I just received my copy of the The Student Leadership Challenge.

Check it out and let us know what you think! – Scott J. Allen

That’s the title of a great article I read last week last. Its in the Oct 2007 Harvard Business Review (that is how far behind I am !).

Written by Tony Schwartz, it provides a way of looking at being more effective – something all my executive coaching clients are seeking. I have passed it on to a couple of clients now, and it has sparked some interesting conversation and an investment in looking after themselves better. It has been interesting to me how easy the transition through change has been for them after reading this article.

The author proposes four different types of energy to access, employ and renew (has a sustainability focus too – we used to say resilience).

The four types of energies are Body, Mind, Emotions and Spirit. There is also a great little checklist to assess your current status in these four areas.

Josie

I recently read Leadership: A Critical Text by Simon Western.  I found it very interesting.  It’s one of the first “text book” leadership-type books that I have found pretty strong.  It takes a good, critical look at leadership which is sometimes hard to find.  Western identifies four main discourses of leadership: Controller (e.g., great man), Therapist (e.g.,. human-centered), Messiah (e.g., transformational), and Eco (e.g., systems, sustainable leadership).  I am especially inspired by the Eco perspective- I think it is very relevant for our society today.  The others made sense to me, but I didn’t fully agree with some of the way some of the models were placed (party I think transformational and transforming leadership were taken a bit out of context).  The book also makes some connections between the Messiah discourse of leadership and Christian Fundamentalism.  Anyone interested in religion and leadership would likely enjoy these chapters.  I’m thinking of using the book or at least sections of it for an advanced undergrad leadership course I’ll teach this coming year. - Paige Haber

As taken from the Consortium’s Homepage:

“The Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations was founded in 1996 to aid the advancement of research and practice related to emotional intelligence in organizations. The following research projects and articles are provided by the Consortium to support this mission. Full-text documentation of each of these articles available for download free of charge. ”

Check out a link to the reports here.

-Casey

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.  – George Bernard Shaw

In the last month, I picked up a part-time job to make some quick cash before heading back to school. Objectively, the work I have to do is quite simple…under the right conditions. In this latter phrase I am referring to the often overlooked and underrated principle of proper communication. Being new at my work, I frequently ask my fellow employees for guidance. Unfortunately, the response is not always a guiding one. I’ve found myself lamenting, “If this person would just stop and think through how they are communicating to me, they would see why I am not getting a grasp on the work at hand.”

We are all guilty of taking our communicative thoughts for granted in that we assume if it’s easy for us to understand, it should be easy for another individual to understand. I feel there are numerous secondary lessons from such situations, and many of them have implications on leadership ability. When possible and where appropriate, a leader must try to understand his or her followers’ perspectives. As Tony Robbins points out, “To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.”  So, I challenge you to join me in making a stronger effort to analyze the effectiveness and perspective of our communication when it counts. After all, where would the world be without successful communication? – Jim Meehan