Cultivating your leadership garden
by Miki SaxonPost from Leadership Turn Image credit: paul_everett82
In the Seeds of Leadership Ken Flowers says,
When asked about key leadership traits, I respond with characteristics such as initiative, confidence, big-picture thinking, and pride of ownership. Then I realize that my list describes how individuals approach their personal efforts… I think these traits may be the seeds of leadership skills; fundamental kernels of approach that engender others to want to follow someone.
Ken’s seed analogy is a good one.
Leading isn’t a position or even something you do, it’s who you are and who you are is determined by what I call MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™).
Your MAP is like a garden—starting in earliest childhood and continuing throughout your life seeds are planted, take root and grow.
Although seeds come from many sources, you are the master gardener and it’s your choice to decide which are flowers to nurture and which are weeds that need pulling—no matter when they were planted or by whom.
Sometimes what seems like a flower when we’re young and insular we find to be a weed as we grow and change.
Do you believe that weeds planted in childhood can be eradicated?
Your comments—priceless
May 19th, 2008 at 12:47 am
[…] Your MAP is like a garden—starting in earliest childhood and continuing throughout your life seeds are planted, take root and grow. Although seeds come from many sources, you are the master gardener and it’s your choice to decide which … […]
May 19th, 2008 at 5:34 am
Great question, Miki. It’s a tough question. I’ve seen examples of people who are never able to overcome the weeds planted in their childhood, and I’ve seen people who have overcome their weeds. I’m not sure you can completely destroy them. In some way they are always present. But I do think they can be defeated and overcome. It’s not easy and it takes a lot of intentionality, but you can prevent the weeds from growing back.
May 20th, 2008 at 8:47 am
Miki:
In answer to your question. The weeds may not be eradicated totally, however, the choice and responsibility for how you respond to the weeds it entirely up to you.
People forget they have a choice in how they think, feel, and behave. There may not be choice in the circumstance, but there is always choice in the response. Additionally, they are 100% responsible for the choice they make.
In my book U.N.I.Q.U.E.: Growing the Leader Within, I discuss how to grow your Leadership Garden to thrive by pulling your weeds and planting new seeds. There are two conditions that grow in the human Leadership Garden. A survival condition and thriving condition.
The way I see it, thriving leadership comes from the heart, mind, and spirit working in unison to sprout your unique purpose and aim.
What I believe is important is to begin to transform what the term leadership means. Too often it is thought of a innate trait of a select few or a job, position, or title.
The leader is the primary shoot of a plant from which everything blossoms. We all know what happens when you stem a plant. It withers or dies.
The same applies to the human spirit to lead life with power, focus and passion.
I truly believe every person is a leader waiting to blossom and the early life experiences do not always foster and nurture thriving leadership.
So I agree with your acronym of a mindset, attitude and philsophy and would add choice and responsiblity to the mix.
Debra J. Slover
May 20th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
I agree, Casey, but doing it is easier when the desire is our own.
I find it sad when people pull their flowers because someone keeps telling them they’re weeds—or vice versa.
May 20th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Hi Debra, thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts.
I agree with what you say, I’m a big fan of ‘leaders in the instance’, however, I think that choice and responsibility fall outside of true MAP. I see them as garden tools as opposed to plants.
May 20th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Miki:
I would agree that they fall outside your trademark use of MAP.
In my trademarked analogy of a Leadership Garden, your body is the garden and your leader from which everything blossoms is made up of your heart, mind, and spirit working in unision to sprout your greatness.
Therefore, your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors all germinate from the seeds and weeds planted in your mind from all your life experiences. Which leads back to choice and responsiblity for how you respond to life in each and every moment.
By the way, I saw your blog from my goggle alert for Leadership Garden, and loved your use of MAP because a positive mindset, attitude and philosophy are consistent with growing a thriving Leadership Garden.
I wasn’t quite sure what you meant in your response, “leader in the instance.”
Debra
May 21st, 2008 at 9:30 am
Hi Debra,
leading in the instance is what most of us do. We see a situation and act, often drawing others with us. We don’t sit around thinking that now I’m going to lead people, blah, blah. We do whatever is needed and are described as a leader by those around us after the fact.
As to choice and responsibility, even reading your explanation I still see them as gardening tools with which to cultivate and weed your garden:)
May 21st, 2008 at 10:14 am
Miki:
We don’t disagree. Choice and responsiblity are empowerment tools of a Leadership Garden.
I think we only depart ways in what constitutes a Leadership Garden which is simply a matter of semantics. We both made up our unique definitions.
I don’t believe there is truth to any of what we say, except that which rings true to us based upon our experience and expertise. Even then it isn’t always the truth for another.
Thanks for allowing me to offer my view.
Debra
May 21st, 2008 at 10:27 am
Oh, Debra, you are so right about the ‘truth’ thing and it’s so great to hear it from someone else. I’ve always said that people need to run everything they hear from “experts” through their own MAP, take what works for them, tweak it or tweak themselves as they see fit and delete the rest.
And I do hope that you’ll come back and offer your views often. They can do nothing but enhance my posts and improve user experience.