Leadership

… How are you seen?

“All the world’s a stage …  And, one man [or woman] in his [or her] time plays many parts.”                                                                                     William Shakespeare (1623)
 
If, indeed, all the world’s a stage, as Shakespeare asserts, then each person, including ourselves and especially those we see as leaders, are certainly visible both at expected, and unexpected, times by expected, and unexpected others as they are on their particular stage.
 

… Own them, learn from them, don’t repeat them

mis•take  noun  an action or judgment that is misguided or wrong.
 
“The only man [or woman] who never makes a mistake is the man [or woman] who never does anything.”
                                    – Theodore Roosevelt, 26^th President of the United States
 
 

… How Do I Respond?

Today, most organizations, including a university’s IT organization, structure their work through a set of teams. Other examples include professional sports teams with their structure, their practice day-after-day of plays they may execute in the game, and a surgical team that performs the same procedure, for example, hip replacement, under tightly controlled conditions, perhaps multiple times, day after day.
 

… How do I respond?

Compliments are a good thing, right? Everyone likes to be recognized for a job well done. Especially from someone whose work you admire. They are a special form of positive feedback. However, many of us find accepting a compliment with grace to be a major challenge. Too often, our first instinct is to dismiss the compliment. For example, the recipient:

… Helpful thoughts for the next stages of your life's journey

Yesterday was Memorial Day, our holiday for remembering all those – some 1.4 million from the American Revolution until now – who gave their lives in conflicts while serving in our nation’s armed forces. 
 

The MOR Leaders Program, as the name implies, is about leadership.  Just what is it that leaders do and how do they go about doing it?  Two weeks ago, we focused on the humble leader.  There we wrote about what makes a leader humble¹ and how a leader can cultivate those characteristics in his or her leadership style.
 
Leadership style has to do with the way a leader provides direction, implements plans, and motivates people.  The literature on leadership discusses many different styles.
 

Daniela Aivazian is the author of today’s Tuesday Reading.  She is an Organizational Effectiveness Specialist in Stanford University’s University IT organization.  Her essay first appeared as a leadership program reflection earlier this year.  [Dani may be reached at daivaz@stanford.edu.]
 

The MOR Leaders Program employs a leadership model which calls for leaders to focus on