Following up from my last post on Managers Who Motivate, I continued my journey at the US Chamber's Institute for Organization Management this past week. I was excited to dive into another transformative class: "Unleashing The Leader Within." This course is designed to help attendees discover and develop their leadership potential, equipping them with the tools and insights needed to lead with confidence and impact.

As we discussed in the last post, and as I believe is crucial to leadership today, we revisited Covey’s work on trust as a foundational element of leadership. I like to visualize trust as a bank account, so for this class, we had a cute picture of a piggy bank in sunglasses on the beach.

Like a bank account, every interaction you have with someone either makes a deposit or a withdrawal from their trust account. Positive actions such as keeping promises, showing integrity, and being transparent act as deposits, building up a reservoir of trust. Conversely, breaking promises, displaying inconsistency, or flip-flopping on values create withdrawals, depleting this vital resource. The balance in this trust account determines the strength of your relationships and your effectiveness as a leader. A healthy trust account can weather occasional mistakes, but a depleted one—what we call “trust bankruptcy”—can cause relationships and team dynamics to crumble under pressure.

We also explored the traits that make a leader effective, focusing on Level 5 Leadership as described by Jim Collins in Good to Great. These leaders exhibit:

Personal Humility and Professional Will: Modesty combined with a relentless drive to achieve organizational success (not for oneself, but for the whole).
Resolve to Do What Needs to Be Done: A focus on long-term success and making tough decisions when necessary.
Credit Others, Accept Blame: Attributing success to the team while the leader takes responsibility for failures.
Building Enduring Greatness: Commitment to long-term, sustainable success.

We also delved into Collins’ three critical leadership skills from Great By Choice:

Fanatic Discipline: Consistency in actions, adherence to values, long-term goals, and performance standards.
Productive Paranoia: Hyper-vigilance about potential risks and turning fear into preparation and clear-headed action.
Empirical Creativity: Validating creative instincts through direct observation, practical experiments, and engagement with evidence.

To help directly apply these skills, the class split into groups and created short scenarios where a leader successfully uses at least two traits (bonus for all three): Fanatic Discipline, Productive Paranoia, and Empirical Creativity to solve a problem or achieve a goal. The groups had to provide the context of the scenario, the actions taken by the leader demonstrating each trait, and the outcome achieved through the application of these traits.

At this point in the class, I pivoted to the complex and often misunderstood job of all leaders: creating a clear and compelling vision. Creating a compelling vision and leading change requires:

Creating a Dissatisfaction with the Status Quo: Recognizing the need for change and articulating why remaining the same is not an option.
Developing a Clear and Compelling Vision: Envisioning the future with a vivid picture that guides the organization.
Seeking Support from Leaders and Followers: Ensuring everyone is aligned and committed to the vision.

As we concluded the class, it was essential to reflect on our roles as leaders. Effective leadership is about inspiring and nurturing our teams to reach their full potential. By creating an environment where trust thrives and individuals feel motivated and valued, we can drive our organizations toward success. For the last 30 minutes, on the back of their worksheet, I had attendees use the tools they had just learned to create a dynamic and compelling vision of their leadership story.

Here is what was outlined:

What do you desire out of your leadership moving forward?
Identify your three core life and/or leadership values.
What is your leadership purpose?
How will you measure your impact as a leader?
What role do you need friends, family, and colleagues to play?
Where will you hang this when you get home?

Our role as leaders is to be the cornerstone of trust and motivation, leading by example and demonstrating integrity and competence. By creating environments where trust is the norm and motivation is the driving force, we can lead our organizations to unparalleled success and prosperity.