The Crucibles of Leadership

What is it about great leaders which make them great?   Well one aspect is that they’ve been through the mill more than once.  Going through these difficult experiences and coming out of the other side wiser, stronger and more resilient is what Robert Thomas calls Crucible Experiences.

Many of us experience these crucible moments, but how many of us really extract the value from them and learn what we need to learn?  Very often because of the pain we can be tempted to put the event in a black bag, seal it up and get back on with life.  As a short term approach it can keep us sane, as a long term approach it means we’re missing the gift in what we went through.  It’s as if we had the pain but couldn’t be bothered to hang around for the pleasure.  This may sound odd, but one of the universal laws is the law of polarity.  You can’t have hot without cold, up with out down.  If there is only a small risk, then there is only a small reward.

In this book Crucibles of Leadership Robert describes 3 kinds of crucible moments:-

New Territory – Dealing with a totally unexpected event.

Reversal – Something not going according to plan.

Suspension – The in-between state, rather like transition.

He then goes on to help you discover your Personal Learning Strategy.  This includes what kind of leader you’d like to be, why you want to be a leader and your learning style and approach.

The past is the past and as they say in financial circles, it’s no indicator of the future as investments can go down as well as up.  However mining your past to uncover hidden resources and become more self aware is invaluable.  Being an authentic leader is a warts and all affair.  Right now given the current economic climate many people will be embarking on another crucible experience, what better way to equip yourself and extract as much juice from it than to read this book.

Book Recommendations – Job & Career

Here are a handful of books that can help take you through the various aspects of finding job fulfilment.

We’d love to hear your recommendations on the books and sources that have helped you through redundancy, career transition and promotion.

Storytelling in the workplace – book recommendations

I was recently asked for some recommendations on using story to communicate within the workplace.  Here are some suggestions, which cover the construction of stories, the different types and examples of how they can be used in various business situations.

For more information on each book click the picture and it’ll take you through to amazon.

Infinite Self

I started reading Stuart Wilde books about 9 years ago.  Over the years I’ve been steadily collecting them.  I love the content and I also enjoy his writing style.  The book I’ll be re-reading this summer is this one, Infinite Self.  I’m not going to say what it’s about or why I think you should read it.  All I can say is that every single time I’ve read this book (and yes that’s more then once) it’s got me thinking, I mean really thinking, my brain whirring and making new connections, and that’s what growth is all about.

 

 

The power of the seagull

On the train back from London I had a blast from the past.  One of my fellow carriage passengers was reading the book Jonathan Livingstone Seagull – by Richard Bach.  It’s a metaphorical story in that it’s about a seagull who takes a different approach to live compared to the rest of the seagulls.  What was interesting was the discussion on the book that they were having.  Some had read it in a literal fashion (and enjoyed it apparently), whilst others had been exploring the metaphorical concept.  One of them decided this was far too simple and no way was a seagull going to give him any insights in to his life – hey it takes all sorts.  When I got home I looked on my bookshelf but it’s not there so I’ve loaned it out at some point.  Anyway if you like metaphors and don’t have a thing about seagulls, then have a read and see what’s there for you.

The Alchemist

Had a chance this weekend to re-read this gem of a book. 

The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream

The richness within the simplicity is astounding.  On the one hand it is a story about a shepherd boy, on the other hand it’s whatever you conceive it to be.  I’ve always loved the line ‘the world conspires to give you what you want’.

What are you asking for?

Just set yourself up in business?

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve met a few people who are just setting themselves up in business and quite naturally they’re looking for some top tips.  A constant one is to work on your business as well as in your business.  One of the reasons many people experience the boom/bust cycle of work is because whilst they were working in the business no-one was working on it, so the pipeline for the future is dry.

The E-Myth Revisited – is a good read on this subject.