Randy A Brown

Category: Leadership

  • Principle-Centered Leadership

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    Principle-Centered Leadership by Stephen Covey is insightful. Covey is diligent in providing motivation to become a life-long learner (something I can greatly appreciate). Covey provides the keys to unlocking personal fulfillment and life-long professional success.
     

  • Credibility

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    One of the most important values we can have as leaders, whether we are leaders at work, at Church, or in the home, is credibility. Credibility is our trustworthiness. Credibility adds to our value- this includes our decisions, suggestions, claims, teachings, etc. A decision-maker is more likely to make a difficult decision based on our information if the decision-maker can trust our information. We gain credibility through hard work, education, being thorough in our research, giving trust-worthy and timely information, being dependable, and even treating others with respect. We lose credibility by giving bad information, not coming through when needed, not being a man (or woman) of our word, and not being trust-worthy or dependable. Credibility is one of those things that is difficult to obtain and easy to lose. We should strive to build credibility and strive even harder to keep it.

  • Values-Based Leadership

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    Here is an excellent video on values-based leadership from MIT:

  • Qualities of a Good Leader

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    There are many qualities that make a good leader. Some qualities are more important that others; some qualities are more difficult see or develop; other qualities are more defined and expected. In general, people have an ideal set of qualities they expect a leader to have. Here is a short list of those qualities.

    • Honest
    • Patient
    • Decisive
    • Intentional
    • Responsible
    • Confident
    • Educated
    • Enthusiastic
    • Reliable
    • Trustworthy
    • Loyal
    • Focused

    This skill-set can be summed up in many ways, using words such as vision and competence. Of course this list is no where near complete, but this is the basic list I feel is important to focus on when developing your leadership skill-set.
     

     

  • Jesus – The Ultimate Leader

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    Jesus is the ultimate leader. His leadership strategy was much different than most leaders we see today because he had a very different purpose. His goal wasn’t to be popular. His goal was to train a few, rather than many. Jesus focused on depth and long-term results. He taught thousands at a time, but he didn’t focus on telling them what they wanted to hear. He didn’t focus on telling them how great they are, or how they can achieve anything they wanted. He usually left them confused at his teachings. His goal wasn’t to give them the answers to all of the questions.

    Although he taught thousands, he narrowed his focus down to seventy disciples. From the seventy, he chose twelve to be Apostles. He taught and trained these twelve more deeply than he taught the seventy. From the twelve, Jesus was closer to three. He made these three his ‘inner circle’ and taught them even deeper than he did the other nine.

    What was his purpose? Jesus wasn’t just training leaders. He was training leaders of leaders. These leaders changed the modern world. Jesus was teaching a complete paradigm shift and he knew what it would take to make this paradigm work. He knew he didn’t just need disciples. He needed disciples that could make disciples. Jesus had more foresight than any leader before or after. Jesus truly is the ultimate leader.

  • Free Video Online Leadership Course

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    Wise Jargon offers a free online video lesson series titled Ten Principles of Being a Godly Leader. The series is based on the book Think Like Jesus Lead Like Moses. You can see the series here:

     

    Ten Principles of Being a Godly Leader

  • Failure

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    Is it OK to fail? I was recently asked this question. My first thought was ‘failure is not an option”. Then I was reminded of Thomas Edison who, when asked about how many failed attempts he had while inventing the light bulb, said that he didn’t fail- he learned how not to make a light bulb (paraphrased- the actual number changes). The point is Thomas Edison saw the failures as something positive. Failure is an opportunity to learn. Failure can be costly, but not learning from failure is even more costly. Don’t hope for or expect failure, but when it happens use it to your advantage. Learn from it and you’ll have an advantage over those that don’t.

  • Free Online Management and Leadership Course from Master Class Management

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    Master Class Management has a free 10-lesson course on Management and Leadership skills. The course is a mini MBA that you can study for free at your own pace. You can even get a certificate if you want. Lessons include:

    1. How to be a Great Manager through Strong Leadership
    2. How to Manage and Organize your Department to Meet the Goals
    3. How to Manage your Employees & Build a Strong Team
    4. How to Hire & Retain the Right People
    5. How to Deal with Conflict, Problems, Difficult Employees & Firing
    6. How to Delegate, Manage your Time, Solve Problems & Make the Right Decisions
    7. How to Get your Point Across through the Art of Business Communications
    8. Business Basics Part I – Business Types, Ethics& Law, Economics, Finance & Accounting
    9. Business Basics Part II – Operations Management, Customer Service, IS & HR
    10. Business Basics Part III – Marketing & Sales

    There’s a lot to like in this course. You can take the complete course or just the sections you choose. Highly recommended. You can find the course here:

    Free Online Management Training & Leadership Skills Course Business Management Certification

     

  • Building Effective Habits

    Reading Time: < 1 minute

    Effective Managers and Leaders build habits that lead to their success. Stephen Covey, in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, outlines seven habits that effective people follow:

    1. Be Proactive
    2. Begin with the End in Mind
    3. Put First Things First
    4. Think Win-Win
    5. Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood
    6. Synergize
    7. Sharpen the Saw

    I work with many great Leaders and Managers and I see these habits in all of them. I can’t recommend these habits enough. When applied correctly, these habits will lead to success. Learn them, practice them, live them.

     

    269513: Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change, Revised edition Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change, Revised editionStephen R. Covey’s incredibly successful book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, is a pathway to wisdom and power. It offers a revolutionary program to breaking the patterns of self-defeating behavior that keep us from achieving our goals and reaching our fullest potential. Covey describes how to replace bad habits with a principle-focused approach to problem-solving. This edition has a new foreword and afterword by the author, different from the original version. Paperback.

  • The Bible: A Solid Guide to Leadership

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    The Bible provides a strong foundation for leadership principles. It’s Management, Business, and Leadership concepts are strong and respected – starting with the most basic of all rules:

    “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” (Mat 7:12 KJV)

    “And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.” (Luk 6:31 KJV)

    Leaders would do well to buy a good quality Bible in a respected translation, read it, use it, and apply it.

     

    020156: NKJV Maxwell Leadership Bible: Second Edition, hardcover NKJV Maxwell Leadership Bible: Second Edition, hardcoverThe Leadership expert, John Maxwell, brings an in-depth look at God’s laws for leaders and leadership.The content of the current Maxwell Leadership Bible is revised and updated to incorporate Maxwell’s works since the first release of the Maxwell Leadership Bible.Features include:

    • 2 New Laws – Law of Addition and the Law of Picture
    • New major articles and new notes throughout the Bible that connect with the new Laws
    • New notes that reflect Maxwell’s works since the Feb 2002 release of the Maxwell Leadership Bible, including The 360&ordm; Leader, Attitude 101, 25 Ways to Win with People, and Leadership 101
    • The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: in-depth articles that reveal these laws as seen in the lives of Bible people.
    • The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: insightful articles showing positive and negative examples of each of this qualities.
    • Over 100 biographical profiles: times and events in people’s lives that reveal God’s truths about leadership.
    • Hundreds of compelling short articles and expressive “read-as-you-go” notes on mentoring and influence.
    • Thorough topical indexes for quick access to Scripture passages and articles addressing leadership issues.
    • New interior page design
    • Double-column format
    • Book Introductions
    • Book Outlines