Finding the Needle in the Leadership Haystack

Leadership is the future and an essential reality in the business world today. What happens when you Google leadership? Try it.  You will get about 482 million results. 482 million! Now if that doesn’t tell you something I don’t know what will. The key for you is searching through the haystack of those results and finding where you fit within leadership and where leadership will fit within your career. Leadership will mean something different for each of you. So find a story, inspiration or video that will help you grow as a leader. Here’s a kick start to your leadership development. I weeded through the 482 million Google results and found a few to get you inspired and “Ignited” as a leaders.

• This is a neat article that is part of a series of articles in the Globe and Mail called The Leadership Lab. I think it speaks to the importance of member service and how you can lead to serve your members for the better. The Globe and Mail
• It’s that time of year at work where things have slowed down a bit for me so I am taking opportunities to attend workshops and work towards my annual professional development hours that I need as a Chartered Professional Accountant. I have recently attended a few workshops focused on leadership. One of them was the IGNITE program that was offered by Performance Coaching Inc. This article gives a snapshot of the IGNITE program that I took. It was a great one-day course that provided a lot of self-reflection and leadership coaching techniques to use in my work and personal life. Performance Coaching
• Simon Sinek provides a simple, but powerful message about how to inspire leadership. When the SYL committee met to discuss our strategy and plan for our future, we used this video to inspire our own “Why”. Interesting enough, it was the #4 video in my 482 million Google results for “Leadership”. How Great Leaders Inspire Action?

I’m a bit of a quote junky so I will leave you with a quote I heard at the Leadercast Live 2015. One was the speakers was Rudy Giuliani, the former Mayor of New York City. He started off the presentation by stating that “leaders are not born, they are made”. That resonates with me because although people may have the qualities of leadership inherently, I think you need to take it on yourself to learn from others and “make” yourself into a good leader. SYL has provided me an opportunity to explore new dimensions of leadership, both at the conference last year and now on the committee. Find opportunities that fit, challenge and nurture your leadership skills. And don’t forget to enjoy the journey that leadership will provide for you!

Ashley Kennedy
SaskCentral