The 10 Fundamental Powers of Extraordinary Leaders

From Tony Robbins:

Reasons to be Unreasonable: The 10 Fundamental Powers of Extraordinary Leaders

Posted by admin on Apr 23 2013

 

Leadership is about progress: It’s the ability to make things happen, maximize resources and inspire. It’s the capacity to create an environment in which people thrive and results are achieved. It’s the extraordinary quality that solves problems and gets things done.
Ultimately, leadership is the ability to significantly influence the thoughts, feelings, emotions and behaviors of others. Here are The 10 Fundamental Powers of Extraordinary Leaders that allow them to have massive influence with those they lead:
1. The Power of Vision: Your vision must be larger than yourself, larger than the moment. Leaders embrace what moves them, transforming these inspirations into clear visions of what they must (rather than “should”) achieve.
2. The Power of Unreasonable Expectations: To receive the ultimate rewards, you must live by the ultimate standards. Leaders are unreasonable men and women who refuse to be bound by the past, while reserving their most unreasonable standards for themselves.
3. The Power of Conviction: The quality of your life is in direct proportion to your ability to deal with uncertainty. Leaders confront uncertainty with their own internal certainty, an absolute conviction that they will not only withstand, but conquer any situation.

4. The Power of Connection: True leaders have an uncanny ability to care and connect, which comes from thoughtful interactions and understanding the motives of others.
5. The Power of Passionate Communication: To inspire others, you must first be inspired. Inspiration is channeled through bold and heartfelt communications that express your high standards and convictions.
6. The Power of Strategic Innovation: Leaders constantly innovate, anticipating the road ahead and staying ahead of the trends. They know that strategic innovation is a daily habit, something that needs to be part of the daily culture of the group or organization they lead.
7. The Power of Action: Leaders are bold. They are men and women of action. Action does not come out of conversation; action comes out of a change in psychology, mindset and physiology. (Ultimately, it’s a change in emotional state.) Also, leaders have the power to get others to take action and do things they wouldn’t normally do.
8. The Power of Truth: The truth penetrates—it has power. Leaders tell themselves, and everyone with whom they interact, the truth.
9. The Power of Character: Leaders are responsible, consistent, courageous, loyal and fearless. They learn from their mistakes and use these lessons to make progress and get results.
10. The Power of Giving: Ultimately, no man or woman is happy unless they have found a way to contribute beyond themselves. They’re not giving to be acknowledged—they do it because it’s right.
All outstanding leaders—quiet or boisterous, famous or unknown—exhibit these traits. By integrating these powers into your life, you will inspire yourself and everyone around you to see, attain and exceed your goals.

Uniformity Is Not Excellence

Are all kids entitled to a great education? Of course. But that doesn’t mean all kids should get the same education. High standards don’t require common standards. Uniformity is not the same thing as excellence – or equity.
Alfie Kohn; "Debunking the Case for National Standards," January 14, 2010, Education Week

What's "Normal"?

In my posting yesterday I noted that I'm reading Creating Emotionally Safe Schools by Jane Bluestein.  In my reading this morning the author mentioned her all-time favorite Twilight Zone episode which all happens to be my favorite episode, too.  Jane summarizes the episode writing, "...a young woman, waits in a hospital room, her face swathed in bandages, waiting to see the results of a plastic surgeon's final attempt to reconstruct her face so that she can live among 'normal' people.  In a feat of remarkable camera work, you don't actually see anyone's face throught the entire show until the bandages are removed, revealing a perfectly lovely young woman--much to her horror and the horror of everyone around her.  Only when the camera reveals the grotesquely distorted faces of the doctors and nurses do you realize that, in this society, the standards for beauty are quite different from those of the show's intended audience."

It is important for us to remember this episode when we tend to judge or criticize based on a criteria that makes any of our Esperanza scholars look like he or she doesn't measure up. 

Kaisan

I really like the concept of the word “kaisan” as it fits so beautifully with Dr. William Glasser’s Quality School Model. Kaizen was created in Japan following World War II. The word Kaizen means "continuous improvement". It comes from the Japanese words 改 ("kai") which means "change" or "to correct" and 善 ("zen") which means "good".

Kaizen is a system that involves every employee - from upper management to the cleaning crew. Everyone is encouraged to come up with small improvement suggestions on a regular basis. This is not a once a month or once a year activity. It is continuous. Kaizen is based on making changes anywhere that improvements can be made. Western philosophy may be summarized as, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." The Kaizen philosophy is to "do it better, make it better, improve it even if it isn't broken, because if we don't, we can't compete with those who do."

Kaizen involves setting standards and then continually improving those standards. To support the higher standards Kaizen also involves providing the training, materials and supervision that is needed for employees to achieve the higher standards and maintain their ability to meet those standards on an on-going basis.

Keep in mind that Kaizen is about action. Taking action to generate suggestions, and taking action to implement those suggestions immediately.