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A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong. While traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the "top of the pyramid," servant leadership is different. The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first, and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible.

Most people can agree that authenticity is of great value. We'd rather be - or follow - a leader who is for real than one who is faking it. Acting in a way that feels truthful, candid, and connected to who you really are is important, and is a leadership quality worth aspiring to.

The author offered the following 10 steps that I thought seemed to encapsulate the principles of Leadership while still respecting people:

What stuck with me most was his take on leadership-he rejected typical competency models, preferred Robert Greenleaf's "servant leader" concept, and defined the role of a leader in such a simple way that I have not only never forgotten it, but also adopted as my de facto definition. "The role of a leader," he maintained, is to create meaningful change." To create is to bring into existence something that was not there before. Meaningful relates to action that is purposeful, that connects us to something larger, outside of ourselves, in service of others. And in that context, change is something new, different and better.

With this shift, there is still a "me" in the picture, but it's not front and center. The "me" involves finding one's own personal motivation, enjoyment and engagement in learning the skills of leadership beyond their individual performance.

"Leadership is about growth - for yourself, your relationships, your productivity, and your people. To lead well, you must embrace your need for continual improvement"

As a leadership style, what coaching brings is a commitment to unlocking people's potential , focusing on the stuff that matters, empowering people, and helping them take responsibility.

This is a powerful passage: "The second thing we do is help people realize how lousy most of their advice is. With brain scanning, you can actually see what happens in people's brains when you offer up advice. Basically nothing. When you ask a great question, you can hear the new neurological links being made."

One of the most important, leadership skills to develop in managers is the ability to coach effectively-including how to connect with employees and get the best out of them on an ongoing basis. From my own experience, here are three employee performance management best practices I've found effective in turning frontline managers into first-rate coaches.

For fun, try this. Close your eyes for a moment, and imagine yourself taking the point of view of one of your employees. Once you reach that point, ask yourself: "As an employee, what do I want?" Then take the time to ask yourself: "As an employee, what do I fear?"

Brad came back from his time off with a list of twenty key habits that have the power to transform and elevate our leadership. Here are just three that have been especially powerful for me.

Curiosity = Creativity = Innovation. Great article!

Perhaps this book is one for the book club: However, as described by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee in Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence, the effects on executive effectiveness are just as profound.

That sounds good!

Here are four spe­cific musts do's that can absolutely increase your level of pas­sion and your direc­tion which will enable you to con­tinue to grow your capac­ity.

Take a good look at your Busi­ness Vision. As you read it, are you find­ing your­self excited and com­pelled to con­tinue push­ing for­ward and giv­ing your all to the cause? If your vision does not com­pel you, then how can you expect it to com­pel those you lead to stretch and grow?
If it com­pels you, the next ques­tion you must ask is this: "can I plan from it?" If you vision is not clear, it will be very dif­fi­cult to build plans and strat­egy from it. Your vision should help you to see who your cus­tomer is, what value you will bring to them, what prob­lem your team, ser­vice or prod­uct will help solve. It should help you to see what your team will become and what you will build at some point in the future.
Now look at your Busi­ness Plans for the year and the quar­ter. Your desired out­comes, dis­ci­plines and improve­ments must be very clear. These three things should fit on one page and should truly direct your actions and impact your calendar.
And then finally, if you have done the pre­vi­ous three things and are still not see­ing things clearly, you are wise to under­stand that self lead­er­ship always pre­cedes team lead­er­ship. Your chal­lenge might be deeper and big­ger than what is hap­pen­ing voca­tion­ally. You could really ben­e­fit by spend­ing a day review­ing or build­ing your Life Plan. An effec­tive plan is com­pelling and clear in how it directs your think­ing, your actions and ulti­mately your results.

If you're a manager of managers, or otherwise leading in the middle zone of the organization, pay particular attention to these six factors:

Great list! In my opinion, it is very accurate.

Leaders who want to create initiative, leadership, and decentralized action in their organization have to be ready to give up on the idea that they know the best answers.

While this post is about coaches working with clients, it apply to leaders working with the customers of their leadership.

The movie clip is a bit rough in its language and I'm not sure I agree with its tone, but I think the article does highlight some critical aspects of culture change, coaching and mentoring.

"Leaders can provide visible evidence of enabling and supporting their employees by conducting continuous Appreciative Coaching conversations showing how the strengths of the person are aligned to the results of the organization. People then understand how they fit into the organization's vision and mission, but create a powerful energy for excellence."
-James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner, The Leadership Challenge (4th ed., Jossey-Bass, 2008)