The Focused Leader

The power of FOCUS is well known. Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Fred Smith (FedEx), Herb Kelleher (Southwest Airlines) all provide great examples of focus in action. This article talks about it also, as one of five key facets of high performance leadership.

http://www.excellence2.com/leadership-skills/The_Focused_Leader.shtml

Enjoy the read.

You Don't Know Dick, But He May Very Well Know You...

Dick Hardt, Founder & CEO of Sxip Identity (pronounced 'skip') that is, and he has your online identity, and security, as his focus. Why should that matter, and what has it got to do with leadership? Well, Dick IS a leader in the online world, AND he also demonstrates how a leader in that world, which is heavily populated with people who have a 'point & click' attention span, needs to communicate.

See how he grabs the attention of the audience at a recent web conference, gets his points across in a mere fifteen minutes, and has the audience clamoring for more. A good example how a leader needs to communicate in this fast paced world...

Dick's fast paced presentation...

URL: http://www.identity20.com/media/OSCON2005/

Nelson Mandela

I have just started reading the book "A Prisoner In The Garden: Opening Nelson Mandela's Prison Archive", which tells the personal story of his time in prison. Some of the photographs were taken during a 1977 press visit to Robben Island, where Mandela was incarcerated.

The book authors state 'The images from the 1977 visit reveal that, on the eve of his 60th birthday and in the middle of his jail term, the prison experience was shaping Mandela into a man with a manifestly strong spirit who embodied authority'.

I will post a more detailed review when I am finished what promises to be a good read.

Great Leaders is a blog that discusses people in the community, business or political arenas who are regarded as great leaders, based on five key characteristics:

1. They provide a clear and compelling FOCUS for their followers
2. They are truly AUTHENTIC (no fakes need apply)
3. They are COURAGEOUS, they get the job done by challenging the status quo, even at great personal risk
4. They show great EMPATHY towards others, always seeking to understand diverse points of view, and encouraging collaborative problem solving
5. They have a great sense of TIMING. They know when to act, and probably just as importantly, when not to act