, for success in one area of life cannot be isolated from your success in another area. It infuses the whole of you.
Each day there are thousands of opportunities for you to be successful. And a little progress each day will build on the progress made the day before, which has already been added to the progress made the day before that.
** So, is there something you can achieve in the next fifteen minutes to move you toward success?
Of course there is
. You can make a phone call to a client to follow up or keep in touch. You can learn something new by reading an article on the web or magazine. You can outline that new idea that’s been bouncing around in your head and get it down on paper. You can walk over to someone and say ‘THANK YOU’… Yes, you can make a difference in fifteen minutes. And then, you can do it again, and again and again.
Distractions may come along. Unanticipated challenges may block your path and throw you off course. Yet nothing can get you down unless you allow it to do so. People just like you have thrived despite overwhelming barriers – and you can do the same…
CHALLENGE
: Have your behaviors these past few hours moved you toward your personal definition of success?
Posted on September 07, 2008 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.
Effective Leaders treat others the way they would like to be treated. They are individuals who have:
1. The ability to accept people as they presently are, not just as the leader would like them to be. Though effective leaders see the potential in their people – and encourage movement toward that potential – they are careful to also show love and acceptance
now. Sometimes it is easier to see the future potential in someone than to show them acceptance today.
2. The capacity to approach relationships in terms of the present rather than the past. They do not allow past deficiencies skew an accurate assessment of the facts today.
3. The ability to give people they work with at least the same level of courtesy, and kind attention, that they extend to strangers and friendly acquaintances.
4. The ability to put their trust in others, especially when delegating a task that involves significant risk.
5. The ability, and inner confidence, to do without the constant approval and recognition of those around them.
Posted on August 28, 2008 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.
“The size of your thinking, goals, attitude, and even your personality is greatly influenced by your environment.”
The number one obstacle to reaching a higher level of success is a lack of belief. Where one has a driving
fear or
doubt that an accomplishment can be attained.
Such a lack of belief is usually birthed, and nurtured, by an array of suppressive influences in our environment which continually work to keep our thinking (and lives) at a mediocre level. These suppressive forces can include
the media, co-workers, our current job, one's ethnic culture, our living environment, and even our own comfort zone.
But sadly, many times the most negative force will arise from a select group of individuals, who you personally know, who are content to live a mediocre life - and who try to intimidate others into doing the same.
Remember:
“People who tell you something cannot be done almost always are unsuccessful themselves - and are themselves usually always strictly average or mediocre in terms of accomplishment.” (Rev. Norman Vincent Peale)
Nay-sayers are everywhere. They delight in sabotaging the positive progress of others to justify their own lack of effort and sloth. Effective leaders are careful to fight off these negative, suppressive influences by surrounding themselves with individuals who think progressively. Who confidently believe in themselves... and in others.
Spend your time with those who are already successful - and who firmly believe YOU can accomplish their same level of success… or even more!
Posted on August 08, 2007 by Bruce Brown
Ron Brown, author of The Courageous Life, is an Organizational Effectiveness Consultant and Executive Coach, serving corporations and leaders in both for-profit and non-profit originations.
Ron specializes in helping clients implement creative solutions for a variety organizational development needs, including: Strategic Planning; Organizational Development; Curriculum Development and Facilitation, Executive/Leadership Development and Accountability; Project Management; Sales Coaching and Team Building; Organizational Realignments; and Six Sigma/Lean Improvement Processes.
In addition, Ron serves as “Director of Programs & Staff” in YFC - and is an adjunct professor of Leadership Studies at Greenville College, located in Central Illinois.
Major Clients Include
* Waste Management
* Northwestern Mutual Financial Network
* Ramon James
* Microsoft Corporation
* Becton Dickinson and Company
* Youth for Christ
* Business Owners
Ron has his Ph.D. in “Organizational Leadership” from Regent University, VA; a Bachelors and Masters Degree in “Electrical Engineering” from the University of Illinois; and a “Masters of Religion” from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL.
Contact information
Ron Brown, PhD
703 E. Orchard Drive
Mahomet, IL 61853
(217) 778-3055 (cell)
rmact@juno.com
