Sources of Insight

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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

How Tos

Leadership Lessons from Leaders

Models and Frameworks

Personal Leadership

Styles & Types

Team, Teaming, and Teamwork

Vision, Mission, and Values