How do you react when something goes wrong, or right?
Read MoreThe Accountability Ladder
3 Ideas on Leadership
What does it make to be a great Leader?
Read MoreHierarchy of Rethinking Styles
What kind of thinker are you?
Read More7 Core Behaviours for Honourable Leadership
Inspired by The Honour Code created by Lee Ellis
How do you lead with honour?
Lee created this list to:
"inspire leaders who are seeking to live with character, courage and commitment everyday".
Sounds like a good plan to me.
Here's the list:
Tell the truth even when it's difficult.
Treat others with dignity and respect.
Keep your word and your commitments.
Be ethical.
Be courageous.
Act responsibly; do your duty, and be accountable.
Live your values.
How many of these do you seek to fulfil everyday, when interacting with others?
A Retired Navy Seal Commander’s 12 Rules For Leaders
Inspired by an article on Business Insider.
What can a retired Navy Seal teach us about leadership?
A lot, actually!
I really enjoyed reading about his thoughts on leadership in the article, and I’ll be adding his book, Extreme Ownership: How US Navy SEALs Lead and Win to my ever-growing reading list.
Here is one of my favourite quotes from that article:
"Just as discipline and freedom are opposing forces that must be balanced, leadership requires finding the equilibrium in the dichotomy of many seemingly contradictory qualities between one extreme and another.
By being aware of these seeming contradictions, a leader can more easily balance the opposing forces and lead with maximum effectiveness."
Which is rule is your favourite?
Influence is a by-product of...
Inspired by Influence is a by-product of... inspired by an article on Tanmay Vora’s blog article.
How do you achieve influence?
In this age of social media influence is everything. When you chase influence you can easily lose sight of what it really means and how to build it.
In his article Tanmay reminds us that:
Real influence is something that changes people and their behaviours for the better.
I really loved this idea - I hope my nudenotes are able to build this kind of influence.
Are you building real influence? What does influence mean to you?
How to be a Creative Director
Inspired by How to be a Creative Director (without sucking at it!) by Rodd Chant from Chant Creative.
It's my ambition on day to become a Creative Director. These honest and actionable pointers will help me develop the skills to get me there.
There is some awesome insights in here, my favourite is number 7: Make Decisions!
Generating options is easy for creatives. Pulling the trigger on a specific direction or an idea is difficult but as Rod said "your in the big chair now... Make the damn decision. Do your job
9 Things Great Leaders Say Every Day
Inspired by an article on inc.com
What does a great leader sound like?
People judge you not only by your actions but by what you say.
Words is one of the greatest assets available to any creative professional. They allow you to share ideas, change perceptions and bring your vision to life.
The ability to lead effectively you must master the art of clear and concise communication.
These 9 phrases should help you achieve that mastery, getting you on step closer to becoming a better leader.
Six Leadership Lessons
Inspired by Dr. Abdul Kalam, from Tanmay Vora’s blog.
What does it take to be a good leader?
Abdul Kalam was a "space scientist, missile man, India's ex-president, advisor and visionary", as Tanmay says in his blog.
Leadership is one of my favourite topics to make nudenotes on, and this article was very enlightening to read.
6 Rules for Creating Lasting Influence
Inspired by Tanmay Vora’s blog article.
How do you create lasting influence?
"...ability to influence is at the heart of a leader's success at driving change, building great teams, delivering results and implementing the strategic vision."
Influence is everything!
Want to be a better leader, build great teams, deliver results and implement strategic visions?
Maybe it's time to up your influence game.
As mentioned in the article:
"... No matter who you are in the pecking order, you can make a difference".
I hope these six rules help keep you on the path of creating lasting influence in your career and life.
Delegation Do's & Don'ts
Inspired by a few sources, but mainly from American Management Association and amanet.org
Struggling with your work load?
Maybe it is time to start delegating better.
Delegation isn't a skill that comes naturally to most creative professionals.
We love our craft — sometimes too much!
To delegate well is to grow — as individuals, teams and leaders.
The main result of successful delegation is empowered employees, enabling ownership and responsibility, deeper thing about the work and look at becoming more productive.
Got any tips or techniques for delegating well? Pop them in the comments below.
A Call to Leadership
Inspired by a tweet from Lolly Daskal
Will you answer the call to leadership?
In just three steps, Lolly describes how you can become a better leader.
Start. Stop. More.
Super-simple steps!
Five Spaces Leaders Need to Design & Nurture
Inspired by an article by Leandro Herrero, on Tanmay Vora’s blog.
What spaces do you need to create to become a successful leader?
Spaces? Yep that's right, spaces.
I found it really interesting to read about these five spaces, I never really thought of a leader as a 'social architect', but it makes perfect sense.
Any leader worth his salt needs to create spaces that empower their teams converse clearly, work effectively and grow as leaders themselves.
8 Portals of Influence
Inspired by an article Tanmay Vora blog.
How can you lead without being in an authority position?
The workplace is changing from the traditional structure of a single leader barking orders 'do what I tell you, just cause I say so'.
This hierarchical system can hide a multitude of sins, including power abuse, mediocrity and oppressive working environments.
Leading without authority is the way forward.
It builds stronger relationships within teams, empowers everyone to be more accountable, and creates a happier working environments.
It's a long, winding road to the develop these leadership skills, but in the long run it'll be worth it.
Connect Then Lead
Inspired by Tanmay Vora sketchnotes on a Harvard Business Review article of the same name
"Warmth is the conduit of influence: It facilitates trust and the communication and absorption of ideas... prior warmth helps connect immediately with those around you, demonstrating that you hear them, understand them, and can be trusted by them."
The combination of warmth and competence forms the foundation of leadership within the design process, reducing the perceived risk for both your clients and team members.
12 Ways Leaders Can Build A Winning Culture
From Terry Starbucker
I believe that without a strong and happy culture, you will never be able to create awesome design solutions.
Leaders in the business of design are key to nurturing these creative environments.
Key takeaway:
Culture affects everything
Making these nudenotes reminded me of a Simon Sinek quote I once read, “customers will never love a company, until the employees love it first”.
The culture of a company doesn’t just affect all the internal operations of a business, but it also bleeds into external aspects like your products, customer services, and marketing.
Don’t underestimate the power of good culture!
Leaders Who Deliver Versus Leaders Who Destroy
Inspired by an infographic from @theperformanceroom_tpr
I’ve been learning a lot about creative leadership recently, and this chart pulled together so many of those ideas in a handy chart.
Naturally, I had to share it!
Key takeaway:
Long-term leadership always delivers
Leaders who destroy may deliver the results short-term, but long-term, they will inevitably build up a negative debt, affecting business growth and employee happiness.
The Four Keys to BOLD HR
By Josh Bersin, discovered via @tnvora blog
I found it interesting that all four of the areas presented by Josh Bersin have a massive cross-over into the design process as well as creative leadership.
“Business leaders who are bold in their thinking are 11× more likely to succeed”
- Zenger Folkman Research
Key takeaway:
Fortune favours the bold!
As Josh Bersin says on his website:
“This is an exciting time for the HR profession. The global economy is growing, recruitment is more competitive than ever, and a new generation of workers is demanding opportunities and changes to the way we work. Now, more than ever, is the time for HR to be bold, reinvent, and lead our organisations into the new world of work.”
It’s time to bring HR into the 21st century — creating businesses and organisations that deliver exciting working environments for everyone.
The Five Practices & The Ten Commandments of Exemplary Leadership
From the book The Leadership Challenge by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner, which I discovered through an article from Thought Leadership.
I love learning about leadership — I find the whole topic fascinating.
Since making these nudenotes, I’ve tried where ever possible to weave these into my daily work as a designer.
It is amazing how much leadership skills are needed to navigate even the smallest of design projects.
Leadership skills are like building muscles — you need to be constantly and consistently training to keep them in good working condition.
Expect to see more leadership nudenotes in the future.
Key takeaway:
Be inclusive, improve always, raise others and live passionately…
Not sure I can say it any better than that, really!
Leadership 7
Inspired by an article by Nicholas Bate from Tanmay Vora’s website.
What does it mean to be a leader?
How do you become one?
Leadership skills are such an integral part of being a creative professional.
We all need the ability to rally people around an idea or vision - share that with other designers. It's a call to arms to get sh*t done!
Remember...
"leadership is a mindset, not a job title"
-Nicholas Bate
Key takeaway:
Model the behaviours you want!
This is how humans learn — by copying something someones else does.
It’s also how master craftsman and artists of old use to teach others their skills and craft.
Don’t be afraid to use the same technique, it’s really very effective.
It also allows you to focus in on the content of what you learn, rather than how you are going to but your own ‘spin’ on it.