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The Writing Life of a Tadpole

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The Writing Life of a Tadpole
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Tag Archives: leadership

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Articles I Like: Figure Out the Leadership Style That Fits Who You Are

The Writing Life of a Tadpole
February 19 2017

I’m frequently on the look-out for articles or new ideas related to self-management and goal-setting. Sometimes it shows up in articles about management or leadership. One such article I found recently was Figure Out the Leadership Style That Fits Who You Are on the Harvard Business Review blog site. Written by William C. Taylor back in August, I was reading through it again this week and basically his argument is that there are a small set of leadership styles, and we should try to figure out what type we are.

The Classic Entrepreneur. Sure, these leaders care about the values their company stands for, but it’s the dollars-and-cents value proposition that matters most. They love to build killer products and butt-kicking companies.

The Modern Missionary. Winning is less about beating the competition than it is about building something original and meaningful. Success is less about making money than it is about making a difference and having an impact.

The Problem Solver. They worry less about dramatic impact than about concrete results. They believe in the power of expertise and the value of experience. These top-down, take-charge, the-buck-stops-here executives may be the most recognizable sorts of leaders, in terms of the image we carry around of what it takes to get things done.

The Solution Finder. This style is about incremental results and concrete solutions, but these leaders believe that the most powerful contributions often come from the most unexpected places — the hidden genius of their colleagues, the collective genius that surrounds their organization. They’re ultimately responsible for business results, but they believe that achieving those results is everybody’s business.

I would use completely different wording than Taylor. For me, it is the “deal seeker”, the “activist”, the “expert” and the “collaborator”. While those may be just semantics to understand the different types, where Taylor loses me is to suggest that we are one of those types. Generally, people might have default styles when in crisis mode — when stressed, overwhelmed, etc., they may default to a base archetype, just as people often will in psychological terms — but discussions of leadership have long moved past the notion of a “natural leadership style” and more about about the masks we can choose to don for whatever occasion we need…the hard-nosed business type when a deal is in the works that calls for it. The missionary or activist when dealing with an issue that is more about values than profit.

I like the initial premise of the article, if not the full execution.

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Goals 2011 — Leadership

The Writing Life of a Tadpole
March 3 2011

The last category of goals — leadership! I intended this one to combine some areas of red leadership where I was going to shine, expand my horizons both in terms of my personal “role” and in terms of travelling. But, now that I’ve got the other 7 categories done, there isn’t much left in this one except travel.

My big “long-term” headings here were considering a teaching type role, either through mentoring or formally teaching a course in public administration or introduction to development, for example. I enjoy the process of sharing knowledge, and a number of people have suggested it to me as I apparently “explain things really well” (unless of course you’re my wife, in which case we often need a defibrillator to bring her back when I’m done explaining something).

I’m also interested in municipal government issues. In fact, when I first started on a career in government, I assumed I would do mostly municipal — I had no interest in federal, too far removed from the people. Plus I had had a bit of involvement in Peterborough with the planning department, and liked it a lot. One MPA co-op later with DFAIT, and I got hooked on international; 18 years later, and I’m still in Ottawa doing federal stuff. I gently scratched the itch this past fall by supporting a friend who was elected to city council, and I’m happy to let more passionate people blaze the trail.

I’ve also thought about linking this area to my creative side, and doing some behind-the-scenes work with local theatre, but haven’t done so yet.

Eventually, I’ll find a windmill to tilt at, but in the meantime, I’ll settle for some more travel. I have a HUGE travel list, pretty much anywhere I haven’t been yet!

Hawaii was near the top of that list, and our honeymoon took care of that (although we’d love to go back and see the other islands, as we only saw two). Separate from just the “travel” tickbox, I also completed some other items from the bucket list while we were there — a helicopter ride, seeing a volcano, riding in a submarine, eating fresh fruit under a tree, swimming under a waterfall, and seeing free dolphins.

But since our budget won’t allow us to travel EVERYWHERE, here is my top 10 (okay 11 if you want to get picky!) list of places I want to go:

  • The three Territories in Canada — never been, really want to see our North, particularly if I get to see the Northern Lights;
  • Grand Canyon — we planned a trip a few years ago, but life intervened and we did other things (like getting married)…we have seen the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific” in Hawaii, but I still want to do the Arizona/Nevada version;
  • Galapagos — not only the birthplace of Darwin’s Origin of Species, but one of the few remaining places on earth that still looks like man has never visited;
  • Ortona — the Italian campaign of WWII was one of the bloodiest theatres of war for Canada and, within Italy, Ortona was the most brutal…Christmas 1943, more than 1300 Canadians lost their lives fighting door-to-door, house-to-house in Ortona against one of the toughest German divisions ever assembled to take the town, and the deep-water port to shorten supply lines. While some people are moved by D-Day, reading Farley Mowat’s account of Ortona in The Regiment (and the highlights of the Hasty-Pees i.e. Hastings-Prince Edward County Regiment) is particularly telling for me…maybe because I lost an uncle there, or maybe because “there, but for the grace of time, go I”, as it was a lot of Peterborough men who were fighting and dying…2018 is the 75th anniversary, and I intend to be there to pay my respects to their sacrifice;
  • Iceland — just cuz it’s cool-looking(!);
  • Scotland — the highlands somehow call to me, and I am not even Scottish;
  • Australia and New Zealand — I’m very jealous of everyone who goes, and I have no idea how I’d fit everything into anything less than a three- or four-week trip, plus I need to include the GREAT BARRIER REEF in there????;
  • Fiji — there’s something about the area that appeals to me in ways that Hawaii and the Caribbean don’t, sort of a cross between the beauty of Hawaii with the unspoiled nature of the Galapagos, but without the Komodo dragons!;
  • Egypt — pyramids…need I say more?; and,
  • Antarctica — did I mention the sheer cool factor?

So that’s my great long priority shopping list of travel destinations. Am I doing any of them soon? No, probably not. England is next on our list, I think, either this year or next. The rest will wait a bit. Except Ortona in 2018…I think that one is set! 🙂 Maybe I can offset the depressing nature of Ortona with a trip to Rome and Venice while we’re at it.

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