Leadership styles have seen significant transformations in today's fast-paced and ever-evolving business world. The traditional hierarchical approach, focused on command and control, has given way to a new model known as servant leadership. While servant leadership has roots dating back to ancient times, its relevance today has grown exponentially. This recognizes that leaders prioritizing serving teams, employees, and stakeholders are better equipped to foster growth, innovation, and sustainable success.
Most people would say that in order to be a successful leader, you must have years of experience and intimate knowledge of the business world. However, modern leaders don't need to fit that mold. They can be anyone – from CEOs to first-time entrepreneurs – as long as they possess the right skill set and mindset. If you're looking to become a successful leader in today's rapidly changing world, here are seven books that will help set you on the right path.
Every employer expects team members to be self-motivated. “If everyone just did their job, motivation would be irrelevant,” is the old adage. The problem is people are not machines. Their productivity and creative capacity waxes and wanes. Energy levels are different throughout any given day, week, and month. It is not enough to just say do it. The more enlightened, leadership-based approach calls on leaders to take an active responsibility in team performance.
The idea that leaders are the servants of those they lead has been around for centuries. It is ingrained in military leadership doctrine and for the last twenty or more years has gained traction in the business world. Servant leaders, as they were first termed by Robert Greenleaf in his 1971 essay, “The Servant as a Leader,” put the needs of those they lead first.
Skills are assets, and they are how most people make a living. We go to school, learn a trade, acquire experiences and then give our time in exchange for money. The amount of money we earn for our time is most likely (but not always) a direct reflection of the “market value” of our skillsets—traditionally speaking. It’s true, “time is money,” but it makes just as much sense to say, “skills are money.” Luckily, obtaining a skill is quite simple in terms of cognitive processing. All one needs is motivation, the ability to learn, and time for practice.
What is “Tribal Leadership?”
After studying 24,000 people in more than two dozen organizations, three authors (David Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright) outlined some innovative, science-based leadership models. Their 2008 book, Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization, Logan et al., concluded that a company’s success depends on the strength of its “tribes.”
Skills are assets, and they are how most people make a living. We go to school, learn a trade, acquire experiences and then give our time in exchange for money. The amount of money we earn for our time is most likely (but not always) a direct reflection of the “market value” of our skillsets—traditionally speaking. It’s true, “time is money,” but it makes just as much sense to say, “skills are money.” Luckily, obtaining a skill is quite simple in terms of cognitive processing. All one needs is motivation, the ability to learn, and time for practice.
The age-old debate of whether leaders are born or made through experience was mostly solved on March 16, 1802 when the United States Military Academy at West Point was founded. The academy’s goal was to develop leaders of character for a lifetime of serving the nation, and by all measures the academy was a success.