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Leadership

Leadership Deep Dive Guide

“Leadership is coordinating action to realize the future you care about.” — Rick Maguire, Futurity

Welcome to Leadership on Sources of Insight!

Master the mindset, skillset, and toolset of better leadership.  I’ve mentored leaders and leaders of leaders for more than 20+ years at Microsoft.  This is an organized index of leadership articles and resources available on this site.

Latest Leadership Articles

Here you can browse the latest articles based on most recently published:

Browse Latest Leadership Articles

What is Leadership?

In my experience, the whole point of leadership is to help people go and grow where they have not gone before. To me the difference between good leadership and great leadership lies in how you achieve the vision, how well you pave the path for others, and who people become through the process.

When leadership is done well, people are inspired by the vision, they generate energy, and they achieve great things, together, and become greater versions of themselves.

In one line, I might say: Leadership is the empowerment of others in the direction of a shared vision.

For more information, see What is Leadership?.

Getting Started with Leadership

Getting Started with Leadership — Anyone can practice and apply the skill of innovation. Whether you think of yourself as an innovator or simply someone who uses creativity and imagination to solve problems, here is a simple way to get started.

The Ultimate Leadership Guide

The Ultimate Leadership Guide — The is the ultimate guide to mastering the mindset, skillset, and toolset for modern leadership.

Leadership Skills

Leadership Skills — Learn and grow key leadership skills to take your leadership abilities to the next level.  Here are the key leadership skills you will learn:

  • The Skill of Change
  • The Skill of Connection
  • The Skill of Courage
  • The Skill of Culture Change
  • The Skill of Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
  • The Skill of Influence
  • The Skill of Motivation
  • The Skill of Storytelling
  • The Skill of Strengths
  • The Skill of Strategy
  • The Skill of Vision

Best Books on Leadership

Best Leadership Books — This is my full list of the best leadership books of all time, based on what I’ve used to master leadership at work and learn the leadership skills better, deeper, faster.

Here are some of the best leadership books of all time:

  • Flawless Execution by Michael Murphy
  • Leadership on the Line by Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky
  • Principle-Centered Leadership by Stephen Covey
  • Start with Why by Simon Sinek
  • The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell
  • The Leadership Challenge by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner

Leadership Checklist

The Leadership Checklist — This is the ultimate leader’s checklist to become a better leader.  I’ve created a leadership checklist that should act like a hub and spoke of effective leadership practices.  Here are examples from the checklist:

  1. As a leader, I seek first to understand, and I listen to people until they feel heard (empathic listening.)
  2. As a leader, I set the example others wish to emulate.
  3. As a leader, I vary my leadership style to motivate when needed or direct based on the needs and abilities of the team.
  4. As a leader, I vary my leadership style between people-focused and task-focused based on the situation I’m in.
  5. As a leader, I continuously find ways to simplify.
  6. As a leader, I focus on service to others.
  7. As a leader, I allocate time for what’s important.
  8. As a leader, I do what I say I will do.
  9. As a leader, I create a compelling vision that inspires people to rally around.
  10. As a leader, I take feedback and adapt in response.

Best Leadership Quotes

Best Leadership Quotes — This is my collection of the best leadership quotes that I’ve curated to inspire better leadership and better results.

Here are a few examples:

  • “One cannot consent to creep when one feels the impulse to soar.” — Helen Keller
  • “All Leadership is influence.” — John C. Maxwell
  • “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • “It’s amazing how many cares disappear when you decide not to be something, but to be someone.” — Coco Chanel
  • “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” — Warren Bennis
  • “The most elusive and desired quality of leadership is vision. Vision is the perfume of the mind.” — Harriet Rubin
  • “When the effective leader is finished with his work, the people say it happened naturally.” — Lao Tzu

Best Leadership Products

Best Leadership Products — On this page you will find the leadership products I recommend.  I’m a fan of self-paced, and on my own.  I love having the world’s best insight at my fingertips, whether through books or audios.  In retrospect, I’m actually glad that I started with audiobooks.

Voice builds empathy.

While text is fast for scanning and makes it easy to go back through the information, audio has an advantage of voice.  If you’ve ever heard Stephen Covey or Tony Robbins speak, you know what I mean.

Articles by Topic

Character

  • 10 Big Ideas from Lead with Humility
  • 12 Traits of a Great Leader
  • A Great Leader is Rarely Realistic
  • Character Ethic is the Foundation for Success
  • How Leaders Can Show They Truly Care
  • Integrative Thinking: Synthesize Multiple Ideas into One Complete Idea
  • Intelligent Leadership Book Review
  • Leadership is Who You Are
  • Stephen Covey Leaves a Legacy
  • Testing for Expert Judgment
  • Top 5 Characteristics of Effective Leaders
  • Warrior Leaders are Positive and Exude Positive Energy
  • Warrior Leaders Focus on the Highest Value Activities
  • Warrior Leaders Reveal Great Character

How Tos

  • How To Be a leader In Your Field
  • How To Communicate Without Conflict with Anyone
  • How To Consistently Build a Winning Team
  • How To Get Your Ideas Adopted through Imperfection
  • How To Inspire a Vision
  • How To Make Better Decisions Through Disagreement
  • How To Use Future Picture to Share Your Vision
  • How To Visualize Success
  • How To Visualize Success by Stepping into Your Future
  • How To Visualize with Skill

Leadership Lessons from Leaders

  • Top 10 Leadership Lessons by Jim Kouzes
  • Top 10 Leadership Q&A with Jim Kouzes
  • Lessons Learned from Bill Gates
  • Lessons Learned from Colin Powell
  • Lessons Learned from Ken Blanchard
  • Lessons Learned from John Wooden
  • Lessons Learned from John Maxwell
  • Lessons Learned from Mike Kropp
  • Lessons Learned from Stephen Covey
  • Lessons Learned from Steve Jobs

Models and Frameworks

  • 4-Dimensional Leadership
  • 5 Practices and 10 Commitments for Effective Leadership
  • 10 Practices of Personal Leadership
  • A Leaders is the Trustee of the Intangibles
  • Future Picture: How the Military Communicates Vision More Effectively
  • How To Adapt Your Style with Situational Leadership
  • Political Competence: Influence with Skill and Get People on Your Side
  • Situational Leadership II
  • STARS Model of Business Evolution
  • Strategy Diamond
  • The First 90 Days: Your Road Map for Success
  • The Influencer Change Framework
  • The Six Steps to Fight Pilots Use to Plan Successful Missions
  • Vision, Mission, and Values

Personal Leadership

  • 8 Ways to Be Heroic
  • Adapt, Adjust or Avoid Situations
  • Build Your Personal Board of Advisers
  • Everyone is a Leader
  • Guide Your Path with Vision, Values, and Goals
  • How To Be a Leader in Your Field
  • Live on the Frontier of Your Experiences
  • Personal Leadership Helps Renew You
  • Personal Leadership is a Choice
  • Reflecting With Skill: The Art of Structured Reflection
  • The Inner Edge: The 10 Practices of Personal Leadership
  • How To Sustain Your Virtuous Cycles and Halt the Vicious Ones
  • The Power of Personal Leadership

Styles & Types

  • Detailed Command vs. Mission Command
  • Heart-Led Leadership
  • How To Adapt Your Style with Situational Leadership
  • Pattern-Based Leadership vs. Fact-Based Management
  • Situational Leadership II
  • Task-Oriented vs. Relationship-Oriented Leadership Styles
  • Visionary Leadership
  • What Executives at Microsoft Taught Me

Team, Teaming, and Teamwork

  • 5 Ways to Improve Commitment and Follow-through
  • 7 Steps for Building High-Performing Virtual Teams with Skill
  • 10 Big Ideas from Outthink
  • 10 Ways to Hold People Accountable
  • Assessing Your Existing Team
  • Clarify Meaningful Results
  • How Effective Leaders Get Their Team on Board
  • How To Build High-Performance Teams More Consistently
  • How To Create a High-Performance Team with Vision and Values
  • It’s Not Just a Team Effort
  • Leadership Skills for Making Things Happen
  • Management Lessons of a Lifelong Student
  • Smart Leaders, Smarter Teams Book Review
  • STEALTH Debrief: Generate Valuable Lessons Learned
  • The Leader Must First Belong
  • Lessons from Fighter Pilots on Planning Successful Missions
  • Vulnerability-Based Trust: Your Key to High-Performance Teams

Vision, Mission, and Values

  • Corporate Culture — Actions Speak Louder than Words
  • Effective Leaders Develop Multiple Future Outlooks
  • Envisioning: The Leadership Skill of Time Travel
  • Future Picture: How the Military Communicates Vision More Effectively
  • Guide Your Path with Vision, Values, and Goals
  • How To Create a High-Performance Team with Vision, Identity, and Values
  • How To Find Your Values
  • How To Inspire a Vision
  • Mission Statements Explained
  • Visionary Leadership
  • Vision, Mission, and Values

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About the Author

JDI am J.D. Meier. Microsoft 25 years. Join me on a quest for the world's best insight and action for work and life. Learn more...

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