An Integrative Definition of Leadership

Leadership has many definitions. At Leadership Beyond Limits, we subscribe to the efficacy of transformational leadership as presented by Bass and Avolio (1994). This leadership definition implies that leaders lead followers to levels of higher morals. In addition, transformational leadership implies that the followers are better off with the four I's of:

1. Idealized influence - does the right thing for the right reason
2. Individualized consideration - treats each person as an individual and with care and compassion
3. Intellectual stimulation - offers employees stretch goals and encourages creativity and innovation
4. Inspirational motivation - lives from his/her values and inspires employees to build on the vision

I recently came across an excellent scholarly article that painstakingly researched the various definitions of leadership. The authors identified 92 discrete dimensions of leadership, along with a 93rd miscellaneous list of 20 more leadership characteristics. The authors believe that researchers, scholars, consultants, and leaders have helped create confusion around the definition of leadership in that we have examined the parts of leadership but not the whole. They draw on the story of the blind men describing the elephant and the different accurate descriptions that each blind man gave, yet each was insufficient to understand the whole.

The article is definitely worthwhile if you haven't yet read it, you can find it here:
http://www.regentuniversity.org/acad/global/publications/ijls/new/vol1iss2/winston_patterson.doc/winston_patterson.pdf

If you find that interesting, you will likely also appreciate their longer working paper, which includes the above analysis, along with a more in-depth discussion of servant leadership:
http://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/working/integrativedefinition.pdf

I admire the authors effort at creating an integrative definition of leadership, and appreciate their metaphor that reminds us that leadership is a large, complex animal.

The Most Important Thing Your Leadership Team May Be Overlooking

Is employee happiness at the top of your leadership team's agenda? It will be. As the plethora of evidence mounts regarding the benefits of happiness in the workplace, astute companies are taking notice. What do they know that you don't? Read on.

Sonja Lyubomirsky, psychologist at the University of California has concluded that there are multiple personal benefits to happiness - too many to list in this blog, and there are a larger number of benefits related to the workplace. As compared to their not-so-happy counterparts, happy people are better corporate citizens. They take fewer sick days, receive better supervisor and customer evaluations, stay loyal to their employer longer, show more helpful behaviors and are more creative.

These benefits are simply too significant to ignore. When we spend eight plus hours a day in an environment, that environment has a significant impact on our overall well-being - another word for happiness. There are very specific things that organizations can do to create a culture that supports employee happiness, but the most important thing is developing engaging leaders, starting at the top. Our next blog will review the characterictics of transformational leaders - the most enaging leaders.

Creating workplaces where employees feel happy and fulfilled is the right thing to do and it is good for your business.

The Richest Man in Town

This story has mainly been told in the Midwest, where a motivational speaker V.J. Smith was so touched by a Wal-Mart cashier that it ended up changing his life, and the lives of thousands of others. Smith was so impressed by the warmth and genuine personality of Aaron "Marty" Martinson that he began to talk about him in his speeches to businesses, schools and other organizations. Eventually, he was so inspired that he wrote a book about Marty, which is sure to reach a much wider audience now that he has teamed up with Mac Anderson at SimpleTruths.com

I encourage you to take the time to visit some of these links and listen to the story of how a humble old man, now deceased, is still making live better.

Here is the link to the inspirational movie:
http://www.richestmanmovie.com

Here is a link to a news clip showing how children respond to this story:
http://www.lifesgreatmoments.com/kdlt.htm

Here is the link to a speech about Marty by V.J.
http://www.lifesgreatmoments.com/video.htm

Anyone can be a leader. Marty sure was.

Unleashing Employee Creativity

When organizations undertake cultural transformation, they believe that by fully engaging employees they will ignite new levels of employee creativity and higher levels of productivity. That is expected.

What is never known, however, is how that creativity will manifest. Often, it transcends even the highest of expectations and deeply inspires customers and fellow employees alike.

If you haven't heard the story of Johnny the Bagger, you are in for a real treat. Follow this link and be inspired to ignite your own unique passion.

Go to http://www.stservicemovie.com to see the inspirational movie of Johnny the Bagger.