What Great Leaders Do

Over on his Slacker Manager blog, the always readable Phil Gerbyshak is reading The Dalai Lama's new book 'The Leader's Way', and outlines seven key points that leaders can and should develop in their character.

Phil goes into them more fully on his blog, but here are the seven characteristics:

CNN are running a poll to see who was the best leader in 2008 from their shortlist. Their phrase is 'Who sums up the spirit of leadership?' which is a nice way to put it.

Their candidates range from Kofi Annan, to James Lovelock (the Gaia visionary) to Gustavo Dudamel, the young prodigy conductor, a graduate of Venezuela's El Sistema, which takes thousands of young people away from street poverty and gangs and gives them a future via orchestral music.

Nice idea. Worth a vote.

This just popped into my in-box from David Taylor. It's his weekly email newsletter. A link to his site if you want to subscribe is at the bottom of this post:

Dear Phil 

According to Nigel Crouch, who led research for the UK government into 'what makes an inspiring leader', they behave in these five ways:

What makes an inspiring leader?

     1 They listen
     2 They involve
     3 They trust
     4 They appreciate
     5 They have fun

Over on The Practice of Leadership blog, George Ambler spots a piece in Time Magazine to coincide with Nelson Mandela's birthday (I was on holiday, so you're getting it a bit later).