Blanchard - The Heart of a Leader: Insights on the Art of Influence

THE HEART OF A LEADER

Published by David C Cook

4050 Lee Vance View

Colorado Springs, CO 80918 U.S.A.

David C Cook Distribution Canada

55 Woodslee Avenue, Paris, Ontario, Canada N3L 3E5

David C Cook U.K., Kingsway Communications

Eastbourne, East Sussex BN23 6NT, England

The graphic circle C logo is a registered trademark of David C Cook.

All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form without written permission from the publisher.

The Web site addresses recommended throughout this book are offered as a resource to you. These Web sites are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement on the part of David C Cook, nor do we vouch for their content.

LCCN 2007933395

ISBN 978-0-7814-4543-6

eISBN 978-1-4347-6663-2

1999, 2007 BFP, LP

The Ken Blanchard Companies

125 State Place

Escondido, California 92029-1398

Cover Design: The DesignWorks Group, Charles Brock

Interior Design: Karen Athen

Interior Photo: Nova Development

Second Edition 2007

First edition published by Honor Books 1999, 2004

Cook Communications Ministries, ISBN 1-56292-488-5.

Contents

When I was in high school, I had a football coach who loved motivational sayings; he covered the walls of our locker room with them. Sayings like, When the going gets tough, the tough get going and Quitters never win, and winners never quit were imprinted in my mind. When I started teaching and writing in the field of leadership and management, it was second nature for me to use sayings to help people remember key points. Thats why I was thrilled when David C. Cook asked me to update The Heart of a Leader , a book that includes my favorite sayings.

Leadership isnt just about having a powerful position. Anytime you use your influence to affect the thoughts and actions of others, you are engaging in leadership. So you can be a leader as a parent, spouse, friend, or citizen. I hope these sayings will give you the wisdom and inspiration you need to lead at a higher level. Remember, the best leaders are those who understand that their power flows through them, not from them.

God bless!

Ken Blanchard

Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson

The One Minute Manager

C atching people doing things right is a powerful management concept. Unfortunately, most leaders have a genius for catching people doing things wrong. I always recommend that leaders spend at least an hour a week wandering around their operation catching people doing things right. But I remind them that effective praising must be specific. Just walking around saying, Thanks for everything, is meaningless. If you say, Great job! to a poor performer and, Great job! to a good performer, you sound ridiculous to the poor performer and you demotivate the good performer.

Catching people doing things right provides satisfaction and motivates good performance. But remember, give praise immediately, make it specific, and finally, encourage people to keep up the good work. This principle can also help you shine at home. Its a marvelous way to interact with and affirm the people in your life.

Dont wait until people do things exactly right before you praise them.

Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson

The One Minute Manager

M any well-intentioned leaders wait to praise their people until they do things exactly right, complete the project, or accomplish the goal. The problem here is that they could wait forever. You see, exactly right behavior is made up of a whole series of approximately right behaviors. It makes more sense to praise progressits a moving target.

Can you imagine standing a child up and commanding him to walk, and then, when he falls down, yelling, I told you to walk! and spanking him? Of course not. You stand the child up, and he wobbles a bit. You shout, You stood up! and then shower him with hugs and kisses. The next day, he wobbles a step, and you are all over him with praise. Gradually, the child gains confidence until he finally walks. Its the same with adults. Catch them doing things rightand remember, in the beginning, approximately right is just fine.

What we give our attention to, grows.

Ken Blanchard, Thad Lacinak,

Chuck Tompkins, and Jim Ballard

Whale Done!

T he more attention you pay to a behavior, the more it will be repeated. Accentuating the positive and redirecting the negative are the best tools for increasing productivity.

Killer-whale trainers know that when you dont pay a lot of attention to what the animals do wrong but instead give a lot of attention to what they do right, they do the right thing more often. When trainers start working with a new whale, the whale knows nothing about jumping over ropes. The trainers begin with the rope underneath the water, high enough from the bottom for the whale to swim under. If the whale swims under the rope, the trainers dont pay attention, but every time he swims over the rope, they feed him.

Focusing on the negative often creates situations that demoralize people. When good performance is followed by a positive response, people naturally want to continue that behavior.

You get from people what you expect.

W henever I talk about the power of catching people doing things right, I hear, Yeah right. You dont know Harry! Do you have a Harry in your life? If so, perhaps you should take a look at your expectations for that person and see if he or she isnt currently living down to them. Its all in what you notice. When you judge someone, it impairs your ability to see him or her clearly, as if a filter is screening out everything about that person except what fits your assessment.

Fight through your filter and catch your Harry doing something right. It will not be easy, but if you persevere, you will notice that your behavior, even your attitude or degree of acceptance toward Harry will change. Try it and see what happens. Then try it again. You might even like it. GuaranteedHarry will.

People who produce good results feel good about themselves.

Ken Blanchard and Robert Lorber

Putting the One Minute Manager to Work

I n The One Minute Manager , Spencer Johnson and I wrote, People who feel good about themselves produce good results. After the book came out, I realized I was emphasizing the old human relations gametrying first to make people feel good, hoping they would then produce good results. Hence Robert Lorber and I changed the emphasis when we wrote Putting the One Minute Manager to Work . These days, everything our company does is focused on helping people produce good results.

When people produce good results, they feel good about themselves because they know they have done a good job, and they have something to show for their effort. An effective leader will make it a priority to help his or her people produce good results in two ways: making sure people know what their goals are and doing everything possible to support, encourage, and coach them to accomplish those goals.

Your role as a leader is even more important than you might imagine. You have the power to help people become winners.

Feedback is the breakfast of champions.

Rick Tate

leadership expert and author

I n my travels, Ive seen a lot of unmotivated people at work, but Ive never seen an unmotivated person after work. When five oclock rolls around, people race from the office to play golf or tennis, coach Little League, and pursue other pastimes. People are motivated to do things that provide them with feedback on results. Feedback is important to people. We all want to know how well were doing. Thats why it is essential for an effective performance review system to provide ongoing feedback.