Gibbins-Klein - The thoughtful leader : how to use your head and your heart to inspire others

The Thoughtful Leader

First published in 2015 by

Panoma Press Ltd

48 St Vincent Drive, St Albans, Herts, AL1 5SJ, UK

www.panomapress.com

Book layout by Neil Coe.

Printed on acid-free paper from managed forests.

ISBN 978-1-909623-93-4
eISBN 978-1-784521-75-2

The right of Mindy Gibbins-Klein to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright holder except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988. Applications for the Copyright holders written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publishers.

This book is available online and in bookstores.

Copyright 2014 Mindy Gibbins-Klein

This book is dedicated to the many talented and generous mentors who have guided me on my path, and to the many clients, colleagues and friends Ive made along that path.

Thank you so much to the following people for all the help, support, encouragement, inspiration, friendship, and patience. Its not an exhaustive list, and Im sure Ive forgotten important people, in which case Ill be groveling and making it up to you. Ive made this list alphabetical so theres no need to read too much into the order!

Leaders have to deal with a multitude of challenges: maintaining a vision that others can follow, setting the pace and tone for the business or business unit, and in many cases managing people, budgets and conflicting agendas and priorities. Inspiring others is usually found at the bottom of the list, in the nice to have category, as long as everything else is handled. However, deep down, most leaders would like to be more inspirational. Perhaps to be what is called a thought leader, if that is not too lofty a goal.

Thought leadership has become part of the business vernacular, but it is such an overused term that it really has begun to lose its meaning. Most of what is published or presented as thought leadership is nothing of the kind. In my book 24 Carat BOLD, I presented a model whereby aspiring thought leaders could create a strategy, measure their effectiveness and do specific things to share their best ideas and become recognized for them. Since then, I have shared that model in presentations, training and coaching, with thousands of business owners, executives and aspiring thought leaders. It still works as a framework for assessing and developing your own thought leadership.

When Seth Godin called 24 Carat BOLD the first thoughtful book Ive seen on what it means to become a thought leader it did not occur to me that the word thoughtful was, in fact, the key to the entire concept. Six years later, I have found myself coming back over and over again to the idea of thoughtfulness, and recently realized this completely encapsulates my current thinking. It is what I care about most (and as you will learn in this book, caring counts for a lot!), it is what I do and what I am really interested in doing for the rest of my life: encouraging thoughtful leadership.

Being bold and exhibiting the attributes of REAL thought leadership are certainly important, and working with the REAL model can give you clarity and raise your profile. Practicing thoughtful leadership goes much further and allows really special people with really special ideas to be seen and appreciated.

Before we begin, let me be very clear about what I mean by thoughtful, since there are several meanings. Here are some dictionary definitions of the word thoughtful:

thoughtful (adjective) [thawt-fuh l

1. showing consideration for others; considerate.

2. characterized by or manifesting careful thought: a thoughtful essay.

3. occupied with or given to thought; contemplative; meditative; reflective: in a thoughtful mood.

4. careful, heedful, or mindful: to be thoughtful of ones safety.

What we can see is that there are two main meanings of the word thoughtful. One has to do with thinking and the other pertains to consideration for other people. In other words, one has to do with the head, and the other with the heart. I thought it was important to explore both of these concepts fully in this book because a thoughtful leader embodies and exhibits both of these skills.

Each chapter has a short title and an inspirational quotation to set the mood. Inspirational quotations are great because they capture important thoughts succinctly and often cleverly. They also tend to go viral. One of my dreams is that my best sound bites are shared widely, that they go viral. But as you will learn in this book and my other material, going viral is not random, nor is it an accident. You have to put really exciting ideas out in a simple and shareable format.

Therefore, the first paragraph of each chapter (sometimes just the first sentence) is the core message or thought of that chapter. This is a discipline I teach my clients, and I absolutely wanted to practice what I preach. Besides, putting the book together in this way ensured that I had the clarity of thought before launching into the full explanation of each idea.

It also means that if you are short on time, or have an attention deficit disorder, you can grasp the essence of each chapter quickly. And if you like the thought for that chapter, you have something interesting to tweet! I have also placed my favorite sound bites in easy-to-spot boxes, called Thought Bites, so feel free to tweet them, ideally crediting me at @MindyGK.

Being somewhat involved in the book world, I know the trend is for shorter books, and I have aimed to keep this book as short as possible, while still covering all the key points. If you are seeking more in-depth information and discussion on any of these points, simply get in touch with me. Im very easy to find online, and happy to speak to people offline by phone or in person as I travel around the world sharing these ideas. I look forward to hearing from you! This information is repeated at the end of the book, for ease of use.