Apr 20

Apr 20 Dare to Serve: How to Drive Superior Results by Serving Others (My 3 Takeaways)

Taking the leadership mantle for a mightily struggling organization, Bachelder and her leadership team began by committing to a leadership philosophy that would guide everything they did.

“We quickly agreed that this servant leadership notion would guide us going forward. But there was one more thing. We believed that servant leadership would deliver superior results. The performance of the enterprise would be the evidence that we had served others well,” (p. 18).

The results were as clear as they were dramatic.

Sales had increased by 45 percent, and profits had doubled. Popeyes’ share price rose to $61.31 by the end of 2016, and the company’s stock outpaced the S&P 500 restaurant sector and the overall S&P 500.

As a result, Bachelder proved that servant leadership could drive superior performance, even in a highly competitive environment like the food service industry.

Apr 6

Apr 6 Why Leadership is an Art, Not a Science

Chad Ellsworth

Building Heroes, Heroic Arts, Workplace

If culture is the most important work of leadership, it also must be true that culture is a direct result of what the leader does. Leadership is the craftsmanship of leaders. Leadership is authentic, deliberate, and personal work that evokes an intentional response from its recipients. In this way, leadership is not performed on a group of people, but rather for and with a group of people.

Feb 23

Feb 23 Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success (My 3 Takeaways)

Chad Ellsworth

Book Summary, Workplace

Although givers, takers, and matchers all are capable of achieving success, the way in which they do so can be destructive or transformational for a team. “When takers win, there’s usually someone else who loses,” Grant said. “Givers succeed in a way that creates a ripple effect, enhancing the success of people around them. You’ll see that the difference lies in how giver success creates value, instead of just claiming it.”

Feb 9

Feb 9 Culture is the Most Important Product of Leadership

Chad Ellsworth

Workplace, Heroic Arts

In a world where a person’s performance can be measured by a dizzying array of metrics, the culture that a leader creates is the only output that ensures the collective health of an organization and the individual well being of its people. It is the one and only product that truly matters, and few have built better, longer lasting cultures than Herb Kelleher.

Southwest’s culture is not about Kelleher or any other leader. Instead, the culture is about the people and it belongs to the people, which is why it has worked for such a long period of time, even thriving after changes in leadership, devastating crises, and economic down-turns.

Dec 1

Dec 1 The Trust Factor: The Science of Creating High-Performance Companies (My 3 Takeaways)

Chad Ellsworth

Book Summary, Workplace

In his 2017 book, “The Trust Factor: The Science of Creating High-Performance Companies,” author Paul J. Zak, the founding director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies and professor of economics, psychology, and management at Claremont Graduate University, presents the biological evidence for the power of trust in organizations, with extensive examples and research from for-profit, nonprofit, and government organizations.

The evidence Zak offers is anything but “warm and fuzzy.” Zak and his research team drew blood samples from participants across a broad range of organizations, and then measured levels of oxytocin, a chemical produced by the brain not only as a result of receiving trust, but which also has been shown to predict the reciprocation of trust.