I'M SCARED AND I'M SERIOUS

I write this every week to remind top leaders of things that slip to the background during their incredibly busy and demanding work and to point out blind spots that can come with power. So what? So why? So how?

Right now when I look at the governmental and political leaders of our globe
I am scared. I imagine you are too. You see leaders who lie, who use power for self-aggrandizement, who do not care about the people that supposedly lead and who are willing and sometimes wanting to kill to keep their crooked power.

You are the leaders who have a chance to counter balance people's trust in people of power. You are the role model for use of power for the people in your company whether you want to be or not. This may be an extra burden. I think not. I think enlightened leadership works for profit and engagement and health in any organization. What do I mean by enlightened leadership??

I think you know and I think you want to be this kind of leader AND I think it takes disciplined self-awareness because many of you don't have it in your DNA unless you worked in a system where it was embedded.

--Watch the shortcuts that you take that your people can not. Be what you want them to be and do. (parking,perks,affairs,exceptions to the rules, expense accounts,etc)

--Share power. Give it away. It comes back wonderfully healthy and energetic. This means being very good at executive delegation. Give important work away.
Not as a big plop in some one's lap but with support and gentle overview.

--Do not punish. Course correct, talk straight, let a person go when necessary,
make tough decisions. Do not punish. It will infect your company with fear and resentment that lives underground and acts as a cancer.

--Know that you are not your power. You really find that out when you lose it, but you are you in a powerful role. Big difference. Many world leaders have not clue about this and they are pathetic----and dangerous

--Remind yourself that power is the ability to get something done. It is energy, not ego. It is shared energy.

--Share any bounty with everyone. Don't make a special class of people who serve you blindly and get extra goodies. Yes, I'm saying be democratic.

I have occasionally cringed after posting a blog, wondering about the moral tone rather than a pragmatic tone only. No more worrying. I hope to be pragmatically helpful but your leadership matters more today than it did yesterday. Government has failed in leadership. Church has failed in leadership.  You have the chance to teach by modeling the kind of leadership you would like to see in the world. Your turn.