Casey Wilson - The Cornerstones of Engaging Leadership

To Celene, TJ, Abby, and our family, my cornerstones.

Engagementthat was the word I had been trying to put my finger on for some time. It was powerful and suggestive in a way that attracts people to it with curiosity Engagement is having passion, connectedness, motivation, and a willingness to give your best in order to benefit yourself and your organization. I read more on the topic of engagement, including the extensive research conducted by the Gallup Organization and the Corporate Leadership Council on organizational engagement and the implications of disengaged workforces. Each of these organizations uses a different framework to look at engagement, but both studies are very research and data-focused on an organizational level. Their research created the initial lens through which I viewed engagement.

Despite these studies, the general lack of data, models, and books on engaging leadership left me yearning for a practical, hands-on approach to becoming an engaging leaderthe type of leader who actively and intentionally creates an engaging environment by connecting people to their work in meaningful ways. The research Id come across so far did not provide a roadmap to actually becoming an engaging leader. I wanted to articulate, in a pragmatic way, how a person can become an engaging leader.

After exploring countless personal storiesfrom students in my classes, other consultants and facilitators, and leadersI identified a few prominent, common threads related to engagement. These threads became the approach to engaging leadership I used as the foundation of this book. The approaches I present stem from real-life examples and personal experiences over time. I believe that they will resonate with people and cut-through some of the idealistic views that leadership books often take.

Ive worked to provide an approach to engaging leadership that leaders at any organizational level can relate toone that is practical and gets to the heart of what it means to be an engaging leader. Cutting through the trendy leadership jargon and selling points, I set out to write a book that would truly help all leaders, regardless of their title, experience, or number of colleagues.

Because engagement creates connections with and for others, this book focuses on what leaders can do both to monitor their own level of engagement and to engage others. To get the most out of this book, and to become an engaging leader, its necessary to engage both your mind (through analytical, critical, and creative thinking) and your heart (through empathy and emotions).

Key elements of this book include:

• The Engaging Leader Approachthe model that serves as the foundation for this book, built by the four cornerstones of engaging leadership: building trust, understanding unique motivations, managing performance from a people-centric perspective, and engaging others emotions.

• Principlesshort, highlighted statements throughout the text that concisely convey key messages about engaging leadership.

• Exercisesopportunities to explore, reflect on, and practice key concepts and techniques, including self-assessments and self-reflective questions. The exercises can be used to clarify aspects of the engaging leader approach that are internal to you and focus on you as a leader. All the exercises are included on the supplemental CD that accompanies this book.