Are you a divergent or convergent thinker?
Or maybe you're both?
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 MoreThe Difference Between Managers & Leaders
Inspired by an article written by @businessinsider.
What's the difference between #managers and #leaders?
As Business Insider says in their article:
"The words leader and manager are often used interchangeably, but they mean two completely different things. For instance, a manager tells their employees what to do, while a leader encourages them. A manager accepts the status quo, while a leader challenges it."
It takes more than just a title to inspire people to get behind you.
So how do you or your manager stakes up?
Take a closer look and let me know in the comments below.
7 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?
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.
9 Thinking Behaviours or Critical Thinking Hats
Inspired by an infographic based on a paper by Dr. Richard Paul and Dr. Linda Elder.
Have you mastered the art of critical thinking?
"Critical Thinking is the art of analysing and evaluating thinking with a view to improving it."
Critical Thinking is essential skill for every creative professional - or anyone who wants to solve problems, learn and live a better life.
Majority of thinking is bias in one way or another, often without us even realising it. Shoddy thinking produces shoddy results!
The 9 thinking behaviours in these nudenotes provide a framework, with example questions to ask yourself helping to improve your critical thinking.
Better critical thinking results in:
Highlight questions and problems, communicating them clearly to others.
Gather relevant information and interpreting them effectively.
Well-thought out solutions, tested against relevant criteria and objectives.
Openminded, understanding alternative systems. Recognise their own biases and overcome them.
Effectively communicate with others the results and solutions.
Good Critical Thinking skills can have a dramatic on the way your perceive problems in your life. I hope these notes help you to develop your own Critical Thinking skills.
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.
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.
How to Improve Your Critical Thinking
From focus2achieve.com
Are you struggling to make objective creative decisions?
Improving your critical thinking skills may be the solution.
“Critical thinking is the key to creative problem solving”
-Richard Branson
Critical thinking is a decision-making process that subjects all of your possible options to scrutiny and skepticism.
This is done to ensure you can achieve the best possible solutions to your problems.
Key takeaway:
Use critical thinking to achieve design zen
As I grow as a creative professional, I feel the need to improve my critical thinking and sharpen my objectivity during my process, eliminating knee-jerk emotions and personal biases in favour of effective analysis so I can make good decisions.
This then leads to a smoother design process, and a happier one.
I hope the notes help you achieve the same design zen.
Encouraging Motivation to Change: Am I Doing This Right?
These 11 questions are used to build self-awareness about your attitudes, thoughts, and communication style as you conduct your work.
There’s some deep stuff here, with interesting mindset changes, which can be used to keep your attention focused on the people you serve.
For us designers, that’s either the client or the user — sometimes, I think we lose sight of that in the fog of the design hustle.
Key takeaway:
Be more self-aware.
This is a tricky one to master.
It will take a lot of time to master, but even becoming 10% more self-aware in your life will dramatically improve your ability to communicate with others.
Becoming a leader of yourself will empower you with skills to lead others.
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!