Tag: vision

19 Mental Models of Leadership

The Law of the Lid 

Credit: John Maxwell

  • There is a lid on my organization and on my future and that lid is me.
  • I am the problem with my company and you are the problem with your company
  • Your education, character, capacity, ability, and vision are limiting your team

Your Work as a Leader Should:

Credit: MLK

  1. Have length – something you get better at over a lifetime
  2. Have breadth – it should touch many other people 
  3. Have height – put you in service to some ideal and satisfy the souls yearning for righteousness 

When Leaders Help Institute Change there is…

Credit: Chip and Dan Heath

  1. Clear direction
  2. Ample Motivation
  3. Supportive Environment

Lead with Clarity and Conviction

Find out How

6 Techniques to Speak like a Leader

Credit: Simon Lancaster

  1. Three Breathless Sentences
  • “A world at war, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a generation”
  1. Three Repetitive Sentences
  • I love pasta, I love verona, I love tiramsu 
  1. Three balancing statements
  • Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country
  • If it sounds balanced, it makes it more believable
  • CONTRAST 
  1. Metaphor
  • Use metaphor every 16 words
  • Use to draw people towards things, and to repel them
  • Ex. “the Arab Spring” “The financial storm”
  1. Exaggeration
  • Emotional appeal. “I am going to give you my heart and soul” 
  1. Rhyme
  • People are more likely to believe something if it Rhymes: processing fluency (easier to digest)
  • Learn things from Rhymes as toddlers

6 Gifts Human Gardeners (Leaders) Offer Their People

Credit: Dr. Tim Elmore

They Paint Pictures

Most people think in pictures. Mentors capitalize on our visual minds and paint pictures of the way leadership works by telling stories, using metaphors, or employing images.

The Provide Handles

Every door or drawer has a handle. A handle is something we can grab onto. Good mentors summarize great principles into simple terms that their mentees can get a hold of and understand. They define the principles and give practical ways they can be applied to life.

They Supply Roadmaps

(1) Give us big picture

(2) Show us where we are

(3) Show us roads to take us to our destination

(4) Reveal what roads to avoid

They Furnish Laboratories

A laboratory is simply a safe place in which to experiment and actually practice the principles being learned. 

They Give Roots

Plants can only grow as tall as their root systems grow deep. Roots represent the foundation for solid growth. They provide strength and stability; something to stand on. These roots might take the form of a “moral compass,” enabling a mentee to make wise decisions based on healthy values.

They Offer Wings

Wings enable mentees to think big, to attempt huge goals, to not fear taking risks.

Leadership as a Parent

(1) I do it; you watch

(2) I do it; you help me

(3) You do it; I help you

(4) You do it; I watch

Building Culture as a Leader

credit: Dan Coyle – The Culture Code

  1. Fill the group’s windshield with clear, accessible models of excellence. 
  2. Provide high-repetition, high-feedback training.
  3. Build vivid, memorable rules of thumb (if X, then Y). 
  4. Spotlight and honor the fundamentals of the skill.

Three Questions Leaders Should Ask Their Teams

  1. What is one thing that I currently do that you’d like me to continue to do? 
  2. What is one thing that I don’t currently do frequently enough that you think I should do more often? 
  3. What can I do to make you more effective?

Leaders Build Systems with 3 things

credit: Donella Meadows – Thinking in Systems

  1. Elements 
  2. Interconnections 
  3. Function or an purpose 
  • A system is an interconnected set of elements that is coherently organized in a way to achieve something 

The Four Tools of Leadership Discipline

credit: Scott Peck – The Road Less Traveled

  1. Delaying of gratification
  2. Acceptance of responsibility,
  3. Dedication to the truth
  4. Balancing

The Four Disciplines of Execution 

credit: FranklinCovey

1. Focus on the Wildly Important: Focus on the one or two goals that would make all the difference. 

  • Focus your finest effort on the one or two goals that would make all the
    difference, instead of giving mediocre effort to dozens of goals. Leaders must learn how to create energy around the most important projects,
    not just what’s on fire. 

2. Act on the Lead Measures: Lead measures tell you if you’re likely to achieve the goal. 

  • Lead measures tell you if you’re likely to achieve the goal. They can be influenced by the team and are predictive of the outcome. Lag measures tell you if you’ve achieved the goal. 

3. Keep a Compelling Scoreboard: This helps your team know the score at all times. 

  • This helps everyone know the score at all times, so they can tell whether or not they’re winning. 

4. Create a Cadence of Accountability: Meet weekly to report on commitments and review the scoreboard

  • This is where the execution happens. Your team should meet weekly for 20–30
    minutes to report on commitments and review the scoreboard. Disciplines 1, 2, and 3 set up the game, but until you set up Discipline 4, your
    team isn’t in the game.

Tools to Improve Your Leadership

credit: Craig Groeschel

  1. A discipline to start
  2. The courage to stop
  3. A person to empower
  4. A system to create
  5. A relationship to initiate
  6. A risk to take

The Habits of Excellence

Become a lifelong learner

How to Change Your Perspective as a Leader

credit: Mark Batterson

Change of pace + Change of place = Change of perspective

The Laws of Combat Leadership

credit: Jocko Willink

  1. Cover and Move
  2. Keep Things Simple
  3. Prioritize and Execute
  4. Decentralize Command

Leadership Psychology of Growth

  1. Help the person get their story straight (where are you now? Where are you going?)
  2. What is it that you’re afraid of that’s stopping you from moving forward?

The 80% rule of Decision Making

Based on 80% of the information available are you 80% sure this is the right decision? 

Storytelling as a Leader

credit: Donald Miller

  • Stories are the best invention to deliver mental models that drive behavior, how we make meaning of life
  • Simple structure to stories: a character has a problem, then meets a guide who gives them a plan and calls them to action. That action either results in a comedy or tragedy
  1. A character: a person who will take the journey
  2. The Problem: three levels, external, internal, and philosophical
  3. Meets a Guide who Understands their Fear 
  4. And gives them a plan: you used to think this way, I want you think another way
  5. That calls them to action
  6. That results in a comedy 
  7. Or results in a Tragedy

Mastery Starts with YOU

For the Self-Directed Leader

The Rule of Three

  • When telling stories: Find a Beginning, a Middle, and a End
  • In a crisis: Assess, adjust, act
  • Look, listen, speak
  • In conversation: Ask the person to go deeper 3x and you’ll get closer to the truth

Building a System of Belief – Constructing a Culture

  • Why – Purpose – Belief (ethos)
  • What – Pillars – Values (pathos)
  • How – Processes – Systems (logos)

Did this help you lead with Excellence? Share with 1 person you know today.

19 Mental Models of Leadership

Thanks for Reading

Change Your Habits. Change Your Life.

Get instant access to your FREE Daily Planner and Habit Tracker

All Great Leaders do THIS ONE THING WELL

Every basketball team has a specific narrative that is built over time through the creation and retelling of stories. Stories have such immense power within any organization because they reflect the culture and vision of that team.

They are the living, breathing, active representations of a program. In short, your team’s culture is largely shaped by the type of stories you create.

A few days after Ohio State won the Football National Championship in 2014. I was listening to a nationally syndicated radio show who had Urban Meyer on as a guest. Meyer is widely regarded as one of the best coaches and most effective recruiters in the country, and for good reason. 

In the 5 short minutes that Meyer was on the show, the radio host only had time to ask him five questions. Meyer responded to 4 of those questions by doing what? 

Telling a story.  

Meyer recounted many stories that had defined the team throughout the season, which in turn gave us access into his world. A huge reason Meyer is so great in recruiting is because his recruits catch the vision of his program long before they step on campus. Meyer sells his recruits on the idea that they can be part of something bigger, and he uses stories as the main weapon in his arsenal. 

Great leaders, are great storytellers. Here are 3 habits every leaders should practice in the area of story telling.

The Habits of Excellence

Become a lifelong learner

Leaders are Story Gathers

Being a great leader doesn’t mean you have to be a great orator, it simply means you have to make story-gathering a priority. Think about a typical business meeting. Most meetings have a platonic agenda that deal with the “whats” and “hows” of an organization, but rarely will a meeting focus on the “whys” (and stories are the barometer of how well an organization is executing the “whys”).

The mission (or larger purpose) of a team is directly measured to the degree with which each member of that team is conscious of the type of impact their group is making on others. To increase this level of awareness, find stories that align with your culture and find creative ways to spread those stories within your team or organization. 

Leaders Highlight Their Heros

When great leaders learn to empower others, they make a decision to highlight the heroics of those around them. Talented leaders will find a story that stars one of their “employees” or “teammates” and will communicate that story in a way that accentuates the other person’s accomplishment. For example, if one of the larger purposes of your team is to be other oriented a great leader would find a time when a teammate put someone else’s needs before their own and make light of that to the rest of the group.

Leaders Know How to Live Great Stories

Great leaders live great stories. People both within your team and outside the organization should be able to look at the life of the leader and see a great story in progress. If you preach the values of discipline and hard work within your team, the only way the rest of the group will buy into that vision is if they see the leader faithfully living out these values every single day. 

All Great Leaders do THIS ONE THING WELL

Thanks for Reading

Change Your Habits. Change Your Life.

Get instant access to your FREE Daily Planner and Habit Tracker