18 Sep How to be an Extraordinary Leader
I’ve had a terrible week!
Like you, I’m driven to make a positive difference in kids’ lives so I’ve just started a new project.
It’s exciting but also really hard and it’s pushing me outside my comfort zone.
It’s kind of funny though, because last week I wrote about being focused and this week, I totally lost my focus on some really important strategies.
What happened?
Well because I was SO focused on my new project I stopped managing myself and let important things like inner focus and self-awareness slip.
Everything came to a head yesterday. Yep, you guessed it, tears of frustration!!
Luckily someone posted a comment on my article ….. “I really enjoyed reading your article and I need to relearn how to ‘focus’!”
Whammo! It struck me like lightning. That’s what I needed to do.
Relearn how to ‘focus’.
So I started rereading the books I had recommended to you last week…. and found a treasure chest in Daniel Goleman’s work. Developing your EQ doesn’t always have to mean something as formal as enrolling in a school building leadership course. When your aim is building leadership capacity in schools and increasing your own focus as a leader, all it might take is one good read to get you back on track.
I remember when Daniel Goleman first published his book on Emotional Intelligence in 1995. I bought a copy way back then, really enjoyed it, learnt from it and took actions to grow my EQ. It had a positive effect in my work and my home life.
The good news is Goleman has been prolific in researching emotional intelligence and its relationship to leadership for the past 20 years. It turns out that EQ is a game-changer! Yes, A Game Changer!
Recent publications include Primal Leadership: Unleashing the Power of Emotional Intelligence 2015, What Makes a leader: Why Emotional Intelligence Matters 2014, Focus: the Hidden Driver of Excellence 2013 and Leadership: the Power of Emotional Intelligence 2011.
Goleman is so good at what he does he won the McKinsey Award in 2014 for his Harvard Business Review Article “The Focused Leader.”
Goleman found that the top 10% of achievers displayed superior competencies in emotional intelligence, rather than in purely cognitive thinking. Capabilities like self-confidence and initiative; bouncing back from setbacks and staying cool under stress; empathy and powerful communication, collaboration; and teamwork all make for better results.
Whether you are involved in public or independent school leadership, as a leader in the 21st Century focusing on yourself, focusing on others, and focusing on the wider world is essential if you want to become an extraordinary leader.
So I’m planning a much better week next week. My plan for this weekend is to download Goleman’s latest books onto my Kindle and curl up with them and a few delicious coffees, which may just turn into a few glasses of mellow red wine.
Next week I’m going to bounce back from this week’s setbacks, and maintain my inner focus, focus on others and focus on the larger forces and systems I need to navigate to keep moving forward and get my project back on track.
What about you?
If you would like to learn more about extraordinary leadership why not attend ‘Leadership for the 21st Century’ a 4-part MASTERCLASS WEBINAR.
