4 things you love about your boss

Not everyone loves their boss, but I am sure many of us have had the chance to work for a boss that we just loved. If you haven't I apologize in advance this video is not going make it any easier on you, Being a boss doesn't make you a good leader, but being a boss is certainly a good training ground to become a good leader. After you watch the video go check out the Jeff Haden article on CEO.com that inspired this video.

4 things you love about your boss


Jeff's blog post

How to get 100,000 followers on twitter

         
               What does getting twitter followers have to do with "leadership"? Well if you have read anything on my other blog (Guerrilla Tactics for the Small Charity https://mathiesonlarry.wordpress.com/ ) you will know that I believe that leaders have a responsibility to represent and speak on behalf of their organization. Social media is a way to do this, but also a way that organizational leaders will be expected to represent their stakeholders and organizations in the future. If an organization needs to communicate with stakeholders or really support, sales etc increasingly social media such as twitter will be just viewed as one more vehicle to do that through. So if you are not on-board already sign your self up for a twitter account and follow the tips on the video below. Or if you are already on social media -give this a watch and hopefully there will be some tips that will help you grow your own following.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp7Yl7Y9Hx4

5 reasons for kindness

Not that you need any more reasons to be kind, and you might even ask what does kindness have to do with leadership. In the video below I talk about a few reasons that you as a leader will personally benefit from being kind. So clearly good reasons that you might want to do random acts of kindness or just plain act kind to your staff or customers.

However lets be clear -modeling or demonstrating concern for others and kindness is very important for any leader to do. I work in the nonprofit sector and clearly kindness and sympathy for those people who we work with is critical. However my staff team works very hard to support families and in our industry we worry about our staff being resilient against burn out and compassion fatigue. If they are not they won't be able to be the critical support they are to families. Now think if you are a leader in a for profit organization, do you think you always know what your staff are going through at home or in their personal life. I talk in the video about the benefits you will get out of a little bit of kindness, but think how much better customer service or productivity your staff will display if they think you have their back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1H_rfHXBpk

Richard Branson's business advice

Okay I have to admit -I stumbled onto this link by mistake. I saw a tweet from Richard Branson saying something about you don't need to "strive" in business. At least that is what I thought it said -so I clicked on the link. This did not seem like something Branson would say and of course her didn't. I had read the tweet wrong and Virgin.com was posting a blog post of Richard Branson's favorite business quotes about the need to strive in business. The video below lists some of these quotes. Really when I think of the times where the charity I run now had accomplished the most,the
 board and management were definitely "striving" -there was a willingness to reach out just a little further than your grasp. One of our board members Jim had joined to board to help us with a capital campaign. One of our board members asked Jim ,how do we know what size gift is the right size for us to commit personally to this campaign. Jim would tell our board your gift should hurt just a little. For a campaign as important as this you should give just a little more than it feels comfortable to give- it should be a "stretch gift". In the for profit or non profit world if you want to do something impressive you need to stretch or strive a bit more than you feel comfortable with
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwvDc_d-R1M&list=PLjzMzGrDIfLop25p4t1XIBDrknBEzmKnC&index=6

Leader’s should never take themselves too seriously

I don’t think nonprofit leaders should go out of their way to make themselves look foolish by any means, but I think providing a little levity can also be a good thing. Those who work in the nonprofit sector know how hard our staff and our volunteers work. Many of us are surrounded by people who we become quite close to going through hardship, stress or illness. Our own leaders train our staff how to personally cope with this stress while still remaining effective, supportive and empathetic. Many nonprofit staff are familiar with trying to solve the worlds problems with limited and scarce resources. Our fundraisers would tell you how hard they work to raise much needed revenue so that we can fulfill our important missions.

This all sounds pretty grim- but the reality is most days most of our staff would tell you how great it actually is. With that said I personally feel that a leader should never take themselves too seriously and occasionally they should be willing to do something that puts them at risk of seeming a little foolish. Clearly they should not do this just to look foolish, but of course they should be willing to do this to further the mandate of their organization or its ability to remain sustainable.With all that said, last month I decided to take my own advice and not take myself too seriously. The video below was taken on parascope last month and is a point of view video of me running our Rock the House Run in Ronald McDonald’s shoes- enjoy

Running 5k in Ronald McDonald's Red Shoes

You can't stop learning and expect to be a great leader

          In today's environment leaders need  to be comfortable, making decisions and identifying patterns and trends without having all the data or information that we would like. In the video below there is reference made to psychologist Howard Gardner's term " searchlight intelligence."  This intelligence is described as ;"...the ability to connect the dots between people and ideas, where others see no possible connections." Leaders must put themselves in this situation where they are continuously learning, but as well they are sometimes learning on the run. At times a "ready, fire ,aim " approach. The video below illustrates the need for leaders to keep learning and continuously adapt. In the past we talked about continuous improvement for organization but today's environment calls for leaders who themselves must be in continuous improvement.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh2MeGdHP2I

Why managers don't recognize their employees

The title really isn't a question but maybe it should be. There is an ambundance of research and evidence that suggests that employees are more engaged motivated and perform better if they feel recognized and appreciated. Still some managers do not see recognizing staff members as a value part of leadership. The following video blog talks about 3 of the reasons managers may use to minimize the importance of taking time to recognize employees:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGZ_VKYgKvM&feature=youtu.be