Click here to return to Blog Post Intro.
Author Marta Brooks currently serves as a Senior Consulting Associate and Executive Coach at The Ken Blanchard Companies, after 10 years of leading LensCrafters’ Management and Organizational Development Worldwide functions. With her co-authors Julie Stark and Sarah Claverhill, Your Leadership Legacy provides an insightful parable that shows how to create a positive, empowering legacy that will endure and inspire.
In the parable, Doug Roman is a brash, thirty-something CEO heir apparent who assumes he will just waltz into the job after the death of the former CEO, his beloved Aunt Nan. But he must first embark on a journey to learn leadership imperatives that will prepare him to shape his leadership legacy.
The journey to Living Your Leadership Legacy begins with what you believe.
Brooks, Stark, and Caverhill offer three dares to leaders:
-
Dare to be a Person, not a Position
- Be self-assured but also humble
- Be calm in a storm, not defensive
- Keep your ego in check; gain commitment rather than compliance
- Readily admit your mistakes and take responsibility for your actions
- Seek expertise and surround yourself with talent
- Demonstrate respect for people at all levels
- Do what you say you are going to do
- Be honest
-
Dare to Connect with People
- Ask questions to explore motivations of others
- Respond to the perspectives of others with empathy
- Make a point to talk one-on-one with people
- Listen intently, and repeat back what you heard
- Point out peoples’ individual strengths to them
- Remember and consistently use people’s names
- Broadcast the successes of others
- Use words and stories to draw people in
-
Dare to Drive the Dream
- Remain relentlessly committed to a dream
- Help people see the outcome of the dream in years to come
- Keep asking “what if” before a plan is finalized
- Welcome risk or change if it serves the dream
- Figure out ways to narrow the gap between what is and what is desired
- Remain optimistic regardless of unforeseen obstacles or naysayers
- Tackle the details of “what,” “why,” “where,” and “how”
- Genuinely have fun
I encourage you, like me, to take these dares, as you help your teams and organizations shoot for the stars…and leave a lasting, positive leadership legacy…Your Leadership Legacy!